OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Fair enough Molly isn't the type to do something so cold.
I was trying to think of plans that don't have the possibility of Molly being a fugitive when we don't have a disguise charm.
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
I was trying to think of plans that don't have the possibility of Molly being a fugitive when we don't have a disguise charm.
Could be him that sent Greene after Dresden.
But vampires dont have veils, and we know whoever killed Greene had a veil.
So thats just one element.
Murdering them doesnt help.
EMT response times in a city are sub-nine minutes. If we call a 911 at a law enforcement agent's home the cops and EMTs will break normal records to respond. We wont have the time for disposal of bodies and cleanup of the results of a swordfight.
Also, he may be expected to be here. The plan might be to feed the woman to his relative and report that he found her body. And his car is almost definitetly somewhere in the locale. So if we are there in his place, we get questions. Hard questions. And we already have a record with Greene from the Splattercon murders.
And we cant just leave. Black Rider is parked out front, and he's distinctive.
This is in part why Im always warning people not to jump to violence as a first option.
Killing is easy.
Dealing with the aftermath is hard.
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- Location
- Earth
[X] Leap in to kill the vampires, try to save their victim
-[X] Go for the old one first, the younger might be salvagable. Activate Steel Skin. Be ready to use IPM the second the Whampires try anything funny with their mind-tricks.
-[X] (Stunt) You do not hesitate a moment, even as you feel your skin harden and take a brazen sheen you are already breaking through the window, the edges of shattered glass scraping harmlessly against your skin. Your sword is in your hand without thought or effort and you see the first hint of terror slowly form on the old monster's face as you close in for the first blow.
-[X] Go for the old one first, the younger might be salvagable. Activate Steel Skin. Be ready to use IPM the second the Whampires try anything funny with their mind-tricks.
-[X] (Stunt) You do not hesitate a moment, even as you feel your skin harden and take a brazen sheen you are already breaking through the window, the edges of shattered glass scraping harmlessly against your skin. Your sword is in your hand without thought or effort and you see the first hint of terror slowly form on the old monster's face as you close in for the first blow.
You know, the vampire's wording here strongly says that they are here to feed, not (knowingly) disposing of a witness / performing a hit. This part specifically:
It's about feeding, not anything else.
Vampires can have magic (see Thomas), though.
Which is why intimidating them is the best option. If he's not a hardened elite operative of Thule Society, used to talking to denarians and other heavy hitters, then "suddenly, demon lord" should be an effective tactic. Especially if this is an initiation of the teen. If he values her, we could probably leverage that.
Or he could be lying.
For a vampire, even a cop, its simply much lower risk to target a homeless person, a sex worker or a known smalltime criminal than a federal agent in their own home.
No this is a hit. It just might be serving two purposes.
Veils are evocation, and you need seconds, or less, to get them up.
Veils are hard, if you dont have the gift.
Furthermore, whoever killed Greene had both veils and either transformation or illusion.
Im trying to balance things between revealing too much and too little.
With a side order of spiking whatever is up with the kid. Like I said, this is probably her first kill; interrupt it and she doesnt change.
For a vampire, even a cop, its simply much lower risk to target a homeless person, a sex worker or a known smalltime criminal than a federal agent in their own home.
No this is a hit. It just might be serving two purposes.
Thomas casts ritual magic for tracking, and it takes him the better part of an hour.
Veils are evocation, and you need seconds, or less, to get them up.
Veils are hard, if you dont have the gift.
Furthermore, whoever killed Greene had both veils and either transformation or illusion.
Oh, I agree that intimidation is better.
Im trying to balance things between revealing too much and too little.
With a side order of spiking whatever is up with the kid. Like I said, this is probably her first kill; interrupt it and she doesnt change.
[X] Plan Always a Bigger Fish
-[X] Activate Intimidation excellency
-[X] Activate IPM with willpower
-[X] Stunt: Taking in the situation all normal expressions slip from Molly's face like a car diving off a cliff. With the beat of a phantom heart that felt more real than her physical one, Molly's presence boils out from behind hardening eyes to fill the room.
