A Quiet Retreat and the Bosco Sanatorium

In June 2021, PaizoCon Founder Timitius made an open call to submit to Wayfinder #22. I was in the midst of my own homebrew Pathfinder campaign, and I was ravenous for an opportunity to engage with Paizo and Pathfinder. For additional context that will be relevant later, that same month COVID 19 pandemic restrictions would lift in my home state. The world was coming out of nearly two years of lockdowns.

I wrote a story about an evil character by the name of Dr. Noris Sedant who deliberately infected the patients under her care with ghoul fever. This submission, along with a profile of the Bosco Sanatorium setting, was accepted.

For a variety of reasons, Wayfinder #22’s release was delayed until March 2024. By then, the pandemic was vanishing in the rear-view mirror, and my Pathfinder campaign had ended.

But the inspiration for my story persists. Noris Sedant is an anagram of Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis. At the time that I wrote the story for Wayfinder, due to DeSantis’ public health policy, Florida had the highest number of new COVID cases and deaths in the United States. If Florida were a country, it would have ranked fourth in the world for new COVID cases per day.

Wayfinder #22 is no lonegr available on the Paizo website, so I have made it available for download in its entirety here.