AN: i just wanted to thank everyone that PM'd me and reviewed. it was nice to see a bunch of you are reading this story. it is the most fun i've had writing in a while. the game aspect of it all is what really makes it fun. i make a story, my players play through it, and i get to put some of the fun we have at each game session into each chapter. this story is still under performing compared to the rest of my Harry Steel stuff and i do want to close the loop on Investigator at some point. the thing is i've run out of ideas for that story line. so if your a fan of that story and you have any ideas where it should go don't hesitate to PM me. even if it's to just suggest a action beat or a mission to add. it can be anything but lets try to keep it on earth and not too out there. no Star Wars or Transformers. aside from that if you got something hit me up. i will also be putting up a temp chapter on that story with the same request.
Now to answer some world questions i got.
1) The Civil war is over. the Civil war in my weird west universe ended about the same time as the real Civil War. 1861-1865.
2) Lincoln freed the slaves and slavery is outlawed. there are many different races out west and with the rift openings out west people are less racist then they are in the east. when you see the horrors they have seen fighting over skin color really seems petty. as for why we haven't seen many other characters besides white folks, that's mostly because white folks still run things and the group mostly deal with the people in charge.
3) the rift opened right around the same time as the end of the civil war. 1864ish. it took almost twenty years to close all the rifts in 1883. it's 1885 in the story.
4) the population of the US in 1885 was about 55 million people in our time. the things that came out of the rift killed about half the population. everyone still alive lives in big walled off cities under wards to hide from the magical creatures that came out of the rifts.
5) the reason this story is full of gun descriptions and action is because 3/4 my group are a bunch of "Murder Hobos" that start to tune out if they're not folling dice and killing things. they practically live for the cool toys i can come up with for them.
6) as for why i go into a lot of detail in the story about all the gear is because i want to give people a better idea of how things look/what they have and how powerful or cool it is. with my players they get little cards with pictures and stats. that's hard to convey in the text. someone suggested i make a Pinterest page with all the guns and gear so they know what i'm talking about. i'm not much for the site but i will give it a shot.
7) i am open to Story ideas/game encounters from readers and fellow DMs. PM me with any ideas you have for encounters/plot points and i'll see if i can work them in.
A week later found Harry and Abby flying patrol over the roads to in Eureka county just outside Hamilton. It was the third week in November and the average temperature in the mountains of Nevada had dropped to upper 30's in the day and low teens at night. Alice had informed him with a smile that this was the coldest year she had ever seen in Eureka. The mining operation in both Eureka and Hamilton had slowed way down now for the safety of the workers. It had snowed overnight and there was a few inches of snow covering the ground.
"You know Harry, when I said I wanted to help, flying patrol in the cold was not what I had in mind." She said.
"You wanted to help, you're helping. Now keep your eyes open and your head on a swivel. We have a few things to look out for today. The Hamilton deputies said the Bank sent out a armored stagecoach to bring money and staff to the town. They wanted to open a small branch office in Hamilton to help the town keep track of it's funds. The stagecoach made it to Ely yesterday and hunkered down for the night because of the snow. They were supposed to head to Hamilton today. We have to watch out for them. They were already attacked on the road from West Wendam to Ely about 20 miles north of town by a gang of 6-10 bandits. I'm thinking another crew took over the hideout in the canyon. We have to check that out too. On top of all that a well armed scouting crew of ten headed off into the hills west of Ely yesterday and they never came back. They could have been taken down by goblins, bandits, undead, or we might run into any number of creatures today so look alive." Harry said.
"Right boss, it's just cold as shit today." She said pulling her wolf fur hat down over her ears tighter.
"At least the sun is out today. It was so overcast yesterday you could hardly see. We're getting close to where the surveying crew went missing." Harry said slowing way down and pulling out a set of small magical binoculars.
"See anything?" She asked scanning the area with her eyes.
"I see our stagecoach. They are just departing Ely's main gate. Let's fly down to introduce ourselves. We'll fly escort for them." Harry said putting away his binoculars. As soon as they started heading towards the red stagecoach they started hearing gunshots. They put on the gas and dropped down at them. As soon as they got closer they saw what they were shooting at. The stagecoach was at full speed as six big cave trolls hurled big rocks at them from a rocky cliff side hill.
"Fuck." Abby said as they got closer.
"We need to get their attention. I think the 45-70 rounds will penetrate if not we need to use the big gun. We really need something in the middle." Harry said pulling out his winchester. Abby followed his lead and they both started shooting at the trolls but the bullets bounced off the thick hide.
"It's not working Harry!" Abby called out as the trolls turned on them and started lobing rocks at them.
"Switch to the nitro rifle I made you and watch out for the kick. You are going to go flying back. Make sure the rifle is seated in your shoulder." Harry said ditching his winchester into his bag as he dodged rocks and pulled out his 500 nitro express rifle. He sighted in on the bigger one in the middle and blasted a foot wide hole in his chest. He flew back six feet. He got a second one before he had to dive out of the air to catch Abby who was thrown from her broom when she took her shot. Harry grabbed her as the last three trolls fled back into the small stand of trees between the two hills. He grabbed her by the arm until she could hop back onto her broom.
"Damn this rifle's got a kick." she said.
"I told you. Now hang back and go look after the stagecoach. I'll go take out the rest and meet back up with you." Harry said.
"I can help with the trolls." Abby said summoning the niro rifle where she dropped it.
"You'll help more by making sure the stagecoach makes it to Hamilton. Now go before they run into more trouble. And make sure you announce yourself." Harry said before flying off into the woods.
As he went he reloaded his rifle with two more big brass bullets. He found the three trolls hoarding around the mouth of a cave. Harry flew to a nearby tree and landed. He braced himself against the tree trunk and took aim. He blasted two of the trolls and the last one turned and looked right at him. Harry hurriedly broke the gun open ejecting the two spent shells, tossed a fresh round into the gun, and got it up just as the troll started to charge. He blasted the troll's head clean off it's shoulders and the body fell right at the base of the tree.
