Everyone's voting for the same main vote, just different stunts.
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
Everyone's voting for the same main vote, just different stunts.
Yes, sorry about that.
Vote closed.
Behold a Prince of the Earth and quake puny vampire it is.
Behold a Prince of the Earth and quake puny vampire it is.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So the real question is… is it possible for a Rampire to have a heart attack from pure fear?
Stay tuned to find out!
Stay tuned to find out!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Also, I noticed that the top 2 stunts aren't mutually exclusive… although in hindsight I'm glad the HMP vote didn't win, since I just realized that, between the Crown and the Occult Excellency, the Intimidate Excellency will be our third spent mote this scene. Adding a fourth with HMP would cause anima flare, and we aren't ready for that right now.
- Location
- Who knows?
Hahaha oh dear good point. I think we would definitely need to go "fuck it, constant violence and crown use to find next violence target," if we went that loud in public.
- Location
- Germany
It would propably have helped to cower the vamp further.
And the graveyard is hopefully relativly empty around this time.
And the graveyard is hopefully relativly empty around this time.
Winning Vote
Arc 3 Post 9: What Darkness Dreads
What Darkness Dreads
24st of July 2006 A.D.
As you rise from the bench the leaves sigh with the whisper of a chill wind and the shadows of the branches seem flicker and crawl along the ground like worms seeking refuge. Like a Queen dispensing of her throne in anger, some distant part of you notes, the memory of Mab still fresh in your mind. But I have no kingdom, the part of you that is just Molly Carpenter, argues. "Not yet my queen, not yet," Usum replies and you know that in part at least he means such as the being before you. A monster, a predator recognizing at once something far more dangerous than him. The smile slides off the face of the vampire, like oil off water. He opens his mouth to speak again, to lie no doubt, but you do not permit it.
Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 9/12
"I know you vampire, I hear the truth behind your sweet words and see your true face beneath the mask of flesh." The words ring strange in your own ears, cold and distant, not cruel only because cruelty would be an effort he is unworthy of. "Know that our conversation shall be brief one way or another. Now speak, how came you to spy on us in this place and at whose behest?"
The spy freezes in place, face slack eyes wide then his arms twitch in sinc, upper body shivering, though not with the sudden cold. You know the true vampire twists in the cocoon of human seeming fit perhaps to burst.
That would make questioning in a public rather inconvenient.
Fortunately the vampire manages to gain enough control of his body and wits to nod slowly then bow his head.
Trying very hard not to think of how satisfying, how right this feels, you begin to question him, staring with his name. You thus find out that his name is Andre La Blanche, one of a group of eighteen Red Court vampires new come to Cleveland for the purpose of preventing an old enemy gaining ascendancy, ones he calls the Pathfinders.
"They are as much your enemies as ours Knight of the Cross," the vampire looks to dad with pleading eyes, but he keeps silent, trusting you to handle the interrogation. "They seek to bring an Age of Unreason, the end of the ascendancy of man, that all should kneel in the shadow of god-monsters as it was when our ancestors cowered in the light of the fire and propitiated themselves before the things that cavorted in the dark. They are the devils in the nightmares of all that live."
"And so you and your ilk seek to save mankind from this dark fate?" you cut off the tirade.
"We feed on the blood of man yes, never taking more than we need, but if the great nations of the world should fall back into savagery there will be fewer men and we will starve."
And you can believe as much of that as you like, you think, unable to read the the body behind the false flesh now that he has gained some control again.
Andre goes on to explain that the three Blood Packs that had come to Cleveland had followed standard operating procedure for a temporary infiltration, focusing on those mortal assets that would give them the most resources in a short amount of time without caring about sustainability. So they had not bothered with any of the local politicians or business people, but they had infiltrated the local police, including the traffic cops. "You were spotted on a traffic camera coming into town, the license-plate numbers are known and we were told to have the thralls check for them especially this close to Chicago."
Of all the ways to get picked up, you mentally sigh. Of course dad's car and his license plate would be known, it's not like he uses anything other than his pickup. Grand theft auto it is, you resolve, half-seriously.
"What was your mission?" you ask, letting none of your annoyance show on your face.
"To listen to spy, to seek an opportunity to direct you against the Pathfinders, though not tonight, too soon."
"And?" It is hard to miss the way his eyes keep darting this way and that as if seeking an escape, but now they fall on Lydia in particular.
"If you or she were to part from the knight I was to attempt to... gain your confidence." Something tells you the the original contents of his orders was a good bit less euphemistic, but you get the gist. Whoever is in charge of the Red Court presence in the city has identified you and Lydia as weak links which could be manipulated to their ends.
"Who is your master?" you snap.
"You are," the vampire blurts out in terror and starts to propitiate himself.
"No, no, get up." This time you cannot hold back a sigh. "Who gave you your orders and where are they?"
