Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3407890" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter One-hundred-forty-nine, “The Silver Star”, Wednesday June 14th, 1882, 11:45 A.M. At a quarter-to-noon the combined group of Costas, Jake, John, Jonathan, Kate, Kevin, Minerva and Nakomo are all saddled up and ready to ride. They travel the five miles to the Sharpaxe Mine.    They spend an hour checking it out, finding evidence that indicates that several creatures had been there as well as indentations in the dirt that were made by a quartet of casket-shaped objects that have since been removed.    Harker does a quick look and says that he believes the caskets were removed within the last day. Kate says, "Four caskets.  Turner's.  The two they made last night, and who else's?" Costas says, "I don't know.   Where would you suggest we check next?" Jake suggests, "Perhaps they hauled them with wagons.  We should look for tracks." Nakomo walks slowly around the area searching for tracks. Minerva walks over to the area where Costa say's that the caskets were and examines the area more closely. "Perhaps they are still here somewhere." Kate says, "I don't know, we've already been over the mine for an hour.  Unless there are illusory walls like there were at the other mine.  We should probably walk though with our hands along the walls just to make sure." Kate turned to the Bishop.  "I'm not sure what other places are in the area where they could hide.  There must me something." Costas casts a spell to detect magic and investigates the walls, caverns and single shaft downward.   He concludes that there is nothing magical in the mine.   Nakomo and Harker detect no tracks fresher than a day old.   They look at the map, which Tomlinson cross-references to his notes.  He sees that the only mines in the immediate area are the Sharpaxe Mine which has been owned by Eric Sharpaxe and the Hoover Mining Trust; the Cunningham Mine which is owned by the Raymond Cunningham and the Hoover Mining Trust; and the Beatrice Mine which is owned by Dudley Jobin, M. Paul Messier and the Hoover Mining Trust. Several miles further away in different directions are the Kort mine owned by the ogre Kort, the Kurtz Mine owned by Jaxon Kurtz and the Silver Star Mine owned by Gary Miller, Stephen Wicks, Slim Decker and the Hoover Mining Trust. Kate looked at the others.  "I know Niles had a penchant for helping others out, but doesn't it seem odd that all the places we've found these creatures so far are part of the trust?  I say we try the Silver Star." Jake says, "It is a good a guess as any.  Lead on I will follow." They ride on for another six miles, the terrain being rougher and rockier than where they had been.    Of the eight, six are riding their own horses and Harker is a skilled equestrian but Costas has some difficulty and slows the group down a little.   They approach the Silver Star from the southeast, seeing the single minehead at a distance with a pitched roof of cabin one-hundred feet away.  Next to the cabin is a corral with three horses in it.   There are also two large wood and adobe storage sheds, one near the minehead the other near the corral. Jake asks, "Any reason not to knock on the door?  They can see us coming from quite a distance anyway." Kate states, "We do represent the Hoover Mining Trust these days. And I'd rather be sure these buildings are empty before we go into any mineshafts." The eight ride down to the cabin and corral. They see a slight plume of smoke rising from the cabin's chimney. Two of the windows to the cabin are open and the curtains are not drawn. As they near Tomlinson gestures to the corral and softly says, "One of those horses, the chestnut colored, resembles the one that Messier rode off on." Jake states, "Let us do it then. Keep your eyes open. Some of you watch those sheds as well." They ride up nice and steady and dismount the horses a good twenty feet from the cabin. Jake leaves his rifles on his horse but loosens his duster to give easy access to his pistols. He walks up to the door of the cabin and knocks, keeping his right side slightly away from the door so it is not obvious that his holster is kept clear. Minerva dismounts and follows. She reaches her hand in her pocket and loosen the top of the vial that she has tucked away. Nakomo stays mounted his bow close at hand. A man comes to the door. He has blonde hair, brown eyes, a short barely visible beard due to the light color and a scar on his chin. He is wearing denim overalls and a red-and-blue plaid cotton shirt. The other man is over by the woodstove cooking up what looks to be beef-and-bean stew. He has long black shoulder-length hair and is wearing blue jeans and a tan cotton shirt. Neither man is armed, although the one by the wood stove has a rifle against the wall within reach. The man at the door says, "Yeah? Who are you? What do you want?" "My name is Cook, Jake Cook. Several of us are part of the Hoover mining trust. There has been some trouble at the other mines and wanted to make sure there was not trouble here. Some of those here are concerned citizens, others looking out for their investments. We would appreciate if you could come out and speak with us." While Jake spoke Kate hung back as much as she could while holding the small mirror she'd taken to carrying in her hand. She was careful not to flash sunlight at the door but tried to see if there was a reflection. She