Bent Tom

Bent Tom is a minor character that appears during the opening narration of the Conferences of Victor Gagné, part Five.

Bent Tom was the son of a Zherisian butcher whose mother was abducted by the Marikith. Overcome by grief at the loss, his father turned to strong drink to dull his pain, which resulted in his being arrested, tried and executed for disorderly conduct while drunk.

Left alone after the loss of both his parents, Bent Tom became a footpad who favoured the Blackchapel district of Paridon as his personal 'hunting range'. An experienced thief and merciless killer, Bent Tom was confident that he could defeat a Dread Doppelganger in single combat and outrun a Marikith Hunter if so required, but was not uncautious by nature. During his appearance, he trailed what at first appeared to be Victor Gagné (but was actually the Rakshasa Ciphramir in disguise) from a distance, making very sure that his intended target was not a lure sent out by the police to trick footpads like Bent Tom into revealing themselves before he moved in for the kill, and was committed to only stealing items that could not be traced back to his prospective victim.

Before Bent Tom could strike, his mind was violated and shattered into insanity when the Red Haunt contacted him through her native power of telepathy, exposing him to her fiendish essence. After plunging Bent Tom into madness, the fiend casually dismissed him. It may be that Bent Tom survived the night, as the battle that soon erupted between the Red Haunt and Ciphramir likely drove any other lurking horrors away from the area. Even so, his fate currently remains unknown.