It was like watching somebody unexpectedly walk into a really big oven.

The first step out the door was confident, eager even. He obviously wanted to get back into the safety of the truck, to be far, far away from this place. To get home. He could see it, big and beautiful and parked just over there.

The second step, he knew something was wrong. His bag fell onto the ground and half way through his stride his arms came up in a futile gesture, like trying to quickly ward off the dawn rays through a dirty windshield as you rocketed down the highway. It was an urgent motion, frantic.

He collapsed on the third, screaming like a man who was having his skin burned off in the aforementioned oven. It was a real, miserable, pained howl of misery and not the throaty manly sort of scream that a guy makes when he has control of his faculties.

He screamed like a man that was dying as all of his exposed skin erupted into vivid blisters and ugly swathes of raw crackling flesh.

And then, perhaps mercifully, he collapsed. The big guy pitched forward onto his belly, and even in that state he still curled up like he way trying to protect his face and eyes against the pain where he writhed for a moment and then went still.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:45, Sat 26 Oct 2019.

Dragged Dean back into the cursed diner, and asked Tom to do the same for Jack.

He then went and pulled the pickup to just outside the door, hoping the tinted windows would shelter his (probably vampiric) friends from the sunlight they could no longer endure.

Abe dragged Dean back into the diner. Jack and Tom followed.

Abe went back outside in the sun, brought the car to the door, the quartet of students got inside, and they left the Jade Dragon behind.

As they drove, the tinted windows were apparently sufficient protection against Dean's and Jack's sudden solar allergy.


[Where are you going? And what are you doing to help the unconscious Dean and the still conscious, but barely so, Jack? And who goes where in the car?]

When Dean and Jack suddenly collapsed, Tom reacted immediately, scooping up Jack and hauling him back inside the diner.  This was bad, really bad. If he had to hazard a guess—but no, that couldn’t be, could it? Although before today, if someone had told Tom that vampires and werewolves were real, he would have thought they were out of their minds. Now, though…

”At least us two can stand to walk in the sunlight,” he had said grimly to Abe. Something weird had happened to all of them. If Jack and Dean were now...he still couldn’t bring himself to complete the thought. Abe had visibly transformed, and as for himself, well, he apparently had this new sense that made no sense to him. “You drive, okay? I’ll keep an eye on our boys.”

In the truck, Tom did his best to make sure Dean and Jack were as comfortable as he could make them, as comfortable as two people could be who were now capable of being burned by the sun.

”Hold up, though, Abe,” if you’re really Abe, Tom thought. ”You said Thomas warned you about a car crash. Maybe we should find some place to hole up for a couple of days while we figure out what’s going on. I can finish the truck trip and then get a ride back to wherever we end up.” But where? They were out in the middle of nowhere, with only the Naval station and the diner nearby.

”Hey…you think you could magic up one of those portals those guys at the diners back there used? Maybe even big enough for the truck, too?”

”Or wait—maybe you have the whole Doctor Strange suite of powers now? Do you think you could, I dunno, cast heals or something for Dean and Jack?”
This message was last edited by the player at 16:58, Mon 28 Oct 2019.

Dean, who had been pulled "through" the backseat and then propped up in the corner, swayed and bounced just slightly as the truck was guided back onto the main road. His eyes were partially open, as was his mouth, his head lolled back against the rear window as he stared unseeing towards the roof.

Abe shrugged at Tom's suggestion of hiding from Thomas's dream for a few days.  "It happened at about the same time that all three of you really died and I sort of did - less so as far as bloodloss goes, but more so in appearance."  He said.  "I suspect that his dream was of exactly what happened.  And if it wasn't, I don't know that we can change futures perceived - the 'car crash' could happen in a car we get to avoid it, or with each of us in separte cars."

As he drove on, he considered Tom's words.  "In stories vampires always need blood.  And didn't Dr. Strange take a long time to learn to do anything other than fail at sparkly lights?  I'm willing to try... but I'm worried that I might harm them more than I hurt them."

He thought for a moment.  "You know anywhere we can lay low for a while?" He asked Tom.

Getting Dean into the car was an adventure on its own, as he was actually too heavy for Tom to lift on his own. But with Abe's help, it was possible to get him into the backseat and propped up against the far door. And though most men would have had the same problem with Jack, Tom wasn't most men. But then everyone could see that Tom was strong! Dean was too, but a little too preoccupied to help.

