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[NJW2000]

-1 Puissant fettle. Become a lich.

You lie on a table in the centre of the stuffy flat lined with skeletons. The necromancer raises the organtic tooth over his head, polished point glinting from the streetlights outside. He incants briefly and forcefully, and his robes glow violently as he swings the object down in an arc and into your chest, sliding easily through muscle and between ribs. The point slips through your lungs almost painlessly, and you feel the icy tip stabbing your heart for a fraction of a second. And then you die, and there is not even darkness.

          *                     *                    * 

When you are next aware of anything, you are sinking through a space without physical extension. You are no longer aware of a body, or things outside it. You are, however, somehow aware of your mind and the things that move far beneath it. While you try to work out how you can be so sure you're sinking in a dimensionless plane, or how there can be things below you, something light and hard attaches itself to you. It pulls you back, growing lighter and harder all the time, your window of sensation opening almost unbearably to percieve it alone.

And then the light recedes, no longer the entirety of your world, and you're aware of a single spinning point. And then you're falling down a chain of them, like the skeleton of a staircase, tumbling and growing until you're crashing against endless spiked and knotted chains, sending the thousands around you jangling and whirling, until you grow too large and sink too deep in the shifting masses

And you're tossing in quicksilver as it flashes and waves zip instantly from side to side of a space bigger than worlds as intent and crafted vessels glide past you on obscure missions, and you crash against the sides of spheres like moons, meteoric impacts buckling their sides, and rebound and swoops through an electric storm around a pitted sun and away again crashing through fortress walls and skeins of silk that stretch over the horizon

And you plunge through brine down rushing tunnels jolting forward and back with the slap of massive waves and salt permeating you and rush into an open passage stuffed with pelting cushions and grey clouds and then into a gigantic chamber in which you're thrown about an whirling onto train lines you stretch as if along a cord

And darting from link to link with chemical frissons at every instant crossing you worm through hills and masses of red and white and grey and onto a row of mountain rideges and deep within where thousands more rails stretch beneath the stone down a corridor and through an unutterably complex stations and then out dashing along a multitude of smaller lines jumping from web to woven web and expanding in several directions at once along knotted passages and folds your presence filling and pressing against the sides of a cavern of bone

And you are you again, but different. You open your eyes. You lie still on the table, the necromancer barely withdrawing the tooth from flesh. You can see clearly. But you also sense equally the things beneath you, as abstract understanding of the meanings of sensations of touch discloses more than feeling them ever did. You are aware of the table beneath you, and of your body, but you no longer percieve a boundary except in what you can and can't manipulate. The world is flatter somehow, and the silence is incredible. Your body no longer makes the sounds it made in your mind. You can hear with detachment.

You sit up, an action not of discomfit or muscle memory but pure intent, and take the broom from the necromancer.

You percieve him, and the people walking outside. It feels hungry.

"Alright, see you soon!"

"Hey big eldritch thing, I found the big corporeal beastie you wanted. Apparently another witch is trying to mind control it, which sounds like a terrible idea if you ask me, but I know where it is and could show you. Are you going to come along or do I need to kill the thing myself? If so, have any idea what the best way to kill it is?"

Talk to the... eldritch thingy. Then fly to where Worthington tells me the slug thing is.

"There is little I can do against such a base animal, for reasons you would not comprehend. Luring it to its death, breaking its mind or insides, all these work if they can be accomplished. Otherwise, try poison."

You fly over to the crawling creature, and press your hand against its scarred hide.

Yeah, this thing seems pretty tough. And unaware of your existence.

Check P90 for ammo.  If it regenerated magically, Ben will assume Bella reloaded his gun for him.  If it did not, syv will assume it never ever will.  I'd like a very clear and explicit answer to this question.

Then hang around with Vince.  Maybe tell him a war story while helping with non-insane chores.

The P90 has two bullets in it.

Human interaction: 1+0

You sit outside Vince's bathroom, back to the door, while he sits on the toilet and performs various ablutions, and tell him about the horrific conditions soldiers experienced during the siege of Leningrad. You can feel the easy and manly cameraderie building as you give in-depth descriptions of the feet snapping off German soldiers when they stood up too, their ankles frozen in their boots. You notice Vince has climbed out the window and into the garden when you get to the really good bit about driving a burning tank onto another tank from a third-story car park after blowing a man's limbs off with an improvised grenade. You're an hour in by this point, and the only thing to do is keep going.

Vince begins to dig a nice big hole in the garden, six feet deep, and you help him out, continuining the story while really putting your back into it with the spade. Just when Vince seems to be about satisfied with the hole, you finish: "and then I threw the Oberleutnant by the neck into the icy water, and put a bullet through his eyes as he drowned and bled out from icicle stab-wounds. After a brief and uneventful period, the Russian tanks drove into Berlin and the sausage-suckers formally surrendured."

You consider starting another war story, but Nanami's back, so you go see her. Might need a hand, women often have trouble with firearms and driving cars and things.

Vince stares at you oddly as you walk off. Must be unused to such polite houseguests. Even if you technically sleep in a rented garage.

(Also, I believe I should have 745 pounds now, with the cash from her account.  Less the train ticket.)

