- Location
- Russia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Offtop question: is the word "damn" really such obscene? I checked it with onlain-translators and dictionary to be sure, and it shows nothing indecent.
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
It isn't, but the Carpenters have a unusually strong stance on things like 'damn' which could be constructed as taking the Lord's name in vain. Damn is short for goddam, which is in an even more expanded version 'may God damn the thing that is pissing me off'. You are not supposed to give orders to God or even ask for His interception lightly.
[X] Have that talk with Doctor Niemi
- Location
- Hive City Ares, Armageddon, Segmentum Solar
[X] Have that talk with Doctor Niemi
[X] Have that talk with Doctor Niemi
-[X] Use excellency (Subterfuge) to gain access to the doctor without alerting anyone
--[X] Stunt: You and Lydia enter the Soul's Rest reception area, Michael following you. As you move towards reception, it's easy to act nervous in a way you aren't. A shift in posture, a moment of hesitation where none really exists. By the time you "muster the courage" to ask the receptionist if you could see the director of the facility about admitting your old Nana, she should be firmly convinced there's no risk in it.
-[X] Use Excellency (Intimidation) when talking to the doctor
--[X] As you enter the office of your target, his secretary leaving you alone, and closing the door behind you, your presence shifts. It is not a child of a distraught family that stands before him. It is someone who even his master should avoid, if it has enough mind to do so, lest it becomes the sacrifice on the altar of your epic tale. He, either a mortal or something who was once mortal, cannot do so, trapped as he is in the same room with you. The only option left for him is to offer his unconditional assistance.
Something like this? There are two parts - one to gain access to the director, the other is to motivate the director to talk. For gaining access, the only other options I have is pretending that we want to make a donation for the organization. The stunt would go along these lines:
--[] Stunt: You and Lydia enter the Soul's Rest reception area, Michael following you, to all the world a chaperone and perhaps even a bodyguard following two young and undeniably wealthy, if extravagant, women. With confidence that you haven't needed to fake in the last two months, you move towards the receptionist, telling her that you and your friend considered providing a large donation to this fine institution, and would like to talk to the director about it.
-[X] Use excellency (Subterfuge) to gain access to the doctor without alerting anyone
--[X] Stunt: You and Lydia enter the Soul's Rest reception area, Michael following you. As you move towards reception, it's easy to act nervous in a way you aren't. A shift in posture, a moment of hesitation where none really exists. By the time you "muster the courage" to ask the receptionist if you could see the director of the facility about admitting your old Nana, she should be firmly convinced there's no risk in it.
-[X] Use Excellency (Intimidation) when talking to the doctor
--[X] As you enter the office of your target, his secretary leaving you alone, and closing the door behind you, your presence shifts. It is not a child of a distraught family that stands before him. It is someone who even his master should avoid, if it has enough mind to do so, lest it becomes the sacrifice on the altar of your epic tale. He, either a mortal or something who was once mortal, cannot do so, trapped as he is in the same room with you. The only option left for him is to offer his unconditional assistance.
Something like this? There are two parts - one to gain access to the director, the other is to motivate the director to talk. For gaining access, the only other options I have is pretending that we want to make a donation for the organization. The stunt would go along these lines:
--[] Stunt: You and Lydia enter the Soul's Rest reception area, Michael following you, to all the world a chaperone and perhaps even a bodyguard following two young and undeniably wealthy, if extravagant, women. With confidence that you haven't needed to fake in the last two months, you move towards the receptionist, telling her that you and your friend considered providing a large donation to this fine institution, and would like to talk to the director about it.
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- Location
- Who knows?
[X] Yog
@DragonParadox
QUESTION
1)Is Dr Niemi an MD, a Pharm.D or a PhD?
2)Do we have any idea how many security personnel that Souls Rest employs?
3)What time of day is it? Morning? Or afternoon?
- And MD
- By all accounts you have been able to see none
- Late morning
What about orderlies? Someone capable of manhandling a person as part of their job, even if officially it's only "assisting people who can't walk".
