Carfax: Prologue

1843, Somewhere outside of Umbranfield, England

The silver coffin weighed heavily on the priests’ shoulders, crushing their bones and grinding on their flesh through their garbs as they steadily descended the crooked stairs down into the musky black, mumbling prayers and begging the Lord that they not faultier and fail in their duty to lock away the monster confined in that silver coffin. Too many good men had died to defeat the beast. Too many women fallen victim to its vile bloodlust. So the priests endured, descending the stairs under the monastery.
The gypsy stone masons had spent a great deal of time to clear the way and cut away the chamber which would be the monster’s prison and tomb. The leader of the gypsies and their wise woman had insisted that they come too, to bury the inhabitant of the silver coffin. The gypsy leader, a large man with a beard down to his belly led the way down into the earth, lighting the way with a flaming torch, sure not to catch his beard alight. By his side the small wise woman mumbled in a language unknown to the priests and the two men behind them. Those men, covered in the still warm blood of their now dead comrades kept their crossbows and guns and blades at the ready should the creature escape its prison. But how could it? The coffin’s lid was tightly secured and locked, and the casket was covered in crosses and prayers and charms. The silver was blessed by the four priests and the archbishop himself. And if that wasn't enough itself inside the monster was bound with silver chains and silver stakes driven through each limb and through its heart. There was no way in Heaven, Hell and Earth that it could escape. It couldn't… Could it?
As the young priest pondered this to himself he took a wrong step and tripped, nearly bringing the whole coffin down with him. If it weren't for the quick thinking gypsy grabbing him and stopping him he may have fallen all the way down the stairs and compromised the mission. The gypsy man gave the priest a piercing glare before they returned to descending the stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs the group came to a large chamber, and in the centre a single sarcophagus sat open, waiting to receive the silver coffin. Steadily the four priests lowered the coffin into the sarcophagus, and the other men pushed the lid over the top before securing it in place. The four priests said more prayers over the sarcophagus before they all left.
It was up to the monks of the monastery now to ensure that the creature was never released, lest the world become his hunting ground once again.