"Here There Be Vampires!"
The Story So Far...
Below is an account of all the important events that have occured up until the point that the posse stick their unwelcome noses into the affairs of Thomaswell
Below is an account of all the important events that have occured up until the point that the posse stick their unwelcome noses into the affairs of Thomaswell
A dedicated preacher by the name of Nolan Edwards has been on the trail of Vampires for over 40 years ever since his sweetheart was killed by one in 1834. When he got over her untimely death he studied the habits of Vampires and other creatures of the night and vowed to destroy every last one of them. Since the Reckoning his plight has taken him West to Thomaswell, New Mexico, where he is following a shady character by the name of Jacky O Neill, whom he suspects of being one of the Legion of the damned owing to his Vampiric characteristics (asleep during the day, awake at night, pale, good with the women, strange things happen around him etc). He has not approached Jacky yet as he needs to be sure he is a Vampire before striking, and he knows that Jacky suspects he is being followed by Nolan so they have reached a situation in Thomaswell where Nolan is waiting for Jacky's next move...
The town itself is medium sized and is a stopping point for traders and travellers heading west, it has no major exports or imports and so is rather stagnant and left alone by the rest of the country. This suits John Greely just fine. He is the Vampiric owner of Greely's saloon who moved here many years ago and began feeding off the many travellers through town who tended to mysteriously "disappear". More recently Greely has been getting bored and went to visit a small ranch out of town and turned all three of it's residents (young ranch hands) into Vampires, that was one month ago, since then three townsfolk have been killed in their sleep, the first two were the town Mayor and his wife, Harry Hickman and Margaret Hickman, who were found dead in bed by their children (who have since left town with relatives). The Town doctor and Sheriff investigated but could come up with no suspects. A few days ago another body was found, a whore at the Gordon Hotel was apperently killed in bed and drained of blood. Again no culprit was found (it was Greely all three times). The body count is about to rise further as the three new Vampires from out of town, Pete Williams, Nevada Dan and Eugene Smith are getting bored of feeding from cattle and hunt for human
blood.
Nolan Edwards suspects none of this, he reckons that Jacky O Neill (who is in fact a Huckster) is responsible but has no proof of this, he is blind to all other possibilities at the moment.
Jacky O Neill is here for one reason only, he wants to find Hoyles Book and he has heard rumours that a first edition lies around this town somewhere, if only he can find it. Remnants of a French edition are actually buried at the bottom of the now covered well in Thomaswell which is inaccesible due to a statue of Thomas Wilkes (the towns founder) sitting on top of it, the well is dry and townsfolk use a different well now. The only people who know this have long since died of old age - apart from John Greely who has been around a long time, but he's not telling anybody about the books whereabouts, fearing the hexes hidden within may destroy him.
Nolan Edwards is hiring "helpers" to try and prove Jacky O'Neill is a Vampire and to help destroy him when they have the proof they need. He is paying $15 a day (which may encourage the posse to drag their feet with this one - which is probably for the best) and has posters in all the neighbouring towns asking for "help against the unnatural" and giving details about where to find him in Thomaswell.
Alternatively Nolan may have heard of the posse and will approach them for assistance, talking openly about the existance of Vampires and how to spot/destroy them. Either way he is now residing at the Gordon Hotel and will offer to pay boarding expenses for anybody helping him in his plight against evil