"Elihu," the new doctor of Collinsport, has a pretty uneventful morning... until, a little before lunchtime, someone brings in a very, very wounded man...

---

(1. I'm just guessing at the time of day. Forgive/correct if it's wrong.

2. Be sure to make it clear if Adam is present or if he's helped get the prisoner to the doctor's office and then fled the area.

3. Be sure to make it clear if the man is still tied up and gagged or not (and let me know for how long he was ungagged, if so).)

Adam, carried both men, bound and gagged, over his shoulders. He kept his head covered by the hood and hoped it would mean that people would just think he was a very large man. He followed behind Harry and once in the doctor's office he dumped the two men on the floor unceremoniously. He then stepped backwards into a shadow to hide his visage.

Elihu is taken aback by the situation.  After all, he's never had patients present while bound and gagged.  Considering they were bought to a doctor in broad daylight, their restraints must be there for a good purpose, though possibly not entirely legal.  But no matter the legality, the two were wounded and therefore he was obligated to repair their wounds.

He grabbed a scalpel (more a knife, really) and cut away the clothes covering the worst of the wounds.  He looks to the two that brought them in; a tall blonde woman and an even taller man who looked like he's gotten into more than a few scrapes of his own.  "What happened to these two?  Why are they tied up?"

Adam said a single word, letting his voice like stones being rubbed together carry throughout the room but no further, "Vampire."

Crouched down examining his patients, the tall man's answer takes him by surpsrie.  He falls back and scuttles away from the bound two on hands and feet.

"They're vampires?  Why did you bring them here?  Shouldn't you have staked them or something?!"

Harry indicates the gent who fell through the floor with a jut of her chin. "Don't reckon he's as much a danger, not near as close t' bein' turned." She points to the second man. "Him, he could turn at any time. Might be able t' stop it, but ain't much of his mind left." She spat to one side. "Regardless, didn't wanna stake 'em if there's a snowball's chance they can be saved... or laid t' rest proper."

Vampires about to turn.  The opportunity of a lifetime and instead of his state of the art lab, he's in the medical stone age.

Elihu inches closer to his two patients.  "I don't know if there's anything I can do.  Vampirism is a bloodborne disease, or at least it seems so in the literature.  I don't have so much ad penicillin, let alone antivirals or antiparasitics."

 " Wait!  Vampires have a weakness to sunlight.  Lets take them to my backyard.  Maybe the ultraviolet light will burn it out ofvthem before they turn. "

Adam spoke flatly, "Who is Penny Sillan? What are anti-virials or anti-para-sytics?"

Harry moves forward to assist with one of two men. "Ain't from around here originally, are ye, Doc? Welcome t' th' late Eighteenth Century." She quips over her shoulder to Adam. "Thems th' good doctor's mother's sisters, clearly... Auntie Vera and Auntie Paris." She smirks at the doctor. "Nurses both, aye? Taught ye everythin' ye know."

Adam nodded and said, "Ah yes, that makes sense. Three nurses would be of great help."

"Umm, yes.  Nurses.  Aunts.  Just medical talk.  Latest advancements and whatnot."

The doctor rubs his temples as he mutters under his breath,  "Remember the year, idiot."

Elihu gets to his feet and looks at the two who brought him the two patients.  "Allright, let's get these two into the backyard.  Either the sunlight will kill them or cure them...I hope."

Adam caught the men by the scruff of their collars and drug them out back into the sunlight. He is careful to keep himself as concealed as possible while outside.

Harry follows Adam out back, fishing a small round tin from the pocket of her squall jacket as she converses with the doctor. "Dare I ask how'd ye end up here, doc?" She opens the tin, takes a small plug of dark fibrous material from it, and inserts it between her cheek and gum. "Strange experiment gone awry or some such?"

"You could say that," Elihu responds with a snort.  "I take it you're another time traveler, accidental or otherwise.  How did you get here?  Maybe our current circumstances are somehow connected."

Adam did not understand what they were talking about so he tuned them out.

Harry grunts in reply. "Charity Collins, née Trask, held a séance. Whatever we contacted pulled a few of us here. At least two are currently missing. Another stumbled through some sorta portal he found whilst roaming Collinwood. He's missing too. Been here 'bouta month. Folk ain't used t' seein' a gal dressed like a fella or near as tall as me, so they think I'm a young man on account of me bein' pretty. Prefer t' keep it that way. More than a little superstitious hereabouts, folk are."

Adam turned at the mention of a seance. "I believe that might have been a mistake." This is clearly an understatement, so perhaps he is thinking something else? He moved back out of the sun. He halted, turning to Elihu, "I am not a vampire. I honestly do not know exactly what I am." He pulled back his hood once inside so that his myriad of scars are at least somewhat obvious. "I blame the Colins family. I mean to have revenge before my death."
This message was last edited by the player at 03:29, Wed 07 Dec 2022.

The two, ah, patients don't like the sunlight.

One is a man, maybe around 30 years of age, dressed like a sailor-- although his clothes are torn and blood-stained and they look like he's been sleeping in them day-in-day-out for a week. Even though he's not quite conscious (yet-- looks like it might come soon), he is clearly uncomfortable in the sunlight, squirming, wincing (squeezing his eyes shut tighter). He wiggles in his tied-up-ness.

The other man, darker, longer hair, wearing only underclothes (and tied and gagged), is, on one hand, having less-active symptoms, but he's also clearly uncomfortable. He doesn't look as much like he's waking up-- he looks more like he's fading fast health-wise. It's probably the big, fresh wound in his gut. (Elihu feels a bit of regret that he didn't look these patients over a little more closely when they first arrived.)

"Clearly.  We're currently in a year closer to the times when they burned witches than our own.  Or at least my own.  What year are you from, if I may ask."



Elihu was taken aback in surprise by Adam's countenence, but that was quickly overtaken by a scientist's curiosity.  "That must have been some accident...but it wasn't an accident.  Your skin, those aren't grafts. or at least not purely dermatological.  And those are scars from surgical stapling.  You're not from this time either, or at least you weren't when your surgery was done.  This is absolutely fascinating.  Do you know how this all happened to you?"



Interrupted from his new scientific mystery by the previous one, Elihu returns his attention to the two vampires.  Or pre-vampires, whatever they're called.  Finally spotting the guys wound, he curses his sloppiness.  "Watch them.  I need to go grab some sutures to sew him up." he can't help but make a quick mental note to observe how his patient's vampiric turning will affect this serious wound.

Harry answers the doctor in a matter-of-fact tone. "Nineteen sixty-six. Collinsport native. Captain of my own boat. Ran a charter service. You?"

(Elihu, roll INT, please.)

07:11, Today: Elihu Cromwell rolled 18 using 1d20.  INT vs 13.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:21, Tue 20 Dec 2022.

Responding to the doctor, "Cyrus Collins is responsible. I was not this, I was a regular man, though with an irregular occupation. When he had no more need of me he disposed of me in this way. He should have killed me."

Harry spits to one side. "Always a Collins at th' heart of any trouble hereabouts. Earnin' my keep and findin' a way home preoccupied me these past months, but pieces of the current puzzle started comin' together recently. Ain't got th' big picture yet, and may never. And goin' home ain't all that simple. Any change we make'll cause ripples in th' time-bands, like tossin' a stone in a pond. Like as not, home ain't necessarily gonna be what ye remember of it."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:28, Mon 19 Dec 2022.

Elihu's hurried medical work... well, if the wounded man dies, it won't be from his actual recent wounds.

Both patients continue to squirm and keep their eyes squeezed shut against the daylight, though (even though clouds are increasingly drifting in from the south).

Elihu suspects that either of them might wake up soon... if he had to guess, he'd guess it would be the other, less-wounded man first... (Both are still bound and gagged.)

"Unless what we do here and now is what created our future in the first place.  Free will versus predestination and all that."

Elihu returns his attention to the patchwork man.  "You, sir, are a medical impossibility in my time, let alone in this one.  Skin grafting like this looks crude on the surface, but at an immunological level?  Collins has done in reality what Mary Shelley hasn't even imagined yet."

 Could Cyrus Collins be the original Frankenstein?  Even with just skin.  But what if it isn't just skin?  What if this man is just what the Monster was, different body parts stitched together and brought back to life?

Time travel.  Vampires.  Frankenstein's Monster.  These past few months has totally turned science as Elihu understood it on its head.

The groaning of his two patients brings Ekihu out of his thoughts.  "Well, they haven't burst into flame, so that's something.  How did you cone by these two?

