And I'm BACK. Sorry about the delay, holidays. Will try to get back to regular updates. Hope people are still with this.
"What exactly does making my leg a part of you mean?"
Well, bring Random McMageGuy over and start the ritual, I guess. I'd be fine with trading one or both of my (preserved) legs in exchange for the demon's services.
You ask the house-demon a question, and immediately regret it as you experience what could only be described as a tornado passing through a fifty-degree celsius rubbish dump. You cling to a lamppost, wondering how come so few dentists go to hell.
"It means we give you a leg and do you a favour. Though it's only fair to tell you, the leg obeys our will over yours. And we'll take one of your legs for ourselves."
You take your prisoner to the lawyer and your leg. The dispirited young man doesn't even question you or try to escape; after few hours inside the cannibal deli that Vince's kitchen has been turned into he's mostly just glad to have left. When you toss the leg into the sinkhole gullet in front of you, the tongue shoots out, wrapping around the man's body. When it recedes, myriad tiny lines of red ink dance on his throat, too small to read. The tongue then turns its attentions to you, and after a warm saliva-bath, you look down to see your leg whole again, encased in a far less scruffy black trouser leg and a shining black leather shoe. The contract complete, the house slowly lowers back onto its foundations, the mouth closing, until it resembles an innocuous old office once again.
You have no trouble walking back to Vince's with your new slave. In fact, you stride along with a new spring in your step. A step that does seem to crush a few more snails and come down on a few more toes than before.
Fuck it,i run down the stairs
You sprint across the street from your position of cover. The two golems' heads swing lugubriously, too slow to track you as you dart between them through the door of the monolith. Their fists slam into the stone stairs behind you as you sprint down the slowly winding passage, and their bulk blocks the daylight behind you. Happily, they can't get in at all, and have to content themselves with grumpily wedging their massive arms through the doorway and waiting for you to leave. Looks like you're trapped for a bit, unless you can find a way out.
The stone staircase leads down, down and down for what feels like several hundred feet. The air is warm and damp, and you sense powerful energies humming beneath your feet. The lighting is nonexistent, and after several bends you have to feel your way in the dark.
After a while, you come out in a spacious square chamber with crude stone walls, lit by harsh industrial floodlights. Carved on the floor in gothic lettering is the pronouncement, "When the dark jewels of the sunken lord Benkazal are returned to his tomb, then shall he rise again". Opposite the staircase is a wide doorway onto a smaller room, in which lies an eight foot obsidian coffin. Large black power cables run from inside the coffin to a small, earthy tunnel up to your right, which curves up and out of sight after a few metres. The floor is littered with dead cockroaches, rusted suits of armour, mostly broken weapons, and skeletons of all descriptions. Dozens of points of brown light dance slowly above the coffin.
Let's see this 'real-life applications of Python' thing.
inb4
Once the giant snake corpses are cleared away, the next lecture compares Python with other languages in terms of usefulness to magic users. Python dates back thousands of years, having only recently been adopted by mortals, and was popularised by the great Egyptian sorcerors, who used it to contruct temples, pyramids and statues for the pharoahs. It is useful for moving large masses, creating water for things such as irrigation, and the manipulation of natural organisms, but does not function as well when it comes to creating the most complex and sophisticated sorceries such as illusions or magical projectiles. Mistakes in Python may simply create physical distortions, but have been known to create tedious portals to the underworld, mass flooding by the hyperspacial Duat, and even horrific breaches into Izfit, the sea of chaos.
The popular downfall of Python came after the development of C#, which was used against the armies of the pharoah by Moses. C# is capable of controlling incredibly large classes of objects and sources of power by referring to them simply, but trying to do too many things with it will simply fail and likely break the strength of the user, shattering their mind. For example C# would be the best tool if one wanted to control the direction of a hundred-strong horde of undead, but would be less effective in allowing them to do different tasks. Mistakes seldom do anything other than catastrophically vary the cereberal pressure of the person making them.
Java, or the version involving magical runic writings, Javascript, is a relative newcomer to the world of magical coding languages. Very results-oriented, it involves some elements of voodoo and other systems. It is better for any smaller or trickier task the other languages fail at, and is the best for magical projectiles, illusions, control of magical beings, and other such messy things. It is closest to witchcraft among the languages, and mistakes will generally result in a spell that does something similar but not identical to the intended practice.
