BoredMan
Dinosaurs came in many flavors. Like potato chips.
Seems like we found our next big project then. Upgrade Last Station then make the God Of Chicago.
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
It should be said that making a Mase is going to take at least some magical materials, magical materials by the standards an Exalted would use. That piece of ghost-jade Lash spoke to your though, that counts. But er... you are going to need more than one sword pummel's worth. Ideally you are going to need enough to build actual magical circuitry for the Essence coming in after it has been allowed to synthesize in a way that will not blow up or mutate every living thing that comes close to it or damage global weather patterns, all things that Essence can do if it is allowed to run wild. Think of it as 'I want to build an anti-matter reactor' and you would not be far off on the power and the danger of this thing
Harry - Ok, I'm here Molly. You said something about a gift you made for me? A new coat?
Molly - No Harry, not a coat. A Mantle.
- Location
- At Home
Now I wanna do it even more...
- Location
- Near Water
It would also reflect the sphere closest to the Resonance, Quintessence and Tass it produces. I have an entire book about how different wellsprings produce different resonances, and how tass is created and it's shape,and how different traditions create a foundation on top of one and extract power from it. Note some dragon nests can have guardians, or be able to lower the gauntlet to 1 in the direct center area of the wellspring.
Here is an excerpt as an example:
Resonance has a complicated history in Mage. It was
first given formal mechanics and a trait in Mage: the
Ascension Revised (though those rules were really
fleshed out, oddly, in Fallen Tower: Las Vegas) and be-
fore that, it had been intended more as an atmospheric
thing for the ST to use to add depth to magick. The sys-
tem from Revised is expanded and clarified in Mage:
the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition and its com-
panion book The Book of Secrets.
As of The Book of Secrets, there are two pieces of
Resonance: Resonance and Synergy. They are mechani-
cally similar, but thematically opposites. Resonance is
all about the fundamental nature of the mage, whereas
Synergy is how the mage connects to outside forces. As
an example, a mage who is quick to anger may have a
Fiery Resonance, but their magick won't have a Fiery
Synergy unless they are accessing some external source
of that sort of energy.
Resonance and Synergy traits come on a scale of 1-5,
with higher levels causing a greater impact. Resonance
comes in four types: Devotional (related to a cause, be-
lief, society or ethic), Elemental (related to the forces of
nature, creatures, and spirits), Stabilizing (related to
structure, calmness and control), and Temperamental
(related to emotional states). Synergy, however, comes
in three types: Dynamic, Static and Entropic, related to
the three forces that form Reality.
In the World of Darkness, everything has some sort
of Resonance. Mundane things will have weak Reso-
nance, topping out at a single dot. Supernatural things
tend to sit in the 1-3 range. Only the most powerful
things have Resonance 4 or 5, and this level of Reso-
nance is capable of warping Reality around it and will
almost always come with strange side effects.
Resonance also acts as a fingerprint: something with
Resonance can be identified through a Perception +
Awareness roll. This roll is made at difficulty 10 – the
Resonance trait, and each trait requires a separate roll.
This means that anything with a diverse set of Reso-
nance traits has a sort of mystic fingerprint that can be
identified, whereas things with only a single weak Reso-
nance trait are harder to identify, because they blend in
with so many other things.
first given formal mechanics and a trait in Mage: the
Ascension Revised (though those rules were really
fleshed out, oddly, in Fallen Tower: Las Vegas) and be-
fore that, it had been intended more as an atmospheric
thing for the ST to use to add depth to magick. The sys-
tem from Revised is expanded and clarified in Mage:
the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition and its com-
panion book The Book of Secrets.
As of The Book of Secrets, there are two pieces of
Resonance: Resonance and Synergy. They are mechani-
cally similar, but thematically opposites. Resonance is
all about the fundamental nature of the mage, whereas
Synergy is how the mage connects to outside forces. As
an example, a mage who is quick to anger may have a
Fiery Resonance, but their magick won't have a Fiery
Synergy unless they are accessing some external source
of that sort of energy.
Resonance and Synergy traits come on a scale of 1-5,
with higher levels causing a greater impact. Resonance
comes in four types: Devotional (related to a cause, be-
lief, society or ethic), Elemental (related to the forces of
nature, creatures, and spirits), Stabilizing (related to
structure, calmness and control), and Temperamental
(related to emotional states). Synergy, however, comes
in three types: Dynamic, Static and Entropic, related to
the three forces that form Reality.