Harry considers the doctor for moment. "Heard 'bout th' missin' folk? Three are folk from my time, two pulled here by th' same séance as me and th' third stumbling across someplace in Collinwood that bridged th' two time-bands. Three others were folk whose paths I only crossed here in 1795. Had a dream 'bout two of those three. Stockbridge family had a house not far from town. Me and Adam here went lookin' fer clues related to th' missing, found these gents instead. Beheaded and staked another who'd already turned. Goes without sayin' that a lone vampire walkin' the streets is a bad thing . More'n one don't bode 'specially well fer Collinsport's continued existence."

"But why would a vampire make three more vampires but then leave them?" Elihu wonders.  "That'd be asking for trouble."

"Any idea who these two are?  Maybe their identities are a clue as to what our vampire is planning.  There must a reason he turned them instead of killing them outright."

Harry indicated the man without fresh injuries. "Figured he's a sailor, from his clothing. The fellow whose head we parted from his shoulders looked t' be a navy cadet or ensign." She idly scratches her cheek. "Maybe they're lonely for others of their kind. Dracula always seemed t' have his brides." Harry muses aloud. "We've yet t' see aught but male victims. Could be our vampire is a woman."

Adam scoffed, "The restless dead are a plague. They spread as mindless vermine, like a rabid animal. Tis best to destroy them."

Harry nods once. "Vampires create progeny t' distract and identify those who'd destroy 'em. New-made vampires are more likely t' attract th' attention of them as like t' hunt 'em down and stake 'em."

"I would think it better not to be noticed at all than to have to set out decoys," Elihu muses.  "Unless, his or her cover has already been blown.  How many strange deaths and disappearances have there been in the past few, I don't know, weeks?  Months?  There are my two predecessors, the three that came with you, these two -- though technically they haven't disappeared yet.  maybe if we can figure out where and when this all started and the circumstances behind the first disappearance, we may have the loose thread to pull."

Harry spits to one side. "Only one strange death I'm aware of. Abigail Collins, sister of family patriarch Isaac Collins. Died with a look of stark terror on her face. Witness responding t' her scream saw something that called t' mind an imp from Hell. We're callin' it a wild monkey escaped from a ship recently arrived from the tropics t' keep folk from panicking." She scratches her cheek again. "As fer disappearances, I count six in total: Professor Willoughby, Doctor McKenzie, and Bigby Macintyre are the three from my time-band. The other three I only know from here: Reverend Trask, Deputy Gallow, and a woman named Regina. Gallow was last seen in her company. Her sister was attacked a few weeks ago. Trask arrived at the behest of Miss Abigail, and disappeared around the time of her death as far as I can determine. He's a witchfinder of some repute, I'm told."

The first, less-wounded man (the one who didn't fall from the edge of the rotted upstairs floor when it collapsed) groans a little, opens his eyes just a crack-- slams his lids shut again in pain, squirms... tests his bonds... they hold 'im just fine.

He's awake.

At the same time, Elihu sees someone pass by behind the nearest fence. They show zero sign of having been eavesdropping-- between the fence-slats, he saw them come flickering by, and continue onward, giving no sign of seeing nor hearing anything amiss nor unusual... but it strikes him suddenly that we are literally (if it weren't for the cloud cover) doing this in broad daylight. (Anxiousness increases)

Elihu grimaces at the sudden thought of someone overhearing.  He could see them changing from valiant detectives to prime suspects from just a misunderstanding and a word with the constable.

"We should probably save this discussion for later in case some passerby gets the wrong idea.  I think I can convince passers-by that this scene is a legitimate medical treatment but the other things?  We probably should keep until we get back inside."

"Do the two of you want to clean up?  The sink is -- I mean the well -- ah! I've only been here for a day.  You two can probably find your way around the house better than I."

Harry shrugs. "May as well. Might wanna check Adam fer injuries while I fetch water. Had a couple close calls in th' Stockbridge place and he got th' worst of it."

Adam protested, "Sleep, I just need to sleep. You do not need to examine me."

"Are you sure?" Elihu asks Adam.  "Your, ah, unusual skin condition could be more susceptible to wounds."?

Harry quietly suggests to Adam. "Then get some sleep. I'm sure th' doc here can scare up a blanket and somewhere fer ye t' stretch out." She departs to fetch two buckets of water from the town well and returns in an irritable mood. "Damn village gossips hangin' 'bout th' well. Those not lookin' fer a gigolo tried t' hook me up with their daughter or niece." Shaking her head in disgust, Harry fills a clean cookpot with water and hangs it over the fire to boil. "Bloody hell. Last thing I need is some fool with a head full of romantic nonsense followin' me around makin' moon-eyes at me, thinkin' I'm an eligible bachelor. Ha, thinkin' I'm eligible, period! Ain't never had no desire fer romance. Sex can be nice, so long as th' other person knows t' get lost after."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:07, Mon 16 Jan 2023.

Adam was anxious for rest.

Harry makes tea with part of the water, leaving the kettle to steep while she washes up and tidies her clothes. Part of her wanted nothing more than to slip into the ocean and let the salty chill scour all trace of land from her. Damn it all! Last thing I need now is to let the sea-longing take hold. Can't afford to lose myself in it. Not yet. Not now.

Elihu finds some blankets for Adam.  "Go ahead and use my bed.  Not a problem," he said.

He sat on a step to the open back door, keeping one eye on his two vampire-infected patients and another inside as he waited for Harry to return.  When she did, he reported, "not much since you left.  Just a bit of moaning and writhing.  They don't seem to be getting any better, but they don't seem to be getting any worse, so I'm not sure what effect the sunlight is having other than making them miserable.  We probably should start making plans as to what we're going to do with them come sundown.  My experience with, um, people in their condition is very limited."  He takes a glance around the perimetyer of the yard.  he didn't see anyone, but he figured best to be cautious anyways.  "All I know is what I read.  Stoker, Lugosi, Christopher Lee.  The experts in their field.  I've only seen one other case personally and I didn't have the chance to examine her."

Elihu remembered back to when he first discovered Regina Palmer was a vampire.  Once he stopped fearing for his life, his medically-trained mind took over and he started peppering her with questions.  She made it clear in no uncertain terms -- a set of bared fangs -- she wasn't interested in sharing.

Harry nods approvingly at the doctor's list of names. "Dracula: Prince Of Darkness just came out toward th' middle of January. Did a mail run t' Boston so I could catch it on openin' night. Ye forgot Cushing. He was in all three of th' Hammer vampire films. Lee was only in the first and third." She chuckles amusedly. "Everthin' I know 'bout fightin' vampires I learnt from Professor Abraham Van Helsing. Where'd ye see this other case? This time-band or th' one ye came from?"

Adam went to the doctor's bed and tested to see if it would support his weight.

It creaks a little, but it feels like it'll let Adam rest without breaking at all as long as he's very careful lying down on it.

It's extremely nice after sleeping in the woods for so long.



(So wait, we've just left the two prisoner/patients, what, lying bound hand and foot and gagged over in the back or side yard...?)

In reply to They (msg # 45):

OOC: I believe Elihu mentioned bringing them inside.

Adam lays down for a long winter's nap.

"The one I came from. 2022,"  Elihu takes a glance back at his patients before continuing.  <darkblue>"Her name was Regina Patterson."

"It's too much to be coincidence that I'd come across two different people with the same name two-hundred years apart.  All I can think is that my travel to this time has to be connected somehow, but I don't know how.  And if my time's Regina had any inkling of this happening, she didn't clue me in on it."

Sorry, I could have sworn I had already posted.

My plan was to leave them outside but the three of us go inside -- Elihu stationed at the door so he could watch his patients -- so we wouldn't be overheard.

Harry mutters a curse under her breath. "Regina, did ye say? Pale, delicate, middling height, dark red hair? She have a sister Mary? Friends named Reuben and Gerard?"

Elihu nods.  "Red hair?  Yeah, that sounds like her.  I couldn't tell you about the others though.  She's the only one I've met."

"I take it the two of you aren't on the best of terms."

Harry shrugs. "Only met her in passin'. I know she's acquainted with Gerard Collins, recently come from th' West Indies. Came 'pon th' pair bickerin' in th' street like old lovers. Reuben Gallow had an interest in her as well. Last I saw her, she was in Gallow's company. Both have since gone missin'." Satisfied that the tea is sufficiently steeped, she fetches three cups, pours tea in two of them, and returns the kettle to its hook to keep the remainder warm. She proffers one of the filled cups to the doctor and takes the other herself. "Vampires got any visible tell that'd allow ye t' spot one in a crowd short of using crosses, garlic, mirrors, and sunlight t' trip 'em up?"

"Mmmph," says the gagged-but-conscious man in the yard. "Mmmmmph." Seems like he wants to talk.

12:15, Today: Adam DeLacey rolled 4 using 2d3.  Health.

12:15, Today: Adam DeLacey rolled 8 using 1d20.  v Con 10.

"I don't know," Elihu replies.  "I was tempted to try with twenty-first century Regina, but I figured it might not be wise to piss off a vampire."

