Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

I'm kind of torn on the presentation of the big book of yomi wan.

With TTC we could probably convincingly make it look like an old book from a tomb somewhere, as is tradition, and add some protection on our end by way of misdirection.

Or we could bind it like a printing of the most banal high school textbook imaginable, purely to screw with whatever elder wizards and/or ancient vampires end up hunched over the thing trying to memorize every line. :V

Seriously though, this is going to be neat. Ebenezer apparently has enough involvement with this area to recognize Molly's hatefire on sight, so we even have an immediate and trustworthy person to trade it through.
 
Just looking at the roll, shouldn't that have been 14 successes as we don't deduct 1s for favoured abilities like Occult?

Fixed

RVD + PoRA to get one of the 6 lost nukes, preferable the megaton one. When the Tigers Broke Free to contain the damage. One of the perfect defenses to survive popping the nuke. If we are waiting for the next XP purchase.

Pop shintai, that's 8 dice. 10 with WHWH (have Dresden cool the environment, that's well within his capabilities).

@DragonParadox a question. The question in the list was "Who was ultimately responsible for the murder of a police detective murdered here?". Does this mean that naagoshi is acting on its own, or did Molly ask "who carried out the murder?". Because we had a second question in the list "--[] Question: "Who killed the man this tombstone is dedicated to?". Focus: Detective's tombstone". If Molly asked it using the scene of the murder, can we use the tombstone to find who was ultimately responsible?

That or more likely it had a wide remit for its task and it was the one who choose to kill Greene specifically, thus makinjg it ultimately responsible for Greene's death. You could have asked 'who did Greene's murderer work for?' But that would have risked a nul response if it was not an underling or was working alone. There is no surefire way to get the whole chain of associates with one question
 
That or more likely it had a wide remit for its task and it was the one who choose to kill Greene specifically, thus makinjg it ultimately responsible for Greene's death. You could have asked 'who did Greene's murderer work for?' But that would have risked a nul response if it was not an underling or was working alone. There is no surefire way to get the whole chain of associates with one question
So, since Greene's murder site question worked like it did, can we use Greene's gravesite to find who his murderer worked for? Does it count as a question on the list?
 
That is certainly something some Wan-Kuei would kill for. Or pay.

The chance to give a favored mortal or Dhampyr an education that makes it much more likely for them to rise as a Wan Kuei themselves, possibly even sapient enough to continue serving instantly, rather than after a long Shi-Mei phase, is massivly valuable.

If you combine it with the fact that Dhampyrs are much more likely to become Wan Kuei it could be particularly valuable (those with strong Pos particularly).

One thing to consider is that only the Po soul goes to one of the Thousand Hells. The Hun soul hangs around the body in the material world until/unless the Po escapes.

Putting it together, it's the Po soul that makes use of the knowledge in the book. That is likely to mean that the reason they can control themselves better after doing so is probably because their Po has been less screwed up by being tortured. It also means that the character of their Po is likely to be more civilised and capable of intellectual and social activity.

If Molly could stomach it, she'd probably make an exceptional ally for an elder Wan Kuei. They seem like they might be a type of degraded, cursed Exalts, which is a subject that she has exceptional knowledge of. The Crown of Eyes might also reveal the kind of philosophical wisdom that would promote moments of enlightenment, like a lecture from a more senior member of their Dharma. And there's a chance that VEEs reality warping can manufacture such scenarios as well

And that's before you get to more outrageous interventions like using ancient sorcery or exalted crafting to repair their split soul directly
 
@DragonParadox a question. The question in the list was "Who was ultimately responsible for the murder of a police detective murdered here?". Does this mean that naagoshi is acting on its own, or did Molly ask "who carried out the murder?". Because we had a second question in the list "--[] Question: "Who killed the man this tombstone is dedicated to?". Focus: Detective's tombstone". If Molly asked it using the scene of the murder, can we use the tombstone to find who was ultimately responsible?
That raises another question too. Since asked who and not what do we also get a name for this particular naagolashi?
 
