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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 4062507" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Two-hundred-seventy-two, “Which way did they go?“, Wednesday, June 21st, 6:30 P.M. Kate stepped to her place in the safety of the back of the group and gestured that she was ready. Nanuet steps towards the door, arrow readied. Mina gently places a hand on his shoulder, holding him back. She whispers very softly, almost prayer like, a final incantation before they enter the room. She mouths, "May the gods guide you friend." Mina steps to the side of the door against the wall, reaching for the door knob. When all are ready she quickly turns the knob and pushes the door open. There is a man in the room, but he is not Colin Turner. He is a burly man in dark work clothes with well-worn boots. There is a bed in the room, but the man is seated atop a coffin sitting in the center of the floor. Nanuet recognizes the coffin as the same wood and workmanship as the four of Turner's that he and John Harbrace had destroyed earlier in the week. At the sight of the people at the doorway the man leaps behind the casket, using it for cover. His head, shoulders and arms then rise back up over the coffin lid, a shotgun in his hands. Uncertain if a sleep spell would work on the man, Kate cast a grease spell on the shotgun in his hands. Mina throws a magic missile at the man with the shotgun, hoping to knock the gun out of his hands or at least throw his shot off before stepping away from the open door, moving five feet down the hallway. The missiles and grease spells both strike the shotgun simultaneously, causing it to fly from his grip and fall back against the wall. It still goes off, the shot striking a dresser cabinet in the room, obliterating two drawers and the clothing contained within. The man dives out from the casket and hurls himself towards the party. As he does so his face transforms slightly into a more inhuman shape and fangs now protrude from his mouth. As soon as the man hops off the coffin, Nanuet immediately drops to the floor and scrambles forward as quickly as he can trying to reach the side of the coffin closest to him. He tucks the blessed arrows back in the quiver. As the creature dives, Manuel waves his arms and chants before tossing some powder toward the creature. For good measure, he includes whoever might be in the coffin in the spell as well. Once the gun goes off Mina moves back into the doorway, pausing slightly to look for fragmented pieces of dresser to use as a stake. Kate backed away from the raging creature, more afraid than she'd wanted to admit. She lifted the wand and fired a charge at it. The creature ceases movement and collapses onto the floor. Gonzales states "That spell will only keep in that way for another eight minutes and likewise his coffin companion if it is occupied." Mina steps into the room as Nanuet stands. She picks up a couple of pieces of wood from the blasted dresser. She hands one to Nanuet, tucks one into the back of her skirt and the other in her hand. Nanuet steps towards the coffin and flings open the top, stake readied. Kate followed the others into the room, surprised at how easily her teacher had stopped the creature. Sadly, she could tell that spell was still beyond her skill, but hopefully after today she wouldn't have to do this again anyway. As the others worked in the room, Kate kept watch in the hallway in case Turner was elsewhere in the house. The coffin is empty except for a few inches of dirt on the bottom. Nanuet asks Gonzales, "What happens if I stake the creature? Will the spell wear off?" "Alright, someone stake that one," Kate said, pointing at the collapsed vampire on the floor. "He know we're here now, we have to move fast. Let's search the rest of the upstairs." Mina interjects, "If we have eight minutes, we should probably search the house first, as we might need this one to find out where Ruby is, if she isn't in the house. I only detected one powerful undead creature. It is possible my spell couldn't reach far enough though, I can easily cast another if we feel it's necessary." Kate says, "Let's search then, there's no time to argue about it." Nanuet stakes the unmoving creature and a speedy search is made of the remainder of the house, finding nobody else present. Mina states, "We didn't find tracks coming out the back door, Nanuet, can you please check the front door for tracks?" Nanuet checks the front door. He also sends Maska to try to pick up Ruby's scent. Kate spent a few moments getting her shoes back on. There were a couple outbuildings here. If they'd gotten out of the area finding them could be next to impossible. Maska is able to detect that Ruby had walked from the front door to the street. The scent ends there. Kate exclaims, "Damn it, they must have gotten into a carriage. The train