sees that both men cast reflections. Kate slipped the mirror into her pants pocket and kept her eyes open, focusing on the other outbuildings The blonde man moves forward to block the doorway. He says, "I don't give a damn who you are. I'm Gary Miller and this here is Steve Wicks, between the two of us we own three-quarters of this mine. If you really are the minority owners and don't like the way we run things here we'll buy you out, otherwise leave us the Hades alone!" While he is saying this Wicks turns and reaches for the rifle against the wall. Jake flashes his pistol out of the holster, hammer back and points it at Wicks. "Touch that rifle wizard and you will be dead before your body hits the ground. Mr. Miller I suggest you come out of there now and speak to the nice folks out here like I politely asked." Kate's eyes went wide and she involuntarily stepped back. Gunplay wasn't something she wanted to be in the way of today. But her eyes were drawn inside to Wicks as her mind tried to recall if they knew this man was a wizard or not. Tomlinson and Harker also now have guns drawn. Miller puts up his arms and silently walks outside. Inside the room Wicks looks at Jake and says, "Wizard, I’m no wizard, just a poor working man. Don't shoot me mister, all I'm doin' is cooking my lunch." Minerva steps up but stays slightly behind Jake. She smiles to ease the man's mind "Now Senor Wicks no one wants to hurt you. Por Favor come outside so that we can talk." "Just cooking lunch." Jake chuckles. "What can a Frenchmen stomach at a mining camp to keep his identity a secret, eh? Keep those hands straight up in the air, your mouth shut and walk slowly towards me until you get outside." Wicks raises his hands and begins to walk towards the door. Jake now notices a slight bulge in the right arm of the man's shirt sleeve although he is unsure what might be there. Kate moved back further, then stepped behind Meribel keeping the horse between herself and the rest of the group. She pretended to play with the saddlebag as she muttered the detect magic cantrip. Then she pulled Tom's pistol out to cover why she had been fiddling back there and concentrated on the two miners. Minerva reaches for the pistol in her gown and steps back out of reach to allow the man to walk through the door. Jake watches the man closely, keeping his pistol pointed dead center of the man's chest. Jake keeps focus on his eyes and hands. Once he is outside, Jake takes his neckerchief in hand and says, "Open your mouth." Seeing himself greatly outnumbered and with several guns on him Wicks does as instructed. Nakomo stays astride his horse and looks about to be sure that no one will sneak up on them. Jake stuffs the neckerchief in the man's open mouth. "Hold that a moment. Nakomo, bring some rope over hear and tie the mans hands behind his back." "Now, Mr. Messier, let us see what you have in that sleeve of yours. Please be careful not to move suddenly, Pierre has recently oiled my gun rather well...." Jake removes from the shirt sleeve the same magical wand that he had seen the previous evening on the table beside Messier in the mine. Nakomo continues to be aware of his surroundings as he dismounts and pulling rope from his saddlebag he hurries over to do as Jake instructed. "Katherine," Jake says over his shoulder, "do you have an educated guess on what item might hold his disguise? His belt buckle perhaps?" "Wouldn't be the first time we've seen a belt buckle used." Kate looked him over carefully with the enhanced vision of the detect magic spell. "Rings are common as well. Give me a moment to see if anything jumps out." She continued to look him over and said, "Those boots are looking a little odd. But I don't think he has anything special changing his face today. He's doing it under his own power. We'll just have to wait for the spell to wear off. The other one doesn't seem to have anything special about him." Minerva steps forward and feigns outrage. “Senor Cook what are you doing to these men? There is no reason to be so harsh.” She turns to Wick and Miller. “Senors, Por favor, tell us what you know. I would not have them harm you, but you must co-operate if I am to convince them otherwise. Please, We need answers Senors. It will go easier on you if you give us some.” Miller exclaims "What I know? I know that my partner and I are here on our land minding our own business when you lunatics charge in unannounced and force us outside at gunpoint. If you're here to rob us then rob us and be off." Kate says, “Jake, would you please remove our friends boots? And you'll want to empty his pockets as well, down to the last piece of lint." Kate then turns and asks, “Mr. Miller, was it? Mr. Miller, why don't you tell us when you first saw your friend today." Miller replies, "He rode back early this morning. Look lady, why don't you have your friends with the guns lower them before somebody gets nervous." Harker says, "Nobody is nervous Mr. Miller, we just want some answers." The now restrained Wicks starts to shake his head and muffled sounds come from his gagged mouth. "Bishop," Kate said as she turned to look at Papandraus, "Would you be able to do the spell that tells us if good Mr. Wicks is telling the truth? Once his pockets are empty and his hands immobile we can let him have his say. And don't think of trying to use a spell to escape, we've all dealt with this kind of thing before." The Bishop says, "I only have