They don't say much about Perl directly, but from what you've gathered it is very dangerous and relies on powerful materials. An archaic technique used by the sort of people one wouldn't associate with, mistakes are usually preferable to whatever the user was trying to do.
A student notices your frantic note-jotting, and kindly offers you a flier on introductory lectures to each language. You're a bit out of your depth at the moment, and should probably pick one or two to gain some understanding of.
[spoiler=Sheet]Bob Howard
Puissant fettle - 1
Ritual potency - 1
Runic sight - 1
Practicality - 3
Inventory: £50, 1d20
{Certificate from Belial; Valid for one Potent Medium}
Puissance: 5/5
Puissant Clots: 2
You turn up to an introductory Python class, mostly populated by your kind of people: scruffy, untalkative and focused on arcane tables and diagrams on their various screens. Some are a little less human. After a few minutes of mutually awkward conversation with the scarab headed girl next to you, the teacher strides in, a completely ordinary looking middle aged woman who introduces herself as Beth.
At the start of the class, she brings up a series of hieroglyphs on the projector, each of which is capable of manipulating the physical world to some degree when correctly used in code. After a quick refresher on basic python commands, she hands out tablets, and brings up out a simple program on the board capable of moving a cardboard box a foot to the right. She demonstrates this, running the code and moving the box a foot to the right, as if by magic. Oh wait, it is by magic, you were so excited by the coding you didn't notice. Placing the box on the floor at the front of the lecture room, she hands out slips of paper bearing simple tasks involving adapting her code. Clearly, you're dealing with someone who plans her lessons exhaustively.
You have to write a program that will move the box a metre up, then hold it there for two seconds. You plan carefully before typing anything in, and manage to do it in only two more lines than the original bit of code. You're pretty pleased with yourself. When the teacher begins calling people to the front to test their programs, you're one of the first, and carry it off without a hitch. Most students manage the first time, though some achieve nothing, and one girl, after perfectly executing a tricky midair rotation, sets fire to the box. The teacher immediately reachers for her laptop, and a second later the fire goes out in clouds of steam. There are whoops of appreciation: her fingers moved faster than you could
see. The girl also gets a somewhat disappointed cheer as the fails to set fire to anything the second time round; this is clearly a pretty nice learning environment.
By the end of the lesson, you're capable of creating water, moving objects about at reasonable speeds, and making plants grow. The Java class isn't until tomorrow, so you could try and learn more python on your own, or help the Coven find a power source. Or just wander off and do something else, if that's what you're into.
As the teacher takes the tablets back in, she explains that witches need to put a "puissant clot", their basic magical resource, into the machine you want to perform magic with. It can be a PC, laptop, tablet, iphone, raspberry pi even, as long as you can use it. She recommends a balance between processing power/utility and portability.
"The rock can mind-control people. I don't know how it works. Get the old guy out of here, he got whammied."
"If the shooting stops, we talk it out, but right now we're fighting."
Withdraw the illusion-bearing arm, and shoot one more shot of spell #2 at the rock. Has there been any visible effect from the spells? After this, stick out the illusion again in a different position.
"Oh god I hope that didn't do permanent brain damage.
Can anyone explain me what is happening? Is this guy bad or something? Is that rock shooting at us?"
Restrain the guy I just knocked down (Take his weapons away from him and tie his hands and feet with some bandages and duck tape), and drag him somewhere safe.
Take cover from shoots, try shooting a bone at the rock or something.
Aww. Wake up and take them out!
Ben remains asleep and is carefully tied up by Zamenis. Nanami fires her crystallisation spell at the rock again, and is rewarded with a scattering of fine cracks across its surface. Shooting a bone at the rock does nothing, as anyone who has ever tried to crack rocks with their forehead would predict.
Bullets spray across the dirt above as the three of you hunker behind dirt piles. Well, Ben more of lies there, but his body hunkers naturally. The shots are coming from the industrial area.
