Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

Mostly back.
I rather think we have to go for the kill, lest the history repeats itself. This is not the only cult branch, from the looks of it. As long as their patron survives, this will happen again.

Also, preventing stuff like self-destructs (if there are any), and not giving time for other cultists to either flee or set up any ritual magic.
1)We're E2.
Wounding it badly enough it has to run away from mortal space is not the same thing as pinning it in a corner and killing it in whatever capsule of space its been exiled to.

2)Possibly they'll try again, yeah.
But I generally lean towards avoiding unnecessary death, like Gandalf with Gollum, and for much the same reason. This thing was a part of a pantheon, and the last guy didnt kill it. Until and unless we know why, I'd be less homicidal.

If the prison works, and has worked for several thousand years despite the best efforts of cultists, just fix the door and lock.

3)And I most definitely have no interest in following a Raksha or any similar monster into its own home ground when we have no Shaping defenses. Exalted have some native countermagic to resist Shaping, but thats something to only use when you have literally no other option.

I doubt there are self-destructs. But you can never be sure.
Do note that we cant do anything with most of the cultists; there's no Hell to dump them in, and the White Council only does executions, no prison sentences or rehabilitation.

I'll try for the vote in a moment. And yes, I will be stunting "be not afraid". You can't stop me. It's too appropriate IC and OOC.
Lol.
 
I rather think we have to go for the kill, lest the history repeats itself. This is not the only cult branch, from the looks of it. As long as their patron survives, this will happen again.

Also, preventing stuff like self-destructs (if there are any), and not giving time for other cultists to either flee or set up any ritual magic.

I'll try for the vote in a moment. And yes, I will be stunting "be not afraid". You can't stop me. It's too appropriate IC and OOC.

EDIT:
@DragonParadox just to confirm "get the victims out ASAP" is the vote to help both the cultists and the elderly, while the "Dad and Lydia can deal with the rest of the cultists, you can unhook these people from the apparatus" option has Molly focusing on the elderly people trapped in the machine? Or what's the difference?

The difference if one of them leaves you on medical tend/occult duty while Michael and Lydia handle dealing with any remaining staff whereas the alternative has all of you dealing with the aftermath and might allow the remaining Pathfinders time to escape.
 
I doubt there are self-destructs. But you can never be sure.
It would be really odd if there were any self destructs. They have invested alot of time and effort into this building and destroying it doesn't give them anything. A self destruct would just be an extra point of vulnerability.
 
The difference if one of them leaves you on medical tend/occult duty while Michael and Lydia handle dealing with any remaining staff whereas the alternative has all of you dealing with the aftermath and might allow the remaining Pathfinders time to escape.
Ah, thanks. Lydia is in no condition to fight, and if there are still a number of cultists remaining, then Michael might not be able to handle them all. I'd rather focus on saving the people. We can hunt them all down later. It's not like they can flee beyond "where do all the remaining cultists live?" (or something similar) asked while seeing one of their victims.

Also, which attribute+ability would we be rolling when trying not to intimidate old people while in our shintai form and opening with "Be not afraid!" Leadership? Empathy? Subterfuge? We want them to follow us, so I think Leadership is appropriate.

If the prison works, and has worked for several thousand years despite the best efforts of cultists, just fix the door and lock.
We don't really have the instruments for that. Our toolset, and MIchael's too, is better suited for ending it now, while it's wounded.
3)And I most definitely have no interest in following a Raksha or any similar monster into its own home ground when we have no Shaping defenses. Exalted have some native countermagic to resist Shaping, but thats something to only use when you have literally no other option.
While calling its prison "its native environment" is, in some way reasonable, if it indeed fled there, and hasn't just slipped into the NeverNever (it has been freed, why would it go to its prison? Why would the prison even exist anymore?), that space is unlikely to be advantageous to it.
 
Ah, thanks. Lydia is in no condition to fight, and if there are still a number of cultists remaining, then Michael might not be able to handle them all. I'd rather focus on saving the people. We can hunt them all down later. It's not like they can flee beyond "where do all the remaining cultists live?" (or something similar) asked while seeing one of their victims.

