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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3392186" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter One-hundred-forty-seven, “Dos Cabezas”, Tuesday June 13th, 1882, 4:00 P.M. Leaving the women back at the hotel, Jake and Nakomo headed off on their own to explore the town of Dos Cabezas. Jake looks at Nakomo who is looking at Jake expectantly.  "Yes, well, I suppose you should come with me."  Jake looks up and down the street and sighs.  He moves towards the two cantinas.  He quickly judges which one might offer better food and they enter that one.   Nakomo walks a pace behind Jake and watches how he saunters through the dusty, dung covered streets of the town as though he owns it. By the time they step through the swinging doors of the saloon the lanky young Indian has adopted Jakes confident swagger and is mimicking his easy demeanor. His gaze sweeps covertly around the room in search of possible trouble as he follows Jake to a table at the rear of the room.  When Jake pulls up a chair keeping his back to the wall, Nakomo follows suit. He casually leans the chair back on it's two hind legs and crossing his legs at the ankles strikes a pose of relaxed boredom. Jake makes note of which cantina might give him the opportunity of an interesting poker game later. To the bartender Jake says, "Hola, mi amigo!  A double whiskey for me and whatever the boy wants."   Jake selects a seat with his back to the wall and a good view of the place, being in an unfamiliar location old habits return.  "I wouldn't mind one of those as well." The boy says, pointing to the glass of amber liquid making it's way to Jake's lips. I used to drink Pakesso's and Naumkeag's after they'd pass out. Took the sting out of the bruises." He said off-handedly.   "But I suppose Miss Minerva wouldn't approve. She does not yet fully see me for the man that I am."   He smiles conspiritually and sighs as though he his sharing a great truth that only men are privy to. "It's not easy living under a woman's roof." Jake hides a smirk from the boy and indicates to the bartender to bring what Jake is drinking to Nakomo. Jake says, "It is the truth, it is not easy living under anyone's roof, worse if it is a woman.  Minerva is a head strong woman, I would be careful not to cross her.  If you ask me, what she does not know cannot bother her." The boy says, "I wouldn't want to do anything that would make her mad, but if you think that it's o.k. then... thanks," he reaches for the offered glass, takes a large gulp and sits quietly savoring the familiar feeling of the fiery liquid as it slides down his throat and begins to melt the icy ball of fear that had lodged itself in his stomach when the vampire grabbed Mrs. Kale. Speaking more to himself than to Nakomo Jake rants quietly, "That could have gone better.  All that trouble and we did not destroy the coffins.  It may be that the goddesses arrow destroyed the one, but I am not confident that the other two were done in by the dynamite.  Those blasted creatures are tough to eliminate.  If someone does not destroy their coffins before they can reform we will have to do that all over again.  Just my luck too if Tomlinson and Harker come to clean up after us and get what valuables that may be lying about."  He has a sip of the whiskey before he finishes with, "Blast.  Katherine had better come out of this well enough." While Jake is speaking he scans the cantina and its occupants, learning what he can.  After a time they order some food, Jake chats with the server in his charming way and attempts to get the best food they have available. He is able to quickly ascertain that a small community has been located here for centuries, founded by a group of the Mexican elves and half-elves who had escaped from the Spanish Conquistador Coronado.   They've lived mostly as sheep and goat farmers with a small number of crops.   It's only during the past five years since silver was discovered in Tombstone that several dozen human and dwarven prospectors have moved in, adding to the local economy. He also finds out that none of the local mines have been very successful, that it is only the local Morand-Seawell mine that any ore of any quantity was recently found and that one they are only starting to draw ore from.   But it looks like it will be a successful one, and the town has already started to grow as a result, with the population shifting from approximately 200 to nearly 300 in just two months. The Morand-Seawell Mining Company has gone to great lengths to become good neighbors, hiring on the locals as workers with agreements for profit-sharing.   Arrangements such as that are almost unheard of, and even rarer to have humans extend such an offer to those of other races. After learning all about the history and economics of Dos Cabezas, he gets down to more important matters of drinking, asking after a poker game and keeping his eye open for attractive ladies. Jake is able to find three wood elves named Paco Ramiro, Damian Flores and Marco Ruiz who are willing to play a hand at poker.  