damned_institute | Night 65: X-Ray Room

Once again, a couple of bursts of static greeted Link as he entered the room, but there was no audio message waiting for him. Strangely, the drawing from last night remained largely intact, as if it had been impossible for their captors to remove. The only thing different was that the vibrant glow from before had diminished, and the image was mostly reduced to a faint, green outline.

But more than that, a companion clue had apparently been set up for whoever entered here. This one required a flashlight to fully examine, but a well-aimed beam would illuminate a framed oil painting hanging from the wall. Beneath that were words written in the same green, glowing paint from last night:

Salome with the Head of John the Baptist

If that wasn't odd enough, though, whoever had arranged the clues also left a small pile of dried leaves beneath the painting. The leaves themselves were unremarkable, and were likely pulled from a common tree. Was it another message, perhaps?

Despite the cryptic clue, though, the person who had come before did not want the patients' troubles to go unrewarded. A first aid kit with these items was perched on the table in the center of the room.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

So this was yet another connection to Jesus? Guy thought that was strange, and had to wonder if this particular clue had been picked precisely because that movie had been shown. Still, even though Guy had paid attention through the entire film, he couldn't say that it gave him any insight on the painting.

"A baptist... I wonder if that means that water's involved in the curing process somehow." Guy knew that he was grasping at straws, but he didn't want to assume that decapitation was the answer. This wouldn't be a very helpful clue if that was the case.

"If he was revered, then why did he end up like... that?" Guy asked, motioning toward the painting. "Is it because he was related to Jesus?" It seemed that despite being a good man, Jesus had gotten into more trouble than anything else. Guy knew how people could resist even good things sometimes, and react with hostility instead of acceptance. None of that was foreign to him.

He wasn't just asking because he was curious, either. Maybe answering the questions would help Claude piece together what this all meant.

When Guy mentioned water, Claude's eyebrows rose. "Oh, hey, that's an idea!" he brightly said. "At the very least, it's gotta have something to do with nature, right? I mean, these leaves have to mean something, too."

Well, probably. He didn't think anyone would have to go through this kind of effort to trip them up, anyway, so it seemed like anything left behind would have to be significant.

As for John the Baptist, Claude paused as he looked at the painting again. "Well, you have to remember the political climate. The Romans didn't like people challenging their authority, and this was how they handled it."

Leaves and water... It honestly didn't mean that much to Guy, and he let out a sigh as he tried to put the pieces together. The only thing it told him was that it probably had something to do with the surrounding area, but that didn't exactly narrow it down. What was out there that could get the device out of Claude and Anise's stomachs?

When Claude explained about John the Baptist, Guy nodded along, staring at the picture for a few more long seconds. "Challenging their authority... I wonder if there was any rhyme or reason to who was picked."

But that wasn't what mattered most at the moment. They needed to get to the bottom of this, and it made him nervous that they hadn't figured this out even with two clues to work from. "How would surgery be made any easier by doing it near leaves and water?" he asked as he frowned in concentration.

Well, that was all assuming the story was historical fact. Claude didn't know enough on the subject to offer anymore insight, so he left it at that.

While he was glad to focus on the issue at hand, Claude couldn't help but cringe. "Well, I'm hoping this will give us some ideas outside of surgery." Cutting himself open, much less cutting other people open, was the last thing he wanted. Unfortunately, though, Guy had a point. What on earth could they possibly do with leaves and water?

Unless...

Crouching down, Claude lifted up one of the leaves and examined it. "I wonder if this is some kind of herb."

It was true that something that wasn't surgery would be the most ideal, although Guy didn't know what else would be capable of removing a device from someone's stomach. When Claude moved forward to examine the leaves, Guy followed after him, grabbing a leaf for himself.

Honestly, it didn't look that remarkable to him, but he also wasn't familiar with Earth's foliage. Then again, Claude probably wasn't either. "It's too bad we don't have a journal with us. Then we could draw what it looks like and ask someone tomorrow."

Herbs were capable of a whole lot of things and could have all sorts of curative effects. Guy wondered if they could just take a handful of the leaves with them to examine later. "We might just be able to stash them in one of our rooms, though."

Frowning to himself in thought, Claude brought the leaf to his nose and tried to detect any telling aroma. Unfortunately, it just smelled like a plain old leaf to him.

"I became pretty good at identifying herbs on Expel, but I'm not too confident about herbs here," Claude admitted. "Maybe we should take some with us."

Of course, he didn't want to take all of them in case someone had the same idea. "Let's take two. That way, if this does help with a cure, we'll have one for me and one for Anise, and there will be enough for other people to grab tonight too."

So they had a similar problem, which was that they couldn't speak with any confidence about Earth plants. Still, taking two of the leaves with them made sense to Guy, and it seemed like a fair compromise, so he nodded and then very carefully put the piece of plant life into his pocket.

"We can always let people know what we saw, too. Hopefully someone else will get more out of it than we did." Someone who knew more about this religion, maybe. Or more about artwork. Or more about plants. There was a lot going on here, and Guy felt lost about all of it. Seeing how he'd been pretty well-read back home, it was a frustrating feeling.

Still, best to focus on the next task. Anise and Luke would be counting on them, after all. "So, did you want to try out the X-ray machine again? If you show me how to use it, I should be able to scan you." Guy could understand why Claude might be nervous to see what was inside his own body, but it seemed important that they look just the same.

Claude, too, tucked the leaf into his jacket. "I'll bet you're right," he said with a nod. There were a lot of people from different backgrounds trapped here with them. Someone had to have some ideas.

When his friend reminded him of the X-Ray machine, Claude looked up at the device positioned on the room's ceiling. "Um, yeah, okay."

Guy was pretty proficient with machinery, so he had no doubt that he'd get the hang of it. To be perfectly honest, though, part of him was a bit apprehensive about taking a look for themselves. At least no one was in here. If they found anything troublesome, he and Guy could potentially keep it to themselves without any issue.

"Come on," he added as he motioned toward the operational room. "It shouldn't take long."

With that, he stood up from his crouch and began to walk toward their destination.

((To here.))

Night 65: X-Ray Room

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