Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

I've seen a lot of discussion about selling the artificial gemstones, but I don't think anyone has mentioned the possibility of offloading them to a supernatural faction, such as the White Council. Aren't gemstones of all sorts extremely valuable as part of foci creation and other enchantments? I know Harry was circumspect about selling his bag of diamonds looted from the Underworld, but he had really good reasons to obscure their origins.

A bunch of artificial gemstones with no connections to Hades could probably be moved much more easily.
I know gold is accepted. I am not sure about gemstones.
But I assume whatever fence we choose to use is likely to be supernaturally connected.
So...🤷
 
[X] Legally, you need some way to get a few thousand dollars fast
-[X] Make some gems, you are sure you can find a buyer
 
[X] Legally, you need some way to get a few thousand dollars fast
-[X] Make some gems, you are sure you can find a buyer


Less precise instructions to give more room to interpret. I like the idea of going the distance and just making jewelry out of it. Silver is surprisingly cheap and so is copper/brass/bronze. With our craft we may even have to sandbag a little just so the jewelry isn't so good it draws too much attention.

Having the car induce some minor malfunctions is a good idea to lower the price. But doing it right in the auction is a little silly and a little suspicious.
 
I was just reading though exalted vs world of darkness and I noticed a charm that seems like it was overlooked. Pg . 427
The Infernal sustains herself on the torment and unrest of others. So long as she is surrounded by suffering, she needs never rest. System: The Infernal may inherently sense when she is within 20 yards of someone experiencing a nightmare, and can roll Perception + Empathy against difficulty 6 to pinpoint that sleeping individual within a group. She may then take a moment to breathe in the individual's night-terrors; this sustains her as though she'd experienced a full night's sleep, including granting her a point of Willpower once per 24 hours (though it also precludes the opportunity to gain Willpower by sleeping normally).
This charm is notable because I have often seen people say that charms that negate our need to sleep are a trap since we need sleep to regain willpower, but this charm even does that. Of course we can't usually count on having people having nightmares around us, but once we get enough minions I think that the law of averages should make it work for us. Also being able to eat people's nightmares is kind of cool.
 
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I was just reading though exalted vs world of darkness and I noticed a charm that seems like it was overlooked. Pg . 427
The Infernal sustains herself on the torment and unrest of others. So long as she is surrounded by suffering, she needs never rest. System: The Infernal may inherently sense when she is within 20 yards of someone experiencing a nightmare, and can roll Perception + Empathy against difficulty 6 to pinpoint that sleeping individual within a group. She may then take a moment to breathe in the individual's night-terrors; this sustains her as though she'd experienced a full night's sleep, including granting her a point of Willpower once per 24 hours (though it also precludes the opportunity to gain Willpower by sleeping normally).
This charm is notable because I have often seen people say that charms that negate our need to sleep are a trap since we need sleep to regain willpower, but this charm even does that. Of course we can't usually count on having people having nightmares around us, but once we get enough minions I think that the law of averages should make it work for us. Also being able to eat people's nightmares is kind of cool.
Oh that looks good. It would be super easy to use in a city too. We don't even need minions for it.
20 yards is a decent distance. If we walk along the outside of a hospital or homeless shelter we will very likely get a ping.

Maybe we could use magic to bottle them or something in case we need them for a mission where we are away from civilization.
 
The problem I see is that Im not sure its possible to stack BSM and subzero temperatures.
And the difficulty reduction of BSM is more valuable than the 2 dice of subzero temps.
That's easy, actually. You just don't use water. Machine oil. Antifreeze liquid. Alcohol. All remain liquid in sub-zero temperatures. Before I edited it back, I had Molly wet with machine oil.
Its a civilian home with 5 out of 7 children under 13, and 3 under 10.
Very much a civilian home, and one where safety must be considered before doing anything.

