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Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

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BronzeTongue said:
Why say anything definitively? Volunteering the conclusion you want other people to draw is amateur hour deception.

We know. How? Magic. Not like she's went into real detail about how she knew who the nemesis puppets were.
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Good point we bring Lydia anyway and just give our conclusions. Let the misconceptions make themselves. But I am hopeful that Lydia will be able to gets a few turns of phase that would have come from that vampire.
[X]Plan Parallel Construction v2
-[X]Call Lydia first, bring her up to date, then ask her to interrogate the whampire's soul/ghost
-[X]Work with Lydia to mask some of the Crowns findings as ghostwhispering/whampire ghost interrogation results
-[X]Bring Lydia to the meeting with Lara
-[X]Include what the Crown revealed about their purpose, it might be vital to catching all the traitors and maybe tracing this back to the source even if it is revealing an uncomfortable amount about your powers
-[x]Take some bottle bleach baths well waiting for Lydia or when driving.
 
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BronzeTongue said:
Why say anything definitively? Volunteering the conclusion you want other people to draw is amateur hour deception.

We know. How? Magic. Not like she's went into real detail about how she knew who the nemesis puppets were.
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That's supposed to be what the vote states we are doing. We aren't explaining how we know, just making it clear it's a combination of Molly and Lydia and leaving what fraction is which up for speculation.
 
BronzeTongue said:
Why say anything definitively? Volunteering the conclusion you want other people to draw is amateur hour deception.

We know. How? Magic. Not like she's went into real detail about how she knew who the nemesis puppets were.
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It's good to be underestimated in regards to our information gathering capabilities. We gave Mab a lot of info and extended a lot of trust. At least in part this was motivated by "friends or enemies, Creation comes before political differences". Mab almost certainly deduced existence of some sort of perfect information gathering effect.

This situation is different (for now). It's a political event on a relatively local level (for now). We (I) don't want her to know exactly the extent of the power we have. By also including Lydia we make it look like we have normal divination, not some divine tier thing, and also access to ghosts, whom we can interrogate for intel.

If we simply say magic, it means that we have powerful divination magic, beyond what's normally possible.
 
Adhoc vote count started by uju32 on Jun 18, 2023 at 6:10 PM, finished with 59 posts and 13 votes.
  • [X] Just the attack and the names, you could have picked all this up through very skilled but still 'normal' divination
    [X]Plan Parallel Construction
    -[X]Call Lydia first, bring her up to date, then ask her to interrogate the whampire's soul/ghost
    -[X]Work with Lydia to mask some of the Crowns findings as ghostwhispering/whampire ghost interrogation results
    -[X]Bring Lydia to the meeting with Lara
    -[X]Include what the Crown revealed about their purpose, it might be vital to catching all the traitors and maybe tracing this back to the source even if it is revealing an uncomfortable amount about your powers
    [X] Call Lydia first to interrogate the whampire's soul.
    [X] Include what the Crown revealed about their purpose, it might be vital to catching all the traitors and maybe tracing this back to the source even if it is revealing an uncomfortable amount about your powers
    [X]Plan Parallel Construction v2
    -[X]Call Lydia first, bring her up to date, then ask her to interrogate the whampire's soul/ghost
    -[X]Work with Lydia to mask some of the Crowns findings as ghostwhispering/whampire ghost interrogation results
    -[X]Bring Lydia to the meeting with Lara
    -[X]Include what the Crown revealed about their purpose, it might be vital to catching all the traitors and maybe tracing this back to the source even if it is revealing an uncomfortable amount about your powers
    -[x]Take some bottle bleach baths well waiting for Lydia or when driving.
Click to expand...
 
