Part Five

*A deep sleep, a forgotten path, a dark power...*

### Content Warnings

Mental institutions/asylums, ableist language, medical malpractice, mentions of ear, trauma, coma, body horror (flesh walls, severed head, fingers into skin), ritualistic sacrifice, corpses, murder, dog attack, burning a creature alive.

## Summary

Arthur wakes up in the hospital after being stabbed by Kellin and discovers that over a month has passed. As he and the entity follow their lead to Amanda Cummings, they discover that Arthur has developed a frightening new ability. The entity has also changed over the course of the month, finding a little more humanity and choosing a name for himself: John Doe. When Arthur’s new gift puts them in danger, they need to co-operate seamlessly to make it out of the hospital alive.

## Synopsis

Arthur wakes up in an unfamiliar location. He tries calling out for the entity, but receives no response from him. Instead, a new voice answers, introducing himself as Adam Fry and explaining to Arthur that they’re in neighboring cells in an asylum. Adam tells him he has a plan to escape, and that Arthur can escape with him. He asks Arthur to prove himself trustworthy before he’ll include him in the plans. He begins fishing for information, manipulating Arthur into telling him Amanda Cummings’ name. As soon as Arthur does, Adam’s voice changes, sounding like the entity's. He tells Arthur to sleep well, then disappears.

Arthur wakes up again, this time in a hospital. The entity immediately expresses relief that Arthur is okay, telling him they're in in Harper’s Hill. Arthur is frantic to find Amanda and tries to get out of his hospital bed. The entity reveals that Arthur has been in a coma for a month and he has been awake the entire time, trapped in Arthur’s body. During Arthur’s coma, the Entity spent a lot of time thinking about their situation. He reveals to Arthur that he’d been so focused on never returning to the Dark World, he hadn’t actually thought of how lucky he was to have found Arthur, and expresses his gratitude.

The entity tells Arthur his identity is still unknown, but the nurses refer to him as “John Doe” . He tells Arthur he’s grown to like it, and wants Arthur to call him John. Arthur agrees, saying he’s glad to be able to call the entity something.

Arthur recalls Kellin’s sister's severed head and asks after it, becoming upset when John tells him that he left it behind, but eventually agreeing that there was no alternative. Arthur gets up, once again expressing concern for Amanda. John agrees, telling Arthur that it’s the middle of the night and a perfect time to escape. He guides Arthur to the sink, explaining that he's grown a beard and instructs him to shave to make himself harder to identify. Arthur gets dressed and leaves the room.

He guides Arthur towards a records room to find Amanda's address, but they discover the door is locked. John directs Arthur to a break room where a staff member is sleeping inside. He spots the keys on the table. A radio is sitting on the table near the keys, playing soft music. As Arthur gets closer, the music distorts and changes, and *Some Call it Madness* begins to play. Arthur manages to grab the keys and get out of the break room They make their way to the records room, searching for Amanda’s patient file. They finally spot it, but the file is a request for an autopsy: Amanda died only a few days ago. Arthur is upset at this and wants to find her body. John is skeptical but agrees, leading Arthur down to the morgue.

They find Amanda’s body in the morgue. As Arthur unzips the bag, he accidentally brushes his skin against Amanda’s, triggering a vision of her last moments. He pulls his hand back quickly, startled, and John explains what happened, warning him not to do it again. They argue: Arthur wants to get answers, but John warns him that everything has a price. They don’t know what using this ability will cost them. Arthur remains stubborn and John relents.

Arthur touches Amanda a second time. John is able to see her death. He describes a man with long features, showing up at Amanda’s door and killing her by pushing his fingers into her flesh. The man in the vision turns, looking directly at John. John cries out and Arthur pulls back, asking him what happened. John explains his vision to Arthur, saying it feels like they’ve been tricked, as though this man wanted them to touch Amanda and see him. He doesn't think he can get through to their world.

Arthur begins to express relief, but a low growl stops him. The lights shattered when Arthur disconnected from Amanda; with John unable to see, they use the wall as a guide. It seems that something was pulled through when Arthur used his new ability.

The creature notices them and chases them out into the hallway. They reach the stairwell, barring the door to stop the creature from getting through. As they ascend the stairs to escape the hospital, the creature breaks through the door and begins chasing them again. Arthur enters the floor above the basement and once again bars the door behind him. John tells him that the floor they are now on appears to be empty, with offices leading off from the main hallway. He guides Arthur into one of the offices to hide as the creature breaks through the door.

The creature passes them, and John is able to get a good look at it. He describes it to Arthur, telling him that it moves like a dog, but large with no features, except for a mouth filled with sharp fangs. He convinces Arthur that they need to find a way to destroy it, because it will not stop hunting them. The creature notices them and attacks, but John sees a laundry chute and Arthur is able to dive into it. They come out the bottom of the laundry chute into the basement, in what appears to be a boiler room. In the center of the room is an incinerator, and Arthur and John decide to use this to kill the creature, planning to stand in front of the incinerator entrance and lure it towards them, then dive out of the way.

The plan works, and the creature burns to death in the incinerator. John reminds Arthur that the creature that killed Amanda knows where they are, and that they need to leave. On their way out of the boiler room, John spots a stack of boxes containing a bunch of items: a lost and found. They find a hat with several hundred dollars hidden in the lining. Arthur suggests heading to Amanda’s home right away, but John suggests stopping to buy a gun first, telling Arthur that something is hunting them, and they need to be prepared.

## Votes

* Chapter 21: **GAIN MYTHOS: Enables understanding of Mythos related things. Aids in Sanity Loss. [5]** / GAIN INSIGHT: Removes Manipulation Detriment and enable Arthur to lie effectively. [2]
* Chapter 22: Find A Way to Force The Lock [0] / **Find A Set Of Keys [8]**
* Chapter 23: **TOUCH THE BODY [10]** / LEAVE THIS PLACE [2]
* Chapter 24: RUN [2] / **HIDE [10]**
* Chapter 25: **Purchase A Gun (and other things) [7]** / Head Straight to Amanda's [3]

## Trivia

* While looking through the boxes in the boiler room, John says they have “miles to go before I sleep”, and Arthur recognizes it to be a line from a Robert Frost poem. The poem is called *Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening* and was written in 1922.