Harry hopped onto his broom and flew up. He scanned the area for anymore trolls as he reloaded. He found nothing more so he dropped down and checked the troll camp. It was a disgusting mess with piles of troll shit everywhere. He found a pile of trinkets from the humans they ate. Among the clothes and junk were broken guns and blades, a few coins, and a trunk with surveying and coring equipment. It was easy to see what happened to the surveying crew that was lost. Harry repaired the guns and things with a few spells before he boxed it up and headed back to the road. He found Abby flying a few hundred feet above the road twenty miles away. She was following the stagecoach and scanning for threats. He flew up next to her and saw the angry look on her face.
"Did they run into anything else?" Harry asked.
"No Sir." She said in a clipped tone.
"Is this some kind of roleplay game? If it is I'm kind of into it. It's a total power trip for me to be called sir like that. yeah , I'm kind of into it. If it not some kind of game then I'm lost as to why I'm in the dog house." Harry said.
"I could have helped you take out the trolls. I'm not useless." She practically yelled in a frustrated tone.
"I agree. You could have helped. If the recoil of the gun didn't throw you twice as far as it did me seeing as you're half my size. We really need to fix that by the way. The recoil not the size. I don't think you want to be 200 pounds." Harry said with a smirk.
"It's not funny!" she said but there was a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.
"No it is. You're mad because the only rifle strong enough to kill a troll was the 500 express. It kicks so hard it threw you off the broom. We kill three of the six trolls with you taking down one of them. By the way, that was a good shot. Center mass, right in the heart. But at the time I gave the fall back and defend order the other three trolls were on the run. At that point there were two missions. One was to kill the trolls the other was to protect the stagecoach. You were more suited to the second task. So I called the play and you followed. If you think it was an easier job than to hunt down the troll then you were right. This time at least. But it could have been worse. You could have run into an army of undead, a massive spider, a king snake, or another troll. As it is we have to make sure we don't run into any more trouble. Then we have to check on those bandits and tell Ely they're down a surveying crew." Harry said.
"You found the surveying crew?" Abby asked.
"I found their things and clothes. They were most likely last night's dinner for those trolls. We might have to supervise a surveying crew later. You wanted to join us in the shit, you picked a good day. Lot of action. Fucking zombies." Harry said diving out of the sky with his Lemat revolver in his hand. As she followed him she saw what he did. Ten zombies. Most of them had guns in hand and they were taking shots at the stagecoach. Harry dropped down and blasted them with his revolver. He got most of them before she got there and she took out the last three.
"Where do these things keep coming from?" She asked.
"Alice thinks it's a rift curse. If you die, you turn and there are a ton of ways to die out here. It's why they decapitated the bodies as soon as someone dies and why they burn their dead. But these free romers come from poor unfortunate souls that die out here in the wild. Every month Ely sees a few hundred people come through town. The same with West Wendem and Eureka. There are a half dozen small towns between salt Lake city and San Francisco. But if you don't make it to a town? Between the big spiders, wolves, coyotes, and the small deadly spiders, and snakes, not to mention the bandits and the desert itself you're fucked if you can't get to a town before night fall." Harry said as he summoned the guns and gun belts off the dead as well as anything valuable they had and hitting the dead zombies with a flame spell before they took off and headed down the road to watch the stagecoach.
It took another half hour to get to Hamilton. They waited until the stagecoach got through the main gate before they landed next to it. They greeted the driver and the four guards as well as the two bankers. Both men looked well put together and ready for a fight just like the guards. They were wearing long leather coats, heavy black canvas pants and vests. Both men had double gun belts with schofields, a double barrel shotgun and two bandoleers of brass shells across their chests. One of the men pulled a wand from his jacket and floated a heavy plate steel box out of the stagecoach. The box was one foot long, three foot wide, and one foot tall. There was something on the front of the box but Harry couldn't make it out. He floated the box next to the town hall and set it on the ground. He then hit it with and expansion charm and it grew to ten times it's size. It became a ten foot tall ten foot long and thirty foot wide heavy plate steel building with a heavy vault style door. In fact that was the only door Harry walked in and saw a second door. This one was a classic wood door with the Wells Fargo name plate. Beyond that was a small bank with a teller cage. Behind the cage was a bigger vault door and a door to what Harry assumed was their living quarters. They grabbed a few bags out of the stagecoach and the driver and two guards prepped for the return trip.
"You know boys I could get you back to Salt Lake City in a matter of seconds right? In fact I could have gotten the bankers and the bank here without you folks needing to go through the hassle of the trip?" Harry said.
"How are we going to do that?" One of the drivers asked.
"Magic. If you trust me I can do this now. We need to separate the horses from the stagecoach.
It took a few minutes but Harry stunned the horses, turned them into coins, shrank the stagecoach, and portkeyed them all to the marshal's station in Salt Lake city. The men were very disoriented when they landed. Harry helped them reattach the the horses and they were on their way.
Harry and Abby portkeyed to Ely after that and Harry had to break the news to the head of mining operations that the crew was dead. Harry had him gather up a new crew to head out when they got back before they headed out on brooms north of town looking for the bandits. It took a few minutes but they did find them hiding in a small cave between rock formations. Harry spied on them from under his cloak and met Abby around the corner.
"There are six of them. They are sitting around a campfire and they have a pile of loot they took from people they ambushed on the road. This is the first humans you've ever faced, if you want to hang back it's alright with me. There's no reason you have to kill anyone." Harry said drawing his two Lemat revolvers.
"No, I'm in all the way." She said pulling her two Lemats.
"Well still hang back a bit, you're first gun fight is going to be crazy and I don't want you shooting me. Stay behind me and when I pop out roll around the corner and get one or two of them." Harry said before he hugged the wall and walked a few feet to the edge of the rock wall. He held up his pinky, ring, and middle fingers and counted down before he rolled around the corner and shot all six men before Abby could get a shot off.
"No fare." She said.
"Be faster. Check the loot and see what they took, I'm going to check to make sure they're dead." Harry said going around kicking the dead men in the kidneys.
"Harry, why are you doing that?" She asked watching him. She got her answer when the guy he kicked jerked, tried to roll over and pull out his gun. Harry shot him in the back and the man groaned as he died.