They are soon joined by Henry Pleasants and Father Silas Oraibi Barnes, both of whom are happy to play as well. As the night passes, Jake orders young Nakomo a whiskey whenever the boy's glass is empty.  Time passes quickly and Jake's game breaks up.   Once the whiskey had begun to work its magic Nakomo became more animated. “I really like Miss Minerva. I wouldn't do anything to cross her and not just cause she's stubborn and bullheaded.  Its not that I'm afraid of her. I'm not afraid of anyone but She's done a lot for me, getting me out of jail and taking me in and all and I'm real grateful to her for all that." He takes another, much smaller sip and continues.  "and she’s really smart and brave too, but still, she is a woman and can't be expected to understand what it means to be a man. After all, what a man does on his own time is his own business. Right Mr. Jake?" he says raising his glass again. Nakomo spends the evening sipping his drink, and watching Jake watch the eyes of the other card players. He is mindful not to drink enough to get sloppy, but enough that he feels that Jake will see him as a man. Jake states, "Come, Nakomo, time to get some rest.  There does not appear to be much else to do in this town at night." When the evening ends Nakomo, still imitating Jake, swaggers back to the hotel to check on Minerva and get some rest. "G'night Mr. Jake. Thanks." On Wednesday June 14th, 1882, Kate wakened after the sun had slipped below the horizon.  She was still very tired, but her body was demanding a few things before it would let her rest.  There was a tray next to her bed holding some bits of fruit, cheese, and bread.   She gratefully ate the food that had been left, and after stretching her legs a bit and taking care of a few other little things she crawled back into the bed and went back to sleep. 9:30 A.M. Jake Cook, Minerva Florencia and Nakomo are sitting down in the Dos Cabezas Restaurant for a breakfast of fried eggs, goats milk pancakes, hashed-brown potatoes and sausages. They are soon joined by Katherine Kale who is helped to the table by Bishop Costas Papandraus.   The Greek priest tells them, “She is capable of getting around on her own but I insisted on helping.   She is still a little weak.    The Bishop mentions that the Morand-Cartage Stagecoach will be stopping here in town on its way back to Promise City from Wilcox some time between 1:00 and 1:30 P.M. if they want to take that back rather than individual riding. They are almost finished the meal when a trio of men enter who they recognize as the team of vampire hunters comprised of  Kevin Tomlinson, Jonathan Harker and Father John Harbrace.   The men’s clothing are a bit disheveled and Harker has ripped pants and is walking with a limp but they otherwise look to be healthy.    The men notice the others and slide a second table over adjacent to it.   Tomlinson then places a candle in the center followed by a sprinkling of powder and a Latin incantation to establish a Privacy Spell. "Good morning gentlemen, I take it," Jake briefly points to the candle, "that you have news?" Harbrace says "Indeed we do."    Harker begins by saying, “Two more of those monstrosities are now gone, including the large one who you tossed the dynamite at Mr. Cook.  He was the same one we fought in Wilcox, Mortimer Turner’s companion.   But we were not able to find Mr. Turner and neither of the slain vampires were forthcoming with information prior to their demise.” Kate asks, "Did you find coffins in the mine anywhere?  We were concerned they would just retreat and reform later." Tomlinson says, "They would not have needed coffins.  The purpose of the coffin is to transport the dirt from their home when they became vampires, which a vampire must rest upon.  Coffins work well for vampires as the dirt transport containers since they shield all sunlight and also are not uncommon to be transported by train or ship.   But if these prospectors were in the homes already from when they were sired they could have just slept right there." Jake shakes his head.  "That is all too blasted confusing for me.  So which ones are destroyed?  Did the goddesses arrow do the job?" Harbrace says, "I used an arrow on the dwarf, Harker and Tomlinson worked together to stake the tall human." Kate says, "Nakomo used an arrow on one yesterday, Minerva said it was impressive.  I wasn't aware of anything at the time. There was a dwarf there as well?  My understanding was there was Jobin, who Nakomo killed.  A man we've seen as Mr. Messier who we know uses magic, and a large man who was doing the mining." Tomlinson adds, “The second vampire who we dispatched was the dwarven miner who went by the name Erik Sharpaxe.   