Note: In addition to whats inside the house itself, the Carpenters canonically converted a freestanding garage into a workshop:
The whatsit went down, and I had to hope that it wasn't bright enough to play possum: The Carpenter children were screaming.
I whirled around, readying the rod again, and didn't have a clear shot. One of the white-furred creatures was running hard after Daniel, Molly's oldest brother. He'd begun to fill out, and he ran with his fingers locked on the back of the coats of little Harry and Hope, the youngest children, carrying them like luggage.
He gained the door with the creature not ten feet behind him, its wicked-looking horns lowered as it charged. Daniel went through the door and kicked it shut with his foot, never slowing down, and the creature slammed into it head-on.
I hadn't realized that Michael had installed all-steel, wood-paneled security doors on his home, just as I had on mine. The creature probably would have pulverized a wooden door. Instead it slammed its head into the steel door, horns leading the way, and drove a foot-deep dent into it.
And then it lurched away, letting out a burbling shriek of pain. Smoke rose from its horns, and it staggered back, swatting at them with its three-fingered, clawed hands. There weren't many things that reacted to the touch of steel like that.
The other two whatsits had divided their attention. One was pursuing Charity, who was carrying little Amanda and running like hell for the workshop Michael had converted from a freestanding garage. The other was charging Molly, who had pushed Alicia and Matthew behind her.
There wasn't time enough to help both groups, and even less to waste over the moral dilemma of a difficult choice.
I turned the rod on the beastie chasing Charity and let it have it. The blast hit it in the small of its back and knocked it from its hooves. It flew sideways, slamming into the wall of the workshop, and Charity dashed through the door with her daughter.
I turned my blasting rod back to the other creature, but I already knew that I wouldn't be in time. The creature lowered its horns and closed on Molly and her siblings before I could line up for another shot.
"Molly!" I screamed.
My apprentice seized Alicia's and Matthew's hands, gasped out a word, and all three of them abruptly vanished.
The creature's charge carried it past the space they'd been in, though something I couldn't see struck its hoof and sent it staggering. It wheeled around at full speed, kicking up snow as it did, and I felt a sudden, fierce surge of exaltation and pride. The grasshopper might not be able to put up a decent shield, but she could do veils like they were going out of style, and she'd kept her focus and her wits about her.
The creature slowed, head sweeping, and then it saw the snow being disturbed by invisible feet, moving toward the house. It bawled out another unworldly cry and went after them, and I didn't dare risk another blast of flame-not with the Carpenters' house in the line of fire. So instead I lifted my right hand, triggered one of the triple-layered rings on it with my will, and sent a burst of raw force at the whatsit.
The unseen energy struck it in the knees, throwing its legs out from under it with such strength that its head slammed into the snow. The disturbance in the snow rushed around toward the front door of the house. Molly must have realized that the deformation of the security door would make it difficult, if not impossible, to open, and once again I felt fierce approval.
But it faded rather rapidly when the whatsit that had been playing possum behind me slammed into the small of my back like a sulfur-and-rotten-egg-driven locomotive.
The horns hit hard and it hurt like hell, but the defensive magic on my long black leather duster kept them from impaling me. The impact knocked the wind out of me, snapped my head back sharply, and flung me to the snow. Everything got confusing for a second, and then I realized that it was standing over me, ripping at the back of my neck with its claws. I hunched my shoulders and rolled, only to be kicked in the nose by a cloven hoof, and an utterly gratuitous amount of pain came with a side order of whirling stars.
I kept trying to get away, but my motions were sluggish, and the whatsit was faster than me.
Charity stepped out of the workshop with a steel-hafted ball-peen hammer in her left hand, and a heavy-duty contractor's nail gun in her right.
She lifted the nail gun from ten feet away and started pulling the trigger as she walked forward. It made phut-phut-phut sounds, and the already seared whatsit started screaming in pain.
It leapt up wildly, twisting in agonized gyrations in midair, and fell to the snow, thrashing. I saw heavy nails sticking up out of its back, and the smoking wounds were bleeding green-white fire.
It tried to run, but I managed to kick its hooves out from under it before it could regain its footing.
Charity whirled the hammer in a vertical stroke, letting out a sharp cry as she did, and the steel head of the tool smashed open the whatsit's skull. The wound erupted with greyish matter and more green-white fire, and the creature twitched once before it went still, its body being consumed by the eerie flame.
I stood up, blasting rod still in hand, and found the remaining beasties wounded but mobile, their yellow, rectangular-pupiled eyes glaring in hate and hunger.
I ditched the blasting rod and picked up a steel-headed snow shovel that had been left lying next to one of the children's snow forts. Charity raised her nail gun, and we began walking toward them.
Whatever these things were, they didn't have the stomach for a fight against mortals armed with cold steel. They shuddered as if they had been a single being, then turned and bounded away into the night.
I stood there, panting and peering around me. I had to spit blood out of my mouth every few breaths. My nose felt like someone had superglued a couple of live coals to it. Little silver wires of pain ran all through my neck, from the whiplash of getting hit from behind, and the small of my back felt like one enormous bruise.
"Are you all right?" Charity asked.
"Faeries," I muttered. "Why did it have to be faeries?" So if you get everything fragile out of it, you can use Tool Constructs to produce and stack blocks of dry ice inside the room and drop the internal temperature below freezing and work there without endangering any of Molly's siblings.
With TLF, she should be immune to hypercapnia and suffocation.
The problem is with cooling down the furniture, and draining water out of water pipes. I am cautious of floors warping too. Better not to do it right now.
The buyer is getting jewels at a fraction of market price.
If there's an intermediary being used, he gets paid a fraction of the take in cash, as is customary. Neither of them need custom jewelry, especially not custom brass jewelry. Brass tarnishes in moist air.

