return and attempt to enchant the shield into a staff. It's the size that matters, not the shape right?
There are indeed no specifications about shape. So the shield is... rusty scrap metal. Right, that's going to be a powerful, elemental staff...made from raw materials. It may hamper your movement a bit though, being most of a car door.
The staff you create has three spells. The first, draining three puissance, sends out a blast of degenerative energy, weakening structures made of artificial materials within 10 metres. This includes, much to the chagrin of commuters around you, things as small as mobile phones and keys.
The second spell drains five puissance. Defensive in nature, it calls up huge sheets of scrap metal from the ground, jagged and warped, which rise around you and close in a cone metres above your head. There's plently of room inside, and you can still slip out between the sheets, but very little can hit you, unless it puncture several inches of rusty steel.
The third spell expands the shield itself, turning it into a rusted iron greatshield wider and taller than you, though the weight doesn't change. It doesn't cost puissance to summon at all, though blocking things with it will, as do the experimental shield bashes and swipes you try with it.
Calling it now, it's a rescue mission.
Return to the base. Check if we have the equipment needed to make coffee. You'll see why if the opportunity ever comes up.
Vince has a coffee machine... yep. And the rescue mission idea is very close...
I'm Already back with my new broom, Ready to go!
Vince yells at you for being a smartass anyway, but you can tell he's secretly pleased. Like when Big Luigi threatened to break your knees with a bat when you took the initiative on a hit. Those were the days.
You could upgrade your broom with the two clots you have, you know. Or upgrade your wand given one more (three).
"Heh heh heh heh, idiots. Do you even realise who I am? Ugh, who am I kidding, you mortal things probabaly don't even remember me. Now, let me out of this vehicle and maybe I'll consider not blowing your heads into tiny little pieces."
Sir Lootington's voice turns very sinistir... hopefully his days of acting when he was younger will pay off... in a good way.
Intimidate the cops into letting me go... preferably with my staff. I really shouldn't be throwing my trust into a dice that rolled me a 1, but screw it.
One of the cops is holding your staff, but can't detect anything unusual about it. You moan and whine about needing it to walk, it being an heirloom, etc, and give such a good performance as "arthiritic old man" that the police begin to think they have the wrong guy, and give you the cane back. Mistake.
Sadly, your threats and promises do nothing. Looks like the magic that got you into this will have to get you out again. There's no room to swing a club... so summoning the oak tree it is.
The police car is doing sixty along an empty street. Frankly, nobody should survive an oak tree growing directly through a speeding police car, but the spell's purpose is to protect you... it's a coinflip really here. Are you feeling lucky?
[Tails]
In a final act of terrorism, you smash the staff through the floor of the car and force it to transform into a gigantic tree. Branches rip the roof apart, tearing the car open, while expanding roots flail desperately at the ground, ripping the concrete apart and smothering the wheels. The car swerves whildly then smashes into a house, to which the oak tree immediately takes hold. The explosion that comes a second later kills you and any police officers still in the vehicle, despite the branches desperately shielding you.
Instead of a crater, your memorial is a ten-foot oak tree growing horizontally out of someone's front room, a battered and smoking squad car impaled by the trunk.
Oh dear, it looks like I still have 0 Puissant fettle. I had requested many pages back, before I got in the game, to switch a point from Ritual potency to Puissant fettle, as I'm unlikely to use the former much:
Would you mind kindly moving a point from Ritual potency to Puissant fettle on my sheet? On further consideration, I do think that I would like to have any Puissence at all.
Could you change that for me? I haven't uses those stats yet.
Sure, sorry.
((Assuming you meant .410 rather than 4.10, as the latter would be a small artillery piece. Knowing this game, though, I guess it could be quite possible that someone made an AR-15 in such a caliber.))
"Four-ten?! What, do I look like a fucking toddler to you? Don't you have something with real stopping power? Even some SMG would be fine, at least that's a real weapon of war!"
Complain about the gun for awhile, asking for something better. If that's really the best available for the money Ben has, it he'll take it anyway, then return to Vince's house.
The gunfarmer scowls at you.
"For what you've got, you can buy a submachine gun, if you're so concerned about spraying out lead. I plan on hitting the things I shoot at first time, but I guess that's your choice."
He hands you a completely black, unreflective P90, but elongated and unbranded. Fifty rounds.
"From your attitude, you don't know much about gunfarmers. You might not have realised, but this weapon is alive. And not only is she living, she can reproduce and feed. Each bullet is a single egg, and it can gestate into another living weapon if you get it in a dead body. She won't fire any rounds that aren't hers, but if you fight well, you don't need to worry about running out. She feeds off death, see, and the more she eats, the more eggs she makes, and the more rounds you have. So if people are dying nearby, you'll get more ammunition.
"Don't worry about keeping all the bodies, if the guns hatch they'll find their way into the flock from the wild. But you want to keep a couple for yourself, you can do that. Oh, and we'll take the ring, not the blood. At least we can trade that trash with kobolds."
