Cooperate for now and look for opportunities to prove your identity once inside.

You **** your shoulders to relax, letting the tension drain from your limbs. Resistance now would only cement their mistaken beliefs. For now, you'll cooperate and hope that everything clears up when Dr. Ashford arrives. The orderlies' grip loosens slightly as you cease your protests.

"That's right," Judith says, not unkindly. "No use fighting. You'll only end up tiring yourself out." The orderlie states making an excellent point. You're better off conserving your energy right now. You'll need all your strength for once, Dr. Ashford arrives.

Agnes and Judith guide you deeper into the institute. The entrance hall gives way to a long corridor lined with gaslit sconces. From somewhere above, you hear the distant sound of footsteps on wooden boards and somewhere else entirely. You hear a woman's voice raised in what might be anger or distress.

"How long have you been experiencing these delusions?" Agnes asks conversationally. She is older than Judith. You remember reading that they were nearly ten years apart, yet they seem to have more of an equal role than you would have thought. "Dr. Ashford will want to know the duration before we begin treatment." Judith chimed in, looking for you to cooperate.

Not wanting to seem combative, you tell them you've been experiencing them for several months. It's a lie, of course, you're perfectly sane, but you need to wait, and by your time. "It has been... distressing." You say pretending you're talking about the delusions they think you have. In reality, you're describing how you feel about your current predicament.

"They always are," Judith says, turning a corner leading a smaller hallway. At its far end stands a heavy oak door with a brass plate reading intake room. Agnes reaches ahead and opens the door, revealing a sparse room with whitewashed walls, a wooden examination table covered in oilcloth, and various implements hung on pegboards. The implements included specula, syringes, forceps, and other instruments you struggle to identify.

There are leather cuffs attached to the table's corners. A small desk in one corner holds a thick ledger, already open, with several of the pages written in precise handwriting. Neither of the orderlies speak as they position you before the examination table, waiting for what comes next.

Your options

Ask Judith and Agnes questions about the intake procedure trying to understand how the institute operates.

Request to speak to Dr. Ashford directly, saying there's been an administrative error

Try to examine the leger when no one is looking.