If we are giving jewelry gifts, we have friends and family members to do so to at our leisure.
This is a diversion of effort that could be used in actually increasing the monetary pot.
If nothing else, jewelry and gems are likely to have different pools of buyers, thus expanding our chances of quickly getting cash.
Having the car induce some minor malfunctions is a good idea to lower the price. But doing it right in the auction is a little silly and a little suspicious.
Dramatic though, and likely to cause the largest price drop. Or at least to prevent others from bidding against us most effectively.
I was just reading though exalted vs world of darkness and I noticed a charm that seems like it was overlooked. Pg . 427
The Infernal sustains herself on the torment and unrest of others. So long as she is surrounded by suffering, she needs never rest. System: The Infernal may inherently sense when she is within 20 yards of someone experiencing a nightmare, and can roll Perception + Empathy against difficulty 6 to pinpoint that sleeping individual within a group. She may then take a moment to breathe in the individual's night-terrors; this sustains her as though she'd experienced a full night's sleep, including granting her a point of Willpower once per 24 hours (though it also precludes the opportunity to gain Willpower by sleeping normally).
This charm is notable because I have often seen people say that charms that negate our need to sleep are a trap since we need sleep to regain willpower, but this charm even does that. Of course we can't usually count on having people having nightmares around us, but once we get enough minions I think that the law of averages should make it work for us. Also being able to eat people's nightmares is kind of cool.
The "precludes normal willpowere regen" is a rather bad side-effect.
 
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Uh, I'm not familiar with RL fencing gems, but wouldn't artificial gems be much more suspicious? Theres a relatively small number of facilities that produce them, whereas discovering unusually high quality gemstones without any provenance is a well known, if not exactly common phenomenon.

Like I'd say in terms of what a buyer would think:
-Uncut, large, irregularly shaped gemstones sold by a teenager.

The teenager went spelunking where she shouldn't, found some shiny rocks and they turned out to be valuable. The dealer would likely not be checking if they're artificial at all, they'd be getting the gems cut and resold at a significant profit.
If it happens again, there may be opportunists stalking her to see where exactly the secret mine is, but this is 100% on the level.

-Cut gemstones of ordinary size sold by a teenager with no provenance.

PROBABLY found some criminal outfit's bag of funds. Given the city we're in, Marcone would probably learn about it, if only to make sure its not taken off him.
If it happens again, there may be interest in where she's getting it, because its probably not anything legal and also obviously a teenager can't cut gems.

-Large gemstones mounted in intricate jewellery with no provenance.

100% Salvage or Stolen from grandma. May be harder to sell, but least suspicious.
If it happens again it's going to be a lot more suspicious

-Artificial gemstones, known to be artificial, and sold that way.

The number of facilities that can produce these are very few and they'd have noticed a significant quantity going astray.
Not like you can operate a diamond press in your backyard. The power draw is immense!
 
Uh, I'm not familiar with RL fencing gems, but wouldn't artificial gems be much more suspicious? Theres a relatively small number of facilities that produce them, whereas discovering unusually high quality gemstones without any provenance is a well known, if not exactly common phenomenon.

Like I'd say in terms of what a buyer would think:
-Uncut, large, irregularly shaped gemstones sold by a teenager.

The teenager went spelunking where she shouldn't, found some shiny rocks and they turned out to be valuable. The dealer would likely not be checking if they're artificial at all, they'd be getting the gems cut and resold at a significant profit.
If it happens again, there may be opportunists stalking her to see where exactly the secret mine is, but this is 100% on the level.

