Welcome to the Jungle : A Mage Quest

Sounded a bit like Neil Gaiman's Puck, actually.

 

[X] Tabacco Salesman

 

>_> You mean physically or dialogue-wise? I hope the former because the later is directly from Midsummer Night's Dream.

Neal Caffery does Business Casual well, but he's a bit too soft and roguish for the look I'm thinking.

You'll get more Puck in the coming updates, and the challenge will stand until people pin it down. I haven't really given you a lot to go on yet.

Imagine the scene like this. You're a fairy, who has recently bonded to a human. You're already stronger, faster, and noticeably more intelligent than your peers and its only been a couple days. There's no way in hell you're going to use your real name around a bunch of wizards, especially ones that don't terribly like your new Master. You both agree that you have to call yourself something that isn't likely to get you summoned or enslaved, so you start discussing options.

The two leading choices are Puck and Navi. Puck makes you both excited and nervous for obvious reasons, those are... some very big shoes for a lesser fairy to fill. Navi is a name you're not familiar with, but your Master likes it a lot.

So you ask what its a reference to.

(Five minutes later.)

Nope. Nope Nope Nope. NopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNopeNope.

 

May, 2025
David Hart’s Actions:
[X] Training: Occult
[X] Personal: Lay of the Land
[X] Casting: Enchant the infantries gear to be more durable, and Fate Assist for the user.
- +5 Prologue

Puck’s Action: (Research: Topic, Influence: Person or Group, Assist)
[X] Research: Supernatural Lay of the Land

 

May, 2025
David Hart’s Actions:
[X] Training: Occult
[X] Personal: Lay of the Land
[X] Casting: Enchant the infantries gear (Focusing on armor) to be more durable
- +5 Prologue

Puck’s Action: (Research: Topic, Influence: Person or Group, Assist)
[X] Research: Supernatural Lay of the Land

 

[x] Pipeman's Plan

 

Physically. Larger and more built then your typical fairy, slicked back hair... Of course I might be wrong.

Hehe.

 

T_T IRC went boom before I could save the conversation we were having about this quest.

Pipeman I wanted to say this: Are you adding anything to the Training or Research rolls? Offhand... I could see Puck nabbing a bonus to research if you're willing to risk him being seen down in Officer Bentley's lab by studying the materials they've collected, and a library would help the training.

 

Well, let's add some reagents and ritual stuff to make the armor of our guys more durable:

[X] Casting: Enchant the infantries gear to be more durable. Improve their armor.
- [X] Get some turtles from a pet shop and smear some of their blood on any armor you're enchanting.
- [X] Add a small center-piece of chalcedony you buy to any armor you're enchanting.
- [X] Reinforce the armor's abilitiy to withstand and protect from damage by improving both its physical properties and adding the symbolic properties of your reagents on it.
- [X] Take care not to make the armor unsusable. The armor they use has to provide enough flexibility to move. For this reason look into what their armor is made of, what its defining properties is and conclude from that what you can safely improve.
- [X] Perform your enchantment inside a magical circle to ward off any interference.

Not sure how this'll work out, but I can't think of anything else.
Also, this is what made me pick chalcedony.
I thought the site might be useful for later.

As for the others:

[X] Training: Occult
- [X] Check the city's libraries for suitable books.
- [X] Look for occult bookstores.
- [X] Maybe even research on the internet. Go to an internet-cafe. (does the wizards and electricity thing apply here?)
- [X] Try to confirm the sources as semi-reliable by crossreferencing with whatever knowledge you and Puck might have. Even if they seem to be, take whatever you find out with a grain of salt.

Puck’s Action: (Research: Topic, Influence: Person or Group, Assist)
[X] Research: Supernatural Lay of the Land
- [X] Don't bother hiding from the police. Might as well tell them of Puck before the secrecy comes biting you in the ass.
- [X] Try to get in touch with local Faires as well. If Puck thinks it's a good idea. He knows more about them.
- [X] He also might find it easier to talk to non-humans, if they don't know he's the familiar of a mage working for the police. Don't know, if it's even possible to hide that, though. Again, it's his choice.


Edit:

The log of the convo:

 

Well, I say we buy a black goat and sacrifice it at midnight by the light of the full moon. Serve the ritually prepared flesh to the officers, to grant them the agility of the goat, while crafting the fur and skull into a totem to affix the ritual to.

Or I may have just made that up for shits and giggles.

I've not decided yet

 

Looking at the section on electricity I was stumbling all over myself there. Should be the first case, not the second.

The differences is like this.