"That's why. You shoot a man in the chest and sometimes he goes down. You hit the heart in the right place to cause massive internal bleeding. Sometimes you get them low, high, a little left or right and the fuckers try to take you with them. Normally I go for headshots, but when you're shooting at six men you take what you get." Harry said finishing his way around to the last man he kicked him and he groaned. Harry shot him in the back and he laid out flater. "4 of 6, not bad." Harry said summoning the gun belts and guns off their dead bodies.
"Harry, these bags and this trunk are not full of loot. These bags have food. Canned goods, salted meats, bottles of beer, and canteens full of water. The trunk has money, a big wad of bills and a bag of gold coins. But it also has winter clothes, furs, leathers, these are people's things Harry. And look at the horses. These are all different breeds and sizes, and most of these don't have saddles. Like they were attached to carts." She said putting it all together.
Harry knew though. He put it together already. It was why he knew these were the men they were looking for. He just wanted her to realize it too. Just like he left two of the men alive so he could execute them in front of her. It was a test to see how she dealt with the situation. How much it bothered her. It didn't bother Harry. He had very little in the way of morales. He had a code he lived by. He would never kill an innocent man. But a man that prayed on the week? Endangered the lives of others, especially children? Their lives were forfeit.
These men were small time. If left unchecked, they might have been taken out by the desert. They might have taken out so many innocent people that a bounty would be placed on their heads and men like him would come looking for them. They might have gotten the gang and the reward money. Or they too might have ended up dead at the hands of these six men. The way Harry saw it, these men fucked with innocent people and they were already dead. Someone was carrying a bullet for them. I might have been Harry, it might have been someone else. He could have waited a few weeks. In that time they might have had a reward on their heads. But that would have cost innocent lives. So he would take the money, coins, food, furs, leather goods and the horses. He would sell it off and pocket the money. That was his reward for doing the job before it became a job in the first place. One would think spending the money of dead people would weigh on him. But the truth was it represented the lives he saved.
"Box it up, while I stun and transfigure the horses for transport." Harry said turning the men into coins and moving to the horses.
"This is a small fur hat Harry, too small for me and I have a small head. This hat belongs to a child Harry." She said holding the hat in her hands and looking haunted.
"I know, box it up and let's go." Harry said stunning the horses.
"What do you mean you know? How did you know? I found the hat Harry, I found children's clothes. How did you know?" She asked.
"It was in the report." Harry said softly. "The stagecoach wasn't the only thing they attacked. This group must have set up camp here in the last few days. There was a small wagon train that went missing. They left West Wendam three days ago headed for Ely. They never made it. Two wagons and a cart. Twelve adults, three children. Ages 8, 5, and 2. It was two families. They were headed to San Francisco from Denver. They made it to West Wendam and died on the road to Ely. They fell to bandits on the roads." Harry said in a soft distant voice.
"And they're dead? How do you know for sure Harry? Maybe the children are still alive!" She said looking desperate for hope as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I did a scan of the area. I have been since we've been out here. There have been no living being outside of us besides these six. It's how I found these assholes. The only thing I can do now is hope they died by a bullet, that it was quick. I hope they didn't get eaten by anything. Life out here is cruel Abby. You ride with us and you see the very worst of it. This was a good day in my book. We helped the stagecoach get to Hamilton, we killed six cave trolls that made a meal out of the poor surveying crew last night. we found this group of bandits before they could kill any more people. And we're going to protect the next surveying crew as they do their job. By my count we saved eight people's lives today and we got justice for twentyfive more. We also made the roads safer for the poor bastard that can't afford a ticket on an airship." Harry said looking sorry.
"THat's so cold Harry!" She said losing her composure and sobbing. Harry held her to his chest as she cried.
"Abby I didn't plan this day out. This was Tuesday for me. It's why me and Neville take turns patrolling the roads. It's hard to see this shit everyday. That's why he gets to make a shopping trip to Salt Lake city. Remember last week when we went to the big city to do some shopping? That was fun right? That same day Neville got a distress call from Hamilton. Someone sent up a flare spell on the road. It was too far to see what it was. They called Neville and he flew over to check it out. It was a wagon train of 6 wagon and 5 carts. 67 people overrun by a pack of 9 big fucking wolves. They tore apart half the people in the three minutes it took to call for Neville. They went for the women and children first. Neville had to deal with that by himself that day. He escorted those folks to Eureka. They regrouped and headed out in the morning with 4 wagons and 3 carts. By the time they make it to the west coast they might only need one wagon." Harry said.
"This place is terrible." She said into his chest.
"Is it? Or is this just shitty in this one way? The world we came from had plenty of shitty places. And this is only slightly more shitty then it already was. You've played the oregon trial right? Did you ever make it? You studied history, the west is a dangerous fucking place. It makes or breaks you. Now why don't we head back to Eureka. We'll sell these horses and hand the dead bodies off to the marshal. Com on, it's almost lunch time. We'll get some hot food in you. Warm you up. It's cold out here." Harry said rubbing her back and kissing her on the side of her face.
"Yeah, some hot coffee sounds good right about now." She said pulling back and wiping her face.
They flew back to town and sold the 9 horses for $450. Harry ran into the marshal's office and put the dead bodies in a cart on the side of the office after taking off the heads. They headed into the cube and found Hermione working on a potion in a huge 150 gallon cauldron on the kitchen floor.
"You two are just in time for lunch." Hermione said with a smile.
"You cooked?" Harry asked eyeing the caldron.
"No, that's what you came back to do. Get on it, I have a taste for soup. Something warm and hearty. Like that loaded potato soup you made for the tailgate party we went to last year." She said working on her potion.
"Yes Ma'am, coming right up Ma'am." Harry said taking off his hat and guns.
"Don't sas me boy, get to work." She said with a smirk.
"What are you making? It smells like cinnamon and turpentine." Harry said pulling out his small stock pot.
"It's Pepper up. I'm making a muggle friendly version. It's cold and flu season and unlike 2016 the flu can kill you here. I'm brewing a big batch, this is enough for 3,750 doses, I'm going to bottle it up 10 doses to a bottle and hand it off to the general stores in Hamilton, Ely, and here in town. We almost had one death from the flu this year and more folks are getting sicker by the day. We need to nip this in the bud before we lose the whole town." She said.
