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Equinox forced a small smile at the couple as she stood up. She made sure to both memorize the address on the paper, make Hayley memorize it too, and only then did she put it in her pocket. Which is why she hadn't picked up her wand when the redcap stirred, and was forced to quickly mumble "Fotia," and light her right hand on fire. "Fie! Fie!" she shouted at the faerie. "Little faerie warrior, how do you do? Don't you know I can speak in rhyme too? Tell me where they took the child, Or o'erturning the earth will be made to look mild."

OK, p135 of Our World. It's a pity they hid it in what's essentially the Monster Manual, but it's the best description of milestones ever in the context of how the books progress.

Well, not so much a theme as a question. The game assumes that the players have all met before (ergo, the Aspect generation part where you write blurbs for "casefiles"), although it gives guideline for situations when that's not the case. Are we assuming the former or the latter?

Right, here's the thing. In this game, 1 skill point means quite a bit. Hell, 4 skill points at this level will max out a skill. I don't see how, by having the skill points alloted to R10 characters, and restricting everyone to R6, you're actually going for low powered. Because Refresh doesn't affect how powerful you are, when all your skills are really high. In a fist fight, your Refresh abilities might not actually matter much unless you buy 1-2 Stunts in Fists or Athletics. Someone with Great Fists (+4), the recommended skill cap until Refresh 8, can roll 4 minuses, and still have the same total on their roll as someone with Mediocre skill and average rolling. In short, 20 skill points, actually goes really, really, really far in this game, because a +1-+2 bonus means a lot more than in most games. Hell, beating a roll by only 1 or 2 in combat wipes out half of someone's physical health track.

OK, with the new Refresh rates in place, I'm dropping out, I've little interest in a low-powered mortals/quasi-mortals game.

Diplomacy (1d20+10=11) Well, that one sucks ass. Hero Point re-roll... because HPs are for helping people, not necessarily blowing up skulls. (1d10+20=22)

John Smith was once an young apprentice wizard to the White Council. He was somewhat adept in the art of photomancy, using it to cast veils and project heat. The problem was, when it came down to it, he knew that if he ever graduated to full Wizard, he'd just get dragged into Council politics. So, without breaking any Laws of Magic (so the Wardens had no reason to look for him), he ran away, to Georgia. While there, he took up a job as a cameraman, using old manuallly developed photography instead of digital cameras (to avoid blowing up technology). Luckily, with the advent of the digital age, this was seen as 'retro' rather than 'dumb' and so he was capable of making a living off it. Unfortunately, despite his limited abilities and lack of training, he could see and do enough that every time he had to sit by and not do anything about the supernatural, it was a bit of a chore, progressively more so each and every time it happened... Eventually he was going to have to do something about it. Game mechanic wise, he's a Focused Practitioner with a little bit of wizard ability (namely, the Sight, Soulgaze and Constitution). Other than that, they're limited to Channeling (fire/heat) and Rituals (photomancy), and thus are very limited in what they can do, the most obvious being photomancy allows tracking spells based on images, not blood, toenail clippings, hair, etc etc. They'd also have lower Discipline, Conviction and Lore than a full Wizard, obviously because he's not meant to be a focused practitioner who is very good in his chosen field as the book suggests, he's a failed Wizard.

Equinox dropped her wand, and knelt down to hug the poor woman. "Listen," she said softly, resisting the urge to say It'll be alright, knowing it would never help. "It looks like they took her to the land of the faeries. I can go across there and bring her home." She screwed her eyes shut and leaned her head against the woman's. "Irene Rhymer, John Rhymer, I swear by all my power that they're going to give her back. But to do that... I'm going to have to ask you to go home, and try to remain at least somewhat calm. Tearing open a door between worlds then going into Avalon is going to be difficult. I'm sorry, but you can't help me. Go home, and I'll bring her to you."