"At least we know that sunlight has an effect on them, so we should be safe from them during the day.  They may have servants though.  They might not be nutty as Renfield, but I imagine the allure of eternal life can be pretty tempting."

"Regardless, we should probably keep some crosses and holy water on our persons at all times.
 We probably should avoid garlic for now.  It'd be hard to be inconspicuous with that smell following us around."



"Wait a second." Elihu cocks his head toward the door.  "Do you hear that?  I think one of our patients is coming around."

He hurries over to the one making the noise.  "Do you know who you are?  We had to tie you up because you were delirious.  You were a danger to yourself and others." he says to his patient.  "If you've regained your senses, I can remove the gag.  Do you understand?"

"Mmph." He nods: he understands.

Elihu loosens the gag, careful to avoid the man's mouth in case it's a ruse.  "I'm Dr. Cromwell.  I'm going to ask you some questions and I want you to respond to the best of your ability.  What's your name?  What day is today?  Do you know where you are?  What's the last thing you remember?"

Adam snored loudly.

"...M'name's Ned. ...I think it's Wednesday. This is Collinsport. Th' last thing I remember is praying that someone would rescue me from a room with a rotted floor-- and then a couple'a fools kicked the door in, an' I fell down to the floor below anyway, and got stabbed with a piece o' rotten wood on th' way down, or somethin' like that. Before THAT, th' last thing I remember was being whacked in th' head down by th' docks..."

"Well, I, um," Elihu glanced over to Harry.  "I believe my two friends here chased those two away and rescued you and your friend there.  They brought you to me.  I fixed up your wounds as best I could.  It'll be a rough few weeks of recovery, but I think you'll be all right."

Your friend though?  I'm not sure.  He seems to have, eh, brain fever.  He's not acting right in the head.  We were worried you had the same, so that's why we tied you both up.  We didn't want you to hurt yourselves or us."

"Do you know anything about your friend here?  Anything that can help us figure out what is wrong with him?"

Ned turns his head to squint at the person next to him. "...I don't know that fella. Never seen 'm before. Is 'e another sailor bushwhacked at the docks like me...?" Ned pauses. "...And why is the sun so bright? Can't you let me get out of the sun? It hurts my eyes fiercelike."

"Yeah, ummm, about that," Elihu replies.  'I need to keep you outside in the sun.  Sunlight is really good for fighting infection, and I don't want you to become septic. I mean, you probably know it as blood fever.  I can get you something to cover your eyes though. Hold on."

Elihu fetches a cloth from inside, folds it up, and drapes it over Ned's eyes so that his mouth is still uncovered.  He then looks back to Harry and mouths, get Adam.

"We'll untie you in a second.  Someone else tied you and I'm, ah, not familiar with the knot. I don't want to make it worse, you understand.  While we wait, what can you tell me about the time leading up to when you were shanghaied?  Anything you can tell me might lead us to find who exactly did this to you."

Harry nods once in response to the doctor's silent request and heads indoors to rouse Adam. "Th' fella who fell through th' floor is awake. Doc wants you on hand in case he gets violent, I expect," she tells the big man. "Hot water in th' kettle still, if ye want a cuppa tea." She turns and heads to the backyard once more.

"Naw, I don't know nothin'. Came in off the Evenin' Star, with a hull full of sugar and coffee beans from Jamaica. I think... I... I was walkin' th' docks, smokin' a pipe, and I felt like someone was watchin' me. Didn't seem t' be, but I had that feelin' anyway, couldn' shake it, an... So I walked on down the docks, a little faster, an... I heard somethin' behind me, started t'turn... That's the last I knew. When I woke up, I 'xpected it was a press gang, and I'd be off to Shanghai somewhere... but no, was stripped down to m'smallclothes, and hidden in a rotting old house somewhere..."

"So it sounds like you were shanghaied. but for something other than crewing a ship."  Elihu ribs his chin.  "Either way, you're lucky they found you."

"Have you heard anything about the disappearances of late?  I'm thinking this may be associated with those.  If they abduct people down by the docks, people will just assume they were oress-ganged, just as you thought.  But no, I think this was for some other nefarious purpose.  What, I don't know."

"Did you have a chance to talk with your friend here?

"Huh." Ned is unimpressed, and, so far, not feeling like acting grateful as such.



"Bah. I've lived in Collinsport long enough to know that there's always somethin' wrong with this town. Probably th' high-'n'-mighty Collins' fault. They're always in back of everything, whether there's proof or no."



"Never seen th' fella a day in m'life b'fore."

Adam continued snoring and sleeping.

Harry grins to herself at the sound of Adam's snoring. She jerks her thumb over her shoulder when she crosses into the yard. "He's well and truly tuckered, Doc. Don't think we'd rouse him short of th' whole heavenly host kickin' in th' door t' herald th' Second Comin'."

Elihu frowns.  This could be risky.  Ned is certainly in better shape than his friend, but there is the chance he has turned.  Still, he felt the benefit of having a new ally in their vampire hunt outweighed the risk.

"We'll just have to a manage on our own I guess.  Ned, we're going to roll you over.  If you feel pain anywhere, let me know.  You may have some internal injuries.  Ready?"

As he flips Ned over, He points down to Ned's feet and shakes his head at Harry before going to work untying Ned's hands.

Harry nods once to Elihu and moves forward to attend to Ned's feet. "Damn, whoever tied these knots must've never planned t' untie 'em again," she drawls as she deftly tightens the knots further. "Might need a knife t' saw through th' line."

Ned indicates that rolling him over does in fact hurt him here and there, but Elihi determines that it's all due to bruises, and the wounds that Elihu's already aware of. As long as nothing gets infected-- a serious danger in this time, but no one's better-suited at making sure it doesn't happen like someone from Elihu's time-- Ned should be fine-- mmmmmmmmaybe even able to go back to his normal work in a couple of weeks. Heck, he'll probably be capable of walking around under his own power in just a few days.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:28, Sat 25 Feb 2023.

Continues to snore.

Elihu undoes the ropes typing Ned's hands, all the while keeping in a squatted position so he can (hopefully) make a quick escape if Ned tries to grab him.  It shouldn't be easy for someone mortal to get much use out of their arms for a while after being tied up for hours, but some half-vampire creature?  Elihu figures it's best not to take the chance.

"There that should be a lot more comfortable," he says to Ned.  "You may want to stretch your arms out a bit to work out some knots.  Just go nice and easy, though.  I don't want you to open up some of your cuts."

"How's it coming with the ankles, Harry?"

Harry grunts in response. "A marlinspike'd loosen things up in a jiffy. Take a while t' saw through this line."

"Aw, for pity's sake, let me do it! What kind of a lubber are you...?" says Ned in annoyance, and he starts to work on his own ankle-ropes.

...He stops soon, though. "Ugh, feels like I've been tied for days. Mebbe I have. Can't y'take me inside outta th' sunlight...?"

He pauses. "Say, I'm not in... trouble'r anythin', am I? I'm not bein' held against my will...? It's not a crime t'get knocked out on th' docks... Kinna th' opposite, anyone'd think!"

He looks down at the ground. "...Mebbe I'm not feelin' great, at that. I feel..." He catches himself, and squints at Harry and Elihu. "I mean, I feel fine, considerin' what I've been through. Can I just go soon...?"

Harry defers to Elihu. "He's th' doctor. He says ye can go, ye can go. But ye were sore hurt." She spits to one side. "Gimme th' name of yer ship and I can let th' skipper know yer on th' mend. Can get ye some clean clothes, too."

"It was th' Evening Star... but it's probably gone, by now. I'd been plannin' t' ship out again on th' Pride of Jamestown next... it might have arrived by now and be in port, though I don't know as th' captain will care if I'm sick or well..."

"No, you're not in trouble," Elihu replies.  "Quite the opposite, actually.  We hope you can remember more details regarding your kidnapping so maybe we can catch these criminals before they abduct someone else."

"I just want you to lay back now.  You're feeling dizzy because you're body still a bit stressed from what you've gone through.  Trust me, the sun is doing its job in making you better.  Just lie back, close your eyes, and take deep slow breaths.  We'll get you some tea."

Elihu glances over at Harry.  He mouths cross and points to Ned's chest.

Harry bobs her head. "Tea, aye. Back 'fore ye know't." She heads back indoors to look for a cross or crucifix and pour a fresh cup of tea.

Snoring he turned over onto his side to quiet down.

There's a simple wooden cross on a wall upstairs, held up by just a couple of nails-- just about seven inches high, though carved prettily with simple patterns-- the carver might've been Irish. It'll do.

Harry lifts the cross from the wall and tucks it under her squall jacket alongside her knife. She pours two cups of tea and returns to the backyard. Stepping to Elihu first, she hands him one of the teacups. She then steps to Ned and hands him the second. Reaching under the rear of her jacket as if to scratch an itch, she surreptitiously reveals the cross to Elihu. "I reckon Adam'll be keen fer a steak when he wakes. How 'bout you, Doc?"

