orchid blossom
Explorer
Meanwhile, Ruby heads back up the stairs, minding the gap at the top where Minerva fell and through the disgusting hallway out to the narrow room where Thom lay prone on the floor. He was struggling with his bonds but still appeared to be held tight.
"Thom?" Ruby says softly, approaching slowly. "Are you alright?"
"Somebody tied Thom up pretty Constance! Thom doesn't like being tied up!" he says struggling against the ropes. "But Thom feel different, Thom feel like old self again."
"It's alright Thom, let me help you," Ruby says in a calming tone. "But I need you to stay still. Can you help me and do that?"
Once Thom agrees Ruby takes her dagger and carefully cuts the ropes.
Thom agrees and lets Ruby cut the ropes. He laughs when his bonds are cut and picks Ruby off the ground in a firm, yet gentle bear hug. "Thank you pretty Constance, thank you for freeing Thom."
Ruby gives a squeal as Thom squeezes her a bit too tightly. But now that the deed they came to do was done her spirit was lifting and she laughs.
"You're quite welcome Thom."
After he finishes spinning her and places her down Ruby puts her hand on Thom's arm. "I have something to talk to you about. I have some bad news for you." She continues in a gentle and compassionate tone. "Mr. Greely will no longer be telling you what to do, he can't control you against your will anymore. He was a monster, Thom, and he tried to kill me and my friends. Now Mr. Greely is dead and you are free."
Thom looked at Ruby as she spoke, concentrating on the words she was saying. "Mr. Greely is dead? Thom is sad for Mr. Greely. He helped me when I needed it, but sometimes he was mean. I hope Mr. Greely didn't hurt Pretty Constance or her friends." Thom paused for a few moments, thinking very hard. "Can I stay here now if Mr. Greely is dead? I don't think I is smart enough to work a saloon alone."
He did hurt a few of us, but we'll be ok. We're tough like that," she smiles
Ruby thought about it for a moment. An idea sprung to mind, but she wasn't sure it was the right thing to do. "Well Thom, what would you like to do? You are free now and we can help you. You need someplace to stay and a new job right?" She noticed her friends coming down the hallway.
"You can help Thom? How can Pretty Constance help Thom? You live far away and I live here."
It was quite some time after Ruby went to check on Thom when Kate led the others back where they had left him tied up. He was awake and free, and apparently not angry about the way they had left him.
"Is everything alright, Constance?" she asked quietly.
"Yes, everything is alright. We need to get you back to rest and check on Nanuet." She rubbed her own neck but keep quiet about her own weakness. For once she wasn't the worst injured. "How are you feeling now?"
"I'm alright," Kate said. "A little better now that I've been up and moving actually. I still need that meal though. We should find the local priest as well. Even if he can't help Nanuet himself he might have a better idea of what we need."
Ruby turns to Jake and Chester. "We also need to inform the Sheriff about Greely's demise and check around for Nolan Edwards, or at least inform the Sheriff if he is truly missing. And," her smiles grows wider, "Make sure we are on the next stage out of here."
"We are going to be leaving town soon, so let's think about it and see what we can do," Ruby says.
"Uhhh... OK but I think I am confused." Thom said with a befuddled look on his face. "Is Pretty Constance saying I can go home with her and her friends?"
Ruby blinks, "You think you would you like to come home with us Thom? You would have to leave here and probably never come back." She glances at Jake, "But we do have a saloon that needs to be taken care of."
Jake rolls his eyes and mutters, "... another stray taken in..." and then chuckles. When Ruby looks over at him he shrugs, waits a moment and then nods his head up and down. "I trust this one is house broken."
As they climb upstairs Jake whispers to Ruby, "I wonder where Greely's key went? Maybe we could find it. You could ask Tiny here if he knows where Greely hid anything."
Once upstairs, Jake further searches around especially behind the bar and later in the store room. Besides looking for hidden valuables Jake also searches through Greely's inventory of liquor. "I wonder if he had any good Bourbon or anything else. At least he could provide something for a celebration for all the trouble he put us through. I do have a birthday coming up soon and some fine liquor would be just the thing."
Before Jake runs off Rub grabs his arm and pulls him aside, "I was only asking him if he would leave here. We should find someone to watch after him now, no? Do you think it's a good idea to bring him back with us? I mean, he could help watch the saloon, and he is a biiiggg guy...but I don't know if it's a good idea."
