Long session tonight.
"As the sun rises, Howard Buckingham, the dining car cook and the de facto leader of the train passengers, comes up to the recovering party and asks what they think they should do. They are all stranded in the middle of the Rocky Mountains and the train itself had been traveling for several days; it would take even longer to walk back to the station. There doesn't seem to be any way across the gorge and it would be dangerous to help the passengers across. Dr. Magnus and Nicholas D. Wolfwood, who has recovered in the night, both have a general working knowledge of the Rockies and estimate that the nearest town is Boulder, Colorado, an eight-day journey at best on foot if they cut straight through the mountains. Howard is worried; there's only enough food and water for the entire group for a five-day journey. The party is confident that they can hunt and fend for the passengers along the way, though Howard is doubtful. Magnus sarcastically suggests tying the passengers up and using them as food instead. Intimidated, Howard agrees that hunting is their best bet and gets everyone ready to head out.
During the night, the party discovers that Dr. Sanders fell ill and is now feverish, unable to participate in the party's plans. Some of the train passengers agree to help transport him along the way. They follow the tracks back to the baggage car and scrounge around one last time for supplies. Gizelle's horse, Daisy, is found nearby and she is loaded up with some of the food and water. They then head north into the hills, not wanting to pass south near the spider's cave. At this point, Wolfwood notices that his pack of smokes is missing and, desperate for a smoke, asks around for one. Alexander Baron confidently hands him a cigarette from Wolfwood's own pack, which he stole the day before, but Wolfwood recognizes it as his. After a brief argument, Baron hands the pack over.
As the group heads north into the woods, they notice that there is snow on the ground. They discover what seems to be a hiking trail leading north toward a pass in the nearest ridge. The party is dispersed around the group, some at the head, at the back, and others in between. Several times something moves further ahead, flitting among the trees, but they can never get a good glimpse of it. As afternoon sets in, the path dips into a small valley, where the sun has melted the snow revealing what appears to be the remains of an avalanche. It blocks the whole valley, and forces the group to stop for the time being. Gizelle volunteers to use her landmines to clear the way, but everyone is worried this might cause another avalanche to occur, burying the entire group. Both Wolfwood and Baron, joined by some of the passengers, begin working on moving the rocks by hand, but after about an hour of labor, they give it up. There's too much debris. They opt for plan two, and Gizelle sets up two landmines by the base of the debris. Moving everyone far away, Lola McGill takes aim with her pistol and, as the party sharpshooter, lands a direct hit, triggering the explosives and blasting the rock away. Anxious, the party waits for the dust to clear then hurriedly moves through the canyon, hoping another avalanche is not in the making.
Afternoon passes and night falls as they make it out of the small valley and into the woods. They find a small clearing and set up camp for the night. Magnus takes the first watch, noticing that the temperature is far colder then the previous two nights and that it is darker too. He occasionally hears the odd howl in the distance and at one point thinks he hears the crunching of snow, perhaps from something stalking in the woods, attracted by the fire. The rest of the night watch hear nothing and the night passes.
The next morning, Baron is furious that he wasn't told about the sounds in the night. He argues that there is an obvious precident for aggressive beasts stalking the stranded passengers and that there should have been a more immediate response to what could have been an attack. Magnus, insulted, retorts by asking if Baron would have volunteered to go exploring the woods at night looking for wild animals, but before the argument progresses any further, a stranger appears.
He is dressed in black, wearing a black fedora and an intricate crucifix with an angelic carving in purple stone engraved on it. He introduces himself, politely, as Father Thornton Patience, from the Church of Lost Angels. Behind him are six followers, three men and women, dressed like Thornton. The party notices that some of the followers have scrapes and bruises, as if they've been wandering the mountains for some time. Thornton explains that he is searching for a "choir" of the Church of Lost Angels, a group of evangelists who were sent out to spread the word of the Church and to gather converts. They were last known to be crossing the Rockies via wagon train, but they never reached their destination. Following them via train from Salt Lake City, and then with two of their own wagons in the mountains, Thornton and his followers are also now lost in the wild, having lost the wagons in an accident. Baron, Wolfwood, and Magnus don't believe his story and demand to know how long he's been following the group. Thornton insists he and his followers just happened upon the group's trail and only just caught up; they were not sneaking around the camp last night. Some of the passengers eagerly ask how close Salt Lake City is but, at a minimum fortnight of hiking, it is too far. Thornton asks if he and his flock can join the group; they have their own food, two days worth, and will contribute all they can. The party acquiesces and the group, with the Lost Angels, moves on.