In the World of Darkness, everything has some sort
of Resonance. Mundane things will have weak Reso-
nance, topping out at a single dot. Supernatural things
tend to sit in the 1-3 range. Only the most powerful
things have Resonance 4 or 5, and this level of Reso-
nance is capable of warping Reality around it and will
almost always come with strange side effects.
Resonance also acts as a fingerprint: something with
Resonance can be identified through a Perception +
Awareness roll. This roll is made at difficulty 10 – the
Resonance trait, and each trait requires a separate roll.
This means that anything with a diverse set of Reso-
nance traits has a sort of mystic fingerprint that can be
identified, whereas things with only a single weak Reso-
nance trait are harder to identify, because they blend in
with so many other things.
Essentially.
Even the idea of draining .....remember where we were told that the Pathfinders could have potentially triggered an earthquake by fiddling with the Dragons Nest outside Cleveland?
It becomes narratively irresponsible to fiddle with these things if we're risking that kind of damage each time, especially in populated areas.
My apologies, but I have serious problems with this.Magic isn't actually water, or light or any other physical thing for all comparisons are often used, it is magic. Yes tapping a leyline isn't going to make the magic of the entire world (the ocean in that comparison) run out, but it will temporarily disrupt the flow. I suppose if we are to keep with the frame of reference one might think of it as draining the underground reservoir under the confluence of rivers so now some of that flow has to to to refilling it for a time instead of flowing swift and strong on the surface.
Now if you could somehow normalize the flow differentials for the purpose of crafting *cough* cap the demesne with a manse *cough* you would not have that problem anymore, but what kind of magician would alter the basic functions of reality like that?
Exhausting magic in an area in DF is near-impossible. I quote:
My brain flew along a lot faster than my feet.
Given the heavy snow outside, the first line of retreat the Archive would take would be into the Nevernever. The spirit world touches on the mortal world at all places and at all times. It gets weird once you realize that totally alien regions of the Nevernever might touch upon relatively close points in the real world. Crossing into the Nevernever is dangerous unless you know exactly where you're going-I don't use it as a fallback very often at all. But if you've really got your back to the wall, and you have more experience than I do at crossing over, you can get a feel for the crossing and almost always get to someplace relatively benign.
I figured it was safe to assume that the Archive would be savvy enough to feel comfortable stepping over-in fact, she would have chosen this location for the parley for precisely that reason. The Denarians would know it too, and they didn't want the Archive to escape their ambush and come back loaded for bear. They would have prepared countermeasures, much as they had for Marcone.
No, scratch that. Exactly the way they had for Marcone, I realized. The huge spell that had been used to tear apart the defenses of the crime lord's panic room hadn't simply been a way for the Denarians to secure the bait in this scheme. It had been a field test for their means to cut off the magical energy from a large area, and access to the Nevernever with it-and to imprison something big at the same time.
It was a bear trap, custom-designed for Ivy. They were going to spring that monstrous pentagram again.
Only this time I was going to be standing inside it when it happened.
Fortunately, the Shedd was a lot squattier and more stable than Marcone's old apartment building had been-though that didn't mean pieces big enough to kill people wouldn't fall when the beam ripped through the walls. And though a lot of stonework was used, there was still the danger of fire.
Fire. In an aquarium. Breathe in the irony.
But more important, once that pentagram came up-and it was coming now; I could feel it, a faint stirring of power that slid along the edges of my wizard's senses like some huge and hungry snake passing by in the darkness-it was going to shut the building off from the rest of the world, magically speaking. That meant that I wasn't going to be able to draw in any power to use to defend myself, any more than I'd be able to breathe if someone plunged my head underwater.
Usually, when you work a spell, you reach out into the environment around you and pull in energy. It flows in from everywhere, from the fabric of life in the whole planet. You don't create a "hole" in the field of energy we call "magic." It all pours in together, levels out instantly, all across the world. But the circle about to go up was going to change that. The relatively tiny area inside the Shedd would contain only so much energy. Granted, it would be a fairly rich spot-there was a lot of life in the building, and it had hosted a lot of visitors generating a lot of emotions, especially the energy given off by all those children. But even so, it was a sealed box, and given the number of people present who knew how to use magic, the local supply wasn't going to last long.
Try to imagine a knife fight in an airtight phone booth-lots of heavy breathing and exertion, but not for long.
One way or the other, not for long.
That was their plan, of course. Without magic to draw upon, I was pretty much just a scrappy guy with a gun, whereas Nicodemus was still a nigh-invincible engine of destruction.
For a few seconds my steps slowed.
