Mission Two: Finished(How did I manage to cut the floor directly underneath me? That makes no goddamn sense at all...
shove the rubble off me, and limp away from the building as fast as my legs will carry.
(Incredible incompetency and high winds)
6
You manage to worm out from beneath the burning pile of wood and crawl to the onto the concrete staircase shortly before the entire corridor and half of the apartments are lost in flames. Several floors implode, the Recluse a dark figure in the centre still struggling to control the blaze. You turn away and start stumbling down the steps, nearly passing out with the pain from each step.
After an age of choking, tripping over bodies and staggering around chunks of fallen masonry, you pass into the lobby where the first firefighters are arriving. Barely aware of having walked through a curtain of fire, you're out the doors and beneath the sky as the building collapses behind you.
A period of time passes which you have no memory of. And then you wake up in room with no mirror, bed the pearly white of hospital linen. There's no mirror, but your hands are red and distorted, raised and jagged lines of crusted skin. A doctor watches you from beside the door, while a man in a well-fitted grey suit sits by your bed. The doctor nods imperceptibly.
"If you're feeling up to it, we'd like to ask you some questions."
The man questions you about how the fire started, what the gunshots were, why so many bodies were found with stab wounds. He seems to be involved with the civil service, and might know where your possessions are. How are you going to play this?
Oh, and you get precisely ONE statpoint.
"So, how'd your side of the mission go? Other than absolutely failing the 'don't let him find out you're magic' part, that is. I was looking for the recluse downstairs, but I only found an Italian vampire mafia. Wouldn't have taken so long if Jimmy wasn't stealing from the same people. I could've handled the Recluse with a good ol' Stoicism rune before things got bad if I never got caught up with em'. Oh yeah, did I ever pass out the Sharpies to you all? They're good when you just need to write down a rune.
Oh, Ellen? Didn't you get some Unyeilding Greed rune or something? Can you tell how much this suit's worth? How about Jimmy's gold coins?"
Look toward where the apartments are. If some final big exploding corrosion happens, I want a puissance from it. Also, if I get those stat points, add them to Puissant Fettle and Aim.
Oh, and one more thing, after that Ninja; "Jimmy, I'll have to remind Vince that YOU decided to screw around with AND around the vampires mafia by stealing their stuff. I was almost sucked into an offer I couldn't refuse. At least we still have the gold to make up for it".
No stat points. The mission is considered aborted.
You do get one rune though. As you watch the plumes of smoke rise, and listen to the sirens and rumbles of structural collapse, one rune flashes into your mind. Ruination: when written, it makes a bad situation worse, and an irretrievable one more so.
Explore the dream dimension- there's gotta be stuff in there that affects the real world in some way(s), right?
Rit: 5x
3You dream about a snake coiling itself round a lantern, getting larger and larger, smothering the lantern's light.
You see insects skating about on the surface of a pond, fish moving beneath. Some insects follow the shadows, some cluster in the light, but one moves apart from the others. It pushes at the water below it again and again, as if trying to build something from it. And then suddenly, surface tension breaks, and it falls through, skating on the other side.
You watch young crows flying from a nest and moving over the corpses of great and armoured beasts, dispersing and diving at exposed meat.
You jerk awake, sitting in Vince's kitchen. You feel a bit weak, but well-rested. And then you look down and where you used to have a leg, there's just a smooth and scarless stump.
To your credit, you stop screaming very quickly.
"Looks like we're going to have to do something about that."
Head back to base, Tell the boss how SOMEONE decided to screw around with/around the recluse rather then Knocking him out/tieing him down and dragging him back... and because his power seems ta have been ta tear holes in reality we couldn't kill him ta drag back either.
One rune dances across your retinas as you sit in the back of the truck.
Elegance: decreases consequence of close fails in physical actions. Learned from smooth vampires who you nonetheless robbed.
You explain the situation to Vince, while several other people chatter at him simultaneously and Ben eats dubious meat. Vince looks more tired than angry.
Ben sighs and mutters something about honesty under his breath, but is otherwise silent on the trip home.
Yup, driving back to Vince. Ben's just gonna ignore him while he grabs something to eat, the crazies can explain things well enough. Edit: At some point, park and quickly retrieve the broken body from on top of the van. No idea how he stayed up there so long, but we better get him down before some cop spots him.
You prioritze getting back to base, while everyone not driving helpfully fails to administer emergency medical aid. Somehow, the casualty pulls through. Reminds you of some crazy field-medics you fought alongside, doctors so good it was like they had unfair roll bonuses in an unrealistic text-based game. But that would be stupid.
Something to eat, at Vince's house... more war bacon it is.
Vince gathers those of you not in conversation with her majesty's secret service and debriefs you on the mission.
"You fucked up."
He then explains where the Coven, or your chapter, is going to go from here.
"We need a power source, for your benefit as well as mine. I'm fed up with finding you power sources and having you piss all over them, so from now on you can do that alone. Give me a day, and I'll have put together some kind of map for you to search on - all together, alone, in small teams, whatever. I don't care. Leave me alone for twenty-four hours."
Vince walks away into the room with the outdated monitors, yards of wire, and coffin of a fourteenth century monk lying in it. You hear the door slam and lock.Goethe T. Helle
Puissant fettle - 1
Ritual potency - 2
Runic sight - 1
Banal combat - 0
Aim - 1
Melee - 0
Agility - 2
Practicality - 1
Inventory: £25, clockface minus one hand, highlighter pens, two kitchen knives, empty molasses jar. Italian Dinner suit, half-empty cologne bottle
From the beast: one bone,
[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: 6/6
Name: Ellen York
Has a few teeth embedded in forehead. Blood on face.
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,
Thorny and gothic katana
[Broom] - Roomba wrapped in rusty barbed wire.
[De-thorned Rose Wand]
Puissant Clots: 1
Puissance: 6/6
Name: Sir Worthington the Fourth
One leg too few.
Stats: Ritual Potency: 3
Practicality 3
Agility: -3
Inventory: £45,
[Glass Eye Pendant] [Paintbrush Wand]
{Financial Toad Demon Mucus}
Puissant Clots: 1
Puissance: 5/5
Jimmy "Car bombs" Castanza
Slightly slowed by a heavy load.
Magical power boosted by Oligarchy rune.
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
Bag of old gold coins
[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. All in sports bag
Also a bag of athames, a cooked leg (stored at Vince's place), a worn face-concealing hooded coat.
Four generous Roast Beef and Horseradish Sandwiches
Gunfarmer P90 (45/50) (in bag)
Discarded somewhere tophat and embroidered coat.
Puissant clots: 3
Puissance:5/5
Name: Derrick
Marked by horrific burns.
Puissant fettle - 1
Banal combat - 2
Melee - 1
Agility - 1
Practicality - 1
Inventory: scrap metal spike, new katana and leather armor secured in crate
[Pocket Knife Wand] [Scrap Metal Shield Staff] - Where? You're unsure.
Puissant Clots: 1
Puissance: 6/6
So, I'm going to need a couple of days to throw together a map, after which you'll have an open-world-ish mission in which you look for a power source, maybe investigating stuff along the way. You have about a day in-game to do whatever. Also, TheBiggerFish is with us now.
Author
Topic: COVEN: Gulled Goldsmiths and Lost Locomotives (Read 153668 times)