"Good thinking. Does that stuff keep?" Harry asked.
"This kind does. It has a shelf life of three years. Don't worry this is not the only potion batch I'm making. This big cauldron full of potion cost about $65 to make. And that includes $50 for 500 ten ounce glass medicine bottles and corks that Neville just bought. You know I miss the days where you could just pick up the phone and have ten cases of lab grade glass test tubes with rubber gasket plastic screw caps delivered to your door. That's the way to store potions. That way we could water them down by half to dull the taste and make it go down easier. Dosage is easier too. You just take one test tube of potion. No muss, no fuss. As it is now we need to add shot glasses with a line so people know how much to take." Hermione complained as she worked.
"You do know we can make those right? The goblin charm can turn sand into glass. We don't have plastic but we do have aluminum and copper. I could make 5,000 flat bottomed test tubes with aluminum caps with a wave on my wand, it will probably be last thing I do today but I can do it." Harry said chopping ingredients for his soup as Abby made herself a cup of coffee from the french press.
"You think you can do it? It would be a lot easier. I like handing out potions in single servings. It take the guess work out of it." Hermione said.
"Sure. I'll do it when I come back from Ely this afternoon." Harry said as someone knocked on the front door. "Abby can you get that?" He asked.
"Sure." She said walking away. She came back a few minutes later with a sick looking Smith.
"My god man what happened?" Harry asked.
"I caught a cold. I've been sick for the last two days. I thought magicals weren't supposed to get sick?" He said with a sad smile.
"They're not, it takes a good strong flu to put us down which is what you have. You should be laying in bed under heavy blankets with a good fire going. I'm making Pepper up as we speak." Hermione said running scans on him.
"That's what I've been doing. I only came by because I managed to finish the next ten boxes of .38xl I owe you. Now I'm headed back to bed." Smith said setting a bag down on the table and pulling his heavy wool coat around him tighter as he turned to head out the door.
"Well now that you made the trek here you might as well stay for lunch. That potion should be ready in about ten minute. Go sit in my study. There's a fireplace in there. Add a few pucks and light it with a spell. And here take this with you." Harry said handing the man a mug of hot tea with a splash of brandy and honey in it. "It will warm you up." Harry said patting the tall thin man on the back as he walked out of the kitchen holding the warm cup and shivering.
"Come on beanpole I'll keep you company. We can raid Harry's firewhiskey stash." Abby said leading him out of the kitchen.
"Cold and flu season. It's a killer." Hermione said shaking her head.
They had lunch of soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. Just as they were finishing up lunch Neville came in. Harry set a plate in front of his brother before pulling on his gear and heading out with Abby following him. They flew to Ely and lead the surveying crew into the hills. They circled over head and kept a lookout as the team took core samples and elevation measurements. It took an hour all together and by half past two they were flying back home. Before landing Harry made a big sack and summoned sand into the bag. He repeated this process 10 times.
He didn't know how much sand it took to make glass but he made sure he had enough. He walked into his study with a 25 pound bar of aluminum and dumped out the 10 big bags of sand on the floor in a big pile. He studied the test tube he had in his med kit. It was a 70ml test tube with a flat bottom. He concentrated on the spell and the sand. He cast the spell and the sand floated up in the air. It turned white hot and when he waved his wand at the floor his study floor was covered in test tubes. He made 10 cardboard boxes with cardboard dividers. Each box held 150 test tubes. He used the pack spell and filled the boxes and there was still a big pile of glass on his floor. He made a few boxes to store the test tubes on their sides and packed the rest in those boxes. All together he had about 6,000 test tubes. He looked at the 25 pound bar of aluminum and cast the spell again this time it worked much easier. He had a big cardboard box full of loose caps. He floated it all out to the dining room where Hermione had the cauldron of potion and lab equipment. Harry set the boxes down and joined the assembly line. Hermione added the red potion to a rack of test tubes. Abby added water with a spell, Neville screwed on the caps, and Harry put them back into a box. It took them an hour to fill 3,748 test tubes. Neville flew the cases to Ely and Hamilton as Harry laid in front of the tv and passed out. An hour later Abby came by and dragged him off to bed.
The next day Harry and Abby headed off to Salt Lake City to get the mail. Harry had a message waiting for him from marshal Copeland. He knocked, came in, shut the door behind him, and took a seat. The whole time he was doing this the old marshal was giving him an odd look.
"What can I do for you marshal?" Harry said.
"You can do the job I paid you for." He said.
"WHat now?" Harry asked looking shocked.
"You heard me. I gave you a job last week. You took the coin, and I expected it to be done." The older man said looking none too pleased.
"I did do the job. I killed them all. Didn't disturb the guards or make a sound but they were as dead as dead could be when I left that house." Harry said.
"Then why are they still walking around?" The marshal asked.
"How? I personally put a fucking silver bullet through each of their heads. I rescued four saloon girls from a cage in the bassment. You can question them." Harry said looking shocked.
"Where you sure you got them? There can be no question they were dead." Copeland said sitting up in his desk.
"Marshal, if I'm sent to kill a man, the man fucking dies. They were were fucking dead. I used magical silver dust rounds. I literally put a one inch hole in their heads with a bullet that tore up their brains and exploded silver dust into their bloodstreams. They fucking died." Harry said.
"Fuck. Then I have no idea what the fuck's going on because the sheriff's deputies that are loyal to me said the guards are still on patrol around the house. They have seen them inside the house. They brought girls and boys for them to eat and fuck. They are still alive." Copeland said.
"Have they physically seen them walking around? Are they undead? You know as well I do that if left unattended bodies tend to get back up and walk around. But that can't happen. As I say it out loud I know it's not the case. I blew their head open for a reason. So it's something else. What I can tell you is this. You hired me to do a job, the job's not done yet. That means I got work to do. When it's done I'll come talk to you. Tell you what went wrong." Harry said.