station perhaps?" Mina sighs. "Any mistake now could cost us everything. The train station is the only place that makes sense at this point. We might have to use Manuel's spell soon." They head back next door to inform the others. While William is hitching up the carriage they describe the vampire slain to Alvina and Rosaire, who confirm that he matches the description of the groundskeeper who lived next door. George insists upon accompanying them on the next part of the journey, explaining how he will be able to get information from the people at the train depot rather quickly. They ride to the train depot, arriving at around 7:30 PM. The sun has now left the sky although the last remnants of light can still be seen over the horizon. George leads the group to the Office of the Depot Manager. He explains to the manager on duty the need to find two people who may have departed within the last hour. The manager confirms that two trains had departed, one eastbound the other southbound. He offers to go get the rail yard employees who assisted with the train's departure to see if any of them recognize George's description of Ruby or Turner. Mina states, "Yes, please do that sir. It would be most appreciated." Mina waits a moment after the manager leaves. "It seems we're on a wild goose chase. If they've gotten on a train, how we will have any idea where they've gotten off? Unless someone happens to remember selling them a ticket and where it was to. And then getting there before them..." For the first time since they've seen her, Mina Parker's mostly calm demeanor starts to crack as the desperateness of the situation starts getting to her. She asks, "Where would he be taking her?" Kate says, "I don't know. Nanuet destroyed the sanctuaries he was leaving behind him, so he'll be forced to somewhere we don't know about." George soon returns along with the rail yard manager. George says, "We have some degree of luck, there were here about forty-five minutes ago. The ticket office clerk and rail yard workers were certain it was Ruby given her photograph prominently featured in the newspapers a few days ago. She and the man she was with, who matched Turner's description, bought tickets on the Eastbound train which left a half-hour ago." The rail yard manager says, "The first scheduled stop is Syracuse, which they will reach in another forty-five minutes. They'll be driving through Seneca Falls Station in another five minutes. I can wire ahead and have them flag the train to a stop there if you would like me to. That's the only other train depot that is open in the evening hours between here and Syracuse." Mina thinks, What good is stopping the train there going to do? She says to the group, "I am unsure of what to do next. I imagine they would be gone by the time we arrived there ourselves." Nanuet ponders their dire situation. How could they possibly catch up to a train that was ahead of them. "How are we supposed to get to Syracuse ourselves?" he wonders out loud. They are interrupted by one of the rail yard workers who says something to the manager. The manager tells George, "Mr. Eastman, you had also asked about casket-sized boxes. I've just been informed that an item matching that description was loaded upon the southbound train that left forty minutes ago. Two men helped load that crate and purchased tickets for the train, neither of whom match the description of the two individuals that you were asking about. The first scheduled stop for that train is Elmira, which they won't be at for another hour. It would now be around Dansville. I could wire ahead to either Bath or Corning if you wanted to have it stopped before Elmira." Kate says, "Thank you, sir. Could we have a moment please?" The manager nodded and left the room as the group huddled together to talk quietly. "Mr. Gonzales is going to have to help us travel, which means we won't get back here tonight. In order to get to them we're going to have to get a look at them, which means leaving the station at least. I would prefer the train be stopped in Seneca Falls, it's smaller and we'd have a better chance. But we'd have to make that choice now." Mina states, "And what will be our plan? Confront the creature there in the station?" She taps her lips a couple of times. "Seems we won't have a choice. We need to be there and ready with that arrow. It's the only way to end this and get Ruby back. Will we ask them to get everyone off the train? If they don't choose to exit we'd have to board and confront him there in front of the other passengers." "Thus, the crux of the problem," Kate said. "There is one other possibility, and I don't like it, but it may be what we'll have to do. As long as they're traveling he cannot turn her. We can let them arrive at where they're going, and get a night's rest for ourselves. He will have to hide during the daylight. We could then come at him during