Palano's village was being terrorized by an evil Mage, who was extorting the villagers for "protection", every month collect fees and goods from the village--and enforcing them to keep this secret from their lord. Not having a lot of magickal talents in the village--Palano being the only one with any real proficiency--the villagers were powerless to stop him. One thing the "black one" loved to do was goad young people into attacking him, while he just let their futile attempts bounce off his powerful shields and blasted them with magicks. Even Palano's few attempts were futile.
After 6 months of this treatment, Palano decided to take action. He locked himself in his abode for close to a months time, only coming out to gather materia...then came the fateful day when "the black one" returned.
When the villagers were bringing their "tribute", Palano confronted the Mage, armed with a crossbow. The black one laughed derisivly, taunting the apocathary to "go ahead, hedged one, shoot!"...which he did. A pellet struck the mage's shield, and it fizzled out...stunned, the Mage begain a casting, but before he could make a move, another missle, this one a crossbow bolt from Palano, shot him dead in the chest.
Palano was a hero. Soon after, Palano shared his secrets with many of the alchemists in the county...he gained fame for this invention amonst alchemical circles.
The pellet is known mostly by Alchemists in Avallonia, as it has had time to be dissiminated amonst the alchemical circles and fraternitis there. It is less common outside of this area, although some of the more heka-powerful nations such as Francia and AEgypt have likely learned or duplicated the invention. Note that it is costly and hard to make, and it will be rare that there is more than one missle available.
When the pellet comes into contact with a hard object--including magickal barriers--the pellet breaks and the powder is released. The missle does no damage, but will be disruptive to any form of Heka- engendered Armor. It reacts differently to the type of heka-protection surrounding the caster.
If the Heka-Armor is *non-renewing* (such as that from most castings), it will weaken the armor by 12D10 points. If this damage brings the armor down, it will not do damage to the target--the pellet *drains* heka-energy from armor, it is not P damage per se. If the Heka-Armor is *renewing* (such as that protecting certain Supernatural creatures), it will not bring the armor down, but will *half* the power of the protection for 2D10 CTs.
Note that this will only affect heka-armor if it protects from Physical Damage. If the armor protects from Mental and/or Spirtual Damage, the pellet will not work unless the heka-armor *also* protects from Physical damage. Thus, it won't disrupt an "Armor, Mental" casting, but would disrupt an "Armor, Full Persona" casting.
Cost: <I don't know...because I make Gary Gygax price my items>