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Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

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[X] BronzeTongue

Artemis1992 said:
How would getting into trouble with the school actually impact us though?

At this point I consider the entire school-thing low stakes enough to risk a good joke.
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It's mostly social repercussions with our family that concern me. Otherwise, yes, this is a funny joke that actually benefits people involved in it (because an exalted grade inspirational speech is the stuff that changes lives for the better).

To me, what makes this viable, is that the joke, for all that it is one, can actually help people, while Molly doesn't have any benefits from the career day. She's an independenty wealthy adventurer and future head of state. Unless Library of Congress, White Council and Iscariot Organization (or however the secret Vatican anti-magic forces are called) have a booth, we can afford to do this, and not lose anything.

@BronzeTongue maybe warn at least dad, if not mom beforehand, though? Give them the reasoning for why we are doing this.
 
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Tsotate said:
Isn't Mom currently on super-coffee?
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Yes she is, which makes this look even more deliberate

bengalqueen said:
Wait, @DragonParadox, would BronzeTongue's plan actually work? Or would it be breaking school rules in a way that we could get in trouble for? Just want to see how much we're risking before I vote to do a full Exalted showing-off plan.
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It might get you in some amount of hot water, but nothing serious. Depends on how your teachers take it.
 
Artemis1992 said:
Depending on how CCC works, would we be vastly better at doing our homework in detention than otherwise?
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We should. This is one of the reasons I voted to abuse CCC for studying, and why I am still waiting for the crown's answer on the best textbooks. @DragonParadox you asked to be reminded - we still have "what are the best and most comprehensive books to study with" and "what are the prophecies concerning Carpenter family members" questions from the long list of crown questions unanswered. I mean, I can let go if you say so, but just wanted to remind you.
DragonParadox said:
It might get you in some amount of hot water, but nothing serious. Depends on how your teachers take it.
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If nothing else, we should get praise for our acting ability.
 
Yog said:
We should. This is one of the reasons I voted to abuse CCC for studying, and why I am still waiting for the crown's answer on the best textbooks. @DragonParadox you asked to be reminded - we still have "what are the best and most comprehensive books to study with" and "what are the prophecies concerning Carpenter family members" questions from the long list of crown questions unanswered. I mean, I can let go if you say so, but just wanted to remind you.

If nothing else, we should get praise for our acting ability.
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Right, thanks for the reminder on the text books.
 
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Apr 23, 2023 at 6:28 AM, finished with 57 posts and 13 votes.
  • [X] Plan Fake It Till You Make It
    -[X] Abuse applicable changes during the setup process; CCC, BSM, WHWH and excellencies while writing and crafting, excellencies alone during the event.
    -[X] Craft a Clark Kent style disguise and general look prior to the event, something that doesn't overly hide Molly's appearance (beyond the obvious like loosing the hair die and piercings) so much as change how it's seen.
    —[X] The target being a serious late twenties-early thirties businesswoman that may or may not end up looking a bit like AceAttorney!Charity
    —[X] Include elements like expensive looking leather business accessories, pens, and if possible a fancy mechanical watch.
    -[X] Have Clippy generate a website and fake business documents that spend an exhaustive amount of effort saying almost nothing at all for a company called Abietarius Analytics which appears to do some sort of consulting.
    --[X] Spend a little money to get a fake desk line for Clippy to answer while pretending to be a secretary.
    -[X] Spend some time in advance writing notes for a speech on the importance of communication skills, preparation, and confidence in the modern world.
    -[X] The day of the career fair slip away and change into the disguise, then slip out and confidently walk toward the teachers organizing the event while they're in the middle of something.
    -[X] With excellencies, sell them on the idea that Margret Carver has a niece at the school and that she'd been invited to speak at career day.
    —[X] Read our vampire minion in last minute and have her play that role if we need to name names, but try to avoid it via controlling the conversation.
    -[X] If the speech goes through, then after some closing comments on how sometimes you need a little audacity to get anywhere, break the act a reveal that Molly's gimmick as practice for her career in marketing.
    -[X] Stunt: Taking a deep breath, Molly fixes a look on her face that her mom sometimes wears when organizing events at church and walks towards the harried teachers with all the confidence she could muster.
    —[X] Every line of her body language, cut of her clothes, even the shine of her delicate watch practically screams success and certainty. Of course I'm supposed to be here, why are you wasting my time?
    —[X] With a hand shake and a few very nice business cards, Molly starts with the show.
    [X] Goofy: Hello, I am Molly Carpenter, cook-mechanic extraordinaire
    [X] Serious: Bring up your athletic aptitude and fencing
    [x] Absolute Dead serious: Hello, I am your potential CEO, what can you offer me if I employ you?
    -[X] Etiquette (or Leadership or Empathy, whichever is appropriate) excellency
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Artemis1992 said:
If we want the social chops, we get a White Court guy with credentials on our team.
I know so far we only hired Thomas, Bella and some outcasts, but getting a few well-connected and educated Whampire minions is utterly trivial compared to several years of college.