Just to get my name down, I'm up for playing. Preferably as some form of magical practitioner (my current thought was, if the game is low-powered, either an apprentice wizard or a minor Sorcerer too weak to get on the White Council) Also, for venues, I'm... well, anyone have suggestions, because we can't play here.

Siobhan, still in full "wrathful witch" mode, kicked one of the unconscious redcaps off to the side, so that she could easily bind the other two, roots bursting forth from the ground to wrap them up in an ever-thickening knot of vine-like wood. The third one, she just propped it against a chunk of rock her attack had thrown up, and pointed her wand at its head, willing a red glow of fiery heat into the tip, ready to blast it forth at a moment's notice. "Hayley!" she called, as her dazed-looking raccoon hopped out of a long trench of dirt and stone her attack had thrown up. "Alert me the second that thing even stirs. I need answers." Then, wand still aimed at the unconscious faerie, she turned to the Rhymers, and her face softened. "Oh god... listen, my name is Siobhan Drake. I'm a superhero called Equinox," she said, trying to sound soothing. "What I need to know in order to help you is your surname, and I'll need to know exactly what happened here. That way, I can find who has her, and bring her home."

"Yes, I can smell you. And I can't smell a baby, which one would frankly assume to be somewhat easier than it is to smell a faerie masked by glamour. Which means... nothing is stopping me from saying one little word." Siobhan brought her right hand, holding her oak wand, up into the air, and the other hand sliding downwards towards the ground. Then spun them both round, in a gesture evocative of tipping over a large container. "Kinesi." The ground beneath their feet exploded in a shower of earth, rock and falling flora.

Alright, Hayley stays in hiding, and Equinox? Free Action: Maintain Force Field. Full Action: Selective Area Blast 11. DC 21 Reflex save for half, then DC26 Toughness save as the earth erupts around them. It's a 65' radius, and I'm specifically excluding Hayley, Noxy herself and the Rhymers from it. Earth descriptor.

Siobhan landed on the ground, the wind abruptly dying down as she summoned up a field of wards around her, and then used the small spell stored in her pentacle amulet. Surrounded by a fluid, yet solid, wall of will and magic, she looked around her, searching for the redcaps. "Don't worry, I'll do everything in my power to find your daughter," said the witch in the most assuring tone possible. <Hayley, I can't see them. Can you sniff them out?? <Yes, yes!> whispered the raccoon's voice in her head. <I'm hiding near them... can smell them...> Siobhan just nodded to no one in particular at this. And closed her eyes, casting her mind through the mental link she shared with her familiar. She opened her eyes to see... undergrowth, and small furry paws beneath her feet. And the smells of trees, and leaves, and animal trails... and faeries up ahead. Gathering enough presence of mind to both look and smell through Hayley's senses, yet gently overlay what her own eyes saw over this image, Siobhan reached out with one hand, and made a come hither gesture. "I know where you are, redcaps. You don't fool me."

Hayley has no idea if they can see her... Ergo, her action is using Skill Mastery Stealth (result 25) to hide in the undergrowth) Equinox Move Action: Fly down to ground. Free Action: Switch array slots from Flight to Sensory Link. Free Action: Activate Force Field + Shield linked power, and Force Field power in Pentacle to stack with it and, most importantly, turn on the Subtle feat. For once, she's not glowing like a Christmas tree. Move Action: Turn on Simultaneous Sensory Link. Current HP count: 4 Equinox: Uninjured Hayley: Uninjured

Hayley delays until after the redcaps act.

