Ebrugh Report 3: Waypine Asylum

Artist's rendition of the clearing.

This Ebrugh Report is about the adventurous sister of a famous lawyer. When she gets home after a long journey, she starts to behave strangely.

## Short Summary

This report documents the perils of lawyer Edward Pines, whose sister returns changed and nearly catatonic from a journey across China. Her fiancé apparently disappeared in those lands, and she herself starts exhibiting symptoms of a strange disease and a mysterious wound on the back of her hand. When she attempts to end her life, she is admitted to Waypine Asylum. There, she finally confides in her brother about what transpired in China: During their travels across the countryside, she and Benjamin encountered a native ritual where Benjamin was transformed into a slug-like creature after exposure to a peculiar shard. Lucy sustained an injury from a similar object and began undergoing changes as well. Ultimately, she escapes the asylum and is presumed dead. Edward Pines discovers the shard in Lucy's room and inflicts a wound upon himself, initiating his own transformation. As his sanity deteriorates and he experiences hallucinations, he encounters the remnants of Lucy, who has returned to him.

## Ebrugh Report 3

### Rumoured Origin

*These notes were found in 1968 on the attic of an abandoned old mansion in Warley near London. I obtained them only under greatest difficulties, as they had been no more than just a rumor till then. But a very good bottle of rare whiskey made the owner hand them over to me. The notes themselves are dated 1876.*

### Main Report

Firstly, I would like to introduce myself: My name is Edward Pines. I have been the head of the respected law firm *Pines & Partners -* which I inherited from my late father - for over ten years now. Therefore, I have never had any worries in terms of work-related matters, but my private life looked a bit different: Just as I had inherited the diligence of my father, my little sister Lucy had been struck with his spirit of enterprise. At first glance, this probably does not seem to be troublesome, however she tended cross all lines and threatened to sully our family's name with her fleeting romances and travels into the nowhere. Despite this harsh judgment of mine, I must emphasize that I will always love my sister from the bottom of my heart, though her frequent escapades were giving me quite the headaches.

Now though… with the whole situation turning to the far worse… I decided to write down these lines. I pray that this statement will calm the public down and suffocate all the gossip that is sure to sprout in every gutter.

The strange transformation of my sister and the events linked to it, the events that aroused so much interest in certain people who couldn't resist telling tall tales, started about four weeks ago.

I had just won the Benford Trial - as the reader probably already knows - and waited for the return of my dear sister from China. She had travelled to those far away regions of Asia with her lover of that time, Benjamin Drumpsman; however only she had returned, as I noticed with some initial glee.

I immediately noticed Lucy's strange confusion and her thoughts trailing off when I picked her up at the port in the East End of London with a cabby. On no account is it my intention to imply that we had always gotten along before - on the contrary – but there had always been a certain trust, bonding us together as brother and sister. Yet, now she seemed distant and cold, almost as if not everything of hers had returned to England. She ignored my inquiries about the current status of Mr. Drumpsman, turning her head towards the world outside the window. During the short conversation we were able to have, I learned nothing about her travels or her condition besides the fact that she seemingly had lost some memories. Because of that, I decided to give Lucy some time to think everything over by herself. When we arrived at the mansion after a gloomy ride, Lucy hurriedly went to her room and stayed there for the next two days, locking herself away. I asked our maid to take care of her, but besides a small meal a day my sister refused to eat anything and stayed away from any meaningful conversation.

When I got too worried on the third day and began knocking on her door, a faint sob could be heard, strengthening me in my decision to enter her room. Lucy was sitting on top of her bed, shaking and pale-faced. Noticing my intrusion, she hastily hid something under her blankets, but unfortunately, I could not tell what kind of object it was. My curious look made her quickly explain that said object was just an old clay fragment she had found in China. I did not believe her, of course, but taking her fragile mind into consideration I decided not to accuse her of lying and let the matter rest.

Lucy hurriedly changed the subject, asking me to invite some familiar faces over for dinner in the evening to take her mind off certain things. Initially, this idea did not seem the best, yet after her almost begging me, I yielded to her pleas. Therefore, my sister and I invited some old friends of the family over and I commanded the maid to prepare a feast and alcoholic beverages for our guests as soon as possible.