As they make their way up the mountain pass they had seen the day before, a sudden rumbling signifies another avalanche. They hurry everyone past the danger zone, but several stray boulders strike a passenger and one of the Angels; Lola immediately tends to them and makes sure they are not in any immediate danger. The group moves on, and finds another clearing ideal for a camp by nightfall. The two groups naturally segregate, the passengers on the northern end and the Angels at the southern end, tending their own fires. After several hours, as the party tries to determine who should take first watch, Howard rushes up and in a hurried whisper reveals that one of the food chests has been broken into and a large portion of food is missing.
The party goes with Howard to investigate; the lock for the crate has indeed been broken, though it looks like someone tried to pick the lock beforehand. Immediately suspicious of Thornton and the Lost Angels, Wolfwood pulls Thornton to the side and confronts him. Shocked, Thornton insists he and his people are innocent. Confronted with the parties suspicions about the Lost Angels, and with the persuasion of Baron and Lola, Thornton decides to tell the rest of his story. There were originally eight followers who accompanied Thornton to the Rockies. However, when the last snow storm hit, two of them disappeared in the night, as did the carts carrying most of the Lost Angels's supplies. Thornton says that those two men had been worried about strange creatures they thought they had seen during the night, but no one believed them. It is Thornton's personal belief that the two men stole the carts and tried to flee back to civilization. Magnus is not surprised and flat out suggests that these two deserters simply followed their brothers and, at the earliest opportunity, stole more food to try another escape.
Meanwhile, Lola, having returned to the food cache to take another look, reports finding the culprit's tracks leading north towards the passenger side of camp. Several of the passengers, including Laura Giles, Jacob Emett, the Squat-Pump twins, and Gregory Dawson, are relaxing around the fire, trying to stay warm. All are dozing but for Dawson. Magnus, having followed Lola, notices that Dawson, while sitting on his bag, is trying to conceal the fact that the ground under the bag has recently been dug up. He is well dressed, with slick black hair and trim moustache, but his hands are dirty. As Baron, Wolfwood, and Thornton continue to argue on the other side of camp, Lola attempts to get into Dawson's good graces and move him away from camp, hoping Magnus will then be able to inspect the bag and ground for the stolen food. Dawson resists Lola's flirtation and Magnus, tired of the crap, simply threatens Dawson with his flamethrower. Dawson instantly moves aside, but Magnus finds nothing in his bag, and only a pair of leather boots in a small hole under it. Frustrated, Magnus moves to confront Dawson just as Wolfwood and Baron show up. Dawson insists he's innocent, and Baron decides, for equity, that everyone should have their luggage checked. No sign of the food is found. The party, in frustration, hunkers down for the night while Gizelle sets trip wires around the camp, for security. The night watch hears more howls throughout the night, but they sound closer and possibly more numerous this time.
The next morning, with only enough food for a couple days, Magnus, Wolfwood, and Gizelle go hunting and manage to bag several rabbits and a small deer. Baron stays behind to guard the food cache. When the hunting party returns, Thornton approaches and worriedly asks for assistance. During the night, two more of his followers have disappeared, without a trace. Searching around the Lost Angels's side of camp, Baron notices a bright red splotch standing out against the snow away off in the woods. The group follows Baron, who finds more blood and a more distinctive trail. Arming themselves, it is not long before the party finds one of the missing Angels; unfortunately, he is not alive. His body is sitting against the base of a tree, his head having been gnawed off and his chest ripped open. Examining the body, Lola believes that the multiple wounds seem to indicate he was attacked by multiple creatures. Baron searches for more tracks, eager to hunt the creatures down, but cannot find any. The party agrees it would be appropriate to bury the body, but it is too risky, and would mostly incite a panic, if the body were brought back to camp. They work a little while and bury the body in the woods; Gizelle rigs it with a single landmine, learning from their encounters with the armored spider.