And if we personally want access to anything in their library, we can easily fake our way into it.
A mix of Cyberdemon-hacking and being a very good liar is enough for that.
We can already get infor from people with relative ease, as last seen in the Formor-clinic case and I strongly assume that we will only get better over the next years.

It's hard to overstate how easy it is to pretend to be literally anyone when you have supernatural Subterfuge and Etiquette and some little devils to help you cover the digital side of things.
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1)You'll be sadly disappointed.

White Court vampires who are both skilled and trustworthy arent exactly thick on the ground, and most have already have chosen their allegiances. There's a reason our primary recruitment pool so far has been teenage fledgeling outcasts who fled their House because of their difficulty adjusting, and Harry's senior brother.

Many Whamps arent necessarily gratuitously cruel, but that doesnt mean they necessarily value the lives of vanilla humans over their own. At least not to the point of entering service with an Infernal.


2)We have Subterfuge 3.
We dont have Anima Control 5, or unlimited Essence.
Nor can we assume that any future sites will be as clear of opposition as the Ohio case was.

I mean, even in Ohio, it bears noting that the Red Court covert action team identified our father's truck as soon as he entered the city. We cannot rely on opposition being nonexistent. Especially not in Chicago.


3)US universities typically start their new academic year in Aug/Sept. Thats 10-11 months from now.
By the time we graduate in May 2007 and fall university classes in the 2007/2008 academic year come around next year, we will have Splintered Gale Shintai, giving us the ability to sustain (Essence) clones.

The time argument has no real supporting evidence Im aware of.

Yog said:
Why fake anything? Donate a couple million for their renovation fund, and get a honorary degree in recognition of, I don't know, inventing new and revolutionary neural network based operating system, or diamond-based super batteries / vacuum energy generators.

EDIT: If, and when we go to college it's almost certainly going to be for socialization, and we are likely to be majoring in economics and politics. Maybe military strategy, if we can find anyone teaching that.
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1)Attention is why you dont want your name on a plaque as a major donor. There's very little point going to substantial trouble to shield our financials and then plastering our face and family name on a 7-8 figure donation.
And that breeds expectations to boot.

Frankly, we probably have better uses for that sort of money.
Whether charity, or just paying for the components of some high-end crafting project. Last Station alone isnt even done to Tier 1; there's 4x additional tiers above that to invest in and pay for.

2)Socialization and resources, yes.
Networking has always been a major goal of attending university, and a university system the size of UChicago brings all sorts of interesting people from across the world to the third largest city in the US.

