"The party watches as the church wagon burns, checking their surroundings to ensure they are not at risk of another attack. It does not take long for the fire to consume the dry wagon timber, and about an hour later, the fire has mostly died out. The party can see the other two wagons they had explored earlier through the smoke and burned walls, and they can also see their companions, the train passengers and the Lost Angels, working to set up another camp using the available supplies left behind by the Lost Angels choir. Some of the Lost Angels are also working to extract some of the corpses from the church and begin to give them a proper burial.Gizelle has by this time fully collapsed in exhaustion, and it is obvious she is in no condition to continue on with the party. Leaving her to sleep, the party turns to examine the one remaining wagon on the unexplored half of the gorge. Alexander Baron and Nicholas D. Wolfwood approach the door and kick it in, overwhelmed by the stench of decay. The party finds yet another Lost Angel, with its head ripped off in similar fashion to previously discovered corpses. It appears this last survivor did not leave this world without a fight, as he tightly clutches a double-barrel shotgun close to his chest. Dr. Magnus is able to retrieve the shotgun, happy to upgrade from a single-barrel shotgun, and finds two rounds of buckshot already loaded in.
The party searches the rest of the wagon; Magnus finds several more rounds of buckshot. Lola McGill examines the body a little more thoroughly and finds a letter of commission from the Reverend Grimme, the leader of the Church of Lost Angels and governor of the City of Lost Angels in California. Lola reads it aloud to the party; the letter bears the official commission from Grimme himself to the "proclamation choir", a band of Lost Angel evangelists whose primary purpose was to travel the Mid-West spreading the word of the Church and gathering converts. This is apparently the same choir that Father Thornton Patience was seeking.
Finding nothing else, the party makes their way through the rubble of the church wagon back to the other side of the gorge, where a suitable camp and fire have been set up. Baron and Magnus approach Thornton and question him more thoroughly then before about the choir and its mission. Thornton denies any knowledge of specifics and, once told about the secret cellar and, presumably, wolf cages, steadfastly denies any knowledge of the hunting or selling of wild animals by the Church. When confronted with the fact that his dead choir brothers "rose again" and attacked the party, he also denies knowledge, but is not very convincing. Lola, always the skeptic, begins to doubt what she experienced and insists it was simply a great misunderstanding between the party and a band of crazed survivors.
Thornton does reveal that they found and killed one wolf that was lurking around the wagons when they came upon the gorge. Magnus, interested, is able to climb on top of the overturned wagon (nearest the burnt church wagon) to examine the wolf's corpse. He is surprised to find that it is shabbily dressed in ragged, tacky clothing. Its gender is indeterminant but he notices that it does have strangely jointed legs. A small necklace hangs around its neck, a bright jewel embedded in a small amulet. Magnus pockets the trinket and reports his findings to the party, confirming despite the clothing and strange behavior earlier that it is definitely a wolf.
As night begins to fall, Lola spends her time healing the party's wounds, though Gizelle and Dr. Sanders are now both incapacitated, most likely, for the remainder of the expedition. Wolfwood and Magnus both volunteer for night guard duty, with Wolfwood taking the first shift. Since the camp is located in the gorge, the wind is intermitant but the shadows from the fire flash upon the gorge walls, constantly distracting Wolfwood and making it hard to notice any real movement. As the fire dies down, a sudden gust of air breezes through camp, and Wolfwood is able to hear a strange "whapping" sound, as if something very heavy is flying overhead. At one point, he believes he can see the shape of a wing descend beyond the firelight, near the woods at the end of the gorge, but the clouds and smoke interfere with any clear light to show the way. However, he is able to catch a glimpse of yet another wolf sneaking among the trees following whatever just landed nearby. Trying to keep active to quell his fear, Wolfwood salvages several planks from one of the wagons and is able to keep the fire going. Once Magnus's shift arrives, Wolfwood conveys everything he saw, but Magnus sees nothing as the night passes.
As the sun rises and the camp begins to stir, Baron awakes and, seeing a motionless Lola, manages to pickpocket $10, retaliation for losing a bet to her back on the train several days previous. Suddenly, a woeful cry shatters the air and the entire camp awakens. Several train passengers are grouped around a middle-aged man and woman, the Wilsons. Mrs. Wilson is distraught; her twin boys, the same ones who Lola watched over back on the train, have gone missing without a trace. Anxious about what happened during the night, Wolfwood and Magnus tell Baron and Lola what they heard. Realizing there is still danger stalking the group, the party agrees to look for the children and put a final end to the "monsters-in-the-night". Magnus, however, approaches the Wilsons once the rest of the party departs and is able to secure a fee for $20 if the party finds the kids. The Wilsons, too desperate to care, quickly agree.