That was crude.  Next time I gotta get more than 48 hours.  Still, could have done that with a little more finesse..

Eh, I told Dave I'd be coming over after running a few errands, and he did call me earlier.  Shouldn't be any problem.  Bringing or buying food should help if there's any friction.

Put on the stunning look Dave is used to.  Knock on his door.  Work on the next post or two with Dave, see what he came up for for Nanami's boss, and go with it.  Introduce characters for Bella and Ben, albeit Ben will have a different face (if still an old grungy soldier), and Bella will have red hair and a 'wind' spell to enhance her significant speed, along with her top-tier broom.  Her fire magic will just be generic fire magic with her pyromancy abilities rather than explaining the detailed effects of a pyromancy flame, (which Nanami doesn't know anyway), and she's speed obsessed.  Ben has magic, but it just makes him a better fighter and it doesn't seem to work quite the same way for him as it is for the more normal teammates.  Offer Dave the opportunity to come up with another teammate or two for the next session.

Don't cover the exact things that happened, but have our mission being investigating leads related to some high-end power source, that may be being used for nefarious purposes.  Cover stuff related to the cult observation, and talking with the river spirit, but not the combat at the canal-side yet.  Change a few details, like maybe give the gryphon cult a different sacred object, and have the river spirit be in a different body of water.  After that, do a travelogue entry as well.  Leave many of the travel sketches with Dave, and invite him to do posts about a couple of them, and to add a couple of his own if he'd like.  What I'm waiting for is for the cut-off hair to regrow and to see if any other changes occur.  Don't try intentionally for any new powers, just to put out some new content so they don't wear off, and to fulfill my promise to Bella.

After those, it's time to get back to work and see what my teammates have been up to.
Bird size = 0

Dave is as flustered as usual upon seeing you. He's sketched out a rather unimaginative golem as a boss, fat, grotesque and craggy, but fine as a background character. You do the sketches for Bella, aiming for the nymph side of witch, adding in slightly enhanced abilities with fire and wind. Ben is also included, looking a bit Samuel L. Jackson, albeit more grizzled. Not quite as grizzled as your friend really is, though, grizzle rather overwhelming skin. Enhancing his fighting abilities will be barely noticeable without a much larger readership; you're spread a little thin as it is. Dave is excited about adding more of his own work in, getting to do some original content.

You spend some time on the updates, inventing a few things. I don't recall the thing with cut-off hair? Did you cut off gains from magic? If so, they start to regrow almost as soon as you post. The internet likes the characters, and is impatient to see them go on an adventure or do something. You feel a bit better, as your power levels start to rise again almost imperceptibly.

Spoiler: sheets (click to show/hide)

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.

Can create illusions.

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: £700
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: £22, 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 (2/50) (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: 2
Agility: 2
Aim: 2

LICH: feeds on the bleeding hearts of his enemies.
Undead. Necromancy bonus.

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, Dragon Tooth Phylactery on End
[Human Leg Wand]

Puissant Clots: 0
Puissance: 9/9

[Devastator]

(I cut off some magically-gained hair a couple updates ago, mostly to check if I could make changes like that or if the fanbase would snap me right back.  I mostly did it in case I find some other source or opportunity outside of the deal with Amdukias, and to learn if I could take advantage of such.  I also haven't fed Ben any blood yet, introducing the character for him is just preparation.)

[Egan_BW]

You appear to have missed somebody. It is important that he has a chance to fail to control the macroslug before I kill it. That way I don't have to kill him too.

THIS TAKES PRECEDENCE OVER ALL THE ACTIONS BELOW: Do NOT be anywhere near the macroslug while worthington is messing with it. ONLY do these things if I have time while he's not messing with it, otherwise just watch him. From far away. Like, on top of a building.

Before doing the following, fly up and stand on top of the creature.

Make a bullet from the macroslug's skin. Does this make a hole in it's carapace, or just a dent? If it's a hole, how ling would it take to use this method to create a hole large enough to physically climb into?
Try creating fire inside the creature, bypassing the heat-resistant shell. Worth a shot, anyway.
Fly all around the macroslug and look for unarmored openings. If I can get inside, I can just bushwhack through its innards till I reach something vital. It must at least have something to eat with, being a greedy consuming force.
What's around here? Anything super-deadly I could lure it to? Like a hell-pit, or an acid pool or something.
If all else fails take a picture and prepare to write some fanfic about how I can totally pierce this thing with my machete. And ask Vince out strong poisons.

[randomgenericusername]

(Wow.)
That was definitely an enlightening experience. Thank the necromancer and ask him how often do I have to eat and if he has anything I could eat. Then feed on a homeless person if I'm hungry and try to find the other witches. Maybe Vince knows where everyone else is.

[Devastator]

Phone Bella.

"Hey Bella, how are you doing?  Have you investigated any of the targets yet?"

[Egan_BW]

"Yeah. Thing in the park seems to be a non-physical kinda thing. Powerful, but we could kill it in theory. I talked to the thing and he told me to go kill a giant slug thing for a reward. Turns out that was the thing that fell by the stadium. Worthington found it and wants to mindcontrol it, so I'm waiting for him to fail at that so we can kill it. Oh, and the thing in the park said that he wanted the slug dead because it wanted the 'star', which he obviously wants for himself. That's probably the power source, and it's probably the thing that fell in the canal.
...Uh, got all that? I tell ya, this magic stuff is confusing sometimes."