Bob Howard
Puissant fettle - 1
Ritual potency - 1
Runic sight - 1
Banal combat - 0
Practicality - 3
Inventory: £50, 1d20
{Certificate from Belial; Valid for one Potent Medium}
Puissance: 5/5
Puissant Clots: 2
Name: Nanami Adachi. (Nanami)
Unnatural beauty granted by demonic contract and the adoration of mortals. Slight charisma/popularity boost.
Power from mortal media.
Conscripted into twenty-nineth legion of Amdukias.
Puissance: 2
Ritual: 0
Runic Sight: 0
Banal Combat: 0
Aim: 1
Melee: 0
Agility: 1
Praticality: 2
Inventory: £315
Backpack, expensive camera + memory cards
Quality sketching paper, art pens+pencils, charcoal, etc.
Sketches of self as main character, Amdukias, the non-mortal world, etc.
[Glass Rod Crystal Wand] - Enhanced slightly through media
Mediocre Pistol (4/6)
Puissance: 4/(9-1, body illusion)
Puissant Clots: 1
Goethe T. Helle
Puissant fettle - 1
Ritual potency - 2
Runic sight - 1
Banal combat - 0
Aim - 1
Melee - 0
Agility - 2
Practicality - 1
Inventory: £20, clockface minus one hand, highlighter pens, two kitchen knives, half-empty cologne bottle
From the beast: one bone,
Italian Dinner suit, stored at Vince's place.
[Dog Collar Pendant][Molasses Clockhand Wand]
[Icecream Beast Blood Fur Chalice][Beast Remains Wand]
Runes:
Isolation: you never had many friends or allies, so are used to poor odds. +1 to rolls when outnumbered and alone.
Stoicism: a rune that calms those dealing with shock, tragedy or injury.
Perseverance: despite all the odds, you managed to kill a huge beast using nothing but hot syrup. Bonus to attack and extra damage to powerful or resistant enemies after several turns of combat or aggression.
Dwarven Weapon Storage: learned from a dwarf carrying a small armoury on his back. Increases load of weapons and tools that can be borne without being hampered or slowed down, or collapsing outright.
Ruination: when written, it makes a bad situation worse, and an irretrievable one more so. Learned after the second mission.
Puissant clots: 1
Puissance: 5/6
Name: Sir Worthington the Fourth
Has a demonic leg. Old leg is in possession of monarchs of hell.
Enslaved young man under demonic contract, wields katana, wears combat pants + green sweatshirt.
Stats: Ritual Potency: 3
Practicality 3
Inventory: £25, Pint of royal blood (stored at Vince's), blood covered knife, Cursed String
Stored at Vince's place: mortal's tendons, skull and leg bones.
[Glass Eye Pendant] [Paintbrush Wand]
[Toad Demon Battery Acid Tupperware Chalice]
{Scuttle Gem}
Amateur's Pyromancy Flame - Heal Burn (1P), Create Flame (1P), Flame Claw (3P)
Puissant Clots: 0
Puissance: 5/5
Jimmy "Car bombs" Castanza
Slightly slowed by a heavy load.
Puissant fettle - 0
Ritual potency - 0
Runic sight - 3
Banal combat - 1
Aim - 1
Melee - 0
Agility - 0
Practicality - 3
Inventory: £20, very rusty saw, length of pipe stuck to block of concrete, highlighter pen
[Lightbulb Antenna Wand]
[Broom - TIER 3] - Bike handles for steering.
[Omni-tool]
Milk Bottle full of space-warping venom.
Glock 17 (7/10)
Runes:
Detonation: volatile stuff explodes or catches fire more when you're around it. You can't help it, it must be genetic. Written rune used to detonate volatile substances.
Dead Man Running: you escaped the wrath of a mafia boss. Higher chance of surviving things that should really be deadly.
Mafioso: a mafia hitman, you preferred not to let your targets know they were hunted until after they were spread over an area of three hundred metres. Bonus to carefully planned unexpected attacks.
Alchemical (definitely idiot) savant: you saw an alchemist's shop when wandering around London, and deluded yourself that you understood something of how it worked. Because of the nature of magic, this belief is now partially true. Use this rune to make substances a bit more useful or volatile when used in alchemy.
Trader: a rune that when signed signifies to people that you'd be a good guy to buy from and sell things to.
