{"id":21264,"date":"2025-07-04T22:53:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-05T02:53:12","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-07-04T22:53:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T02:53:12","slug":"encounter-678","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/havenrpg.net\/newsite\/2025\/07\/04\/encounter-678\/","title":{"rendered":"Thomas&#8217;s Thursday night odd encounter(Thomas)"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>\n    .edgt-post-text-inner p {\n        margin-bottom: 35px !important;\n    }\n    <\/style>\n<p><strong>Date:<\/strong> 2025-07-03 22:51<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><span style=\"color:#008000\">               (<\/span>Thomas&#8217;s Thursday night odd encounter(Thomas):Thomas<span style=\"color:#008000\">)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#008080\">        [<\/span>Thu Jul  3 2025<span style=\"color:#008080\">]<\/span><\/p>\n<p>An antique shop<\/p>\n<p>It is <span style=\"color:#808080\">night<\/span>, about <span style=\"color:#008000\">68<\/span>F(<span style=\"color:#008000\">20<\/span>C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds.  It&#8217;s <span style=\"color:#0000ff\">raining.<\/span>  The mist is heaviest <span style=\"color:#393e41\">A<span style=\"color:#393f46\">t<span style=\"color:#39414b\"> <span style=\"color:#384350\">E<span style=\"color:#374455\">l<span style=\"color:#36465a\">m<span style=\"color:#35485f\"> <span style=\"color:#334a65\">a<span style=\"color:#314b6a\">n<span style=\"color:#2f4d6f\">d<span style=\"color:#2c4f74\"> <span style=\"color:#295179\">L<span style=\"color:#25537f\">a<span style=\"color:#1f5584\">k<span style=\"color:#19578a\">e\/span>\/span<\/span<br \/>\nThere is a waxing gibbous moon.  <\/p>\n<p>(Your target a young regular has been drained too far and the vampire responsible has fled, leaving the bar&#8217;s owner desperate to cover it up before the authorities arrive.)<\/p>\n<p>This small antique shop is in Highgate &#8212; a dangerous place, with the Mists high &#8212; which is perhaps why it was chosen. Someone had taken some shelter in here, in a display room filled with old books: from the looks of him, a young man, in his early twenties. He has (had?) a tan, but it is now bloodless pale. Why, one might ask? Well:  <\/p>\n<p>He has two, troubling looking marks in his neck, lying there between the stacks.  <\/p>\n<p>This is where Silas comes upon him: by happenstance, really, perhaps seeking his own shelter from the mists. <\/p>\n<p>Silas was apparently just taking a leisurely stroll through the mists when he decided to trudge right in &#8211; one hand in his pocket, another on an umbrella he&#8217;s flicked closed &#8211; with the apparent, sole intent of shopping. It takes a single beat for him to peer past a shelf at Thomas. The dry expression he came in with doesn&#8217;t change whatsoever. &#8220;Tch,&#8221;, he levies at the man, before he goes back to browsing the shelf. &#8220;You need assistance or somethin&#8217;?&#8221;, he at least drawls. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What?&#8221; <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> asks Silas, turning to look at him &#8212; and then he, too, sees the young man on the ground. &#8220;I don&#8217;t,&#8221; he tells Silas, his voice taking on some urgency. He goes to kneel. &#8220;But this young fellow certainly seems to.&#8221; He looks up, towards the windows. &#8220;No way an ambulance can make it here, in the mists,&#8221; he tells him. &#8220;What&#8217;s your name? Do you know anything about medicine?&#8221; he asks. <\/p>\n<p>Silas scoffs through his nose harshly as he peers over at Thomas, then. Apparently he addressed the young man on the ground, earlier. &#8220;I ain&#8217;t know nothin&#8217; bout medicine. And see th&#8217; pricks onnis neck?&#8221;, he queries with an upnod, &#8220;&#8230;yeah, he&#8217;s either turnin&#8217; or dead. Either way, ain&#8217;t our issue.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Kneeling, <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> reaches to feel for a pulse. &#8220;He&#8217;s alive,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Bit, but alive,&#8221; he says. There&#8217;s a tilt of his head, as he asks, &#8220;Know much about vampires, friend? Generally one doesn&#8217;t rise until one is buried.&#8221; He pauses. &#8220;And if we can get this one to the hospital, perhaps he won&#8217;t ever have that special experience.