Three Strikes You're Out Part 2

Three Strikes You're Out Part 2 Taken from the Journal of Dr. Winston Bishop

I had arrived in the small mining community seeking to aid the poor miners and the conditions that they were in. On our trip there I met a lovely Nun by the name of Sister Mary. She was from the Church of Lost Angels. A very nice woman if not a bit preachy. The miners were speaking of trouble in the mine. Hearing weird noises and whisperings in the dark. The Miners believed this to be the work of Tommy Knockers.

I had heard of these strange devious creatures before. Often these creatures will knock out support beams causing cave-ins on Miners. The knocking being a tale tell sign that the cave-in is about to happen. In other mythology the Tommy Knockers are benevolent, warning of the impending collapse, but this did not appear to be the case here. Having heard these stories from the local miners while I treated several of the miners for Ghost Rock poisoning I decided that I should accompany the rest of my fellows from Brimstone into the Williams’ mine. Alex William, Ms. Delta Redgrave's, Dr. James McCoy, Baldmar Sangrez, and Sarah Meoquanee.

It was a stark 70 foot descent in a caged platform down to the mouth of the mine. I should have known then that it would have been difficult going from there. The group proceeded slowly into the mine. Weary of things jumping out at us or a sudden collapse. Tommy Knockers on everyone’s mind. As we headed deeper into the mine some of the company began to hear things. Mostly attributed to Tommy Knockers. It was not until we were in the middle of the mine that we located a rather old map of the mine, due to divine providence. This assisted us in moving faster through the map until we reached the verifiable bottom.

Once there I was not sure what compelled me, but I decided to recite the nursery rhyme of the Tommy Knockers, upon doing this I knocked on a support and found the reverberation that should not be there. An optical illusion of sorts was revealed showing a hidden roughly cut stair case. Well I say reveal as Mr. Sangrez found it with his body as he troubled down the rough cut stair and straight into the water at the bottom of it. Delta and the others fished Baldemar out of the water. Mr. McCoy discovered a device. A device that was able to replicate the sounds that we had been hearing the whole descent into the mine. Using logic, Doc McCoy and I were able to deduce that someone was using this device to clear out the mine by scaring away the workers. While a submersible was used to enter the mine via a secret entrance in the cliff side. This was confirmed when Doc McCoy swam into the water to find the submerged entrance.

The Group discussed what this could mean as they hurried back to the top side. Only to find that the elevator that brought them down had been destroyed. Once again something compelled me and I jumped grabbing onto the hanging chain and I climbed up to the top. Once we had all made it up confirmed the suspicion that the elevator had been sabotaged.

After holding a meeting with the miners to explain what was found. A meeting that did not go over well as Mr. William’s had hired strike breakers to bring the strike to an end and not negotiators. I noticed one of the miners seemed to buy the submersible explanation better than others. On that alone I decided to speak to him to find out what he knew. This led me to question the intentions of a recent arrival. A man by the name of Timothy O’Toole, who was the first to hear the noises. His story not adding up something told me he knew more than he was letting on. We convinced Mr. O’Tool along with the good Sister accompany the group down into the mine in order to show the device.

Mr. O’Tool stuck to his story the whole time until we got to the device. At which point I set the device to self destruct and Mr. O’Tool dropped the act. Revealing that he was in fact an agent working against Mr. Williams at the behest of Mr. William's mother. A brief struggle ensued at which point Ms. Redgrave's subdued him. We brought the man back topside and he was able to convince the miners that there were no Tommy Knockers, at which point Mr. Williams, overcome with anger about his Mother meddling in his affairs, shot the unarmed tied up man in the leg. This did not go over well with the miners nor did it go over well with me. The issue being resolved, half of Mr. William’s miners quit and I do not blame them.