"Probably half a cow by the size of him," he says, before realizing that's not exactly what she meant.  He gives her a nod.  "That's a very good idea."

"So Ned, do you think you're up for a cup of tea?  Just take small sips.  They might have drugged you, so I don't want you to drink too quickly until we can see you can hold it down."

Ned sips the tea. "Tastes... a bit foul." He barely sips it, but he is drinking it, just slowly. "But... I admit that might be me. Woke up with a dry, foul taste in m'mouth..."

"Not a surprise," Elihu replies.  "You're sick.  You're, ah, humors are unbalanced, probably from the nasty crack on the head you got.  And who knows how long you were in that house.  All that dust and dampness and rot.  That's not good for the body.  That's why I want you to stay out in the sun.  It'll help purge you of all foul miasma."

"Are you a religious man, Ned?" Elihu asks.  "Maybe holding a Bible or a cross would give you some comfort."

"Nah, m'grandfather was a bible-thumper when I was a kid. Went t'sea t'get away from 'im. I don't hold with those holier-than-thous. They got a right t'believe what they want, but they can keep it away from me..."

"I understand.  Still, people can find comfort in familiar things."

"Miss MacLeod, do you have the item I asked for?"

Harry grunts at Elihu, her expression deadpan. "Ye need t' get out an' socialize more, Doc, if I'm startin' t' look like a woman t' ye." She reaches behind her back, pulling the crucifix from beneath her squall jacket, but feigns snagging it before dropping it right in Ned's hands. "Nice catch. Hope droppin' that don't put me in the Lord's disfavor."

Ned holds it for a second-- then drops it on the ground quickly. "Here, look, what is this? Are you two missionaries or somethin'? Let me out of here! I wanna talk t' th' constable! This is-- it's downright unlawful or somethin'!"

Ned's just about to start calling for help...

(Ned's hand aren't injured nor hurt from where he held the cross, if that's something you were looking for.)

"I'm sorry, Ned," Elihu quickly says.  "I only meant it as something to give you comfort.  Many of my patients -- more religious than you, obviously -- found comfort in holding the cross or a Bible.  It helps soothe their nerves.  I just thought it might help you too.  That was my sole intention, nothing more."

"I'd offer you whiskey, but I haven't unpacked yet and I'm not sure hat trunk I have it in."

Elihu picks up the cross and hands it back to Harry.  "And my apologies to you, Mister MacLeod.  I meant no insult to you either.  You...your voice reminds me a lot of your sister's.  How is she, by the way?  Is she still seeing that, umm, blacksmith?"

"Maybe you can tuck the cross under Ned's friend's arm."

Harry takes the crucifix from Elihu and steps to the other man whilst replying. "'Ccordin' t' her last letter, Peter proposed at long last, so Kate couldn't be happier." She lifts the bound man's hands slightly and tucks the crucifix beneath them.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:51, Mon 27 Mar 2023.

The other bound man stirs fitfully... he moves and squirms until he knocks the crucifix to the ground.

Okay. So. We've worked out that these are not vampires, but they're at the point where they're uncomfortable with holy items and daylight. They can endure them, they'd just prefer not to.

Experiment concluded. Now what?

"One'a you help me up, would ya?" Ned complains, wanting to get to his feet.

Harry takes the crucifix from the ground and passes it to Elihu. "Aye, no trouble. Given any thought where ye'll go?" She steps to Ned, clasps his hand, and hauls him upright. "Can spare ye some coin fer a meal and lodgin' t'night," she says to him, "but only place charity's easy t' come by hereabouts is th' parson."

"Unless you have friends in town you can trust," Elihu adds.  "Not to worry you too much, but I want you to stay low.  Whoever kidnapped you may try again, or even try to kill you to keep you from sharing what you know.  Or what they think you might know.  As far as we know, you and your friend here are the only two that have ever escaped their clutches."

"I'd appreciate if you let us know where you're staying though.  I want to check up on you again tonight and in the morning.  Sometimes problems from injury don't show up for hours or even days after.  It's like a small leak in a boat, I guess you could say.  It doesn't appear much at first but then you're knee-deep in water."

"Ye may wanna stop by th' Constable's office, report th' attack," Harry further suggests to Ned. "Let 'im know where and when ye were, anythin' taken from yer person." She gestures westwardly. "Tell 'im MacLeod and DeLacey pulled ye from th' old Stockbridge place 'long with another fella."

Adam's snoring had gone very low in response to his turning on his side.

"Mmm... Mebbe I should talk t' th' constable," says Ned, a bit worried now. He thinks, hard... then gives up. "I just wanna rest and sleep, somewhere nice and dark, for hours," he says. "Mebbe a boardin' house, jus' until I feel better..."

Harry spits something greenish off to one side. "Th' Widow Morgan runs a boardin' house. Can get meals fer a tad extra, Decent enough food."

"You may want to ask the constable to come here," Elihu adds.  "Maybe he knows who this other gentleman is, or at least can narrow down the possibilities.  I'd hate to think he has some family out there that are worried to death over his disappearance."

"Sure, sure. So... you've no objection to me goin' there now, then? I feel all right enough..."

Harry defers to Elihu. "Seems prudent, but I ain't th' doctor."

Elihu nods.  "Absolutely, Ned.  But please come back tomorrow.  I want to check your wounds to make sure infection hasn't set in.  until then, I will keep an eye over your fellow hostage.  Hopefully, he'll improve over the night and be able to give us more on who may have been behind your kidnapping."

"Yeah... yeah, sure... Be seein' ya..."

Ned wanders off.

Elihu runs his fingers through his hair and heaves an exasperated groan.  "So we just released into town someone who might be turning into a vampire while stuck with another here.  There's three of us and two of them, so if we split up, one of us will have to go it alone.  I don't think that's a good idea.  Three of us against who knows what is bad enough odds.  One?  Probably wind up like Ned.  Or worse."

"Any suggestions?"

Harry chuckles. "Walk softly and carry a big stake?"

Adam slept soundly.

Harry shrugs. "Burning th' old Stockbridge place t' th' ground would merely drive our vampires int' even deeper hidin'." She spits to one side. "Lead that directed me there had t' do with two of th' missing persons: a redhead by th' name of Regina, acquaintance of Gerard Collins, and a deputy constable by th' name of Reuben Gallow."

"Regina again," Elihu rubs his chin as he considers the situation.  "Did you talk to Regina in the day or at night?  She's a vampire in my time, but I don't know when she was turned.  Do you think she could have been leading you into a trap?"

Harry shakes her head. "She and Gallow went missin' 'bout a week afore I were asked t' look int' all th' disappearances. Spoke with her at night. Interrupted an argument she and Gerard Collins were havin'. Gallow showed up not long after, asked t' question her, and th' pair of 'em went off together," she remarks. "Last time I recall seein' 'em, myself. Woman by the name of Mary got attacked down by th' docks 'bout th' time I arrived. Badly injured. She's laid up in th' boardin' house down that way, Regina's allegedly her sister. Ned and this fella," Harry jerks her thumb at the bound man, "may have been th' attackers and were bein' driven insane as revenge. Or Mary's also been turned. No way t' know fer sure."

"I actually met with Mary yesterday.  I didn't know about her and Regina possibly being related.  Or that she may have been turned.  It's probably good I didn't know at the time."

"If she was bitten, I don't think she's fully turned yet.  Her room was dark, but I think it is more likely because of her wounds.  Her face was badly mangled.

"She's been in her room for a few days now, from what I understand.  It's possible she sneaks out at night to feed then returns, but why return?  There's risk of being discovered.  And why hasn't her master come for her?  No, I don't think her case is related to the vampires, at least directly."

Elihu gives a humorless laugh.  "Great.  A colony of vampires is just one of the strange goings-on in town.  And here I thought modern Collinswood was weird.  Twenty-first century Collinswood, I mean.  It was probably weird in the sixties too."

"I'm stuck here with Ned's friend for the time being.  I'm interested to see what happens to him once the sun goes down.  Your friend -- Adam, right? -- he's down for the count.  Do you think maybe you could hit up the local church of some holy water?  It's probably not even Catholic.  Do other denominations use holy water?"

I know Anglicans do, but I don't know if that was true of the Puritan strain.  I'm pretty sure Congregationalists don't.

What if it's a Shaker church?  "Back, vampire, or I'll throw this six-piece dining set at you!"

Harry ponders for a moment before replying. "Might be a Methodist in town. Anyone not a Congregationalist don't have much choice of preacher come th' Sabbath." She shrugs. "More'n a century since th' Toleration Act, but still Quakers and Baptists ain't much welcome hereabouts."