the daylight hours in whatever room he is holed up in. If they are forced off the train at Seneca Falls they will have to hide there for the night or make way where Turner wasn't prepared to do it." Kate's toe was tapping on the floor. "If they are forced off we might not have to wait until morning. I hate to have the authorities turned on them, for the sake of the police, but it would get Turner on the run. I don't know." Nanuet says, "There is another coffin that was sent out the night he arrived here, don't forget that. I don't know if it matters or not but it something to keep in mind. If we know where they will be forced to exit the train then at least we have a chance. I think that's our only choice. Get them to stop the train and then get to where they have to be and go from there. This is just a mess." Kate replies, "I know Nanuet, I hate it too. Alright Mr. Eastman, have them stop the train. We need them to think everyone has to get off and the train isn't going any further tonight. If it's necessary I'll cover the costs for all the passengers to take another train tomorrow. Later on in the evening we can look in on them and travel to where they are. Hopefully they'll be alone and we can take care of this business. Once we go there we won't be able to leave." Mina says, “How will we travel there? You mentioned traveling with Manuel? What did you mean?" Kate looked around to make sure the room was still private, and she still leaned over to whisper in Mrs. Parker's ear. "Instantaneous travel. Through the same skills you have." Mina states, "Ah, I wasn't certain." Mina ponders a few moments before letting her thoughts spill out quietly. "I'm not entirely sure how that travel works. Why don't we travel first to the place where the train will stop and try to follow them that way. If we lose them, then we can use Mr. Gonzales other spell. We might find an opportunity to confront him there, if not, we go by daylight." Kate says, “"So get to where they are, rest for the night, and go after them in the morning? It has possibilities. We get there and find out where they are, perhaps those of us able to be disguised from him could follow and check out where they go. Then we can rest and regain our strength before dealing with the problem. We will have to look in on them from here though, or we won't know where to go. We need to see it first." Mina interjects, "I don't understand how we will rest. If we get there before them and don't confront them, watch them and find out where they go and don't confront them, if we then go to rest Turner will still have all night to get ahead of us again. Perhaps I'm not understanding your plan?" Kate says, “"I was just trying to clarify to myself the second part of what you said. I was hoping there might be some way we could recover our strength before we had to face him, but you're right, we can't give Turner time to get ahead of us. I was also assuming Turner would hole up until tomorrow night, and assuming is never a good thing." Kate had to fight the urge to pace. Regarding resting, Gonzales points out that the has with him the special magical tea of his Granddaughter Dorita that allows the person's body to feel as though they had rested for twice the amount of time of the actual resting. The party had last used this during the Town Festival in March in order to get an early morning start against Johnny Ringo.” Nanuet adds, “I don't think we can afford the luxury of allowing Turner to have the night to do with as he wishes. We need to get to Seneca Falls as quickly as possible. I don't know what is required to travel the way that you allude to but whenever we can do it with accuracy I think we should. We have to force Turner's moves, not give him a chance to regroup or rethink his next actions.” Kate continues, "We get the train stopped at Seneca Falls. We go back to Mr. Eastman's house or some private place and see where they are, then get there and get Ruby back. Anything more complicated could fall apart at some point. The one thing we've all agreed on is that train has to stop at Seneca Falls. Would you take care of that please, Mr. Eastman?" Eastman gets the Yard Manager to send the telegram but then they get a reply back stating that the train had already gone through that station. Kate didn't realize how tight her fist was balled until she felt something warm and wet trickling down her fingers. She lifted her hand and unclenched the fingers to see that she's pushed her fingernails into her palm. She took a couple deep breaths and wrapped her handkerchief around the palm. When they were again alone in the room she said, "Well, we talked ourselves out of one choice. Now I'd say we confirm they are on the train to Syracuse using the last scry, drink the tea, rest a few hours, and land at the Syracuse station before the train does." Mina says, "My dear, the train will arrive in Syracuse