The fact that the Old Ones once ruled the world, and the Outsiders are their servants suggests the Outsiders may be from inside the Gates originally or something.
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
1)Might have been. Is that likely? I doubt it.
If it was a collaboration, it would require that both dead guy and Niemi had the same Fascination and Illusion Paths.
And we do know that the dead guy had at least Hellfire, because we saw him use it in the last fight. Summoning woukd have been a prereq if he was supposed to help with a bound god monster. Oneiromancy would also have helped, but who knows if he had that.
2)Note that I said sorcerer, not just minor practitioner.
There's a lot of people that WoD would classify as low level psychics or low level magicals out there. And probably significantly more sorcerers, but Chicago is a 3 million person city with a metro area of around 10 million. If Mac's the only place that caters to the community, it implies interesting things about numbers.
Or maybe it is that Mac's the only place that has official, Mab-guaranteed immunity.
Not sure.
Not if you ask an actual practitioner, like Michael Carpenter.
Skin Game chapter 36:
And voices filled my ears. Thousands of whispering voices, hissing obscene, hateful things, vicious secrets, poisonous lies and horrible truths in half a hundred tongues all at once. I felt the pressure of those voices, coursing into my head like ice picks, gouging holes in my thoughts, in my emotions, and there was nothing, nothing I could do to stop them. I felt a scream building, one that would open my mouth, fill it with tiny, tearing bodies, and I knew that I couldn't stop it.
And then a broad hand slammed down onto the crown of my head, and a deep voice thundered, "Lava quod est sordium!"
Light burned through my closed eyelids, through the layers of insects covering them, and a furious heat spread down from the crown of my head, from that hand. It spread down, moving neither quickly nor slowly, and wherever it passed over my skin, as hot as scalding water in an industrial kitchen sink, the swarm abruptly vanished.
I opened my eyes to find Michael kneeling over me, Amoracchius in his left hand, his right resting on my head. His eyes were closed and his lips were moving, words of ritual Latin flowing from them in a steady stream.
Pure white fire spread down over my body, and I remembered when I had seen something similar once before—when vampires had attempted to manhandle Michael, many moons before, and had been scorched and scarred by the same fire. Now, as the light engulfed me, the swarm scattered, outer layers dropping away, while the slower inner layers were incinerated by the fire. It hurt—but the pain was a harsh, cleansing thing, somehow honest. It burned over me, and when the fire passed, I was free, and the swarm was scattering throughout the vault, pouring toward the tiny air vents spread throughout.
I looked up at Michael, gasping, and leaned my head forward. For a second, the pain and the fear still had me, and I couldn't make myself move. I lay there, simply shuddering.
His hand moved from my head to my shoulder, and he murmured, "Lord of Hosts, be with this good man and give him the strength to carry on."
I didn't feel anything mystic. There was no surge of magic or power, no flash of light. Just Michael's quiet, steady strength, and the sincerity of the faith in his voice.
Michael still thought I was a good man.
I clenched my jaw over the sobbing scream that was still threatening me, and pushed away the memory of those tiny, horrible words—the voice of Imariel, it must have been. I forced myself to breathe in a steady rhythm, despite the pain and the burning of my skin and my lungs, despite the stinging tears and tiny drops of blood in my eyes. And I put up the shields again, forcing the pain to a safe distance. They were shakier, and more of the pain leaked through than had been there before—but I did it.
Then I lifted my eyes to Michael and nodded.
He gave me a quick, fierce smile and stood up, then offered me his hand.
I took it and rose, looking past Michael to where Grey stood, melting back from Harvey's face to his own, one last time. He'd opened the door to Hades' vault again. Behind him, the rest of the crew, minus Binder, was approaching, while the huge, vague shape of the Genoskwa closed the door to the vault with a large, hollow boom of displaced air.
"She came through fast, during the firefight," Michael said to me. "There wasn't any way for me to stop her."
My throat burned and felt raw, but I croaked, "It worked out. Thanks."
"Always."
Nicodemus approached us with his expression entirely neutral, and eyed Michael.
"We needn't fear further interference from Tessa. It will take her time to pull herself together. How did you do that?" he demanded.
"I didn't," Michael said simply.
Nicodemus and Deirdre exchanged an uneasy glance.
