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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3465068" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter One-hundred-fifty-three, “The Cunningham Mine“, Wednesday June 14th, 1882, 5:00 P.M. The ride to the Cunningham mine is uneventful. Harbrace indicates that the minehead entrance is just over the next bend. Jake draws his Italian rifle and they carefully look around the bend at the surrounding area. Tomlinson says, "Cooke, why don't you and Father Harbrace move forward with me. Nakomo, Priestess Minerva and the Bishop can follow a short distance further back." Jake nods. He leaves the long rifle on the horse and takes the Spencer. He drops out the first bullet and nods again. "I am ready. I am a fool, but I am ready." He moves up with Tomlinson. As they enter the doorway of the minehead Tomlinson says, "The two of you know I have some experience with wizardry, I am not certain of those other three, I certainly would not want the Bishop to know. I will cast a spell that will allow me to detect the location of any traps within our path. But first I should cast a spell upon one of you that will allow you to see through any illusions, as I cannot maintain two active spells simultaneously." Nakomo lnotches an arrow while nervously looking about. "Nakomo, do not use the holy arrows yet. The vampires will not be out here in the sun." Minerva says as she readies her rifle and adjusts the whip at her waist. Jake immediately starts to point at Harbrace and then stops. With a shiver he says, "Alright. Me." Tomlinson removes from his pocket a sliver of yellow-tinted glass which he places on Jake's arm with his own hand over it. With his other hand he makes a wavy gesture and begins to state a Latin phrase. To Jake it feels like the glass is cutting into his arm and then the pain ceases. When Tomlinson removes his hand the glass is gone and there are no marks on the arm. Jake shudders again, looking at Tomlinson and back to his arm several times. "Too late to change my mind? Ah, never mind." Jake pops the round he removed back into Spencer and slings it over his shoulder. He draws his Colt, puts a sixth round in it and says, "Let us be on with it." Minerva and Nakomo follow behind Jake and Harbrace. Tomlinson casts the second spell on himself and then has Harbrace gesture for the other three to follow. They move through the main chamber which has three side passageways. Jake sees a shimmering section of wall of a different color and upon closer concentration notes that it isn't actually there, with another passageway behind it. He realizes that the others do not see it. It also isn't listed on the map that Messier drew. Jake quickly taps Tomlinson on the arm. "There is a fourth passage." He walks quietly to it and pushes his foot through the bottom of it. Tomlinson says, "Not on the map, and doesn't appear to go anywhere near where he said the creatures are at. What do you think?" Jake says, "I think I do not trust Messier. Who else can make these hidden doors? If he is the only one, then he lied. Even if he did not create it, he is wizard enough to know it was there, do not you think?" Minerva comments, "Messier does what he must do to prosper. You cannot trust his words or his deeds." Tomlinson says, "The Bishop indicated that what he told us was truthful, but he drew this independent of the conversation. However, he did describe where the creatures were. We have two choices, we investigate this new wrinkle or we follow the original map to see if those monsters are where he said. Based upon what he first told me we only have around two-hours left before those new ones join the world." Minerva says, "I do not doubt that what he spoke was the truth. That does not mean that he has revealed it in it's entirety. The truth can be used to deceive also. I think that we should go down this unmarked passage and see what he did not want us to know." Jake nods. "Let us be quick about it." They proceed down the passageway, which leads to large chamber with a mineshaft going downward. There is a considerable amount of machinery in the room, including a steam powered machine with large drill-like bits to bore into the earth. Iron and beam braces support a metal ladder going downward. Jake mutters, "Mierde. Why is it always climbing?" He looks around. "I guess I am climbing down." Jake starts down. They go for 120 feet before the walls change color to rock with shiney parts. They get a little further down until they reach an irregularly shaped chamber with some steam powered digging machines. With the lantern they see that they are standing in the midst of a silver vein. Jake detects nothing more illusionary and there is no way to exit the chamber other than the ladder. Minerva says, "Luna, fly ahead and report back to me." Luna flys down the shaft ahead of Jake. Jake comments, "Mierde. Maybe he is just greedy and left this part out. Let us get back up quickly." It takes another fifteen minutes for them to find their way back to the section with the other passageways and another twenty to get to to location where Messier specified the illusionary wall was. During that time Jake does not see anything else amiss although there are a few spots that they have to stop for Tomlinson to either deactivate or spring traps, all of which are noted on the map. As they reach the spot where the wall is specified Jake is able to discern the fake wall, an irregularly shaped doorway seven feet high and three feet wide at it's widest point. Jake is able to see that beyond the doorway is a short corridor, maybe ten to twelve feet deep, that is then ends at a wooden frame covered over by a dark sheet. Jake describes what he sees to the others before