3)I mean, if Paolo Ortega could juggle three full time jobs as Duke of the Red Court and its primary troubleshooter in time of war, in addition to being a tenured academic from the University of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro?
We can find the time to get a degree.
BronzeTongue said:
Truthfully I'm not sure this is actually a good idea on any level, but it'd also be legendarily funny if we pulled it off.
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My primary objection is that we are fucking this up for other people who might actually need the career fair thing.
Playing class clown is only fair game if noone else gets hurt.
Which is why I prefer the Goofy vote
 
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uju32 said:
3)I mean, if Paolo Ortega could juggle three full time jobs as Duke of the Red Court and its primary troubleshooter in time of war, in addition to being a tenured academic from the University of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro?
We can find the time to get a degree.
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Being a student is a much more time demanding than being a tenured professor.
EDIT:
uju32 said:
My primary objection is that we are fucking this up for other people who might actually need the career fair thing.
Playing class clown is only fair game if noone else gets hurt.
Which is why I prefer the Goofy vote
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Exalted grade inspirational speech squarely puts this into a net benefit for everyone.
 
Yog said:
Being a student is a much more time demanding than being a tenured professor.
EDIT:

Exalted grade inspirational speech squarely puts this into a net benefit for everyone.
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Maybe for a graduate student, or if you're pursuing a professional degree. And even there I'd have my doubts.
Certainly not for most undergraduate degrees.

I have my doubts about that. You dont get to stack our usual modifiers here.
I wouldnt usually object very much, but IC Molly would take this into account.
We'll see I guess.
 
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uju32 said:
Maybe for a graduate student, or if you're pursuing a professional degree.
Not for most undergraduate degrees.
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At least where I am from, a standard educational week for a bachelor student is 44 to 48 academic hours (lectures, seminars, laboratory work) + homework + scientific research starting from the third year of education (unregulated, but on average taking at least 6 astronomic hours per week, and potentially as much as 20 in order to obtain good results). In comparison, a standard required educational time for a professor is 900 hours per year, which is distributed between lectures, seminars, and advising students in their scientific work (which is usually actually done by post graduate students and young researchers working under the professor). Even multiplying that number by 1.5 to account for the time to prepare for lectures and seminars (and, in principle for grading papers, but that is also done by ph.d. students), that's 1350 academic hours. There are 31 education weeks per year. This means 43.5 academic hours per week. Even adding 20 hours per week for directing research, reading papers and obtaining funding, that's still less than an undergrad's workload.
uju32 said:
I have my doubts about that. You dont get to stack our usual modifiers here.
I wouldnt usually object very much, but IC Molly would take this into account.
We'll see I guess.
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We might be abusing CCC here. Even if not, we are rolling 12 dice. That's superhuman quality here. Better than they can ever hope to hear from a mortal.
 
uju32 said:
My primary objection is that we are fucking this up for other people who might actually need the career fair thing.
Playing class clown is only fair game if noone else gets hurt.
Which is why I prefer the Goofy vote
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That's a fair point, and one that I didn't think of.

I was basing this on my experience with that sort of thing from high school, which were largely pointless nonsense with the occasional dull guest speaker.
 
I don't necessarily think we need to worry about college, given our resources and abilities, but I also don't think it would be a significant time burden to pursue an undergraduate degree.

Not only do we have unusual means that would reduce the overall difficulty significantly, but the typical college schedule has plenty of flexibility. Even assuming we actually needed to attend our classes, which is far from guaranteed, on a daily basis it would be much less time spent in classroom or lecture hall than we are currently wasting in high school.

I wasn't so lucky with my first choice of college, but a lot of people I knew in the early 2000s went to schools with very lax attendance policies. Many didn't need to show up in class at all, so long as they turned in assignments and took the required exams.
 
uju32 said:
1)You'll be sadly disappointed.

White Court vampires who are both skilled and trustworthy arent exactly thick on the ground, and most have already have chosen their allegiances. There's a reason our primary recruitment pool so far has been teenage fledgeling outcasts who fled their House because of their difficulty adjusting, and Harry's senior brother.

Many Whamps arent necessarily gratuitously cruel, but that doesnt mean they necessarily value the lives of vanilla humans over their own. At least not to the point of entering service with an Infernal.
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Eh, I expect the White Court will be our first major impact on the supernatural scene over the next year or years.
They are the weakest Vampire Court, their strongest leader is a powerless puppet right now, we have a big stack of info on their mundane operations and corruptions.