one of those spells today. Let's hear what he has to say first and then we can have him repeat it." Once stripped of his boots and all small items removed they prepare to release Wick's gag. Harker, Harbrace, Minerva and Jake all still have weapons leveled towards him when Tomlinson removes the gag. Wick's gestures his head towards Miller and says, "He doesn't know anything, I'm the one with all of the information. But I'm not talking to you until I get a written pardon from Judge Isby." "Well now that's a shame." Kate folded her arms across her chest and settled her weight onto one hip. "Judge Isby is a fair man, but tough. What do you think Kevin? Will the Judge be willing to give a pardon without any information given in good faith?" Kevin says, "No, not likely. And we already know that you are using magic Mr. Wicks, the Judge has a very poor opinion of wizards and wizardry." "This is a tough situation sir, a particularly vexing problem." Jake stares at the man who looks like Wicks and rubs his beard with his free left hand; Jake's right hand holding his Peacemaker never wavers. "How do we move forward here? These good folks are not likely to recommend an amnesty to the Judge if they suspect that you were actively involved in harming the good citizens of Promise City. They might overlook some complicity if you provided the critical information needed to clean up the, ahem, problems that are plaguing the community. What do you have to say for yourself?" Wicks/Messier says, "I say that you folks need to prioritize what's most important to you, eliminating those vampires or arresting me. In the last day or so you've managed to kill three of the six monsters. I know where you can find the other three. And by my calculations four new ones will join the world in around six or seven hours from now, I know where those are too. If I were you I'd start working on that pardon. I also want all of my possessions back, including those cufflinks Cook." "You are a shrewd negotiator, Mr. Messier." Jake rubs his beard a couple of times. "Now that I think about it, I really do not know if that is your name." Jake nonchalantly moves his duster open enough so that Messier could see his belt buckle. "I suppose you could say the same about me. Ah, but I digress.... As I was saying, it is very shrewd of you to use time against us. Time marches forward and all you have to do is hold out, putting all the pressure on us. Yes, very shrewd to make us desperate to cut a deal." Jake allows the slightest of smiles to creep onto his face. "On the other hand, time waits for no man as they say Mr. Messier. Your negotiating position is partly based on your knowledge of where the existing vampires are located. As time marches on, that information becomes less reliable, less valuable. Even more so for the new ones. We must convince the Judge that it is in the best interests of the community not to hang you, no easy task, and then get back here to get the information from you, and then still make it to where the new creatures are before they rise and destroy them. Difficult at best, I think you would agree. It would seem to me that we are now in a desperate situation. We would have to take you to town and let you plead your case directly with the Judge, assuming that would leave us with enough time to stop the new creatures. A very risky thing for you, as the Judge may not feel you are repentant enough and haul out the rope. Or maybe the others feel desperate and are thinking that wastes valuable time, time we should be using to hunt them down ourselves with what we know. That every minute we are speaking to you makes it more difficult for us to keep our objective. Of course if we decide that you become a liability to us, an anchor that slows us down and creates a risk for us completing our mission in the little time we have left. There might be some here who would argue that we provide the Judge’s justice right here and now. I am certain the priestess would say some kind of prayer over your soon to be departed remains." Jake goes back to stroking his beard. "That WOULD be rash, but still...." Jake pauses for a brief moment, "Now if you kept the location of the three existing vampires as a bargaining chip but told the location of the new creatures to show your good faith, that you were repentant, I am sure that would easily sway those feeling desperate right now. With the extra time we could feel satisfied that keeping you whole places no extra burden on us. We can make arrangements to contact the Judge without actually bringing you into town, something I suspect you would like to avoid. As I said, Mr. Messier, time cares not who feels the pressure of its inexorable march forward." Messier/Wicks switches his accent back to the speaking voice he used during his visit to the Lucky Lady two weeks earlier. He says, "If it is a show of good faith I can give you details about the location of two of the three still-living vampires. They are in Promise City among the 200 buildings there. One of them was the real Mr. Wicks, the other is named Mortimer Turner. After I receive the pardon from the Judge I will provide you with further details about where they are and what they now look like, as well as the location of the other vampires plus those who are soon to become them. You can try looking for them on your own but based upon your last two attempts I sincerely doubt you will find them, they will be far more difficult