[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Tell them that getting them out of the country is hard. Stealing a ship that can make the journey is the easiest route, and there's this nice one called Penemue in Galveston, apparently belonging to whoever has been messing all this up. They should be able to take the ship. but being followed by the USCG would be a problem, so the rest of us will move on to Indianola and do a ritual to make Penemue hard to track or follow. Then we'll split up and get out in smaller groups that aren't so miss-matched.

Sure, they might try to tell them that, but if they do, the pishtaco would figure out it wouldn't work before it came to a fight. Given the strength of the Threshold around the Penemue, the pishtaco wouldn't even try to come aboard uninvited.

Sister María Teresa and her fellow cult leaders don't explicitly know about the Threshold (commonplace for family homes, unusual for a 'vehicle'), but they know that something aboard Penemue blocks divinations, psychic spying and remote spiritual influence. At least one of them would correctly guess that she's protected by a Threshold and the pishtaco would instinctively shy away, especially in the absence of a cult leader magician to help.

If they want the PCs dead, an ambush somewhere else they are likely to be has a better chance. Like maybe hang around the hospital where 'Gwen Delvano' is, if the cultists can find out about that, now that it's gotten dark.

Or, of course, they could ignore the PCs and try to rescue (ideal), disable (if reversible later, might be viable) or kill Ms. Delvano (for reasons yet to be revealed, none of the senior cult leaders is prepared to order this). Getting her off Galveston island is implausible, but rendering her unable to speak sense for a few months might be practical, especially if the magicians can prepare a powerful Charm for the pishtaco to carry into her presence. Maybe even put her in a coma that requires powerful magic to reverse.

That sound like anything?

Originally Posted by johndallman

Well, they don't put much effort into making Penemue hard to find. Does their school of magic allow for changing appearance, boosting Acting skill, and similar routine RPM workings, or are they limited to "loss" and/or "destruction" effects? If the latter, they should try to change themselves to be as un-noticeable as possible.

Well, they are already carrying a goodly supply of an alchemical creation that meataphysically drains 'attention'. Grayish dust that when sprinkled over someone makes them unremarkable, unmemorable and tend to fade into the background.

In general, though, their Optional Specialization of the Path of Nonexistance (Loss) is only IQ/H, but at -2 for any effects that are metaphysically about creation, improvement, renewal and the like, instead of being expressable in terms of taking something away. So, no bonus to Acting or a new appearance using that Path, but penalties for others to notice them are fine.

Note that Sister María Teresa, Nando Acevedo and 'Heilong Tou' ('Black Dragon Head') were all accomplished ritual magicians before being initiated into the cult. And some of their people are also learned in another tradition as well. Acevedo is good at the Path of Body and the Path of Chance. Sister María Teresa is a master of the Path of Undead, as well as Path of Spirit, and to a lesser extent, Path of Mind (her friend, Mrs. Teodoro, is even better at Path of Mind and is also extremely good at Path of Body).

The Gong Tau witchcraft of Heilong Tou is more specialized by tradition than Paths (he has a +3 bonus for rituals that fall under his tradition), but he can perform various Path of Body, Chance and Mind rituals that would be useful for disguise and passing unnoticed.

Originally Posted by johndallman

Especially him.

As for the Quechua-speaking Peruvian who believes he is a reincarnated high priest of the Inca Empire, he's got the useful sort of delusion, i.e. he functions as the vessel for a powerful spirit that actually practised a sacrifice-based form of ritual magic that sure seems Incan, at least to the average observer.

All Path skills at 15+, making him the best all-around magician. That still isn't as high as it seems in a world where -8 ambient Mana is a pretty fair place for rituals and a powerful nexus of magic is Low Mana (-5). Still, he's got the skills and traits to amass a fair number of bonuses in a slow ritual and carries pre-made Charms for quicker work.

He can Shroud himself in the Facade, becoming unnoticable to those with Mundane Background unless the situation is such there is no plausible way to overlook him. It cn even work on people aware of the supernatural, but without the -5 penalty for Mundane Background, he can't win every QC.