These stories first appeared in Hunt's Book of Weapons, an in-game collection of found documents curated by an unknown researcher. They are replicated here in their original format. This means that many of the stories are not presented chronologically, or in one grouping, and it is left to the reader to put together the puzzle pieces and determine to what extent they contain fact, fiction, or fable.

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Lebel 1886

LEBEL 1886. (See also, RIFLES) The Lebel 1886, adopted by the French Army, was the first military-issued smokeless powder rifle. It stayed at the forefront of armaments when in 1893 the majority were retrofitted with an improved bolt-action receiver. Smokeless powder was revolutionary, and at the time the Lebel outranged all black powder weapons. The namesake of the rifle was Lieutenant Colonel Nicolas Lebel, who designed the 8mm round. He protested, as in his belief General Tramond who led the team deserved the namesake.

The Lebel sported an eight-round barrel magazine, which was relatively light. Cartridges were brought to the barrel via an elevator. Reloading the magazine was also done through this elevator, making the process relatively slow, especially compared to magazine fed rifles. The cartridges, though full length, were only 8mm. This made them lighter to carry, reduced the recoil, and their power was compensated for by smokeless powder.

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Unpublished manuscript, "Bad As They Seem"
Author: Hayden Collins
Undated
Bleached paper, typewritten, 8.5x11 in

-8-
Jos lay sprawled on the floor of the small cabin, and the deflated leeches she had cut from her body littered the floor around her. She wrapped her fingers around the handle of her sledgehammer, a sweet comfort. She could not move her legs, and she did not know when the numbing effect of the leeches' saliva would subside.

Fin stood beside her, her back to the mountain of flesh on the floor, dead and motionless at last. (Had it ever truly been alive?) She faced the small man who huddled on a small cot near the dead fire and began to reload her gun. The man shuddered, muttering quietly as his eyes darted between the two women. He was covered in sores and caked in dirt, obviously terrified and desperate, but there was an intelligence in his eyes that moved beyond the fear.

Outside, crickets chirped incessantly, punctuated by a mammalian moan, an owl's deep-voiced call, or the low gulping of a toad. Night had fallen upon them as harshly, and as suddenly, as the Meathead.

Fin finished reloading and stood staring at the man as he continued to mutter. "Never at night, never at night, they've, cabin, never, my notes notes notes, night notes." His words fell in staccato bursts. His cheeks were caked with puss and blood, washed clean only where tears streamed down his face.

"Who is the woman on the tree?" Fin asked.

His body went rigid and then his face fell into his hands in a moaning slurry of words: "Oh Mary Mary Mary, oh Mary Mary Mary Mary Mary...I...I...I..."

Fin looked to her sister, catching her eye for the length of one nod, looked back up at the man, and shot him in the head.

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Unpublished manuscript, "Bad As They Seem"
Author: Hayden Collins
Undated
Bleached paper, typewritten, 8.5x11 in

-9-
Twins. Doubles. Deux. Qupa. The oath of two was all the more powerful when they spoke it, doubling as it reflected between them. Two mirrors facing each other, infinite, and expanding with each utterance. They found comfort in the repetition of the words. In the name of two, bound by blood. Let us drink from the fountain of death. Here's to the Hunter. Here's to the hunted. For we are the blood and we are the body. We are the bullet, and we are the knife. Let us drink from the fountain of death. Our thirst shall never be quenched.

It was as on any other day, though on this day, they had slaughtered a monster, had peeled fist-sized leeches from reddening skin, and had killed a man for torturing an innocent woman. Since their initiation, many other days had been just like it. Mirrors in time.

The violence of their lives—begun in death and blood, and riding along that slick surface still—was the violence of their days was the very fabric of the world. People said the West had been won, but Jos and Fin knew there were still wilds, had seen and destroyed what roamed the deadlands, had cut the blackened hearts from the chests of callous and evil men. As they walked out of the swamp they spoke idly of dinner. As on any other day.

Lynch watched them, biding her time, looking to the cards for patience. They were almost ready now.

Lebel 1886 Incendiary Ammo

RN: That Salter should turn up here, another monster to be dispatched by the Twins, speaks measures and is surely more than a coincidence. The account must have had more importance, otherwise why would the Twins have remembered the name—it's a shame Collins did not wholly recount it.

Lebel 1886 Aperture

LEBEL 1886 APERTURE. (See also, LEBEL 1886) The Lebel 1886 Aperture differed from the base model with an affixed aperture sight. This sight, composed of a small disk, was preferred as it allowed for more precision at medium ranges. It's supposed that much of the benefit of this sight is rather psychological, allowing the shooter to better visually isolate their target.

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Interview with Fenella Cleve
Interviewer: AHA member
Date: Redacted
Typewritten, questions omitted (…), 8.5in x 11in
1/3

In my early childhood, I remember the woods that grew tall all round DeSalle. They were impenetrable old growth that had stood since before the founding of our nation. They all went when the lumber yards and sawmills came. The new industry sprawled out, its chutes and rails stretching out to waterways and thoroughfares like roots, anchoring its trunk, the mill itself. The cavernous building rumbling with the whirring of saws and belched black smoke from its rickety chimneys.