MD. Hmm.
No security staff? That would stand out. Both nursing homes Ive seen had at least one. I guess they have Pathfinder people on the evening staff. It does make it easier to walk in after hours and knock on the good doctor's door.
Late morning? Alright, we have time.
@DragonParadox
QUESTION
Does this not qualify as discovering a supernatural secret with regards to the nature of raksha?
+2 Essence for the scene?
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It is an interesting detail, but not really big enough to count as a secret, you are still missing pieces in what they are doing out here.
Disappointing but informative. Seeing nothing on the beaches implies they can do this stuff mostly indoors.
And that excellent Occult roll coming in means we narrow things down to the nursing home itself.
Going to note that the talk about dreamless sleep implies they may well be using drugs again.
Only this time feeding illicit drugs to unknowing residents. Something a doctor would be qualified to pull off.
Which would kinda fit with the fact that this place is owned by a pharmaceutical company.
While I would normally want to do a little more scouting of the home, Michael's agreement to seeing the director tips me towards kicking the door in and asking pointed questions at the end of a demon sword.
Markus Niemi is a Finnish name.
Not second or third generation Finnish-American, but Old Country immigrant. Iku Turso is Finnish myth. The company that owns this nursing home has a Finnish name. There's a lot of Finnish-American residents. The coincidences keep piling up.
We can, and should, run a background check on everything accessible online.
I would be very interested in finding out whether Dr Niemi's date of birth, and if he was alive in 1953; its close enough that if he was 18 in 1953, he'd be 71 in 2006. And age doesnt matter if you have magic enhancements.
Note that, based on my limited knowledge of US nursing homes, having the director, or any staff, living onsite is Not Normal. But we already knew that.
Fred wasnt picked at random. Four semi-finalists, so either
What stands out a lot more to me in Fred's vision is the fact that every window except the topmost floor was dark, implying everyone was asleep. In a population of elderly people thats abnormal. Some have insomnia. Some stay up late and sleep in the daytime. Some keep bedside lights.
And of course there's overnight staff moving around, just in case there needs to be emergency medical attention.
The lack of all sign of activity is spooky.
The nursing home has to have overnight staff
And they have to be in on it, else they could disrupt whatever is going on. I mean, if the ritual whatever objects to young people having fun several hundred yards away, people in the building could cause more disruption.
So if we want to avoid involving civilians, an evening/night visit is in order.
VOTE
[X]Plan Audacity
-[X]Call the three other semifinallists and ask if they saw something
-[X]Get Soul's Rest building permits/floor plans; they are public records filed with the city. Either cyberdevils or posing as students doing a holiday project for school should be enough
-[X]Visit Cleveland police station HQ under guise of asking when the next auction for impounded vehicles will happen, and use HMP on police computers
-[X]Visit where police/press report says Fred was found dead.Use Crown to ask identities of everyone involved in the death there
-[X]Cyberdevils: Research Doctor Markus Niemi.
-[X]Get a bath to replenish Essence
-[X]Have that talk with Doctor Niemi
--[X]STUNT: "What are the odds the Reds try to jump us after we deal with the Pathfinders?" you ask your father as you lace up your Tims, black mailshirt reassuringly cool on the damp skin underneath your second least favorite flannel shirt. "Two to one" comes the reply after some consideration. "The Red Court has not, to my knowledge, enjoyed a reputation for being overly scrupulous." "Dad says ten to one, sir" offers Lydia, checking the pockets of a familiar jacket for cellphone and knuckles. "He says the Reds have ever been quick to stick knifes in the back of their nominal allies, let alone their enemies. And they're definitely watching the place."
Your father nods to her, acknowledging the point. "True. But the Lord has never sent us a burden heavier than we can bear."
And with that he stands, the long duffelbag you know conceals Amoracchius over his shoulder. "Ladies?" And with that you rise to your feet, pulling on a baseball cap. "Ready."