Returning to camp, the party only tells Thornton what they found and he expresses his sincere thanks. The other lost Angel is never found. The camp mobilizes and heads out, continuing the trek through the Rockies. They reach a deeper, less snowy region and once again settle down for the night. The group, now aware of the disappearance of the two Lost Angels, is nervous and anxious; some claim the nearby rock formations look like human faces. Baron, exasperated and worried by the recent turn of events, starts a fire and proclaims that it is highly likely that this regions of the Rockies is haunted; to ward of the spirits, everyone must spit into the fire, for good luck. Few comply. Night falls and the night watch takes its shifts.
As Wolfwood patrols during his time slot, Dawson sneaks up to him, asking him if he knows anything about fixing a weapon. Dawson shows Wolfwood his gun; the body is dented and the round chamber is badly bent out of shape. Wolfwood can't fix it but out of kindness gives Dawson one of his own as a temporary replacement. Still awake, Gizelle notices the exchange and approaches Wolfwood after Dawson leaves, taking Dawson's original gun and examining it for herself wondering if she can fix it. Before handing it back, she tells Baron about what has occurred. Baron, like Gizelle, instantly believes the gun was broken by Dawson when he broke the lock on the food cache.
The sun rises and the party decides to follow Dawson in an attempt to find where he has stashed the food he stole. However, he never leaves camp. Anxious to depart, the main group eventually heads out, with the party scouting ahead for possible trouble. Luckily, they stumble upon the next clearing before anyone else and are suitably shocked by their discovery. The remains of two bears are spread throughout the clearing; intestines and skin hang from tree branches, a bear skull remains crushed in the clearing center, indicative of the size and power of the creature or creatures that attacked. Lola, disgusted, is able to salvage a days worth of bear meat from the carcasses, further supplementing the group's supplies. They make it back to the group before the others can see the carnage and steer the carravan around the clearing. The day proceeds with little disturbance and night falls yet again. At this point, the group has been hiking for four days.
Once camp is established, the party settles in. Other group members have volunteered for night watch, but before anyone can get any sleep, a sudden commotion from the other side of camp stirs everyone to consciousness. Most of the passengers and Lost Angels have gathered in a close group, while an exasperated Thornton looks on. Dawson is at the center of the mob, held on either side by the Squat-Pump twins. Harold is berating him and it looks like Dawson has been roughed up. As the party makes it to the center of the mob, Harold tells everyone that Dawson was caught attempting to break into the food cache to take more food. Dawson, desperate and scared, insists it's a big misunderstanding, but the twins and Harold disagree.
Baron moves in, seeing a prime opportunity for exploitation, and begins whispering to Dawson. Dawson's life really does depend on the beneficence of the party, and Baron insists on getting the truth, or he'll turn Dawson over to Magnus who wouldn't hesitate to bring about punishment by fire. Dawson, with nowhere left to turn, finally admits he is guilty of taking the food but insists he can make it worth Baron's while if he can save Dawson. Dawson reveals that he has money and a possible track on bandit treasure located somewhere in the Rockies; he'll give it all to Baron if he gets off. Baron considers the proposal and accepts. Dissatisfied with Baron's intervention, Magnus asks the twins if they think Dawson has paid adequately for his crimes. The twins don't think so, but both Lola and Gizelle move in at this point, convincing the general mob that it does no one any good to punish Dawson; the crime has already been committed and they, stranded in the wilderness, must stick together.
The twins release Dawson and the passengers and Angels return to their sides of camp. Wolfwood, aware now of his error in judgment, takes his gun back from Dawson. The night passes uneventfully. Some early morning hunting the next day bolsters the dwindling food supply. Gizelle is able to bag a half dozen rabbits with the timely placement of one of her landmines. The day passes peacefully as the group trudges on.
That night, as Magnus takes the watch, the wind kicks up and the surrounding woods are seemingly much darker then before. The nights have continually gotten colder. The howls heard before are now much closer and the flickering of the campfire's shadows keep playing tricks with the doctor's eyes. At one point, he is able to clearly see a pair of red lights peering from the darkness towards the camp. It's obvious that at least one of the howling creatures is stalking the camp. Lola also notices the pair of eyes and promptly informs the party about the creature the next morning.