Yes, but can Hayley smell them? Equinox's initiative, then Hayley's (1d20+1=2, 1d20+3=13)

[Scribbled on a post-it note stuck on Siobhan's fridge] Magic Words OK, so the rhyming couplets weren't working out. Here's the list of the faux-Greek I've improvised thus far: Pyrokagius: Conjures a gout of flame. Derived from pyrkagias (πυÏκαγιας), Greek for "fire". I also use the variant fuego-pyrokagius, which means fire-fire, prefixing the Latin for fire onto the Greek for fire, for more destructive blasts. Fotiakagius: Conjures a big burst of fire. Derived both from pyrkagias, and from fotia (φωτιά), another Greek word roughly meaning fire. Kinesi: Literally, "move". All-purpose incantation, does everything from lift objects to cause seismic activity. From kíni̱si̱ (κίνηση) "Spiti, James": "Home, James"... teleports me home, obviously. From σπίτι, the Greek for home. And James, the English for James. Astrikos: From αστÏικός, the Greek word for "astral", this spell lets my astral form depart my physical body. Drosisteíte: Literally means "cool off" (δÏοσιστείτε). Was improvised in an attempt to look cool in front of Nick. Didn't really work.

Siobhan was tired. The emails, the letters, the calls to go off and do interviews, then having to deal with every monster and beastie going... they were just getting too much for her. So she sat, in the lotus position, legs folded and hands resting on either knee, her head tilted slightly upwards with her eyes closed. Her breathing was slow and rhythmical, barely making a sound as she breathed in and out. To her right, Hayley dozed peacefully on the grass, sprawled out with legs spread-eagled. Which, of course, was totally ruined by the screaming sounds. In a flash, Siobhan had burst from her trance, and kicked up off the ground, wand in hand. "Hayley, come around under me!" she commanded to the dazed looking furball, which promptly bounded off into the bushes. The witch appeared above the picnic site, wand leveled downwards, winds blowing up and around her, making her coat flap and billow.

DC27 Toughness save (1d20+11=28) Force Field'd!

Equinox was slow to react after such a large evocation of ice magic, and thus was powerless to prevent the ghosts from rushing at her compatriots. Dammit, can only take out one, how to choose, how to choose... Without hesitation, the witch spun and threw her willpower into her wand, right hand stretched out in front of her. "Pyrkagius!" she shouted, a burst of red-hot flame lancing forth to spiral into the incorporeal entity as if it was solid. With another huge exertion of willpower, she drew her wards up around her, solidifying them and intensifying them into until she had a dome shaped shield spreading out from her left arm, ready to absorb and deflect incoming blows. "I've never bound anything to my will, and, faerie, if you seek a judge a whole race by the actions of a few of their kind, why don't you start sparkling and spreading pixie dust?" she said cruelly to Ariel.

OK, let's go Ghostbusting. Standard Action: Use Blast 11, which has Affects Insubstantial 2 thanks to her wand applying it to the entire array. All-out Attack for 2, against the ghost which attacked Nick. Blast; DC26 (1d20+13=17) Hero Point Re-roll! Will it hit? (1d20+13=22) Well, seeing as I have to add 10 to get 32 to hit, very very likely yes. Free Action: Activate Impervious Toughness 11 Move Action: DC21 to maintain her Impervious as a free action. (1d20+16=32). Success!

"I'd begin with the fact that it could alternately mean you've got a convenient back door into your head," said Siobhan, feeding a small chunk of pie to Hayley, who chittered away happily. "Just... focus on something. Like swords." "Well," she shrugged, threatening to dislodge the raccoon. "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. That's why I asked for help, my investigation capabilities begin and end around the point that things start catching fire." She paused to deliberate. "But we may as well try the sheriff. I mean, it's not like we'll be able to identify possession for sure through all that miasma anyway, so we're just going to have to see how odd he's acting. Unless either of you can think of a better plan?" She looked somewhat hopeful about the last part.

"Really?" said Siobhan, shrugging her shoulders. "I can't be entirely sure what he's specifically looking for to offer suggestions. But in any case, that's not the point. Offer to help him if it doesn't involve theft, you shouldn't have to offer him an entirely formulated alternative to theft. It he's just going to keep breaking the law, don't go along with it and resort to plan B." She waved her hands vaguely. She thought for a moment, then pulled out a cigarette. "Pyr," she said offhand, lighting it with one finger and inhaling. "There's also the offhand chance that he's not entirely invulnerable. There's the possibility of him having a weakness."

