Remove ads

Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

Reader mode
bengalqueen said:
@uju32, the reason I don't want to agree to the meeting has nothing to do with potential danger, and everything to do with the logic outlined in my vote. It makes us look weak. A queen does not allow others to dictate the terms. If she responds to our refusal by actually offering something to make it worth restructuring our plans last-minute for, than fine, but as-is, this is not how a queen acts. We are not her lackey.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I can see the argument, but I dont really agree.
There's no audience here to this private conversation besides Molly and her Dad; there might be on her end of the phone, but those would probably be White Court, and so not really relevant as witnesses.

And I will point out Mab's example with us as a contravailling example.
She was willing to come to us, to let us dictate the terms and location of when we would meet. She did that in front of witnesses.Nobody questions her strength either.

How things look is a consideration, but not the only one.
Not for Molly or anyone.

===
Also worth noting:
"Of all the times to stumble onto a an overly cautious teenager this has to be the worst," she sighs. Behind the put upon tone you hear something more urgent. Not anger, not greed but fear you think. She is afraid of what? That you will meet with Mab and hand over the non-existent formula to the Winter Court? It makes no sense.

Just as you are about to politely, but firmly put an end to the conversation the vampire, if vampire she is in fact, speaks again: "I realize you do not know much of the workings of the White Court Miss Carpenter, but my time, like the time of all who are high in the circles of power is ordered in advance. I can't just show up at your door the day after tomorrow, given the... weight of Halloween in the traditions of all who are beyond the veil of mortal understanding, but especially those of a more predatory inclination."

That does not make you like her more... so why is she telling you this. The woman at the other end of the phone is not an idiot and neither is she intentionally trying to antagonize you. Mentally you take apart her answer for meaning word by word and syllable by syllable, like a child taking apart Lego blocks. She emphasized timing, tradition and predatory... She is worried about someone following her to a meeting, confronting her about it maybe, someone who isn't very good with modern technology. You are suddenly reminded of Leinth not knowing how to deal with a computer. Were you getting too used to the way most systems are transparent to Clippy and her kin? Are phones more secure than a meeting?

No, that can't be it not to the White Court. They might not be able to get programing, but they can 'get' programmers aplenty to hack whatever they may desire. What is the other alternative assuming she is sincere and sincerely scared of something.

"She does not care if she is known to have the conversation and she is using it to test you. Perhaps also to be known to have tested you," Usum offers. He could stand to sound less excited at the prospect of fresh intrigue.
"Eight Thousand times apologies My Queen," the demon is quick to add.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
We heard fear in her voice. There aren't many things I can think of that would make Lara Raith afraid.
Coupled with the pressure of this call, and the way she's proposing a meeting at a location where it might seem that she ran into Molly without planning?

She is either willing to burn a possible relationship with a new and growing power just to test us?
Or she is genuinely, sincerely afraid of something that is time sensitive.

And like I said, even ignoring the factor of our minions and allies in the White Court?
We live in the splash radius of White Court internal politics.
We cant just ignore it to display dominance.
 
Last edited:
Basically?
I suspect that the reason she's giving on the phone for wanting to meet Molly might not be the actual reason she wants to meet Molly. Or why she wants to talk.

I mean, she's a Whampire, not Fae. She can lie.
 
-But satisfaction brought it back. I'm too curious now. I must know!
[X] Agree to meet with Lara before meeting with Mab
 
Last edited:
uju32 said:
There's no audience here to this private conversation besides Molly and her Dad; there might be on her end of the phone, but those would probably be White Court, and so not really relevant as witnesses.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

This is not a question of any audience, this is about how Laura sees us.

If we bend the knee here, she's going to see it as precedent and continue demanding things of us as if we were a subordinate, if we refuse her, she's going to have to have to give us an actual reason for asking for our time, changing the dynamic.

She can also simply be trying a bait, and if so, it's working, given seeing her is winning.

People will also see us meet her before Mab in the place she asks, think of the optics of that, think of how Mab could take it, *oh, so the white court is more important than me?*.

The more i think about it, the less I want to meet Laura on her terms, if she wants to meet us before halloween that much, she can beg for it.
 
I will point out that future potential aside, we are currently NOT her equal.

Don't get me wrong, I voted against her but right now, we are "just" Molly with a LOT of power. Ones, she has even less of an idea that Mab and Odin do.

So her position is understandable.
 
Yzarc said:
I will point out that future potential aside, we are currently NOT her equal.

Don't get me wrong, I voted against her but right now, we are "just" Molly with a LOT of power. Ones, she has even less of an idea that Mab and Odin do.

So her position is understandable.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
We are not her equal in an organisatorial sense.