REASONS
Lydia raised a good point: Presumably Fred wasnt picked at random.
Check the other three semi-finallists for if they saw something or felt something.
Building plans because if we end up in a fight or having to track someone in the building, best to be prepared.
Research Niemi. He's either running the op, or he knows who is.
Police because odds are we will need a headsup if anyone calls 911, and a cyberdevil sitting inside their network is privileged.
And it gives us a headstart on figuring out the extent of the Red Court infiltration of the Cleveland PD. It has more than a thousand officers, so they have to be tocused on a couple people.
Currently stumped for a stunt.
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Why not cut to the chase? Go in, make him worship our dark majesty and offer us his soul in hopes of diverting our divine(ly approved) wraith. Get him talking. 14-16 intimidation dice work for us.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I'm not in so much of a hurry that I would pass up a good opportunity to gather more information before confronting the doctor.
Worst case, we learn nothing new or relevant before seeking out the doctor, but still get at least one Cyber-Devil HMP'd into the Cleveland PD's computer system and possibly learn to just what extent the Reds have infiltrated the department.
- Location
- Germany
[X] Yog
You might be right. Timeline-wise (ie in how much hurry we should consider ourselves to be) we have to consider that Michael was sent here, and I doubt that the Angelic prescience can (easily) account for our Outside of Fate exalted self. @DragonParadox how long would it take Michael to go confront the Soul's Rest employees if we weren't here? His best guess.
EDIT:
If the goal was to stop the race, for example because the emotional state of humans competing with each other in a highly stressful situation would disrupt / destroy whatever the long term magical working is being setup here, then yes, he could have been picked at almost random. There might not have been anything to see, really.
The "he or someone else saw something" might well be a false lead.
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It would take him the 45 minutes of the drive over, but it is worth keeping in mind that the knights have free will. It seems unlikely that Uriel, or anyone else in Michael's chain of command would have set this up to work 'as destined'. God is not a member of the Bronze faction of Siderials, for which you guys should probably be thankful.
No, I meant, assuming he got here alone, how long would he spend before confronting the Soul's Rest directly? The knights have free will, and theirs aren't suicide missions. So, if he was sent here, then it's likely that, timeline wise, whatever the Pathfinders are doing is near enough the completion stage that he needs to be sent, yet far away that he has time to get here, do his own thing, and still has a chance of stopping it. I want to try and estimate the possible timeline from this.
He would have spent at least a day trying to find someone reliable in the local supernatural scene to get the lay of the land then maybe another one or two days of investigation with whatever help he can find (people of goodwill have an inclination to help the Knights, not as a supernatural thing just because of who they are). By the third or fourth day he would have tried to blow this open.
Worth noting though this is assuming average times for things like this, he has has situations where the investigation took weeks and others where he drove right into combat.
1) Because I would prefer to avoid getting shot in the head again by something we didnt see coming.
I at least want to make a good faith effort at prep. I suspect this op is being run by some millenia old thing trying to free its boss, and I dont want to run into it in a dark alley by surprise.
2) WoG is that there are no visible guards. No security.
Nothing theoretically preventing a hitman with a handgun walking in and out of the facility. And yet there are 18x Red Court vampires in the city who have declined the seemingly easy task of walking in and tearing the director's head off.
Which says there is more than meets the eye to him.
And whatever that is might well be able to laugh off 14 social dice unless we have an edge and have done our homework.
Even if he was a mortal, you dont usually allocate a scrub to oversee a project of attempting to free a mythological monster, and we still have no idea of how big the Pathfinder cell here is or how buff.I mean, Dresden rolls double digit dice when he's defending something that pings an Intimacy.
And he's a wizard, not a dude whose mind and soul has been reshaped by the touch of the servants of a notRaksha to one goal.
3)Now, this is a meta argument.
But its been twelve hours and Dresden hasnt gotten back to us. Which tells me OOC that the information is significant and the QM wants us to discover it IC or be surprised IC
Also? Our end of arc XP relies on how many things we successfully pull off.
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