Ugly business.

[SalsaDoom]

A handful of the 3P Trading Company's soldiers crouched in the bushes not so far away from their fort. Ambrose Throckmorton crouched with them, spring-pistol in his left hand and his heavy falchion in his right. The dark blue coats of his men blended in with the early nights darkness almost as well as Ambrose's jet black one.

"Any of you ever been on a vampire hunt before?" Ambrose asked quietly, his men shook their heads, except for one. The Regimental Sergeant Major, the fellow with the metal place on his face. "I have, sir." Ambrose nodded. "Your men know what to do?" The RSM nodded in return, "Yes, sir."
"Good."

They waited for a few more minutes, a thin layer of frost started to set on their clothing. A man cleared his throat and earned himself a sharp look from the sergeant. Up ahead on the road, a shrill whistle was heard. His signal. "Almost too easy." Ambrose said to himself, he raised his hand and held it it that position while he watched the road intently.

The sound of hoofs can be heard, and a shadowy figuring moving up the road with incredible speed -- on foot. Ambrose waited for few moments, until the horsemen behind the figure could be seen. He snapped his hand down and the men leap out of the bushes and formed a line, six men wide and two men deep on the rode with practiced speed. "Present!" Ambrose bellowed at the top of his lungs. The chasing horsemen swerved to the sides of the road while the figure paused for a fraction of a second, unsure of this new threat.

"Fire!" Ambrose ordered, and as one the men fired bolts at the figure, who with lightning fast reflexes dodged all of them but a few. The force of the bolts hitting knocked the figure on the ground, the men charged forwards with a spirited yell, "Hurrah!!"

The figure wasn't played out yet, however, it lept to its feet, hissed and them and bolted off the road away from them, toward the south. They chased but were being outpaced easily, Ambrose paused a moment and took a shot with his spring-pistol, the bolt wizzed threw the air and hit at the center of the back, again knocking the creature to its knees.

The sergeant had reloaded his weapon while he was running evidently, for he fired and another bolt thwacked into the stricken figure, just below where Ambrose's bolt stuck. The figure wasn't so lucky this time, by the time it had gotten to its feet, the first soldier had rammed his bayonet into the beleaguered vampire.

It spun around and knocked the man away like a rag doll, but other soldiers dashed forward undaunted and jabbed at it, covered in wounds already and leaking blood, it was unable to dodge as well was it once could. Still, its arms had inhuman strength and endurance, it swattered the men away, but still the soldiers pressed the attack. Some had reloaded their guns and plugged more bolts into their victim, who was now simply to weak to defend itself properly.

The soldiers surrounded it and plunged their bayonets into its body up and down, repeatedly, spraying blood and gore about their uniforms. Finally, Ambrose called them to stop, "Thats enough, its done." he stepped forward and raised his falchion, and brought on it down on the vampires neck, severing the head completely. A few moments later it smoldered into ash. He re-sheathed his weapons. "Well, how much did it cost us?"

The sergeant looked around, "Out of twelve, 7 wounded, one dead with a broken neck." he reported glumly.
"How many armies does the 3P trading company have, RSM?"
"Nine, sir."
"At roughly twenty thousand men per army, thats one hundred and eighty thousand men. Now one hundred seventy nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety nine. Something tells me that our defenses are still quiet intact."

While the men plucked their bolts out of the ash-corpse, the cavalry trotted over and helped the remaining infantry move their wounded and single dead, and they set out back to the fort.

[SalsaDoom]

If anyone decides to investigate a missing vampire, who has been (deliberatly) left vague.. someones friend or childer perhaps... if someone decides to investigate this missing "person" then they will find 3P didn't do a complete cleanup job of their evidence.

Foot prints are all around the scene of the last battle, most of the foot prints are the same, although in different sizes, except for one set, which is completely different from the rest. The ash itself is more or less in place, although a little scattered by now.

Along the side of the road from the main town to 3P's trading post, is a handful of bolts. These bolts have a fairly thick shaft, a narrow but slightly barbed head and very distinctive paper flights.