[X]Plan Parallel Construction
-[X]Call Lydia first, bring her up to date, then ask her to interrogate the whampire's soul/ghost
-[X]Work with Lydia to mask some of the Crowns findings as ghostwhispering/whampire ghost interrogation results
-[X]Bring Lydia to the meeting with Lara
-[X]Include what the Crown revealed about their purpose, it might be vital to catching all the traitors and maybe tracing this back to the source even if it is revealing an uncomfortable amount about your powers
 
[X]Plan Parallel Construction
-[X]Call Lydia first, bring her up to date, then ask her to interrogate the whampire's soul/ghost
-[X]Work with Lydia to mask some of the Crowns findings as ghostwhispering/whampire ghost interrogation results
-[X]Bring Lydia to the meeting with Lara
-[X]Include what the Crown revealed about their purpose, it might be vital to catching all the traitors and maybe tracing this back to the source even if it is revealing an uncomfortable amount about your powers

...
We need to make Lydia the best fucking Christmas gift this year.
 
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uju32 said:
That's supposed to be what the vote states we are doing. We aren't explaining how we know, just making it clear it's a combination of Molly and Lydia and leaving what fraction is which up for speculation.
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Having Lydia in the room is still basically shouting it at the top of our lungs. We should call her to poke the vamps soul, but if we want them to believe it we should make them work for it.
 
BronzeTongue said:
Having Lydia in the room is still basically shouting it at the top of our lungs. We should call her to poke the vamps soul, but if we want them to believe it we should make them work for it.
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I can see your argument but I don't think I agree.

After all, Lydia is an acknowledged partner and ally of ours who is both a member of Cauldron and party to our agreement with Lara. She does have the right to be present, and if Lara can't reach us under normal circumstances she'd turn to her.

Our working together would be just what allies do.

EDIT
Also worth recalling that Lydia is a pretty big deal in her own right. Molly's sheer bullshit tends to overshadow other people, but in her absence, Lydia would gather at least as much regard and wariness from the White Court as Dresden does.

She's to external appearances an independently wealthy white hat necromancer of scion heritage who could potentially drop a ghost army on you bigger than anything one of the Kemmlerites could do; a supernatural military and intelligence player to watch out for.

And shes only 16, nowhere near her full growth.
 
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uju32 said:
I can see your argument but I don't think I agree.

After all, Lydia is an acknowledged partner and ally of ours who is both a member of Cauldron and party to our agreement with Lara. She does have the right to be present, and if Lara can't reach us under normal circumstances she'd turn to her.

Our working together would be just what allies do.

EDIT
Also worth recalling that Lydia is a pretty big deal in her own right. Molly's sheer bullshit tends to overshadow other people, but in her absence, Lydia would gather at least as much regard and wariness from the White Court as Dresden does.

She's to external appearances an independently wealthy white hat necromancer of scion heritage who could potentially drop a ghost army on you bigger than anything one of the Kemmlerites could do; a supernatural military and intelligence player to watch out for.

And shes only 16, nowhere near her full growth.
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I don't contest that she's important; that's why it'd make sense to make at minimum a pro forma effort to conceal exactly who our source was.

She she actually was the only way we had to get information like this obscuring how good her ability to get dead men to tell tales was would be somewhat important. It'd also be an expectation among allies not to put people in a position where their secrets get implicitly revealed.

In this case our actual ability to obscure things would be limited, but every bit of uncertainty would help - especially when they're free.

Lydia might not care at the moment, but if the goal is to deceive Lara of all people then I think a better bet is to paint a familiar image. We want her expectations to do most of the job of selling the lie for us, because we are newcomers to the realm of bullshit and she was basically born there.

To be clear, I don't think your vote will explode on us or something. It's just not as convincing as it could be for the same effort in my view.
 
uju32 said:
Also worth recalling that Lydia is a pretty big deal in her own right. Molly's sheer bullshit tends to overshadow other people, but in her absence, Lydia would gather at least as much regard and wariness from the White Court as Dresden does.
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Indeed. A kind reminder: Lydia is Kemmler's greatest achievement, the culmination of his research into the power of death. She is a demigod heir of an afterlife realm, connected to and empowered by the concept of death itself, not from one mythology, but on the universal scale. At least parts of this are known to actors in-story.

And out of story, she is an exalt between terrrestrial and celestial tiers, and likely has a lot more in her background left unearthed.