Also, which attribute+ability would we be rolling when trying not to intimidate old people while in our shintai form and opening with "Be not afraid!" Leadership? Empathy? Subterfuge? We want them to follow us, so I think Leadership is appropriate.


We don't really have the instruments for that. Our toolset, and MIchael's too, is better suited for ending it now, while it's wounded.

While calling its prison "its native environment" is, in some way reasonable, if it indeed fled there, and hasn't just slipped into the NeverNever (it has been freed, why would it go to its prison? Why would the prison even exist anymore?), that space is unlikely to be advantageous to it.
In fairness we have to go back to Chicago in a few days.
 
Speaking of long term dp said we can on the days we aren't playing Molly use the occasional essence to ask questions? So anyone willing to make a bunch of questions we could ask over time and associated focuses? Cause the essence is just waiting there to be used on the days we aren't actively playing her.
 
[X] Get the victims out of here ASAP
-[X] Use the Crown of Eyes on the tank to ask where the Raksha has fled to
-[X] Summon Tool Transcending Constructs to collect Gossamer
-[X] Use Excellency (Leadership) to get old confused people to trust and follow you without fear
-[X] Stunt: You move towards the still bound prisoners, propelled over the floor by forces unseen, spilled water rippling around you. Your anima moves with you:
--[X] Stunt: Eyes of your soul focus on the cracks through which the monster emerging, the question clear in your mind: "Where has my foe fled? Is it back in its prison, bound, or is it running away, free at last?".
--[X} Stunt: From the flames around you, strange constructs emerge, distantly related to industrial and robotic vacuums and air filtration systems, to greedily suck in the manifested unreality.
-[X] Stunt: It is with a voice fit to sound from on high, the authority not meant to be questioned you tell the prisoners: "Be not afraid!". This is a phrase that you'll be repeating time and again, as with supernatural speed you move from one prisoner to another, and then, from door to door, freeing everyone from this hell, your father and companion helping to herd the confused elders.

Something like this. I am not satisfied with this at all, but I am having a very tough time writing. Sorry. The excellency leadership is very important here. Because these people have been at least partially dream eaten, and we need to organize the evacuation. We have to prevent panic. This means leadership. And we look how an old testament angel might look. And, technically, we are on a mission from god. So, this is appropriate. If anyone else makes a better stunt, I'm all ears. But I really want to use "be not afraid".
 
[X] Get the victims out of here ASAP
-[X] Use the Crown of Eyes on the tank to ask where the Raksha has fled to
-[X] Summon Tool Transcending Constructs to collect Gossamer
-[X] Use Excellency (Leadership) to get old confused people to trust and follow you without fear
-[X] Stunt: You move towards the still bound prisoners, propelled over the floor by forces unseen, spilled water rippling around you. Your anima moves with you:
--[X] Stunt: Eyes of your soul focus on the cracks through which the monster emerging, the question clear in your mind: "Where has my foe fled? Is it back in its prison, bound, or is it running away, free at last?".
--[X} Stunt: From the flames around you, strange constructs emerge, distantly related to industrial and robotic vacuums and air filtration systems, to greedily suck in the manifested unreality.
-[X] Stunt: It is with a voice fit to sound from on high, the authority not meant to be questioned you tell the prisoners: "Be not afraid!". This is a phrase that you'll be repeating time and again, as with supernatural speed you move from one prisoner to another, and then, from door to door, freeing everyone from this hell, your father and companion helping to herd the confused elders.

Something like this. I am not satisfied with this at all, but I am having a very tough time writing. Sorry. The excellency leadership is very important here. Because these people have been at least partially dream eaten, and we need to organize the evacuation. We have to prevent panic. This means leadership. And we look how an old testament angel might look. And, technically, we are on a mission from god. So, this is appropriate. If anyone else makes a better stunt, I'm all ears. But I really want to use "be not afraid".
Not enough circles and eyes on our part.
 
While true, we can't expect to recreate that perfect storm of events, I have two very important things I want out of Lash and Lasciel. In no particular order of importance
1) I want access to angelic charms. ideally, non-fallen angelic charms. i figure that if we redeem her, either she'll open up her charmset to us out of gratitude, or Uriel would be able to swing something.
2) I want to elevate Harry to be able to compete in the world where exalts are starting to walk the Earth again, without resorting to mantles. For that, i think a redeemed free angel Lasciel reforged into a sword would be ideal.