stepping through the illusion, gun drawn. Looking all about, up and down and listening intently he kicks out at the solid wall to make sure no vampire is there before putting his back to it. The corridor that Jake steps into has solid walls on both sides and runs ten feet on the right and twelve on the left until it reaches the wooden frame with the sheet fastened to it. The sheet is dyed black and secured on the top but loose on the bottom. There does not appear to be any easy way to see what is on the other side without moving the sheet. The way behind Jake is narrow enough to only allow single file. Jake whispers "Is it trapped?" Tomlinson nods, "Yes, the bottom corners of the sheet are linked to traps. If we try to push it open they will activate. It looks well secured on the top as well." "So much for bursting through with surprise...." Jake holsters his pistol and draws the hunting knife from its hidden location behind his neck. The razor sharp edge glints in the lamplight. Tomlinson raises an eyebrow and Jake just shrugs in response and whispers, "How about we cut the sheet and take a look? Unless you have a better idea?" Jake continues to whisper, "If something tries to grab me through the cloth, I will drop to the ground quickly and let you all shoot it with your arrows or do something...." They nod reassuringly in a vague sort of way. Mumbling under his breath, "Yes, I like a crisp plan," he silently approaches the dark cloth. Inspecting that the top is firmly in held in place, he makes a quick vertical cut from the top about half way down and then pulls away from the cloth holding himself tight against the right side wall. When nothing happens, Jake then makes a small incision across the top of the cloth beginning from his previous incision for about two and a half feet to the left. Again he pulls back towards the right side wall. After a moment, he carefully peers through the newly made window in the cloth. The lantern is back around the corner so it provided minimal light, but enough so that Jake is able to see into the other room. Unfortunately for him the other room was completely darkened so the minimum of light is enough to alert the sole occupant of the room of their presence. A tall thin man in cowboy garb is seated atop one of three caskets within the twenty-foot diameter room. He is seated twelve feet from the doorway with the curtain and immediately swings the double-barreled shotgun in his hands up towards the window in the cloth. "Mierde! Duck!" Jake hits the floor and covers his head with his arms. Jake and Tomlinson both drop without a problem. Minerva also drops without getting hit but also drops lantern which breaks and goes out (but doesn't start a fire). Nakomo is missed from getting hit only due to his shorter height. The Bishop takes full brunt of the shotgun blast and the lantern goes flying. Harbrace is blocked by Bishop so escapes injury. He manages to catch the flying lantern, preventing a fire and keeping the hallway illuminated. Time seems to move in slow motion. The shotgun blast pushed the sheet enough that one of the lower corner traps is set off. There is a bright flash down on the floor from the other side of the cloth and the lower corner of the sheet sets fire from the opposite side. The air is still heavy with smoke and Jake hears the sounds of boots striking the floor inside the room. Harbrace sets the lantern on the ground and places his hands atop Bishop Papandraius to cast his most powerful healing spell. Jake turns his mouth towards the boy and whisper, "Be ready Nakomo." In his mind Jake counts out the distance from the door to the man. A cautious man takes a two foot step, five steps is where I want him. He listens intently for sounds in the other room, sounds that give Jake a clue to what action to take. He waits to count out five steps and imagines the mans torso just where it would be on the other side of the cloth. Jake holds very still, concentrating and holding his hunting knife ready to throw and thinks to himself, “Funny, it is one of the last items I still own that came with me from Philadelphia.” Jake hears continued sounds of footsteps inside the room, but they are moving away rather than towards the doorway. The loudest sound is behind Jake from Harbrace, the Latin incantation of him casting his healing spell upon the Bishop, which the occupant of the room would also be able to hear. He thinks, “Blast. We cannot have this holding us back.” Jake reaches out and grabs a small edge of the cloth away from the unexploded corner as possible and pulls hard and drops to the floor again, once again covering as much of his body with his duster as possible. The explosion from that corner goes off, lighting that corner of the sheet on fire as well as the remaining parts of the sheet near it blast away. Jake's duster protects him from the majority of that trap explosion. Minerva is temporarily blinded by the flash as well and is mostly blocked by Jake but also takes minor damage from the exploding debris. Nakomo, being half-elf is not hindered by the dim light and calls out the # of men he is able to see while quickly notching a holy arrow and taking aim. Minerva prays to the gods to protect them and pulls one of her two remaining vials of holy water from her pocket. Nakomo can make out the shape of two moving beings in the room. One is very large, larger than a man, lying on the floor in the corner. Nakomo's infravision indicates that he appears to be radiating heat as a living person would. The other one has moved over behind one of the caskets and knealed down behind it, providing a significant amount of cover, while he levels his shotgun towards the doorway prepared to fire. Jake nods as Nakomo blurts out what he sees. His