Additionally, the player characters previously found some potions that they could not identify at the time (from the battle with the Hydra in the Asgardian realm with elves).  Lets assume you can identify them now or have identified them.

3 potions in a small 6"x4" case
  Swim as a Fish: Minor level 5
  Might of the Palladium: +1 attack, +2 s/p/d +2 damage, 10 minutes
  Negate Magical Potions, 65% negating potion but causes nausea for 1d6 hours)

1 black potion in a small jar
  causes Minor Curse of Nausea at 5th level, p. 122 Rifts Magic

small bag of powder
  Wormwood powder: blocks goblins and Worms of Taut

Feel free to divide them up or re-assign them to the companies stores.  Just let me know so I can record it.

With Gabe not chiming in yet I would suggest we keep Jessica back.  With Vrryl, Sophes and Mika acting as aerial scouting for the others.

Do we know if there is a nexus near by?  Perhaps even a ley line.   Might be worth noting in case we find Famine and draw the demon to one for our benefit.

With regards to Jessica, I'd rather Vrryl hang back, coordinate, and work on spell/PPE prep. Sir Galahad can take 4th group. Katrina can stay back with Vrryl to help that side of the preparations.

Victor Lazlo keeping the UltiMax with the main group for beefie fire power is definitely best.

Sample set up:

Team 1: Jessica - Sir Thorpe, Merc, Knight

Team 2: Mika - Merc, Merc, Knight

Team 3: Sophes - Merc, Merc, Knight

Team 4: Sir Galahad - Merc, Merc, Knight

One question about the horse riding folks, are these regular horses or bionic ones? Just asking on account of the average cruising speed. Mika will use the most convenient spell to match the speed of the group (Ie. Fly < Fly as Eagle < Winged Flight).

Mika will take the left vector search, Sophes on the right and Jessica & Thorpe up the centre?

Most of them have bionic horses, so lets say they are bionic.

I'll need clarification on what is left, right, and center.

I think that is a good plan Mike.  I say we just transfer that over to to IC and run with it.

Left would be west segment, centre would be heading north, and right would be east.

re those supplies to divvy up Erik, just put in general stores for now. Vrryl isn't after anything, unless someone else speaks up for something.

Ok, I took care of the supplies.

Any general plans for the scouting?  Engaging things vs not engaging?  Keep in mind that help will be up to 2 hours away.

What kinds of things are you looking for?
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:11, Sat 14 Nov 2015.

I think the scouts will engage only a party of enemies 3-5 strong if needed.  As scouts are priority will not be combat, but to find our target and report back.  That is a recce doctrine, works just as well here.

As for what we are looking for, I would say we are going to look for evidence of famine.  Starving animals or humanoids, rotting or rotten food on trees and fouled water supplies such as lakes or reservoirs.  If those aren't evident, perhaps signs of increased phoenix empire activity and presence.

I think outside of an ambush, it would be better to pull back if heavy resistance is encountered.  It does us no good if all scouts perish with important information just to fight.

Yep, in total agreement. No reason for them to engage any hostiles unless necessary, and even then I think the course of action would be to slow down or similarly hinder the opposition to allow the team to escape back towards the main group.

If Mika's team encounters any obviously rotted food or putrefied water source she'll attempt an Object Read on it to get a possible clue as to when/if Famine passed that way. Similarly, in the off chance that they encounter a ley line she'll try to read that and see if any clues are present.

IF a abandoned or seemingly destroyed village, or something like that, is encountered Mika will attempt Commune with Spirits, and see if a) there are any around and b) if they know anything about Famine.

Lastly, if nothing is found by the end of the day she'll try the Oracle spell that night and see if any insights can be gleamed.

Sorry, been sick.

I'm ready to post what occurred during the day with the scouts, though I need to resolve what Vrryl did during the day (what exactly was done to prepare during the day).  Perhaps we should resolve this in the OOC room and then post it to the IC afterwards.

As an important note, the only "casters" are the PC's and Katrina.  The other arguable magic users are Lo Fung, Fang Lo, and Sir Galahad.  And Erin Tarn, Victor Lazlo, and Thorpe understand magic stuff too (and possibly the Crocodilians).  Shall I assume you meant this group of named characters as opposed to spell casters?

Pretty much. The idea was anyone with a high understanding of magic... ie cast it, or Erin Tarn level of knowledge. While the scouting is busy, I think it would be good to go devise a spell strategy.... offence and defence.... to deal with Famine.

