Yep, I figured as much... but it's a damn big lake so I don't think we'd be able to thoroughly scout it all out.

At any rate I've updated my description of the lake in Mika's vision as there was some info missing.

I imagine we could come up with a fairly conclusive way to determine our identities without having to RP the entire conversation. Aside from questioning I thought about using scent, as metamorph only changes appearances, but the only person that could possibly do that may be Daniel with is advanced smell capabilities.

Should have had Jessica come up with a TW DNA scanner.

Once we confirm our own identities and conclude a simple method of field identification Mika will retire for the night to meditate.

Is there a spell or psionic ability that detects metamorphosis?  If not perhaps we could wear an object that is hard or impossible to duplicate by a shape changer.

No, not really. There are a lot of abilities in the game mask the presence of abilities, and that's what makes it difficult. For example, Mika could steal someone's aura, mask both her psionic and magical abilities (even from Psi-Stalkers) and change appearance to whoever she wants, and with Mind Block you won't be invading her mind either.

Given she's a bit of an extreme case, but we're dealing with some potentially extreme guys.

The only aspect I do not believe you can mask is your status as a Supernatural or Magical creature. So if something can sense the presence of a supernatural or magical creature then there's no real way to hide that. Hence why Mika can make herself look like anyone but Dog Boys and Psi-Stalkers would still identify her as supernatural. Plus we're all, besides Jess, supernatural so takes us back to stage one.

A simple metamorph spell does not convey a different voice, you speak in your normal one, but I think there may be spells around that. Plus our shape changing nemesis has already proven that it can mimic other's voices.

The idea of imprinting an object/item to a person would be a cool idea, if we had the time and know-how to do it. Say something specifically designed to react in a particular way when it encounters another with a similar device, sort of like the Witcher amulets or the Highlander sense. There's pitfalls with the idea of a magical IFF system, but it could be quick and subtle enough to avoid being stolen or reverse engineered, at least until we've left Africa I should hope.

Ahhh, well I am operating from a D&D mindset!  It is so cool to see the big differences in how the magic/psionic systems differ.  In D&D scrying and detecting things are bread and butter and are expected with high level groups.  It is interesting that Kevin went a different direction.

As for an item, would perhaps a stick from the millenium tree?  Would a supernatural evil being be able to touch it?  If not maybe we can carry those to show who we are.  Otherwise perhaps Vrryl could whip up something small and useful in the short term.  Like a chime when like items are near each other.  So if someone tries to copy the item as a cosmetic thing it wouldn't be able to do that.

Well there are lots of detection magics/psionics in Palladium, but I think the big difference is that Palladium also has abilities that mask you from those detection abilities.  They are rare, but they do exist.

Millenium Tree items do not automatically hurt the supernatural or evil beings, they are not like Rune swords.  In fact evil creatures regularly try to harvest pieces from the trees.

So am I right in that the current discussion is just between your characters?

I mean, the NPCs for the most part don't know that Vrryl has magic tattoos and they wouldn't really know about Atlanteans and their inability to be transformed either (and neither are things they run around talking about).

Correct, it's just between Sophes, Vrryl and Mika at this point, or that's what I thought.

I would assume the NPCs know that Vrryl has tattoos... he's not shy about them. And his backstory includes their integration. For the Atlantean thing, totally depends on the NPC... I'm sure some of them would, they're a pretty serious group of characters in our midst.

But ya, right now, it's just between the 3 of us chatting, or seems to be in this scene.

What tattoos does Sophes have on his arms?
This message was last edited by the player at 10:18, Sun 31 Jan 2016.

Just remember, showing one or two fits in to Vrryl's backstory, but having more than 6 would reveal more, since only the originators of tattoo magic can actually have that number and still use other magic.

Not my character, but considering the frequency of use of the Yll Tree Climber I would imagine that's one of the tattoos people know about. Especially since summoning spell magic of that calibre is pretty rare.

Sophes in my minds eye doesn't wear a covering for the most part, maybe a loose vest like covering at most.  He wants to have access to all tattoos at any time so he leaves them all pretty much obvious so he can get to them.  Once he hits level 7 he can do things differently, but right now that isn't the case.  If I need to be specific that will take some consideration and then I would get back to you.

The funny thing is that I was willing to retcon out the Millenium Tree jumps.  I guess it really happened then. ;)

Those were the best parts of his character! ;-)

Indeed; body-hardening exercises for supernatural beings. Happens in the comics all the time, might as well in Rifts too.