Not wanting to alarm the group, the party sets out early to go looking for the creature and its lair, if one exists. It's not long before they come upon a steep-sided gorge that seems to have been recently trafficked. The gorges's sides are very rocky, but the rocks seem almost shard-like, extremely rough and sharp and certainly dangerous to climb. What's of more interest however are the wagons populating the gorge. The gorge itself is only about 20 ft wide. One wagon leans, without its wheels, against the left-hand wall. Another, on its side, lies in the middle of the gorge. A much larger, more ornate wagon spans the gorge and sits several yards behind the overturned wagon. The encampment is deserted and an eerie silence descends upon the party as they advance, weapons drawn.
It is obvious that this is the remains of the original wagon train Thornton and his followers set out to find, but it appears they are all too late. Lola explores the left-hand wagon, detecting a foul odor as she approaches. Unsurprisingly, she finds two dead Lost Angels, who bear wounds similarly to their brother found in the woods. She recovers a few simple supplies but quickly leaves after finding a page from one of the Angel's diary. The memoir mentions having to serve "guard duty" while sitting in the pews and listening to the frequent sounds of "them" scratching at the walls of the church. Lola and Magnus move on to the second wagon and find another Lost Angel corpse. Baron and Wolfwood lead the way into the large central wagon. It is immediately evident that the wagon is in fact a mobile church, with two small columns of pews leading down the wagon towards an altar at the back of the wagon. Another opening, the same size as the one the party just entered through, stands beyond the altar.
There are no corpses or living Lost Angels in the church wagon, nor are there any significant supplies. Baron, however, stalks forward confidently and proclaims that any supplies would be kept in a secret room, typically hidden under the altar. The party struggles but is finally able to move the altar forward, revealing a small short staircase leading down under the wagon. Gizelle hangs back as the party moves down to explore.
The church cellar is still lit with several lanterns, indicating the campers were still tending the camp not long ago. The cellar extends about halfway back down under the church wagon, whose floor acts as the cellar ceiling. Light filtering down through cracks between the floor boards augments that provided by the lanterns. Both walls of the cellar are lined with metal cages whose doors and bars have been savagely rent open, not from the inside but from the outside. A larger cage is centered against the back wall, but this one appears to have been broken from within. Three dead Lost Angels adorn the back of the cellar; two savaged bodies lie on the floor while the third has been violently impaled on one of the broken bars of the large, back-center cage. Whatever was being held in these cages was vicious enough to kill their captors, or keepers, and are now nowhere to be seen. At this point, Wolfwood is standing by the bottom of the cellar stairs, Magnus has taken out his shotgun and is positioned in the center of the room, while Baron and Lola are closer to the corpses.
Suddenly, howls sound from outside the church and it is immediately evident that the creatures have surrounded the wagon. Gizelle, still by the altar, flings two landmines, one to each entrance, and perches on the altar, waiting to remotely trigger the mines via tripwire. Peeking through the door beyond the altar, Gizelle is stunned to see a large wolf-like creature leap into view. However, it is appears to be partially clothed and suddenly rears up on its hind legs and stalks towards the church door. Abandoning her mines, Gizelle jumps down onto the steps and flees into the cellar. The party, having heard the howls, is still unaware of the approaching creatures. Baron immediately arms himself with his saber and stations himself next to Wolfwood by the stairs.
Sounds of movement above the party indicate more wolves have entered from the other side of the church. Two wolves, presumably from the unexplored side of the gorge, advance down the stairs and Wolfwood moves back nearer to Magnus, abandoning Baron and Gizelle by the steps. The wolf in front of Baron swipes at him as it traverses the steps but misses. The second wolf attacks Gizelle but it too misses as Gizelle flees to the back of the cellar. A sudden burst of wood from the ceiling reveals that two wolves, using the altar as a jumping point, have used their weight and claws to rip a hole in the floor, opening the cellar to the church above. Only one wolf is able to drop down through the new hole. Lola, right by the hole, is able to land a shot on the wolf as it returns the favor on the way down. Magnus turns to the wolf and fires at point blank range but, surprisingly, misses entirely. Wolfwood fires as well and manages to damage one of its legs.
