Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

[X] Focus on Katrina
-[X]Turn 1: Attack with GSNF + final turn of Melee Excellency, activate Impervious Primacy Mantle : -1 Essence, -1 WP
-[X]Turn 2: Full Defense + Shintai activation: -2 Essence, -2 WP
-[X]Turn 3: Attack + Melee Excellency: -1 Essence
-[X]STUNT: With a wordless roar of fury you charge the redhead, green-white flames flickering along your blade in the physical embodiment of nuclear hatefire. You parry one, two, three shots into the ankle-high water with your shield, and cut a fourth out of the air with a lightning-quick flicker of your blade as you close the range. Your backswing meets a runeblade, green flames on brass clashing with red futharks on steel and coming off better. Your riposte cuts across her upper arm before she leaps back out of range. You reach deeper, further into your power than you ever have. And something responds. And as the world turns white, you whisper "Shin.Tai

BronzeTongue said:

Could we be a little less like a cheesy anime character? There's a certain amount that's entertaining, but past that it just makes Molly look like a weeb IC.

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Wizards almost universally have key words for their spells. Imagery is a very important part of magic.

BronzeTongue said:

Could we be a little less like a cheesy anime character? There's a certain amount that's entertaining, but past that it just makes Molly look like a weeb IC.

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Yes, this. I like pretty much everything about the vote @uju32 , but that last part throws me out of it,, strongly. So, my slight edit.

[X] Focus on Katrina
-[X]Turn 1: Attack with GSNF + final turn of Melee Excellency, activate Impervious Primacy Mantle : -1 Essence, -1 WP
-[X]Turn 2: Full Defense + Shintai activation: -2 Essence, -2 WP
-[X]Turn 3: Attack + Melee Excellency: -1 Essence
-[X]STUNT: With a wordless roar of fury you charge the redhead, green-white flames flickering along your blade in the physical embodiment of nuclear hatefire. You parry one, two, three shots into the ankle-high water with your shield, and cut a fourth out of the air with a lightning-quick flicker of your blade as you close the range. Your backswing meets a runeblade, green flames on brass clashing with red futharks on steel and coming off better. Your riposte cuts across her upper arm before she leaps back out of range. You reach deeper, further into your power than you ever have. And something responds. With a sound that is not just a sound, but a promise of nightmare and glory to come, your body changes.

EDIT: If nothing else, finding out about how our shintai looks and what it does should count as a secret, should it not?

[x] Yog

uju32 said:

Geek the mage. But everyone on the other side is a mage.

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I think Evil Bob is a rigger instead of a mage since he's jacked into that u-boat.

BronzeTongue said:

Could we be a little less like a cheesy anime character? There's a certain amount that's entertaining, but past that it just makes Molly look like a weeb IC.

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But isn't Molly kinda a weeb in canon? She is into anime and uses Japanese as her casting language, so there's some evidence for it.

firefrog600 said:

Wizards almost universally have key words for their spells. Imagery is a very important part of magic.

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Molly isn't a wizard and this isn't a spell though. They also don't typically invoke those words after they're at the end of the spell.

Goldfish said:

But isn't Molly kinda a weeb in canon? She is into anime and uses Japanese as her casting language, so there's some evidence for it

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Liking anime and using a language she has passing familiarity with isn't the same as going full weeb. Acting like one kind of punctures any actual tension in a scene, or that's how I see it anyway.

This sort of thing is to story telling what cheese wiz is to food.

[x] Yog

BronzeTongue said:

Liking anime and using a language she has passing familiarity with isn't the same as going full weeb. Acting like one kind of punctures any actual tension in a scene, or that's how I see it anyway.

This sort of thing is to story telling what cheese wiz is to food.

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Good point.

Except about cheese wiz. That stuff was great on the roller meat I used to get for lunch at the gas station down the street from my office before I started working from home.

[X] Yog

Pretty well decided, except for the stunt.

BronzeTongue said:

Could we be a little less like a cheesy anime character? There's a certain amount that's entertaining, but past that it just makes Molly look like a weeb IC.

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Yog said:

Yes, this. I like pretty much everything about the vote @uju32 , but that last part throws me out of it,, strongly. So, my slight edit

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Thats actually true to her canon characterization. She is a weeb. AND a nerd.
One who grew up when a lot of Japanese animation was on US TV and cable, from Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura to Pokemon, Dragonball, Naruto and Bleach.

