As a third of the party peacefully slumbers and a new OOC thread begins, this might be a good time for a quick break/reassess if needed before everyone gets back on the road.

If anybody wants to fiddle with their stats, change advantages/disadvantages/quirks, give your character a new backstory, or just PM me to say "I want more X" or "I'm really bored that my character never gets to Y" ... now's the time!

Also, Grillick and FB, could you write up a semi-detailed description of what sorts of powers your characters have? I don't need something exhaustive and I'm not going to rules-lawyer you later (e.g., "you said he can make plants grow but this is actually a fungus so you can't affect it oh now you are dead"), but I'm doing a very poor job remembering/anticipating what you can and can't do. (I worry that Dom and Dodger feel like they're getting left behind because so many of the things I figured they'd handle get solved more easily by magic.) So if you can do me a huge favor and just kinda ballpark your characters' abilities, I'll be able to write better encounters for everyone.

Hopefully.

Also, fair warning, I'm going to try to crunch down harder on people's stats (giving advantages for being AA or disadvantages for being BA) from now on. We'll see how it goes. If it gets Not Fun, just tell me.

Edric personally has divination and transmutation abilities, and he can create light.

His divination abilities allow him to see distant places or people; when channeled through his hat, he can control the view sort of like a video game, zooming out until he can determine a location. His view is always a bird's eye view when looking through his hat. If the object viewed through the hat is one mile or less away, the hat can show the way, but it can only do that once a week (so only one more time this game, and not for some time).

His transmutation abilities allow him to change the size and shape of living creatures, but he cannot change their personality. Objects made smaller (or larger) retain their original strength and carrying capacity. No comment whether Punchy was an early guinea pig for the budding magician.

He can create light, but the light he creates has no apparent source; it is always ambient light.

(Did Edric do anything in the past that doesn't fall into these categories? If so, he doesn't know how he did it, and probably won't be able to do it again)

Zaljan commands spirits - mostly of the elements. Spirits are common in the wild, less common in cities. Air spirits are generally the easiest to find, and hardest to command - air spirits don't like control. Spirits cannot generally be asked to do things against their nature - an air spirit will resist being still, an earth spirit will resist floating, a fire spirit will resist being extinguished. In general, Zaljan can basically get spirits to do things they already do, but directed or a bit faster - like with the growing rocks in the cave or the air gust. Outside of nature, he has to rely on his fetishes, which are items imbued with spirits. The fetish stick holds his Uncle Tuljan, who was the previous voodoo witch doctor which taught him. Uncle Tuljan can, basically, attack spirits - including those still inside living bodies, making him a sort of dark-magic attack on people. Uncle Tuljan can also fight off hostile spirits that would attack Zaljan.

Zaljan heals by encouraging soul-spirits to stay in place and strengthen the body; in essence, he speeds natural healing rather than forcing magical healing. His command of spirits would allow him to return someone to life, provided he could track down their spirit and their body isn't missing any important parts that couldn't be healed naturally (basically, he'd stick the spirit back in the body, then make it fix up the place). This does mean he cannot restore lost limbs or give life to a body without a heart or head, however.

The salve he spreads is just for fun.

Other magic isn't necessarily spirit-driven, but Zaljan can combat magic with appropriate spirits; a water spirit could be used to combat fire magic, for instance.

This puts a very suspicious light on the fact that he's just put Sparrow's body in his pouch. Which spirit is he going to put in there? (Does it have to be the original one?)

No. But the wrong "type" of spirit (an animal in a person, or even just an elf in a dwarf) might cause unexpected results. Confusion, at the very least.

We've seen the effect of that already this game, when Edric turned a bully into a sheep.

Well, if it gets any choice in the matter, Sparrow's ghost will be found near Yala, trying to protect her. It'll probably be pretty useless at this, for two reasons; first of all, he's still a very tiny ghost, and secondly, the main thing he'll be trying to protect her from would probably be Zaljan. (He did, after all, kill Sparrow).

I left out Edric's ability to dispel magic. He can dispel any magic made by someone of equal or lesser magical power, as long as that person is not willfully trying to prevent him from dispelling it. If that person is, then it would be harder.

Can you explain a little more about the thrown divinations and how they differ from illusions?

They differ from illusions only in Edric's mind.

I'm off to the Windy City for a few days; I'll still be around, but not much. Spoiler: after things get wrapped up with the prisoners and the roadblock, nothing happens before the party gets to Doche and checks in at their inn, so feel free to move right up to that point -- or do whatever you like at the roadblock, if your characters have unfinished business.

Since Sparrow is alive again, I should probably define his powers properly.

They are mostly illusion. He can do illusions by bending light, changing sounds, tastes and smells, or directly by affecting the mind of the victim. He cannot, however, fool the sense of touch, and his illusions are not solid.

If he's affecting the mind(s) of the victim(s), then Sparrow can specify a wider range of effects (e.g. He can make an illusion of the victim's mother, or of a figure of authority). In this case, the victim's own mind will fill in the details that Sparrow doesn't know, and Sparrow can't see the same thing as his victim (he would see his own mother). This also allows him to give people dreams.

All of his illusions have a time limit, usually 'until dawn' or a few hours.

Though he does not know what pheromones are by name, he does know that there's one smell that, illusioned on to someone, is the centerpoint of the love potion. For best results, combine with the illusion of stunning beauty on the part of the victim's intended consort.

He can also create the illusion of an absence; invisibility or silence spells (or, technically, tastelessness or smelllessness.)

Aside from illusion, he can do minor weather manipulation, levitate objects, accelerate and control plant growth, talk to animals and send people to sleep. (He can also fly, but there's no magic in that.)

I think that's all.

I suppose I should define Anthony's powers.

He talks too much, stabs too much, steals too much, seduces too much, plans piss poorly yet gets away with it by repeating the process. He's the personification of excess and gains success. How? He digs himself a bigger hole till he finds a ladder.

Punchy McBeatemup is really good at fighting things. Like, the best. And strong. Like, the strongest. He is pretty much awful at most other things, but thats OK for him, because he derives a lot of satisfaction from hitting/being stronger than things.

Whew, I'm sorry I dropped off the radar like that. This week was, frankly, just awful. (Nothing serious. Just a deathmarch of crap.)

Here's the map of where you're staying. The initials mark the rooms. It's kinda to scale. Any inconsistencies are because a wizard did it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12885565@N00/4911022951/