Lydia is a big deal. A Lady to our Queen at least.
 
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jun 19, 2023 at 2:57 AM, finished with 69 posts and 17 votes.
  • [X]Plan Parallel Construction
    -[X]Call Lydia first, bring her up to date, then ask her to interrogate the whampire's soul/ghost
    -[X]Work with Lydia to mask some of the Crowns findings as ghostwhispering/whampire ghost interrogation results
    -[X]Bring Lydia to the meeting with Lara
    -[X]Include what the Crown revealed about their purpose, it might be vital to catching all the traitors and maybe tracing this back to the source even if it is revealing an uncomfortable amount about your powers
    [X] Just the attack and the names, you could have picked all this up through very skilled but still 'normal' divination
    [X] Include what the Crown revealed about their purpose, it might be vital to catching all the traitors and maybe tracing this back to the source even if it is revealing an uncomfortable amount about your powers
    [X] Call Lydia first to interrogate the whampire's soul.
    [X]Plan Parallel Construction v2
    -[X]Call Lydia first, bring her up to date, then ask her to interrogate the whampire's soul/ghost
    -[X]Work with Lydia to mask some of the Crowns findings as ghostwhispering/whampire ghost interrogation results
    -[X]Bring Lydia to the meeting with Lara
    -[X]Include what the Crown revealed about their purpose, it might be vital to catching all the traitors and maybe tracing this back to the source even if it is revealing an uncomfortable amount about your powers
    -[x]Take some bottle bleach baths well waiting for Lydia or when driving.
Click to expand...
 
BronzeTongue said:
Having Lydia in the room is still basically shouting it at the top of our lungs. We should call her to poke the vamps soul, but if we want them to believe it we should make them work for it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Sometimes, shouting at the top of your lungs is a good way to make sure you're heard.

Also, it's not like Lydia hides the fact that she can easily talks to ghost, she had a very visible party in the graveyard recently, everyone already knows she does that, there's o secrets to hide.
 
Winning Vote
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jun 19, 2023 at 2:57 AM, finished with 69 posts and 17 votes.
  • [X]Plan Parallel Construction
    -[X]Call Lydia first, bring her up to date, then ask her to interrogate the whampire's soul/ghost
    -[X]Work with Lydia to mask some of the Crowns findings as ghostwhispering/whampire ghost interrogation results
    -[X]Bring Lydia to the meeting with Lara
    -[X]Include what the Crown revealed about their purpose, it might be vital to catching all the traitors and maybe tracing this back to the source even if it is revealing an uncomfortable amount about your powers
    [X] Just the attack and the names, you could have picked all this up through very skilled but still 'normal' divination
    [X] Include what the Crown revealed about their purpose, it might be vital to catching all the traitors and maybe tracing this back to the source even if it is revealing an uncomfortable amount about your powers
    [X] Call Lydia first to interrogate the whampire's soul.
    [X]Plan Parallel Construction v2
    -[X]Call Lydia first, bring her up to date, then ask her to interrogate the whampire's soul/ghost
    -[X]Work with Lydia to mask some of the Crowns findings as ghostwhispering/whampire ghost interrogation results
    -[X]Bring Lydia to the meeting with Lara
    -[X]Include what the Crown revealed about their purpose, it might be vital to catching all the traitors and maybe tracing this back to the source even if it is revealing an uncomfortable amount about your powers
    -[x]Take some bottle bleach baths well waiting for Lydia or when driving.
Click to expand...
 
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Arc 8 Post 10: Uncanny Witnesses
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    • Uncanny Witnesses ​

    10th of November 2006 A.D.

    U up?
    ???
    I need someone to talk to ghosts, Whamp was hunting someone from the Ordo.
    Sure, I'll be out in 45.

    It is a little awkward having that conversation with Murphy looking over your shoulder, though judging by her expression she's probably more worried about teenagers with power over life and death than she is the quality of your late night texting. You throw her a smile: "Back to the scene of the crime it is."

    "This isn't a game," she shoots back.