Kate's instinct was the same as Ruby's; to allow Thom to come with them back to Promise City. Still, she knew it was not a good idea. She had no doubt that he would be a loyal friend, but the more he knew about them the more he could give away. Those with dangerous secrets could not keep close people who might give them away in innocence. Hopefully Jake and Ruby would come to the same conclusion.
"Chester, would you escort me? We should go see the local priest, if Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs will go to the sheriff?"
"Of course, Kate. How do we explain what happened to Nanuet? Tell him the truth?"
"Yes, the truth. He must have had some idea of what was happening and strangely, I've been finding when you have a fantastic story to tell those most likely to believe you are clerics."
Chester laughs. "OK. I guess someone in this town other than the sheriff should be told what's went on." He looks at Thom. "Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs, are you going to be alright down here?"
Jake says, "Yeah, Chet. Go right on ahead. We'll be fine."
Before Jake answers Ruby can see Thom getting antsy. She whispers, "We can talk about this in a bit." In a louder voice. "Let's go back upstairs, shall we?" Ruby guides Thom up the stairs. "So Thom, do you know, when Mr. Greely was here, did he have a spot he kept things? Maybe a secret place?"
"Uh, you mean like money and stuff? He never let me touch that stuff. I think he used to keep that stuff upstairs somewhere. He always went up there right after we closed, but I always had to stay down here."
"I understand Thom." Once back upstairs in the Saloon Ruby says, "Mr. Jacobs and I would like to look around. Could you make sure no one gets in, Thom? At least let us know if someone shows up."
"OK, nobody gets in, I can do that." Thom says emphatically and then walks away towards the front door mumbling to himself.
"Thanks Thom!" Ruby winks at him then her and Jake head up the stairs. They take their time carefully searching each room throughly.
There is one room that appears to be a little different than the rest. The furniture is newer and of better quality, the floor has recently been refinished, and the curtains over the windows are very heavy and block all the light. In that room Jake and Ruby find a safe hidden in the wall behind a mirror.
Ruby smirks, "Step aside Mr. Jacobs, it's my turn again." Ruby steps to the safe, pulls out her lockpicks and flips her hair back over her shoulder as she looks at Jake, "Wish me luck!"
She turns back to the safe and checks it for traps. After that she sets to picking the lock.
Ruby is not surprised to find a very delicate and intricate trap guarding the safe, one which would leave any theif missing a few fingertips most likely.
She takes a deep breath in as she looks back at Jake. "Jake, this trap looks very difficult but I bet there is something good in there. Should I try it?"
"Careful, Ruby. I will leave that up to you. Seems a shame to leave anything behind but you need to come out of this in one piece."
"Thanks darling. Have faith in me, I can do it." Ruby takes as much time as she needs to very carefully disable the trap.
Ruby manages to work her magic fingers and believes she has successfully disabled the trap. She then gets to work on getting the safe open. With this she can take her time now that the threat of a trap has been removed. Despite the fact that this is a well made safe it is no match for Ruby's skills and she easily cracks it.
"Ahhh," Ruby smiles back at Jake, after she hears the satistifying 'click'. "You won't tell anyone how good I am at this will you?" she laughs, before opening the door to the safe and peering inside.
Ruby opens the door to see a book, possibly a ledger of some sort, and several papers and envelopes as well as a metal box. She is just about to reach in and grab the items when Thom interrupts them with his shouting.
"I only tell folks how wonderful you sing and that I am a satisified man." Jake replies with a smug smile.
First thing Ruby does is open the metal box where she finds $187.69 in cash. The other items contained within the safe are a ledger detailing business transactions for the saloon. The deed for both the saloon and the house that Greely owned, other official papers necessary for the business and an envelope that has pictures, photos of Greely when he was much younger pictured with people that Ruby does not recognize who appear to be family and/or friends.
As Jake and Ruby got started in the saloon, Chester and Kate walked back up the stairs and out the door. They squint at the brightness of the day after their time in the tomb. "Which way to the church?"
"I'm not sure." Kate stopped and asked a passerby for directions to where they might find Mr. York. The woman stared at her as she answered the question, then hurried away. When Kate looked down and saw the blood soaked into her blouse she realized why the woman had been so strange.