[X] Ask more questions from the list
--[X] [Thule Society investigation] Question: "What was the full chain of events that led the people who shot these bullets to know where and when to be to shoot them?" Focus: The bullets shot at us during initial meeting with Brother Divsimar.
--[X] [Thule Society investigation] Question: "Who attempted to shoot Gorfiel / us from this place?". Focus: The roof from which the shot was made
--[X] [Thule Society investigation] Question: "what was the chain of command involved in the shooting of this bullet at us/Gorfel outside Harry's apartment". Focus: Bullet souvenir

[X] Ask Bob about Astrology. Does it work? What are the general principles?



I'll go with this for now. It makes sense to ask these questions while we are still at Harry's. And i want to know if those are connected to the naagloshii. Also, for our next book "Soulgazing tha Abyss: the safety guide" is probably a good idea.
 
If Molly could stomach it, she'd probably make an exceptional ally for an elder Wan Kuei. They seem like they might be a type of degraded, cursed Exalts
Well, only as much as Abyssals are "degraded" Solars.

If anything, they actually compare fairly favorably to Dragonblooded. DB's inability to exceed E5 in modern nights is just completely crippling for their ability to be a major faction.
 
Trails Faded and New
COMMENTARY
Loling at Harry's reaction.
I wonder if Molly will give Dresden an ulcer first, or drive him bald. Im betting on the ulcer; McCoy still has a full head of hair so baldness probably isnt in his ancestry.

I have to admit that Greene has great big brass ovaries. I wonder how she was recruited: money or blackmail? Her accumulation of documentary insurance suggests blackmail, and it isnt that hard for a Whampire to arrange blackmail material of a sexual or financial nature. But who knows. They could simply have been having financial issues.

Its been a month or so since the murder, and it hasnt been back here.
Probably hasnt left Chicago though.
At least not permanently.

On the bright side, we have IC justification to convince Harry to let Bob teach us Summoning, Binding and Warding.
It does seem like we're coming up with a new theoretical paradigm for mortal Alchemy.
Enough to distract Bob from the fact that Molly is a young woman.

It really is hilarious how Molly and Lash appear to be on the same wavelength.
Harry recognition and panic. 3 sux on 7 dice at DC8.
Molly persuading Greene to leave. 4 sux on 14 dice at DC7.
Greene refusing to leave. 8 sux on 8 dice at DC6. Legendary
Harry Sight on murder site. 2 sux on 7 dice at DC8.
Nightmare rolls. 5 sux, 5 sux and 4 sux on 9 dice at DC7.
Molly learning Alchemy. 20 sux on 18 dice at DC6.
Bob teaching Alchemy. 5 sux on 10 dice at DC6.
Writing the Book of Yomi Wan. 14 sux on 20 dice at DC6.

The dice gods seem intent on keeping Greene in our jurisdiction.
I guess we better make an electromagnetic smartgun (coilgun or railgun) to be stored in the boot of our Mercedes.
Should be legal. Especially if its in bright colors.

Molly rolled monster numbers on her Learning rolls. Behold the power of a motivated Exalt.
Should probably get the full discount on Alchemy 1 before buying it.

[X] Move on to another action
-[X] Qiao training
[X] Move on to another action
-[X] Qiao training
We can use the opportunity to ask Divsimar how he goes on about dealing with physically and magically superior Shen if the need arises.We haven't been in that situation yet, being a carrier of Infernal Glory, but there's always a first time.
Good point.
Makes narrative sense to talk to Brother Divsimar.
Admittedly, a naagloshii is probably a lot meaner than the average shen, but the principle is the same.
RVD + PoRA to get one of the 6 lost nukes, preferable the megaton one. When the Tigers Broke Free to contain the damage. One of the perfect defenses to survive popping the nuke. If we are waiting for the next XP purchase.
Nuking Chicago would certainly solve the naagloshii problem
:V
Pop shintai, that's 8 dice. 10 with WHWH (have Dresden cool the environment, that's well within his capabilitie
Good point.
Use an EM smartgun with embedded cyberdevil to reduce the DCs involved, and activate All Things Betray.
Fixed

That or more likely it had a wide remit for its task and it was the one who choose to kill Greene specifically, thus makinjg it ultimately responsible for Greene's death. You could have asked 'who did Greene's murderer work for?' But that would have risked a nul response if it was not an underling or was working alone. There is no surefire way to get the whole chain of associates with one question
I would disagree.