We never were allowed to play near the log stacks. They fascinated us. Where once the trees had grown tall and towered over us, here they were subdued and orderly, arranged perfectly to be climbed on, claimed as our own as soon as the dusty workmen left for the day. As the sun waned, they cast long shadows, standing atop them you'd see yourself stretched out a hundred foot tall.

The bayou was dangerous at the best of times. But the stacks, despite their intimation that the wild had been tamed, harbored the perfect nesting holes for snakes and scorpions. But that wasn't why our parents had sworn us off them. There was a story which we all knew of the three Bisset boys who'd been playing near one when the bottom log had given away, and an avalanche of logs had tumbled down and crushed them. We retold the story in hushed tones whenever we passed Bisset's Farrier, rich with sounds of cracking bones and squelching skulls.

It was that story which came to mind years later: my first return to DeSalle. A pack of Grunts shambling downhill of one of the tallest stacks. With my sighted Lebel, deathly accurate at range, I took aim at one of the stakes holding the logs in place and fired. With a heave and groan, they tumbled down, pitching the Grunts here and there like bowling pins. I wondered then if something had snapped inside of me, as I savored the destruction.

Lebel 1886 Talon

LEBEL 1886 TALON (See also, LEBEL 1886, FIELD MODIFICATIONS) The Lebel 1886 Talon was an unusual sight, one that went against military doctrine at the time. Whilst generally, organized armed forces preferred fore-mounted bayonets, the Talon instead eschewed this in favor of a rear-mounted axe blade. This made it far more effective as a bludgeoning and hacking melee weapon, rather than a precision weapon.

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Unpublished manuscript, "Bad As They Seem"
Author: Hayden Collins
Undated
Bleached paper, typewritten, 8.5x11 in

-21-
The twins traveled a day and a night before they reached the cave.
Minimally armed and draped in matching suits of decadent red cloth, their differences were muted.

Lynch provided Jos and Fin the clothing, instructions, a map, and two small stones, and sent them off in a carriage. Their suits had been tailored some weeks before and had lain ready in Lynch's trunk. She had remained behind.

"The cards afford me a certain clairvoyance," had been her answer to the question the twins had not dared ask. But how did you know? How did you know?

Huffington's orders had been as cold and calculating as the man himself. The twins had grown accustomed to doing Lynch's bidding, and at her nod of approval, had immediately agreed to take his commission. They would bring Huffington the weapon, and he would provide arms and information.

The carriage driver left them an hour's walk from the mouth of the cave, and left them there. When they returned, should they return, they would find their own way back.

Before the gaping grey maw of the cave, Jos turned to Fin, and their eyes met, still identical, still a mirror, even after all that had changed. Somewhere inside, they would find the Butcher's House. "To a life well lived and a death well deserved," said Fin, in a quiet voice, as each placed a small, cold stone on their tongue.

They turned, and entered the cave, the mournfully high cry of the wind their only farewell.

Lebel 1886 Marksman

LEBEL 1886 Marksman. (See also, LEBEL 1886) The Lebel 1886 Marksman capitalized on the base model's advantageous long range and high accuracy with the attachment of a telescopic sight, which made targets visible at a further distance. The Lebel's original sights were vulnerable to misalignment, as they were unprotected against shocks. It was therefore natural that sharpshooters would first modify this aspect of this weapon. The Lebel round's conical shape further enhanced its accuracy. The cartridge also offered an additional benefit, as before the innovation of smokeless powder, sharpshooters were vulnerable from gathering clouds of black powder smoke giving away their position.

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Unpublished manuscript, "Bad As They Seem"
Author: Hayden Collins
Undated
Bleached paper, typewritten, 8.5x11 in

-15-

Huffington was a nefarious man, quick to throw morals to the wind for his own advancement, drunk on power, and scornful of consequence. Yet his power was bound up in earthly matters—politics and prestige—unlike the woman who stood before him, whose steely gaze and white-blonde hair betrayed an otherworldly quality.

"How dare you consort with Laveau?" Her words were a hiss. "She is one of mine."

"That," Huffington replied, "is none of your concern."

She greeted his answer with a cold stare, then sat down in the chair that faced his desk, and laughed.

"Bold." From her pocket she pulled a worn deck of cards, wrapped in silk. "But stupid. Draw a card please."

She fanned the deck out before him, waiting.

"I don't abide parlor tricks."

"Neither do I. Pick a card, Huffington, and hope it's not the last thing you ever do."

He drew. She looked at the card in his hand. "Well, well, well. The Two of Arrows. How convenient."

He shrugged. "Get on with it, Lynch."

"There are two young women I'd like you to meet." She tucked the cards back into her pocket and smiled.

Lebel 1886 Spitzer Ammo

RN: The flourish with the card trick speaks of a lost thread of inquiry. That the occultism of various tarot cards would hold in them greater, unnatural powers. However, it seems that at some point this rumor was just that, and they never existed. Still, they made their mark, in reference, here and there.

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