-Cut gemstones of ordinary size sold by a teenager with no provenance.

PROBABLY found some criminal outfit's bag of funds. Given the city we're in, Marcone would probably learn about it, if only to make sure its not taken off him.
If it happens again, there may be interest in where she's getting it, because its probably not anything legal and also obviously a teenager can't cut gems.

-Large gemstones mounted in intricate jewellery with no provenance.

100% Salvage or Stolen from grandma. May be harder to sell, but least suspicious.
If it happens again it's going to be a lot more suspicious

-Artificial gemstones, known to be artificial, and sold that way.

The number of facilities that can produce these are very few and they'd have noticed a significant quantity going astray.
Not like you can operate a diamond press in your backyard. The power draw is immense!

Yeah this is the point I was making earlier, artificial gems generally take a lot of resources to produce so if you settle for selling them you might get more attention on Molly.
 
In terms of sabotage for Black Rider, wouodn't it be possible to do something like brick the engine in away that Molly can cheaply and quickly fix but would be much more expensive for someone else?

That way we can buy it at scrap rather than roadworthy prices.
 
In terms of sabotage for Black Rider, wouodn't it be possible to do something like brick the engine in away that Molly can cheaply and quickly fix but would be much more expensive for someone else?

That way we can buy it at scrap rather than roadworthy prices.
I'm not sure about how these events are conducted. Would we be allowed to inspect the car on detail before bidding? Would the auction managers inspect and test drive it themselves? At the very least, they shouldn't have car keys for it, since those were with Katrina.
 
I was just reading though exalted vs world of darkness and I noticed a charm that seems like it was overlooked. Pg . 427
The Infernal sustains herself on the torment and unrest of others. So long as she is surrounded by suffering, she needs never rest. System: The Infernal may inherently sense when she is within 20 yards of someone experiencing a nightmare, and can roll Perception + Empathy against difficulty 6 to pinpoint that sleeping individual within a group. She may then take a moment to breathe in the individual's night-terrors; this sustains her as though she'd experienced a full night's sleep, including granting her a point of Willpower once per 24 hours (though it also precludes the opportunity to gain Willpower by sleeping normally).
This charm is notable because I have often seen people say that charms that negate our need to sleep are a trap since we need sleep to regain willpower, but this charm even does that. Of course we can't usually count on having people having nightmares around us, but once we get enough minions I think that the law of averages should make it work for us. Also being able to eat people's nightmares is kind of cool.
We can currently only buy charms from the primary infernal set, not the dark ages alternate one.
 
I'm not sure about how these events are conducted. Would we be allowed to inspect the car on detail before bidding? Would the auction managers inspect and test drive it themselves? At the very least, they shouldn't have car keys for it, since those were with Katrina.

You can inspect the car in person before hand and ask to test 'drive' it, although the auction house can say no. The auction house also makes a statement of the roadworthiness, although that can be disputed on inspection.

Here's a link that discusses us vs Uk car auctions.

Simply have Black Rider have the computer output a load of diagnostics from the onboard computer saying the engine is cooked and the brakes and other mechanical components worn will slash the price (as physically inspecting it to prove otherwise takes more inspection time than they will have), particularly if we have him burn some oil so the engine smells like something bad has happened. Then have him break one or two obvious parts by running outside tolerance and it will validate all the other falsified readings.

It should be quite easy to make the diagnostics look like the car has been run into the ground. Particularly as Black Rider can make the engine not start even when using overrides as if it actually is wrecked.
 
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In addition to what Yog says, we also can fully replicate the effect of-no-sleep charms with one dot of Healing path, without side-effects.
The problem I see is that Im not sure its possible to stack BSM and subzero temperatures.
And the difficulty reduction of BSM is more valuable than the 2 dice of subzero temps.
Depends on a liquid. Some have pretty low freezing temperatures. Its not just water, after all, it is in the name; Hell of Boiling Oil.
 
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You can inspect the car in person before hand and ask to test 'drive' it, although the auction house can say no. The auction house also makes a statement of the roadworthiness, although that can be disputed on inspection.

Here's a link that discusses us vs Uk car auctions.

Simply have Black Rider have the computer output a load of diagnostics from the onboard computer saying the engine is cooked and the brakes and other mechanical components worn will slash the price (as physically inspecting it to prove otherwise takes more inspection time than they will have), particularly if we have him burn some oil so the engine smells like something bad has happened. Then have him break one or two obvious parts by running outside tolerance and it will validate all the other falsified readings.

