Ugh, this was delayed too long. Sry.
"I have no fucking idea who anyone of you guys are,so i am just gonna go with pure luck and go directly look for these sources"
Goes into the direction of Wilmot St
You wander over to the power signal detected on Wilmot Street. The source appears to be an empty primary school, from which you suddenly hear an unexpectedly musical explosion. Green flames shoot out of the roof fifty feet into the air, though nothing appears to be seriously burnt. A figure wearing several sets of goggles, a heavily-charred apron and an extroadinarily long grey beard rushes out coughing, as purple smoke streams from the entrance, then notices you and draws himself up.
"Whaddya want? Was just testing a reagant, thassall. Perfectly normal alchemical tecknique. Newit was gonna happen and everything. Just checking it worked. Gotta make sure the aspic was prp'ly distillated. Whaddya gawking at? Never seen a perfectly good, self-respectin alchemist going about his work before?"
A tiny doubt begins to form in your mind regarding the academic credentials of this man. Also, this probably isn't the power source Vince wanted, given that it's just a lab.
Now hold on here, you going to kill me in one fell swoop with no opportunity for reaction? Because I happen to have an empowered roomba covered in spikes that I can control solely with my mind. If I'm going to die, at least fling that thing into Victor's head as hard as possible.
It's a fell swoop that's been a long time in coming, but sure, I'll give you a roll as you pass out from ghoulism and drugs.
1
The roomba twitches feebly, then scuttles through Victor's legs, tripping him a little. Perhaps not the best revenge.
A couple of questions about phylacteries:
Can the Earth be my phylactery? Can a plane (as in, say, the Elemental Plane of Earth)? Can the multiverse? Can time? Can London? Can my brain? Can my consciousness? Can a really important and powerful demon? Can a meme?
Can a single object be the phylactery of multiple liches?
If a phylactery changes (i.e. a phylactery that is a computer has its OS updated, for example), will that have any (negative) consequences for the lich? If so, that might dissuade one from choosing a plane, a meme, the multiverse, etc. as their phylactery (since they tend to be constantly changing in small and/or large ways).
Not really. I mean, you're performing a magical ritual which involves binding this thing to you and your life (or rather, death) force, magical power, etc. And as for using the entire earth in a magical ritual... it'd be like trying to salt your food with the Pacific Ocean. You couldn't even be aware of the whole thing, let alone touch it or perform magic upon it.
Plane: maybe a small one. I mean, in theory, any of these would work, if you were an unspeakable large and powerful being. Multiverse, time, London: you're not going to be able to involve any of these in a magical ritual with your current capabilities. They're too big/fundamental/complex/powerful.
Brain/Consciousness: I dunno. Can you figure out a way to consume people with your brain? You still kinda need it to think with, at the moment at least. As it rots, your consciousness will move into your skull, or you could move your consciousness by other means (computers, rituals, etc), and then use your brain to physically consume stuff. Don't know why you'd want to. Or perhaps you mean telepathically? You could do that, eat someone's minds via telepathic link. Classic Lich move.
Demon: you figure out a way to bind it to your will, or grow so powerful you can absorb it into yourself as you become a lich, and that'll work.
Meme: yes.
I... guess so? It'd mean less food for everybody though.
Phylactery changes may have an impact on the lich. For example, if you choose a straw, and someone ties a knot in it, you better untie the knot or make a new phylactery. Could be positive though: a computer getting a new firewall, for example.
"Will we be able to see it ourselves, or do we need something to help us?"
"You should be able to see it yourselves. I mean, you might have to look for it, but nobody can hide the arcane equivalent of a nuclear power station for very long, even from you lot."
"Just a Question Vince, But do you know if the monks take payment for answering questions?"
I'm going to ride my Broom down to the Monks if/when I get an answer to that mildly important question.
"Yes they do. But it's fairly cheap, they'll take almost anything, and they might give you one anwer for free. They may also accept favours."
