That's already what we are going to be doing. Or did you forget that we are set to purge Skavis heir? We are killing the members of their government with impunity and implicit agreement of other parts of said government.
And we know that Lara is an agent against Outsiders - she basically told us that herself. So yes, giving her information that "one of your subjects is in cahoots with Outside, something you very much oppose" is a path.
No, that is NOT what we're doing.
We wouldnt be going to all this rigmarole of dressing up for a party and doing the diplomacy thing. We are explicitly trying to engage within the framework of White Court laws and custom, as well as supernatural custom.
Lara is an agent in the Oblivion War. There's overlap, but they arent quite the same thing, at least in canon.
Her own father, the White King, had dealings with Outsiders. His magic-immunity is Outsider-bestowed, and he and his kept witches were using an Outsider ritual to kill victims in Blood Rites.
Which Lara knew about.
He has been established to deal with Outside in a very involved manner - enough that it affects his nature. That's enough to destroy him, and stating publicly, via lethal action, that we are against Outsider collaborators is a viable path.
White Court. Not White Council.
Black magic, and dealings with the same, arent actually illegal here.
Note that the Red Court has been using lesser Outsiders in major battles and assassination attempts with the White Council and none of that has triggered any rules or anything in the Accords.
And the Red Court and White Court are still officially allies and co-belligerents in the Vampire War.
Even though the White Court has offered zero aid or intervention on the Red Court side.
No, you are wrong. Like, directly wrong. We know that he has a master - and we know that it is in the meaning of "owner":
We know that that Vittorio Malvora is a half-devoured servant-puppet of an Outsider. This is directly stated in the update. This is actionable intelligence.
No it isnt. Molly makes it clear that she's speculating about that.
We know he's involved with a Nephandus. That its his master.
We dont know how much, or what it entails; Cowl was his master in canon, and Cowl wasnt eating any souls.
We dont have any information that he was involved with the plot we're here to address.
We dont have any indication that he has any plans, intentions or capability to start anything here tonight.
There is,
as of this moment, zero indication to Molly that there is something that must be addressed tonight, in front of the hundreds of guests here that are watching everything we do with interest.
Instead of slipping Lara Raith a quiet headsup tomorrow morning and letting her confirm with her own resources, and address it.
There is no imminent threat to mandate immediate intervention.
I cannot justify spending the effort to try to tell Lara this in front of what sounds like several hundred guests trying to listen in.
Call her tomorrow morning, and arrange a quiet meeting to explain.
Or just pass a note via Thomas.
I have no idea what strange tangent you are going on, or what you actually expected to learn, but right now you just sound salty. We got everything that we needed and were searching for - the man in front of us is a servant of an Outsider called Ashraaah, who has had a work done on him that protects him against Hellscry chakra. What else do you need?
What else do you need?
1)Please dont do this.
One of the reasons I argue with you is the presumption of good faith. Its hard to have a civil discussion when one side is accusing you of bad faith argumentation.
2) No we dont know that.
Molly moves from what she knows to speculation in that paragraph. I quote:
His master's work.
Ashraaah's work
The word, passes into your mind like a worm crawling through silt and you know that were you merely a mortal wizard so too would it seek to pass out of mind without a trace in memory. But you did not overhear it on the night air, not did you read it in some pilfered scroll or upon a screen left carelessly open... open for the careless. You took it and what you take you keep. Meaning you draw from it as one might drill an oil well down to hell.
Not-Man, Once-Man, Husk. All that was of him in the Image of God is Not and in the place of God, something else, a hunger, a need, a Howling.
All at once the world snaps back into focus, all the sights and sounds of nocturnal gathering spinning around and round in a haze of of blind gaiety, knowing not for the servant, the puppet of darkness that walks among them, for you do not think the Ashraaah is capable of keeping servants that its influence does not devour.
Gold underscore is a factual assertion from the Crown.
Red underscore is speculation; you can see her making it clear that its her guess, not what she knows.Now Molly is a very good guesser.
But she doesnt actually
know.
Especially since we know OOC and IC that there is explicit precedent for dealings with Outsiders without being a puppet of them; Lord Raith is still walking around even today with his Outsider-granted immunity to mortal magic.
Even though it doesnt protect from vampire Disciplines.
Furthermore, in the Dresdenverse, victims who are souleaten by others die.
Hell, Renfields apparently dont count as people anymore, and inevitably die
If Vito is still walking around, he isnt soul-eaten as Molly asserts.
For clarity, this is my position, as I understand the facts:
WHAT WE KNOW
1)Vittorio Malvora has dealings with a Nephandus wizard-turned posthuman Outsider.
Enough that the Crown identifies the Ashraah thing as his master.
2)This Nephandus has bestowed some protections on him to hide his aura, and possibly other things, from detection.
WHAT WE DONT KNOW
1)We dont know why his aura is being hidden.
There might actually be modifications done to him, he might have an entity possessing him, he might have mutated like the Ashraah, or it might just be his own paranoia to keep other people out of his head.
2) We dont know whether the protections are a spell, an Investment, or a magic item.
Which each have their own implications.
3) We dont know whether its a business transaction on his part or if Vito is ideologically involved with the Nephandus agenda; the Crown calls the Ashraah his master, but whether that denotes student, or unwitting pawn, is unclear.
Whether he actually is aware of the nature of his dealings, or if this is some One Ring/Nemesis-type shit, we dont know.
4)We dont currently know of any involvement of Vito Malvora with the plot against human talents.
Which means we dont have legal casus belli against him by any of the terms of our working treaty with the White Court.
5)We dont know of any plans, or capabilities, that he has to intervene in the events of tonight.
No sign of imminent threat.
And he's neither part of Lara's household nor a friend, so he doesnt pose an imminent threat to her either.
CONFOUNDING FACTOR
This is not the White Council, and Whampires do not operate by the Seven Laws.
Using black magic is legal in the White Court, as is dealings with eldritch entities within vague limits.
The White King, Lord Raith, has enjoyed immunity to mortal magic from an Outsider deal of some sort,(McCoy thought it might have been an old god's blessing, but Dresden recognized the magic as Outsider shit) for more than thirty years.
Immunity strong enough that the Blackstaff couldnt kill him with magic.
He has had this immunity since back when he was still fucking Maggie LeFay, Dresden's mother and McCoy's daughter.
Thats why she knew not to use her death curse to try to kill him, but instead to starve him.
Lord Raith killed Maggie LeFay, Dresden's mother, with an entropy curse back in childbirth.
We also know that he and a coven of porn star witches were using an Outsider-summoning ritual to kill employees of an upstart porn studio with entropy curses. It was the entire A-plot of Blood Rites.
Dealings with warlocks, black wizards and eldritch entities isnt illegal in the White Court.
There's precedent. Even if current!Lara might disapprove, she isnt a dictator; there has to be buy-in by the rest of the White Court.
She needs to establish more than dealings with entities in order to have Vito Malvora killed legally.
Or he has to be caught doing something actually treasonous.
Talking about this in public risks leaks that makes her ability to entrap him harder.
BUTTERFLIES
The wizard or Ashraah Vito is involved with isnt Cowl like in canon.
Dresden called Cowl's magic fundamentally human in Dead Beat; very similar to his own, actually.
If this is Nephandi shit, and the wielder has become an Outsider, its no longer human.