Elihu gives a shrug.  "Beggars can't be choosers, I suppose.  See what you can rustle up.  I'll look around the house for what we have by way of stakes and mallets."

"Holy water, crosses, and stakes.  Can you think of anything else we're missing?  Garlic, maybe?  I don't even know how well that works against vampires. Probably just hold their nose with one hand and strangle us with the other."

17:54, Today: Elihu Cromwell rolled 10 using 1d20.  INT vs 13.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:55, Fri 19 May 2023.

Harry gestures back toward the house where Adam still sleeps. "Adam's shovel seems handy enough for beheadin's. Don't know if that's a permanent solution, nor if any but Adam's strong enough t' manage it easily." She spits to one side. "Ne'er a bloody witchfinder around when y'need one. Will see if I can find a priest willin' t' bless some water."

Rolled ten vs thirteen.  Kids, we're having stake tonight!

Rummaging around through the house, Elihu finds no stakes-- AS SUCH.

But he does find a cheap old table in the attic that's falling apart-- when he kicks one leg, it splinters-- diagonally, and now he has two excellent stakes. He also finds a hammer, a saw, and a sharp hatchet, and soon he's breaking up the table into all the stakes one could want.

He even finds a mallet! Thanks, carpentry-minded former resident!

---

Harry does indeed find someone who can (if talked into it) provide her with holy water. (Harry, tell me who that person is. Perhaps there's a small Catholic chapel in town? Anglican? The right Lutheran synod?)

Harry finally manages to track down the lone Methodist minister in Collinsport. "Ye born hereabouts, Reverend? If so, ye know 'bout th' dark times," she remarks in a serious tone of voice. "Folk are anxious. Worried. Unhappy. Somethin' ain't right, and they know it in their gut." Harry frowns. "Ain't gonna lie t' ye, Reverend. Folk are missin', too many t' chalk up t' coincidence. There's evil afoot, and them of us what plans t' fight need tools if we're t' fend it off."

(Hmm. Roll CHR... but give yourself... a +2 bonus to the roll. (Since we're trying to roll low, knock two points off whatever your result is.)

15:54, Today: Harriet MacLeod (aka 'Harry') rolled 5 using 1d20.  Check Vs. CHA 14 with +2 bonus.

Elihu stands back and looks over his handiwork.  The four legs made seven stakes; one leg didn't quite splinter as well as the others.  That and one mallet and they were ready to stake vampires...if they could somehow convince one to lay still long enough to actually hammer a stake through their heart.  Elihu sighed.  At least it was a start.

He gathered up the stakes and mallet and headed back downstairs.  At least there was one semi-vampire that was bound up and ready for a stake if needed.  If he was still bound up.  And where Elihu left him.  Elihu had gotten so fixated on the stakes he had forgotten about his patient.  His pace quickened as he headed to the back yard.

"There is... a darkness surrounding this town. There always has been-- maybe before civilization arrived, for all I know, or perhaps not. We do not speak of it, when speaking of it can be easily and conveniently avoided, just for our own peace of mind. But I understand enough of what you're saying." The priest lets you take two small bottles (basically vials, size-wise). "If you do not use them, please return them. If you do use them... please return and tell me what good work they were used for."



He finds the man half-awake (barely), having crawled into the shade offered by the side of the house... he's trying to curl up in the corner between the back steps and the main wall of the house, seeking shade and shadows as if by instinct...

Harry thanks the minister and departs. She stops by the Constable's office on the way back to Elihu's for news from the search parties, in case any have returned a day early. "Any more folk go missin' and like as not we'll have a panic on our hands," she confides to Patterson. "Th' old Stockbridge place is a danger. 'Twere th' last place I recall Deputy Gallow and that Regina woman headin', and there's sign of evil been done there."

They haven't found anything useful. The searchers are discouraged.



"Eh? What sort of evil, 'xac'ly?"

Harry leans close and lowers her voice. "Brought two men out of th' place, took 'em to th' doctor. One was unconscious still when I left. Other claims t' be a sailor off th' Evenin' Star, name's Ned. Coshed from behind whilst on shoreleave, we found him held in an upstairs room. Floor collapsed before we could extract him, but we dug him out of th' rubble. Hurt but nothing too bad... scrapes and bruises, mostly. First fella looks t' have been tortured and starved. Curious wound on his neck... pair of puncture holes. Conscious when we found him but damn near insane from the ordeal, so we knocked him out and tied him up. Would've fought tooth-and-nail otherwise."

"Lord. Where's the first man now?"

Harry jerks her thumb over her shoulder. "Doctor's lookin' after him. Was thrashin' around some, so we put th' fella out back. Less a chance he'll hurt hisself further or break anythin'. Ned bein' ambulatory, he left t' find food and lodgin' ere nightfall... and mebbe a berth on another ship, seein' as th' Evenin' Star's like as not left port already."

Elihu goes back inside and retrieves a needle.  He returns outside,retrieves the cross,adn waslk over his patient.  He checks the ropes tying the unconscious man.

"Hey.  Can you hear me?" he asks.

If he doesn't respond, Elihu will lightly jab the man in a finger, just enough to cause a bit of pain, not to actually draw blood.

Adam awoke feeling refreshed and relieved of the wounds he had suffered. He stood and made his way through the doctor's cottage and found him administering some kind of aid to a patient. He sat quietly and watched. Amazingly for someone so large he is quit adept and being stealthy when he chooses.

"Mmm... mmmh?" He hears, he understands he's being addressed... but his mind might not be all there. Like, maybe at all.

"Hmm. So you don't think this Ned-- did you get a last name?  --is involved in any of what's goin' on, except as a victim?"

Harry shakes her head. "All he gave us were Ned, but th' maritime register ought t' have his full name." She soberly tells Patterson, "Reckon he's a victim, aye, but he could turn if he's taken too much after his captors." Harry looks him square in the eye. "The dark is rising again, Constable, and its minions are afoot."

The constable gives Harry a look. "...I wonder about you sometimes, MacLeod. Not 'xac'ly in a bad way, but... have you had any experience with this sort of thing before...?"

Harry grunts. "Theory I got aplenty. Studied at th' Hammer Universal School under Cushing, Lee, Karloff, the Chaneys, and Lugosi. Workin' on th' practical experience. You?"

Elihu crouches down.  He gives the man a light slap across the cheek.  "Hey, focus.  What is your name?  Do you know who you are?"

"Never heard'a that, n'r them. Hammer... that in Germany?"



(Hmmmm. Gimmee a CHR roll, Elihu.)

Harry shakes her head. "School's founder, Professor Abraham Van Helsing, is Dutch by birth, but first established it in London before eventually moving it to the town of Whitby on the Yorkshire coast."

"Mm." The constable thinks. "...Tell me more about what you found at the Stockbridge house."

I finally passed a CHA check.  Yay!

16:50, Today: Elihu Cromwell rolled 9 using 1d20 with rolls of 9.  CHR vs 15.

"Errr... grrrrr... Hans... Name Hans... Am Hans... Sheee callled me Hans... Asked name... Where she...? Want her..."

Ah, something.  The vampire's a woman.  But which woman?  Regina, or someone else?  "I can get her for you but you have to tell me who she is.  Who is the woman?"

(Sorry buddy, but that's so important it'll take another CHR roll)

16:50, Sat 03 June: Elihu Cromwell rolled 9 using 1d20 with rolls of 9.  CHR vs 15.

Elihu's urgent words seem to get the wretch to focus, to try to reacquire some of the mentation he had before he was changed to his present state. "Don' ...dunno... red hair... long, straight... beautiful... hot yet... cold..."

Okay, that definitely sounds like the woman Elihu knows as Regina...

Regina.  Damn.  So it looks like she's already a vampire by this time.  Damn damn damn.  Elihu now wishes he asked more from Regina about her history.  Why didn't he?  Oh yeah, because he didn't want to die.  It stayed yes ma'am, no ma'am, I'll jump as high as I can, ma'am.

Elihu sat back on his heels.  Now what?

"Regina.  Her name's Regina," he said.  "Any possible idea where I can find her?  Or can you remember where she found you?"

Looks like all those bad rolls with Ruby is finally paying off.

18:09, Today: Elihu Cromwell rolled 12 using 1d20 with rolls of 12.  CHR vs 15.

"She... does not come to big house anymore... abandoned. Maybe she has found other..." Heartbreaking self-pity, there... The wretch tries to think about where it first met the red-headed vampire. "First... road... to... north. North road." A pause. "But... could be clue in big house." Another pause... the wretch looks weary.

Hm. It sounded like Harry and the big guy searched the big house where they found this wretch... but maybe they didn't search everywhere...?

"Help me... help me out of sun. No more sun..." Thinks hard. "...Please..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:35, Tue 27 June 2023.

