"You shouldn't have done that."
I assume I no longer have control over Ben? Well, in case I do, he's going to go for his equipment and then take cover while evaluating the situation. And he'll attack Bella if she tries to interfere with him.
...Somehow I have the feeling that it doesn't matter whether I have control...
Actually, you do have control of Ben. It's just that he percieves the situation a little... differently.
From Ben's point of view, the stone is something he knows is very important, and his former allies do not realise this. They should be cooperating with the people guarding the stone, and any attack upon it could be dangerous. His allies might be persuaded in time, but they could also pose a very major threat to the precious stone, which is counting upon Ben's combat experience and quick-wittedness. They attacking him because he has realised just how important the stone is, and from their limited understanding this is a bad thing. He needs to end the threat to the stone, nonviolently if possible, and make sure the witches aren't a threat to the stone any more.
Drop the illusion on Bella.. she's too far away anyway to get it and I may need the puissance.
Step out of the way of Ben and the bag of gear, turn towards the gear bag and the large stone, and fire two shots of spell #2 at the rock. Then draw the pistol and aim at the bag. Should the mind-controlled Ben get the P90, shoot him.
Too far away? You wot, I'm the SPEED WITCH, bitch!
Fly in and grab the bag of weapons.
Nanami turns to the stone and fires two crystallisation spells at the rock. The thing continues to glimmer, apparently unaware that it has just been given geological cancer. She pivots while drawing the pistol, but has lost precious seconds.
1 vs 3
Ben hurls his body forward, covering the ground between him and the bag in moments. Bella is mere metres away, and simply readjusts her course, still aiming for the bag.
5+0.5 vs 5+2
Ben manages to slide behind the rock for cover, bullets ricocheting off the top of the stone. As he reaches in for the P90, Bella smashes into him from behind, having neglected to deccelerate before stopping. Even Ben is winded by the impact of another human moving faster than is legal in some places, giving Bella sufficient time to also grab hold of the bag of weapons. Meanwhile, shots ring out from the industrial part, the earth around Nanami spurting up in minature fountains places as she throws herself behind a pile of dirt.
So to recap: Ben and Bella are tussling over the bag behind the stone, while Nanami is under fire and in cover, on the over side of the stone.
I bet 14 bones launched to the head at close range are lethal enough
Go to one of the spots to find a source of power, maybe one that already has other witches so I can assist with stuff and watch how profesionals do this stuff. Use my broom in the way to practice with it. Also keep one of the biggest knifes I found on the kitchen.
You ask Vince where some of your comrades are, and set off blindly in their direction.
You eventually end up standing at the edge of a park, beside which is a wide expanse of barren earth next to an industrial area full of stubby concrete buildings and machines and pipes. Down a gentle slope and over a fence, two of your fellow witches are tusseling over a bag, while a third is taking cover behind a mound of dirt. Shots ring out from the industrial area, presumably aimed at the witches. Right now, nobody seems to have noticed you.
What was Vince's answer to my question?
Shit, didn't see. He gives you an address; some legal building or something.
Go there. Inquire about, uh, whatever ability I mentioned earlier. I'm procrastinating at 2:30 in the morning right now and I'm too tired to go check myself.
In a quite street near the centre of the city, you find the address Vince sent you. Tentatively, you lift the doorknocker. Milliseconds before you knock, red flames flare up behind each window as the blinds snap open. You back away as a horrendous creaking and groaning begins, brick grinding and wood straining. And then the entire front of the building lifts up of the foundations, bending back and back until the windows are parallel with the ground.
The cavity beneath the building is a tremendous toothy maw, massive dentures lining the sides of a cavernous throat. Grotesquely, the thing's tongue stretches up from the shadowy recessess, waving to and fro.
You feel the voice that speaks in your bones.
"So what is it? Do you want a Satanic contract? Hire one of Forneus' demonic lawyers or damned orators to speak for you? Do you want a contract recorded in Hell's archives? Or do you want to push a legal dispute through the infernal courts? Out with it, puny witchling, scrabbler for flame."
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
Mediocre Pistol (6/6)
Puissance: 3/9
Puissant Clots: 1
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: 5/6
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, 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]
{Scuttle Gem}
Amateur's Pyromancy Flame - Heal Burn (1P), Create Flame (1P), Flame Claw (3P)
Puissant Clots: 0
Puissance: 0/5
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.
[Omni-tool]
Milk Bottle full of space-warping venom.
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: 1
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, currently on ground near Bella.
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
£20
Set of keys and passcard
Gunfarmer P90 (44/50) (in bag) (confiscated by Bella)
Puissant clots: 3
Puissance:5/5
Steve
Banal combat - 3
Agility - 3
Inventory: £50
Puissance: 5/5
Clots:3
Name: Bella, the Speed Witch
Runic sight: 2
Banal Combat: 1
Melee 1
Agility 2
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
Name: Aisha Kassem
Ritual - 1
Runic sight - 2
Practicality - 3
Runes
Intoxication: a rune that can be muttered over an alchemical procedure, bring out the hallucinogenic and mood-altering qualities of the product.
Improvisation: passive, improves lab work/alchemy in unusual conditions, using odd or dubious ingredients or tools.
Griffon Roar: makes something or someone more intimidating and more visible when written.
Biotechnical: passive rune, boost to integrating organics with technology.
Psychologist: a rune letting you see people's motivations, triggers, interests, personalities, etc. more clearly.
Inventory: £43, Certificate from Belial (valid for one sample of occult substance)
Cheap backpack, four bottles:
River water, crocuses, rose petals, peonies, blades of grass, stagnant pond water, sticks, charcoal, rain water.
Also three cans, six lengths of rubber tubing, two copper pipes, a broken coffee machine, a mostly empty lighter and a teapot.
One rubber tubing, copper pipe, teapot and coffee machine set up as Distillator in Vince's garage.
{Potion of fleshly regeneration - One Dose}
Puissant Clots: 2
Puissance: 5/5
Name: Zamenis Paean
Puissant fettle: 3
Agility: 2
Aim: 1
Inventory: £5, Certificate from Belial (valid for one sample of occult substance)
Duct tape, Large Knife
Surgical tools: scalpel, a first aid kit, a saw, and tweezers.
[Tier 1 Broom, knife on end]
[Human Leg Wand]
Puissant Clots: 0
Puissance: 14/14