"Harry, I don't know what's going on. I can't be connected to this, but if something really fucked is going on. Something really bad, then whatever it takes you get back to me and you tell me. I'll gather the whole team and we'll attack it together. And Harry, I'm sorry about that shit I said earlier. I picked you for the job because I know you can handle some bad shit. When you left here that day I knew the issue would be resolved. When I got word it wasn't I knew something was up. For a second there I thought that maybe you died. When word got back to me that you were still drawing breath I knew that wasn't the case. And if you weren't dead, then I thought that meant you pocketed the money and walked. I hoped that wasn't the case but it was the best answer I had. But even in my anger a part of me said that everything you showed me since you got here pointed to you being an upstanding guy. A man I could count on. I'm just happy to be proved wrong and right at the same time. I don't know what's going on and I can't warn you about what you're walking into. I would never ask you to keep going but you're the best man for the job. The only man I can think of for the job." Marshal Copeland said looking tired.
"Try not to worry marshal, I've walked into worse with less heads up, and with half the help I have on hand. I'll take care of it. Like I said, you paid me for a job, and I'm going to finish it. I killed 20 people in that house last week. Maybe this time it will take." Harry said standing up and walking out of the office. He walked over to Abby and looked at her with a calculating look. It was like he was doing mental math in his head.
"Can I help you with something Harry or you just gonna stare at me like a long division problem?" She asked letting her Texas drawl out. Harry smiled. He loved her Texas twang. She only used it when she was pissed, or she was getting there. Most of the time her accent was soft Bostan mixed with upper crust Northeast. But when she was pissed she became a true daughter of the great state of Texas. She didn't know it but she helped him make up his mind with her comment.
"I need you to do me a favor. Head back to Eureka, get Neville. He should just be heading out. If he's on patrol call him back to the cube. I need you to grab the ammo can marked silver Op. Mags and bring it and Neville back here. I'll meet you at Jimmy's place. Can you handle that?" Harry asked.
"I can. You need anything else from the house?" She asked in a serious tone. Once she saw he was letting her in she was on board fully.
"Yes, grab my spare invisibility cloak and my second mission bag from my closet. You're going to need it. Today might get crazy like yesterday. You up for some possibly fucked up shit?" Harry asked.
"I am." She said with a small nod.
"Look Abs, no bullshit, this could get really bad, if at any time I tell you to fall back, or portkey out, or any command like that I need to know you'll follow orders." Harry said.
"You don't think I can handle it?" She asked looking mildly hurt.
"No, but your job today is back up, if I tell you to fall back it's because things have gone tits up and you need to run, trust me I'll be running right next to you. If I tell you to portkey out it's because we all might die and I need someone to get the marshal and tell them what happened to us and where they can find our bodies. We have emergency portkeys but they might not work." Harry said.
"I understand." She said looking slightly shocked by his words.
"Good now go. I'm going to scout ahead." Harry said.
He waited until she portkeyed out before walking out of the office. He slipped around the building, pulled on his cloak and popped to the alley behind the house. He set up the ward gateway and walked up to the back door. No one was there. He walked around the house casting the spell and like before the first floor was empty. He cast the scanning spell on the house and found six people in the house. All of them felt like they were in the basement. He came around to the front of the house and saw five deputies guarding the front door and the street. That was three more than last time. He popped to the ally behind Jimmy's and walked around to the front where he waited for Abby and Neville to show up. As he waited he watched the house. It looked dead. The same as it did before and after he visited last time. But somehow, it felt darker. He was loading up for werewolf, but he knew they would find something worse then wolf in that house. Harry watched as Neville and Abby rode up to Jimmy's. He intercepted them as they were about to walk in and lead them to the alley behind the restaurant.
"Did you get the bag and the can?" He asked dropping his hood and casting privacy spells around them.
"I did. What's going on Harry?" Abby asked handing him the ammo can.
"Last week, marshal Copland gave me intel on the pack of werewolves that have been attacking the towns on the full moon. The alpha of the pack was the mayor's son. He and his buddies were hold up in the house across the street. The sheriff's deputies were guarding the house and providing booze, food, and girls for them. The pack was 20 strong. Last week while you had your sandwich I snuck into the house and killed them all. I freed the four girls they had in a cage in the basement and that was the end of it. Until the marshal got reports that the pack is not dead. There is movement inside the house. They had a shopping list of supplies delivered, and they got working girls and boys for them. Now either there are 20 undead in there, or something's wrong. I can tell you this now, the dark magic is pouring off that house. Now I doubt we're going to run into werewolves but these silver rounds kill anyone. Abby in the bag is an MP5K with a 300 round magazine full of magical hollow points. There is also a .300 win mag rifle, two Sig226's, a Remington 870 shotgun with a 60 rounds of buck and ball, and a fully automatic custom M4 with magpul furniture and 300 round magazine. There are 5 expanded magazines for each gun in the bag along with 10 frag grenades, 10 flash bangs, and a 20 inch razor sharp machete. Use whatever you're comfortable with. Take three of these mags, load one into one of the 226's and keep that gun on you." Harry said slinging his MP5K on under his coat and his M4 over his coat before he handed out extra mags with silver rounds. He pulled his Sig and changed the mag.
"Understood. If were clearing a house them I'm going to go with the MP5K." She said slinging the gun over her shoulder and pulling coat back on. She took a sig226 out of the bag, changed the magazine, and tucked the gun into her pants. Neville went with the same setup as Harry.
"Alright, let's roll." Harry said flipping up his hood and vanishing. The other two followed his lead and Harry walked them across the street.
Harry took them through the ward gate and vanished the back door. He walked in and scanned the house with his magic and his eyes. Nothing. He lead the group through the first floor and they found nothing. Even the blood had been cleaned from the parlor wall and couch. He checked the second floor and that's where they ran into signs of life. In the first bedroom on the left they found one of the werewolves he killed the week before shackled to the bed. He was undead, but unlike the zombies they were used to this one didn't look like he had much decay about him. For a week old corpse he didn't look too bad. He had a big scar on his forehead and he looked lost. Like he was brain damaged. On his chest were runes carved into his his flesh and the dark magic surrounding him was palpable. Harry shot him in the head and Abby took a look at the runes.
"This looks like necromancy." she said.