At first, the evening was developing well; although everyone was curious about Lucy's travels, they changed the subject after feeling her discomfort with said topic. It was a joyous gathering and the food tasted marvelous, making us forget all about our problems. Even Lucy seemed to lighten up: her face was getting its color back, thanks to the wine, and the people made her laugh and smile again.

However, it was around eleven o'clock in the evening, when the mood suddenly changed. Out of nowhere, my sister started screaming uncontrollably after looking at the palm of her hand. In shock, I ran over to her, but before I got there, Lucy started coughing up unhealthy green mucus, probably having gotten into her lungs due to a heavy cold. Me and the maid obviously hurried to bring my sister back to her room and politely but firmly asked the guests to leave the mansion. I was aware of the gossip this would birth, though the health of my sister seemed of greater importance. Dr. Manchester was sent for, a trustworthy man, having been my family's doctor of confidence for many years. Lucy did not approve of his consultation, but I insisted. Dr. Manchester arrived before the clock stroke twelve and quickly began thoroughly examining my protesting sister.

To my astonishment he did not detect any cold or any impairment of her lungs or respiratory tract, however her low body temperature gave him a headache. Dr. Manchester also looked at Lucy's palm, where he found a small cut that was covered in a watery, slightly shimmering substance. When he asked Lucy how she had gotten said wound, she only let out a gasp and suddenly started to violently flail around, only being calmed down by the contents of a syringe, which Dr. Manchester quickly administered.

The situation started to get over my head, especially as neither me nor Dr. Manchester could explain the things going on.

The following days, Lucy stayed in her room and I took some time off from work to be able to take care of her. The good Dr. Manchester also visited us twice a day to monitor her worsening condition. She still did not want to tell us about her travels and did not say much altogether. When Lucy started sweating more and more whilst coughing up increasingly larger amounts of purulent green mucus, I started to get deeply afraid. But unfortunately I was as powerless as unknowing about everything, so that the only thing I could do was sit next to her bed and try to ease her mind.

I searched for the strange object she had hidden from me, but sadly I could not find it. All the time Lucy just lay there, weeping and shaking, watching her wound that got tainted with mucus more and more by each passing day.

Two weeks went by and the rumors about my sister drove many prying people to our doorstep. They were hoping to get a look at her. I chased them away with my rifle, naturally, though this seemed to stoke the fires of gossip even more. Four days ago, an incident took place that changed everything. It was around morning, when the maid found Lucy bleeding, lying in her bathroom. I praise the Lord that my sister did not have the anatomical knowledge needed to be in life-threatening danger; she had missed her arteries by about half an inch.

The maid terminated our working agreement on the spot. She called my sister an "ugly monstrosity" and left our mansion only moments later. Being completely confused, I only faintly heard the sad voice of Dr. Manchester, who had come by in a rush, telling me that only a mental institution would show promise in aiding my dear sister. Therefore, I watched heavy-heartedly as several men came from *Waypine Asylum* to take my sister in; *Waypine* was the most renowned institution in the whole of London for dealing with sicknesses of the mind, giving me at least a glimmer of hope...

I remember the moment clear as day, the moment I opened the rusty gates leading to the old building that had been housing my sister for just over two days, intending to visit the poor thing. Her condition had deteriorated much more, so much more in fact, that I did not have a bad conscience for sending her to *Waypine Asylum* despite heavy protests.

Moments later, I found myself marching towards the main building over muddy ground whilst the cold wind tore at my clothing. In the morning I had gotten a telegram. Apparently, my sister had sent for me, having woken up with a clear mind earlier on. Apparently, she had eaten a bit more; a whole loaf of bread, which seemed quite the improvement compared to the past days. Relieved, I had answered her call and so it came to pass that I soon entered the room she had spent the last days in.

Seeing her made me think back to the days where things had been better. In those times, my sister had been a strong, astoundingly beautiful woman, always wearing only the best dresses, always smiling the brightest smiles, always meeting people of the higher society with respect, despite her rebellious streaks. All of that had fled from her, reducing her to a skinny shell that looked at me with hazy eyes, sitting on a plank bed. I carefully gave her a soft, warm hug and wondered about the remaining strength of hers, because regardless of her looks and her sickly sweaty skin she almost drove all the air out of my lungs.

„I am so glad to finally meet you, after having gotten a clearer mind," she started.