With Dean, Jack, and Tom in the backseat of the car, it was a little crowded. But only Dean was bigger than Abe, so at least that was working for them. But then Dean was at least half a foot taller than any one of them so why he had gotten a scholarship to play football for Croatan was instantly obvious.

But how would all this talk about dreams and transformations and Dr. Strange actually affect them? Their ability to play college football? Or even get a date? Or live a normal life?




[OOC: Only Dean collapsed from his solar injuries when they went out of the diner.

As I wanted to point that out, I forgot to make HT rolls for Jack when he walked back into the diner and when he headed into the car. And now that I rolled for that in retrospect, he did collapse on his way back into the diner.]
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:24, Mon 28 Oct 2019.

”I was thinking a motel, maybe,” Tom said, a little uncertain. ”I mean, something has happened, something absolutely nuts, and we need time to process this. Maybe there’s a cabin or something we could rent at a state park? I dunno, man, I’m just spitballing here.”

A worried look on his face, he glanced over at Dean and Jack. ”So you think our boys are vampires, too? I didn’t want to say anything, but I was thinking the same thing. Dude, that is so messed up! I mean, blood, right? I’m not ready to go find someone our guys can suck the blood from. That’s just too much, you know?” He said this to the apparently transformed or replaced Abe, who had his own thing going on.

Tom wondered why he himself is was least changed. Other than that weird sense he now had, he felt completely the same. ”Hey, you think I might be a werewolf now? It sounds completely bonkers, I know, and I don’t think any of those freaks in the diner bit me, but it seems like you guys were changed, and I’m still the same, mostly. Werewolves have heightened senses, right?” The bad thing was that werewolves and vampires were eternal enemies, if Vampire: The Masquerade and the whole Twilight garbage were to be believed.

Abe nodded, and told the car to guide them to cabin rentals at a state park nearby.  As he continued driving, he spoke to Tom, "Well, you all died after getting hit by and bled on by those creatures.  So yeah, you've apparently caught what they had.  I can only guess at werewolf abilities from games and movies, like you.  I'm guessing you've got the inside track on info about that."

As the terrain breezed by, Abe continued, "I've got a way to call someone who might be able to help them, or teach me to help them.  I'm not going to try that while cruising down the road, though, unless it's a real emergency.  They seem stable to you?"

Dean, who was slumped in the rear passenger side corner with less than an inch of heavily tinted safety glass between himself and immolation, looked pretty rough. If they were being honest with each other.

”They look like they’re half-dead,” Tom said, concern in his voice. ”I’d say take them to a hospital. If what you say is true about needing blood, maybe they can get a blood transfusion. If not a hospital, then whatever you’re thinking, but they need help badly.”

Tom could only imagine what the nurses in the E.R. would say if they showed up, though. Uh, yes, I think my friends might be vampires. And maybe that makes me a werewolf? Uh, no, officer, I’m not high, and I haven’t been drinking. He put his hand to his forehead in worry. How on earth would Dean and Jack be able to survive like this? Would Dean have to quit football? Dean had been so successful, and he was built for it. How would they even be able to go to class from now on? And how was Tom going to make it in the Air Force if he turned out to be some sort of werewolf?

”This is so messed up,” he said with a groan. ”We didn’t ask for this. Abe, what are you going to say when you try to go back to school? They’re not going to believe you’re the same guy. Dean and Jack won’t be able to go to class. I’ll probably be turning into a homicidal maniac every full moon. What are we going to do?”

"Hospital's a big fat no.  I seriously doubt anything good could come of making their condition known."  He thought about options.  If they were doing that poorly, he was going to have to try contacting Sparrow again.

"Yeah, he'll have to drop the team or find something that will let him go outside in the daylight.  Maybe become a professional arena football player?"  He glanced at himself in the mirror.  "Eh.  I might be able to cut this back to high and tight, then play it off as a summer in the sun after years of being emaciated by work."

Since the two apparent vampires were apparently doing very badly, and as Sparrow had initially opened a portal for vampires, he reached into his pocket and touched the coin.  "Sparrow.  I need your help.  My friends are apparently now fantastically allergic to sunlight, and burned.  Can you help them or teach me to?"

You left Plaster City and continued west through the desert. You rejoined Kumeyaay Highway in Ocotillo. No more than a couple of hundred people could be living there. A small, no-name place, in the middle of nowhere.

A sign pointed through the "village" to Agua Caliente Springs County Park, but your GPS pointed left onto the highway and you followed the GPS as there was no indication of the distance to the park.