Elihu is pleased with his success.  He's determined Regina is at least heavily involved if not the vampire herself, and that there could be more to the house than Harry and Adam had found the first time.

Then the other shoe dropped.  They would have to return to the house, the house where Regina and whatever cronies she has may have already discovered someone had absconded with her two Lunchables.  They could be walking into a trap.  One set by a vampire and her Renfields.

If he ever wakes up from this, he's definitely not going to eat Ethiopian again right before bed.

"Alright Hans, let's get you into the shade.  You've earned it." Elihu grabs his patient under the arms and drags him over to rest under a nearby tree, propping him up against it as best he can.  Standing back up again, he decides he better go check on his large friend, whose been asleep through all this.  Lucky him.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:20, Thu 06 July 2023.

Adam continued to watch the proceedings.

Adam watches as the doctor comes in...

Adam's strange voice, like stones rubbing together, came in a low and calm manner. "What have you learned? I am refreshed from my sojourn in the realm of dreams. There I am a man again, though lowly still a man. Not this...monster."

Elihu gives Adam a pat on the arm.  "Don't be so hard on yourself.  Yeah, you're not exctly Adonis, but believe me, I've seen people a lot worse off than you."

"What do you tell people when they ask about your, ah, condition?  You should make up some kind of heroic story, like you were captured by pirates and tortured, but you escaped and killed them.

Elihu relays everything he's learned from the two sailors.  <darkblue>"It looks like Regina Palmer is already a vampire.  I'm not sure what that means for us.  We can't kill her.  I suppose we can try to capture her and seal her up in a tomb or something."

"We still don't know what her plans are and how we fit into them.  Are we spoilers?  Unwitting pawns?  I dunno,"

The doctor sighed and looked back out at the yard.  <darkbklue>"Anyways, Harry is gathering up some vampire hunting supplies.  I imagine she'll be back shortly."</darkblue>

Harry grunts. "Found a dead man in th' basement, was wearin' an officer's uniform, Continental Navy. Had been bit and drained of blood." She shows Patterson the man's scabbarded sword, currently hanging from her baldric. "Thought this might help us identify him." She dismissively waves her hand. "Books and a handful of documents, all molderin' t' some degree. Have yet t' pour over 'em. Left those at th' doctor's with Adam and our two victims."

"Good lord. Drained of blood." He looks at the sword and scabbard. "Navy man. Military. Or the sword is, anyway. I suppose it might be stolen." He frowns. "Can I... can I ask you-- and maybe the doctor, if you trust him-- to be in charge of looking over the documents? See if there're any more clues?" A lightbulb comes on in Harry's head: The constable may or may not be able to read, but if he can, he's not confident in his ability to do so.

Adam said, "It is highly abnormal for me to get close enough. This is not my body..." With a wry smile he went on, "Those who do not run screaming usually only say things like 'not my eyes,' or 'are those my organs?' My life is complicated."

In reply to Constable Patterson (msg # 150):

Harry nods once. "We'll see to it, Constable, no trouble at all." She frowns briefly. "Gotta question about Reuben Gallow. Did you deputize him, or did he just claim authority he didn't have?" She mused aloud then. "Might be prudent t' make a couple more deputies, just in case. Volunteer lawmen who can help out in a crisis and hopefully won't just disappear on a whim."

The constable smiles a little, and raises an eyebrow. "Don't recall that I officially deputized him. He just was willin' to help, and seemed capable." Harry takes the hint: not unlike a certain person I'm looking at this very second.



"Yeah, you got a point there. I'll see about it. Usually some sailors in town who wouldn't mind steady work on land for a while... means they get to be picky about when and where they set off to the next time they feel like it."

Harry simply grunts. "I'm ornery and in a crisis like as not t' shoot them as don't follow orders. Let's hope ain't got cause t' shoot no one. Stab 'em neither. Might be easier t' deputize me. Adam too. Yer call, course." She gives Patterson a nod in parting and heads for the door.

"Adam? Who's Adam? Er, Adam who?"

Harry glances back over her shoulder. "DeLacey. Adam DeLacey. Big fella, bad scars. Strong. Gravedigger by trade. Good with a shovel."

"I... uh... I guess that might ring a bell... Haven't seen nor heard of him bein' around for a long time, though... Was he a big, strong fella with scars, though...?"

Elihu scratches his head.  "So the people around here, they know you're a, ah, combination of people?  And they don't come after you with torches and pitchforks?"

Adam turned and fixed his strange eyes on the doctor. "There are two who know that secret. I trust you both to keep it. I have only just returned here. Either I will be reunited with my original form or I will do something truly terrible to the man who did this to me. Perhaps both of those. I am undecided." He turned and fixed his gaze on nothing. "Until then I will be of what aid I can."

In reply to Constable Patterson (msg # 157):

Harry spits out the door. "Only just met th' bloke in th' past week, struck me as th' sort what accomplishes any task he sets hisself. Has goals. Means t' accomplish 'em. Steady. Hard worker."

"If you decide on killing him," Elihu says, "at least find out where he keeps his lab notes first.  With those, I should at least be able to reverse engineer the process.  If we can't get you back in your original form, at least we can try to get you into a, ah, more socially presentable one."

"At least it'll be easier for us to find your creator.  Someone who plays with the very essence of life itself has to be brilliant, rich, and, above all, have an ego the size of a house.  Believe me, I've worked with plenty of them."

Adam spat the name with such hate he felt himself shaking to retain control. "Cyrus Collins. I make no promises on his premature death."

"Huh. Well, unless I remember where I've heard that name before... well, as long as I don't remember anything bad in connection with it... I'll take whatever help I can get on these strange goings-on."

Elihu snorts.  "Collins.  How did I not guess?  How one family can be tied up in seemingly every machination and act of skullduggery up and down the coast of New England, I'll never know.  I wouldn't be surprised if Dracula's mother's maiden name was Collins."

"And here we are, right in the center of the spider's web.  Just about every person in town owed at least part of their livelihood to the Collins family, so any allies we may find will be few and far between.  That doesn't leave us with many options at all."

Elihu takes a sip of his tea.  He frowns that it's already gone cold but finishes the cup off in one big gulp anyways.  "The only thing going for us is that usually the biggest enemy of a Collins is another Collins.  That's at least how it was in my ti -- er, experience.  Do you know of anyone whose toes ole Cyrus has stepped on recently and would be more than happy to see him take a stumble?"

Adam can easily fill the doctor in on the very basics of the Collins family-- the patriarch of the family, Isaac Collins, his eldest son, Aaron Collins, Isaac Collins' brother, Lucas Collins...

But other than that the Collins family don't necessarily have fond feelings about Cyrus, Adam can say little more.

Adam grunted, "Cyrus is from New Amster...New York City. He is a blacksheep, but I care not for any Collins. Only good one is when they are dead and burned to ash."

"the black sheep of the Collins family," Elihu replies.  "How bad do you have to be to get that title?"

"If he's in New York, there's little we can do about it now.  Still, we can keep an ear out to see if we can determine which family member hates him the most and why.  Find that out, exploit it, and maybe you'll get your revenge and then some."

The doctor looks about the room.  "Well, I've made some stakes and found a mallet, so we won't be totally unarmed against the vampires.  Harry's off to see if she can find some holy water.  Until then, I think we just have to sit tight until she gets back.  Unless you have any ideas."

Adam spoke quietly, "Decapitation, and then burning the body." Looking about he casually asked, "Do you have a whetstone?"

In reply to Constable Patterson (msg # 163):

Harry nods gravely. "This is just th' overture. Gonna get much, much worse 'fore long. Much, much worse." She leaves and makes her way back to Elihu's, hopefully sans interruption.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Mon 07 Aug 2023.

"A whetstone?  I might,"  Elihu looks around at the crates.  "I haven't had the time to unpack, but I'd imagine we might find one among the scalpels and other blades."

"Star over that side and I'll start over here."

Harry raps twice on the doctor's door before entering. "Ain't much," she says, displaying the two vials, "but somethin's better'n nothin'." She skims the two men's face. "Spoke t' th' Constable, filled him in on th' basics."

After a brief search, Adam finds what he seeks. He then sits and begins sharpening the edges of his shovel's head, adding to its deadlyness.

Elihu shared with Harry what he learned from Hans.  "Regina has already turned and is certainly involved if she's not the ringleader herself.  The two sailors haven't fully turned but are on their way.  If we can kill their sire before they turn fully, maybe we can save them, but I can't guarantee that."

"So nay suggestions on our next move?  The only two things I can suggest is to return to the house to look for more clues and to go back and visit Mary to see if we can learn more from her."