Oh, and I want for Molly to accomplish more than any Knight of the Cross ever did, and redeem at least one fallen. Just out of pure "yes, we can do this" overachievement desire.
1) This is a really awful idea for a lot of reasons, and should really be avoided.

Firstly, Molly and Uriel both benefit significantly from her being a separate entity in a corporate sense. We can evaluate what's most useful for our faction, do it, and then he can tell the devil to pound sand if he tries to leverage the rules of their game for penalty points. Getting angel charms would risk that, since we were told that getting charms from someone implies connection back to them from the perspective of outsiders. Whoever that trail leads to, it arguably makes us a connected player in the game.

More directly and importantly angels are impossibly powerful and intelligent, with eons of experience manipulating people. The only reason Harry could turn Lash in canon was because she explicitly wasn't part of Lasciel; she was an image of her cast from the mortal substance of Harry's soul when he touched the coin. Bob described it like a boot print left in mud. She could change because she was made up of something changeable.

How that works here with the change to a subsoul is less clear, but I doubt we can reflect changes back into the main angel so easily. Don't assume that the special circumstances that eventually flipped Lash mean she isn't dangerous.

Which brings me to my primary concern: by taking in charms from Fallen angels we're giving them an opening to mess with the exaltation in the one way they're vulnerable to being exploited.

Exaltations can never be reduced, but they can be improved, which is how the great curse slipped in. Limit tracks as technically an upgrade over spending willpower for certain things, and the exaltations are apparently myopic about this sort of thing.

Taking charms from something like a fallen is presenting a being who's an expert at twisting people by giving them power and knowledge an opportunity to do just that while playing with one of the single weak points in the absolute nature of our power source. If any entities in existence can make us regret that it's the fallen.

Even if you buy none of that, most of these guys are functionally as scary as essence 10 social spec sidreals. They're worth a lot more caution than you're treating them with.

2) Angels don't change barring huge watershed moments like the one that led them to rebel against god. Getting the full angel on board is way different than getting lash there. It's not something that you do as a side goal to empower one guy.

Edit: aurocorrupt
 
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It would be really odd if there were any self destructs. They have invested alot of time and effort into this building and destroying it doesn't give them anything. A self destruct would just be an extra point of vulnerability.
Its not that hard.
Just open the natural gas pipes that supply the kitchen and the heating equipment, and you can create a pretty big gas explosion to thrash the entire building at will. Doesnt require much expertise either.

And why?
Presumably if you want to destroy evidence and witnesses when the operation is complete, or create a distraction to cover your escape and that of your accomplices. If its presumed a lot of you died in a fire, its a lot easier to disappear.

I am actually convincing myself we need to split the party.
We don't really have the instruments for that. Our toolset, and MIchael's too, is better suited for ending it now, while it's wounded
1)Old magics, a lot of magic, are about ritual.
You dont need to be a wizard to recreate ritual magic that isnt personally powered.
Remember the circle we built for Arawn?

2)Michael was sent to save people.
Not to kill a Raksha. Thats generally how the Swords work.
Something that has fled without victims isnt going to be a priority.

While calling its prison "its native environment" is, in some way reasonable, if it indeed fled there, and hasn't just slipped into the NeverNever (it has been freed, why would it go to its prison? Why would the prison even exist anymore?), that space is unlikely to be advantageous to it.
1)I wasnt freed, it was given a portal out of its prison through.
If it was free it wouldnt have been limited to feeding on Finnish-Americans.
And when we stabbed it in the face it retreated back into the cell.

Think of it as a spring door that needs constant pressure to stay open; you stop pushing and it snaps shut.
Now the people on the other side can put a padlock on.

2)Its been there for several thousand years, and raksha tailor their environment for their own comfort.
I gurantee its a lot more advantageous to it than us.

This is also true for other Dresdenverse supers; Mab is most powerful in Arctis Tor, Odin in his tower, the Erl King in his halls, and the Red King in Chitchen Itza.
 
1) This is a really awful idea for a lot of reasons, and should really be avoided.