to locate than the three who you killed. And I will not be joining whoever you send on the visit to town. Doing so would be the same as a death sentence for me, as that is also where the wizard by the name of Vaughn Palmer now is as well. He was Johnny Ringo's second-in-command and now runs the Cowboy Gang. Mr. Palmer has the ability to turn himself invisible as well as the talent with a rifle to shoot accurately up to a mile away. So unless you are capable of simultaneously detecting invisibility from every hilltop and rooftop in or near the town there is no way that you could protect me from him. And I assure you, if he sees me being brought to town he will do what he can to keep me from talking further." Kate stepped back a bit and pulled Kevin with her. She whispered, "Mr. Tomlinson, I'm guessing the Judge doesn't know anything about these creatures. Is there any way he would even consider doing what this man wants? It may not be my area of expertise, but I don't think he's going to speak freely without at the least believing he has a pardon." Tomlinson replies, "He knows nothing of these creatures and I intend to keep it that way. But getting him to write a pardon shouldn't be that much of a problem if this man is also willing to tell us how to catch the current leader of the Cowboy Gang. Catching that man would be far more important to the Judge than somebody lower on that Gang's food chain. The thing the Judge will want to know though is what he is giving this man a pardon for. He wouldn't pardon a murder committed within the area that he is a Judge for, that would set a bad precedent." Kate nodded and turned back. "That's a good start, Mr. Messier. But I'm sure you realize that the Judge isn't just going to hand out a blanket pardon for whatever crimes you might have committed when he doesn't know what they are. He needs to know if he has bigger fish to fry. What would this pardon be for?" Messier says, "Primarily for using wizardry, word is that Isby considers wizardry to be a great evil. I've also consorted with criminals although I haven't personally committed any crimes." Glancing over at Jake he adds, "...okay, one crime, cheating at poker." Jake states, "Although cheating at poker is a heinous crime, I have already allowed that to pass." Jake looks at the man with some disgust. "Mrs. Kale's question is rather important," if somewhat premature to in my negotiations thinks Jake, "Isby is likely to only write a pardon for very specific crimes. If not specifically pardoned, it will not be a solution for you. For myself, I would not be charging you with using wizardry. I see no reason to call attention to that if you provide the necessary assistance. I am a practical man, sir. If you quickly provide the information we need to resolve this problem, then I will in good faith provide what you need. However, if you do not assist us in good faith, then you will discover that I am an intractable opponent not constrained by the gentle conventions that govern the others. Do you understand my meaning sir?" Wicks/Messier states, "Sir, my motivation in this is thus, I wish to live in peace and to work my mine. It is my future. I own the vast majority of it myself now as Mr. Jobin has gone on to his final resting place and I was the beneficiary of his last will and testament. I have been employed by Mr. Palmer as his magic teacher, not as part of his gang of rustlers. I have done as he asked, modified the magic that he sought, cast illusionary walls as instructed and disguises upon some of his comrades. In return he promised to obtain for me the portion of my mine that had been owned by Mr. Hoover. I do not know how he was going to do this, nor did I ask, although I imagine that the magical disguises which you found in the Ordway Mine were part of his plan for that. The fact that you are here now, and have with you the Cook and Kane disguise magical items, tells me that Palmer's promise is now unlikely. I've no further reason to continue to work for Palmer, although I fear that he may harm me. As for the creatures, while Jobin was among them I continued to cooperate as he was my only friend. Now he is gone as well. So I would not be saddened to see those other creatures gone. But if I am to be imprisoned, if the Judge is to strip me of my rightful property as he as done with other criminals, then there is no incentive for me to cooperate with you." Jake replies, "Sir, you are under estimating your situation. Being stripped of you worldly goods is the least of your worries. You should worry more about dangling from the hangman’s noose. If you are being truthful about not causing harm, and there are some among us that will know that with certainty, then there is hope for you not only for avoiding the noose but perhaps keeping your investment." Jake gives him a grin. "I can certainly put indiscretions behind me and work towards some common goal that helps the local community and improves our standing." Wicks/Messier says, "Sir, you underestimate me if you think that I will quake in fear over your threats of death. I have learned to live with the constant fear of death. I have been forced to work alongside these creatures that seek human blood to survive. Every night when I have gone to sleep I have feared that I would not awaken, that one or more of those monsters would decide to make me his next meal. You have already stated that Bishop Papandraius knows a spell to detect