"Let's hurry right along, Chester," she said, heading off confidently.
Chester takes off his magic jacket. "Here, put this on. That blood is going to draw a lot of attention."
"Thank you, Chester," she said, glad for the warmth of the jacket as well as it's concealment.
Chester stops the next person he finds. "Hey, I'm the new deputy around here. Could you point me to the church?"
"Sure deputy. Damn shame what happened to sheriff. Fine man he was."
"Yeah. But Sheriff Weeks should be just as good."
"He has some mighty large shoes to fill." The man gives them directions.
Kate and Chester followed the directions and soon arrived at the priests residence and knocked on the door.
Sian York answers the door rather quickly, almost too quickly as if he might have been expecting someone to come to the door. Seeing the blood and other indicators that the two had been in a battle Sian immediately ushers Kate and Chester inside. "Oh my, you look like you have been through hell! What happened to you?"
"You're not far off," Kate said. "We have come up against the thing that has been stalking Thomaswell at night. It is destroyed, but it gave one of our companions a rather strange wound. We were hoping you might be able to help."
Kate went on to describe Nanuet's wound and the cold spot where Greely had touched him. "We can give you more details about what happened, but just now I'm very concerned about our friend."
"Well, I have been doing as much research as I can, unfortunately my resources here are limited, but Mr. Edwards has been able to supply me with many useful tomes. I believe I understand what sort of affliction your friend suffers from."
The humble priest takes Kate and Chester to his office where he shows them some text that describes what may have happened to Nanuet.
"You see this here?" he says pointing out some text in a rather large and ancient looking tome. "The creature stole some of his life force to bolster his own power, but not all is lost. It is possible your friend could feel better tomorrow, that his will is strong enough that he will recover. If he does not, a priest can try a ritual to restore the lost energy, but time is of the essence. The more powerful priest you can find to do the ceremony the longer your friend has before the energy is permanantly lost. I unfortunately am not experienced enough to do it myself, or I would of course. Hopefully your companions will is strong and he will recover."
"I hope so," Kate said. "We heard the stage is coming today and we plan to be on it. Do you think there might be someone in Albuquerque with the power to heal this?"
"Oh great news! Yes, yes... seek out Brother Malcolm. He will most assuredly be able to help your friend. Tell him that I sent you, and show him this." York hands Kate a foreign looking coin. "He will recognize it and take good care of your freind. I wish I could do more myself."
"We're grateful for whatever help you can give. Brother Malcolm, I will remember. Thank you." Kate took the coin and tucked it carefully away.
"There is something else I should tell you. When we went under the saloon to where Greely hid from the sun, we found Mr. Edwards holy symbol there and we weren't able to find him this morning. Although we haven't seen for ourselves, we fear the worst."
Chester pulls the holy symbol from his pocket. "He was supposed to meet us, but he didn't show."
"Really? Oh that is terrible news. Did anyone happen to retrieve the symbol? I will head to the hotel now to ask if anyone has seen him. Thank you for that information, Mr. Edwards is a good man and I would hate to see anything happen to him."
"As would I," Kate said as Chester handed Mr. York the holy symbol. "Why don't we all walk together? Greely managed to bite me, and I think a meal would help my blood return faster. The hotel is the only place I know to get something to eat."
"I would enjoy the company on this dreadful walk, as I fear for Mr. Edwards saftey. If you don't mind I will pray as we walk, it helps soothe my nerves. Oh, and unless you cook it yourself that hotel is really the only food in town."
"Fine by me. Hopefully Greely was just counting coup and Edwards is searching his room for his holy symbol right now." Chester doesn't sound convinced.
Chester, Kate and York all arrive at the hotel, York still muttering his prayers as they walk. As they approach the front door they can hear some kind of mayhem going on inside.
York rushes forward and throws open the door. Inside Mr. Edwards, now looking like a shell of his former self is perched upside down on the ceiling near the doorway. The Sheriff is attempting to maintain some sort of control and get everybody out of the hotel, but nobody is willing to exit past the former monster hunter.
York rushes forward and throws open the door. Inside Mr. Edwards, now looking like a shell of his former self is perched upside down on the ceiling near the doorway. The Sheriff is attempting to maintain some sort of control and get everybody out of the hotel, but nobody is willing to exit past the former monster hunter.