"Don Phillipe de Leon, he is old and cunning in his cruelty." The shadow of a different fear passes over his features, though whatever sway the elder vampire might have on Andre it is less than the weight of your gaze. "He took over the Blue Dog, it's a dance club in the Warehouse District, I can show you where it is. He is there planning, organizing... I do not know what. I am too young, lesser yes to know the whole of his plans, but they say that he is planning an attack on the house of the aged, yes. Soul's Rest. A fire maybe? Fire makes it so that many magics are disrupted."
You are almost certain he is pulling that last bit out of his ass, trying to get out more answers to placate you.
What do you do next?
[] Ask more questions
-[] Write in
[] The vampire has serves his purpose
-[] Release him
-[] Kill him
[] Write in
OOC: For the record if you want a Red Court servant that is on the table, though I cannot think of any way to make Michael agree to it.
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- Location
- Germany
Would a botch here have negative consequences, like him bursting out of his mask or just trying to flee in panic?
The way you wrote that part seemed to implicate something like that.
A botch would have had him burst out of his flesh mask and have a panic attack which Molly would have had to snap him out of somehow.
- Location
- washington
I'll note in its long history wardens being converted by red court is pretty much guaranteed right? Now recently I don't really remember any examples though.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
@DragonParadox, did anything from that conversation count as enough to proc our Urge? Learning the name of the Pathfinders, for instance?
Also, idea: "Why don't you take me there, then? If we all have a mutual enemy, we should make sure we're all on the same page after all. Wouldn't want a lack of coordination to cause any unfortunate… accidents." Just because the dialogue came to me, and I think we can cow this guy's elder almost as easily as we did him, since he sounds like merely an old vampire instead of a lord. And worst case scenario, we can take them, even if it might mean having to burn our Shintai depending on how strong the elder is.
Also, idea: "Why don't you take me there, then? If we all have a mutual enemy, we should make sure we're all on the same page after all. Wouldn't want a lack of coordination to cause any unfortunate… accidents." Just because the dialogue came to me, and I think we can cow this guy's elder almost as easily as we did him, since he sounds like merely an old vampire instead of a lord. And worst case scenario, we can take them, even if it might mean having to burn our Shintai depending on how strong the elder is.
Not this time, too vague. All you have is a name from this particular conversation which links to stuff you already knew.
There's a mention somewhere about how turned wizards make powerful magic using red court vampires. Edit, found it, from Dead Beat:
If they managed to turn a Warden, especially one of the senior commanders, it would give them access to a treasury of knowledge and secrets—to say nothing of the fact that they would effectively gain, in many ways, a wizard of their own. Vampires didn't use magic in the same way that mortal wizards did. They tapped into the same nauseating well of power that Kemmler and those like him used. But from what I understood of it, the skills carried over. A turned wizard would be a deadly threat to the Wardens, the Council, and mortals alike. We never talked about it, but there was a sort of silent understanding among wizards that we would never be taken alive. And an equally silent fear that we might be.
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"I know he's a bad boy, daddy, but I can reform him, I swear!". I.e. the classical argument rebellious daughters trying to date bad boys make. More seriously, I regret not having Mercy in Servitude or other servitude charms to make him not need blood and to fully take him into our service.
We could, with enough social, reform him. I mean, seriously, we totally could. And if denarians deserve a chance, why not him?
Also... I am starting to think that red court vampires might be descendants of malfean demons of some kind, if their ancestral enemies are raksha.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Either Don Phillepe's name or what we found out last couple of updates about the Raksha? Anything?
Long shot but I have to try.
You already got the essence from the Rhaska... and you are in the same scene anyway, so your Urge cannot fire in any case I just remembered.
Well that was satisfying. I didn't think we'd scare him so badly that he'd outright jump ship.
Must be a fun scene for Micheal and Lydia, since Molly just went full "Look at me, look at me. I am the captain now" on a red vamp.
Must be a fun scene for Micheal and Lydia, since Molly just went full "Look at me, look at me. I am the captain now" on a red vamp.
This guy had to have eaten at least one person to be what he is, there could be mitigating circumstances but what is effectively blood based cannibalism creeps Molly out. She does not have what you would call a complex and coherent moral system on the supernatural right now, it is up to you guys to define it. There is definitely a part of her that is wondering if she could save this guy... by commanding his allegiance for all time.
As a friendly rival
Also, deep lore thread to pull on later - Age of Unreason looks like a garbled rendition several things. State of things before Creation, Linear Time and Consequences, hence the name. And probably the dark age after canon exalted times, when humans already existed and covered in caves from things cavoting in the dark. We should probably spend a question on either him or some other red court vampire to learn what they know of it.
We are going to start glowing if we do, I think.
Oh yes. Redemption through serving in hell. Definitely a possibility. I'll have to think how to write it. Getting a servant might be worthwhile.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Red Court Vampires are living creatures rather than full on Undead like the Black Court, so I assume they have basic biological functions, including the need to expel waste in some manner.
With that in mind, I'd give good odds that poor Andre just had a bit of an accident in his flesh mask, like someone in a wetsuit peeing themselves (or worse).
With that in mind, I'd give good odds that poor Andre just had a bit of an accident in his flesh mask, like someone in a wetsuit peeing themselves (or worse).