The party explores the woods outside the gorge, noticing the trail the group used to find the gorge the day before. They head north, in the opposite direction, looking for any sign of the twins. A sudden cracking branch behind them causes them to quickly turn, weapons drawn, only to find that Gregory Dawson has been following them. He tells them that he feels truly sorry for the Wilsons and would like to help in any way he can. The party lets him stay, but warn him to stay in the middle of the group, or face possible harm. He does so, withdrawing his now mended pistol. It is not long before Baron finds a trail; it appears an object or two were dragged through the snow by a large, taloned figure. Multiple wolf tracks merge and branch off the trail as it moves through the woods. The party is encouraged that there is no blood, but are not hopeful of a happy end to their search.
They eventually stumble onto yet another clearing, this one about 30 yards square. Two medium-sized rock formations dominate the lower left and upper right corners of the clearing, while several trees span the clearing from upper left to middle right. The party is glad to see the Wilson twins on the other side of the clearing, crouching in the dirt leading down another trail. However, as soon as the twins see them, they cry out in fear and run down the trail.
Before the party can move to follow or call out, a blast of wind sounds from behind them. At the last minute they realize it is actually the sound of the winged monster rapidly descending but before they can even turn, something picks up Dawson and tries to carry him away. However he is too heavy and the beast drops him in one of the trees near the middle of the clearing. The monster lands at the head of the path, and appears to consider going after the boys but turns instead to face the party.
It is at least 8 feet tall, entirely muscle bound and covered in jet-black fur. Dark matted spots on its chest and limbs indicated where blood has soaked in. It appears to be humanoid, with two legs and arms and a head, but it is no human being. Its mouth is a maw of large, jagged fangs; its eyes are large and white, pupil-less, rapidly surveying its new environment and enemies. Its arms are two large leathery wings, while its legs end, not in feet, but in three pincer-like talons. It is hideous to look at and a foul smell begins to fill the clearing. As it sees the party, it gives a foul, growl/hacking chuckle. At its cry, six wolves like those fought the day before appear from the forest's edge, two right behind the beast and four further spread out along the back edge of the clearing.As the creatures prepare to advance, Baron roars out in defiance and makes to charge, but Lola and Wolfwood hold him back, crying that it would be a suicidal charge. Magnus attempts to climb the closest rock formation, in the lower left corner of the clearing, but slips and falls back to the ground. Undeterred, he arms his single-barrel shotgun with one of his special electric rounds, and fires at the nearest wolf. He is happy to see a spark of electricity erupt from the round as it hits the wolf; not only is the wolf injured, but it now is twitching to overcome the stun left by the round. Lola takes out her pistols and fires at the monster in the back-center of the clearing. She manages to hit its leg but does no discernable damage, only angering it.
The beast suddenly jumps high into the air, propelled by its muscular legs, spreads its wings and swoops into the nearest tree, where Dawson is still recovering from being thrown into the air. It bites Dawson but Dawson fends it off with branches and climbs higher. Slightly deterred, it turns and charges Lola on the ground, revealing it is just as fast running as it is flying. A single swipe from its clawed wing injures Lola's left arm as she falls to the ground. The wolves advance, the two on the right side of the clearing taking refuge behind the right-center tree. One of the back-left wolves moves and follows the beast into the center of the clearing, just past Dawson's tree.
Baron, furious at being held back before, now charges the monster and lands a direct hit with his saber to its chest. However, it is unfazed. Lola gets back up, rolling away from the beast towards Magnus by the rock and fires, grazing its shoulder. It follows her and tries to bite her head off; it misses but still manages to damage her head.
Wolfwood during this engagement has been prepping his artillery cannon yet again, and now that its ready, fires a shot at the two wolves by the right-center tree. The shot blows through the tree trunk and right into the two wolves, instantly killing them. However, the shock wave blows a wave of debris back at the party, and launches Wolfwood and Baron into the air, landing them near the edge of the clearing where the party entered. The party watches as the tree, no longer with a trunk, falls, smashing the hapless center wolf and killing it.
Magnus, using the rock as a shield from the blast debris, manages to climb the formation. With a height advantage over the beast, he chambers another electric round and fires right at the monster's chest. The angled shot does a lot of damage and throws the beast back some, but before Magnus can cheer, he realizes with shock that his round discharged prematurely, and he now is also suffering from a stun effect. Lola immediately steps in, and fires point blank at the monster's chest, blowing a hole through the damaged area that Magnus just created. The beast whimpers and falls to the ground, dead. The remaining wolves bolt, leaving the party alone with the beast's corpse.