in about thirty-five minutes or so. The rest of your plan is solid, we should scry now to confirm Ruby is on the train, then travel to Syracuse now. That will give us the advantage of investigating the station before they arrive. The only question is how to get them off the train. Let's figure that out when we get there." Kate says, "I'd forgotten, and I'm not terribly familiar with New York. Mr. Eastman, do we know where the train is going after Syracuse? We may all have to buy tickets there and get on the train, perhaps." George replies, "Yes, it continues onward to Utica and then Albany." Kate says, "It's nice to know where we could end up. If they don't get off the train in Syracuse, we might have to get on it. Which might not be the worst idea. Then we could follow them off the train whenever they leave it." Gonzales says, "Okay, if I am going to do the transport spell I won't be able to bring all of us. I could manage the three smaller people and the wolf but Mr. Eastman will have to remain behind. I'll also need someplace to get a fire going in a metal brazier, but I don't think we will be able to do here in the manager's office without getting the whole place smoked up." Nanuet scouts the area for a suitable place for Mr. Gonzalez to cast his spell. He also mentally calls to Maska so that she will be close by and ready to join them for the magical trip. Gonzales indicates he will also need some sort of a water basin, preferably circular and at least a foot in diameter to cast his scry spell into. Mina asks, "George, is there a park nearby? One that has birdbaths? We could use one of those for the basin. Plus at this hour there probably wouldn't be anyone in the park." There is a park a few blocks away that the group heads over towards, finding a bird bath. It is getting dark but there are gaslights around the park providing some illumination. He states, "We should probably also get the fire going to get the brazier going in the event that we decide to leave now based upon the results of the scry. I will then begin the scry on Ruby now. Please note that the technical name for this version of the spell is Reflecting Pool, in that it is reflecting an image of somewhere else onto the water for our viewing. Thus, any creature that casts no reflection would also not be visible in the scry. Once we determine Ruby’s safety and condition I will then pull up on the scry, viewing the train car then the entire train from above and continue to pull back until we can see the surrounding countryside. The train should now be above the eastern Finger Lakes so as I pull up you will see Lakes Cayuga and Seneca to the south and Port Oswego along Lake Ontario around twenty miles to the north.” Oddly, what crossed Kate's mind was that it had only been a little later the night before when they had looked in on Ruby and found out she was in Rochester. Mina asks, "If you scry on Ruby and she's on the rain, will you still be able to transport us to the Syracuse train station?" He replies, "The spell starts on the individual and I can then shift around until it ceases. I would have to pull back and then zoom in on the train station ahead. Another possibility would be to transport us to somewhere on the train itself, although without tickets that could get us in trouble, plus there would be no way of assuring that a vampire was not present where we were going to if they are immune from detection." Kate says, "I think we're better off going to the train station. If they don't get off we can buy tickets and board there." Kate was starting to sound tired. The energy that came with the earlier panic had left and been replaced with fatigue. Nanuet says, "I thought the idea was to force the train to stop and go no further, or is that no longer an option?" Nanuet's head swam with all the things that could go wrong with these plans. "I think we should get to the train station and if the train proceeds from there then we board it and find Ruby. What happens next, I have no idea." Mina says, "I agree, to the train station. George, since we cannot take you with us, perhaps you can return to this station and have them disembark the passengers at Syracuse? Also, since we will have to take a train to return anyway and we don't know what condition Ruby will be in, maybe you want to get on the next train and meet us there? You never know if we might need your help. If we leave the station we could leave you a note where we have gone." George says, "The station office has a telegraph machine. Why don't I just plan on staying there until I hear from you." Mina replies, "Good idea. We'll do that. Hopefully this will all go smoothly and the next time you see us we'll have Ruby safe and sound." She turns to Manual. "I suppose we're all ready. Let's go and get there before they do." He begins the spell.</blockquote>

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