"Thom?" Ruby says softly, approaching slowly. "Are you alright?"
"Somebody tied Thom up pretty Constance! Thom doesn't like being tied up!" he says struggling against the ropes. "But Thom feel different, Thom feel like old self again."
"It's alright Thom, let me help you," Ruby says in a calming tone. "But I need you to stay still. Can you help me and do that?"
Once Thom agrees Ruby takes her dagger and carefully cuts the ropes.
Thom agrees and lets Ruby cut the ropes. He laughs when his bonds are cut and picks Ruby off the ground in a firm, yet gentle bear hug. "Thank you pretty Constance, thank you for freeing Thom."
Ruby gives a squeal as Thom squeezes her a bit too tightly. But now that the deed they came to do was done her spirit was lifting and she laughs.
"You're quite welcome Thom."
After he finishes spinning her and places her down Ruby puts her hand on Thom's arm. "I have something to talk to you about. I have some bad news for you." She continues in a gentle and compassionate tone. "Mr. Greely will no longer be telling you what to do, he can't control you against your will anymore. He was a monster, Thom, and he tried to kill me and my friends. Now Mr. Greely is dead and you are free."
Thom looked at Ruby as she spoke, concentrating on the words she was saying. "Mr. Greely is dead? Thom is sad for Mr. Greely. He helped me when I needed it, but sometimes he was mean. I hope Mr. Greely didn't hurt Pretty Constance or her friends." Thom paused for a few moments, thinking very hard. "Can I stay here now if Mr. Greely is dead? I don't think I is smart enough to work a saloon alone."
He did hurt a few of us, but we'll be ok. We're tough like that," she smiles
Ruby thought about it for a moment. An idea sprung to mind, but she wasn't sure it was the right thing to do. "Well Thom, what would you like to do? You are free now and we can help you. You need someplace to stay and a new job right?" She noticed her friends coming down the hallway.
"You can help Thom? How can Pretty Constance help Thom? You live far away and I live here."
It was quite some time after Ruby went to check on Thom when Kate led the others back where they had left him tied up. He was awake and free, and apparently not angry about the way they had left him.
"Is everything alright, Constance?" she asked quietly.
"Yes, everything is alright. We need to get you back to rest and check on Nanuet." She rubbed her own neck but keep quiet about her own weakness. For once she wasn't the worst injured. "How are you feeling now?"
"I'm alright," Kate said. "A little better now that I've been up and moving actually. I still need that meal though. We should find the local priest as well. Even if he can't help Nanuet himself he might have a better idea of what we need."
Ruby turns to Jake and Chester. "We also need to inform the Sheriff about Greely's demise and check around for Nolan Edwards, or at least inform the Sheriff if he is truly missing. And," her smiles grows wider, "Make sure we are on the next stage out of here."
"We are going to be leaving town soon, so let's think about it and see what we can do," Ruby says.
"Uhhh... OK but I think I am confused." Thom said with a befuddled look on his face. "Is Pretty Constance saying I can go home with her and her friends?"
Ruby blinks, "You think you would you like to come home with us Thom? You would have to leave here and probably never come back." She glances at Jake, "But we do have a saloon that needs to be taken care of."
Jake rolls his eyes and mutters, "... another stray taken in..." and then chuckles. When Ruby looks over at him he shrugs, waits a moment and then nods his head up and down. "I trust this one is house broken."
As they climb upstairs Jake whispers to Ruby, "I wonder where Greely's key went? Maybe we could find it. You could ask Tiny here if he knows where Greely hid anything."
Once upstairs, Jake further searches around especially behind the bar and later in the store room. Besides looking for hidden valuables Jake also searches through Greely's inventory of liquor. "I wonder if he had any good Bourbon or anything else. At least he could provide something for a celebration for all the trouble he put us through. I do have a birthday coming up soon and some fine liquor would be just the thing."
Before Jake runs off Rub grabs his arm and pulls him aside, "I was only asking him if he would leave here. We should find someone to watch after him now, no? Do you think it's a good idea to bring him back with us? I mean, he could help watch the saloon, and he is a biiiggg guy...but I don't know if it's a good idea."