I expect we'll break the court eventually and recruit quite a few of the leftovers.

Just to be clear, not right now as Molly the Baby-Infernal who is troubleshooting things that come to close to her and hers, but eventually as Molly the Infernal who is making big splashes and big enemies until we are a ruler of Men and Hells, or dead.
uju32 said:
2)We have Subterfuge 3.
We dont have Anima Control 5, or unlimited Essence.
Nor can we assume that any future sites will be as clear of opposition as the Ohio case was.

I mean, even in Ohio, it bears noting that the Red Court covert action team identified our father's truck as soon as he entered the city. We cannot rely on opposition being nonexistent. Especially not in Chicago.
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I did specify later?
Buying up subterfuge is easy, Ohio is an example of what we can already do and in however many years we would have our degree we would certainly be much better.
 
Yog said:
At least where I am from, a standard educational week for a bachelor student is 44 to 48 academic hours (lectures, seminars, laboratory work) + homework + scientific research starting from the third year of education (unregulated, but on average taking at least 6 astronomic hours per week, and potentially as much as 20 in order to obtain good results). In comparison, a standard required educational time for a professor is 900 hours per year, which is distributed between lectures, seminars, and advising students in their scientific work (which is usually actually done by post graduate students and young researchers working under the professor). Even multiplying that number by 1.5 to account for the time to prepare for lectures and seminars (and, in principle for grading papers, but that is also done by ph.d. students), that's 1350 academic hours. There are 31 education weeks per year. This means 43.5 academic hours per week. Even adding 20 hours per week for directing research, reading papers and obtaining funding, that's still less than an undergrad's workload.
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I was not a US college student, so I cant speak to the US experience firsthand.
This study reports an average of 61 hours per week for professors as of 2014
www.insidehighered.com

Research shows professors work long hours and spend much of day in meetings

New research finds professors spend considerable time in meetings and on administrative tasks, and much of their time alone.
www.insidehighered.com www.insidehighered.com

Googling suggests a US minimum of 12 credit-hours for a fulltime student per semester, with parttimers taking less, and some schools having active caps on how many credits a student could attempt to take in a semester.
I seriously doubt your average fulltime student is doing 60+ hours a week.

And in-universe, the Alphas were fulltime college students and werewolves patrolling the local university area, with their leaders Billy and Georgia both finishing postgrad courses to boot.
While married, and in Georgia's case, pregnant.

So Im confident its not an undue burden in-universe.
At least as long as you arent pursuing a professional course along the lines of medicine or such, which requires both extensive labwork/fieldwork, with meticulous attendance records.

Yog said:
We might be abusing CCC here. Even if not, we are rolling 12 dice. That's superhuman quality here. Better than they can ever hope to hear from a mortal.
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I can not honestly think of any way to abuse CCC in a public civilian setting.
And again, like I said, if this is important to people and we're clowning it, you can expect the DCs to be commensurately steep.

BronzeTongue said:
That's a fair point, and one that I didn't think of.
I was basing this on my experience with that sort of thing from high school, which were largely pointless nonsense with the occasional dull guest speaker.
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Ah. Fair enough.
I dont know how it works for Molly's school either. So 🤷

Artemis1992 said:
Eh, I expect the White Court will be our first major impact on the supernatural scene over the next year or years.
They are the weakest Vampire Court, their strongest leader is a powerless puppet right now, we have a big stack of info on their mundane operations and corruptions.

I expect we'll break the court eventually and recruit quite a few of the leftovers.
Just to be clear, not right now as Molly the Baby-Infernal who is troubleshooting things that come to close to her and hers, but eventually as Molly the Infernal who is making big splashes and big enemies until we are a ruler of Men and Hells, or de
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Eh.

The White Court is the most resilient court that there is currently extant.
People mistake their preference for scheming for weakness; remember that it was a White Court scheme that broke the Black Court of vampires from a faction whose elders could (allegedly)collectively threaten Mab, to remnants scuttling in the darkness.