-[X] "You will speak when spoken too, answer any question I think to ask, and if I'm happy with the answers you might leave this place alive." She says with a certainty deeper than the sea and steadier than the rising of the sun.
-[X] A flicker of fire fills her voice as the smell of smoke seems to hang just below notice, like something only seen from the corner of the eye. "Do I make my self clear?"
-[X] Proceed to question them if they cooperate, and if they don't attempt to activate melee excellency and kill the older one.
BSM, DPE and something like 16 dice make it pretty likely he shuts the hell up and does what we say.
IPM seems mandatory since going without means needing to actively do something to respond when they use their mind powers. They'll be much less likely to try anything if their tricks fail from the start.
-[X] Activate Intimidation excellency
-[X] Activate IPM with willpower
-[X] Stunt: Taking in the situation all normal expressions slip from Molly's face like a car diving off a cliff. With the beat of a phantom heart that felt more real than her physical one, Molly's presence boils out from behind hardening eyes to fill the room.
-[X] "You will speak when spoken too, answer any question I think to ask, and if I'm happy with the answers you might leave this place alive." She says with a certainty deeper than the sea and steadier than the rising of the sun.
-[X] A flicker of fire fills her voice as the smell of smoke seems to hang just below notice, like something only seen from the corner of the eye. "Do I make my self clear?"
-[X] Proceed to question them if they cooperate, and if they don't attempt to activate melee excellency and kill the older one.
BSM, DPE and something like 16 dice make it pretty likely he shuts the hell up and does what we say.
IPM seems mandatory since going without means needing to actively do something to respond when they use their mind powers. They'll be much less likely to try anything if their tricks fail from the start.
[X] Plan Always a Bigger Fish
-[X] Activate Intimidation excellency
-[X] Activate IPM with willpower
-[X] Stunt: Taking in the situation all normal expressions slip from Molly's face like a car diving off a cliff. With the beat of a phantom heart that felt more real than her physical one, Molly's presence boils out from behind hardening eyes to fill the room.
-[X] "You will speak when spoken too, answer any question I think to ask, and if I'm happy with the answers you might leave this place alive." She says with a certainty deeper than the sea and steadier than the rising of the sun.
-[X] A flicker of fire fills her voice as the smell of smoke seems to hang just below notice, like something only seen from the corner of the eye. "Do I make my self clear?"
-[X] Proceed to question them if they cooperate, and if they don't attempt to activate melee excellency and kill the older one.
-[X] Activate Intimidation excellency
-[X] Activate IPM with willpower
-[X] Stunt: Taking in the situation all normal expressions slip from Molly's face like a car diving off a cliff. With the beat of a phantom heart that felt more real than her physical one, Molly's presence boils out from behind hardening eyes to fill the room.
-[X] "You will speak when spoken too, answer any question I think to ask, and if I'm happy with the answers you might leave this place alive." She says with a certainty deeper than the sea and steadier than the rising of the sun.
-[X] A flicker of fire fills her voice as the smell of smoke seems to hang just below notice, like something only seen from the corner of the eye. "Do I make my self clear?"
-[X] Proceed to question them if they cooperate, and if they don't attempt to activate melee excellency and kill the older one.
Suicide by pills is hard, and is the most common type of failed suicide attempt. We probably have more time to sanitize the scene than people expect.
Could be a target of opportunity. Could even be the vampire trying to be somewhat moral, in his own way - if Greene's wife was already depressed / suicidal, then using her to feed / initiate a new whamp is somewhat easier to justify than using someone who isn't suicidal.
It could be a hit, but using a fledgling and letting Molly leave seem strange to me, and I believe that not everything is a plot.
I mean, Molly thinks that the vampire is genuinely trying to be merciful here, at least towards Molly.
The most common because it allows the victim to change their mind and call for help.
Or their family to notice and call for help.
This presupposes that the vampire is incompetent at staging a suicide.
Which is a really poor assumption for something that apparently feeds on despair, and is at variance with their demonstrated skillset in canon, where the Skavis staged suicides across the US without law enforcement having a clue.
He could just as easily have her cutting her wrists. They did this in canon.