It should be quite easy to make the diagnostics look like the car has been run into the ground. Particularly as Black Rider can make the engine not start even when using overrides as if it actually is wrecked.
Ok, those are all good ideas. How do the auctioneers get access to car keys? I assume the car has sophisticated security system that needs to be broken / overridden.

Anyway, adding the suggestions to the monster of the plan.

[X] Legally, you need some way to get a few thousand dollars fast
-[X] Have Black Rider imitate some malfunctions, like a misfired airbag to lower valuation of the car. Ideally during the auction.
--[X] Make him stop the engine from running and put up a number of false computer readings of various malfunctions and signs of wear and tear.
-[X] Make some gems, you are sure you can find a buyer
--[X} Use excellency, tool transcending constructs, boiling sea mastery to make the gems
--[X] Get Cyberdevils to check markets and research papers to see what kind, including both material and cut, of synthetic gems is the most profitable to make right now, and what known technique, even if normally completely impractible and hard to scale, produces said gems the fastest
--[X] Make an electronically controlled lock for the workshop, slaved to your phone. Have Clippy promise not to let you out until you make 10 carat worth of artificial gems. Have them renew the promise after each batch of gems until you get enough gems.
--[X] Contact Lydia to ask if her father or lawyer can help you with selling perfectly legal, if hard to explain synthetic gems
---[X] Stunt: You turn away from the arcane machinery arrayed around you, in which artificial gems form from the glow of nearly empty space, grow in various bubbling vats, are cut into perfect shape with nanometer scale precisions, and fiddle with your phone, careful not to let your wet hair tough the dynamic: "Lydia, hi! How are you? Everything ok after you got home? Sorry to bother you so soon after our last adventure, but does your dad, or maybe his lawyer, know how to find buyers for unusual items, like artificial gems? Also, would you want to go to a police auction with me? I wanted to buy out a demonically possessed car. Don't worry, it's one of my loyal demons."
--[X] Use 1/4th of the gems made to make jewelry - rings, earpieces, studs, necklaces, etc. Use brass for the metal
---[X] Stunt: the hum escaping your lips as you fashion brass and gems into pieces of art transcending boundaries of mortal craftsmanship is not a real melody you know. It is something from the depths of your mind, brought forth by how right it feels to fashion brass. In your mind, Usum agrees, offering advice on details of aesthetics.
 
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[X] Legally, you need some way to get a few thousand dollars fast
-[X] Make some gems, you are sure you can find a buyer

Going without the stunt this time since it adds multiple points of failure and increases scrutiny for minor immediate advantage
 
One of your brackets is booked. That'll probably confuse the tally a bit.

Also, I really don't like trying to game CCC. I'd be much more enthusiastic about your plan without that part being included.
Thanks, corrected. Why not game CCC though? It's what it's there for. Hell, even thematically, we are breaking our minion out of jail, essentially.

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Going without the stunt this time since it adds multiple points of failure and increases scrutiny for minor immediate advantage
You could add using excellencies and other enhancers, though even if you disagree with the stunt or going through Lydia in general. And it's not like we'd be stuck if she can't help - she's just my first choice of contact.
 
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-[X] Make some gems, you are sure you can find a buyer
@uju32 has a point about pearls. If they're already cultured then we don't even need to worry about them looking artificial, and they shouldn't be any harder to move than gems. Sure the price per unit isn't as good, but it's still good enough for our purposes.

Overall it seems much more convenient as a petty cash source; we can save the irradiated gold and hell forged gems for crafting and supernatural exchanges.
 
@uju32 has a point about pearls. If they're already cultured then we don't even need to worry about them looking artificial, and they shouldn't be any harder to move than gems. Sure the price per unit isn't as good, but it's still good enough for our purposes.

Overall it seems much more convenient as a petty cash source; we can save the irradiated gold and hell forged gems for crafting and supernatural exchanges.
The issue is that we need to get at least 10k cash in three days or less. Cultured pearls require real oysters, and I am not sure if they fall under craft at all, or can be affected by TTC. Artificial pearl imitations that could be made using TTC are much less expensive and we'd essentially need to make them in bulk to hope to get enough money.
 
[X] Legally, you need some way to get a few thousand dollars fast
-[X] Make some gems, you are sure you can find a buyer
 
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