    You do not contradict her, but privately you agree with Usum "It is a game, one where the pawns cry when they are taken, but a game just the same. They can be played in deadly earnest too."

    ***​

    As the midnight hour creeps in the alleyway grows colder still, somewhere above a window rattles in stray gusts of wind down am old brick throat sending discarded bags flying like shadows peeled from the walls. If ever there was a place one would expect to find a ghost it's this one.

    "Hi Molly, Detective," Lydia inclines her head fractionally as she gets out of her own car, the driver looking considerably less chipper at the nighttime outing. "I got a message from..." she cuts herself off, probably noticing Murphy's sudden interest and putting two and two together on the fly. "I got the warning circling around to pay attention if we get any weird letters. Do you think it's the vampires?"

    "Could be," you allow. Supposed witch hunters would make a good ploy.

    Lydia only half listens to the answer, her eyes already shinning soft silver as though reflecting the light of the absent moon. She walks over to a bunch of cardboard boxes arranged in what might have once been a homeless person's shelter, long since abandoned in the face of this cold November, one can only hope for something more sturdy. As the light of your friend's anima pours out from her a figure emerges crouched, no hunched there, back bent as though under some great burden, hands scrambling at the wall.

    "I can touch it... I can touch it... I'm not dead... Where is it? Where is it? How'd that bitch take it away?"

    "I think he means his demon, his Hunger," you say, an up-welling of unexpected pity in your voice. As horrible as what he had been trying to do was this vampire's dead now and he's going to have to deal with the consequences sooner or later.

    "Oh so that's why... that makes sense. I've never seen a White Court Vampire's ghost before," Lydia muses. "Fair warning the dead can get violent when confronted with the reality of their condition."

    "What do you shoot ghosts with?" Detective Murphy asks, more rhetorically than anything you would guess.

    For her part the fifteen year old ghost whisperer takes it at face value: "Depleted uranium."

    "Noted." To the lieutenant's credit she only sounds a bit perturbed.

    "I'm afraid it's gone." The words are gentle a waves upon the shore and yet they are as inexorable as the tides. "You don't have to go though, if you don't want to, if you promise not to hurt people anymore."

    "I have to! I have to! Don't you understand! I break things! That's what we do! Break or be broken!"

    "Well you were broken," the girl's voice does not waver in the least, nor does she seem troubled by the wild eyed look in the ghost's eyes. "Breaking's just a kind of change though. You are something else now, like a vase that's been shattered you don't have to contain the water anymore, you don't have to balance on the shelf, you don't have to fit in the cupboard and you don't have to hit that wall if you don't want to."

    For a minute or two the ghost looks down at his hands, face twisted in horror, in wonder or maybe both. Finally he reaches out slowly and passes one trembling palm though the brownstone.

    "The world is wide, the roads are as long as you need them." Lydia's smile does not look young at all now, a distant knowing thing perched on the precipice of eternity. "Two of my friends have some questions for you if that's OK."

    The dead man gives a spasmodic nod as Lydia waves you over.

    What do you do?

    [] Interrogate the vampire's ghost
    -[] Write in questions (optional)

    [] Let Murphy take the lead

    [] Write in

    OOC: Murphy is having a hell of a night. In Molly and Lydia's defense she did asks for this.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • DragonParadox said:
    Normal ghosts are creatures of darkness. Sol does not like the undead, they are unnatural and should not be around.
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    In ExWoD (page 83) normal Wraiths are not CoDs.

    They are propably a normal part of reality by now?
    Sure, they shouldn't stick around too long in the lands of the living, but they generally seem to be okay and not inherently on the Most High's shitlist.
     
    Artemis1992 said:
    In ExWoD (page 83) normal Wraiths are not CoDs.

    They are propably a normal part of reality by now?
    Sure, they shouldn't stick around too long in the lands of the living, but they generally seem to be okay and not inherently on the Most High's shitlist.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Hmm... in that case yeah it does not apply, that drops two of your successes, but Molly still gets it well enough since it is a Key ability so 1s don't subtract.
     
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