Put that way, it almost sounded a little crazy of me to be rushing into this. I mean, I was basically opting for a cage match with a collection of demons, and one that I would have to win within a matter of seconds or not at all-and I hadn't been all that impressive against the Denarians when I'd had relatively few constraints on what power I could wield against them.
I did some mental math. If the symbol the Denarians were using was approximately the same size as the one at Marcone's place, it would be big enough to encompass only the Oceanarium itself in the pentagram at its center. Murphy and the others, if they'd stayed where we'd come in, would probably be safe. More to the point, if they'd stayed where they were, they would have no way to enter the Oceanarium.
That meant it would be just me and Ivy and maybe Kincaid-against Nicodemus, Tessa, and every Denarian they could beg, borrow or steal. Those were long odds. Really, really long odds. Ridiculously long odds, really. When you have to measure them in astronomical units, it probably isn't a good bet.
So, going in there would be bad.
If I didn't go in, though, it would be just Ivy and Kincaid against all of them. In a deadly business, Kincaid was one of the deadliest, at the top of the field for centuries-but there was only one of him. Ivy had vast knowledge to draw upon, of course, but once she'd been cut off and expended whatever magic she had immediately available to her, the only thing she'd be able to do with all that knowledge would be to calculate her worsening odds of escape.
Every hair on my body tried to stand up all at the same time, and I knew that the symbol was being energized. In seconds it would howl to life.
I guess in the end it came down to a single question: whether or not I was the kind of man who walks away when he knows a little kid is in danger.
I'd been down this road before: Not going in there would be worse.
Heat shimmers filled the air in the hall in front of me as I sprinted toward the Oceanarium.
Fight smarter, not harder, Harry. I drew in power on the way-a lot of power. If there wasn't going to be any magic available for the taking once the symbol went up, I'd just have to bring my own.
Usually I draw in power only when it's ready to flow directly out of me again, channeling the energy through my mind and into the structure of a spell. This time I brought it in without ever letting it out, and it built up as a pressure behind my eyes. My body temperature jumped by at least four or five degrees, and my muscles and bones screamed with sudden pain while my vision went red and flickered with spots of black. Static electricity crackled with every single motion of my limbs, bright green and painfully sharp, until it sounded like I was running across a field of bubble wrap. My head pounded like every New Year's hangover I'd ever had, all in the same spot, and my lungs felt like the air had turned to acid. I concentrated on keeping my feet underneath me and moving. One step at a time.
I pounded through the entry to the Oceanarium, felt a shivering sensation as I ran right through a veil I had not sensed was there, and all but barreled into a demonic figure crouched down on the floor. I skidded to a stop, and there was an instant of surprise as we stared at each other.
Given the heavy snow outside, the first line of retreat the Archive would take would be into the Nevernever. The spirit world touches on the mortal world at all places and at all times. It gets weird once you realize that totally alien regions of the Nevernever might touch upon relatively close points in the real world. Crossing into the Nevernever is dangerous unless you know exactly where you're going-I don't use it as a fallback very often at all. But if you've really got your back to the wall, and you have more experience than I do at crossing over, you can get a feel for the crossing and almost always get to someplace relatively benign.
I figured it was safe to assume that the Archive would be savvy enough to feel comfortable stepping over-in fact, she would have chosen this location for the parley for precisely that reason. The Denarians would know it too, and they didn't want the Archive to escape their ambush and come back loaded for bear. They would have prepared countermeasures, much as they had for Marcone.
No, scratch that. Exactly the way they had for Marcone, I realized. The huge spell that had been used to tear apart the defenses of the crime lord's panic room hadn't simply been a way for the Denarians to secure the bait in this scheme. It had been a field test for their means to cut off the magical energy from a large area, and access to the Nevernever with it-and to imprison something big at the same time.
It was a bear trap, custom-designed for Ivy. They were going to spring that monstrous pentagram again.
Only this time I was going to be standing inside it when it happened.
Fortunately, the Shedd was a lot squattier and more stable than Marcone's old apartment building had been-though that didn't mean pieces big enough to kill people wouldn't fall when the beam ripped through the walls. And though a lot of stonework was used, there was still the danger of fire.
Fire. In an aquarium. Breathe in the irony.
But more important, once that pentagram came up-and it was coming now; I could feel it, a faint stirring of power that slid along the edges of my wizard's senses like some huge and hungry snake passing by in the darkness-it was going to shut the building off from the rest of the world, magically speaking. That meant that I wasn't going to be able to draw in any power to use to defend myself, any more than I'd be able to breathe if someone plunged my head underwater.