They were both in a chamber behind what appeared to be a blocked off former mine entrance, but was in reality just another illusion.   We assaulted it three hours ago.  I regret to inform you that Mr. M. Paul Messier escaped and he is apparently as human as we are, as he fled the cave on horseback after the sun had already risen.”   Harbrace says, Yeah, that took us totally by surprise.  With only limited manpower we left that exit unguarded, thinking them all to be vampires so the sun alone would have not allowed that as an avenue of escape.  Unfortunately by the time we finished with his two companions he was long gone, and his trail had been obscured by magic.” Kate states, "I'm not sure that's so unfortunate.  It's hard to get information from a vampire; there's a tendency to have to kill them before you can get anything out of them.  The magic is a barrier, of course, but one we might be able to do more about. The trick is to get hold of the man." Jake describes what he saw.  "Not only was Messier relaxing while the large vampire did all the work, he survived the dynamite I threw in there.  I assumed that he was a controlling vampire.  Why else would the other willingly work for him?" "This is why," Tomlinson says as he reaches his hand across the table and drops a pile of crushed rock with a grey metal mixed in. Very lovely."  Jake says with a touch of annoyance.  "Do you mind explaining to those who have not spent a lifetime becoming experts in this matter?" Tomlinson says "It is called Wolfram, also known by the name Tungsten.  It is the most valuable and highly sought metal in the world.  It is used by Wizards to create magical rings and wands.   It has the highest melting point of any known metal and works as a perfect conduit for electricity to travel, which is a component property to a large variety of wizard magics." Harbrace says, "I've worked as a prospector myself for the last seven years.   This metal is one of the rarest ones you'll ever find.  They located this on the lowest level of the Beatrice mine and were trying to extract it."  Harker adds, "Vampires have much greater strength than humans, that is why the large one was doing much of the physical work, with Messier having used magic to transform the dirt into mud for easier sifting." Jake asks, "Why would a vampire care about that?  I can see Messier's interest, but not a vampires." Tomlinson says, "Wealth is a means to an end, it is important to both the living and the undead.   Why steal what you can buy.   And we don't yet know what the connection is between these vampires, cowboys and wizards.   Let's try to figure out what we do know, maybe brainstorming will help." Kate states, "It looks like Niles made at least one valuable investment." Kate turned to Jake and said, "We've seen evidence that the Vampires are mixed up with the Cowboy gang, at least we suspect it.  And they've been using magic.  And money is money, alive or undead it's still good to have." Her inability to openly acknowledge her own knowledge and resources was getting more and more bothersome.  She looked at the Bishop and Father Harbrace, trying to gauge what their reactions might be.  She didn't plan to tell them, but it was looking more like she was going to have to tell someone if she wanted to help. Kate states, "Remember Chester saying something about a note?  Buckley was the man who killed Marshall Hollister, according to the note-writer.  And the man who arranged that is now running for office.  Could be Fisk, although the killing so close to his house is sloppy, not like him. We know that Buckley's and Thayer's men were working together, they threatened Chester and Mr. Berg together. It's possible Palmer and Messier are the same person." Tomlinson says, "I've been focused primarily on the vampires.   We know that there were originally four of them who had been sired by Colin Turner.  Mortimer Turner and his friend were left in Wilcox while Philemon Grove and Dooley Wilson were in Promise City, each pair with a casket of the other pair.    Wilson and Grove were dispatched and there is no evidence that they drained anybody to death until Deputy Sheriff Hunter, who we have made sure will not rise.   Turner and his friend fled Wilcox after we destroyed their caskets and came to Promise City.   It appears that Jobin and Sharpaxe were their first victims, which makes sense as their mines only had one or two people in them, so would have been easy targets.   The Messier connection is also unclear, although I believe that he and Palmer are two different people, perhaps a student and his teacher although it is uncertain which is in what role.   We do know that Palmer is also a sharpshooter, as he finished second in the rifle competition during the festival.  That was during the day, so he wasn't a vampire, at least at that time. The vampires next fed on Saturday night on the two victims from this town, Dos Cabezas, who they left in the farmhouse to rise yesterday although we prevented that from occurring.   