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."