1. Take a flaw to get a bonus, whether on spell casting or for an added effect.
2. Apply a limitation to your effect in order to reduce the difficulty of casting it.

Its another one of those things that's closely related and needs clarification and re-clarification, but the point remains that it is possible to do either.

@Vin: That's a very different spell to cast. =P

 

[blockquote]Rolled 1d100 : 68, total 68
Rolled 1d100 : 61, total 61
Rolled 1d100 : 54, total 54
Rolled 1d100 : 7, total 7
Rolled 1d100 : 94, total 94
Rolled 1d100 : 63, total 63[/blockquote]

 

Hah!
All your efforts to prevent me from rolling are ultimately doomed to failure!

Also, here's to hoping we get a bonus on the 94 to kick it into critrange, if it isn't there already.
And that it makes up for the 7.
Otherwise a decent and across the board slightly above average roll.

Edit:
Did you just invalidate my rolls by editing your post?
The sheer audacity.

 

And the streak continues.

 

I vote against killing any turtles to get all their blood. Just a few drops from a pinprick should still give a bonus, and we don't want to start killing stuff for magic when working for the police.

Besides, kindness to animals is a virtue.

(Also, hopefully if we keep drawing pinpricks from the same turtle/s, it'll become more and more attuned with defense magic as we use it for that.)

 

Huh.

*double checks his notes*

Huh.

Now THAT I was not expecting.

Someone roll me a d20.

 

[blockquote]Rolled 1d20 : 18, total 18[/blockquote]

 

May, 2025.

Assests: +1 Salary, +6 Commission, -1 Upkeep. (Total: 6)
Expense Account: -2 Turtles, stones. (3 remain for this month)

==================================================

Hitting the books seemed like it would be prudent now that you've got an actual job and all. You find no small amount of amusement in the fact that you were doing more studying now than you ever did while in school. Magic was easy, and you bent reality to your will at whim.

There were things out there, however, that your meager education had failed to address. Lieutenant Harmon could have been exaggerating the severity of their situation, but one look through their supernatural "evidence locker" showed that that wasn't the case. You could certainly think of ways to craft and animate a few of the creatures and assorted monsters the Special Weapons Department had dealt with, but few of them would have lasted as long as these. You could believe one grand working lasting several months after it had been destroyed, but a dozen? Two dozen? Three?

Your Arcane senses further confirmed what your instincts were telling you. There were no traces of magic on these things, not of the kind that would represent a major creation or a grand working. There was… something, an odd resonance, but you had no idea what it could be.

That was irritating. To be able to put your finger on something and say "This isn't right," was certainly useful, but to follow that up with "But I have no idea why?"

Irritating may have been too polite a word. Galling, aggravating, even embarrassing. If your former peers had been about they would have laughed at your ignorance, and no amount of spell slinging would have made them wrong.

So you hit the books. Non-magical resources weren't the best, but there was a sheer volume of work that couldn't be dismissed. The public library had plenty of books on the supernatural, and you had a list of occult bookstores you were going to hit later. You suppose you could use one of the police terminals and venture into the internet but where in the world would you start? The kind of information you're looking for was secretive and buried under mounds of lies, a veritable needle in a haystack. It would hardly be available through a simple google search.

Is… what you would like to say. You aren't entirely comfortable around computers, but you could run a search engine just like anyone else. It took a little digging but their was a surprising amount of information you could put your hands on that didn't have validity problems. It seems that most of the libraries, collections, and databases are at least partially online anyway these days. You can't get into a lot of them, and don't really know how you would go about doing so, but the information you do find is substantial.

==================================================

The majority of your time this month is taken up by enchanting the armor and clothing of the front line police officers in the Special Weapons Department. Lieutenant Harmon was… skeptical, when the first entires into your expense account are a small bale of turtles and semi-precious stones. He and Officer Bentley were present for the first official spellcasting of your employment and you quickly lay his doubts to rest. The look on his face when a standard police undershirt stops small caliber rounds and a knife from penetrating was priceless, Officer Bentley's doubly so. Larger calibers (and more force) were still effective, and there was little you could do about the force imparted behind each impact, but it is impressive none-the-less.

So they thought, until your turtle blood and chalcedony adorned riot vest takes a full clip of APDS rounds without being noticeably worse for wear. The shirts, you explain, simply didn't have enough of a defensive "base property" for you to work off of. The armor's job was to resist damage, your magic magnifies and empowers that quality. The helmets and other assorted pieces and add-ons to the standard full body tactical armor receive similar treatment and demonstrate similar effect. Your enchantments are of excellent quality, and your reagents make it so they will last approximately six months before they need to be refreshed. You even make the chalcedony centerpiece look like an incorporated part of the whole rather than tastelessly tacked on jewelry.