She canonically formats her inner memory palace like a Star Trek command deck, and she casts her spells in Japanese in canon, instead of Latin like her tutor.
Its not random cheese.

its like asking why, if you forgive a little RL politics, you have soldiers painting anime characters on their tanks or carrying Warhammer 40k insignia. People have always leaned into pop culture in warfare.
Especially in the US
=====
Molly's canon trigger phrases
Hireki, which is used to reveal anyone under a veil
Rokotsu, which opens Ways through the Nevernever
Neru, which puts people to sleep
Ideru, a beckoning spell
Kakusu, her best veil
Akari, to create an orb of green light

[X]uju32

I am very happy with this write in.

I will note Dresden files is written by a man who calls himself a huge nerd. He regularly plays d&d and call of Cthulhu and goes to stuff like Comic-Con.

uju32 said:

Thats actually true to her canon characterization. She is a weeb. AND a nerd.
One who grew up when a lot of Japanese animation was on US TV and cable, from Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura to Pokemon, Dragonball, Naruto and Bleach.

She canonically formats her inner memory palace like a Star Trek command deck, and she casts her spells in Japanese in canon, instead of Latin like her tutor.
Its not random cheese.

its like asking why, if you forgive a little RL politics, you have soldiers painting anime characters on their tanks or carrying Warhammer 40k insignia. People have always leaned into pop culture in warfare.
Especially in the US
=====
Molly's canon trigger phrases
Hireki, which is used to reveal anyone under a veil
Rokotsu, which opens Ways through the Nevernever
Neru, which puts people to sleep
Ideru, a beckoning spell
Kakusu, her best veil
Akari, to create an orb of green light

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Still solidly cheese wiz on a steak territory to me. It's an OOC callout that exists for meme reasons made while in a fight to the death and worse.

We certainly saw Molly use Japanese for spells, but we didn't see her pull memey nonsense while doing serious stuff.

It's less like nose art and more like calling out Naruto jutsu names while throwing grenades into a trench.

Liking anime or whatever else isn't a problem, but when you start using half assed Japanese in the middle of a fight to the death because it was cool on TV you've probably got a problem.

Which is perhaps making a mountain out of a molehill in this instance, but that's the substance of my disagreement with your position in general.

BronzeTongue said:

Still solidly cheese wiz on a steak territory to me. It's an OOC callout that exists for meme reasons made while in a fight to the death and worse.

We certainly saw Molly use Japanese for spells, but we didn't see her pull memey nonsense while doing serious stuff.

It's less like nose art and more like calling out Naruto jutsu names while throwing grenades into a trench.

Liking anime or whatever else isn't a problem, but when you start using half assed Japanese in the middle of a fight to the death because it was cool on TV you've probably got a problem.

Which is perhaps making a mountain out of a molehill in this instance, but that's the substance of my disagreement with your position in general.

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Both Dresden and Molly pull Star Wars quotes during fights.

[x] uju32

I mean, it's not like we're shouting, the write-in specifies a whisper. And it seemed cool to me.

I know my tastes don't always line up with other people, but "too meme-y" just seems like a weird complaint to me. How does adding anime tropes kill the tension?

BronzeTongue said:

Still solidly cheese wiz on a steak territory to me. It's an OOC callout that exists for meme reasons made while in a fight to the death and worse.

We certainly saw Molly use Japanese for spells, but we didn't see her pull memey nonsense while doing serious stuff.

It's less like nose art and more like calling out Naruto jutsu names while throwing grenades into a trench.

Liking anime or whatever else isn't a problem, but when you start using half assed Japanese in the middle of a fight to the death because it was cool on TV you've probably got a problem.

Which is perhaps making a mountain out of a molehill in this instance, but that's the substance of my disagreement with your position in general.

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I dont know what to tell you.
I havent been in the military, but people who have assure me this is very much the sort of thing you will see among the 18 to 25 year olds who form the bulk of the grunt force. And my knowledge of the age group means that very much rings true.

Even at the higher levels you see stuff like military operations named for WWE wrestling moves, and multi-billion dollar surveillance systems with unit patches making references to Lovecraft, movies and urban myth.
I think its pretty true to form.