Usually, when you work a spell, you reach out into the environment around you and pull in energy. It flows in from everywhere, from the fabric of life in the whole planet. You don't create a "hole" in the field of energy we call "magic." It all pours in together, levels out instantly, all across the world. But the circle about to go up was going to change that. The relatively tiny area inside the Shedd would contain only so much energy. Granted, it would be a fairly rich spot-there was a lot of life in the building, and it had hosted a lot of visitors generating a lot of emotions, especially the energy given off by all those children. But even so, it was a sealed box, and given the number of people present who knew how to use magic, the local supply wasn't going to last long.
Try to imagine a knife fight in an airtight phone booth-lots of heavy breathing and exertion, but not for long.
One way or the other, not for long.
That was their plan, of course. Without magic to draw upon, I was pretty much just a scrappy guy with a gun, whereas Nicodemus was still a nigh-invincible engine of destruction.
For a few seconds my steps slowed.
Put that way, it almost sounded a little crazy of me to be rushing into this. I mean, I was basically opting for a cage match with a collection of demons, and one that I would have to win within a matter of seconds or not at all-and I hadn't been all that impressive against the Denarians when I'd had relatively few constraints on what power I could wield against them.
I did some mental math. If the symbol the Denarians were using was approximately the same size as the one at Marcone's place, it would be big enough to encompass only the Oceanarium itself in the pentagram at its center. Murphy and the others, if they'd stayed where we'd come in, would probably be safe. More to the point, if they'd stayed where they were, they would have no way to enter the Oceanarium.
That meant it would be just me and Ivy and maybe Kincaid-against Nicodemus, Tessa, and every Denarian they could beg, borrow or steal. Those were long odds. Really, really long odds. Ridiculously long odds, really. When you have to measure them in astronomical units, it probably isn't a good bet.
So, going in there would be bad.
If I didn't go in, though, it would be just Ivy and Kincaid against all of them. In a deadly business, Kincaid was one of the deadliest, at the top of the field for centuries-but there was only one of him. Ivy had vast knowledge to draw upon, of course, but once she'd been cut off and expended whatever magic she had immediately available to her, the only thing she'd be able to do with all that knowledge would be to calculate her worsening odds of escape.
Every hair on my body tried to stand up all at the same time, and I knew that the symbol was being energized. In seconds it would howl to life.
I guess in the end it came down to a single question: whether or not I was the kind of man who walks away when he knows a little kid is in danger.
I'd been down this road before: Not going in there would be worse.
Heat shimmers filled the air in the hall in front of me as I sprinted toward the Oceanarium.
Fight smarter, not harder, Harry. I drew in power on the way-a lot of power. If there wasn't going to be any magic available for the taking once the symbol went up, I'd just have to bring my own.
Usually I draw in power only when it's ready to flow directly out of me again, channeling the energy through my mind and into the structure of a spell. This time I brought it in without ever letting it out, and it built up as a pressure behind my eyes. My body temperature jumped by at least four or five degrees, and my muscles and bones screamed with sudden pain while my vision went red and flickered with spots of black. Static electricity crackled with every single motion of my limbs, bright green and painfully sharp, until it sounded like I was running across a field of bubble wrap. My head pounded like every New Year's hangover I'd ever had, all in the same spot, and my lungs felt like the air had turned to acid. I concentrated on keeping my feet underneath me and moving. One step at a time.
I pounded through the entry to the Oceanarium, felt a shivering sensation as I ran right through a veil I had not sensed was there, and all but barreled into a demonic figure crouched down on the floor. I skidded to a stop, and there was an instant of surprise as we stared at each other.
Its an explicit plot point in Small Favor that when the Denarians had to isolate the Shedd Aquarium in order to ambush the Archive, it required a major magical working by multiple Denarians, people with Fallen Angels in their heads, with assistance from the Prince of Darkness himself just to isolate the building, and the magic in that location, from the rest of the world for less than ten minutes.
And the moment the working goes down, the level of magic equalizes fast. Instantly, if we believe Dresden.
Dragons Nests are very different
In WoD they are generally natural pools or springs, with some being artificial; in the Dresden Files they are confluences of raging magical rivers. The comparison to water is one thats repeatedly used in the series itself:
There's a reason a fortress has been there for as long as mankind can remember—it is one of the world's largest convergences of ley lines. Ley lines are the natural currents of magical energy running through the world. They are the most powerful means of employing magic known to man—and the lines that intersect in the earth deep below the Auld Rock represent a staggering amount of raw power waiting to be tapped by someone skilled or foolish enough.