Kate's instinct was the same as Ruby's; to allow Thom to come with them back to Promise City. Still, she knew it was not a good idea. She had no doubt that he would be a loyal friend, but the more he knew about them the more he could give away. Those with dangerous secrets could not keep close people who might give them away in innocence. Hopefully Jake and Ruby would come to the same conclusion.
"Chester, would you escort me? We should go see the local priest, if Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs will go to the sheriff?"
"Of course, Kate. How do we explain what happened to Nanuet? Tell him the truth?"
"Yes, the truth. He must have had some idea of what was happening and strangely, I've been finding when you have a fantastic story to tell those most likely to believe you are clerics."
Chester laughs. "OK. I guess someone in this town other than the sheriff should be told what's went on." He looks at Thom. "Mr. and Mrs. Jacobs, are you going to be alright down here?"
Jake says, "Yeah, Chet. Go right on ahead. We'll be fine."
Before Jake answers Ruby can see Thom getting antsy. She whispers, "We can talk about this in a bit." In a louder voice. "Let's go back upstairs, shall we?" Ruby guides Thom up the stairs. "So Thom, do you know, when Mr. Greely was here, did he have a spot he kept things? Maybe a secret place?"
"Uh, you mean like money and stuff? He never let me touch that stuff. I think he used to keep that stuff upstairs somewhere. He always went up there right after we closed, but I always had to stay down here."
"I understand Thom." Once back upstairs in the Saloon Ruby says, "Mr. Jacobs and I would like to look around. Could you make sure no one gets in, Thom? At least let us know if someone shows up."
"OK, nobody gets in, I can do that." Thom says emphatically and then walks away towards the front door mumbling to himself.
"Thanks Thom!" Ruby winks at him then her and Jake head up the stairs. They take their time carefully searching each room throughly.
There is one room that appears to be a little different than the rest. The furniture is newer and of better quality, the floor has recently been refinished, and the curtains over the windows are very heavy and block all the light. In that room Jake and Ruby find a safe hidden in the wall behind a mirror.
Ruby smirks, "Step aside Mr. Jacobs, it's my turn again." Ruby steps to the safe, pulls out her lockpicks and flips her hair back over her shoulder as she looks at Jake, "Wish me luck!"
She turns back to the safe and checks it for traps. After that she sets to picking the lock.
Ruby is not surprised to find a very delicate and intricate trap guarding the safe, one which would leave any theif missing a few fingertips most likely.
She takes a deep breath in as she looks back at Jake. "Jake, this trap looks very difficult but I bet there is something good in there. Should I try it?"
"Careful, Ruby. I will leave that up to you. Seems a shame to leave anything behind but you need to come out of this in one piece."
"Thanks darling. Have faith in me, I can do it." Ruby takes as much time as she needs to very carefully disable the trap.
Ruby manages to work her magic fingers and believes she has successfully disabled the trap. She then gets to work on getting the safe open. With this she can take her time now that the threat of a trap has been removed. Despite the fact that this is a well made safe it is no match for Ruby's skills and she easily cracks it.
"Ahhh," Ruby smiles back at Jake, after she hears the satistifying 'click'. "You won't tell anyone how good I am at this will you?" she laughs, before opening the door to the safe and peering inside.
Ruby opens the door to see a book, possibly a ledger of some sort, and several papers and envelopes as well as a metal box. She is just about to reach in and grab the items when Thom interrupts them with his shouting.
"I only tell folks how wonderful you sing and that I am a satisified man." Jake replies with a smug smile.
First thing Ruby does is open the metal box where she finds $187.69 in cash. The other items contained within the safe are a ledger detailing business transactions for the saloon. The deed for both the saloon and the house that Greely owned, other official papers necessary for the business and an envelope that has pictures, photos of Greely when he was much younger pictured with people that Ruby does not recognize who appear to be family and/or friends.
As Jake and Ruby got started in the saloon, Chester and Kate walked back up the stairs and out the door. They squint at the brightness of the day after their time in the tomb. "Which way to the church?"
"I'm not sure." Kate stopped and asked a passerby for directions to where they might find Mr. York. The woman stared at her as she answered the question, then hurried away. When Kate looked down and saw the blood soaked into her blouse she realized why the woman had been so strange.