QUESTION: Everyone in the conspiracy decision-chain/chain of command that led to/involved in Greene's death.
 
It does seem like we're coming up with a new theoretical paradigm for mortal Alchemy.
Enough to distract Bob from the fact that Molly is a young woman.

Less a new paradigm for mortal alchemy and more a paradigm for Infernals using alchemy. Mortals would not use 'the magic is the soul of the potion' because they do not have a natural affinity for ensouling things. If you tried to teach a mortal to cast alchemy like Molly is doing, much like with the Shih arts it would kill them, assuming they could ever contort their souls into those patterns to begin with
 
Less a new paradigm for mortal alchemy and more a paradigm for Infernals using alchemy. Mortals would not use 'the magic is the soul of the potion' because they do not have a natural affinity for ensouling things. If you tried to teach a mortal to cast alchemy like Molly is doing, much like with the Shih arts it would kill them, assuming they could ever contort their souls into those patterns to begin with
Well, soulfire users might be able to do something like this. On a much smaller scale, of course.
Nuking Chicago would certainly solve the naagloshii problem
:V
If we could lure it out, this would be a viable option. Or we buy Principle Invoking Onslaught. That thing should be able to conjure a Tzar Bomb.
 
Well, soulfire users might be able to do something like this. On a much smaller scale, of course.

If we could lure it out, this would be a viable option. Or we buy Principle Invoking Onslaught. That thing should be able to conjure a Tzar Bomb.

Soul fire users would come closest, that said a major part of casting with soulfire is restraint, which... yeah your Exaltation may be running in emergency mode, but it is not going to run out anything soon, unlike a mortal soul.
 
Well, only as much as Abyssals are "degraded" Solars.

If anything, they actually compare fairly favorably to Dragonblooded. DB's inability to exceed E5 in modern nights is just completely crippling for their ability to be a major faction.

I'd say the original Wan Xian were very likely superior to Dragon Blooded. They were potentially immortal and they seem to have scaled up higher. They look roughly like Celestial grade exalts based on the surviving records and evidence.

The big downgrade they have is lacking Excellencies, the increasing difficulty to feed as the ages pass, and their degrading Shintai disciplines.

The big upgrade is that it seems easier to recruit. Previously they had to pass a set of difficult trials to qualify, but with the testing grounds absorbed by the Hells, any escaping Po soul can qualify.
 
As an aside, I've been playing with an idea for a ranged weapon for Molly to give us some flexibility and hopefully avoid huge exp investments.
Specifically something based on the ADS, which was the US army's pain beam project that was under development from 2002-2007.

The basic idea is to use a special wide are microwave emitter to induce pain in people's skin without long term damage. Which it was actually very effective at; the average person hits their pain threshold and bails at 3 seconds of exposure, and I don't think any test subject could stand more than 5.

The thing about this is that it's a function of power and wavelength. You can increase the power to increase the damage, though it's considered too cruel and inefficient energy wise to use as an actual weapon with mundane tech.

For us that might not entirely be the case, because PoRA provides power for a broken system. We could design something that has a man portable emitter/capacitor system attached to a huge generator element and then only build the emitter part. Which ideally would give us a weapon that starts at "painful but harmless" and cranks up to "flay ray" at need.

Which is pretty nasty, but gives us a range of lethality to work across for different situations. At the high end I think there's a good argument for it being outright lethal damage, and TA applying to it so we can shoot Agg at people just as we could with a gun.

The other advantage of this would be that we're talking about a point and click aiming since it's an em radiation weapon, which should simplify actually hitting things.

We could also build full versions around portable diesel generators, add a microcontroller and some actuators, then stick a cyber devil in it for our own sentry turrets if the concept works out.

Building something like that could be complicated, but since we're talking about a technology that seems to be designed to be appropriated by the wicked city and Lanka in addition to being contemporary to the quest's timeline I think it's likely in reach.

tldr: we're playing the villain exalt type, let's build ourselves a death ray and give an irresponsible amount of power to our cyber devils. :V
 
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