I mean, we could just chat about it here in practicality, but I'm just adding RP value to the IC channel.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:24, Sat 21 Nov 2015.

Since the IC conversation would be between just Vrryl and the GM pretending to be a bunch of people, why don't we do it OOC. ;)

I guess the first part of the discussion is what do we think he can do? From there we can discuss counter-magic strategy. The other part is do we expect it to have minions or allies (ie. Phoenix Empire) and what can we do to mitigate them?

It's probably safe to assume it has some sort of drain attack that would sap you of strength, and/or the opposite where it makes you crazy hungry and you go into zombie-rage mode and try to kill/eat everything. The later would be pretty bad if it affected one of the main PCs or NPCs.

Should probably consider balancing offensive spells and healing/defence spells. Stuff like Repel Demons may be handy to deal with smaller minions. Any sort of purification spells should also be kept in the back pocket for the aftermath to clean up all the stuff it could spoil.

We know that Millennium Tree weapons are awesome, we know blessed weapons are good and we know that magical fire worked quite well against Pestilence. Mika could make a few of those Fire Globes once more; they're pretty PPE heavy (40 each), but are awesome weapons 5D6 + 5D6/melee for 1D4 mins, and each lasts 9 weeks or until used. She could probably prepare 2~3/day.

I wonder how the spell Sustain would work as a sort defensive/armour spell; cast it on people before the encounter and they'll have no need for food/water for a day. May not be effective against such a powerful being as Famine though.

The question might be, would we be better removing/stunting magic from the battlefield? Anti Magic cloud up, and rely on weapons to wear him down? Famine in theory sounds very magic oriented.

Could be, the other question would be are his abilities/powers affected by Anti-Magic Cloud or are they more innate? Demons are supernatural creatures versus creatures of magic, so their abilities may not fall under the category of 'magic'.

Having said that, we've established that we have relatively few casters in the group that would be hindered by such a spell, and magic and rune weapons are not affected by it, so our weapons would still be effective.

It could be a strategy that we a) try at first; hitting it with the A-M Cloud and then bombarding it from range and trying to keep it contained, or b) a tactic to be employed after the initiation of the battle if we think spells are working against us.

Even at level 11 it'll only take Vrryl half a melee round or so to cast, so we're good time-wise, and it's more a concern about PPE conservation.

As a note, an anti-magic cloud would likely affect some magic weapons, it would depend on the weapon.  (for example, TW weapons are likely affected - others I would have to investigate)

Just a note, Sophes would definitely not be as potent with an A-M cloud up.  While his flaming sword would still probably work, it only does 6d6 MD.  I am assuming that none of his tattoos would function limiting how much he could do in such a fight.  Especially since he doesn't presently have any energy firearms.

If some magic item that would grant him supernatural strength was loaned to him that would be a different story.  But I think no invulnerability tattoo either with A-M cloud.

On the other hand if Sophes was given a good energy firearm he would gladly use that instead if this is the best option.

Flaming Swords would not work; neither would any item that grants strength.  Only runes/rune weapons, and permanently-powered magic weapons (like holy weapons, old school Palladium magic weapons) would work.

-----------------------------

note: we did determine that Sophes's flaming sword is a permanent magical item and not the TW item.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:49, Sun 20 Dec 2015.

The flaming sword that Sophes has is one of the permanently enchanted weapons listed in palladium fantasy.

I know it would stunt us... but the question is to consider who it would be more detrimental to, us or him? I'm somewhat leaning towards him, as most of our npcs seem non-magic, and all our characters have ways of getting around not being able to use magic.

Even if he gets off magic, it'll be at half everything... which could still prove vital in surviving him.

Another question to ask is how quickly Famine could move out of the cloud? It would take about two melee rounds for Mika to run out of a 1000' radius cloud. Which is certainly a fair amount of time/attacks.

If the Phoenix Empire guys intervene it may be effective in slowing them down as well. May be a good idea to engage first and see how it plays out in that first 8~24 seconds, then we can determine whether or not to fire off the Anti-Magic Cloud for maximum effect.

Sure, I'll see about getting a scroll set up as part of our Famine package.

I'm a bit more concerned about the possible intervention of Pheonix Empire forces once we engage Famine; an additional 20~30 hostiles could be a serious pain to deal with. But the AM Cloud may hinder their movements in or out if they were planning on teleporting or using TW items.

On the plus side I don't think Famine takes sides, so I imagine it would just as likely attack the Pheonix Empire guys if we could put them in its way.