Adam continued to sharpen his shovel while speaking, his voice sounding eerily similar to the sound of metal against stone. "Since I am to trust the two of you, there is something you should know. I was a grave robber, trinkets and gold were my rewards and body parts were Cyrus'. If this is found out, even now I fear, will have repercussions." Adam looked up at them, "For me, and by extension you. Having my assistance has consequences, though I offer it in exchange for your assistance with my problem. Your problem first as mine seems to be beyond my reach for the moment."

Looking back down at his shovel he continued. "Also I would appreciate it if the two of you would refrain from treating me as if I were stupid. Brilliant I am certainly not, but I am not stupid. The two of you believe yourselves to be out of your proper time. My guess is that you are from a date in the future but not necessarily the future of this. The ramifications are that you could be in for repercussions, and by extension myself. So you see we have a détente'. I am satisfied with this arrangement."

Harry grunts at Adam's words. "Definitely not the future of this. Saw a way back t' th' future, but 'tweren't my future. May be no makin' it right again, either."

Elihu clapped his hands together, "if we can't make it right again, then we don't have to worry about making a muck of things."

"And as for you. my large friend, they'll have to prove you robbed graves first.  That'll be a bit hard to do without catching you in the act."

"So, what's our plan?  I say we visit Mary and see what more we can get on Regina."

In reply to Elihu Cromwell (msg # 176):

This brought a round of laughter from Adam, an abnormal occurrence, and one most would rather he didn't repeat. The sound is like bags of heavy gravel being shaken at high speed. It is only when he realized the Doctor wasn't joking that he stopped laughing. He leaned in and spoke in a slow clear manner, "Listen carefully. This world's rules don't work like yourn. Here the accusation is enough to raise a posse. Now I can handle a few pissed off blokes, but a mob will bring even me down. I died once, I am not in a hurry to repeat that. You best keep that in mind, they catch wind that you even think you ain't in the proper time and they'll be about lynching you too." He is dead serious, and though not angry he seemed to be ready to move. "You keep that in mind for yourself, me, and the good Harry. All three of us are only two steps from the noose, so walk carefully."

Harry chuckles morbidly. "Reckon hangin's an improvement over burnin' at th' stake." She suggests to the doctor, "Best you check on Mary in a medical capacity, I've already questioned her once." Leaning against the door jamb, Harry idly scratches her cheek. "Given 'tis approachin' sunset, search parties'll be returnin' soon. May shed some light on th' fates of our missin', which'd leave us one less mystery t' solve."

"No can do," Elihu replies with a frown.  "I already visited her.  That was before I even knew Regina existed in this time period.  I don't think her attack is related to the vampires though.  Sounded more like a psychopath who enjoys beating up women."

"I guess that leaves meeting up with the search parties.  Is everyone ready to go?"

Harry grunts. "Like as not Mary was a victim of th' last doctor hereabouts, McKenzie. Had a bit of a Jekyll-and-Hyde problem, seems. Came with WIlloughby and Macintyre the werewolf. All three are among th' missin'. I'm th' sole member of th' group ain't vanished. Charity Trask and her damned séance."

Adam lay the shovel at his feet. He pulled a Bouye knife from under his coat and sharpened it. "Do either of you possess a tinder box? If not it might be a good idea to purchase one before we go looking for trouble with the restless dead."

Harry opens her ditty bag and fishes out her various fire-making tools: a wooden tinderbox, a steel trench lighter, and three small tins of stormproof matches. "Got two hurricane lanterns and spare whale oil for both. Fish oil's way cheaper but stinks t' high heaven."

Elihu emits a low whistle.  "So we have a vampire, a werewolf, a Jekyll and Hyde, a Franken -- um, yes, that's a lot.  All we have missing is a mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon."

"I'm sure I have a tinderbox around here as well, but to be honest, I'd have just as much luck using one as a butter churn."

Adam place a hand on Elihu's shoulder, "Have you any skill with a blade? Fear not, your safety is in good hands."

Harry grumbles at Elihu's words. "Wouldn't count on there bein' just one vampire." She leans back to spit out the doorway. "Collinsport's had its share of witch-cults too." She stows her fire-making kit back in her ditty bag. "Not t' mention warlocks and th' devil-bought. Even met me a damnable Beast."

"That's a good point," Elihu says with a grimace.  "I'm excellent with a knife, as long as it's an inch long and my victim is very very still.

I could probably shoot a pistol, but I sure as hell wouldn't be able to load one.  It'd probably blow up in my face."

Elihu walks over to the fireplace and picks out a thick branch from the woodpile.  "This is probably my speed.  Swing wildly and hope it connects."


"Wonderful." Elihu sighs.  "This is a veritable Disneyworld of fun and frolic."

"We may as well get going then.  If we're going to tempt Fate, we may as well go big."

Adam is now very confused, "What does the land of the Normands have to do with our current predicament?"

Disney is a Surname of Normand descent going back to 12c William de Ysini. This is the prominence of his comment.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:25, Fri 25 Aug 2023.

"Sorry.  Nevermind," Elihu says, shaking his head.  "Just another out of time comment."

He wonders what Adam would think if he was suddenly dropped into the middle of the Magic Kingdom.  Surely a six-foot tall mouse and a duck in a sailor suit couldn't be any weirder than colonial Collinsport.

The three investigators go to the edge of town to meet with some of the returning search parties.

The quick answer is: Harry finds out that no one has found any of the missing people. (Harry, roll CHR.)

In the meantime, though, the volunteer townspeople searchers are visibly a little alarmed by the presence of Adam, although since Adam is standing right there next to Harry (whom they've seen around town) and what seems to be a respectable-looking gentleman, they try somewhat not to freak out. "...Who or what is that horrible-lookin' giant brute with th' shovel over there, fella?!" one of them asks Harry privately... A couple of other searchers in earshot come closer, also very eager to hear the answer...

Harry levels a withering gaze at the questioner. "Mister DeLacey's a volunteer like everyone here. Carries his weight like everyone here. More, with folk all agape at his scars. Show him respect and he'll do th' same in return. Answer who and what well enough for ye?" She spits to one side.

---

14:40, Today: Harriet MacLeod (aka 'Harry') rolled 6 using 1d20 with rolls of 6.  Check Vs. CHA 14.

"All right, all right... can't blame a man when it comes t' askin' questions regardin' public safety an' people he's never seen before..."

Two of the three men who were quietly listening to Harry's answer leave.

A third, who hadn't said anything yet, sticks near her. "You seem to have a bit more goin' for ya in the brains department as far as anyone else lookin' into these strange goin's on..." Sounds like he's trying to work up to maybe asking or telling Harry something...

Harry grunts in reply. "Don't much care fer mysteries or fearmongerin'. Seen it get uglier'n Mister DeLacey here... beggin' yer pardon, Adam... and that's sayin' somethin'."

"Well if I had anything to report, I don't think the constable would be much good in doin' anything with it, or any of his men... but..." The man pauses. "Well, we didn't find anything, none of us, not anywhere we looked," he says. "But I will tell you one thing, if you want to know... if you'd be interested..."

The man seems to be hoping that Harry will encourage him in the idea what whatever he has to say might be important.

(This conversational direction brought to you in part by Harry succeeding in her CHR roll...)

Harry claps the fellow on the shoulder. "Reckon anythin' ye can tell us is a help. No knowin' what'll prove of use down th' road."

"Huh. See, that's what I thought, but Saul said that it was nothin', not worth botherin' about... Well, like I said, we found nothin', nothin' at all... no bodies, no victims, none of th' missin' people, no kidnappers... but... there was one old abandoned farm north of town that... well, I felt sure people had been there recently-- a partial footprint or two that I thought were real' new. And why would anyone be there? Saul said it was maybe just local kids playin' and 'xplorin' around, but it was an adult-size shoe I saw. So, Saul griped and grumbled and we looked all around... but we didn't find nothin' else at all. So Saul said I was a fool for thinkin' it was anything. But I still think there should'n'a been no one there... What do you think? Might it be important?"

Harry presses the fellow for as much detail as she can coax from him, half-expecting his 'abandoned farm north of town' to be where Daniel Collins conducts his I-Ching studies. "We'll check it out. Thank ye," she tells him.

The man gives pretty good directions, good enough that Harry's convinced she can find the place on her own-- and no, it turns out to Harry's surprise that it's apparently nowhere near the house she visited briefly with Daniel Collins. Huh. Well that's a thing she knows now.

"Abandoned farm," Elihu says.  "Anywhere is pretty important in times like this.  You sure you checked it top-yo-bottom?"

"Oh, in all this mystery and suspense, I forgot to introduce myself.  Elihu Cromwell, MD.  I just arrived yesterday.  Collinsport doesn't seem to be the sleepy town I imagined.

And you are?"
This message was lightly edited by the player at 02:05, Tue 29 Aug 2023.

Harry had been a good leader thus far and so Adam will continue to follow.

