London 1802: Missed Connections

Gerald, Robert, Molly and Kathrine made their way to The Mitre around 6 o'clock on the evening of Saturday, April the 10th. Their plan was to talk to a man called Hannington.

By the time they arrived at the pub, it was starting to cool a bit and the overcast sky was beginning to drizzle. The other patrons of the establishment were somewhat surprised to see the two women enter with Gerald and Robert, but, apart from some occasional glances - particularly at Molly - nothing seemed to come of it.

The group took seats at the only empty table - which happened to be near the center of the room. They spent some time discussing what they should do, looking around for anyone who stood out or who may get inebriated to the point of spouting nonsense. They also spoke to the bartender who said he knew the man they were looking for, but at the time said he wasn't present. Some time later, and after pressing the point a bit Molly was able to learn that the man known as Hannington was seated in a booth on the far side of the room.

When Molly walked over to where he was sitting, she interrupted a conversation he was having with another person - a woman in a hooded cloak whom, unlike herself and Kathrine, the room had not seemed to notice. She gave Molly an icy stare before sliding out of the booth and walking out of the establishment. Hannington seemed somewhat relieved by her departure, but quickly became wary of this overly outspoken new woman who'd joined him.

Molly talked with him for a while, trying to subtly prompt him into volunteering some of the information they had come for, but he didn't seem to take the bait, and anytime she became too direct, he seemed to get very uncomfortable. She did learn that he lived on Allens Street, but he wouldn't say anything about his area of town beyond the fact that he didn't like to walk around it at night.

After a while, they were joined by Robert who slipped a sedative provided by Gerald into Hannington's drink and he passed out. They were about to carry him out when the bartender told them he'd take care of it and he and some friends took the unconscious man to a room upstairs.

Having been unsuccessful in their attempt to get Hannington to talk about his experiences, they had a brief discussions as to what they should do next. Kathrine said she probably needed to be heading back to her aunt's house before too long, but the group decided to take a look around Allens Street since the note had referred to that area.

Allens Street was not a major thoroughfare, but it was lit - which was good because the overcast sky was letting almost no moon or starlight through. The area contained a fair number of trees and bushes along the houses and sides of the streets. This was a little uncommon, but not unheard of. They decided to take a quick look around some of the darker alleyways looking for anything unusual.

After 10 or 20 minutes of wandering, they happened upon an alleyway which seemed to have still more trees and bushes up against the buildings. Gerald decided that someone must have planted them there because it seemed unlikely for them to have grown there on their own.

They followed this alleyway until Gerald, who had been leading the group in the dark, ran into a wall at its end. When this sudden stop occurred, Molly lost her balance and fell into a small hole to her left and her right foot stuck into something very sticky on the floor.

Gerald fished around in his bag and eventually found a candle and some matches while Robert helped Molly out of the hole. Once Gerald got the candle lit, they examined the area. Molly had fallen into a small, partial stairwell that provided access to a door that was sunk slightly below street level. The floor of the stairwell was covered with some sticky, golden substance which Gerald eventually identified as sap.

Robert decided he was going to take a look. He stepped down part way into the stairwell and kicked in the door where Molly had cracked it. Trying to avoid stepping in the sap as much as possible, he took the candle from Gerald and leaned inside.

The cellar-like lower floor into which he looked was overgrown with bushes, vines and grass. There was some sort of red mark painted on the floor, but it was obscured by the vegetation. The sap "stream" continued to the middle of the room. Once or twice he thought he saw something move but closer examination revealed nothing.

Robert turned back around to the other three and stated rather matter-of-factly "the room's full of plants". He had barely finished this statement when he was suddenly yanked backward into the darkness...

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