Regenerating? Like with limestone?
Start a conversation. Try to find out a few things:
1. The names of the two of them.
2. Their gear. Radios? What personal protective equipment are they wearing, and is it appropriate to what's being done? (Some stuff that would be easy to miss if playing dress-up are gas monitors and contractor tags. Are they carrying weapons, and what type, although I think Ben would be better at spotting these than I would be.
3. Are these guys legit contractors, or is it a couple of cultists moonlighting or something? Is there any magic on them, or do they have any personal magic?
Secondary is what they're actually doing here, and then basic stuff like how long this is happening for, and directions around the area. This is mostly just conversational filler.
Also, as the conversation is going, slowly drop the illusion. I may want to make another one next, and make sure I'm allowing Ben a clear line of fire.
"Absolutely like with limestone. But we're also making a number of ecological and infrastructure improvements along the canal edge, and we're using some sensitive and dangerous equipment, so I'm going to have to ask you to go back the way you came."
You begin a slightly awkward conversation, introducing yourself and Ben, and finding out in return that they're called John and Joshua. It's hard to tell if they're lying, these people are almost supernaturally poker-faced, and refuse to give any specifics. They only talk in generalities about the "regeneration", and hint that it's far too complex for members of the public to understand. They're carrying
something in their jackets, but you can't tell what. They have radios on their jackets, turned off, and legitamite looking tags. They aren't wearing any protective equipment except high-visibility jackets that you can see.
You get a clear picture of the immediate area from them, though nothing outside of a few hundred metres away. They say the improvements could go on for months.
It's hard to tell if these guys are for real, but you can't sense any magic. You try to make a judgement
Practicality: 1+2
There's something slightly odd about this, but you can't tell what. Joshua politely repeats his request that you turn back, but the two of them are edging slightly closer to you, looking ready for a physical confrontation.
Ben gives the man an unamused stare, and is about to respond when Nanami speaks. He throws a peeved look her way, but relents and stays silent.
Keep a hand on a athame--not the gun--and stay watchful for any aggression from the men. If they attack or get too close to Nanami, nearest guy gets his neck slashed (or a knife thrown into it). Also, circle around a bit while Nanami has their attention.
You try to circle around, but there's not much room on the canal path, and the one speaking moves at once to block your way. Pretty impressive considering he looks like he's paying attention to her.
You catch a flash of metal in one of their jackets.
"What are you guarding in the territory of your control,which you are guarding with very aggresive meaning of guarding the item from this area which i might,or might not need from this area of your control"
By saying this i am hoping to fuck their brains up and while they are trying to process it,sneak throu
5
You jabber away at the golem. It scrunches up its face in confusion, the streetlamps embedded in its eye sockets flickering on and off. It begins to confer with the other two, at which point you stride away behind a truck and sprint up the road. After thirty seconds of running, you look round to see three very pissed off golems looking for you: lifting up cars and looking underneath them, peering into shops, all that.
So you're almost adjacent to one of the points on
the map, but the one a few hundred metres away is further from the golems.
Engrave Slaughter into my machete. Fly over to where people are fighting that giant scorpion and taunt it. swoop in at high speed and hack its tail off. Tail cut!
Prac: 6
You scrounge up a couple of nails and sharp bits of metal, and spend the next hour engraving the rune in intricate, swirling fractal patterns all along the blade. You almost ruin the machete, and the blade is now very delicate, but on the plus side it is now incredibly powerful when used against multiple weaker opponents.
This leaves you no time to fly anywhere. Vince gives you the locactions of every current Coven member, so feel free to join anyone you please.
Shoot it a few more times.
Summon my worm again, if I can. Rest for a bit; I'm in no shape to fight.
Worthington uses the dregs of his mana, pulling the demonic toad back into existence beneath the scorpion's feet. It latches on firmly, the acid spurting from it dripping into the holes in the insect's carapace, producing inhuman shrieks of pain. Jimmy drops to one knee, steadies his aim, and uses the vital few seconds the beast is immobilised for to send several bullets straight through its face and head. Black ichor squirts from the entry and exit wounds, and the creature freezes completely as the demon dissipates, stiff and dead.
The adrenaline pumping through the veins of the two witches slowly lessens, and Worthington slumps back against the tree trunk exhausted and injured. Then he feels his internal flame flare up with the victory, sensing a trophy to burn nearby. A bodypart of the scorpion, perhaps, or one of its young.
Jimmy turns to the scorpion's young, stamping on a few, as they flee keening wildly. They don't get very far without a guardian, as the opportunistic predators of the magical world begin to circle, their feeble manipulation of space insufficient to protect them for long. A seagull the size of a dog snatches up one of the larvae and flaps off with it firmly held in the beak. A near-invisible ripple in the fabric of the city approaches a second crawling over brickwork and pulls it in like a stone falling into a pool of oil. A scraggly pigeon-gnome hybrid kebabs a third on a homemade spear and darts away, stuffing it into a bag already full of succulent garbage. It doesn't look like the monks will have any more problems with these creatures.
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
Puissance: 9/9
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
Name: Sir Worthington the Fourth
Has a pretty crappy wooden broom for a leg.
Broken-ribbed and bleeding: will have trouble with exertion. Can still use magic perfectly though.
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, 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]
Novice's Pyromancy Flame - Heal Burn (1P), Create Flame (1P)
Puissant Clots: 0
Puissance: 1/5
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 (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: 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, bin bags.
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:3
Name: Bella, the Speed Witch
Runic sight: 2
Banal Combat: 1
Melee 1
Agility 2
Runes:
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