And this isnt half-assed Japanese. Its literally the name of the form she's adopting: Demon-Emperor Shintai.

shintai, (Japanese: "god-body"), in the Shintō religion of Japan, manifestation of the deity (kami), its symbol, or an object of worship in which it resides; also referred to as mitama-shiro ("the material object in which the divine soul resides"). The shintai may be a natural object in which the divinity's presence was discovered, such as a stone, mountain, or well, or an object made for him, such as a sword, comb, or mirror.

Shintai | Japanese Religion, Rituals & Beliefs | Britannica

Shintai, (Japanese: “god-body”), in the Shintō religion of Japan, manifestation of the deity (kami), its symbol, or an object of worship in which it resides; also referred to as mitama-shiro (“the material object in which the divine soul resides”). The shintai may be a natural object in which the

www.britannica.com

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Like I said, shintai means god-body in Japanese.
If you type godbody(one word) into Google Translate English to Japanese, you get goddobodi as the translation. But if you type god body(two words), you get shintai.

Its both an oblique reference(Bleach says shikai, which means Initial Release) and a literal statement of what she's adopting.
The only reason I didnt go for the full title of Demon-Emperor Shintai is because I didnt think we needed to deal with the full implications of that with both Gard and Lydia.

More broadly?
These are the same books where Dresden, hardly the most culturally hip person, calls Molly names like grasshopper and padawan. Where Molly's sensory spellstorm spell is called a rave. Where Dresden summoned a necromantic Trex to the beat of polka.

A teenager making an oblique reference is no different from a cop quoting Dirty Harry while aiming a gun, or other people making Tolkien references. Hell, Molly's introduction to the Nazis in this quest was her making Blues Brother's references after being shot, and the QM outright told us that if we met Marcone and things got tense we'd be quoting Scarface at him.

Maybe its personal taste, but its very much not out of place.

Hmm, what are the odds that Katrina, Capricorpus, or Gard know enough Japanese to understand what Molly is saying by calling out her Shintai form's transformation?

If so, how do y'all think they would react? If taken literally, they might assume we're a deity, likely a minor one, casting off a mortal disguise. Or they might just believe it to be a powerful transformation spell.

Either way, I bet Katrina won't see it coming, regardless of how accomplished she may be as a seer.

[X] uju32

Goldfish said:

Hmm, what are the odds that Katrina, Capricorpus, or Gard know enough Japanese to understand what Molly is saying by calling out her Shintai form's transformation?

If so, how do y'all think they would react? If taken literally, they might assume we're a deity, likely a minor one, casting off a mortal disguise. Or they might just believe it to be a powerful transformation spell.

Either way, I bet Katrina won't see it coming, regardless of how accomplished she may be as a seer.

[X] uju32

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if we were a god we couldn't just attack them unless they'd already fucked with us. Which I guess they have.

Goldfish said:

If so, how do y'all think they would react? If taken literally, they might assume we're a deity, likely a minor one, casting off a mortal disguise. Or they might just believe it to be a powerful transformation spell.

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We could theoretically just be an absolutly fucking insane Wizard.
Mage has rules for assuming a God-Body ("M20 How do you do that" p.69):

The Shiva/ Kali Murder Machine
A horrific (and horribly vulgar) version of the battle fury uses Life 4/ Spirit 4/ Mind 3/ Time 3/ Matter 2/ Prime 2/ Spirit 2/ Entropy 1 to transform the mage into a towering incarnation of war. Hindu and Buddhist warriors embrace the many-armed fashion of certain deities, growing six arms, eight arms, or even more.
This titanic avatar of atrocity…
• Manifests all of the powers described above (Strength 8, Dexterity 5, Stamina 8);
• Stands over a dozen feet high and weighs well over a ton;
• Requires at least 30 successes to manifest; and…
• Is about as vulgar as magick can get, short of turning back time or superimposing several locations on top of one another. Nevertheless, certain mages perfect such forms, if only because they care so little about the consequences. The infamous Grand Harvester Voormas embodied this sort of creature, and used it quite effectively… for a while, anyway.

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That's the completly insane version, but a master of Life with some skill in other sphere's can definitly create a spell that turns him physically powerful with added mental and spiritual components like ignoring wounds, cutting spirits and taking additional actions per turn.