Its not like the hard power doesnt exist; the one time we see them go to war in Battlegrounds, they were wearing stuff along the lines of a cross between magical armor and a Venom symbiote.
Origins unknown.

Its likely to be easiest to recruit dissidents and malcontents from them, just for their similarity with humans.
But due to that same commonality, I suspect you overestimate our ability to actually break the Court without collateral.
And they're unlikely to be our first major target anyway, precisely because they are so goof at diplomacy.
Artemis1992 said:
I did specify later?
Buying up subterfuge is easy, Ohio is an example of what we can already do and in however many years we would have our degree we would certainly be much better.
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Buying up Subterfuge is cheap-ish; for the cost of an unfavored 2-dot charm, we can raise Subterfuge from 3 to 5(7xp).
But we dont always to get to burn Essence for every task.
And under the circumstances where we have to roll Subterfuge, we generally have few opportunities to layer our usual DC adjusters.
 
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Winning Vote
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Apr 23, 2023 at 6:28 AM, finished with 57 posts and 13 votes.
  • [X] Plan Fake It Till You Make It
    -[X] Abuse applicable changes during the setup process; CCC, BSM, WHWH and excellencies while writing and crafting, excellencies alone during the event.
    -[X] Craft a Clark Kent style disguise and general look prior to the event, something that doesn't overly hide Molly's appearance (beyond the obvious like loosing the hair die and piercings) so much as change how it's seen.
    —[X] The target being a serious late twenties-early thirties businesswoman that may or may not end up looking a bit like AceAttorney!Charity
    —[X] Include elements like expensive looking leather business accessories, pens, and if possible a fancy mechanical watch.
    -[X] Have Clippy generate a website and fake business documents that spend an exhaustive amount of effort saying almost nothing at all for a company called Abietarius Analytics which appears to do some sort of consulting.
    --[X] Spend a little money to get a fake desk line for Clippy to answer while pretending to be a secretary.
    -[X] Spend some time in advance writing notes for a speech on the importance of communication skills, preparation, and confidence in the modern world.
    -[X] The day of the career fair slip away and change into the disguise, then slip out and confidently walk toward the teachers organizing the event while they're in the middle of something.
    -[X] With excellencies, sell them on the idea that Margret Carver has a niece at the school and that she'd been invited to speak at career day.
    —[X] Read our vampire minion in last minute and have her play that role if we need to name names, but try to avoid it via controlling the conversation.
    -[X] If the speech goes through, then after some closing comments on how sometimes you need a little audacity to get anywhere, break the act a reveal that Molly's gimmick as practice for her career in marketing.
    -[X] Stunt: Taking a deep breath, Molly fixes a look on her face that her mom sometimes wears when organizing events at church and walks towards the harried teachers with all the confidence she could muster.
    —[X] Every line of her body language, cut of her clothes, even the shine of her delicate watch practically screams success and certainty. Of course I'm supposed to be here, why are you wasting my time?
    —[X] With a hand shake and a few very nice business cards, Molly starts with the show.
    [X] Goofy: Hello, I am Molly Carpenter, cook-mechanic extraordinaire
    [X] Serious: Bring up your athletic aptitude and fencing
    [x] Absolute Dead serious: Hello, I am your potential CEO, what can you offer me if I employ you?
    -[X] Etiquette (or Leadership or Empathy, whichever is appropriate) excellency
Click to expand...
 
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Arc 6 Post 47: Mischief Magnified
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    • Mischief Magnified ​

    8th of October 2006 A.D.

    In the movies they always seem set the makeover to perky popin' music, but to you sitting in front of the mirror pondering what you're gonna look like today has always had the comfort of routine, empowering but in a quiet sort of way, something people who know your usual style might find surprising. But today... ah today you have another thing in mind, all your natural color and a French twist at the back of the head, little stud earrings that you have to look for and then look for even more carefully to realize they are diamonds, changing out your usual purse for one that;s black and square enough to give the impression of a briefcase without being one. "Money may not be the best superpower, but it sure is a fun one," you shoot to the demon in your head as you step onto shoes made for the boardroom not the classroom.