Geckoman immediately, without even appearing to move, had a geckorang in his hand, and a second after that, it had shattered a foot away from the woman in a deliberate spray of solid plastic chunks. "Hey, moron!" snapped the green clad hero. "You're a piece of trash. This man is suffering, he is a victim, and as you could clearly damn see," said the teenager through clenched teeth, gesturing at himself at Cannonade. "We are trying to help him. Not threaten him with unconsciousness or threaten to strap him down like a Victorian asylum." He took one casual step forward, cracking his knuckles. "Untie the innocent man now." And then he burst out into a wide grin and a cheeky wink. "And don't bother saying 'or what', because there isn't one. Untie him now."

Catoblepas Moo. Power Level: 6/10 (xPP) Trade-Offs: -3 Attack / +3 Damage, -2 Defense / +2 Toughness Abilities: 7 + 0 + 8 - 8 - 2 - 4 = 1PP Strength 25/17 (+7/+3) Dexterity 10 (+0) Constitution 22/18 (+6/+4) Intelligence 2 (-4) Wisdom 8 (-1) Charisma 6 (-2) Combat: 4 + 8 = 12PP Initiative: +0 Attack: +1, +3 melee [inc. -1 from size] Grapple: +16 Defense: +4 (+4 Base, +1 Dodge Focus, -1 Size), +1 Flat-Footed Knockback: -8 Saving Throws: 2 + 3 + 4 = 9PP Toughness: +8 (+6 Con, +2 Protection) Fortitude: +8 (+6 Con, +2) Reflex: +3 (+0 Dex, +3) Will: +3 (-1 Wis, +4) Skills: 8r = 2PP Notice 8 (+7) Feats: 3PP Attack Focus (melee) 2 Dodge Focus 1 Improved Overrun Powers: 13 + 1 + 30 + 2 + 1 + 3 = 50PP Growth 4 (Extras: Continuous [+1]; Flaws: Permanent [-1]; Power Feats: Innate) [13PP] +8 Strength, +4 Constitution-1 Attack/Defence, +4 Grapple, -4 Stealth, +2 Intimidate, +5 Strength for lifting capacity Immunity 1 (Catoblepas petrification) Paralyze 10 (petrification, Extras: Alternate Save (Fort) [+0], Area - Cone [+1]) [30PP] Protection 2 (tough hide) [2PP] Speed 1 (10MPH) [1PP] Strike 2 (big horns, Feats: Mighty) [3PP] Drawbacks: 8PP Mute (, Frequency: very common, Intensity: moderate) [-4PP] No Hands (, Frequency: very common, Intensity: moderate) [-4PP] DC Block: ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Melee DC22 Toughness (staged) Damage Horn Strike Melee DC24 Toughness (staged) Damage Petrification breath Area - 100' Cone DC20 Reflex (area), DC20 Fort (staged) Paralyze Abilities (1) + Combat (12) + Saving Throws (9) + Skills (2) + Feats (4) + Powers (50) - Drawbacks (8) = 70 Power Points Notes: Right, grab a drink for this. Heroes of Might and Magic, as well as Dungeons & Dragons, actually have these monsters... but they call them gorgons. Gorgons are actually the race of snake-headed women who can turn you to stone... but these games call them "medusas". In actual fact. Medusa was one specific gorgon. So I present to you the mythological catoblepas! It's basically a big bull, and thus not very high PL, not very high Intelligent, not very high anything. Hell, it's theorised they just came about because early settlers were afraid of buffalo. Who knows? It's just not a very big threat, only coming to PL6 in defence and melee. Its only real weapon is a potent PL10 Petrification Breath. And I figure... don't buffalo travel in herds? :twisted: Really, that's all they can do. Turn people into stone temporarily, and trample people under their big heavy hooves. Simple. I wouldn't recommend this as a PC, on the grounds that you're essentially a big dumb cow.