Lieutenant Harmon immediately approves your request to apply the enchantments to the rest of the armor in the duty officer armory. He is extremely pleased to see immediate and obvious results of hiring you, especially when your new armor saves a small squad of officers the very night you finish sets for all of them. They were ambushed by some manner of sasquatch or gorilla man (or something) in one of the warehouse districts and the armor held against the thing's claws long enough for the patrol to recover and bring it down in a hail of gunfire.

The only setback in your plans was Officer Bentley taking a liking to your turtles, going so far as to name them and state that they were helping keep everyone safe too. The man was almost disturbingly cheerful about the entire affair. It would have been vastly easier and more efficient to simply grind the things down for reagents and buy more if you needed them. Now you're stuck with a handful of pets.

-=-=-=-

While you are doing your enchanting, something interesting happens. You have a flash of insight. The idea of taking an item and reinforcing it, making it better, more than it was… becomes separated from itself in your mind. You are making a thing protect someone better, with magic.

Why not use the magic itself as protection?

The School of Abjuration involves the use of coherent magic to affect the world. Its closely related to both the Arcane and Enchantment Schools, but was fundamentally different. Bounded fields, wards, magical armor and binding circles, all of these were in the purview of Abjuration.

As you took the enchantment you were currently working on and pulled it apart to marvel at the structure that remained, you realize they were within your purview as well.

(Wild Magic Success! You gain Abjuration I)

==================================================

"I'm bored."

"Weren't you supposed to be doing something?"

"Bored bored bored."

"Puck! Look at me. You were supposed to be out getting familiar with the inhabitants of the city, why are you back already?"

"But that's boring! I don't know anyone and I've never been here before! What am I supposed to do, go door to door asking people if they're wizards? Kicking over toadstools and disturbing beehives to find fairies?"

"Come on Puck, you're telling me you haven't a single idea where to start here? No clue where you might find another fairy?"

"I DO have an idea! I told you that already!"

"Remind me."

"There's some bastard hanging around here, making people's lives more difficult remember? I could totally track him down and show him what for!"

"Didn't we decide that a fistfight with a vengeful fairy wasn't the best idea for the very first thing we do when we got into town? Wouldn't that send a message as to our intentions?"

"Yeah."

"I sense a but."

"But so what! Fairies like you, I like you! Some little pissant isn't going to stand tall against the winning combination of my good looks and your attractiveness."

"… I thought you said it wasn't like that."

"Its not! I just don't have a better word for it you know? Its like you've got a big flashing sign above your head that says 'This guy is awesome!' but not an actual sign because no one can see it but everyone is aware of it."

"What about just saying I'm awesome?"

"Well I know you're awesome, but everyone else out there is just encouraged to find out? I guess? You might not be awesome, you might be attractive in a whole different way!"

"Would you please stop saying attractive!"

"But its true!"

"You're making it sound sexual, quit it."

"…"

"You said it wasn't like that."

"It's not!"

Needless to say, Puck got very little got done this month. At least being around (even though he was supposed to be out doing research) gave you the opportunity to introduce him to the Lieutenant.

-=-=-=-

"Lieutenant Harmon, I'd like to introduce you to my familiar. Puck, this is Lieutenant Alexander Harmon."

"Yo."

"Holy shit that's a big fucking fairy."

"Yep!"

"And he's your pet."

"Familiar."

"So he's good. Less destructive than they usually are?"

"Uh. Well."

"No way! I'd lose street cred if I stopped being a bastard!"

"Just… keep him under control. Please."

"Uhhh."

"… Out of headquarters at least."

"I like this guy, he recognizes my fierce inner nature."

It could have gone worse.

==================================================

Bosworth had arranged to meet you at a small coffee shop in Wallace district, the "locals" part of what was generally considered downtown. No chains or franchises, just privately owned businesses, clubs, and offices tucked amidst high-rise apartments complexes. Pretty nice little section of town, a lot less… busy than the rest of the city. Especially considering you had to cross Miles district to get here, the most active part of New Dresda.

When you get to the little shop the smell of fresh bakery goods assaults you like a physical force. You salivate, and you can feel the air vibrating near your shoulder where Puck likes to hang out. The fairy tends to stick close even while invisible, anything that could see through a glamour wasn't likely to tangle with him if it meant involving you.

Oddly, Bosworth can't see Puck while invisible. The man was connected well enough that you would think he would call in a favor for standard magical kit, from you or from someone else, but you've never caught sight of any of it on him. Even a prologued Arcane scrutiny had turned up nothing in the past, even if your intense stare had made him twitch and notice you sooner than usual.