"All of you, hear me," Michael said quietly. He turned and stood between them—Fallen angels and monsters and scoundrels and mortal fiends—and me. "You think your power is what shapes the world you walk in. But that is an illusion. Your choices shape your world. You think your power will protect you from the consequences of those choices. But you are wrong. You create your own rewards. There is a Judge. There is Justice in this world. And one day you will receive what you have earned. Choose carefully."
His voice resonated oddly in that space, the words not loud, but absolutely penetrating, touched with something more than mortal, with an awareness beyond that of simple space and time. He was, in that moment, a Messenger, and no one who heard him speak could doubt it.
Silence settled on the vault, and no one moved or spoke.
Nicodemus looked away from Michael and said calmly, "Dresden. Are you capable of opening the Way?"
I took a steadying breath, and looked around for the key to the manacles. I'd dropped it while being simultaneously eaten, smothered, and driven insane. Hell, I was lucky there hadn't been any anaphylactic shock involved.
Or, all things considered, maybe luck had nothing to do with it.
Michael spotted the key and picked it up. I held out my hand and he began unlocking the manacles.
"What did that mean?" I asked him in a whisper.
"You heard it as well as I did," he replied, with a small shrug. "I suppose it wasn't a message for us."
Skin Game Chapter 36, Page 303-306
And then a broad hand slammed down onto the crown of my head, and a deep voice thundered, "Lava quod est sordium!"
Light burned through my closed eyelids, through the layers of insects covering them, and a furious heat spread down from the crown of my head, from that hand. It spread down, moving neither quickly nor slowly, and wherever it passed over my skin, as hot as scalding water in an industrial kitchen sink, the swarm abruptly vanished.
I opened my eyes to find Michael kneeling over me, Amoracchius in his left hand, his right resting on my head. His eyes were closed and his lips were moving, words of ritual Latin flowing from them in a steady stream.
Pure white fire spread down over my body, and I remembered when I had seen something similar once before—when vampires had attempted to manhandle Michael, many moons before, and had been scorched and scarred by the same fire. Now, as the light engulfed me, the swarm scattered, outer layers dropping away, while the slower inner layers were incinerated by the fire. It hurt—but the pain was a harsh, cleansing thing, somehow honest. It burned over me, and when the fire passed, I was free, and the swarm was scattering throughout the vault, pouring toward the tiny air vents spread throughout.
I looked up at Michael, gasping, and leaned my head forward. For a second, the pain and the fear still had me, and I couldn't make myself move. I lay there, simply shuddering.
His hand moved from my head to my shoulder, and he murmured, "Lord of Hosts, be with this good man and give him the strength to carry on."
I didn't feel anything mystic. There was no surge of magic or power, no flash of light. Just Michael's quiet, steady strength, and the sincerity of the faith in his voice.
Michael still thought I was a good man.
I clenched my jaw over the sobbing scream that was still threatening me, and pushed away the memory of those tiny, horrible words—the voice of Imariel, it must have been. I forced myself to breathe in a steady rhythm, despite the pain and the burning of my skin and my lungs, despite the stinging tears and tiny drops of blood in my eyes. And I put up the shields again, forcing the pain to a safe distance. They were shakier, and more of the pain leaked through than had been there before—but I did it.
Then I lifted my eyes to Michael and nodded.
He gave me a quick, fierce smile and stood up, then offered me his hand.
I took it and rose, looking past Michael to where Grey stood, melting back from Harvey's face to his own, one last time. He'd opened the door to Hades' vault again. Behind him, the rest of the crew, minus Binder, was approaching, while the huge, vague shape of the Genoskwa closed the door to the vault with a large, hollow boom of displaced air.
"She came through fast, during the firefight," Michael said to me. "There wasn't any way for me to stop her."
My throat burned and felt raw, but I croaked, "It worked out. Thanks."
"Always."
Nicodemus approached us with his expression entirely neutral, and eyed Michael.
"We needn't fear further interference from Tessa. It will take her time to pull herself together. How did you do that?" he demanded.
"I didn't," Michael said simply.
Nicodemus and Deirdre exchanged an uneasy glance.
"All of you, hear me," Michael said quietly. He turned and stood between them—Fallen angels and monsters and scoundrels and mortal fiends—and me. "You think your power is what shapes the world you walk in. But that is an illusion. Your choices shape your world. You think your power will protect you from the consequences of those choices. But you are wrong. You create your own rewards. There is a Judge. There is Justice in this world. And one day you will receive what you have earned. Choose carefully."
