"Hello? Miss, I'm from the Better Environments League for Intrest in Advanced Liasons. I'd like to conduct a survey about social relationships on the inhabitants of this building, in case anyone is suffering from any social disorders. Do you know of any such people on the premises?"
The woman at the desk doesn't immediately clock that you're lying. She looks confused, mumbles something about not knowing if she has access to information like that, but offers to help you in any way she can. Perhaps you could be more specific? Clearly extreme boredom and chaotic management have made her extremely given to helping random officials.
Stride right in like I live here, and go up the stairs to check on each apartment individually. Not going inside, just looking at the doors and anything else that seems strange. Even once we find who we're looking for, we can't discount the possibility that there are other magic users here, which could complicate things.
You check rooms 01 through to 06. 02 has weird atonal music playing and 06 is very cold, but nothing unusual in that.
11 to 16 have little results, except for the young children you meet hanging through the doorway of 14, clearly very bored.
I'll Take a look at the place from the outside, looking for rooms which look unlikely to be owned and magic.
The ground (01 to 06) and second (21-26) floors have trace magical runes floating about them, barely discernable to your powerful Sight. Rooms 02, 03, 06, 21, 22, 24, and 25 have the blinds drawn.
just start heading up the stairs, stand next to a door for a bit, and then continue moving on till I find one that I feel is probably it. This is a strong source of magic, right? I should be able to feel it.
You get nothing. High stats in combat or sheer power will be less useful here.
"Hello? Miss, I'm from the Better Environments League for Intrest in Advanced Liasons. I'd like to conduct a survey about social relationships on the inhabitants of this building, in case anyone is suffering from any social disorders. Do you know of any such people on the premises?"
Stand next to this guy. If the woman catches the obvious lie, or otherwise seems to be completely unwilling to help, jump over the desk and grab her. Then cover her mouth while holding a knife to her neck, and very nicely say the spoiler things.
"Look, miss, we're on a very important and peaceful Better Environment, League for... uh, a very important and peaceful mission. These people need our help, and it would be very dangerous if he--uh, they, don't get it. A lot of people could die." Ben just barely starts to cut the skin on her neck here "and we really need to save all those people's lives. So, won't you be good and heroic, and tell us who here needs help?"
Goethe seems to be doing fine on his own, so you sort of skulk in the background. Wearing a hoodie and slouching in the background is as good as disguise as any on a housing estate. Better than the guy who just gave you a tophat and embroidered coat.
@Our driver/mission director/who(m?)ever:
"So, can you give us some details about this lad? Why does he dislike magic? Why has he become a recluse?"
"What happens if we're in the back of the van with him when we lock him in it? May I ask what we're kidnapping him for or what the van's machinery will do to him?"
"Hello? Miss, I'm from the Better Environments League for Intrest in Advanced Liasons. I'd like to conduct a survey about social relationships on the inhabitants of this building, in case anyone is suffering from any social disorders. Do you know of any such people on the premises?"
Stand next to this guy. If the woman catches the obvious lie, or otherwise seems to be completely unwilling to help, jump over the desk and grab her. Then cover her mouth while holding a knife to her neck, and very nicely say the spoiler things.
"Look, miss, we're on a very important and peaceful Better Environment, League for... uh, a very important and peaceful mission. These people need our help, and it would be very dangerous if he--uh, they, don't get it. A lot of people could die." Ben just barely starts to cut the skin on her neck here "and we really need to save all those people's lives. So, won't you be good and heroic, and tell us who here needs help?"
If he syvarris actually does this:
"Good God, man! What on Earth are you doing?! Do you want your face to end up in the newspapers?!"
"I'm terribly sorry, miss; this is my friend's first mission(,) and he's a bit jumpy. I wish I could explain what's actually going on here to you, but I'm afraid that I'd get fired if I did. I can tell you, however, that we are trying to save lives here."
"Come, Fred, let's leave this poor woman alone."
Pop my glass eye's ability and ascend the stairs, searching for someone with the ability to see magical currents. Give my coat and top hat to knife-guy; the last thing that I want to do is to give off the impression of a menacing government official to the recluse.
You ask Vince some last minute questions.
"We don't know anything more about him, sorry. He doesn't like magic, or supresses it, or something, because he's scared of it, ashamed, thinks he's nuts, whatever. He's a Recluse because he stays away from people: can't control his powers around them, doesn't want people to know, is psychologically disturbed, all of the above."
"Being in there with him? It'd be unpleasant for you. You end up dead or weirder. The machinery is only meant to have Recluses in it, not Witches that embrace their power. It's like if you put an apple in an electric orange juicer: it's going to destroy the apple, might break the juicer, and won't even give you much apple juice."
"The van itself? Oh, that's almost exactly like an orange juicer."
And Vince will say no more on the matter, tossing you into the truck.
You use the miracle. Aside from the usual insect vision, rats scampering about disturbingly close to your feet, unspeakable low-quality images seen through the eyes of genital lice, etc there's quite a bit of weird stuff. Some of it is your companions, several of whom experience daylight hallucinations, but there's some other odd stuff going on.
On the ground floor, you see from several sets of eyes in the same very dark apartment that have some kind of infrared or heat vision. And aren't picking one another up. So don't have heat signatures.
A couple of floors up, you're not sure how many, you see through someone's eyes into some kind of truly disgusting summoning. Instead of a neat hole in reality, there's a torn and inflamed socket being prodded and poked at with a limb flickering with ritual energy. The realm it leads into isn't anything useful like a demonic pit or the body of a God, but is vague and diffuse, multicoloured floating lights vaguely mingling in light blue clouds, and weird feelings of pleasure melting through even your holy and entirely visual connection. It's like seeing through the eyes of someone on LSD, cocaine, and several potent aphrodisiacs. You withdraw in righteous disgust, and then the miracle finishes.
01
02 Weird atonal music
03
04
05
06 Cold
11
12
13
14 Young children hanging off frame
15
16
21
22
23
24
25
26
31
32
33
34
35
36
Ground and second (01-6 and 21-6) seem most magical to Jimmy.
Rooms 02, 03, 06, 21, 22, 24, and 25 have the blinds drawn.
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: £45,
[Glass Eye Pendant] [Paintbrush Wand]
{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) (in bag)
Awkwardly holding tophat and embroidered coat.
Puissant clots: 3
Puissance:5/5
Name: Sir Ritualington
DEAD
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
Author
Topic: COVEN: Gulled Goldsmiths and Lost Locomotives (Read 156155 times)