"Well I'm not leaving these guys around to be brought back again." Harry said turning the body into a coin and putting it in his pocket.
They found three more men with the same runes and undead but brain dead look in their eyes. On the next floor they found six more undead but these were up and walking around. They cleared them out with a few head shots and Harry made them coins. They headed into the basement and Harry noticed the difference instantly. There was a metal operating table in the room where a woman in her late forties and a man in his twenties were working on another dead werewolf. Both of them were wearing nicer clothing, white lab coats, and leather aprons. There was a rack of dead werewolves off to the side and there were four young men in the cage under some sort of sleep spell. Harry stunned the two and shot the man they were working on in the head. He made sure all the rest of the werewolves were dead. He turned them into coins and conjured two chairs. Neville helped his set the two would be Dr. Frankensteins in the chars. He tied them up and took off his cloak. He cast privacy spells around the room before he reached back and smacked the woman hard enough to wake her up.
"What's going on!? Do you have any idea who I am? I'm Constance Collinsworth!" She said looking indignant. Harry's next slap knocked that look off her face.
"Am I supposed to know your name?" Harry asked.
"I am the sister of the Mayor! You will untie me at once! I am a lady of high standing and you will not touch me..." She said before Harry smacked her again.
"First of all 'lady', don't take that tone with me. Second of all I killed all these werewolves last week and I come back to find you bringing them back from the dead. I don't appreciate the fact that you made me do the job twice. Now you will talk, and keep talking until I think you told me everything I want to know. If you stop talking, or I think you're jerking me around I'm going to hurt you, and I'm not talking about slaps." Harry said pulling out his knife out.
"When my brother hears abou...AWWW!" was as far as she got before Harry slammed the knife into her shoulder joint.
"You will tell me what you're doing, how you're doing it, and who knows you're doing it." Harry said in a cold tone.
"I'm using a life tap ritual to bring my nephew and his friends back to life after you killed them you evil pric...AWW!" Harry twisted the knife and separated her rotator cuff.
"How and who, skip the bullshit threats." Harry said looking bored.
"The life tap requires a sacrifice. I'm stealing the souls out of these street walkers and peasants to power the ritual. As for who knows I'm doing it, my brother and sister in law their advisor of magic, the Sheriff and half his deputies." She said.
"Right, you're under arrest for the murder of all these people you used in your ritual. And for practicing dark magic. And if those two things are not laws then I'll fucking put a bullet in your head. The same for the Mayor, his wife, and the fucking sheriff." Harry said.
"Good luck with that. My brother owns every judge in the city, and half the judges in the state. You'll never get a conviction. You're fucked. You take this to a judge and they'll toss your ass in the slammer for false accusation, and assaulting a member of the Mayor's family." She said laughing.
"That's funny, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. Now who's your friend here and what's through that door it's got magic pouring off it." Harry asked.
"That's my apprentice. Through that door is the access tunnel to the Mayor's castle." She said with a smirk.
"Right let's try this again," Harry said twisting the knife and seperating the ball and socket joint until it popped causing her to scream. "Now what's in the fucking tunnel?" Harry asked.
"Undead, hundreds of undead guards. They protect the castle." She moaned.
"Is there anything else you can tell me? Anything at all? If I run into something and you didn't warn me I'll come back and finish what I started. I'm not fucking with you bitch." Harry said getting closer to her.
"No, that's everything I know. But you'll never get away with this. You'll hang for this!" She laughing at him as he backed up.
"You're right. Corrupt politically powerful people never get what's coming to them. But that's where I come in, I'm the legal grey area created to take care of people like you." Harry said pulling the knife out of her shoulder. He pulled his Sig226 out and put a round between her eyes.
"Harry how do you want to proceed here?" Neville asked.
"We do our job. Did you cast magic in the house? Anything with a wand?" Harry asked looking at Neville and Abby.
"No." Neville said shaking his head.
"No Harry. But what the fuck are we going to do? We can't kill the Mayor, his wife, and half the Sheriff's department!" She said looking freaked out.
"We don't have to kill off half the sheriff's department. We just have to drop the Sheriff. We didn't use our wands, it's impossible for these people to track our natural magical signature. We have guns that leave no trace. We're going to kill everyone on the list she just named, transfigure the bodies, and dump them in the desert for the spiders and coyotes to feast on. Or at least that's what I'm going to do. It's up to you two if you want to follow me or if you want to make an impromptu shopping trip in the city making sure to spend a lot of coin and be very visible so as to establish an alibi for where we were today." Harry said changing out the silver magazine for a regular expanded magazine full of magical hollow points.
"Well I'm with you until we get through the tunnel. I'll leave the stealth assassination to you brother. You're better at it then I am." Neville said copying him.
"Abs?" Harry asked summoning the coin purse and jewlery off Constance's body before transfiguring it into a coin and pocketing it. He shot her assistant in the head and took him too.
"I'll follow orders, what do you need me to do?" She asked changing out her mag.
"You got two options, start shopping now after you take these four out of here, or stick with Neville. It's up to you, either option will be helpful to the mission. Sticking with us will give us a backup gun, or going shopping now will further establish the alibi. There is no judgement or opinion on our parts. It's up to you." Harry said putting his hand on her shoulder.
"I think I'm going to stick around a bit. at least until we get into the tunnel a bit before I pop out. I also need cash. I'll take the coin purse you just stole." She said with a smirk.
"Good thinking. Here." Harry said handing her the small purse. Inside was a few hundred dollars in cash and coin.
"Okay, let's lock and load." Harry said transfiguring the four men into coins and handing them to Abby.
Harry stacked up on the side of the door. He waited for the other two followed his lead before he ripped the door off the wall with a spell. Inside was a store room with shelves of wine bottles, bags of grain, and strings of dried chillies and garlic. There was also a door to a tunnel that was left open and five zombies with cavalry saber in their hands waiting in the back of the the room by the door. Harry and Neville took them down with head shots so fast Abby barely got her gun up.
"You know you two are a real blow to my confidence." She said with a smirk as she followed them into the tunnel.
"Sorry, we'll let you shoot the next one." Harry quipped as he shrank the swords and put them in his bag.