Firstly, Molly and Uriel both benefit significantly from her being a separate entity in a corporate sense. We can evaluate what's most useful for our faction, do it, and then he can tell the devil to pound sand if he tries to leverage the rules of their game for penalty points. Getting angle charms would risk that, since we were told that getting charms from someone implies connection back to them from the perspective of outsiders. Whoever that trial leads to, it arguably makes us a connected player in the game.

More directly and importantly angels are impossibly powerful and intelligent, with eons of experience manipulating people. The only reason Harry could turn Lash in canon was because she explicitly wasn't part of Lasciel; she was an image of her cast from the mortal substance of Harry's soul when he touched the coin. Bob described it like a boot print left in mud. She could change because she was made up of something changeable.

How that works here with the change to a subsoul is less clear, but I doubt we can reflect changes back into the main angel so easily. Don't assume that the special circumstances that eventually flipped Lash mean she isn't dangerous.

Which brings me to my primary concern: by taking in charms from Fallen angels we're giving them an opening to mess with the exaltation in the one way they're vulnerable to being exploited.

Exaltations can never be reduced, but they can be improved, which is how the great curse slipped in. Limit tracks as technically an upgrade over spending willpower for certain things, and the exaltations are apparently myopic about this sort of thing.

Taking charms from something like a fallen is presenting a being who's an expert at twisting people by giving them power and knowledge an opportunity to do just that while playing with one of the single weak points in the absolute nature of our power source. If any entities in existence can make us regret that it's the fallen.

Even if you buy none of that, most of these guys are functionally as scary as essence 10 social spec sidreals. They're worth a lot more caution than you're treating them with.

2) Angels don't change barring huge watershed moments like the one that led them to rebel against god. Getting the full angel on board is way different than getting lash there. It's not something that you do as a side goal to empower one guy.

As far as I can see from what I read the limit track is less the Exaltations being myopic and more them being weapons of war first and foremost. It takes a long time and a lot of limit breaks to get as far as the worst of the First Age Solars, on the other hand Limit over willpower is useful from day one and all the more so at a time of war. If you want to point at someone for the screw ups of the First Age that should probably be the incarna who said 'welp you handled that war great shell-shocked survivors of the Primordial War, guess that means you are in charge now'. :V
 
1)Old magics, a lot of magic, are about ritual.
You dont need to be a wizard to recreate ritual magic that isnt personally powered.
Remember the circle we built for Arawn?
It was Arawn who used it, and he clearly had magical ability. And we didn't build it, we only improved it.


2)Michael was sent to save people.
Not to kill a Raksha. Thats generally how the Swords work.
Something that has fled without victims isnt going to be a priority.
Not an immediate one, unless it fled towards new victims (we don't know where it fled at all).

1)I wasnt freed, it was given a portal out of its prison through.
If it was free it wouldnt have been limited to feeding on Finnish-Americans.
And when we stabbed it in the face it retreated back into the cell.
That's one interpretation. Another is that it was freed already, and stayed to nourish itself back to full "need demigods to be stopped" health after long imprisonment.

This is also true for other Dresdenverse supers; Mab is most powerful in Arctis Tor, Odin in his tower, the Erl King in his halls, and the Red King in Chitchen Itza.
Those are not locations created by divine forces hostile to them in order to keep them there.
 
If you want to point at someone for the screw ups of the First Age that should probably be the incarna who said 'welp you handled that war great shell-shocked survivors of the Primordial War, guess that means you are in charge now'. :V

I think there were some suggestions that this was done out of fear. The gods gave the Exalted Creation because they were afraid that if they didn't the Exalted would take it. The traitor Primordials and gods called up something they couldn't put down when they made the Exalted, and then had to find something to distract them.
 
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I think there were some suggestions that this was done out of fear. The gods gave the Exalted Creation because they were afraid that if they didn't the Exalted would take it. The traitor Primordials and gods called up something they couldn't put down when they made the Exalted, and then had to find something to distract them.

I mean sure, but that still does not excuse that they did not stick around to advise or pay attention to what was going on.

The fact that both the Gods and the Primordials were obsessed with the Games of Divinity would indicate that they were a significant prize.
 