We are definitly in Dresden's tier of "I could burn this down" already, we just don't want to do it yet, because we can't really take over the remains afterwards.

I really strongly doubt she is physically, personally a greater threat than the Akuma was.
She's propably good for a vampire, but not ancient monster tier and she certainly invested a lot of her XP in social skills and powers.
 
Artemis1992 said:
We are not her equal in an organisatorial sense.

We are definitly in Dresden's tier of "I could burn this down" already, we just don't want to do it yet, because we can't really take over the remains afterwards.

I really strongly doubt she is physically, personally a greater threat than the Akuma was.
She's propably good for a vampire, but not ancient monster tier and she certainly invested a lot of her XP in social skills and powers.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yes? That is what I said?
Yzarc said:
Don't get me wrong, I voted against her but right now, we are "just" Molly with a LOT of power. Ones, she has even less of an idea that Mab and Odin do.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
My point was we have a lot of personal power but not nearly as much political or organizational power.
 
Yzarc said:
Yes? That is what I said?

My point was we have a lot of personal power but not nearly as much political or organizational power.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That is true, but it's about how she treats us and so on.

If you are in a cage with an 800 pound gorilla, you speak softly.
It doesn't matter if you respect him on a personal level or if you think that your mental superiority and access to people who could shoot him make you better.
 
Artemis1992 said:
That is true, but it's about how she treats us and so on.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think we are talking over each other?

I voted to not meet her, as I agree we are not someone who should be taken lightly. I was just saying from Laura's POV, she sees a person with a lot of personal power but little organizational and political power, even if she has a lot of connections and one who has stumbles into something Laura wants/needs.

Add to that the fact that the said person is a Teenage girl.....

You can get why she approached it that way rather than like Mab or Odin who have some serious ideas on what Molly is capable of, given what they have hinted at knowing.
 
Artemis1992 said:
We are not her equal in an organisatorial sense.

We are definitly in Dresden's tier of "I could burn this down" already, we just don't want to do it yet, because we can't really take over the remains afterwards.

I really strongly doubt she is physically, personally a greater threat than the Akuma was.
She's propably good for a vampire, but not ancient monster tier and she certainly invested a lot of her XP in social skills and powers.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Does she know that? Moreover, does she know the value of our time? As far as she likely knows, we area young human practitioner, a teenager, who stumbled upon a new and revolutionary potion recipe that deals with whampiric hunger, with no other claims to fame at all. We are attending school, meaning that our time is not precious enough to stop wasting it in mundane high school education.

As to making us look weak... Mercy is the privilege of the strong, and I have a strong feeling that she's desperate to have the power right now. We can agree to meet her, then squeeze her for all she's worth in the exchange.The only person we'll temporarily look weak to is Lara. And it's good to look weak for a moment, to strengthen the negotiating position later.
 
Last edited:
Yog said:
As far as she likely knows, we area young human practitioner, a teenager, who stumbled upon a new and revolutionary potion recipe that deals with whampiric hunger, with no other claims to fame at all.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
If she or a more sourcerously inclined minion hasn't noticed us going Shintai or having an aura like an archdevil, here in her own city, she is significantly less prepared for the reality of her job as the de facto White Queen than I thought.

The Akuma noticed us from half a world away.

And we actually came into contect with Lara's assistant during the auction, so unless that one is metaphysically blind and deaf she should have noticed something and told Lara.
 
Artemis1992 said:
If she or a more sourcerously inclined minion hasn't noticed us going Shintai or having an aura like an archdevil, here in her own city, she is significantly less prepared for the reality of her job as the de facto White Queen than I thought.

The Akuma noticed us from half a world away.

And we actually came into contect with Lara's assistant during the auction, so unless that one is metaphysically blind and deaf she should have noticed something and told Lara.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I think the point we are trying to make is that Personal Power aside, Molly has not acted that much different than a teen girl, other than the whole gather Minions part.
 
Artemis1992 said:
If she or a more sourcerously inclined minion hasn't noticed us going Shintai or having an aura like an archdevil, here in her own city, she is significantly less prepared for the reality of her job as the de facto White Queen than I thought.

The Akuma noticed us from half a world away.

And we actually came into contect with Lara's assistant during the auction, so unless that one is metaphysically blind and deaf she should have noticed something and told Lara.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
For all that flowery description, the shintai was activated twice so far, and was only noticeable in the immediate vicinity, as far as I know, not over the whole city. Connecting it to us, even if it was noticed, would not be simple. I don't remember Akuma actually noticing our shintai, they tracked us through intelligence reports, from what I gather. And they knew what to look for. And it still took them several months.