    "Glory and power onto you, Dark Majesty, wealth and grace," the demon replies caught in your good mood, even if he does not quite get the point of Clark Kenting .

    As your smile grows you turn on your heel to show Clippy that you are done and the door clicks open as Margret Carver, CEO of Abietarius Analytics walks out of what the Jade Dogs had started to call your laboratory, just because it's freezing and had an electronically controlled lock.

    "Standards have slipped. alas," Usum jokes.

    There's no way to be sure you are going to pull off 'Margret Carver' as well at the school as you had here so instead you decided to introduce her before turning back into Molly for the 9 AM bell the better to fix her in the mind of Mrs Mulroney who runs the panels as well as in the minds of still sleepy students queering in a shambling throng only distinguished from the undead by the buzz of complaints and gossip that always hangs over the school.

    Other than the big bulky thing in the parking lot covered by a tarp like a particularly chunky urban ghost there aren't many overs signs of what day this is, but there are certainly a lot of other strange adults for the students to ignore, and ignore you they do, even the ones who have known you the longest and best. Very satisfied with how they all seem to take it for granted that you are just as you appear a speaker for one of the panels you make it as far as the second flood corridor that leads off towards the staff room when a soft voice calls out from behind you. "Love what you did with your hair Molly."

    "Hello to you to Isabela," you rolls your eyes. "Congrats for noticing."

    "I almost didn't," she offers falling into step behind you into the empty corridor. "If I didn't recognize your heartbeat I would have missed you entirely."

    "My heartbeat? Why does it sound strange?" Wouldn't be the first thing strange about you.

    But the vampire just shakes her head. "No, but it sounds like you, one heartbeat doesn't sound like another even when it has as many beats per minute. Mortal devices have nothing on a well honed ear," she laughs, an unexpected edge of self-deprecation to it. "At least that is what Uncle Leinth says. though something tells me he has not tested than on too many of those devices. So what are we doing here? Malice or misdirection?"

    "Malice?" you give her a stern look. "What did I tell you about hurting people here?"

    "Well it's what you told me about hurting people for one," she points back, as far as you can tell sincerely. "For all I know you had something in mind of your own that you did not want me to spoil."

    "Well it's not," you grumble, knowing that she would not take pity well at all. "If you really want to know... mischief."

    After you had laid out your plan Isabela nods thoughtfully. "Make sure you get your panel done by 2 PM."

    "What's at 2 PM?" you ask warily.

    "You know those three marks you asked me to shepherd from the path of bullying their younger colleagues?"

    "Yes...?"

    "That's when they unveil the new equipment for shop class before they roll them in... only it's not that. Someone... a trio of someones really that might be known to you hot-wired the principal's car the one he is afraid to bring to school most days because he's so scared it will get scratched up, painted it pink with some choice words on top of it and turned it upside down. The last bit took some doing. They are of course planning to put the blame on Jim with the three inch glasses, far too into cutting up steel pipes or whatever they do in shop class. But our intrepid trio left quite a lot of clues, you know fingerprints, hairs, the kind of thing that wizards used to make use of and mortals have of late learned how to make use of. A concerned citizen made a anonymous call to that effect, once the cops snatch up their phones it will be all over."

    "What...?" you snap your mouth closed. "It's going to lead back to you you realize."

    "I never send a single electronic letter... er... mail. It would be Tyler's word against the new girl whose kept her nose clean and entranced all her teachers."

    "You didn't actually...?"

    Isabela rolls her eyes. "It's a figure of speech. Anyway even if the cops somehow fail to sieze their phones I made sure two other girls overheard them talking about it but not me. They will either get expelled in which case they can hardly bully the students at this school anymore, or they will play out their remaining years here under a magnifying glass, either way job done."

    How to you react?

    [] No one's physically hurt and Tyler and his buddies are assholes, good job

    [] You did not mean for her to get anyone expelled, you need to fix this

    [] Write in

    OOC: And we finally get to the vampire, I rolled for this three updates ago.
     
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