back still to the burning curtain, Jake pulls out a fuse holds it against his hunting knife and quickly wraps his bandana around the blade in a crude approximation of a stick of dynamite. People see what they expect to see. Still crouching he turns and lights the fuse from the flame, "Well then, let us blow him back to the foul pit in Hades that spawned him!" he says loudly and tosses the 'stick of dynamite' in an arch about fifteen or so feet into the room, behind where he remembers having seen the man and coffin. He crouches low to give Nakomo a shot if one presents itself and prepares to spring into the room. The shotgun is fired. It is off target and hits the side of the doorway, showing Nakomo and Jake with some rocks and gravel but no metal shot. Between the gunpowder from the shotgun blast and the dust from the debris it is temporarily difficult to spot the man who fired. When vision clears Nakomo no longer sees him behind the coffin. The empty shotgun remains lying across the top of the casket. When Nakomo yells out that the room is occupied Minverva pray's to the gods to Protect Jake from the evil that lurks in the dark. Minerva does something and the air around Jake feels different but he does not take the time to figure out what. He dives into the room and rolls across the floor in an attempt to avoid being attacked as he enters the room. Instead of attacking his senses are finely tuned to avoiding being struck or shot. At the end of his roll he ends in a crouch and knocks the shot gun off the coffin to floor next to him. As Jake is rolling and tumbling towards the casket Nakomo spots a bat flying up from behind the opposite side of the casket straight towards the ceiling. Looking up towards the darkened ceiling the young Indian spots a section approximately one-foot round heading up that from the temperature difference around it concludes is a vent to the outside. Nakomo aims his arrow and shoots at the bat.  The arrow misses, but the Goddess-enhanced magical shaft does light up as it flies, illuminating the upper part of the chamber and drawing the other's attention to the rapidly flying bat that is now twenty-feet from it's exit. Jake snaps his head up, draws his long barreled Colt and rapidly fires off three rounds at the critter. The bat proves to be an elusive target given it's small size, rapid speed and irregular flight path. Jake's initial shot is close but misses. The second shot is perfectly hit, the bullet striking the bat square in the chest and the creature letting of a loud screech as it plummets towards the ground, his third shot also missing due to the rapid change in flight path. The bat strikes the ground hard and lies unmoving, much of its chest now missing. It then begins to transform back into the form of the man who had been Slim Decker. With his gun now pointed at the figure on the ground Jake says, "Uh, I think this is the part where you expert hunters and priests do something to make sure it is going to stay dead. Well it is technically dead, but you know what I mean." Tomlinson points to the gaping hole in the center of the man's chest and says, "Yes, I can already see the tissue starting to regenerate." He draws his sword and with a single downward thrust decapitates the creature. Jake involuntarily starts when the creature's head rolls away. "Father always said, when trouble starts do not lose your head. Father was an idiot and lead a sheltered life." Meanwhile, thirty feet away Father Harbrace casts his final healing spell onto Bishop Papandraius to keep the man alive. Minerva rushes over to offer her assistance to Harbrace while Nakomo stands transfixed staring at the headless corpse of the man that was Slim Decker. Jake shakes Nakomo's arm gently, "Keep your wits boy, keep your eyes open to the shaft above and the caskets. Just in case." Then turning to Tomlinson, "We should have some fledgling vampires to dispatch. Let us be about our business. Every minute we dally here is a temptation for Messier. I am not certain that Harkins and Mrs. Kale are a match for him. Those two will play him fairly, I do not expect that same back." While he speaks Jake reloads his pistol. A wide eyed Nakomo mutely nods his assent. He notches another arrow and watches the ceiling. Tomlinson goes over to the tied and bound ogre and casts a spell. "We appear to have gotten here in time. He's fully alive, no blood has been drained from him." There are three closed caskets in the room, two are made of nicely polished and stained wood. The third is a cheaply made pine box. Two more bodies are lying on the floor behind the furthest casket, a human and an ogre. Tomlinson comments, "These would be Mr. Ray Cunningham and his worker Socrates. This is their home so they would not immediately require a receptacle for the dirt. According to Cunningham's son they were the first two drained so will be the first of these to rise, I had best dispatch them first." Jake nods. "Tell me if you need my assistance, otherwise I will just watch over things." Tomlinson replies, "Just cover me. We should still have another hour or two but I wouldn't it's not beyond the realm of possibilities that one might awaken earlier than anticipated." Jake nods. While walking around he retrieves his old hunting knife and neckerchief. He checks on Nakomo a couple of times telling the boy, "You did good, no panic when it counted." Nakomo's eyes brighten and a little color returns to his cheeks upon hearing the words of praise from his hero, "Thanks. I can't say that I wasn't scared, and I don't scare easily... but You, Mr. Jake, You were cool as a cucumber. Do you think that you could teach me how to shoot like that? " "Heh, Silver Jake Cucumber." Jake shakes his head, "Do not believe that I