Abby didn't have to wait long. There were five zombies waiting a hundred feet up the tunnel with swords. Harry tapped her and Abby saw them. She brought her gun up and dropped them with five quick head shots. Harry golf clapped before shrinking the blades and adding them to the bag. He had a feeling they were going to have a fuck ton of steel after today. It took an hour and a half to get to the other side of the tunnel. The tunnel had to be about 6 miles long. And they jogged most of it, only slowing down to shoot the zombies stationed every 150 feet up the tunnel. By the time the got to the door there were tired of killing the zombies. It got to a point that head shotting zombies and shrinking the swords was a grind. They had to have killed over a thousand of them. As they approached the door they could feel the wards of the castle above.
"This is where I leave you boys. I'm off to Dolores's shop in the magic district. I'll be that area for a while." She said.
"Good luck with that. Neville will be meeting you there in a few minutes." Harry said.
"I'm not the one that needs luck." She said pulling up the hood on the invisibility cloak before she vanished with a pop.
"So brother, once more into the breach?" Harry asked with a smirk as he pulled up his cloak hood.
Harry cast the one way charm on the door and they saw five more undead standing by the door. Like the rest they had swords in their hands. Harry vanished the door and they took them down with head shots before they could react. They found a hallway with two dozen doors. Harry cast the one way spell and fund a room full of undead. There had to be fifty of them in the 10x20 foot room. They were just standing there like they were waiting for orders. Like the rest most of the flesh was gone. These were long dead. They all had swords but some of them had revolvers in their hands. Around the room were crates and shelves full of things. Harry shared a look with his brother before he cast the one way charm on the door next to it and found the same thing.
"You know, this is getting ridiculous. I'm literally tired of killing these things." Harry said.
"It's a slog but if we leave these things unchecked then who knows what can happen." Neville said.
"True. I just wish we could light a stick of dynamite and toss it into the room. But the blast would alert the whole castle. It looks like we do this the hard way." Harry said pulling the half empty mag out of his gun and replacing it with a fresh one.
"The hard way it is." Neville said following his lead.
Harry opened the door, the wall sconces in the room lit and they took them down with head shots. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. They didn't move, they didn't blink, they just stood there waiting for them to blow them away. It was odd. Like they were in sleep mode and the door opening up was not the command to break them out of their slumber. Harry summoned the swords and the revolvers. They were old beat up colt navy cap and ball guns with cheap cartridge conversions kits chambered for the .38 long colt rounds from the colt lighting. Like the swords they were old civil war surplus guns that were beat to shit. Harry shrank them and tossed them into his bag before looking at the trunks and shelves. They were full of surplus .38 long colt ammo, guns, and swords.
"They got enough surplus down here to arm an army." Neville said shrinking a few crates of ammo.
"I think we should take all of this. This is too much hardware to leave down here. Shrink it all and take it back home with you. We'll talk it over with the marshal." Harry said shrinking the crates and handing them to him.
They moved on to the next room with a sigh. This was going to take a while. It took almost a half hour for the two of them to clean out the basement storage rooms full of undead. They figured out that the things just stood there so they started hacking the heads off with their machetes. They also shrank all the crates full surplus military hardware. But not all the crates were full of guns. Some of the crates had rough cast gold and silver bars. They left the food and wine but they took everything else. They made it to the stairs headed up to the castle and that was were they parted ways. Neville patted him on the back one last time before he jogged back to the tunnel and popped out. Harry checked the door and saw an empty hallway. He slipped through the door and made his way through the castle. Because the castle acted as the Mayor's office there were people walking around the castle going to meetings with members of the local government. To help facilitate this there were signs and arrows pointing to offices and there were name plates on each door.
He found the magical advisor to the mayor easy enough. He was in his office brewing a potion. Harry slipped into the room when his back was turned. He stunned him, tossed up a silencing charm, and tied him to a chair. He woke him up just long enough to make sure he was the Magical Advisor to the Mayor and to see if he was in on the undead plot, which he was. He stunned him again and turned him into a coin. He vanished the potion, took the very expensive looking potion's kit and the trunk of ingredient bottles. He searched the office for anything valuable and found a small sack of coins and cash in his desk and a gold engraved British Bulldog revolver with ivory grips. He also found a gun belt with a nicer colt navy cartridge revolver with gold engravings and ivory grips. He slipped out of the room and made his way upstairs to the residents.
He had to get by two guards, but they were sloppy in their stationing. He was able to slip past them because they left a gap. He looked around the second floor and found a few people but not the mayor or his wife. He moved up to the third floor and found the wife in a bedroom. Harry stunned her, transfigured her into a coin, and searched the room. He found a few small gold bars and jewelry in a box on her dresser. He also found a knife roll full of silver and gold daggers in a drawer by her bed along with a gold bulldog revolver and a box of .455 caliber cartridges.
He spent a few minutes looking around the bedrooms starting with the mayor's room next to his wife's room. He found a few more small gold bars and loose cash. He also found more guns and a pair of rapiers with silver handles and baskets with a ruby in the pummel. In the advisor's room he found a library full of old books. He packed them all in a trunk and put that in his bag along with a second trunk full of potions ingredients. In Cassandra's room he found more books along with three trunks full of gold and silver jewelry, teeth, pocket watches, and revolvers. Harry knew what these trunks were, he had a few like them, they were the belongings of dead men. Loot. Harry took the trunks. He found stationary in the room with the seal of the mayor and penned two quick notes. One was to the mayor from his sister telling him to meet her in the basement, the other one was to the sheriff calling him to the castle for an emergency meeting. He walked back downstairs and found an office worker. He put him under a confundus charm and had him dispatch a rider to the Sheriff's office to deliver the note before he had him head to the bathroom on the first floor off to the side by the basement door.
Harry waited for twenty minutes for the Sheriff to come down the stairs to the basement. He stunned him and transfigured him into a coin. He walked into the bathroom and found the office worker sitting on the toilet. He handed him the other note and ordered him to forget the last hour after the note was delivered. Harry again waited at the bottom of the staircase for the mayor who showed up with two sheriff's deputies. Harry stunned all three of them and turned them into coins before he walked back to the tunnel and portkeyed back to the cube.
