Fine then, I'll hand over my bag to the mercenary from the other night. (the one that apparently isn't actually part of the cult and I think could be an ally later on, once the cult makes what they're doing more obvious.)
Name: Nina Morellis
Appearance: A young, red-haired woman, green eyes, somewhat unkempt. She's had Adam for as long as she could remember, and has a bit of a reputation as a harmless nut. The town guard are okay with Nina though, occasionally getting her help keeping a mage secured by having her drain their mana so they can't cast. Since they don't have a proper magehunter available, having a local civilian channeler they can bring in as needed is a big help. And Nina tries to be on her best behavior with them to keep their relations good. Nina herself works as a healer, living out in the poor part of town, and has an erratic schedule based on the needs of those who want her help. so she has a lot of free time, but also gets woken up in the middle of the night a lot. add in Adam's occasional antics and she doesn't get to have a stable sleep schedule.
Magic Path: Channeler, Invoker.
Materials: Sound
Mana: 5
Strength: D4
Speed: D6
Endurance: D10
Knowledge: D8
Will: D10
Senses: D6
Inventory: Backpack, padded cloak (D4 protection, Light armor), Lantern, doctor's bag, waterskin (air), hammer, 2 silver.
Inhabited by a spirit which takes the form of a floating disembodied limb that constantly melts and reforms into other body parts. She calls it "Adam."
Location: Phaganeda, a town on top of lake Limus
Cabal: None at this time.
"This was a huge waste of time. Can we please go on now? This whole bag problem was pointless and boring. I could have been hunting criminals or fighting wizards instead."
Accept the bag. Are we finally done?
Name: Randolf Osborn
Appearance: Ugly as hell. Smells like rotten fish. Very brutish.
Magic path: Channeler Ascetic
Mana: 0
Strength: D6
Speed: D6
Endurance: D12
Knowledge: D4
Will: D12
Senses: D4
Ongoing effects:
Inventory:
Sealer Suit D4
White Robes
Shield
Wooden Club D6
Backpack
Lantern
100 feet of rope
29 gold coins
4 silver coins
You hand your bag to Randolf and together, along with the rest of the group, you walk off into the church. One by one the procession steps off the walkways inside the church and submerges into the swamp. They don't offer any way to breathe and when you ask about it they just tell you to jump in, that "The god in the deep will protect what is his".
"Well, this looks promising."
Go check out that flat, unassuming wall that you made sure to mention just now.
Name: Behiar the Scribe
Appearance: Green coveralls, blond hair in a bun, dark eyes and pale complexion. Adventure often leads to death and glory! Better than sitting around doing nothing, ehe.
Strength: d6
Speed: d6
Endurance: d4
Knowledge: d8
Will: d6
Senses: d6
Ongoing effects: ?
Inventory:
100 Coins
250 GP worth of Gems
Sturdy backpack
Oil lamp
Book & pen
Rock hammer (d6)
The wall is still flat and unassuming but after running your hand across it a few times you find that there's a seam in it. A closed off doorway by the look of it.
Start sifting through the pile 'o stuff. I'm looking for the following things, in order:
magical or magic-related artifacts (scrolls with words, wand of infinite fire, tome of double entry bookkeeping)
high-value low-weight valuables (ancient gold coins, jewels, pure crack)
exceptional items but which aren't magical (eg really nice weapons or armor or a 1919 Ford Model T Coupe)
Name: Darwin Zeppeli
Appearance: An old medicine man.
Magic path: alchemist gut-reader
Strength: d4
Speed: d6
Endurance: d6
Knowledge: d10
Will: d8
Senses: d10
Mana: 19
Ongoing effects: None
Magical materials- Vacuum!
- Reanimate
- Sharpen
- Viscera
- Diamond
InventoryWeapons
Armor
- Medium armor: d6
- Sealer Suit: d4 (vs magic)
Alchemist swag
- Alchemist’s Gear
- small amount of thaum
- 250 gold worth of precious gems
General adventurer crap
- Zomboraptor head
- Lantern
- several hundred feet of rope
- climbing crampons
- a grappling hook
- iron stakes
- net made of rope
- vial with imp fat
Of magical artifacts you find a long sword with glowing runes, very generic, A glass slab with a topographical map of the kingdom carved into it, a bottle of glowing blue sea water, complete with fish and plants, and a glass orb that appears empty but seems to have something barely visible hanging inside it when you hold it to the light just right.
High value you have a sack of jewels, a crystal skull of some sort of big toothed cat, and an ingot of platinum
Exceptional items you've got several good weapons made of some kind of metal you've never seen before. It didn't rust and the blades are still sharp but its also bizarrely light and springy. Hard to say if they'd be good for actual combat use, their spring might make them difficult to wield, but they're very exceptional in their own way.
Check out the Jade tablets. Do any of them contain magic words?