Now, I am fairly sure that she has lookouts in Mac's bar. And they probably felt the effects of DPE. But I think she's still operating under very severe misconceptions of what we are.
 
TheGrape said:
Harry deduced the truth and Lara not only doesn't fight him on it, but she also ended up giving reparations as a tacit admittance of guilt (even if on the surface, others might think she's only doing so because members of her Court committed the crime, Dresden and we know that she was the ultimate puppeteer).
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
"Second, this never happens again. One of yours starts up with genocide again, and I'm going to reply in kind. Starting with you. I'll have your word on it."
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Independent of the rest, this threat got spicier post Changes. :V

She knew he was dangerous, but that's different than seeing him go through with a threat like this, even though the whole thing was a pile of special circumstances.
 
Current Vote Count
Adhoc vote count started by Goldfish on May 14, 2023 at 4:52 AM, finished with 99 posts and 37 votes.
  • [X] Agree to meet with Lara before meeting with Mab
    [X] Refuse the meeting, you do not need more complications tomorrow
    [X] Refuse the meeting, you do not need more complications tomorrow
    -[X] Stunt: Alas, but I am already very busy that day
    [X] Refuse the meeting, you do not need more complications tomorrow
    -[x] Stunt: You cannot help it, you laugh, using the nearest table to prop yourself up, you talk, with a voice more ancient than the world: "Share? No, little one, I will not share my city with you. I will ascend beyond your realm, and you will work under me and like it one day."
    [X] Refuse the meeting, you do not need more complications tomorrow
    -[X]"If you have less respect for my time than the Queen Of Winter then why should I have any respect for yours?"
    [X] Refuse the meeting, you do not need more complications tomorrow
    -[x] "So, you can't make room in your schedule to meet with me last minute, but you want me to make room in my schedule even more last minute, about a matter that you yourself just said you wouldn't have talked to me about for weeks if it weren't for my meeting with Mab, who you also say isn't actually important. Is that what you're telling me right now?"
Click to expand...


Update will be this afternoon/evening today, I'm a bit busy today.
 
About our armor, I've been looking around in the books a bit and the best I can find are these:

Black Suit, 4 Armor, no Penalty
The legendary MiB suit for top-agents of the Technocracy, doubling as a focus for their mental magic. Might be further enhanced with Bond-gadgets.

Alanson Armor, 7 Armor, -2 Penalty
The Void Engineers outdoor-suit, rated for everything from heavy combat to floating in space or the Deep Umbra. Usually comes with a shitload of other inbuild functions, like strenght-boost, self-repair, plasma-armcannon, various sensor, etc.


To keep in mind, these are the products of real, enlightened magic, not Sorcerer Path Enchanting.
So we might take something along those lines as the best possible product we can make with Enchantment and Alchemy, even with an obscene number of successes.
 
[y]Doubt

Alanson's look like a typical White Wolf "I don't really understand my own system" trinkets that are supposed to be cool, but fall flat on their face before very basic Wonders. Low armor value? Dex penalty? Nah.
 
Prospalz said:
[y]Doubt

Alanson's look like a typical White Wolf "I don't really understand my own system" trinkets that are supposed to be cool, but fall flat on their face before very basic Wonders. Low armor value? Dex penalty? Nah.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
7 armor for 2 penalty is pretty good?
Usually 5 armor costs that penalty.

Sure, for true optimizers no Dex penalty is ever worth it, but in relative terms it's okay.
 
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on May 14, 2023 at 9:43 AM, finished with 104 posts and 37 votes.
  • [X] Agree to meet with Lara before meeting with Mab
    [X] Refuse the meeting, you do not need more complications tomorrow
    [X] Refuse the meeting, you do not need more complications tomorrow
    -[X] Stunt: Alas, but I am already very busy that day
    [X] Refuse the meeting, you do not need more complications tomorrow
    -[x] Stunt: You cannot help it, you laugh, using the nearest table to prop yourself up, you talk, with a voice more ancient than the world: "Share? No, little one, I will not share my city with you. I will ascend beyond your realm, and you will work under me and like it one day."
    [X] Refuse the meeting, you do not need more complications tomorrow
    -[X]"If you have less respect for my time than the Queen Of Winter then why should I have any respect for yours?"
    [X] Refuse the meeting, you do not need more complications tomorrow
    -[x] "So, you can't make room in your schedule to meet with me last minute, but you want me to make room in my schedule even more last minute, about a matter that you yourself just said you wouldn't have talked to me about for weeks if it weren't for my meeting with Mab, who you also say isn't actually important. Is that what you're telling me right now?"
Click to expand...
 
Reader mode
You must login or register to reply here.
Remove ads
Back
Top