DECEASED
a.k.a. The Crying Man
Individual named as one who “sees” by the Flame-head Man just before he died. Remembered for being associated with expeditions made by the Sincomakti School of Sciences thirty to forty years prior to the beginning of the campaign (and probably just before his commitment to Briarstone Asylum).
According to Winter, the uprising at the asylum somehow centered around this long-term patient. He was apparently a quiet, non-verbal, peaceful man, an artist, who suffered from night terrors. His artwork was sold by the hospital to fund his stay.
Naysa claimed he was a strange-looking man, in his seventies or eighties but with smooth, unwrinkled skin. Long, pale hair, and sad eyes; always crying. From this description, the party realized he was the Crying Man from their dreams.
He first appeared as a sleek human man with long white hair and saucer-like wet eyes in Grip’s dream, noted for his lamentation: “What have I done?”
He appeared in Ray’s dream, seeming both old and young: his hair perfectly white, long and straight, pulled back into a ponytail hanging halfway down his back; his hands wrinkled and withered and gouty, but the skin of his face soft and pale and stretched tight over his skull. His huge liquid blue eyes leaked water despite the fact that he never seemed to close them, or even to blink.
In Gull’s dream he was more of a background character, while the Nightmare Man took prominence.
Gulliver and Ray recognized the sound of his voice coming from the wall of fungus blocked by a bedsheet near the chapel at Briarstone Asylum. The fungus wall responded to the name Ulver Zandalus when Ray addressed him as such before channeling positive energy upon it and temporarily destroying it in Chapter 10, and again when presenting it with a mirror in Chapter 14.
In Chapter 11, the Hungry Flesh appeared to be a manifestation of his face, crying, “What have I become?”
From Dr. Losandro’s journal, the party learned that Count Lowls had suggested to Dr. Losandro that the key to unlocking the treatment of his nightmares could be found in Valhadis’ The Chain of Nights.
In Chapter 17, the party confirmed in his patient file that he is an artist and his attending doctor is Dr. Eliege Losandro. She noted that he somehow rendered an image of one the standing stones on Briarstone Isle, even though he had never seen it. Count Lowls took an interest in Zandalus three years ago, particularly in his art, but Dr. Trice had misgivings about that interest.
In Chapter 18, the party learned from his ecclesiastical record that he is a psychic and that while accompanying Henri Meirtmane on his famed expeditions, he had been captured by a cult of Him Who Is Not To Be Named, where he was tortured and experimented on until rescued by Meirtmane. Avros Setrakian‘s friend Burgevin claimed Zandalus never recovered from the ordeal. He became a ward of the Pharasmin church in Rozenport when he returned home.
In Dora’s psychometry vision of Dr. Losandro’s office in Chapter 22, the party learned much more about his activities on 17 Lamashan: how he came to be possessed by the Tatterman during Dr. Losandro’s use of an occult ritual contained within The Chain of Nights, after his heroic efforts to stop the creature from emerging into the real world.
In Chapter 26, he appeared in Dora's dream and attempted to apologize to her before being driven off by Thema.
The party discussed the habits and location of Zandalus/the Tatterman with Dr. Elbourne in Chapter 27.
In the Act I Epilogue, some sparse details of his capture by a cult of Hastur in 4683 were learned.
In Chapter 35 (Part 2), the party encountered him in the flesh. He was speaking the Kellish language while attempting to keep the Tatterman at bay. He warned them that “he’s going to do it, he’s going to find it,” (seemingly referring to Count Lowls) before losing control of his body to the Tatterman.
Ulver Zandalus was killed by Thema Antea on 3 Neth, 4718.
First Reference: Chapter 5
Other Notable References: Chapter 6, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 26, Chapter 27, Chapter 35 (Part 2), Act I Epilogue