was not scared, only a fool would not have been. I will teach you shooting, but how good you get depends on practice. Having a good teacher is only a start." The boy replies, "I will practice every day. Thanks." He says without taking his eyes off his task." Jake watches the area and the creatures that Tomlinson is dealing with in some detail. Though interested in what might be found if he searched around, he keeps his attention on Tomlinson and being his support. Priestess Minerva assists John Harbrace is stabilizing the wounded Bishop in the outer hallway. Tomlinson sets up candles and pours a green liquid in a circle around each of the caskets. He then casts spells Next he draws his sword and decapitates both bodies after which he pours an opaque liquid from a water-skin over both bodies. He says, "They are cleansed now. We only need to burn them now to finish this." Jake says, "Then the caskets too? Here or outside?" Tomlinson replies, "I was only speaking to these two bodies here. We still need to check out the other three caskets and see who might be inside, then deal with them as well. The caskets themselves would make good material for a fire to then burn the bodies on top of, especially as our friend Decker has pointed out that this room has an air vent for the smoke to go." Jake says, “Well, let us be about it. Is the Bishop stable enough for us to now concentrate on these boxes?" Minerva continues to tend to the Bishop. Using one of the Cure Critical Wounds stones Minerva is able to stabilize the Bishop enough that he can stand again. He indicates that he is weak but still capable of turning the undead if it is needed. Tomlinson gestures to the caskets and suggests "We should do these one-at-a-time. One of them would have been Decker's so it would now be empty. I'm assuming the other two both have occupants in them." Jake replies, "Yes, one at a time. Does anyone have the skills to tell which one is empty? We should check that one first. I am game to open the lid." Minerva helps him over to an empty wooden box and sits him on the crate against the wall. "Rest here out of the way, Costa. Hopefully your divine intervention will not be required." She walks over to Nakomo. "I will watch here. It would be best if you and your arrows were by the caskets." Tomlinson replies, "None will be completely empty given that they would all have dirt, and not knowing how much dirt is in each would make it near impossible to tell. Plus lifting a casket or knocking on it could awaken a sleeping occupant if one of these is already among the ranks of the undead." Minerva states, "I will ask the gods to detect any evil that may be present in the boxes." She bows her head and concentrates. She detects trace amounts of evil from the two nicer made caskets and none from the poorly made pine box. She states, "There is a trace of evil lingering around those two. and there does not seem to be anything evil in the pine box, but be careful just the same, they could be trapped also." Jake looks to Tomlinson expectantly. "Do you think they are trapped?" Tomlinson replies, "They do not appear to be to me. Which should we begin with?" Jake replies, "Pine box. Get your tools ready. Nakomo over there so you have a clear shot when I open the lid. Ready?" Jake opens the lid and steps back. The casket contains a dead human wearing cowboy clothes who looks familiar to some. Tomlinson says, "Denny Gaurin, owned the Rattlesnake ranch. Since you can't detect evil from him that means we got here in time, he hasn't risen yet, he's just a corpse. Help me out here John." Harbrace and Tomlinson remove the body which is then decapitated with the sword, doused with holy water, and has a spell cast upon it. Harbrace and Tomlinson then tip the casket over to dump out the dirt, which Tomlinson also sprinkles on holy water. When they are done Jake closes up the pine box. "Nakomo, climb up here and stand on top. You will have a better shot if one is needed from here." Once he is in place Jake says, "That one next," pointing to the one on his right. "Everybody get in place, get your tools ready." Once they are all in location he stands behind the coffin and reaches across and opens it, the lid coming towards him. Nakomo climbs on the coffin and notches an arrow, aiming it at the box that is about to be opened. Minerva stands on the periphery clutching her holy symbol with one hand and her gun with the magical bullet in the other. The second casket proves to be empty other than a few inches of dirt on the bottom. They move on to the third which like the second only contains dirt and no body. Tomlinson says, "That's not good, that means that another of those creatures might still be nearby." Jake says, "I figured these two to belong to the two in town. Either way, we should destroy them, right?" Tomlinson replies, "Yes, and let's be quick about it." The dirt is dumped from both caskets which Harbrace then takes an axe to. The wood is piled up and doused with kerosene. Jake searches the room while Tomlinson builds his fire. It is lit and the two bodies piled atop. Once the fire is roaring Tomlinson says, "Let's be gone from this place. The smoke might attract notice." When the Judges confidante suggests they leave, Jake agrees and out they go. The sun has set and the sky is beginning to darken when they exit the caves. Tomlinson says, "That took longer than I had hoped, it looks like we were just in time." Minerva continues to look about for trouble while helping the bishop to his feet. "Come Costa. We will go to the Silver Star and get Katherine. Perhaps you can rest while we are there." She supports him as they walk out side into the fresh evening air.</blockquote>

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