Awwwwww yeeaaaaahhhhh.
Can I command the flame-insects to burn stuff? Can they melt steel and stuff? Do stuff that they burn count as stuff that I burn for the purposes of gaining pyromancies?
"I believe that some of our good friends in the Coven have already taken care of the rock that fell in the canal."
Show Vince my rock shards.
"That just leaves the one near the sports stadium and the one in the park. I will go investigate the one near the sports stadium; who will come with me?"
"Oh, and Vince, I am not allowed to burn the large power source if I come across it, correct?"
Make (and wear) a tinfoil hat, then head to the sports stadium in search of the power source. Be on guard for any attempts to invade/influence my mind. Will my understanding of the spacerock gained from burning it help me resist attempts by spacerocks to control my mind?
You can point the flame insects in the general direction of something. Which will then very likely burn, seeing as they seem to be about the temperature of lava. They can melt steel, though melting a lot of steel will take the entire swarm. No.
Vince examines your rock shards, and notes that they seem to have some kind of inert telepathic abilities... so they could possibly be used to mind control people or things. Or maybe as some kind of crude mental weapon, good for blasting apart nonphysical entities, as they'll probably release mental blasts when put under a lot of pressure. He expressly forbids you from taking the thing everyone is trying to find for yourself.
You make yourself a tinfoil hat. Burning the spacerock will guard you against that specific kind of telepathy. And then you and Sen set off for the thing by the stadium.
Firstly, you can see very little. Large stadium, previously Olympic but now used for football matches, nothing seems out of the ordinary. But you aren't actually looking for something in the stadium. Vince directed you to a spot beside it, a multi-story parking lot building. So you walk over to it.
There are no massive craters. No obvious meteors. No flying saucers embedded in the roof. In fact, the building appears perfectly normal. But when you walk around it, the shards of spacerock vibrate slightly, and the side of the building ripples in response. Holding the shard closer to the concrete produces larger oscillations, and the wall starts flickering several of the wrong colours. Finally, you press the shard against the wall, and the illusion parts, entirely dropping for several metres. What is revealed beneath is simply frightening.
Harder than iron, but clearly biological, the near-black skin behind the illusion is pitted and scorched. Tiny craters mark the surface, and worn-away circular scars of massive impacts can also be seen. Walking along the side of the building with the shard held high confirms your fears... the animal occupies the entire building. You catch a glimpse of thankfully closed eye-sockets, unknown orifices, and huge flippers folded against the creature's body.
Sen is the first to notice. The lower part of the creature is still rock-hard, but is undulating achingly slowly. After half an hour of observation, you are pretty sure that the thing is slowly but surely moving. Travelling towards another spot marked by Vince, between it and the destroyed space-rock.
By the by, this creature is about a hundred metres long, forty wide, and forty high. It seems to have the proportions of a whale... or very fat slug. Hard to estimate, night is falling fast.
Oh, that's a much better plan than just walking in the front door with an LMG and demanding that they allow a trade-in of 5.56 in exchange for everything they stock! Yeah, go back to Vince's house, check the P90, and wait for nighttime. Then go back out and break in through that window, with weapons and some extra bags (Ben should still have some empty garbage bags from a dumpster, if nothing else) to shovel medications into.
Ben mostly wants to steal some anti-psychotics, like thorazine, but since he's breaking in anyway he'll try to grab whatever he thinks might be sellable (read: everything) that he can before cops respond to the alarms that I'm sure he'll set off.
Night falls. You go round to the pharmacy, and after checking for habitation or alarms, start the break-in. The window is locked, naturally, but to a man of your talents this is no obstacle at all.
Prac: 3
You smash in the window with the butt of your gun, knock the remaining glass away, and move in, only setting off one burglar alarm. It's far too dark to see what you're getting, so you fill two bin-bags with everything you can get your hands on that rattles, and leap out the window as the sirens start. You see a community support officer standing in front of the pharmacy, who gapes at you, clearly not used to thinking on his feet. You have a few seconds to react, and maybe a minute until the cops get here. Loads of ways you could play this.
Ask how do I become a lich and if he could teach me some spells or rituals that I could use like how to raise the dead, using necromancy to cause or cure wounds or controlling undead. Once I'm done learning about necromancy from this group and they have nothing else to teach me, ask about other necromancer groups where I could learn more.
You become a lich with the help of another aspiring necromancer, or just anyone really. You first need to make a "phylactery", a magical object you can use to feed on mortals for life and power. This costs one clot and can be almost anything. For example, a goblet that you filled with blood then drank from would work. So would a crow that you fed on the eyes of your enemies. Or even an evil scarf that strangled anyone who wore it. You choose, anything you like.
Once you have that, you must kill yourself in controlled conditions, and then be immediately revived as an undead. After that, you're a certified lich, capable of draining power from humans or other beings and using it to practice necromancy.
You already have one spell to raise the dead. Necromancy isn't very good for directly offensive magic or healing. Powerful lichs and necromancers can send out blasts of death-energy or heal through force of will and the like, but its inefficient. Undead aren't too hard to control, provided they're ones you made.
He mentions three possible ways to further your knowledge. One is a small-time necromancer who'll happily make you into a lich. One is a shop run by tech-focused necromancers. And the third is a group of people who specialise in quick-and-dirty mass resurrection: zombie hordes, skeletons, all that.