I walked over a ley line about three steps after I entered the Hidden Halls, and I could feel its shuddering energy beneath my feet, rushing by like an enormous, silent subterranean river. I walked a bit faster for a few paces, irrationally nervous about being swept off of my feet by it, until I could only sense it as a dim and receding vibration in the ground.
I didn't need to call up a light. Crystals set in the walls glowed in a rainbow of gentle colors, bathing the whole place in soft, ambient illumination. The tunnel was ancient, worn, chilly, and damp. Water always seemed ready to condense into a half-frozen dew the instant it was given the opportunity by an exhaled breath or a warm body.
I walked over a ley line about three steps after I entered the Hidden Halls, and I could feel its shuddering energy beneath my feet, rushing by like an enormous, silent subterranean river. I walked a bit faster for a few paces, irrationally nervous about being swept off of my feet by it, until I could only sense it as a dim and receding vibration in the ground.
I didn't need to call up a light. Crystals set in the walls glowed in a rainbow of gentle colors, bathing the whole place in soft, ambient illumination. The tunnel was ancient, worn, chilly, and damp. Water always seemed ready to condense into a half-frozen dew the instant it was given the opportunity by an exhaled breath or a warm body.
Martin nodded. "How fast can you get us there?"
I touched a fingertip to my mother's gem and double-checked the way there. "This one doesn't have a direct route. Three hops, a couple of walks, one of them in bad terrain. Should take us ninety minutes, gets us to within five miles of Chichén Itzá."
Martin looked at me for a long moment. Then he said, "I can't help but find it somewhat convenient that you are suddenly able to provide that kind of fast transport to exactly the places we need to go."
"The Red Court had their goodies stashed near a confluence of ley lines," I said, "a point of ample magical power. Chichén Itzá is at another such confluence, only a lot bigger. Chicago is a crossroads, both physically and metaphysically. There are dozens of confluences either in the town or within twenty-five miles. The routes I know through the Nevernever mostly run from confluence to confluence, so Chicago's got a direct route to a lot of places."
Sanya made an interested sound. "Like the airports in Dallas or Atlanta. Or here. Travel nexuses."
"Exactly."
Martin nodded, though he didn't look like he particularly believed or disbelieved me. "That gives us a little more than nine hours," he said.
"The Church is trying to get us information about local security at Chichén Itzá. Meet me at St. Mary of the Angels." I handed him the change scrounged from my pockets. "Tell them Harry Dresden said you were no Stevie D. We'll leave from there."
"You . . ." He shook his head a little. "You got the Church to help you?"
"Hell, man. I got a Knight of the Cross driving me around."
Sanya snorted.
I touched a fingertip to my mother's gem and double-checked the way there. "This one doesn't have a direct route. Three hops, a couple of walks, one of them in bad terrain. Should take us ninety minutes, gets us to within five miles of Chichén Itzá."
Martin looked at me for a long moment. Then he said, "I can't help but find it somewhat convenient that you are suddenly able to provide that kind of fast transport to exactly the places we need to go."
"The Red Court had their goodies stashed near a confluence of ley lines," I said, "a point of ample magical power. Chichén Itzá is at another such confluence, only a lot bigger. Chicago is a crossroads, both physically and metaphysically. There are dozens of confluences either in the town or within twenty-five miles. The routes I know through the Nevernever mostly run from confluence to confluence, so Chicago's got a direct route to a lot of places."
Sanya made an interested sound. "Like the airports in Dallas or Atlanta. Or here. Travel nexuses."
"Exactly."
Martin nodded, though he didn't look like he particularly believed or disbelieved me. "That gives us a little more than nine hours," he said.
"The Church is trying to get us information about local security at Chichén Itzá. Meet me at St. Mary of the Angels." I handed him the change scrounged from my pockets. "Tell them Harry Dresden said you were no Stevie D. We'll leave from there."
"You . . ." He shook his head a little. "You got the Church to help you?"
"Hell, man. I got a Knight of the Cross driving me around."
Sanya snorted.
Footsteps approached and Molly appeared, carrying a plastic laundry basket full of children's clothing. She blinked when she saw us, but smiled and came over immediately. "What's that?"
"It's a map," I replied, like the knowledgeable mentor I was supposed to be.
She snorted. "I can see that," she said. "But a map of what?"
Then I got it. "Ley lines," I said, looking up at Luccio. "These are ley lines."