Abe tried to contact Sparrow through the coin she had given him. But nothing happened.

You drove through a wind farm. There wasn't much else to see but desert and power lines. You soon passed a "Speed Enforced by Aircraft" sign, but you didn't see any. A couple of trucks drove in the opposite direction, but traffic was light. A railroad bridge passed over the highway. And shortly thereafter an ordinary bridge.

As you continued, there was a yellow "Avoid overheating Turn Off A/C Next 10 Miles" sign on the left-hand side. Signs about slow traffic followed. But the majority of what you could see on the sides of the highway continued to be desert, wind farm, and power lines.

The westbound and eastbound lanes separated on different sides of a hill. And soon the wind turbines on your right came closer to the highway. But as the highway continued to turn around the hill, the wind turbines soon were further away again.

The morning weather was lovely. A few scattered clouds here and there, but nothing for the sun to hide behind. As the right side of the highway became hilly too, the windfarm ended. And the power lines had long since stopped accompanying them. Though there were new ones in the distance ahead.

Hills on both sides were covered by rocks. And when they passed the hills on the left, the eastbound highway started running parallel to the westbound highway again. They passed a fuel tanker as the road turned. And later a car parked on the side of the road with both the trunk and the hood open. They were apparently having car trouble. But then car trouble paled to the trouble the four students were in.

The terrain remained rock covered hills on both sides of the highway, but the distance between the hills was large enough for travel in both directions. Though eastbound was at a somewhat lower elevation.

They passed another four cars that had stopped at the side of the road. It looked like they were traveling together for only one of the pickups had its hood open.

Another rocky hill divided the two highway directions. And the students passed another truck.

A "Desert View Tower Next Exit" sign showed up shortly after they had passed the middle hill. Another sign instructed them to drive safely before they passed another two fuel trucks.

There was a sign for Jacumba Hot Springs Next Exit, indicating that there were food and rooms there. But it wasn't where the GPS was directing you. But you had already driven for 30 minutes and the Golden Acorn Campsite was still 13 miles away. So you turned off the highway. The GPS protested, but a voice command redirected it to your new destination.

The road was smaller and there were a couple of ramshackle homes on the side of the road. At least there were some low bushes growing on the sides of the road now. The first vegetation you had seen all morning.

You soon turned left and traveled beneath the highway and turned right on the Old Highway once you were on the other side. Not that it looked any better than the road on the other side of the highway. But there were power lines to look at again.

The only traffic you saw was the Border Patrol, in their white and green SUV who had pulled over a silver-colored SUV. Fortunately, they seemed too professional to pay any interest in your 6x6 while they were working.

The vegetation got taller as you continued, though still only bush sized. There were a couple of trees in the fenced-in yard of someone's home. And a few other buildings on the other side of the road. An African American female was walking eastward, dressed in black training clothes with no sleeves and full-length legs. She was wearing a black bandana on her head and a black backpack on her back. She was holding a white cell phone in her right hand and some keys in her left hand.

The vegetation looked less deserty now. You were definitely arriving somewhere soon. Shortly thereafter, there were buildings on both sides of the road.

And you soon saw the large "Lodging Restaurant" sign. The somewhat smaller sign above it indicating that this was indeed "Jacumba Hot Springs SPA" was legible shortly thereafter. And it had only been three minutes since you turned off the highway.

This early in the morning, the trees to the east of the spa was still giving shade so that you could get from the driveway inside the spa without being kissed by the big eye in the sky. But how would you get the incapacitated Dean and Jack past whatever staff that would get you your rooms?

Abe parked at the Lodging Restaurant and looked back at Tom.  "Could you go order a meal for each of us?  I want to try a couple of things and then we can get a quick look around to see if this will be a good spot for us to hunker down and take care of our undead bordering on re-dead friends."

Abe again reached into his pocket and tried contacting Sparrow again, with the same message.

A firey vertical gash appeared near Abe, no heat radiated from it. Like before, the gash bulged into a circle bound by a rim of fire. The beautiful Sparrow was on the other side and behind her what looked like a luxury dwelling of someone with refined taste. She stepped through and the portal vanished behind her.

She looked around and seemed to be satisfied that no one had seen her arrive. "Not as private as I had expected," she said. "So I assume this is important. How can I help you?"

"It truly is.  Thank you for coming."  Abe said with full sincerity.  He pointed to the charred guys in the back seat.  "We had no idea they were changed into vampires(?) during the fight, and when they walked outside into the bright sunlight..."  Abe trailed off.  The results spoke for themselves.