truthfulness, and I will be willing to repeat what I said. I have admitted my cooperation with Palmer and his gang, although you could make a valid argument to Judge Isby that my cooperation was coerced. Even my visit to your saloon two weeks back was forced by them, as I needed to get the visuals necessary to modify the magical items for Palmer so that his associates could appear as you and your partner." "I know something of living each day with fear," Kate said. "The thing you want most is to be relieved of that fear. We have the knowledge and the means to destroy the creatures that have haunted you, and there's no reason the Judge needs to know anything about those. You've been reasonable cooperative so far, I can understand looking out for your best interests. We must do the same. If, and I say if as I am not the final arbiter here, we were to send someone to talk to the Judge, would you be willing to give us the information about the creatures while that person travels and hold the information on the Cowboy Gang as your surety?" Jake says, "Well then, we agree that there some things worse than what we would have normally considered death." Jake looks at the man in a new light, though not convinced of his sincerity. "We have no more time Messier. I am not completely altruistic, and I sense that neither are you." Jake holsters his weapon. "I will give you my word that to aid you, if you commit yourself to aid this cause. I am a practical man, though not a naive one. There is little time. If I simply wished you dead, I would have shot you by now. I let you go in Promise City when I could have created more of a fuss. There is much more at stake than a few dollars. I respect that you do not quake in fear. I have no need to have the honorable bishop prove your carefully selected words are truthful. Throw your lot in with us and we have some improved chance of eliminating this menace." Wicks/Messier replies, "I have already given you a considerable amount of information, enough to show that I am bargaining in good faith. Judge Isby's clerk is standing right here with a gun on me. It is reasonable for me to expect that everything I have said, including my cooperation with the rustlers, will find its way back to the Judge through him. Without a pardon what assurances are there that I will not be imprisoned or worse? You do not need to answer, the question was rhetorical, the answer is none. I've been here long enough to know that in the end Isby and Isby alone is the actual law in these parts. Without his assurance your promises are meaningless." Kate stayed quite for a minute, mostly because the man wasn't wrong. His situation was as he described it as far as she could see. Of course, considering she had committed many of the same "crimes" as he had, she was probably biased. "Jake is right about one thing, time is getting short." To Wicks/Messier she states "I believe he is offering you the chance to improve your standing with Judge Isby by helping us destroy the creatures. Mr. Tomlinson would also be able to report your willingness to help undo what you helped create." Wicks/Messier states, "And I agree to those terms. You can have Isby's pardon written contingent upon my cooperation with you." Tomlinson says, "Or rather your cooperation with me, none of these others represent the law." Bishop Papandraus says, "No, but you can invoke my name as well with that, I have authority in this area as well as the senior representative of my church." Kate let out a long breath. "That leaves the details. Who goes to Promise City, who stays here? Mr. Tomlinson obviously must go, but none of us should be going about alone." Jonathan Harker has spent the last few years in the vampire hunting business, and during that time he had read as much as he could on police and detective work as he could to help this profession. One thing that all of the books stated was the need to separate the witnesses during questioning, so when Wicks stated that Miller knew nothing and wanted to talk Harker and Harbrace had moved Miller further away so that the man was slightly out of earshot of his companion Tomlinson gestures for them to return and they do so. He says, "We're leaving this men here for the time being, but should continue to keep them separated. I'm going to town along with Bishop Papandraus. One of you should stay here and the other join us as a second gun, this trip is not without risk." Harker volunteers to join the two of them. Harbrace and Nakomo then move Miller back over to far tree. Kate asks, "How long is the trip back to Promise City? I admit, I've gotten a bit turned around. And I hate to ask it of you, but if I can get my hands on some paper could you take a note back with you?" Tomlinson says, "From here the ride would be around an hour each way. Bishop Costas says, "Why don't you ride with us too. You appear to be in better spirits and with word that at least one of those vampires is still around here I'd feel safer with you with me." Kate looked at her friends, not really wanting to be separated but also knowing the Bishop was probably right. And a chance to get home for a moment and see her teacher might give them more help later. "Alright. I will be able to get a few things that may be helpful while we're there and let my daughter know I'm well before we come back out." Kate mounts up along with Tomlinson, Harker and Bishop Papandraius and they ride away.</blockquote>

Verification