Before him is a small pile of manilla folders and place settings for two. There was a fresh danish and some coffee sitting at your spot, which you fell upon with relish after pleasantries had been exchanged. You doctor the coffee to your liking and have chewed through half of the danish before he gets down to business.

"So Mr… Hart. How are you settling in? Everything is well I trust? I hear you have made quite a splash among your new associates."

Bosworth is a bit on the weasely side. Thin and sharp nosed with beady eyes and scruffy hair, that sort of thing. Talks the big talk, and knows the kind of people to back a lot of it up. You've never heard of him landing into trouble for his action, which means he either knows his stuff or is pretty good at covering up things that go bad. At your affirmative, he continues.

"These are brief overviews on some of the movers and shakers in the city, those who have known or suspected ties to your side of things. Not free of charge of course, but you may rest assured that I have been well compensated for the information already."

Either way, he's the best (only) fixer you know.

[X] Look over the files.
[X] Inquire after an Occult Bookstore.
[X] Ask about potential side-jobs in the city.
[X] Ask about someone specific.
[X] Write-In

Map of New Dresda
[img width=448 height=600]http://i.imgur.com/PadjRBX.jpg?1[/img]

 

Wow. Wild Talent struck already? Very nice.

 

[X] Inquire about any Occult bookstores or stores carrying general occult paraphanalia. It's surprising the sort of things that you can repurpose if it's kinda-sorta accurate- Much easier than making something from scratch anyway.

 

There were ten magics you hadn't yet discovered. It has a % chance of how many are undiscovered or 5%, whatever is higher. The 94 got it for you, and the d20 was a crit check.

I was pretty surprised too.

 

[X] Inquire about any Occult bookstores or stores carrying general occult paraphanalia. It's surprising the sort of things that you can repurpose if it's kinda-sorta accurate- Much easier than making something from scratch anyway.

 

Nifty.

I am liking Puck as our familiar too. Fun little guy. Occasionally I cast longful glances at Cyclic Magic and Jack of All Trades, but for the most part Puck's fun. And I suspect that as soon as we give him a target to cut loose on, we will be most pleased with the results.

But seriously, Jack of All Trades? Sweet fuckmothering Christ.

 

=D One of the builds that was possible but either no one noticed or no one seemed interested in was Jack of All Trades as The Dabbler. While it looks counter-productive at first, there are a lot more Skills than there are Schools of Magic. Conceivably there's a skill for anything you can think of.

Combining that perk and that background would have netted a +35 at the least on every skill. That's a 15% chance to fail at open heart surgery, before bonuses (such having stayed at a holiday inn the night before). Straight up John Doe status there.

 

By the time I got really interested in this, Prodigal was already a lock.

But....dear God. Dear fucking God. That's just insane. I thought Cyclic Magic combined with Potent Magic was good, ranging from meaty +50 to -10 bonuses. That is some pretty kickass magic right there, with piddling penalties that only show up at the nadir of power. Add on Energetic Magic via Prodigal and as long as you're doing magic, you're at minimum breaking even and at maximum laughing at the difficulty curve.

Those kinds of skill checks though? Minimum, on everything? Jesus.

 

Because it was mentioned over in PPIQ and I do talk about this game on IRC I'd like to clarify my stance on it. The majority of the quest will stay here, in the thread, at all times. Anything said on IRC will largely be me hashing out ideas or clarifying. Anything I say you are free to post, and I'll try to be good about posting it myself when relevant information comes up.

No one will be required to visit the IRC channel to participate in the quest.

(Not that I'm saying anyone does that.)

 

[X] Look over the files.
[X] Inquire after an Occult Bookstore.

 

[X] Look over the files.
[X] Inquire after an Occult Bookstore.

Good to know. In all honesty, since I was the one who brought up in PPIQ I might as well say my piece here; it's not stuff going on in IRC that's the issue: when Vanathor still ran his pokegirl quest on IRC I was totally fine with devoting time to go there. It's the fact that nobody announced it for PPIQ. That means that there are people out of the loop and confused as all hell, and nobody willing to actually inform everyone else about what's going on.

That being said, this quest doesn't have that problem; and has has definitely caught my interest. Tim the Enchanter (because that's totally his real name) is awesome and so is Puck. That and the neat setting has sold me on it.

 

[X] Look over the files.
[X] Inquire after an Occult Bookstore.

 

[X] Look over the files.
[X] Inquire after an Occult Bookstore.