&#8221; He looks up again. &#8220;Though with the mist&#8230;&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Silas peers at Thomas and the young man once more from behind the shelf, a visible shoulder shrugging. &#8220;Not much, but is obvious that one got fed on an&#8217; dumped. Only two ways that goes and I already said what was gunna happen. Pricks on th&#8217; neck weren&#8217;t even hidden. I ain&#8217;t wastin&#8217; my energy.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Straightening, <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> asks Silas, &#8220;So we just let him die?&#8221; He looks outside, again at the high mist. &#8220;Let&#8217;s hope you&#8217;re right, I suppose: that he doesn&#8217;t turn.&#8221; He pauses. &#8220;Because they&#8217;ll grab us for sure, I think, out in the fog.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Silas steps out from behind the shelf and shrugs once more, hands upturned. &#8220;Sure. An&#8217; it&#8217;d be easier to fight&#8217;um off if we ain&#8217; carryin dead weight. Assumin&#8217; they&#8217;re waitin&#8217; outside like jackasses.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Moving to the front of the store, <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> peers out. &#8220;I don&#8217;t see anything,&#8221; he says. He looks over at Silas. &#8220;Thomas Hale, by the way,&#8221; he says. &#8220;But I got jumped something bad when I went out two nights ago,&#8221; he explains. <\/p>\n<p>Silas follows Thomas with his dead gaze, body pivoting when needed but otherwise staying completely, lethargically still where he is. &#8220;Uh-huh. I&#8217;m Silas,&#8221;, he offers before his gaze too travels past the window into the mists. &#8220;Yeh, me too. Crawlers, hunters, mushrooms, whatever the fuck. Ridiculous stuff comes outta that mist. Vamps are gunna be a first, if ever.&#8221; He cracks his fist at this. &#8220;You gonna scout or me?&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m strongly considering not going out in it at all,&#8221; <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> admits to Silas. &#8220;Or finding a way out through the tunnels.&#8221; He pauses. &#8220;I&#8217;m not really armed for a fight.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Silas scoffs quietly, looking then behind Thomas. &#8220;What tunnels,&#8221;, he queries. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s tunnels under the whole city,&#8221; <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> tells Silas. &#8220;Safe movement, if you can get down to them.&#8221; He looks out at the mist, and then down at the floorboards, stamping. &#8220;I don&#8217;t see any obvious exit, though,&#8221; he says. <\/p>\n<p>Silas sniffs loudly and turns about, eyes darting, body tensing, all in robotic precision and pace. &#8220;There&#8217;s somethin&#8217; here,&#8221;, he comments as he trudges back towards the window. &#8220;And it ain&#8217; no man,&#8221;, he then concludes. <\/p>\n<p>There is something here: or rather, there&#8217;s not something here. The young man &#8212; previously dying on the floor &#8212; is gone. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What&#8217;s going on?&#8221; <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> asks Silas, still at the window, peering out. The set of his frame is worried, really, with a kind of press forward of his shoulders that suggests deep concern. &#8220;There is something moving out there, in the fog.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Silas growls from the bottom of his stomach as his gaze happens upon where that blood-bag was. &#8220;Was fuckin&#8217; bait,&#8221;, he murmurs low at Thomas. &#8220;Find that fuckin&#8217; tunnel you were talkin&#8217; about. NOW.&#8221;, he bids, as he turns about and back to face the fog. <\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a short, crisp nod to Silas, and <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> begins some incantation &#8212; twisting his ring on his finger as he closes his eyes and begins to chant, sending his senses out to try to find some egress from this small shop. &#8220;I&#8217;m working on it,&#8221; he grunts out, sotto voice. <\/p>\n<p>Then it happens: a pale face, lurching out a dark doorway. It is the young man, unexpectedly ambulatory as he steps towards, his arms held out. Is he a zombie? A fledgling vampire? Some other manner of spirit? Regardless: he was alive once, but Silas and <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> chose not to save his life. Now he is returned with some darker purpose. <\/p>\n<p>Silas throws off his umbrella and takes off his watch, for some reason, just as that face appears at the doorway. His aggressive expression drops at this, and he scoffs. &#8220;Well look at you.