McCoy might be able to call down meteorites and cause vulcanoes to erupt, but don't think Listens-to-Wind can't level a few buildings if needs must.

Goldfish said:

Hmm, what are the odds that Katrina, Capricorpus, or Gard know enough Japanese to understand what Molly is saying by calling out her Shintai form's transformation?

If so, how do y'all think they would react? If taken literally, they might assume we're a deity, likely a minor one, casting off a mortal disguise. Or they might just believe it to be a powerful transformation spell.

Either way, I bet Katrina won't see it coming, regardless of how accomplished she may be as a seer.

[X] uju32

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Katrina almost certainly knows Japanese, perhaps even has "understand all mortal languages" racial bonus from being a Valkyrie or something similar. Also, I think their mystical senses will be of more importance to them than whatever we call the ability as we use it. We already feel like a miniature darkhallow. First activation of our shintai in the story is likely to be felt all over Chicago. The only reason every mortal practitioner in the city with even a shred of prophetic gift isn't going to be screaming in terror or religious revelation is because we are Outside of Fate. And even then I expect at least some to scream about how "the Monster is Here".

... Speaking of, I wonder if Archive knows Broken Winged Crane?

firefrog600 said:

if we were a god we couldn't just attack them unless they'd already fucked with us. Which I guess they have.

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"Michael the dragon layer" theories write themselves. In fact, and I am only just partially joking about it, we might want to spread some such rumors, as well as other theories out there, to obfuscate the truth.

Yog said:

"Michael the dragon layer" theories write themselves. In fact, and I am only just partially joking about it, we might want to spread some such rumors, as well as other theories out there, to obfuscate the truth.

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Well, Charity is a Dragon of a Mom but jokes aside, I dunno if it would be ok to imply that about Molly's mother.

Yog said:

First activation of our shintai in the story is likely to be felt all over Chicago. The only reason every mortal practitioner in the city with even a shred of prophetic gift isn't going to be screaming in terror or religious revelation is because we are Outside of Fate. And even then I expect at least some to scream about how "the Monster is Here".

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No, that's when we first activate The City Still Stands and cause an earthquake that can be felt a mile away without mystical senses. This is just going to be confusing and concerning. Some Denarians might have a brief "walking over their grave" experience, though, even if they're outside the city. And Heaven is going to be looking down and hoping their gambit pays off.

DragonParadox said:

To her credit Lydia does not shy away from the fight, or the fact that she is wearing some of your blood, she pivots left and slams her foot into Katrina's stomach. You catch a glimpse of her jacket shifting, growing like some cancerous thing studded with runecarved nails, but it does not seem to help as much as she might have hoped as she's sent reeling into one of the display cases.

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Lydia got one good hit in.
I can't guess how much damage that did, but it sounded like Katrina's armor and soak didn't do much.

Between that and a strike enhanced with Exellency and GSNF we might actually shoot her down before we get to Shintai.

And even if we don't finish her in one shot, it might leave her wounded enough that it's better to try to finish her off next turn rather than spend it going into Shintai and letting her possibly get away.

Just keep in mind this.

GSNF does 4 dmg and if Katrina can soak Agg, soak is rolled seperately for that. So not only does she roll soak for our actual attack, she also rolls soak seperately for the Damage from GSNF.

Actually. @DragonParadox are we doing Agg damage to Katrina? Do we know if she can Soak it?

Okay, so as a possible thing I noticed: our Shintai form, with the sword, armor, and cloak of dawning glory, kind of looks like a Knight of the Cross. Specifically, it looks like an archdevil cosplaying as a Knight of the Cross and doing just good enough of a job that everyone can tell what she's going for, even if she is still clearly Missing the Point. And we transform into our Shintai with a demonic parody of a Magical Girl Transformation Sequence.

My point is, if we transform into our Shintai in front of Harry, he is not likely to miss either of those facts. Just something I found funny.

Yzarc said:

Just keep in mind this.

GSNF does 4 dmg and if Katrina can soak Agg, soak is rolled seperately for that. So not only does she roll soak for our actual attack, she also rolls soak seperately for the Damage from GSNF.

Actually. @DragonParadox are we doing Agg damage to Katrina? Do we know if she can Soak it?

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Your anima's flaring so yeah