On Sunday night they attacked the Cunningham mine, which consisted of owner Raymond Cunningham, his son and three workers.  One worker was a human named Joseph Simak and the other two were orges named Socrates and Copernicus.   They drained and killed both Simak and Socrates, who will rise tonight unless we find them first.    The Cunningham boy was left has a meal for those at the farmhouse, we can probably assume that a similar fate awaits one or both of the remaining two missing miners. So as far as we know, of the actual six vampires created to date, five are now deceased, with only Mortimer Turner still in the area, although he will have new allies by this evening." "What in Hades do we do with all that?"  Jake shakes his head.   Kate says, "So if we can discover where they are before tonight, we might be able to catch them all together. How far could the vampires have gotten away from the farmhouse before the sun rose?  What are the good places for a vampire to hole up in the area?" Jake interjects, "You say you have checked all the caves and abandoned farms.  Does that only leave the Sharpaxe mine?" Harker says, "The Sharpaxe Mine will be where we go next, beyond that we're not sure."    Harbrace says, "We decide to come here first for a good meal and a few hours rest before heading out again." Anger simmers in Minerva's eyes,  her words drip with sarcasm. "It was thoughtful of you gentlemen to take the time to fill us in, in between grabbing a good meal and getting some rest." Tomlinson says, "Ma'am, we've spent the better part of this last week doing nothing but hunting these monsters.  We just now dispatched two of them, during which Jonathan here was almost killed.  Father Harbrace used up every spell he had make him functional again.   So yes, we are going to take a short break so that we'll be back up to fighting strength for our next hunt." Minerva states, “Si, That is my point. Running off on your own will only get you killed, or worse. We are stronger together.” Jake asks, "So if Turner or the Ogres are in the Sharpaxe mine, then they need coffins there?" Harker answers, "Turner would need a coffin anywhere in the area.   The others would anywhere except for back in the Cunningham mine, but we checked that out two days ago and there was no evidence that anybody had been back there." Jake states, "Fine.  I will go with you then if you want me.  I am not worth a damn trying to drive a stick in one of those things black hearts, but I can hit them other ways and then look for their boxes." Minerva turns to Jake. "You will go with them if they want you?!"  Is everyone here gone loco? These are vampires we are dealing with. vampires with a capital V! She turns on Harbrace and Tomlinson. "We must work together! You can not just continue to run off wily nilly  and fill us in when it suits you. All of our talents are required. The Goddess made it clear that we must work together to destroy this evil!" Kate turned to Minerva and said, "I understand your frustration, our groups haven't been the best at keeping each other informed.  But I also know that working together doesn't always mean doing everything together. For example, I'm fairly certain the Bishop will object very strongly if I should suggest coming with you this afternoon." Bishop Costas replies, "Actually no, as I will be accompanying you as well.  Those monsters could be anywhere in this area and have reached this town before.   I consider you safer with me than not with me.   We should be able to keep you safe this time." Kate looked at the Bishop, surprised.  "I hope so.  I don't want to go through this again.  I'd best get plenty of breakfast then."  And figure out how to help without exposing myself. Bishop Costas says, "Gentlemen, I know of a spell that will enable each of you to get the equivalent of eight-hours rest in just one-hour.   I can go and pray for three of them while you eat and when I return cast them upon you.   We could all leave an hour after that to check out these caverns." "Fine.  I have a couple of things to do.  I will meet you at the horses." Minerva states, "I understand that it does not mean doing everything together, but as you said we are not doing our best to keep one another informed and I do not like being kept in the dark. The dark is a dangerous place to be right now." Jake makes his way to Seawell's place and attempts to purchase a lantern and a half dozen sticks of dynamite and fuse.  Afterwards he gathers up his gear and makes his horse ready.  He wastes time by throwing his hunting knife into a make shift target. Nakomo, having learned that it is best to stay out of the Priestess way when her temper is up, wordlessly follows her back to the hotel to gather up their weapons and supplies.</blockquote>

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