Name: Écalir Speedwagon
Appearance: barbarian, think Arnie from Conan the Barbarian
Magic path: Hunting flesh-scroll
Mana: 0 (6 to Darwin this turn)
Strength: d10
Speed: d10
Endurance: d8
Knowledge: d4
Will: d6+1
Senses: d6
Ongoing effects:None
Inventory:
Backpack
100 feet of rope
Bandages
Tattoo Kit
Medium armour: d6 (damaged)
Quality weapon (Spear): d8
250g worth of gems
Tattoos:
Arm: "wood"
You go through the tablets, one by one. Of the dozens here, maybe a quarter contain magic words of different varieties.
They are:
Black Sulfur
Insect
Multiply
Lighting
Obsidian
Rubber
Strong acid
Darkness
White Phosphorous
Slime
Spider silk
Coal
Leather
Weak disease
Electricity
"Phew! That went pretty well. Can you guys take the turtle and drop it well outside of town? The spirit might be able to leave the tortorse if it's killed, and I don't want to risk that. Much better for it to burn itself out inside that tortorse. This guy should be out for a while, but he should be pretty calm when he wakes up."
Attend to my burns and have the turtle dropped off outside of town. It might be of use as a mana battery of some kind, but that sounds risky and Saeko would rather not heal with large quantities of anger, anyway. If the guy wakes up, inform him as to what happened, untie him, and find out how he got that way and what he remembers about being possessed. Also, do make it clear that I'd like compensation, although the usual rules about not making people still apply.
Saeko Hirahara
Japanese girl with a long black braid and a white and red dress with long gloves and stockings.
Invoking Empath
Str d4
Speed d8
Endurance d10
Knowledge d4
Will d10+1
Senses d8
Items:
13 Mana
113 coins (gold)
Backpack
100ft Rope
Waterskin
Compass
Hat
Sun Goggles
Light Armor: The outfit, naturally.
Materials: d12 Ape, d10 Sound.
Location: Crocus
Status: Burned hands.
You, with help from your attendants, bandage your hands and then have the turtle dropped off far away from town. Well, far in turtle distances. That done you return to the man, who is still unconscious despite your best shaking, yelling, and poking. He's breathing well but seems borderline comatose.
Loot bodies or ask for a reward as appropriate given how many people are watching.
Then set off for Perlatum, adequately supplied.
Name: Moghorn the Journeyman
Appearance: Fiftyish and very weathered. Moghorn spent his youth, adolescense, and adulthood travelling according to the voices in his head and the strange compulsions he felt. Then he stumbled across a magical spirit and gained magical powers.
Magic path: Servant Sculptor
Mana: 5
Strength: d6
Speed: d12
Endurance: d6
Knowledge: d6
Will: d6
Senses: d8
Ongoing effects: Has a spirit in him
Inventory:
Lodestone
11 gold coins
Camping Gear
Five days of supplies
Mundane: Backpack, 100 feet of rope, Lantern
Great: Marsh Hog Leather Armour (d6 protection), Marsh Hog Bone crossbow (d6 ranged damage)
Grand: Spirit (Wants stone guide from the towers around Kaolin)
Sculpture needs: You need a mummified heart, serpent's venom, A hollow glass orb, the fresh eyeball of someone with royal blood, and a map showing a place that no longer exists.
Sculpture:
Flamethrower RodSculpture:
Bloodmagic GemMaterials: "Grand Lode Stone" or rare earth magnet in our terms
WaxCopperDirt
Fire
Snake
Black FluxBloodLightningCrystal
Sharp
You gather up as much ammo from the bodies as you can, stealing a repeating rifle from them as well. You also take their food and water, consolidating it into several water skins and sacks of food. You steal one of their cowboyish hats and longcoats as well, for style points and to protect yourself from the sun. Thus supplied, you negotiate a payment from the locals and the mine office, who give you 100 gold in thanks for your actions.
The mine office tells you that if you'd like to triple that, you could take out the leader of the bandits who just raided the town.
IN!
immediately begin construction of an artifact something.
Name: Potatoe
Appearance: some guy with dark hair and brown eyes.
Magic path: alchemist sculptor
Mana: (Starts at 0 unless you choose mana in character creation.)
Strength: 8
Speed: 6
Endurance: 6
Knowledge: 6
Will:6
Senses: 12
Ongoing effects: (NA
Inventory: bag
Box of glass vials.
Box of Thaumic junk
Doctor’s bag,
Alchemist’s gear.
My crocodile familiar:
D8 in strength,
D8 in speed,
D6 in endurance
D6 in will
D2 in senses
D2 in knowledge.
You're going to need materials to do that. A sculptor needs very specific things to make their items.
For you, you'll need a human skin, a diamond, a bit of flame, a beetle the size of your fist, and an obsidian spearhead made by someone other than yourself.