Vergesson Sanatorium

The  is an asylum located in the Pearlbow Wilderness in the northern Dwendalian Empire.

Physical Description
The sanatorium is located in the Pearlbow Wilderness, near a mountain range that climbs into the sky, about a day and a half's journey from Rexxentrum. It consists of a number of tall buildings of gothic architecture, some three and four stories, some towers. A very tall wrought iron fence surrounds the entire locale, and there are guards posted. The site is somewhat serene but still imposing. The main gate is iron and about ten feet high and eight feet wide. It rises up in a curve at the top where it opens, and has Crownsguard posted, wearing darker uniforms meant to blend in better with the forest and carrying spears. The courtyard consists of beautiful grass, with two fountains, trees, and small gardens.

There are five large main structures, two of which are connected by hallways. The others are separate with little stone paths that lead between them. Towers stand at the corners of the interior. The main central building is a very wide three-story mansion-like structure, with a roof that comes into large peaks that have carved iron symbols at the top. It has in some ways a European church-type architecture to it, but does not have any religious symbolism or connotation to it. It is where most of the patients are kept.

There are two smaller mansion-like abodes on the premises, a general use stone building and tower to the northwest, and an elaborate, extravagant tower on the northeast side that is Trent Ikithon's abode. The northwest tower is used by the people who work at the sanatorium, where equipment is kept, where research is conducted and certain events and classes are occasionally held. The northeast tower is wide and about eighty feet tall, pincering towards the top and thicker at the base, not crenellated on the edges. It has some design flair to it, mixing the architecture of the central mansion building. The entrance is through a side doorway into one of two chambers that the bottom floor is separated into, the first one being a lounge or waiting area. A spiral stairway leads downward to a locked door, Trent Ikithon's arcane laboratory.

The Laboratory
The arcane laboratory holds multiple bookshelves and tables with glass vials and alchemical supplies that are affixed to each other with copper coils and long liquid-carrying tubes that release into heavy vials and liquid containers. There are materials locked away and kept under glass along a number of distant shelves on the far wall. There is a single chandelier in the center of the room hanging from the 15-foot tall ceiling that dangles down and gives off a bright white light that gives a fairly consistent true-color look to the interior of the chamber.

Uses
Ludinus Da'leth told the Mighty Nein that the sanatorium had many uses: as a place of recovery, or a place of caretaking for individuals who could not take care of themselves, particularly those of skillsets that made them challenging to treat in more public regions. It was also a place of learning for those with learning challenges, and a place where the Cerberus Assembly could maintain some of their research without worrying about political challenges. Some of Caleb's training as a Volstrucker took place there.

Ludinus stated that patients who were not admitted were free to leave. Some patients were there by choice and gave consent to be held there for a period. Other patients were kept because they were a danger to themselves or others, and were not free to leave.

Background
The building that now houses the sanatorium was constructed some time during or before the Marrow War. Known as the Archevault, it was used as a jail for prisoners of war. After the war, it was repurposed by the Cerberus Assembly, and renamed after its founder, the late Assembly member Lord Symon Vergesson.

Caleb told Nott and Beau that when he broke after killing his parents, he went to an asylum for quite a number of years. He doesn't remember much of what happened to him there, but years later a woman, another patient, put her hands on him and took away the clouds and the fake memories that Trent Ikithon had implanted of Caleb's parents discussing treason. When he broke out, he killed a guard and took the amulet protecting him from being located.

Caleb shares part of his history with the rest of the group, saying only that a lot of big plans for him didn’t pan out, he went a little crazy, and then ran away.

The Mighty Nein are brought by Ludinus Da'leth to Trent Ikithon's arcane laboratory beneath the Sanatorium to inspect the Luxon beacon being held there. Caleb tells the group he was held there for eleven years.

When Caleb asked Astrid how he got to the Sanatorium, she told him that "we took you there" when he broke after setting his parents' home on fire. It was for his own good because he was a danger to them and to himself.

Chapter 19
After Caleb asked Astrid for amulets to protect against scrying, she gave him directions to a supposed cache of the amulets in one of the outer buildings at the Sanatorium.

Trivia

 * The name of the Sanatorium is possibly derived from the German word "Vergessen" which means "to forget".