&#8221;, he comments, straightening up. &#8220;The fuck do you want.&#8221; Behind him, a hand gestures at Thomas to &#8216;hurry up&#8217;. <\/p>\n<p>Then it is on &#8212; the monster launches itself first at <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span>, and then at Silas, howling with death-driven madness. <\/p>\n<p>draws out his dagger, rushing at the corpse. &#8220;Come on!&#8221; he shouts to the animated corpse of a young man &#8212; and then there is some shock, as the man shifts. &#8220;Lord,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Well, that&#8217;s something.&#8221; He is wounded, now, clearly. <\/p>\n<p>With the creature dead, <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> groans, slashed rather to pieces by it. He&#8217;s on the ground, a mass of blood &#8212; and there&#8217;s a wolf, there, also. <\/p>\n<p>Looking up, the someone groans. &#8220;That was not&#8230;&#8221; He looks at the wolf, and then at Buck. &#8220;Ransom,&#8221; he says &#8212; grunts, really, in pain. &#8220;Always seem to be coming in to save the day.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Looking up, the librarian groans. &#8220;That was not&#8230;&#8221; <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> looks at Silas(wolf), and then at Buck. &#8220;Ransom,&#8221; he says &#8212; grunts, really, in pain. &#8220;Always seem to be coming in to save the day.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Silas(wolf) sits there licking blood off one if its paws &#8211; jury&#8217;s out on whose it is. <\/p>\n<p>Holding his hands up, <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Buck<\/span> comes closer to Thomas as he says, &#8220;Hey, look bud.&#8221; he says to Silas(wolf), &#8220;I don&#8217;t think you want this smoke. You try and take me on and there&#8217;s a dozen Ransoms coming to hunt your ass down. Now I&#8217;m going to try and take Mr. Hale here to a hospital, and you want to let us out?&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Perhaps unfortunately for Buck, there is a great deal of mist &#8212; a great deal of it &#8212; right outside the front door. That, perhaps, is why <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> and Silas(wolf) were trapped inside this antique shop with the now dead un-dead corpse of the young man. <\/p>\n<p>Silas(wolf) puts his paw down and stares at Buck for an audible beat before he shows his canines in a&#8230; sort of, grin&#8230;? <\/p>\n<p>Silas kicks at the corpse of the dead, young, wannabe vampire. &#8220;Why go on right ahead, Detective,&#8221;, he offers butt-naked without a care and a hand presented towards the heavily-misted and probably very dangerous doorway. <\/p>\n<p>Groaning low, his shirt shredded, <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> tells Silas, &#8220;Thank you. I don&#8217;t know if it was you or Ransom who killed that thing&#8230;&#8221; He looks at the re-corpsed corpse. &#8220;But this was not a good&#8230;&#8221; A cough, spitting blood. &#8220;Fuck.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Silas says &#8220;<span style=\"color:#00afff\">I managed t&#8217;snag it once.<\/span>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p>Raising his eyebrow, <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Buck<\/span> gives a tip of his hat to Silas, &#8220;I don&#8217;t believe we&#8217;ve met, sir. Buck Ransom, of the local ones. I keep an eye on the city, and I&#8217;m glad you were here to help keep Mr. Hale safe.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I probably need to get to a hospital,&#8221; <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> agrees with Buck. He nods to Silas. &#8220;We had just been &#8211;&#8221; Bloody coughs. &#8220;We had been talking about breaking a door down, and making out via the tunnels.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Silas upnods Buck. &#8220;Silas. Saw you onna ads, you a famous one,&#8221;, he responds before facing the doorway once more, peering out. &#8220;Well hopefully ya got that tunnel entrance on lock or somethin&#8217; cuz out there is gunna be real violent.&#8221; He turns to levy a toothy grin at the other men, though. &#8220;I&#8217;m down with that too tho&#8217;.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Buck fishes out his phone and scrolls through it. &#8220;Silas Hart? Where did you serve? My files on you are pretty sparse, but all it has is your phone number and evidence you served.