Why can't he have the items he needs already?
Why can't he have gotten the items by coincidence before he's trapped?
Why can't he improvise something with what he has?
The house he is in belongs to people that have no conection to magic/esoterics, and he wasn´t aware he would have to do such a thing so he did not bring that kind of things with him. But I guess it would be a problem of how you define "magical things", I had in mind some kind of special plant
I do me best
He could just improvise. Yeah it might be nice to have candles made from the earwax of a virgin on her first period or something, but a John Constantine type magical hero knows that these things are mostly props — useful for getting you into the mood and getting the magic going, but if you really know what you're doing then regular old scented bathroom candles can do the job in a pinch.
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
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You didn't answer my questions. You told me why he doesn't have what he needs. I asked why he can't have what he needs. What's keeping you from changing the story so he has what he needs, or has something he can improvise with? What's keeping you from changing what he needs to something he might be able to find in the house?
The character could get the ingredients in some other way than just walking to the store(enchanted carrier pigeon?), find one that's close enough, make one that's cloes enough, do an other spell that helps in some other way, etc.
edited 17th Nov '13 7:35:21 AM by m8e
I am writing an occult-noir story (yeah, something along the lines of Hellblazer) in which the character is supposed to find himself trapped by a mysterious mist. The mist returns him to the out-side of the city house he is in whenever he tries to leave. I realized that I needed him to go buy somethings in the city, so I raised the mists range to the whole city. I am not happy with this decision for I feel that it takes away the "you are trapped" part of the mist. How do I make the mist a threat but still make him able to get the items he needs?
I do me best