Baron, back by the steps and now facing two wolves, braces himself and stabs the wolf that tried to attack him. Magnus, noticing Baron's plight, moves to help but at a sudden move from the wolf near Lola, he turns and fires again, landing a head shot and instantly killing it. Baron pulls his saber out of the wolf's chest and stabs it through the eye, gaining a kill of his own. Magnus, once more on the attack and advancing towards the steps, makes a second killing shot to the second wolf on the steps, blowing a large hole in its chest.
With the three wolves that made it into the cellar now dead, the party has a moment to breath, but the second wolf stalking by the altar above drops down after its fallen comrade, but is unable to do any damage to Lola. Wolfwood is able to land a hit before all hell breaks loose.
Gizelle, having backed up towards the large cage, suddenly takes a hit from behind. Turning, she comes face to face with the now standing corpse of one of the fallen Lost Angels. With the sudden realization that the corpses they've encountered are not truly dead, the party begins to fear they may be in a dire predicament.
The sound of running feet sounds from above Gizelle and a second zombie drops down through the hole right next to the wolf. The wolf cowers in fright and slinks back into one of the cages, seeking shelter and an attempt to escape from the undead. This second zombie moves past the wolf and immediately goes after Wolfwood. Yet a third zombie drops down into the cellar but this time goes after Lola. Baron attempts to move in close and finish off the last wolf but is unable to reach it in the cage.
At this point all three zombies make a coordinated attack, injuring Magnus, Wolfwood, and Lola. Gizelle has by this point collapsed but not before taking a glancing blow from the nearest zombie. When yet another zombie drops from above, making the total four in the cellar, Wolfwood bolts. Magnus, limping from his injuries, is grabbed in flight and they both make it up the stairs without injury. Finding yet another wolf near the altar, recovering from apparently stepping on Gizelle's landmine and fear from the rise of the undead Lost Angels, Wolfwood kills it outright.
The zombies are startled by the flight of Wolfwood and Magnus and halt their assault briefly. Gizelle is still recovering in the back of the cellar. The four zombies then split up, two attacking Lola and two going after Baron. Lola runs for it, and makes it to the altar just as two more zombies enter from the far side of the church, running towards the altar. As she attacks one of them, Baron climbs up from the cellar and takes on the second. He calls out that Gizelle regained consciousness and, seeing the party's danger, is willing to detonate her entire bag of landmines, sacrificing herself to save them from certain death. Baron manages to kill his zombie but Lola's works its way around towards Wolfwood, who is attempting to help Magnus by the door behind the steps.
Wolfwood, in desperation, reaches into his pack and withdraws his artillery gun. With a shell preloaded, he aims it at the base of the cellar steps, where the four cellar zombies are grouping, and fires. A massive explosion rocks the church and a cloud of dust and debris flies up from the cellar opening. The body of the last wolf in the basement can be seen, obviously dead. All four zombies, while suffering damage are still standing but have moved further back into the cellar. One goes after Gizelle, who is readying her explosives. Lola, who can now see through the hole in front of the altar, lands a headshot, destroying the zombie moving to attack Gizelle. Wolfwood preps another round and fires again; after the second explosion clears, the zombies appear to have had their legs blown off and are now crawling towards the steps. Gizelle survives both blasts unscathed, as she is too far back to be injured.
Calling down to Gizelle, Lola reveals that it is unnecessary to sacrifice herself. Gizelle, emboldened at the sight of the smoldering zombie torsos, is able to edge her way out of the cellar and up to the rest of the party. Baron meanwhile has engaged the zombie that attempted to go after Wolfwood and succeeds in killing it. Lola takes out a torso zombie, leaving only two in the basement. Wolfwood, covered by Lola, advances into the basement and dispatches of the remaining undead.
Shots suddenly ring from outside and the party realizes that Thornton and the rest of the group have finally caught up and are engaging either more wolves or zombies. To prevent the enemy an escape route, the party moves out the door by the cellar stairs and Gizelle tosses her lit pitch grenade back into the church. As smoke begins to billow from the doorway, flames lick the walls and the party, heavily injured and thankful for their lives, watch as the church begins to burn."
To be continued......