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Silas shakes his head slowly, though he keeps his grin. &#8220;This really ain&#8217;t tha time for that I think. Take me <\/p>\n<p>Rolling over again, <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> spits out some more blood. He looks over at Buck. &#8220;Think you can make a hole in the floor?&#8221; he asks the man. &#8220;Or one of you,&#8221; he says. &#8220;Somewhere down in the basement, things ought to&#8230;&#8221; Coughing, again. &#8220;Connect.&#8221; Outside, shapes still move in the mists. &#8220;Then maybe we can get ourselves out of the damn mists.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Silas shakes his head slowly, though he keeps his grin. &#8220;This really ain&#8217;t tha time for that I think. Take me out later and we can talk &#8217;bout it.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Silas says &#8220;<span style=\"color:#00afff\">Lead tha way.<\/span>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> digs out a vial of something gold, taking a swig. <\/p>\n<p>Buck nods to Silas, &#8220;Yeah, we should get Thomas to the hospital.&#8221; he looks over a map. &#8220;Southwest. Couple of maintenance tunnels, and we can take the subway over to the Hospital.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Silas(wolf) shifts right back into wolf form and barks his affirmative. <\/p>\n<p>With that &#8212; wolf, detective, and very wounded librarian &#8212; the trio descend into darkness of the tunnels, hoping to leave the mists behind. <\/p>\n<p>Buck nods, and picks up Thomas to follow. <\/p>\n<p>From out of a subway tunnel somewhere staggers <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span>, supported by Buck. There might have been a wolf, briefly, but it&#8217;s gone. The librarian does not appear to be in very good shape at all, covered in blood and his shirt raked in tatters. Not a good situation at all. <\/p>\n<p>Buck helps Thomas as he says, &#8220;Yeah, let&#8217;s get you there, come on, I know the way.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Buck says &#8220;<span style=\"color:#00afff\">All right, we&#8217;re near Northview Park, so we&#8217;re heading south.<\/span>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p>limps along, leaning on Buck, not at all pleased about the bleeding. <\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> limps along, leaning on Buck, not at all pleased about the bleeding. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Thank you,&#8221; <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> tells Buck as they limp along. &#8220;This was &#8212; this was really not ideal. Not at all,&#8221; he coughs. &#8220;Fuck.&#8221; He looks over at the Silas(wolf). &#8220;And thank you,&#8221; he says, even if he suspicious about some of the slashes he may have. <\/p>\n<p>Buck chuckles, &#8220;I guess you owe me for Sera and for saving your life. I guess I&#8217;ll put you on billables, Mr. Hale.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Buck says &#8220;<span style=\"color:#00afff\">Going to get my car from work, it was just south of where we were.<\/span>&#8220;<\/p>\n<p>Coughing, <span style=\"color:#ffffff\">Thomas<\/span> nods to Buck. &#8220;I really&#8230; This is just not the best situation,&#8221; he admits. A look back at Silas(wolf). &#8220;At some point,&#8221; he says, &#8220;They may try to&#8230; take you in.&#8221; <br \/><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Date: 2025-07-03 22:51 (Thomas&#8217;s Thursday night odd encounter(Thomas):Thomas) [Thu Jul 3 2025] An antique shop It is night, about 68F(20C) degrees, and the sky is covered by dark grey stormclouds. It&#8217;s raining. The mist is heaviest At Elm and Lake\/span>\/span<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encounterlog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/havenrpg.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/havenrpg.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/havenrpg.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/havenrpg.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/havenrpg.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/havenrpg.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21264\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/havenrpg.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/havenrpg.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/havenrpg.net\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}