His voice resonated oddly in that space, the words not loud, but absolutely penetrating, touched with something more than mortal, with an awareness beyond that of simple space and time. He was, in that moment, a Messenger, and no one who heard him speak could doubt it.
Silence settled on the vault, and no one moved or spoke.
Nicodemus looked away from Michael and said calmly, "Dresden. Are you capable of opening the Way?"
I took a steadying breath, and looked around for the key to the manacles. I'd dropped it while being simultaneously eaten, smothered, and driven insane. Hell, I was lucky there hadn't been any anaphylactic shock involved.
Or, all things considered, maybe luck had nothing to do with it.
Michael spotted the key and picked it up. I held out my hand and he began unlocking the manacles.
"What did that mean?" I asked him in a whisper.
"You heard it as well as I did," he replied, with a small shrug. "I suppose it wasn't a message for us."
Skin Game Chapter 36, Page 303-306
Harry has no feats for this besides repelling vampires and no understanding of it. He just feels it happen and sees the effects.
That depends on whether you think Michael is the sort of person to give credit where its not due.
Which is not supported by the text.
Stuff like Boc's Books implies the existence of some subtle web of businesses and meeting points in the community. My assumption would be that each general faction has a series of its own places, with more or less violent border points used for some level of economic interaction.
looking at combos buy Fortune path 5 and E3, then buy SGI for clones. Buff clones with fortune to more easily learn the fortune path. Get 1 dot in the Fortune path for clones, be able to unleash 6 dot fortune spells.
I'm still disinterested in clones. I hear the whole argument about then actually being fragments, but it smells like bullshit to me since they're called out as having the ability to develop personalities divergent from ours.
I really don't want to deal with anything related to that, regardless of mechanical advantage.
Plus any place that we use clones is one we can't put interesting people who aren't either mirrors of our character or her spiritual children. It'd be a lot more interesting and less disturbing to go recruit some magic minions with our social super powers and work with them. Possibly with VEE buffs to make them more worthwhile.
I don't think I'm the only one who feels that way about this topic either.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
It occurs to me that Abblation off Brass and Fire perfect defense has the side effect of making whoever is attacking us seem stronger then they actually are.
For example say someone punches Molly square in the face. Molly uses Abblation off Brass and Fire and takes the blow without flinching, but the wall behind her is destroyed. So to onlookers it looks like Molly just tanked a blow so powerful the shockwaves of it destroyed the wall behind her.
For example say someone punches Molly square in the face. Molly uses Abblation off Brass and Fire and takes the blow without flinching, but the wall behind her is destroyed. So to onlookers it looks like Molly just tanked a blow so powerful the shockwaves of it destroyed the wall behind her.
That is what he believes, so he gives the credit to God.
There's a Word of Jim about faith magic IIRC that confirms (though I admit I may be misremembering or misunderstanding.)
Agreed.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
I would likely go for it, but we have so many cool things to buy. Now if we had infinite XP I would get it, but as is it very far down my priority list.
Should we stunt here? Can we even write stunts for other characters?
I can't find the WoJ for it, but I recall something to the effect of various wizards making their faith into part of how they work their magic. Those who make it a core element are called saints, which are distinct from Saints which can be wizards but don't have to be.
My interpretation is there's magic done with faith as an element the same way you can draw on strong emotions or ambient energy, and then there's Faith magic which is a whole different animal.
Micheal isn't what the white council would call a saint, since he has the magical talent of a particularly stubborn fence post, so the power has to come from someone other than him.
I can't find the WoJ for it, but I recall something to the effect of various wizards making their faith into part of how they work their magic. Those who make it a core element are called saints, which are distinct from Saints which can be wizards but don't have to be.
My interpretation is there's magic done with faith as an element the same way you can draw on strong emotions or ambient energy, and then there's Faith magic which is a whole different animal.
Micheal isn't what the white council would call a saint, since he has the magical talent of a particularly stubborn fence post, so the power has to come from someone other than him.
- Pronouns
- ImBuda
If we had taken the spirit armour cloak we might have been able to summon him whenever we wanted to ask. Of course I prefer the crown of eyes because it is omniscience in a click but the other crowns were also very powerfull
- Location
- Hive City Ares, Armageddon, Segmentum Solar
[X] Use the Crown on the park itself to find out if they are still here or just passing through (-1 Essence)
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Yes all the crowns are really powerful. It's a shame that we can only ever have one.