„You should know that I finally made my peace with the happenings I have experienced – as far as one could make one’s peace with it. And I am finally content with my lot. I am ready for what is to come..."

Her eyes lit up for a brief moment and I imagined seeing fear, but only for a fleetingly.

"What is to come?" I inquired, full of worry.

"Considering your situation you are quite safe, well-guarded! What could possibly happen to you in here?"

„Do not fret, the explanation for my behavior and my poor state of mind is the reason I asked for your presence, because you are the only one who might believe me. So, please, take a seat and listen to my story," she asked with a sad voice and pointed at a small wooden chair that was resting in one of the corners of the room.

After my sister had thoroughly looked at me for some moments, I finally gave in with a deep sigh and dropped down on the uncomfortable seating she had offered to me, waiting for her tale in greatest anticipation.

„The beginnings of my journey to China did not bear any interesting incidents and therefore I will skip those parts. Let us start at the moment Benjamin and I left the steamboat and set foot on the ancient soil of China for the first time, a land greeting us with great hospitality and a blooming culture. Around these parts of the world, one almost never hears of those regions and the people over there are incredibly different from us, being alien and strange judged by our customs.

We made our way through narrow alleys, which were framed by old, crooked buildings and always seemed to be soaked in the smell of foreign spices. There were many saucy little shops and even some nice coffeehouses; however I did not feel well amongst all the foreign people. During my travels, I normally prefer to get away from society and into areas where nature's pure beauty can still be experienced."

"I never took you for such a dreamy person," I had to admit with a faint smile on my lips.

"I know. Perhaps because you never truly wanted to know about my travels. It was more important with whom I journeyed, not where. But that doesn't matter anymore. As you should know, I do not speak any Chinese at all. Benjamin luckily knew one or two words, so we were able to communicate with the people over there at least a bit and we even managed to find shelter for the night and get some rough information about the surrounding areas. Therefore, we decided to visit Xiaowutaishan on the next day, a region worth seeing in proximity.

It did not take long to reach the rocky mountain area, intertwined with large lakes. After discovering a small, rural village, we spent some days in the shade of a small hill. The people living there made us feel right at home, welcoming us with glee, it could not have been better..."

"That sounds rather idyllic, so where was the problem? And where is Benjamin? Did he stay over there because he liked those regions? Or perhaps..."

"He... stayed there... at least the parts that are still left of him..."

"The parts that are still left of him? Lucy, did he die? Did he have an accident?" I asked in shock.

Despite my resentment of Mr. Drumpsman, I did in no way wish him any serious harm.

"I really wished he did. Because his lot is far worse than death. I will get to that in a minute, so please be patient!

Well, the two of us had already spent several days inside the village we had discovered at the foot of those rocky hills. The old huts down there were all made of wood, incredibly old and brittle and once or twice we feared the roof collapsing. That was, however, the only worry we had.

Until that fateful night, when we decided to take a hike, wishing to explore the nature surrounding the village, scouting for a romantic spot below the light of the full moon. Only armed with some loafs of bread and a can of water, we made our way into the wilds and after climbing a steep wall of rocks and passing a moss-covered plateau, we reached the outskirts of a little forest.

The tall, thick deciduous trees gave a feeling of uneasiness and the flora did not seem to fit into the surrounding areas, because until then, we had only seen a barren mountainscape.

Approaching those trees, we saw their silver leaves gleam in the light of the full moon. Benjamin was gripped by a strange eagerness, running towards the thick branches, but I rather kept my distance, feeling a distant fear creeping through my innards. Finally, I got to the thicket as well. Benjamin had already disappeared from my field of view, and finally I entered the darkness of the small forest, shaking. It did not take long until the treetops started to block out most of the little moonlight I had left, leaving me almost blind. The blackness seemed to pull at me, trying to suck me in. As you well know, I am often afraid, but in that suffocating atmosphere my heart beat harder than ever before. Additionally, Benjamin... was gone."

„So you just lost him? That is all?" I asked, being as perplexed as curious.

"No, I did not. I saw him one more time. Later. Only once... but let's not skip anything.

As you might imagine, I called for him at first; however, the trees and bushes seemed to eat up any loud noises I made. After one or two screams I admitted defeat, partly, because I lost hope, partly, because I was afraid of attracting someone... or something. Yet, I could not just leave Benjamin behind, alone in the foreign wilderness. That is why I took all the courage I had left and went on, looking for my traveling companion. Additionally, Benjamin had taken the only lantern we have had with him, exposing me to the numbing darkness.

The undergrowth was creaking below my boots and the air got thicker and mustier. Soon, I had lost all orientation and sense of time. Thinking about going back had become useless as well; I had gotten hopelessly lost. My imagination had already started to give me horrid pictures and thoughts: I saw myself leaning against a giant tree root, starving, or walking aimlessly amongst the trees through the dark until my legs gave in. I saw myself, finding Benjamin's remains in a ditch: a skeleton that had already been chewed on by unknown beasts.

My thoughts finally were set to rest by a ray of moonlight, shining through the plants in front of me. Heading for this new shimmer of hope I managed to squeeze around two bushes and in the end got onto a clearing, majestically lit by a starry sky.

At first, nothing seemed special about it, but after a while I spotted the stony altar, being enthroned at the center of the clearing; its ornamentation and colors made it look alien and out of place. Tensely, I started walking towards it and noticed the many strange objects lying around said altar. The things looked like clay fragments, but their metallic surface structure and the precisely cut edges made my wonder. Out of curiosity, I grabbed one and then...

I cut myself."

She showed me her wound. The cut itself was not that big, much smaller than I remembered. However, around the incrusted wound her skin had started a strange transformation; it had become squidgy, yellowish, and showed uncommon patterns.

I instinctively flinched. What kind of disease had Lucy been infected with?

"I know, but that came later. After... well. So, I cut myself and dropped the fragment. Afterwards, however, I did something incredibly stupid, something I should never have done. I picked the fragment up again and stowed it away in one of my jacket's pockets. Oh, had I just left it there, on the ground, perhaps my life would not be... But I stowed it away. Stupid, stupid girl..."

She gulped.

„Well, but it doesn't matter anymore. I stowed it away and started walking towards the altar, almost as if it called to me. I had already forgotten about the wound. When I closed in on the old construct, I spotted a large hole in the ground, having been hidden from sight by the altar before.

A gorge in the ground, with a diameter of about three feet, leading into pitch black darkness. Looking at this hellish hole, I started to get sick, started to get the feeling of something closing in on me from the depths, something I did not want to meet under any circumstances.

Finally, my instincts returned back to me, and I managed to break away from that hypnotic place and started to walk back to the edge of the clearing. Hastily, my feet moved over the pebbly floor, leading me towards the trees, when a terrifying scream pierced the cool night's silence.

All blood left my lips, as I realized, that it had been Benjamin's voice.

Suddenly, singing started, rhythmic, and evil. I barely managed to jump into one of the bushes close by, before the first figure entered the clearing. In the light of the moon, I saw some native men and women, moving towards the altar, each one of them only wearing a loincloth. They sang an inhumanly deep and alien song that went directly into my mind and shook my soul. Their bodies swaying in the night, they were dragging a bound Benjamin towards the altar, as I realized, almost letting out a scream. He fought against his bindings with all his might but could not do anything to free himself.

I could faintly her him shout at the men and women, but the strange people did not seem to even take note of him and so it did not take long until my companion lay on top of the altar, whilst the native people started to wildly dance, grotesquely bending their limbs in ways human beings should not have been able to.

They all moved around the altar and the hole in the ground, which had started to emit loud gurgling sounds and a nasty smacking noise, making my hair stand on end. I observed the demonic spectacle and saw one of the men take one of the mysterious fragments from the ground. He was the only one wearing a thick mantle and a big gauntlet, holding the fragment up in the air.

For one last time I heard Benjamin's horrified voice, before it was completely drowned by the rising volume of the singing."

"What... what did he say?" I asked in shock.

My sister gulped again and took a deep breath.

"I... maybe I heard it wrong, but I think he shouted something like:

'Who? Whose cattle? Who are they, those ‚Ebrugh'? What are you doing? No! What are you talking about? Please! Let me go, please!'

I do not understand what he meant and the happenings of the next moments are even harder to grasp. Please, listen to what I have to say and believe me, I am telling only the truth."

"Of course, I will believe you!" I promised, being numbed by the things she had told me.

"The man pressed the fragment onto Benjamin's face and then...

He...

He started changing! I did not see everything, but he seemed to... melt away! When the singing stopped, all I could hear was loud, horrid gurgling. The fleshy lump – the lump that had moments before been Benjamin Drumpsman – was driven towards and into the hole by those fanatics, where it finally disappeared.

I ran and ran and ran. I ran until I reached a village, where I could feel even a little bit... safer."

Lucy stopped. Looked as if she was about to pass out.

"Are you sure? I mean, perhaps the moonlight played tricks on your mind, or..."

"No! No! Don't you understand? Don't you understand what is going on? The same thing is happening to me, right now! *Don't you see? Don't you see?*"

She started flailing around and I had to flee the room, whilst people came running, trying to calm her down. Disturbed, I left the building and started to head home.

At this point of my recordings the reader should already know that my sister Lucy could not be helped anymore.

She obviously must have caught an infectious disease on her travels, which had led to her and Benjamin parting ways after some argument. That must have pushed her already fragile mind into the abyss of madness.

Or so I thought on my way home.

When the cabby arrived at my mansion, I sat down and indulged in some scotch. Sitting in my old winged chair, I did not know how to proceed. How long I sat there, brooding, I cannot tell, but when I came back to my senses, the darkness of the night had already enveloped my home.

After some due consideration, I decided to search my sister's room. That would have been something unthinkable, had the situation not been this bad. And I was certain: I would find the strange object she had hidden away that day, it had to be somewhere between her belongings. I searched her bureau, her wardrobe, her jewelry box, even her bed.

Nothing.

I found nothing.

But I did not give up that easily. Impatiently, I started tapping against the walls and floor panels, until I was lucky in one of the corners of the room. It did not take me long to lever out the loose plank with an iron poker and discover the small niche, wherein the object lay, covered in line cloth. I took the thing out but hesitated for a brief moment. If my sister's tale was true – against all odds – I was holding an extremely dangerous object in my shaking hands. I had to try not to come into contact with the mysterious thing.

Unwrapping the cloth and letting its content softly drop onto the bedsheets, I finally got a view at the ancient fragment. It looked plain, almost innocent at the first glance, yet it also seemed to emit a sinister glow. The material it was made from I could not determine, but the surface was strangely rough; I also did not trust my eyes at first, when I spotted the incredibly delicate pattern covering the fragment's surface. It almost looked like it consisted of a billion small hexahedrons, holding together to form the disgusting object.

Till this moment – as I am writing these lines – I do not know what happened to me in the next moments. I can neither describe nor understand it. The fragment... seemed to call for me, causing a bewitching, hypnotising echo inside my mind and when I got back to my senses, I caught me touching the surface of the object with my index finger. A burning sensation shot through my left hand and I flinched, shocked and full of contempt and disgust. What hellish magic had done its work? When I inspected my index finger, I spotted a yellowish, purulent spot, pulsating unhealthy in the light of the candles that lit the room.

Cursing myself and the fragment, I ran into my bathroom.

No matter how hard I tried to clean the spot on my finger, nothing worked. Not even the heat from the flames of my fireplace could cauterize it. Slowly I started panicking, but some glasses of scotch managed to calm me down a bit.

It dawned on me that I had to pay a visit to my sister.

As fast as possible.

Therefore, I found myself standing in front of the gates of *Waypine Asylum* again this afternoon. My hands were concealed by gloves, so as not to disturb Lucy any further.

It pains me to report:

I was too late.

Not two heartbeats after pressing open the gates, several muscular men came running at me, led by big dogs.

Confused I stopped in my tracks and asked about their terrified faces.

"Your sister. She is gone," one of the men told me, having stopped right next to me, pale as a corpse.

"Gone? How in in the heavens can she be... gone? I was told your institution is one of Britain's best!" I snapped at him.

"We do not know! Please, Sir, no one can explain it! Her condition worsened yesterday evening. A lot. She was sweaty from head to toe, but... it was not really sweat. It was some kind of... slime... or bile...

She could not talk anymore, not even one word escaped her lips, just gurgling sounds. She lost her hair. All of her hair.

Nobody had the courage to enter her cell, the food was given to her through the small cat flap in her door. Today, the doctor was supposed to examine her again, but she was not there anymore. We only found her clothes and a huge trail of wet slime, leading from the cat flap to the barred window opening in the wall of the corridor," the man reported, shaking with terror.