"Well, pretty darn well. I guess I have to admit I might have looked around a little more if it wasn' for Saul's grumblin'..."




"M'name's Owen, Owen Peterson. Pleasure t'meet y', Doctor."

"I think Mr. Peterson here is a might suspicious of the farmhouse.  I think it'd be good of us to recheck it to put his mind at ease.  Don't you think?"

Elihu smiles at Peterson.  "Would you like to come with us?"

"...I dunno, I'm kinda wore out right now. If'n you were goin' tomorrow, when I'd be fresher-like... But right now... I jus' wanna get a meal an' some sleep."

Harry nods once to Peterson. "Ye've earned both. Enjoy yer meal, rest well, and thank ye again." She turns to Adam and Elihu. "Guessin' that farm's a good fifteen miles out, a day's hike there and back. If we left at first light, we'd have mebbe three hours t' search before we had t' return. Don't fancy bein' away from town longer." She spits to one side and scowls. "Hoped th' search parties would turn up answers. A lone footprint tells us jack, 'cept someone might be travelin' by their lonesome. Gallow'd be confident enough... and Trask overconfident enough... t' wander off int' th' wild alone, but no one else."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Elihu replies.  "Shall we head back to town?  Maybe a stop by the pub will yield some gossip that may prove useful."

Harry grunts. "Aye, could use a drink meself. Been ages since I had a meal, too." She glances at Adam. "You comin', or prefer t' avoid folk? Last big meal 'twas at dawn."

Adam shrugged, "I would like to eat." He nodded, "Perhaps you wouldn't mind bringing one to me? I can pay." He produced a few coins from his pocket.

Harry nods her agreement. "Mebbe relax at th' doc's place, no trouble bringin' ye food. Will get ye settled first, then return t' th' pub." She checks with Elihu almost as an afterthought. "That work fer ye, Doc?"

Adam nodded to Harry's plan.

"I don't see a problem with that," Elihu replies.  "Shall we go?"

Harry and Elihu go to The Blue Whale for food and drink.

Aside from a bartender (and a cook in the back), there are three sailors in there right now-- two having a quiet conversation at a table, one at the bar nursing a beer.

When Harry and Elihu stop in, the others look up and notice them, but don't have much reaction particularly.

Elihu looks at the meager crowd.  Not like the movies at all, where a hero would walk into a bar and it would be packed.  Then again, those usually ended with a big bar brawl, so maybe just a few sailors is a good thing.

Elihu nodded at the sailor sitting alone.  "Let's try him first." he says to Harry.

He walks over and takes a seat next to the sailor.  "Good evening.  I'm Dr. Cromwell and this is Mr. MacLeod.  May we join you for a few moments?"

Harry sits on the opposite side from Elihu, but leaves an empty stool between herself and the sailor. She beckons to the barkeep, slaps a few coins on the bar, and jerks her thumb over her shoulder to include everyone. "Buyin' a round fer th' house." She lifts her chin toward the kitchen. "Includes you and th' cook, too."

"...In that case, yeah, y'may..." It's clear that the sailor at the bar feels that Harry speaks his language more than may the doctor.

"Ah yes, well, we are assisting the constable look into the mysterious disappearances of some people recently here in Collinsport."  Elihu gives a nonchalant shrug.  "We're merely curious if you've seen or heard anything strange the past few days.  Even the odd rumor might be helpful."

(CHR roll please, Elihu...)

16:51, Today: Elihu Cromwell rolled 1 using 1d20 with rolls of 1.  Roll vs CHA 15.

I hope this doesn't mean he's fallen in love with me.

20:11, Today: Harriet MacLeod (aka 'Harry') got the result "Don't count on it" on the magic 8-ball.

"Mm. Well, since you're buyin'... Uh... I dunno... There's all these strangers around... a beautiful redheaded woman I seen... some foreign fella who looks like trouble-- he's stayin' up with the Collins family, no surprise there... I heered dogs howlin' late at night... one sounded like a wolf. Been a long time since we had a wolf in these parts... Uh..." The man wracks his brain, trying to think of what else has been unusual lately. "That's all I kin think of, mister. Honestly, I'm almost surprised no one in the search parties lately've gone missin' while they were out there wanderin' around in th' woods..."



(OMG since when has RPol had a magic 8-ball?!?!?!?!? I am amazed.)

Harry grunts in response. "Made damn well sure th' search parties were organized t' head off anyone new disappearin'. God bless sailors and soldiers fer havin' brains enough t' follow orders."

"I'd have thought the wood would have been full of wolves for at least a few more decades," Elihu muses.  He shrugs his shoulders.  "Score another point for mankind."

"Can you tell us more about the woman?  Any idea where she may be?  We think her life may be in danger, like that poor Mary girl."

Harry pivots on her stool to lean back with her elbows atop the bar, and turns her gaze to the other two sailors in the room. Like as not we already know more than these poor sods could tell us, she thinks to herself. Should ask them for scuttlebutt about sailors gone missing, a topic they'll take a mite more serious than missing landlubbers.

(Hmmmmm. Roll CHR again, Elihu... but subtract 1 point from the result, so as to represent that you're already slightly on a roll with this guy)

17:04, Today: Elihu Cromwell rolled 5 using 1d20-1 with rolls of 6.  Roll vs CHA 15.

Harry lifts her chin at the other sailors and asks them, "Been in port long? Ain't been dockside of late, what's the scuttlebutt? Heard tell there's sailors gone missin'. Dunno whether 'tis folk jumpin' ship, bein' press-ganged, or gettin' killed in a brawl."

"No, sorry. I guess all I can say is that one time when I saw her, she was coming from the north. Felt like she was just-then walking into town. That might not mean anything, though."




The men mutter fearfully about "the strange doin's." One mumbles about how Collinsport has always been "under the shadow of darkness," and he crosses himself. Another man at his table does too (though not as reflexively). "Sooner I ship out again th' better," says a man.

MEANWHILE, back at the doctor's house, Hans, tied up and seemingly sleepy or at least drowsy, rouses a little.

He stares at Adam, apparently studying him.

"...You are dead," says Hans. "Like me."

Now, Hans is NOT dead as such, and one can also argue something similar for Adam, but Adam gets the wretch's drift. They each have certain qualifiers that make them not exactly-- well, they may each still be alive for the moment, but there's definitely a conceptual asterisk next to each man's living* status.

Harry grins wickedly. "Oh aye, cursed as they come is Collinsport. Salem's only got witches. Worser thin's hereabouts by far. Queer old families like th' Stockbridges and Collinses... devil-bought, th' lot of 'em."

In reply to They (msg # 226):

Adam grunted, "I believe you are mistaken. While my status as alive is perhaps imperiled, yours is about to be cut off." He made his way over to the *alive* man and placed his foot on the man's jaw to hold him in place. Then he placed the bladed edge against the man's neck just under his skull. "Don't fret, though, for hell only lasts an eternity." He planned to bring his free foot up and step down with all his mass, removing head from body.

"The north, you say," Elihu says.  He looks to Harry.  "What do you know about the north of town?  Where could she have been coming from?  Other than the Collinses, I mean."

Harry grunts in reply. "Lot of abandoned farmsteads out that way. Some predate Collinsport, most are more recent. Plenty of folk lost all their able-bodied men to one war or another, and the women moved to town or left the area. Least them as weren't butchered by Indians, survived the winter of '79 and '80, or the drought years before then."

Hans gives Adam a look of-- pity. "You don't like being dead? ...You must hate the one who turned you. Who was it?"





The man Elihu's been talking to just nods at Harry's words... but gives Harry a slightly odd look. "The Injun troubles weren't so bad in Collinsport as people say. Lots of 'em were smart enough to be afraid of this place, even more than modern folk. But you... I somehow got the idea that you were new to this town, but you talk like you grew up here-- sort'a. Which is it?"

Harry eyes the fellow, snorts, and points to the southwest. "Hike along the coast for a couple days and you'll reach where I grew up. Place called Seal Cove."

The

The man frowns, but accepts the answer without comment. He's clearly suspicious, but he's not sure what to suspect Harry of, so he's just gonna mentally file it away for now.

In reply to They (msg # 231):

As the man finished speaking, he stepped down on the shovel to sever his head.

19:24, Today: Adam DeLacey rolled 7 using 1d20+1 ((6))

Assuming he accomplished this feat, he used his shovel to pick up the head and pitch it into the fire.

Dead body in the doctor's house.

Head in the roaring fire.

Lotta blood on the floor.

Well, not really a lot comparatively speaking. Definitely less than if one were to sever the head of a normal human with no * next to his living status. But, like, more than if you just dropped a glass of wine on the floor...

No crying over spilled blood, I guess. Not yet, anyway...

Adam will go about dismembering the body, burning it in pieces. Once it is ash, he will gather that into a beg or sack for transport.