[syvarris]

Ehehehe, that was great, NJW!  I love how you write Ben.  I don't have any plans to work towards, and don't care much about the power source, so Ben's gonna just keep idling for now.  Unless another player asks him to do something, at which point I'll edit this.

Ben walks into the room Nanami is in just as she starts talking to Bella.  He's carrying a half-full trashbag, and looks unusually excited, at least for him, though that excitement is buried under his typical grumpiness once he realizes Nanami is already engaged.  He stands there for a minute, clearly trying to decide whether he should interrupt, before shrugging and leaning against the wall.  He pulls a pill bottle out of the trash bag, and starts idly reading the label while he waits for Nanami to finish.

[Devastator]

"Yeah.  Sounds like I should go after the thing in the canal.  I'll talk to the river spirit, check out some diving gear, be it magic or not magic, and figure out how to get it.  Do what you like with the other things, but let me know if you want any help.

Your power should be arriving soon."

[Egan_BW]

"Cool. But keep in mind that if you grab the power source the guy in the park will probably be able to trace it to you, and he's no pushover. We'll probably have to kill the thing before this is over."

[Devastator]

"I'm thinking that if we grab it, we might be able to use it against the other.  Besides, Vince wants it anyway, and if the park guy wants to track down Vince, that's okay.  I'm also not sure how to fight something non-physical.  Maybe you can get the two creatures to fight each other or something."

"Anyway, it's up to you.  I'm going to go see someone about diving gear."

[Egan_BW]

"Unlikely we can get them to fight each other. The Macroslug barely moves at all, and Park Presence says he can't kill the slug because its... base?"
Bella narrows her eyes angrily.
"And he said that last part in a really condescending way, too. Asshole."

[Devastator]

"Hmm, that is odd.  Well, I might be able to weaken the macroslug with my crystallization spell, like I did the other rock."

When Nanami is finished, ask Ben if he's done any diving.

[ATHATH]

NJW2000, why didn't I get a turn?

Maybe you can get the two creatures to fight each other or something.

Gee, that idea sure does sound familiar. It's almost like it's the thing that I'm trying to do right now, but Egan_BW is irrationally opposed to for some reason (and this is coming from a guy that's built up a reputation for being needlessly antagonistic).

Seriously, man, why are you doing this? Can we not talk this out or something?

[Devastator]

((I'd call your character next, but I think I'll wait for the results of your actions first.))

[NJW2000]

Aaaaand missed this.

Flare all 5 of my puissance into my Mesmerizing Flame while waving a mind-control rock around with the hand that isn't holding the flame and focusing really hard, aiming to trap the creature's mind within the flame. Then, once its mind is trapped, retract my Mesmerizing Flame back into my inner flame, aiming to transfer the creature's mind from being within my Mesmerizing Flame to being inside my inner flame, thus permanently surrounding its will with mine.

See if I can order the creature's body around now, preferably through whatever connection its trapped mind still has to its body.

Right, so you want to somehow control the creature's mind with your pyromancy. Mesmerizing flames don't necessarily "retract" back into you, they just die out after a bit. Still, the hypnotism/mind control idea is fair enough, so lets see if that can happen.

You keep the creature's attention with a flame, moving the remaining shards of roack around it, standing directly in front of the creature's foremost eye, your reflection a shadow in the obsidian interior. As your mesmeric pyromancy bursts into a single brilliant blue-white flame, the specks floating in the orb catch and shine brilliantly, faint swirls of white appear against the blackest darkness, and you feel as if you are falling into space. For a single instant, the faint intelligence within is exposed as it reaches out, and you reach in.


Prac/Rit: 2

For a brief moment, you touch the mind of the creature, a simple thing knowing only hunger for starlight and agression to those that penetrate its hide. But as you touch its mind, you understand much more about the thing you touch. It is one part of a much grander being, that was shattered by some dread intent, necrotic scars marring its insides as black sorcery aimed skywards cut it into sections. One part was a vastly intelligent, horrendously puissant structure that lurked within the fortress of the Leviathan body, capable at its strongest of scarring the faces of moons. One part was almost physical, lacking in potency but able to manipulate the minds of strange creatures encountered among the stars, and connect the spirit and soul of the beast while sitting in a cavity deep within the creature. And one part was a burning point carried within the God, a star within it from its infancy fed on the strange consumptions of the creature, a heart and gut and lungs at once.

The final thing you understand is that the creature bears a burning hatred for the part that manipulated its mind. The rock shards you hold explode violently, searing gobbets of molten stone and metal covering your arms, the flesh bubbling and searing in the heat. You roll over and over, aflame and in agony, desperately trying to put out the fires. Finally, as Sen frantically beats at the flames, your denomic leg spasms and jerks in inhuman quashing motions, and you repair the worst of the burns as they occur, the flames are put out.


Bella, who has turned up just in time to see, finds all this hilarious.