Just to move the IC conversation along, do we want to create a pass phrase to ID each other while we try to figure out a more foolproof method? I don't think there is an easy spell combination that would act as an IFF device, though I was thinking we could possibly make a TW device that acted like one using something like the Locate spell.

Essentially it would use a piece of hair or a fingernail from the individual in question to lock in that person's magical signature. Then the device would vibrate or glow or something when that person is near. I imagine Jessica could make it work, but we're far from her TW lab, so we'll likely have to go with more old-school methods.

To be on the safer side we could communicate the phrase telepathically to minimize the chance that someone would overhear it.

One thing I thought of that could be of use to Mika in identifying everyone else, though of no help to others, would be her use of the Locate Mark psionic ability. She just needs a hair or something of each person, then she can activate the ability at will and determine where, within 20', the person is... assuming the person is within 11 miles of her location. Stays active until the person leaves the 11 mile range too.

Again use for her, but not for anyone else really.

I am fine with moving things along.  We aren't getting anywhere fast with the way things are going now.

I think a mundane thing like a question should work well as long as we can use mind block.  Of course Sophes will be at a disadvantage there because he can't use mind block, but he is also hard to copy due to his Atlantean heritage.

What we should discuss is where we want to go to find Famine.

I suggest we find some locals that may recognize landmarks from Mika's vision and locate an area based on that.

Simplest and mundane I can think of, if we want to question someone's identity... just make a fist and hold a thumb out, like a hitchhike. Can be casual, by the side, something subtle. The next sentence of the person being questioned must have a colour in it.

ex:
Vrryl: Hey guys, I'm back from being awesome.
Sophes: That's stupendous! I just got back from being awesome, too! <casually taps his thigh with a stuck out thumb>
Vrryl: Dude, that's so bodacious, it'd make yellow snow turn white.

<Vrryl verified>

Sounds good; make a pass-phrase exchange like Brett said.

I agree with finding some locals, but first we may also want to questions the recce parties if they've seen a lake/village combination like the one Mika saw. This whole discussion has only been between the 3 PCs thus far. Once that's been determined we can fan out and look for some people and inquire as to the lake.

After deciding on the catch phrase/gesture sequence Mika will call it for the night, and leave the next day's search parameters to the morning.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:13, Wed 03 Feb 2016.

Sophes doesn't have telepathy does he? Doesn't really matter in this case as long as he can listen and nod in understanding.

From there it's straight on to morning;
1) Ask around the recce teams if anyone feels that they saw the village-lake area in the vision, and if so whereabouts. If there's a lead there we'll follow that.

2) Search out some local communities that may have better knowledge of the area and a lakeside settlement

Any other plans for the morning?

No Sophes does not have telepathy.  I think at the time I decided against the roll for psionics simply because of the huge draw back to skills.  Now with RUE I would have tried as there is no drawback to having them.

Sophes would be savvy enough to know about telepathy though, especially from being in the company of Mika and Vrryl for as long as he has.  So he would indicate he understands, he just couldn't do more expect with hand gestures.

On that note, I think the idea Brett has about the testing for the real us's is a great one.

I think Mike's ideas for what we should do in the morning is also bang on, and Sophes will support it 100%.

So there were some villages identified around the large lake that is immediately (relatively) north of your current location.  However, no one saw anything resembling mountains near the settlement, so no one saw a village resembling the one from your Oracle spell.

Additionally, in Mika's vision, the opposite shore of the lake was visible and there was a defensive wall around the settlement.  The large lake north of your position would not have the opposite shore visible and none of the villages around it had a defensive wall.

Does that change your strategy somewhat?
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:58, Sun 07 Feb 2016.

Yeah, we want to identify the mountains in the background of the vision; that'd be the easiest landmark to find for sure. Even if finding the particular lake is difficult we'd at least be in the right general location.

Furthermore, I don't think we really need teams of guys flying around looking for mountains; we could probably dedicate a single, small and very fast team to do that survey. Once they've found the correct mountain(s) then we can move in that direction and re-focus the recce teams to find the lake in question, as well as to scout for possible Phoenix Empire forces.

One question, the defensive wall in the vision, what what it made of? The material may provide some clues as to where we should look as well.

It was very makeshift - probably a combination of cobbled together pieces of town along with whatever stone/wood/etc. could be added to it.