I mean sure, but that still does not excuse that they did not stick around to advise or pay attention to what was going on.

The fact that both the Gods and the Primordials were obsessed with the Games of Divinity would indicate that they were a significant prize.

Autocthon stuck around and was in close contact with allied solars until he ran away after the solars that weren't allied with him demanded he lobotomise his main worshippers and he realised that he might be next.

Staying in contact with the Exalted rather than keeping as far away from them as possible seems to have been an error for the one of the rebels that tried it.
 
It was Arawn who used it, and he clearly had magical ability. And we didn't build it, we only improved it.



Not an immediate one, unless it fled towards new victims (we don't know where it fled at all).


That's one interpretation. Another is that it was freed already, and stayed to nourish itself back to full "need demigods to be stopped" health after long imprisonment.


Those are not locations created by divine forces hostile to them in order to keep them there.
1)Arawn used it, we made it.
You dont need to be magic yourself to use a lot of ritual magic in the Dresdenverse.
Just follow the recipe. Butters did it, and was even able to make alchemical potions under Bob's supervision.

2)We saw it retreat, and that was not a NeverNever gate, and it didnt flee through walls into the rest of the mortal world.
Ergo, back to jail. It's not likely a bullet cracking a tank would be enough to free a Raksha from confinment, or they would have freed it a long time ago.

3)If it was free, it would be able to feed freely, instead of being dribble fed the nightmares of seniors.
Everyone here would have been dreameaten pretty quickly, and it would have moved on to other buffets.
The fact that this place was still running is hard evidence it wasnt free.

4)Nothing about the backstory of Iku Turso says the dude who banished him created his prison at the bottom of the sea.
Remember, Iku Turso was a sea monster. He lived in the sea.
This is quite likely to be his place that he was locked inside/banished to.
 
VOTE
[X] Dad and Lydia can deal with the rest of the cultists, you can unhook these people from the apparatus
-[X]Ziptie/restrain disabled cultists
-[X]Unhook seniors and get them upstairs through the hole in the basement floor, then move the restrained cultists
-[X]Crown of Eyes:Tank: Do the seals/magics/bindings on Iku Turso's prison need strengthening or replacement? -1 Essence
-[X]Crown of Eyes: Dead sorcerer: Identities of Pathfinders membership. -1 Essence
-[X]Tool Constructs: Contain and loot gossamer and Raksha parts. The robot arm that was manipulating gossamer is good base material for a container. -1WP
-[X]STUNT: You exhale, and look over your companions."A little bruised, but Im fine.Lydia? Any injury?" At her shake of her head you look over to your dad, and he's already shaking his head. "Im fine." He hesitates, then continues. "You are....flying." You look down, and the floor is a full yard below your feet. An effort of will, and you ascend a couple more feet. You firmly restrain your urge to squee, and manage to speak in a halfway normal voice. "Huh. Thats new." Focus.With an effort you bring your attention back."Okay. I'll get the old people out of those things, and through the" you gesture at the hole in the basement roof. "And clean up this floating stuff; its too magic to leave it lying around." Looking over the disabled cultists, you remark. "Dr Niemi isnt here. Dad, I hate to sugggest this, but you and Lydia better get after the rest of them, before someone gets the bright idea of setting off the gas mains to cover an escape." At Lydia's appalled look, you shrug."I saw that on TV once. Better not to give them time to improvise.Wait." You fumble out your phone onehanded. "Didi, swap cellphones with me.If you run into stuff mine will let me know where you are."

Total: -2 Essence, -1 WP

RATIONALE
Im not afraid of the Pathfinders escaping.
Unless they literally escape into the NeverNever, they cant run faster than we can pursue, whether now or later.
And Crown of Eyes gives us IDs anyway, and a shitton of focuses are available among their victims.

I would however prefer to avoid giving them time to accomplish further mischief, or to activate a Go To Hell plan.
Like I mentioned earlier, setting off the gas mains is a relatively low effort means to attempt to cover their tracks and throw off pursuit, or destroy documentation and local stores of the things they were using on the residents.
 
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A bag of storage would be super nice in the future to store dead body parts for crown focuses. Cause a lot of focuses we are gonna lose due to inability to loot.

[x]uju32
 
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