"Vincent, if you don't mind, I have a few questions. Firstly, if we were able to find information on the sort of one of the energy sources, such as it being based on, say, a nuclear lava lamp, or maybe a hydroponic blueberry bus, could the sensors be tuned more specifically, eliminating some false positives on the map? Second, any idea if those of us with greater runic sight, mainly 3 and above, could notice the presence of one from the street, or the same building as it? Third, does being a witch mean we're not pure human anymore? Fourth, what sort of objects/beings would cause the false positives? Fifth, and this is more of a personal question, does chalice size matter?"
To Jimmy/Crazyabe "So...how much were those coins worth?" Rub fingers together for a moment."Unless you got hold of some new device to search for that sort of thing, no. You've had enough help from me as it is."
Then, check out the monastery with the others. On the way there, though, get a quick look at the three points of interest northwest of it.
"Perhaps the more observant among you will be able to see it from far away. Then again, perhaps not, I don't know what it is. But it's probably pretty big, and gives out a lot of energy, so Sight will help."
"Ehhh... all I meant was those buggers in the Cox prefer insect people. Their own kind. You aren't mortal though, and a few of you are already something else."
"Pretty much anything magic will cause a false positive."
"Not really. They can be any size, as long as you can kinda handle them."
Northwest of it... let's see... the northernmost of the arc of points is in the middle of a bustling indoor mortal market. You find nothing of interest until you come to a plant salesman. There, a ghostly woman stands wailing beneath a bannana tree in a massive ceramic pot, while mortals walk by her oblivious. Elegantly dressed, her veil and kimono are splashed with tears, and she frets over an incredibly long red piece of string tied to the trunk and leading off between the stalls into the distance. As soon as she notices you, however, she falls to her knees and clutches yours. Given that her hands go some of the way through, it's a slightly unsettling experience. She begs you to cut the string, then follow it and take revenge on the man who tied it. In return for this, she swears she can tell you any important number you wish to know, especially if you buy the tree she is cursed to stand beside.
The next point you investigate, south of that, seems to be in the centre of a half-finished construction. Nothing seems very magical about it, but when you use your Sight to peer through the wooden barrier surrounding the bare concrete and scaffolding, you catch a glimpse of something magical that quickly cloaks itself. Something well-protected and large but moving nervously.
Finally,
the last point in the arc that you look at is a gigantic curved skyscraper, known locally as the gherkin. Harpies, wrymen, and other flying creatures flock around it as they do most tall buildings, in this case drawn by slight magical residues inside. Its thick glass walls are difficult to see through, but you feel as much as see the presence of something very big and very powerful at the bottom.
You hurry over to where the monks are. Observatino is free and fast, btw, but clots/runes/etc won't come unless one gets involved in some way.
So Egan_BW's in his own private pm thing now?
"Hm... While I'd likely be fascinated by insectoid cultures, I do believe that the monks will be able to give us what we seek in a more timely manner. Who wishes to accompany me?"
To the monastery! *Batman transition theme*
Are there any cures for ghoulism, vampirism, and/or lichdom? Ask this to the necromancers and the monks; they might have different answers.
@Necromancers only: Do I have to choose a specific type of creature (i.e. humans, sheep, cows, etc.) to be my food source, or can I take my selected body bart from whatever I wish? Can I feed upon individual members of a hivemind?
@necromancers: you don't have to feed on any selected type of creature, no, you're entirely free. Some will be more nourishing though. You could feed on individual members of a hivemind, sure, though drones might give you less sustenance than fully-fledged individuals.
Put up the illusion to go back to 'stunning'. Then head out on foot to check out the three eastmost points, there's an apartment building, a parking lot on a light industrial area, and a railyard next to a public train station. Take the backpack, the wand, the sketchbook, and the camera.
Start with the apartment building. Walk around the exterior with Ben, and then find the manager and ask if there are any apartments available. Be sure to check out the location near the southwest corner of the building where the marker was.
-edited to just start with the apartment building.-
Ben will follow Nanami.