Reticence: a rune whispered to you by birds perched on phone lines, you can get information without giving away much about yourself.
Bethel: a rune that enhances and aids summoning performed where it is written.
Degeneration: you saw men turned into animals. This rune turns advanced things like steel bolts into crappy primitive things, like wooden bolts.
Entrance: a god tried to break into our world. You now have a +2 in breaking into magic places you shouldn't be messing about with.
Hiijacking: Sand crashed a summoning-party and inserted herself into the centre of the ritual. Things with this rune written on will be more central to events and will conduct more power and magical energy than they should by rights.
Hassle: a rune that allows you to deal more effectively with multiple threats, distractions and tasks at once.
Scrap-crafting: after making a wand with bicycle horns, you have improved at making stuff out of junk. And you were already great at making stuff out of junk.
Oligarchy: a rune revealed to you the first time you flew over London, spelled out in the twistings of the financial buildings and the houses of millionares. Increases your power according to how much money you have.
Punctuality: You're good at getting things done on time.
Puissant clots: 1
Puissance:5/5
Ben Breeze
Stats:
Puissant fettle - 0
Ritual potency - 0
Runic sight - 0
Banal combat - 4
Aim - 1
Melee - 1
Agility - 2
Practicality - 0
Inventory: knife, taser, handcuffs, police baton, stab vest, torch, incapacitant spray, and a first aid kit. All in sports bag, currently on ground near Bella.
Also a bag of athames, 2.5 legs War Bacon (Vince's Fridge), a worn face-concealing hooded coat, bin bags.
Two generous Roast Beef and Horseradish Sandwiches
£20
Set of keys and passcard
Gunfarmer P90 (44/50) (in bag) (confiscated by Bella)
Puissant clots: 3
Puissance:5/5
Steve
Banal combat - 3
Agility - 3
Inventory: £50
Puissance: 5/5
Clots:3
Name: Bella, the Speed Witch
Runic sight: 2
Banal Combat: 1
Melee 1
Agility 2
Inventory: £0,
Delicate Rune-engraved Machete: heavy bonus when facing multiple weaker victims. Likely to break on misshits/heavy armour.
[Tier Two Racing Broom]
Runes:
Speed lover: +1 to doing anything while moving faster than you need to. Does not prevent (but can negate) maluses from trying to do things while moving faster than is sensible.
Slaughter: enhances speed and efficiency of murder when facing many opponents/victims. Passive boost, but can be written on things.
Broom Dodging: makes you better at dodging things while on a broom.
Puissance: 5/5
Clots:0
Name: Aisha Kassem
Ritual - 1
Runic sight - 2
Practicality - 3
Runes
Intoxication: a rune that can be muttered over an alchemical procedure, bring out the hallucinogenic and mood-altering qualities of the product.
Improvisation: passive, improves lab work/alchemy in unusual conditions, using odd or dubious ingredients or tools.
Griffon Roar: makes something or someone more intimidating and more visible when written.
Biotechnical: passive rune, boost to integrating organics with technology.
Psychologist: a rune letting you see people's motivations, triggers, interests, personalities, etc. more clearly.
Inventory: £43, Certificate from Belial (valid for one sample of occult substance)
Cheap backpack, four bottles:
River water, crocuses, rose petals, peonies, blades of grass, stagnant pond water, sticks, charcoal, rain water.
Also three cans, six lengths of rubber tubing, two copper pipes, a broken coffee machine, a mostly empty lighter and a teapot.
One rubber tubing, copper pipe, teapot and coffee machine set up as Distillator in Vince's garage.
{Potion of fleshly regeneration - One Dose}
Puissant Clots: 2
Puissance: 5/5
Name: Zamenis Paean
Puissant fettle: 3
Agility: 2
Aim: 1
Inventory: £5, Certificate from Belial (valid for one sample of occult substance)
Duct tape, Large Knife
Surgical tools: scalpel, a first aid kit, a saw, and tweezers.
[Tier 1 Broom, knife on end]
[Human Leg Wand]
Puissant Clots: 0
Puissance: 14/14
Author
Topic: COVEN: Gulled Goldsmiths and Lost Locomotives (Read 154104 times)