He flew out to the forest south of Hamilton. He dropped the transfiguration on each coin and executed them one at a time. He questioned the mayor about the undead under the castle and all the firepower. It was a plot to take the town by force if necessary if he ever got voted out of office. They were building an unstoppable army of undead. The day he lost an election would have been the day they unleashed hell on the city. That was the reason his son was turned into a werewolf in the first place. That was another option they were looking into. They didn't know it was him that killed the pack a week ago, they suspected a group of deputies of doing it and the Sheriff was conducting an in house investigation into it. After he was done he summoned anything of value off their bodies and flew back to the cube. He dumped out his bag and portkeyed back to the city.
He met up with the other two and spent some time shopping. It was just after noon when he found the pair of them in a gun shop trying to sell of a few old revolvers they found. By two he spotted a few deputies riding around the city looking panicked. Harry slipped away from the group and popped back to the marshal's office. He sat down with the marshal and told him what happened.
"Killing is a dirty job Harry, sorry I had to tap you for it." Copeland said pulling a bottle of scotch and two glasses out of his desk.
"I don't mind killing if it's for a good cause, stopping a corrupt mayor and his undead army is a good cause." Harry said taking the drink the marshal poured for him.
"I'll say. I had no idea it was that bad. Still this is going to be a major shit storm. The mayor, half his cabinet, and the sheriff are all dead. This city is going to fall into complete chaos in the next three weeks. The line of succession falls to the treasury secretary I think and he's a number crunching fool. I have a feeling I'm going to be running this city for the next few months until we can hold an election. Say Harry, how would you like to be mayor?" He asked with a smirk.
"Fuck no. I'll keep my job thank you very much." Harry said laughing.
"Didn't think I could get that lucky." He said laughing too.
"Well, keep trying. I'm sure you can find someone to take the job. If you'll excuse me I'm heading off home, I need a good plate of meat and potatoes and a comfy chair. Thank's for the drink." Harry said finishing his glass.
"Any time Harry. I owe you big time. Don't think I don't know that." Copeland said standing up and shaking his hand.
"If you ever need me you know where to find me." Harry said walking out of the office. He saw Neville and Abby waiting for him and they portkeyed back to the cube together. Harry ditched his coat and hat by the door. He took off his gun belt and shoulder rigs and hung them on the chair before he took off his vest. He looked dead on his feet.
"You look beat." Abby said looking him over.
"I feel beat. Between all the magic I used the day before and all the small spells I did today I'm tapped out." Harry said.
"Well then you'll be happy to hear that I'm cooking today. I was thinking pot roast for dinner, and for a late lunch how about I heat up some of the soup from yesterday and a bacon sandwich?" Abby asked.
"Sounds good. While you get the going we need to sort through all this loot. I think for safety sake we have to melt down all jewelry, gold, and all the swords we got today and turn them into bars. We don't want any of that on us. Hermione did you get a chance to look at the books and potions stuff I got?" Harry asked.
"I did, you got a lot of really old books, some of them I've never seen or heard of before. Those two trunks were master's level potions kits. We're pretty much set for a good long time on potions ingredients." She said.
"Good, Neville can you handle the goblin charms today? I'm running on empty." Harry asked.
"Yeah, I haven't done anything in a few days. You want to melt down all of these swords?" He asked opening a few crates off the top of a big stack of 20 crates with 60 swords in each crate.
"It's good steel and the less loot we have lying around the better. As it is we have about 2,600 swords. That's an ass load of steel. Not to mention the steel scabbard, the leather wrapped wood handle, and the brass guard. We're looking at 3 pounds of steel, a half pound of brass, some wood and leather from each one. Turn them into 25 pound ingots. We'll see if we can sell off the crates of guns. How many do we have?" Harry asked.
"We collated 20 crates with 40 guns to a crate along with the 160 guns we took from the zombies. We're looking at. 960 colt navy cartridge conversion revolvers. We also have 100 crates of .38lc ammo. Each crate has 1,500 rounds. That's 150,000 rounds of .38lc. Unless we're arming troops for battle then we have more stock then we will ever need. We have to sell this stuff." Neville said.
"We can try to sell them, but no one want's these guns, it's why they got them at such a discount. You can buy one of these guns for $8-$10 in any gun shop and the ammo goes for $.50 a box. That's what they're selling for retail. I doubt we can get $3 a gun for them if we sell to a gun store, and that's if we can find a store willing to take this much stock off our hands. We'll hit them with a repair spell to see if we can bring them back to a factory new fit and finish and keep um boxed up. Maybe we can hold on to them for a few decades and sell them as anteaques. If not we'll melt them down into steel ingots. As for the ammo, save a few crates off to the side and we'll hit the rest of it with the charm. We'll have bars of brass and lead, and barrels of black powder. I can do it tomorrow if you like?" Harry asked.
"If you don't mind? I'm good but I don't trust myself with that much black powder." Neville said with a smirk.
"I totally get it. Just work on the crates of loot and swords for now. Also separate out the cash and coin, and turn anything leather into a big sheet of thick tool leather. Tomorrow when I'm feeling more powerful I'll deal with the ammo. For now I need to help get dinner started." Harry said heading off to the kitchen.
"I have work to do." Neville said floating the crates of swords out of the room.
"I'll help, I want to learn the spells too." Abby said following him out of the room with the crates of loot.
That night at dinner Neville showed off the the three trunks of full of shrunken 25 pound steel bars, they ended up with 295 of them from the swords. They also ended up with 75 brass 25 pound bars, 2300 wood gun handle scales, and a big 5x25 foot sheet of leather. From the melted down loot they got 8 gold 100 ounce bars, 10 silver 100 ounce bars, and 2 more 25 pound brass bars and a 25 pound steel bar. They also had a 5x10 foot sheet of thick tool leather.
Harry would deal with the rest the next day. They all headed off to the living room and watched a movie, the girls got to pick it and they ended up with You've Got Mail. Harry loved the movie but he still passed out halfway through it. Abby woke him up and dragged him off to bed.