Lola moves to help Baron and Wolfwood, who are still recovering from the explosion. Magnus is able to eventually shake off the stun effect and climbs back down. He tries examining the beast's body but only finds blood and gore. They help Dawson, who is incredibly thankful, out of the tree. As thanks, he gives all pistol wielders 6 of what he calls "Deadman's Bullets". As the party makes to head down the far path to look for the twins, they are happy to see them run up, fearless now that the real monsters are gone. Bandaging their wounds, the party heads back to camp.
Thinking back on their discovery in the church wagon and their recent battles, the party surmises that the monster was in fact a winged wendigo. A wendigo, according to legend, is a wicked human being who resorts to cannibalism to survive in the mountain wilderness. The person's evil acts draw evil spirits, known as manitous, possessing the hapless individual and starting a hideous transformation. The choir of Lost Angels had either managed to find it and capture it while moving through the Rockies or were transporting it through the Rockies,for some unknown reason. It's possible they thought they could save the tortured beast or were intent on experimenting on it. The smaller cages most likely contained the strangely clothed wolves. The wendigo was able to overpower its captors, break free of its cage, and free its encaged companions, turning on the choir in a rage. As for the rise of the dead Lost Angels, it's possible some of the evil spirits possessing the wendigo re-animated the corpses for their own foul purpose. Either way, the evil has now been purged from the Rockies and the party can, hopefully, rest easy.
The train passengers and the Lost Angels are thrilled that the children are unharmed, and the Wilsons gratefully hand over the paltry fee of $20, which Magnus divies up among the party. As the party begins to relate their tale, the neighing of a horse diverts the group's attention. At the edge the gorge stand three armed men, each riding a horse. The glint from their badges relieves the sudden tension as the group realizes these are lawmen from Boulder. The men reveal that they were sent out to find any survivors from the train accident further in the hills. Thankful for rescue, the party packs up and follows the lawmen as they lead them out of the Rockies. By evening the next day, the group walks into Boulder, Colorado, free from the wilds of the wilderness that had plagued them.
Gizelle and Sanders, both still ill, are taken to the nearest inn for care. Thornton and his group of Lost Angels are immensely thankful to both the Boulder lawmen and the party and say their goodbyes. The train passengers filter into town, each going their own way, while the party tries to decide what to do. Magnus heads to the nearest blacksmith, eager to fuse his two shotguns into one, triple-barrel shotgun, his latest invention idea.
Back on the main drag, as Baron, Wolfwood, and Lola make their way to the nearest saloon, Baron and Wolfwood begin to bicker once more about their morals and, before long, Baron challenges Wolfwood to a duel. Wolfwood is reluctant but will not back down. Baron refuses to overcome Wolfwood with superior shooting ability and so instead attacks with his saber. Magnus walks on the scene at this point and offers to place a wager with Lola on the victor (Magnus favors Baron). Lola kindly declines. Baron quickly bests Wolfwood, nicking him in both arms before disarming him. Wolfwood surrenders and is forced to both apologize and give the remainder of his pistol ammo to Baron. Magnus and Lola simply shake their heads. Baron heads to a bar to simmer down, while Magnus heads to the general store and picks up some more methane for his flamethrower, as well as a couple boxes of buckshot. The manager, not very interested in the small necklace Magnus found, recommends a Mr. Percival Van Reuken, who is apparently an antiques dealer in town.
Baron, sampling the finer qualities of his own personal opium stash, notices Magnus come into the bar in his search of Van Reuken. He is not a hard man to find; dressed in an expensive suit, he is pale and thin with a shock of red hair. His hands are thin and spider-like and he obsessively plays with a deck of cards while examining Magnus's trinket. He reveals that the trinket is Native American in origin and is often used in various spiritual ceremonies. Magnus wonders if the necklace has anything to do with the fact that the wolves the party encountered, and one of which was wearing the necklace, were clothed. When Van Reuken offers a paltry $25, Magnus declines and keeps his trinket.
Van Reuken, a friendly man, continues to talk with Magnus and reveals he is out in the Rockies looking for a thief who stole part of an antique map from him a while back. As it turns out, Van Reuken is a member of the Lady Luck Society, a group of proficient gamblers. Van Reuken makes a profit from locating valuable antiques and selling them back to his gambling compatriots. A while ago, he found what he thought was an old treasure map for a region near Dodge City, Kansas, but before he could verify it, half of the map was stolen by a thief by the name of Dawson, who was last rumored to be traveling in the area. Recognizing the name and the man, Magnus excuses himself and approaches Baron, revealing that the map Dawson gave him may be of use after all. Hearing the proposition, Baron agrees and Van Reuken agrees to hire the party as body guards for the duration of their treasure-seeking expedition. He willingly pays for their dinner and puts them up for the night, eager to start out the next day."
To be continued......
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