[X] Try to question the dead (Lydia rolls Empathy+Charisma at -2 DC; Obvious)
General faction?
I mean, the White Court have their nightclubs like Zero. And the Reds used to have Bianca St Claire's establishments before Dresden happened to them.
But for the general Chicago human magical community, MacAnally's and Bock's Books are the only named locations.
That I recall, at least.
You mught well be right about the networks though.
1)Thats up to the QM. I think you're wrong in your interpretation.
My understanding is very much along the lines of Harem from the Grrlpower webcomic.
Lots of cosmetic differentiation with each clone, but it remains the same person as the original. You lose that differentiation if you have to burn the clone to survive being killed, but then you remake it.
We're not going to be charged a permanent Essence dot per death that we have to rebuy with XP, and then be charged a human life on top of that.
2)There is a limit to how many interesting characters that we can expect the QM to create, keep track of and give screentime in-quest. Id much rather save that mental bandwith for where it matters, rather than every function where we might need a sapient set of eyes and ears.
3)I hope you're mistaken, because I consider Splintered Gale Shintai to be a critical charm acquisition by mid 2007 or when we create our own Hell, whichever comes first. Not an immediate buy, but after we finish with Mab and finish fixing Porter's home up, we can reassess based on current threats.
The ability to drop a proxy into our Hell for a couple days at a time are significant, as are the potential story routes opened from being able to maintain school/uni attendance while pursuing adventure plot hooks if and when necessary. And the resurrection functionality lets the QM take full effort swings at us without worrying about Bad Ending the quest by mistake.
I dont often agree with @Earth-Destroyer, but we do agree here.
Not to my recollection. There's a WoG about faith magic, but it doesnt say that.
I provided the quote back in October. Citation:
I mean, its worth noting that we havent seen anyone who uses faith magic for evil in the Dresdenverse. And there are definitely people who sincerely believe in evil and evil ideology. Nicodemus Archleone and his family would be bigtime practitioners of faith magic if all you needed was belief; Deirdre even gave her life for its sake.
See also the Heirs of Kemmler, and all the priests that the Red King has who believe him a god.
The evidence does not suggest a neutral force wielded by anyone who has sufficient belief in one thing or the other.
And yet, Harry was able to use faith magic by believing in magic.
So, either Magic is God (or a manifestation of same) or there's some requirements to using it we're still missing. Maybe it's not just belief, but 'faith' in it.
Whatever faith may mean.
So, either Magic is God (or a manifestation of same) or there's some requirements to using it we're still missing. Maybe it's not just belief, but 'faith' in it.
Whatever faith may mean.
So i have been looking at the inquisiton books for wod darkages, and my god those fucks have some overpowered disciplines. Now i can see why those guys drove vampires into hiding. They have their own perfect effects, their entire system of magic that is grossly overpowered.
In oWoD, you have a bunch of surprise-perfects popping up in places you really don't expect. Shih got one in their mobility path, Sorcerers can do it with teleportation and time manipulation.
...Although a lot of these probably would count as semi-perfects in E2, but... Eh.
True Faith in particular is really powerful and has an absolutely devastating effect on various creatures of darkness at high dots. It is rare, tho.
1)Point of order:
Dresden is able to drive off Red and Black Court vampires. We have not seen him do anything more complex.
Just like how every human being is capable of creating a magic circle without being a wizard
This may be the faith magic equivalent of calling yourself a programmer because you can use email.
Or how every human home with longterm residents qualifies for the magical benefits of a threshold, regardless of whether the person(s) can use magic or not.
2)Note that Sanya is allegedly an atheist, and still qualifies for wielding Esperacchius.
Its entirely possible that the White God is acting as sponsor for both believers of monotheistic faiths and for people whose creeds are less conventional religions. And those who claim not to have religions.
I think it has been pointed out that Infernal Exalts are Creatures of Darkness too.
And we dont know who can wields <Holy> tagged effects in this setting. Do Denarians still do so as legacy code of when the Fallen were still working for the White God? What of pagan deities? Summer Court Fae?
Nicodemus and his crew dont seem to be bothered by stuff like holy water or invocations of faith magic, which impairs Rampires, Blampires and allegedly at least some ghouls. But not Whampires.
Should be interesting to see how the QM handles it.
Current tally: