Yes, I did not show you do it because it could get repetitive, but Molly did tell the other exalt in the city about the shapeshifting monstrosity involved in the conflict which she took no small part in herself.
Yes to Michael and Harry told Thomas, no to the Order, they are far enough removed from Harry who seems to have been the target that Molly did not automatically inform them. You guys can vote to do so if you want of course.
Its not, thats why i called it the protagnist syndrome. You can't say people are your friends and allies and make unilateral descision. Him being a warden doesn't change that, because their entire job is just enforcement of the laws of magic, they don't have any sort of duties regarding the masquerade or the hidden war or whatever.
That isnt true.
The tribes who are most familiar with the subject appear to disagree in-story, and as they are the experts on the subject, who actually told Dresden about their SOP, its wise to listen to them
Thats the whole point of the Oblivion War, which Thomas has never mentioned to his brother. Its true about knowledge of the Thousand Hells; we explicitly had to censor the Book of Yomi Wan so as not to harm readers. Its true about the Outer Gates; Dresden canonically doesnt find out that the Outer Gates are a real place for another five years.
None of those without the oblivion war actually benifit from ignorance.
The outer gates obscured to prevent any shenanigans and even still, everyone with any knowledge know about them. The entire redcourt is summoning outsiders so i sincerly doubt its not a well know fact on the community of that entire ecosystem.
There tens of thousand of vampires and shih that know about the yomi wan. Its a major faction in asia, us censoring a book is us being cautious. If there knowldge was that dangerous, it would have done something in the thousands of years of their existence. There spirits can literally just walk between the people if they want to, so its hardly a secret.
The only reason harry doesn't know about them is because he is an ignorant idiot that isn't trusted by his superiors. Because bob knows all those information, he never asks him.
We donactually know that it's targeting Harry. It has used its powers to arrange Harry to be detained at a critical moment, and to generally inconvenience him once. For a spirit of sadism that very, very mild. It is more likely that Harry himself is not the target, but Harry's actions might work against naagloshii's goals.
I'd also like to point out that we aren't throwing Harry under the bus. My stunt doesn't mention him at all. We were the ones to inform Harry, and very recently too. He has no reason to believe the danger is immediate - naagloshii has been in Chicaho for months now, and kept it's head low.
Edit: hell, did we tell Lydia about it? I don't think so, and she's in far more danger than SI. Our family too, for that matter (or at least our father and mother).
We could have called Murphy ourselves. This isn't Harry's fuckup, it's ours.
1)We do know it was targeting Harry.
It literally murdered Lt Greene, then transported his body to a site witn conveniently situated security cameas and dismembered him on a recording to get Dresden arrested.
2)Literally stated outright in the update by Usum:
The words bring you up short, there is such a monster you know, the Skinwalker, but you can't think of anyway Special Investigations would be able to so much as ruffle its fur feathers or scales. Yet you have no doubt Karin Murphy would want to know anyway, this is her city and her area of responsibility and this is the woman who had braved Arctis Tor with a gun loaded with cool iron. "Perhaps it might be in your favor if the detective where to be somewhat upset at the Wizard Dresden for keeping her in the dark..." It takes you a moment to realize what Usum is getting at at which point you are very glad for all the practice you have had not blushing.
3) Murphy is not our friend or working colleague.
We have only ever met the woman twice that Im aware of, at the Splattercon hotel and Arctis Tor. She most definitely knows nothing about Molly's power besides her being good in a fight against Fae. No frame of reference for Molly
She has no reason to consider Molly a reliable source of warning about supernatural monsters.
Especially since we cant actually tell her how we know; we have been repeatedly told to shut the fuck up about the Crown.
So no, not our fuckup.
4)Of course we told Lydia. She is a potential opportunistic target.
And we live in an angelically warded household with a Knight of the Cross. No naagloshii is coming there.
Im assuming we told Michael at a minimum, just like we asked Brother Divsimar.
1)We do know it was targeting Harry.
It literally murdered Lt Greene, then transported his body to a site witn conveniently situated security cameas and dismembered him on a recording to get Dresden arrested.
Using the same logic, it was targeting Lt. Greene. It has been in town for more than two months. It's a monstrous sadistic god. If it wanted Harry dead, he would be dead. Unless it has some additional goals for its presence, like killing Harry on Halloween for some magical reason, or it absoultely have to make the death look like an incident or a sucide, there's no reason for it to have stuck around for more than two months, especially since it literally drains its power away. I am fairly sure that it could ambush and kill Dresden in a week at most. So, based on the sole fact that Harry is still alive and the only interaction he had with naagloshii was several months ago, we can draw a conclusion that he's not the reason for its continued presence in town.
Using the same logic, it was targeting Lt. Greene. It has been in town for more than two months. It's a monstrous sadistic god. If it wanted Harry dead, he would be dead. Unless it has some additional goals for its presence, like killing Harry on Halloween for some magical reason, or it absoultely have to make the death look like an incident or a sucide, there's no reason for it to have stuck around for more than two months, especially since it literally drains its power away. I am fairly sure that it could ambush and kill Dresden in a week at most. So, based on the sole fact that Harry is still alive and the only interaction he had with naagloshii was several months ago, we can draw a conclusion that he's not the reason for its continued presence in town.
Using the same logic, it was targeting Lt. Greene. It has been in town for more than two months. It's a monstrous sadistic god. If it wanted Harry dead, he would be dead. Unless it has some additional goals for its presence, like killing Harry on Halloween for some magical reason, or it absoultely have to make the death look like an incident or a sucide, there's no reason for it to have stuck around for more than two months, especially since it literally drains its power away. I am fairly sure that it could ambush and kill Dresden in a week at most. So, based on the sole fact that Harry is still alive and the only interaction he had with naagloshii was several months ago, we can draw a conclusion that he's not the reason for its continued presence in town.
If it wanted Greene dead, it would have just murdered him outright and dumped his body.
It went to the trouble of framing Dresden, so it was clearly targeting him for some reason, and we dont have any indication that its stopped.
It might not be here just to kill Dresden; in canon, it wanted to kill Morgan as part of the setup in starting a war between the White Council and White Court. Here, it tried to get Dresden as part of clearing the field for Kattrin's ritual.
We dont know the details of the wider plot yet.
Or, like I pointed out earlier, its possibly acting a lot more cautious since Molly activated shintai in the museum.
Or since it realized that Michael is in town with Amoracchius,
Chicago isnt as riskfree for a skinwalker as it was at the beginning of June.
Its not, thats why i called it the protagnist syndrome. You can't say people are your friends and allies and make unilateral descision. Him being a warden doesn't change that, because their entire job is just enforcement of the laws of magic, they don't have any sort of duties regarding the masquerade or the hidden war or whatever.
Yes you can.
Need to know is a thing. And in this setting, knowing a thing can empower it against you. Like Dresden told Billy after Kirby died:
He nodded. "What do I need to know about skinwalkers?"
"They're . . . they're just evil, man. They like hurting people. Shape-shifters, obviously—and the more afraid of them you are, the more powerful they get. They literally feed on fear."
Billy eyed me. "Meaning you aren't going to tell me anything more. Because it won't help me. You think it will scare me."
"We knew it was here, we were ready for a fight, and you saw what happened," I said. "If it had hit us from a real ambush, it would have been worse."
He bared his teeth in a snarl. "We had it."
"We had it at a momentary disadvantage—and it saw that, and it was smart enough to leave and come back later. All we did was prove to it that it would have to take us seriously to kill us. We won't get another opportunity like that one." I put a hand on his shoulder. "You and Georgia stay close to Andi. This thing likes hurting people. And it gets off on hunting down wounded prey. She's still in danger."
"Got it," he said quietly. "What are you going to do?"
And Dresden is literally a paramilitary commander of the White Council's military/enforcement arm in an ongoing war as well as an everyday diplomatic representative. His interpretation of White Council guidelines can and does set policy; his immolation of Bianca St Cloud's court set off the Vampire War. Being his friend doesnt necessarily entitle you to more information
Like I said, this is a situation where his judgement is wrong, and we should point it out.
However, the general principle is not actually invalid.
Thats inaccurate.
Many/most know to beware of skinwalkers. Most of the stories however apparently arent shared widely. This isnt like fairy tales where the stories are meant to be traded widely. Naagloshii stories arent.
Thats canon as of Turn Coat.
I wasn't worried about the skinwalker sneaking up on me. Oh, sure, he might do it, but not cold. Supernatural beings like the skinwalker had so much power that reality itself gets a little strained around them wherever they go, and that has a number of side effects. One of them is a sort of psychic stench that goes with them—a presence that my instincts had twigged to long before the skinwalker had been in a position to do me any real harm.
Read a little folklore, the stuff that hasn't been prettied up by Disney and the like. Start with the Brothers Grimm. It won't tell you about skinwalkers, but it will give you a good idea of just how dark some of those tales can be.
Skinwalkers are dark compared to that. You've got to get the real stories from the peoples of the Navajo, Ute, and other Southwestern tribes to get the really juicy material. They don't talk about them often, because the genuine and entirely rational fear the stories inspire only makes the creatures stronger. The tribes rarely talk about them with outsiders, because outsiders have no foundation of folklore to draw upon to protect themselves—and because you never know when the outsider to whom you're telling dark tales might be a skinwalker, looking to indulge a sense of macabre irony. But I've been in the business awhile, and I know people who know the stories. They'd confided a handful to me, in broad daylight, looking nervously around them as they spoke, as if afraid that dredging up the dark memories might catch a skinwalker's attention.
Because sometimes it did. That's how bad skinwalkers are. Even amongst the people who know the danger they represent, who know better than anyone else in the world how to defend against them, no one wants to talk about skinwalkers.
These are apparently well-founded fears in the setting.
1)The Necronomicon and its author both existed in the Dresdenverse.
In fact the Gatekeeper is supposed to have been responsible for killing Al-Hazred the mad Arab.
2)That isnt true. Dresden had been a regional commander for the Wardens for at least six years, was made Winter Knight, died and came back before he found out the Gates were more than just a figure of speech. He was a senior war commander and noone told him, even when Outsiders were a threat class to worry about in combat.
3)The Red Court summoning Outsiders requires one, or a small group of renegades, thats all.
No need for broad dissemination of knowledge.
4)The vampires who know about Yomi Wan escaped from Yomi Wan after dying; thats how they became vampires.
They arent mortals. And even they arent immune; canon for Kindred of the East Thousand Hells is that the book Broken Winged Crane made a kuei-jin arhat Fall.
5)General caution has nothing to do with it. Its canon for this quest that we censored for two reasons
-some things dont translate in English.
-some of what we know will drive people mad.
A brief note on the Hells and the kind of information you are writing.
Any book on the Yama Hells, particularly Lanka and Kakuri would provide insight that is literally inhuman, not only what Usum saw with his own eyes and heard with his own ears while he was part and parcel of one of the major weapons of the realm, but also secrets writ in the tainted Essence which has laid there for ages of the world uncounted. Harry calls them magical constants, the ever-shifting rules by which all magic operates, well no human really knows what those look like in say Kakuri because the will of Emma-O lays on that place like a blanket. But there are still layers beneath the cold darkness and everlasting snow, ever-crumbling never-fallen pillars of another age beyond even the blackest nightmares of man. That is the kind of things Molly has insights into when he stretches.Granted her ability to share them is limited by the fact that she is writing in English and the fact that is wants to avoid driving the reader insane. This is Bob scale insight
That said all the above would make it worth a hell of a lot of favor,especially the part where it is not a danger to the human mind to engage with it.
Memetic threats are very much alive and well.
If our knowledge was easy and safe, the book wouldnt be worth very much, since all the hundreds or thousands od eastern White Council members would already have access to it.
[X] Yes, she deserves to know and who knows if those people from the Library of Congress have her back maybe she can do something about it
-[X] Empathy excellency to impress the danger of confronting it without scaring her too much.
-[X] STUNT: You scratch the back of your head, looking embarrassed and apologetic: "Yeah, about that..." you shift your posture, this time looking serious: "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there is one in the city right now. Has been for months, it seems. It's called a naagloshii, and it's something you literally nuke the site from orbit to deal with, for it's the only way to be sure. Unless you have Navajo medicine men in the force, or can call one from another department that is. Then I'd appreciate backup"
[X] Writein: Call Harry and tell him to tell her, or you will -[X]Empathy Excellency -[X]STUNT: "Harry" you interrupt, elbows on the table between you. "Look. I understand the reasoning. I do. Im not even disputing that its sometimes necessary. Its just that in this case, you're not thinking this through. This...critter" you avoid using the name, "is aimed at you, and as both Chicago's spookyside cop and a known associate of yours for several years, that puts her in the line of fire. I mean, she went to Arctis Tor." You let that statement hang for a moment then continue "The preponderance of evidence suggests she has need to know, even if only so she knows when to tell her people to run away."You pause as another Burger King patron walks past your table, waiting until they are out of earshot before continuing. "Besides, think of how you'd feel if I'd said nothing to you when I figured it out." As he begins to look conflicted, you press your rehetorical advantage. "You trusted her enough to have your back when you came into the heart of Winter's power for my dumbass. Trust that she isnt dumb enough to go looking for an immortal spectre of terror."
[X] Yes, she deserves to know and who knows if those people from the Library of Congress have her back maybe she can do something about it
-[X] STUNT: You scratch the back of your head, looking embarrassed and apologetic: "Yeah, about that..." you shift your posture, this time looking serious: "I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there is one in the city right now. Has been for months, it seems. It's called a naagloshii, and it's something you literally nuke the site from orbit to deal with, for it's the only way to be sure. Unless you have Navajo medicine men in the force, or can call one from another department that is. Then I'd appreciate backup"
[X] Yes, she deserves to know and who knows if those people from the Library of Congress have her back maybe she can do something about it
Free information for everyone.
In this case it's not very relevant, since the Naagloshii doesn't seem to have notable weaknesses that a non-native mortal like Muphy can use, but it's principle for me.
Having their full suite of weaknesses and strenghts published broke the Black Court, the same should definitly happen to more supernatural predators.
[X] Yes, she deserves to know and who knows if those people from the Library of Congress have her back maybe she can do something about it
Free information for everyone.
In this case it's not very relevant, since the Naagloshii doesn't seem to have notable weaknesses that a non-native mortal like Muphy can use, but it's principle for me.
Having their full suite of weaknesses and strenghts published broke the Black Court, the same should definitly happen to more supernatural predators.
Even when the monster gets stronger by more people knowing about it? Although I have to admit sus there, because if that were the case you would think that they Skinwalker could manage to be it's own hypeman.
Presumably there are rules and restrictions bunding it.
Like the ones that say they gradually lose power away from tribal lands. Else theyd just move to a major city and start a serial killing spree for power.
If it wanted Greene dead, it would have just murdered him outright and dumped his body.
It went to the trouble of framing Dresden, so it was clearly targeting him for some reason, and we dont have any indication that its stopped.
It might not be here just to kill Dresden; in canon, it wanted to kill Morgan as part of the setup in starting a war between the White Council and White Court. Here, it tried to get Dresden as part of clearing the field for Kattrin's ritual.
We dont know the details of the wider plot yet.
Yes. And assuming that its continued presence has anything to do with Dresden is fallacious. If it also thinks we are Wan Kuei, it might want to try and frame us for stuff. Or it could have recognized / sensed us or Lydia and wants to eat us for power. Or it could be after something else. Lots of options.
And Dresden is literally a paramilitary commander of the White Council's military/enforcement arm in an ongoing war as well as an everyday diplomatic representative.
Yes, and White Council asserts jurisdiction over human magical talents, not over humanity in general. His standing as a White Council representative has no bearing here.
[X] Yes, she deserves to know and who knows if those people from the Library of Congress have her back maybe she can do something about it
Free information for everyone.
In this case it's not very relevant, since the Naagloshii doesn't seem to have notable weaknesses that a non-native mortal like Muphy can use, but it's principle for me.
Having their full suite of weaknesses and strenghts published broke the Black Court, the same should definitly happen to more supernatural predators.
1)For the Black Court only, because they have a unique set of vulnerabilities that are easily exploited.
Sidhe weaknesses to cold iron are in most fairytales since print started, and do fuckall.
Hell, Mab explicitly made a deal with the Brothers Grimm to publish fairytales of the Sidhe, weaknesses and all.
2)I quote:
I'd been planning on flagging down a cab, eventually, but it would be better not to spend the money if I didn't need to. Wizarding might be sexy, but it didn't pay nearly as well as lucrative careers like law enforcement. "Sure," I said.
"What a coincidence. I need some questions answered." She unlocked the door with an actual key, not the little what's-it that does it for you automatically with the press of a button, and held it open for me with a gallant little gesture, like I'd done for her about a million times. She probably thought she was mocking me with that impersonation.
She was probably right. This mess was getting stickier by the minute, and I didn't want to drag Murphy into it.I mean, Jesus, the werewolves had been capable defenders of their territory for a long while, and I'd gotten half of them taken out in the first couple hours of the case. Murphy wouldn't fare any better in the waters through which I was currently swimming. On the other hand, I trusted Murph. I trusted her judgment, her ability to see where her limits lay. She'd seen cops carved to pieces when they tried to box out of their weight division, and knew better than to attempt it. And if she started throwing obstacles in my way—and she could, a lot of them, that I couldn't do diddly about—then my life would get a whole lot harder. Even though she wasn't running CPD's Special Investigations department anymore, she still had clout there, and a word from her to Lieutenant Stallings could hobble me, maybe lethally. So I guess you could say that Murphy was threatening to bust me if I didn't talk to her, and you'd be right. And you could say that Murphy was offering to put her life on the line to help me, and you'd be right. And you could say that Murphy had done me a favor with the medical kit, in order to obligate me to her when she told me that she wanted to be dealt in, and you'd be right.
You could also say that I was standing around dithering when time was critical, and you'd be right about that, too.
At the end of the day, Murphy is good people.
I got in the car.
***
"So let me get this straight," Murphy said, as we approached my apartment. "You're hiding a fugitive from your own people's cops, and you think the guy's been set up in order to touch off a civil war within the White Council. And there's some kind of Navajo boogeyman loose in town, following you around and attempting to kill you. And you aren't sure they're related."
"More like I don't know how they're related. Yet."
Murphy chewed on her lip. "Is there anyone on the Council who is in tight with Native American boogeymen?"
"Hard to imagine it," I said quietly. "Injun Joe" Listens-to-Wind was a Senior Council member who was some kind of Native American shaman. He was a doctor, a healer, and a specialist in exorcisms and restorative magic. He was, in fact, a decent guy. He liked animals.
"But someone's a traitor," Murphy said quietly. "Right?"
"Yeah," I said. "Someone."
Murphy nodded, frowning at the road ahead of her. "The reason treachery is so reviled," she said in a careful tone of voice, "is because it usually comes from someone you didn't think could possibly do such a thing."
I didn't say anything in reply. In a minute, her car crunched to a stop in the little gravel lot outside my apartment.
I picked up the medical kit, the cooler, and my staff, and got out of the car.
"Call me the minute you know something," she said.
"Yep," I told her. "Don't take any chances if you see something coming."
She shook her head. "They aren't your kids, Harry."
"Doesn't matter. Anything you can do to protect them in the hospital . . ."
"Relax," she said. "Your werewolves won't be alone. I'll see to it."
I nodded and closed my eyes for a second.
In canon, Dresden told Murphy about the naagloshii in the belief that she'd know when she's fucking outclassed.
And Murphy had the good judgement to stay out and keep her head down.
Dude trusts her enough to talk to her about internal White Council stuff.He needs a gentle reminder, not our powerbombing his relationships. Dude has few enough as it is.
Same with Murphy.
Yes. And assuming that its continued presence has anything to do with Dresden is fallacious. If it also thinks we are Wan Kuei, it might want to try and frame us for stuff. Or it could have recognized / sensed us or Lydia and wants to eat us for power. Or it could be after something else. Lots of options.
To quote one of my lecturers from uni, when you hear hooves in your city center it suggests horses not zebras.
If a hitman takes a swing at someone, fails to kill them and is still hanging around, the assumption is that its looking to finish the job, not that its suddenly decided to become a photographer.
Similarly, the naagloshii successfully framed Dresden for Lt Greene's death, but Dresden beat the rap, and now its apparently still hanging around his city, a thousand miles from its homebase.
The conclusion is that its trying to finish the job, not that it switched victims for a much more difficult target like Molly.
There may be more than one goal intertwined.
Or timing issues, especially on the eve of Halloween. Or even just prescouting because of the two new Exalts joining the Swordbearer in the city. No idea.
But I think its indisputable that Dresden is a target here.
He generally is in these things.
Yes, and White Council asserts jurisdiction over human magical talents, not over humanity in general. His standing as a White Council representative has no bearing here.
His standing as a White Council representative always has bearing.
As the Bianca Barbecue and its aftermath demonstrates, supernatural powers can use his actions as a pretext for diplomatic or military action as they so choose.
Do we have any idea how quickly Skinwalkers lose power when they're away from their home territory? And can it be refreshed by making frequent trips back to recharge? Or is lost power lost for good, at least until they snack on more practitioners to regain what was lost?
Do we have any idea how quickly Skinwalkers lose power when they're away from their home territory? And can it be refreshed by making frequent trips back to recharge? Or is lost power lost for good, at least until they snack on more practitioners to regain what was lost?
As far as you know they do not lose power, they just become more and more obvious, as they draw power from land that is strangte to them. They gain all the knowledge of mages they eat and pretty much all of them have eaten a wizard who knows how to tap a ley line.
To quote one of my lecturers from uni, when you hear hooves in your city center it suggests horses not zebras.
If a hitman takes a swing at someone, fails to kill them and is still hanging around, the assumption is that its looking to finish the job, not that its suddenly decided to become a photographer.
Similarly, the naagloshii successfully framed Dresden for Lt Greene's death, but Dresden beat the rap, and now its apparently still hanging around his city, a thousand miles from its homebase.
The conclusion is that its trying to finish the job, not that it switched victims for a much more difficult target like Molly.
What job? The job of putting Dresden in jail? That seems implausible. And still easily accomplishable (get drugs, put them into Dresden's car, etc). And if a naagloshii wanted Dresden dead, Dresden would be dead.
What job? The job of putting Dresden in jail? That seems implausible. And still easily accomplishable (get drugs, put them into Dresden's car, etc). And if a naagloshii wanted Dresden dead, Dresden would be dead.