"Let's hurry right along, Chester," she said, heading off confidently.
Chester takes off his magic jacket. "Here, put this on. That blood is going to draw a lot of attention."
"Thank you, Chester," she said, glad for the warmth of the jacket as well as it's concealment.
Chester stops the next person he finds. "Hey, I'm the new deputy around here. Could you point me to the church?"
"Sure deputy. Damn shame what happened to sheriff. Fine man he was."
"Yeah. But Sheriff Weeks should be just as good."
"He has some mighty large shoes to fill." The man gives them directions.
Kate and Chester followed the directions and soon arrived at the priests residence and knocked on the door.
Sian York answers the door rather quickly, almost too quickly as if he might have been expecting someone to come to the door. Seeing the blood and other indicators that the two had been in a battle Sian immediately ushers Kate and Chester inside. "Oh my, you look like you have been through hell! What happened to you?"
"You're not far off," Kate said. "We have come up against the thing that has been stalking Thomaswell at night. It is destroyed, but it gave one of our companions a rather strange wound. We were hoping you might be able to help."
Kate went on to describe Nanuet's wound and the cold spot where Greely had touched him. "We can give you more details about what happened, but just now I'm very concerned about our friend."
"Well, I have been doing as much research as I can, unfortunately my resources here are limited, but Mr. Edwards has been able to supply me with many useful tomes. I believe I understand what sort of affliction your friend suffers from."
The humble priest takes Kate and Chester to his office where he shows them some text that describes what may have happened to Nanuet.
"You see this here?" he says pointing out some text in a rather large and ancient looking tome. "The creature stole some of his life force to bolster his own power, but not all is lost. It is possible your friend could feel better tomorrow, that his will is strong enough that he will recover. If he does not, a priest can try a ritual to restore the lost energy, but time is of the essence. The more powerful priest you can find to do the ceremony the longer your friend has before the energy is permanantly lost. I unfortunately am not experienced enough to do it myself, or I would of course. Hopefully your companions will is strong and he will recover."
"I hope so," Kate said. "We heard the stage is coming today and we plan to be on it. Do you think there might be someone in Albuquerque with the power to heal this?"
"Oh great news! Yes, yes... seek out Brother Malcolm. He will most assuredly be able to help your friend. Tell him that I sent you, and show him this." York hands Kate a foreign looking coin. "He will recognize it and take good care of your freind. I wish I could do more myself."
"We're grateful for whatever help you can give. Brother Malcolm, I will remember. Thank you." Kate took the coin and tucked it carefully away.
"There is something else I should tell you. When we went under the saloon to where Greely hid from the sun, we found Mr. Edwards holy symbol there and we weren't able to find him this morning. Although we haven't seen for ourselves, we fear the worst."
Chester pulls the holy symbol from his pocket. "He was supposed to meet us, but he didn't show."
"Really? Oh that is terrible news. Did anyone happen to retrieve the symbol? I will head to the hotel now to ask if anyone has seen him. Thank you for that information, Mr. Edwards is a good man and I would hate to see anything happen to him."
"As would I," Kate said as Chester handed Mr. York the holy symbol. "Why don't we all walk together? Greely managed to bite me, and I think a meal would help my blood return faster. The hotel is the only place I know to get something to eat."
"I would enjoy the company on this dreadful walk, as I fear for Mr. Edwards saftey. If you don't mind I will pray as we walk, it helps soothe my nerves. Oh, and unless you cook it yourself that hotel is really the only food in town."
"Fine by me. Hopefully Greely was just counting coup and Edwards is searching his room for his holy symbol right now." Chester doesn't sound convinced.
Chester, Kate and York all arrive at the hotel, York still muttering his prayers as they walk. As they approach the front door they can hear some kind of mayhem going on inside.
York rushes forward and throws open the door. Inside Mr. Edwards, now looking like a shell of his former self is perched upside down on the ceiling near the doorway. The Sheriff is attempting to maintain some sort of control and get everybody out of the hotel, but nobody is willing to exit past the former monster hunter.
York rushes forward and throws open the door. Inside Mr. Edwards, now looking like a shell of his former self is perched upside down on the ceiling near the doorway. The Sheriff is attempting to maintain some sort of control and get everybody out of the hotel, but nobody is willing to exit past the former monster hunter.