Item Seed: Mt. Shasta Diet Enlightenment (Orange).

Mt. Shasta Diet Enlightenment (Orange)

The ‘brand’ of this can of soda should not be confused with any real-life companies out there, of course.  Although the company in question might sue for trademark infringement, if they A) knew of the existence of the ‘Mt.’ brand and B) could find the offenders using non-esoteric means.  Emphasis on ‘might,’ though: after all, we’re talking about a company that can make literally magic drinks.  Why cause undue aggravation?

The basic concept behind MSDE is simple: start a magic spell, open the can, chug the can, have the cost to cast the spell divided by 5.  That’s it, as far as it goes… with one major, absolutely important, and never-mentioned-beforehand caveat: voluntarily drinking a can of MSDE obliges the drinker to do a favor for the makers of MSDE at a later date.  The more you drink, the sooner the MSDE people sends over a team of old, wizened, vaguely smiling guys in simple robes and no shoes to collect you.  And you will go.  Because, well: old, wizened, vaguely smiling guys in simple robes and no shoes.  That’s the esoteric equivalent of, say, the USS John F Kennedy.

The good news?  The MSDE folks are apparently enlightened, peaceful types who wish to pursue Illumination and leave people alone.  The bad news? They apparently have a bunch of enemies, which means that if you ever drink their product then you now have a bunch of enemies, too. MSDE missions are typically survivable, but not often what one might call ‘fun.’  Except when they are; there are esoteric adventurers who happily keep chugging the stuff in order to keep getting called up to fight bizarrely powerful enemies…