You arrive at the apartment building, and while walking the perimeter realise that the power signal actually originates
in the garden beside the building.Coming up to the garden, the first thing you see is a magnificent gryphon. Yellowy plumage almost glowing in the sunlight, the resplendent creature is as tall as you even reclined. It lies sunning itself in the middle of the grass, while a dozen mortal-looking people observe it from a polite distance. Oddly, they mostly seem to be painting it, some on canvases the size of themselves, except for one girl standing before the beast and chanting softly, waving some sort of pendant around. Ben has by this point sunk into the shadowy bushes, checking the windows for snipers and all that sort of thing. The people are dressed well but normally, with a mixture of suits, casual clothes, party stuff, even excercise gear. While not alll of them are good-looking or even striking, they all have a certain something... charisma, if you will. A little like your magical enhancements, but not as focused on looking good, more about how people feel about them. You feel drawn to them, a little, an effect that must be much more powerful for weak-minded mortals.
A nearby man in the process of a disagreeably sentimental oil painting of the beast looks up at you irritably.
"You haven't come for a while, have you? You'd better snap to and get painting it if you want any of the moxie, you know. Some of us are almost done, and the Subject is going to get bored pretty soon, bless her Image. Anyway, one measly depiction is barely worth her time, you're lucky she's letting you bask in her presence at all at the moment."
He then goes back to painting. You open up your magical senses, and get the feeling that some form of power is moving into the people around you from the gryphon.
Ben meanwhile has performed the "Group of People+ Chanting+ Weird Talk + Questionable Behaviour + Lack of visible armaments = Cult" calculation, and rolls his eyes wearily.
Finally, a text pops up from Dave saying that the video's uploaded. You should start to feel the power boost pretty soon.
MONASTERYGoethe, Jimmy and Sir Worthington all travel to the monastery. An unimposing building next to a church, you'd think it was just an ordinary office block if not for the figures in grey robes moving around it.
The three of you wait in reception for a few minutes, alongside sullen and shady characters, until a tall, thin monk with a weaselly face appears. He leads you on a tour of the building, explaining the very boring beliefs and history of the holy order that made the Answerification machine-device. There are mostly monks doing monk things and monks doing office things. Even the machine itsel is just a series of very large boxes in the basement. He asks what you want to find out, and unsubtly brings up the issue of payment. In order to stay impartial, something monastic orders worry about, he can't let you ask questions for free. He'll accept £500 per question or the equivalent in goods, magical stuff or mundane. He also has a few tasks you can do for the order if you're skint.
He also warns you that the machine usually produces several answers, some of which are wrong.
Name: Nanami Adachi. (Nanami)
Unnatural beauty granted by demonic contract and the adoration of mortals.
Power from mortal media.
Conscripted into twenty-nineth legion of Amdukias.
Puissance: 1
Ritual: 0
Runic Sight: 0
Banal Combat: 0
Aim: 0
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]
Puissance: 5/5
Puissant Clots: 1
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
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: 6/6
A GHOUL
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,
Thorny and gothic katana
[Broom - Tier 2] - Roomba wrapped in rusty barbed wire.
[De-thorned Rose Wand]
Under the influence of magical substances
Puissant Clots: 0
Puissance: 6/6
Name: Sir Worthington the Fourth
Has a pretty crappy wooden broom for a leg.
Stats: Ritual Potency: 3
Practicality 3
Agility: -1 (wooden poles and plastic bristles do not a good leg make)
Inventory: £25, Pint of royal blood (stored at Vince's), blood covered knife,
Stored at Vince's place: mortal's tendons, skull and leg bones.
[Glass Eye Pendant] [Paintbrush Wand]
[Toad Demon Battery Acid Tupperware Chalice]
Novice's Pyromancy Flame - Heal Burn (1P), Create Flame (1P)
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.
Glock 17
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: 0
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, 2.5 legs War Bacon (Vince's Fridge), a worn face-concealing hooded coat.
Two generous Roast Beef and Horseradish Sandwiches
Gunfarmer P90 (44/50) (in bag)
Puissant clots: 3
Puissance:5/5
Steve
Puissant fettle - 0
Ritual potency - 0
Runic sight - 0
Banal combat - 3
Aim - 0
Melee - 0
Agility - 3
Practicality - 0
Inventory: £50
Puissance: 5/5
Clots:2/2
Author
Topic: COVEN: Gulled Goldsmiths and Lost Locomotives (Read 156152 times)