I mean, we dont even know what drugs those are.
You're assuming its something relatively mild like ambien.
Instead of prescription oxycontin, say.
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fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Though about Charms from Molly's hell. Since Charms are suposed to be a reflection of who you are even if Infernal charms give that a dark twist.
System: This charm targets a character who has committed a sin but not yet received a sentencing. They must confess to the Infernal and submit themselves to their mercy, after which the Infernal lays their hands on the character and spends 2 Essence to take the responsibility for the sin unto herself. All evidence of the sin is wiped away as if the repented had arcane background with dots equal to the Infernal's essence level, except instead of disappearing all such evidence changes to instead implicate the infernal. The infernal also takes on any metaphysical burdens for the sin such as in the case of magic law breaking as if she had done the crime herself although these effects can be resisted as normal with no further effect.
If the repentant profited from these crimes in any way then all such gains become forfeit to the infernal or the charm does not come into effect. In cases where someone killed in self defense that means their life belongs to the infernal.
Vicarious redemption salvation (•)
A christian Infernal sought to follow the example of Christ. In this thing as in all things the Infernal exceeded all expectations.System: This charm targets a character who has committed a sin but not yet received a sentencing. They must confess to the Infernal and submit themselves to their mercy, after which the Infernal lays their hands on the character and spends 2 Essence to take the responsibility for the sin unto herself. All evidence of the sin is wiped away as if the repented had arcane background with dots equal to the Infernal's essence level, except instead of disappearing all such evidence changes to instead implicate the infernal. The infernal also takes on any metaphysical burdens for the sin such as in the case of magic law breaking as if she had done the crime herself although these effects can be resisted as normal with no further effect.
If the repentant profited from these crimes in any way then all such gains become forfeit to the infernal or the charm does not come into effect. In cases where someone killed in self defense that means their life belongs to the infernal.
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Like I said? Hookers, smalltime dealers and gangsters, even minority youth who havent done anything are all easier targets of opportunity for law enforcement than a federal agent. The recent proliferation of smartphones has been an eyeopener about how much shit mundane cops get away with when dealing with the general public, up to and including murder.
And critically, meeting the woman in her own home at 5pm on a Friday would have required a significant amount of setup time. Many office workers are just leaving the office at that time. Feds might work longer overtime, depending on the case.
She might even have family staying with her since her husband died.
Too much effort required when he could have arrested a hooker or a drug dealer, or just a random young black male in a poor area, picked up his relative, had the kid kill the victim, then inject the victim with some illicit drug and call the EMTs for a pickup.
Fentanyl overdose, how sad.
No, this was a targeted hit.
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fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
No need to vote this is they manage to mind wham Molly this triggers reflexively. Also we don't really care about not flaring our anima at the moment.
If she was already (passively) suicidal, then picking her up as a target might have been considered more moral than just killing someone. If it's a hit, it's either a very low priority one, or he's very incompetent. Because you don't "hit two birds with one stone" where it comes to anything critical.
I don't think they actually have to kill the first time, it's just that they have no self control the first time and the older ones think it builds character.
Assuming that she wasn't seriously depressed and failing to show up for work or something. We have no idea how she's coping beyond the fact that a skavis thought she'd make for a good first victim for a fledgling.
The fledgling bit in particular is important, because white vamps as a whole are in a habit of not telling their kids what's up until the deed is done. Your uncle or whoever stopping to pick up a hooker for you between errands isn't going to foster cooperation from the ignorant fledgling before they start feeding.
An isolated person who lives alone in a place where you have some space from the neighbors is a much easier situation to manage, and doesn't immediately freak out the pupal white with the right excuse.
Triggering it from the beginning is useful for intimidation purposes because we shrug off their attacks like they never happened. It's been shown IC that reflexively activating charms involves you briefly experiencing the effect they're blocking before shutting it out, which isn't as good an image.
For people other than random vampires off the street it's also a legitimate safety concern. We got OOC notes that not starting with IPM would have gotten us rolled by Mab's UMI, which conforms to how it was treated in prior encounters like that sorcerer with the forget me spell.