Hmm, large scale donors. A million pounds is a little much to talk someone into donating in a day, and with government and institutional funding most funds will be annual budgets. Stealing from operational funds takes a long time, and although it could certainly accumulate to over a million pounds, it's hard to call that an 'opportunity' to do so, at least one that'll materialize in the next 48 hours. Trust funds have some potential, but there will be a couple more people managing money, a few accountants, too many people to talk into it, so I'd have to steal the money myself and leave bucks for him.. which is an idea. Plan B it is.
Find out if the canal rock was the same canal we were fighting near, and maybe it was that marker in the water. Also ask Vince if he knows where I can get some lockpicks, and buy a set if available. Also test out one of the large rock chunks on some civilian, checking if there's any visible effect.
Put on an illusiory disguise and head for the building housing the charity. Aim for rib-striking, but try to make myself look more human. A little scary and intimidating is fine, but a little less than current. Take my time with this, as if I screw up, it could be important, and I need to look like a different person. A different ethnicity would be good, like someone from the middle east, say.
Bring, inside the backpack, the sketchbook, my wand, and the camera. Take a rock chunk if I figure out some way to use it to my advantage, such as if it renders people more tractable or is a great distraction.
In any case, ask about volunteering and try to get a good look at the entire building. Talk with a lot of people. What I'm looking for are the people who will be handling the funds. Check them out on my phone, and pick one as a target. Try to get that guy's password, either through watching him log in or using/hiding the camera to record him logging in. Set up a date for tonight with that person.
It was the same canal. No luck with Vince on lockpicks... not really very important if you can melt through steel. Messing with one of the rock chunks, eh? You discover that by putting your hand on it and sending a quick surge of power through, you can make any mortals nearby more compliant.
You put on an illusion, making yourself look just past fashion-model beautiful and vaguely Syrian. Nobody's going to disagree with you about anything, but they're not going to be crouching at your feet and begging you to do them the honour of kicking them in the teeth either. Anyway, you go into the building and turn on the charm, pretending to be either an intern, a low-key government official, or someone interning with a government official. Being vague and smiling a lot works well on glamour-stricken mortals. You manage to get the CEO's password by asking him to show you some trifling and irrelevant email for abstruse purposes, and swaying round to his side of the desk as he boots the computer. To his credit, he manages to type it in on the third try, as his fingers shake and he unknowingly tries to resist four different kinds of magic.
You identify the woman who moves the money around from account to account. She has some diminutive title and a lower salary than some, but she is the one who talks to the bank and knows the account passwords. Setting up a date takes some doing, as she's strong-willed, married and clearly not into you. But you manage to bring her round, after finding a pretext to wave the mind-control rock in her face. As office hours end, you finally persuade her to nip round the corner to a fancy Bazoi place. Night has fallen, by the way: it's eight in the evening.
Stick that Benflesh bullet in my inventory, please.
Head over to that fallen object #1.Try to go and regroup with others
The vastly powerful occult object? Alright. Bella and Steve, a young man who turned up at Vince's house as she left babbling about an alchemist and somebody's tomb, go to the spot Vince told them about. They find a space on the ground with scorch marks and very powerful magical residues, but nothing visible. Nonetheless, they have the very unpleasant sensation that something is watching them.
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
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 +1 not from Amdukias
Ritual: 0
Runic Sight: 0
Banal Combat: 0
Aim: 1
Melee: 0
Agility: 1
Praticality: 2
Inventory: £245
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 (4/6)
Large, fist-sized mind-controlling spacerock fragments.
Painting supplies, a glass cutter, battery powdered soldering iron, eighty feet of red cloth, white rag and thread
Puissance: 13/13
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: 5/6
Name: Sir Worthington the Fourth
Has a demonic leg. Old leg is in possession of monarchs of hell.
Enslaved young man under demonic contract, wields katana, wears combat pants + green sweatshirt.
Stats: Ritual Potency: 3
Practicality 3
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]
Shards of mind-controlling spacerock.
Beginner's Pyromancy Flame - Heal Burn (1P), Create Flame (1P), Flame Claw (3P), Mesmerising Flame (2P)
One shot, recharging: Chaos Insect Swarm
Wears tinfoil hat.
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.
[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 - 5
Aim - 1
Melee - 1
Agility - 2
Practicality - 0
Inventory: knife, 2xtaser, 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.
Concealed: knife in one boot, knife on a leg, and one on his torso.
Two generous Roast Beef and Horseradish Sandwiches
Two bin bags of assorted pills from pharmacy.
£20
Set of keys and passcard
Gunfarmer P90 (0/50) (in bag)
FN Minimi light machine gun, 2 magazines
Puissant clots: 4
Puissance:5/5
Steve
Banal combat - 3
Agility - 3
Inventory: £50
Rusty, shard curved sword
Puissance: 5/5,
Clots:3
Name: Bella, the Speed Witch
Runic sight: 2
Banal Combat: 2
Melee 1
Agility 2
Inventory: £0,
Delicate Rune-engraved Machete: heavy bonus when facing multiple weaker victims. Likely to break on misshits/heavy armour.
Benflesh Bullet
[Tier Four 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.
[Sub Nosed Glock Wand] 9/9
Nascent Pyromancy Flame: Create Flame 1P
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: 2
Inventory: £5, Certificate from Belial (valid for one sample of occult substance)
Duct tape, Large Knife, knife.
Surgical tools: scalpel, a first aid kit, a saw, and tweezers.
[Tier 1 Broom, knife on end]
[Human Leg Wand]
Puissant Clots: 1
Puissance: 14/14
Author
Topic: COVEN: Gulled Goldsmiths and Lost Locomotives (Read 153962 times)