"Are you taking me for a bloody idiot? What kind of institution are you running here, you morons?" I roared, full of rage, but the man had already run away.

It should be rather self-explanatory that I did not trust anything the man had said, but nonetheless I hurried after the men and their tracking dogs, getting a sick feeling in my guts.

Not long and we reached the wall on the backside of the premises, where the dogs stopped. I got dizzy by the look of the giant trail of bile, leading across the wall and into the forest that was bordering on *Waypine*'s main area.

Almost as if a big fat slug had slowly slithered over the obstacle and disappeared.

This could not be.

This simply... could not possibly be reality.

Whilst one of the men vomited into a bush, the rest of us took all their courage and followed the track deeper into the forest.

We ran for about a quarter of an hour, the fear of what we would find at the end of the trail of bile growing inside each of us by the second, until finally it seemed to be immeasurably vast. In the end, we reached a roaring river, blocking our path. The tracking dogs ripped at their leashes, but as we did not see the other side of the raging waters clearly, we had to just assume and hope that my sister – or whatever was left of her – had found her ending at this place, drowned in the river.

I thought that perhaps this ending was best for all of the involved and so we returned to *Waypine Asylum*, tired and swearing not to ever tell anyone of our hunt and my sister's escape or any of the terrible things linked to it.

Evening has come and my story is almost at the close, but I do not intend to hide any of the information I have. When I came home, tired and sweating, I went straight for the bathroom. The mirror showed my face, white as a sheet. Since the hunt I am feeling incredibly sick and frail and a nameless terror rests inside my stomach, slowly waking up.

I examined my index finger again and discovered to my horror that it had gotten elastic, almost as if the bone had started to vanish. Or perhaps I imagined things?

Depressed, I sat down at the dining table, waiting for my food. Then I remembered that the maid had long gone. Must have just slipped my mind. I made some soup, nothing special. The evening twilight started shining through the windows when a loud thumping came from the front door, almost as if someone was throwing a wet sack against the wood.

Who could that be, at this time? I slowly rose from my chair, began to trudge towards the sound.

Almost there, an ugly smell began to fill the air, perhaps vinegar? It came from the outside.

Surprised, I stopped.

Then, I heard the gurgling sound.

It sounded like water, like a throat full of thick bile, forcing its way out of grotesque, deformed lungs.

Everything within me refused to open the door, but my curiosity got the better of me and I reached for the door handle.

Before I could do anything, the door popped open on its own and what I saw made me pass out.

When I woke up, I was alone, lying in the entrance hall of my mansion, my whole body covered in slime. I got up, trying to suppress the image that was making my thoughts stop.

I looked at my left hand and the world around me started to get dizzy again.

No fingers were left, just one big, slimy, skinless lump sat at the end of my residual limb, drowning in a bile-like substance. I carried myself to this desk, here in the attic, writing these lines that will probably be my last.

Whatever gossip the people will come up with, trying to explain mine or my sister's behavior or our disappearance, this alone is the truth and I hope, I pray that these notes will give you an – albeit mad - explanation for everything, perhaps saving the name of my once renowned family in the end.

My memories are slowly beginning to fade, and my lungs are starting to fill with a substance that is trying to rob me of my senses. I feel my body growing cold and my bones vanishing, while slime exits from my pores.

I will try to get to the bushes outside, trying to find a hole in the ground, where nobody will ever find my remains, taking the hellish fragment with me to bury it deep underground. I have to make sure that it never sees the light of the sun again.

In my head, pictures are starting to appear, pictures of foreign worlds, vast cities and of grotesque skinny creatures, ruling over far-reaching landscapes.

But there is another picture that slips back into my mind again and again, the picture of a slimy, creeping lump.

The creature that had been at my doorstep, looking like a huge slug, writhing. The body of bile on whose top end I could see the distorted, horrified face of my sister.

## Characters

* Edward Pines
* Lucy Pines
* Benjamin Drumpsman
* Dr. Manchester

## Entities & Objects

* Black Shard
* Mulgda

## Possible Connections to the Ebrugh

* The mirror that Miharu found is a black, coral-like object, possibly similar to the shards in China.
* The Ebrugh are mentioned by the cult members.