Reflexive activation evidently isn't perfectly synonymous with already having it up before the attack arrives even though it seems like it should be.
There isnt a shortage of criminals Im afraid.
I will remind you that the Fetches that kidnapped Molly showed up in the forms of horror movie characters because they drew power from people's fear. When Nicodemus Archleone captured Shiro he tortured him for power instead of just shooting him in the head. When Bianca St Claire captured Dresden she and her court spent several hours torturing him instead of shooting him outright.
The Dresdenverse supernatural world does not operate on realworld logic.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
That really should not have happened that isn't how the charms work at all. Reflexive is supposed to be reflexive before the attack lands.
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Yeah, but it has happened two to three times now so it needs to be accounted for.
I think they do.
Or at least to take so much it amounts to the same thing for many people.
Not sure.
She's a Fed. 14 days bereavement leave. Beyond that you're back at work.
And anyone trying to kill her would have to spend time ensuring she didnt have family staying over, or friends checking in,
This is happening on a workday. Someone went to significant effort to set this up, and make sure there's no surveillance equipment outside her house.
I mean, this is Chicago. The CPD has a history of disappearing arrestees, torture and unjustified shootings.
Commander John Burge tortured or participated in the torture of 118 people between 1972 and 1991.
The Homan Square facility made the international news. Laquan McDonald was murdered on camera in 2014, and it took a year before a court forced the police to reveal the footage.
Only then was the guilty officer arrested. The Thin Blue Line here is closer to a Blue Wall.
If the old guy is a cop, which is my working hypothesis, he could literally arrest a black dude off the street in a poor neighborhood like North Lawndale or Englewood on some stop and frisk shit and the dude would turn up dead with fentanyl in his bloodstream.
There isnt a shortage of victims who cant make a stink.
A serving federal agent, who was married to a murdered Chicago PD homicide detective?
Is very much not a target of opportunity.
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fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Ugh this is going to complicate all the votes.
They don't send people to drag you to work if you fail to show up. I'm suggesting that it's possible she's spiraling and not fulfilling basic obligations.
Someone did set this up, but I don't think it's a high power conspiracy because of the fledgling. If the goal is related to the target then bringing a complete novice with you is actively detrimental.
If they're not a novice and do have useful skills despite being 'asleep' you could, as you've pointed out, just as easily get them a different victim beforehand and let them do their job without the distraction.
[X] Leap in to kill the vampires, try to save their victim
Molly is quite literally catching serial rapists in the act. The priority should be to save this and future victims. I see no moral reason for her to value the lives of monstrous predators over that of future victims. The potential for an alliance with the White Court shouldn't be viewed as sufficient to justify willful ignorance or the forgiveness of horrific crimes.
Molly is quite literally catching serial rapists in the act. The priority should be to save this and future victims. I see no moral reason for her to value the lives of monstrous predators over that of future victims. The potential for an alliance with the White Court shouldn't be viewed as sufficient to justify willful ignorance or the forgiveness of horrific crimes.
Talking first is valuable because there are good odds that it will resolve the situation faster. If we roll well on the intimidation check we can proceed immediately to helping their current victim and figuring out exactly what's going on here.
If we open up with a stabbing then this will probably take longer to resolve, risks injuring Mrs. Greene in the fighting, and creates the possibility that we'll be ignorant of something important about what's going on here.
If they don't immediately fold then we can and should get out the nuclear hate sword.
And as an additional note, the teenager has decent odds of being relatively innocent. White vampires don't tell their children what they are until they've set them up to transform. That way you can't back out and try to free yourself from your demon by exposing it to the appropriate bane at your first feeding.
It's possible the kid was prepped for this and is a sadistic monster, but it wouldn't be unusual for her to be totally ignorant of what's going on either.
Still needs to be stopped, but it's worth keeping that in mind until we know the exact details.
It's only faster than talking if we take them out in the first round, if they're more durable than that it dramatically slows down.
The end result also puts us in a difficult position. Either they book it and live to kill another day, or we have to get their victim medical attention with one or more corpses on hand.
In my mind this is a haste makes waste situation. We have to do it right from the start or rushing will screw the whole thing up.