In a game i ran over the weekend, i was using a free spirit NPC that was kinda like magical backup for the pc's.

An unseen battle between the spirit and an NPC mage ensued. I told the pc's that they could "feel" spirit leave. Don't ask, long story.

Now i know its not likely the mage banished the spirit. So how does disruption work?

Does banishment to a free spirit kill it permanenetly or does disruption kill it permanently?

If he's not dead how can the pc's resummon him?

If the free spirit got disrupted it is gone 28-force days (it's in MitS) unless the pc does an astral quest to the spirits metaplane to get it back sooner(rating of quest = Spirits force)

I think i got that right....

IIRC, you can't really "kill" a sprit of any kind, only make it take a vacation of sorts...I think there was an exception, but I can't remember atm.

Deadly Physical damage to the spirit's astral form will permanently destroy a spirit. Just about anything short of that (including Deadly Physical damage to its materialized form) only disrupts it.

My related question would be, what happens to those spirits that are merely disrupted, but usually have a hard time getting to our plane (e.g. bugs).

If I'm a bug shaman, and I summon a true form, it gestates in the human, then eats him/her, and that supposedly provides the bug some sort of anchor to this world. But if I disrupt the spirit, and it goes back to the bug astral plane, can it get back after its 28 days are done?

Flesh forms are not treated like other spirits. True forms don't need a human host. Since true form bugs don't have the additional mortality of a host, they can reform themselves in the home plane just as other spirits.

[edit]On rereading the intro, yes true forms do need to use a host for a bit, but then seem to obey all the normal spirit rules.

What about flesh forms? They're tied to the host body, so if I give one deadly stun damage it's knocked out, not dispelled, right?

Yup, IIRC that is.

You have to destroy the physical form (D Physical Damage), then it's gone I believe, but at least it's gone for good.