"I'd have waited to call until we had them inside somewhere even more private and secure, but I don't know what vampires are actually like.  I didn't want to leave them where someone could stumble on to them, nor move them myself and have them end up eating me while I did so.  So - is there a way to heal them so they can move themselves?  And is there somewhere I can go either online or in-person to start learning things for myself?  I deeply appreciate your awakening me and now showing up again for me, but I'd rather not trouble you any more than is absolutely necessary.  What I owe you already seems like more than I could ever repay."

"You need a teacher," Sparrow said. "This is not something you can learn on your own." She opened one of the front doors and looked at the two students inside the car.

"That doesn't look good. Where are you headed?"

Abe nodded: he wasn't surprised about needing a teacher.  "That figures.  I thought about trying to help them myself first, but figured that even if I got something to happen, it would be more likely to do harm than good.  On that note, are you looking for an apprentice, or do you know anyone who might be?" He asked her hopefully.  Not just because she was the most beautiful woman he had ever met, but also because she was the only mage he had ever met.

When she asked about where they were headed, he answered, "We are heading for San Diego."

"I wasn't looking for an apprentice, but my home base is in San Diego too, so that is fortuitous. And with the recent deaths of so many of De La Vegas high-level associates, two copils sired by them would definitely be welcome. Adding a young, but untrained, Fey into the mix, who is already part of their cohort and who is willing to pledge loyalty to the undisputed Baron of San Diego and who will be trained by the best to serve him and his cohort. That will be a morsel he will not be able to say no to."

"What about your other friend? What happened to him?"

The ride had seemed interminable, particularly with all the cars overheated on the side of the road and Thomas’s premonition of some kind of car accident. If Tom had been able to view events with an air of detachment, he might have wondered why Thomas had been so worried that the four of them had been in a car wreck, but with everything else that had happened, a worried friend with visions of danger seemed pretty low on the weirdness meter.

Now, Tom had left the car and gone inside the restaurant to order meals for everyone. He still thought that they needed to find medical help, and barring that, some kind of supernatural expertise.

While he waited for the food, he checked Google for “what to do when your vampire friend gets burned by the sun.”

Abe pointed to the spa.  "In case you weren't able to answer and we had to hunker down, he's in checking the place out under the cover of getting lunch."

He considered a moment.  "Also, something happened to him at the restaurant.  Not really sure what, but he's strong and didn't burn in the sunlight."

Tom ordered, paid for, and received food for the group. Did real food give vampires any sustenance? When he double-checked that the paper bags to make sure they had given him what he had ordered, he discovered a coupon for a free massage at the spa.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:41, Wed 30 Oct 2019.

Tom grimaced when the Google results were less than helpful. Twilight was definitely right out, and this obviously wasn’t the sims. The more or less straightforward explanations just said that vampires were burned by the sun, nothing he didn’t already know from pop culture. At least the free massage coupon was nice.

He returned to the 6x6 to see Abe talking with an incredibly gorgeous woman. ”Wow, hi,” he says, looking to Abe for confirmation of whether this woman was known to him. ”I’m sure you get this all the time, but you’re the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. I’m Tom. I’m guessing you know Abe here?”

Abe grinned at Tom's response to seeing Sparrow, and knew how he felt.  "Sparrow, this is Tom - a friend of mine who I'd rather not have die.  Tom, this is Sparrow, an acquaintance of mine who might be able to help us make contacts in the world we've been introduced to, and hopefully won't kill you?"  He said that last bit more to Sparrow and in a hopeful tone with his eyebrows raised.

"I see," Sparrow said. "It's all four of you then. And if he had been a vampire, he would have burned. No matter how strong he is. Unless there is any truth to these fairytales about Daywalkers that never seem to go away."

And then Tom returned. Sparrow's hair billowed around her when she turned around to face him. And Tom introduced himself and commented on her beauty. And she flashed him a brilliant smile. Teeth such as hers could never have met a cavity.

"Yes," she said. "Abe and I have talked before. You and I have met before too. Well, not met really. You saw me across a vampire and werewolf crowded diner before you died. I'm Sparrow and I opened the portal. There wasn't supposed to be any civilians there. But from what I hear, death wasn't permanent for you either. Anything you want to share?" She offered him another of her radiant smiles.

"And Abe is right, I have no intention of killing you."