Make my glass eye into a pendant using a clot. Use my other clot to turn a paintbrush into a wand (the other British-stereotype guy already has a cane staff, and I don't want to force you to think up more cane-related spells/abilities).
If it won't ruin the hat/keep it filled with liquid all of the time, use my top hat as the container for my chalice. If it will, use a small tupperware container instead (fashion a bandolier of sorts out of random scraps so that I won't have to hold it). Use battery fluid and the frog goo as my chalice's liquids.
Make my way to the mission area.
Wait, all chalices cost 1+ clots to make, while pendants and wands both take one clot at tier one. Please specify two (or one, if it's just a two-clot chalice). I'll give the stuff to you respectively, don't worry.
And making it into a chalice using battery fluid and magic mucus will ruin that hat.
Allocation of RunesSome people have seen or done things during break between missions that taught them letters in the alphabet of magic. Here are the runes gained since Mission One finished.
Goethe T. HelleDwarven 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.
Ellen YorkUnending Avarice: you can tell which loot is the most expensive and tradeable instantly, and can grab it as well. Pearls, money, fur coats, expensive champagne, and all things glamourous are magically attracted to your questing fingers.
Wallfish: a rune derived from snails you particularly enjoyed eating with pearls and vinegar. Better at avoiding damage when in or heading for cover.
Jimmy "Car bombs" Castanza
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.
And that's it.
Vince, once everyone but Sir Lootington is assembled around his kitchen table, explains the mission.
"One of the less known types of magical human are the Recluses. Recluses are people gifted with great power, often destined to be mighty heroes or the creators new branches of magic. But out of fear, stupidity or the pressure of mortal society, they fail to use their abilties. Because of the perverse and stubborn nature of magic, this merely increases their potency tenfold, though their gifts are raw and undeveloped. Recluses are massive and unhappy vessels of magical energy they can't or won't find an outlet for. It's a bit like a pore getting blocked and swelling up into a boil or pustule. They will generally try to avoid close contact with mortals, and keep away from members of the magical community. Many of them hardly go outside.
"Your mission is to find one of these Recluses in a certain apartment complex, and to get them into the back of a truck I'll give you. There is heavy magical machinery in there, so be careful with it. The machinery will start by itself and neutralize any threat if you shut the door with the Recluse inside. There will even be several clots and some loot in it for you, if you don't fuck up. And try and keep the Recluse alive, it will work better that way, though you should still put him in if he is dead. So you're going to have to choose whether your attacks are lethal or nonlethal."
Vince tosses the keys to Jimmy and begins to shoo you out to the truck.
"I'd recommend having a plan, as the Recluse may be reluctant to comply, and will grow stronger when in danger or stressed. Any questions?"
Goethe T. Helle
Puissant fettle - 1
Ritual potency - 2
Runic sight - 1
Banal combat - 0
Aim - 1
Melee - 0
Agility - 2
Practicality - 1
Inventory: £5, clockface minus one hand, highlighter pens, knife
From the beast: one bone, empty molasses jar.
[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.
Puissant clots: 0
Puissance: 6/6
Name: Ellen York
Puissant fettle: 1
Runic sight: 1
Banal combat: 1
Agility: 3
Runes:Unending Avarice: you can tell which loot is the most expensive and tradeable instantly, and can grab it as well. Pearls, money, fur coats, expensive champagne, and all things glamourous are magically attracted to your questing fingers.
Wallfish: a rune derived from snails you particularly enjoyed eating with pearls and vinegar. Better at avoiding damage when in or heading for cover.
Inventory: Duct Tape, nettles, crocuses, thorns,
[Broom] - Roomba wrapped in rusty barbed wire.
[De-thorned Rose Wand]
Puissant Clots: 1
Puissance: 6/6
Name: Sir Worthington the Fourth
Stats: Ritual Potency: 3
Practicality 3
Inventory: £50
{Financial Toad Demon Mucus}
Puissant Clots: 2
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: £25, very rusty saw, length of pipe stuck to block of concrete, highlighter pen
[Lightbulb Antenna Wand]
[Broom] - Bike handles for steering.
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: 2
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.
Also a bag of athames, a cooked leg (stored at Vince's place), a worn face-concealing hooded coat.
Gunfarmer P90 (50/50)
Puissant clots: 3
Puissance:5/5
Name: Sir Ritualington
Ritual Potency: 3
Agility 3
Inventory: £50
[Wooden Cane Staff] - taken by police.
Puissant Clots: 1
Puissance:5/5
Name: Derrick
Slightly slowed by a heavy load
Puissant fettle - 1
Banal combat - 2
Melee - 1
Agility - 1
Practicality - 1
Inventory: £40, scrap metal spike, crate.
[Pocket Knife Wand] [Scrap Metal Shield Staff]
Puissant Clots: 0
Puissance:6/6