Molly pursed her lips and studied the paper. "Those are real?"
"Yeah, we just haven't covered them yet. They're…well, think of them as underground pipelines. Only instead of flowing with water, they flow with magic. They run all over the world, usually running between hot spots of supernatural energy."
"Connect the dots with magic," Molly said. "Cool."
"Exactly," Luccio said. "The only method that would have a chance of restraining the Archive's power would be the use of a greater circle-and one that uses an enormous amount of energy, at that."
I grunted acknowledgment. "It would have to be dead solid perfect, too, or she could break loose at the flaw."
"Correct."
"How much energy are we talking about?" I asked her.
"You might be able to empower such a circle for half an hour or an hour, Dresden. I couldn't have kept it up that long, even before my, ah"-she waved a hand down at herself-"accident."
"So it would take loads of power," I mused. "So how are they powering it?"
"That's the real question," she said. "After all, the Sign they raised at the Aquarium suggests that they have an ample supply."
I shook my head. "No," I stated. "That was Hellfire."
Luccio pursed her lips. "You seem fairly certain of that."
"I seem completely certain of that," I said. "It's powerful as Hell, literally, but it isn't stable. It fluctuates and stutters. That's why they couldn't keep the Sign up any longer than they did."
"To imprison the Archive, they would need a steady, flawless supply," Luccio said. "A supply that big would also be able to support a very complex veil-one that could shield them from any tracking spell. In fact, it's the only way they could establish a veil that impenetrable."
"Ley lines," I breathed.
"Ley lines," she said with satisfaction.
"I know of a couple around town, but I didn't realize there were that many of the things," I said.
"The Great Lakes region is rife with them," Luccio said. "It's an energy nexus."
"So?" Molly asked. "What does that mean?"
"Well, it's one reason why so much supernatural activity tends to happen in this area," I said. "Three times as many ships and planes have vanished in Lake Michigan as in the Bermuda Triangle."
"Wow," Molly said. "Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"Next summer I think I'll stick to the pool."
Luccio started tracing various lines on the map with a fingertip. "The colors denote what manner of energy seems to be most prevalent in the line. Defensive energy here. Disruptive force here, restorative lines here and here, and so on. The thickness of the line indicates its relative potency."
"Right, right," I said, growing excited. "So we're looking for an energy source compatible with the use of a greater circle, and strong enough to keep a big one powered up and stable."
"And there are four locations that I think are most likely," Luccio said. She pointed up toward the north end of Lake Michigan. "North and South Manitou islands both have heavy concentrations of dark energy running through them."
"There's plenty of spook stories around them, too," I said. "But that's better than two hundred miles away. If I were Nicodemus, I wouldn't want to risk moving her that far."
"Agreed. A third runs directly beneath the Field Museum." She glanced up at me and arched an eyebrow as her voice turned dry. "But I think you're already familiar with that one."
"I was going to put the dinosaur back," I said. "But I was unconscious."
"Which brings us to number four," Luccio said. Her fingertip came to rest on a cluster of tiny islands out in the center of the lake, northeast of the city, and the heavy, dark purple line running through it. "Here."
Molly leaned across me and frowned down at the map. "There aren't any islands in that part of Lake Michigan. It's all open water."
"Listens-to-Wind gave this map to me, Miss Carpenter," Luccio said seriously. "He's spent several centuries living in this general region."
I grunted. "I hear a lot of things. I think that there are some islands out there. They were used as bases for wilderness fighters in several wars. Bootleggers used them as a transfer point for running booze in from Canada, back in the Prohibition days. But there were always stories around them."
Molly frowned. "What kind of stories?"
I shrugged. "The usual scary stuff. Hauntings. People driven insane by unknown forces. People dragged into the water by creatures unknown, or found slaughtered by weaponry several centuries out-of-date."
"Then why aren't they on the maps and stuff?" Molly asked.
"The islands are dangerous," I said. "Long way from any help, and the lake can be awfully mean in the winter. There are stone reefs out there, too, that could gut a boat that came too close. Maybe someone down at city hall figured that the islands would prove less of a temptation to people if everyone thought they were just stories, and invested some effort in removing them from the public record."
"That wouldn't be possible," Molly said.
"It might be," Luccio responded. "The energies concentrated around those islands would tend to make people unconsciously avoid them. If one did not have a firm destination fixed in mind, the vast majority of people in the area would swing around the islands without ever realizing what they were doing."
I grunted. "And if there's that much bad mojo spinning around out there, it would play merry hell with navigational gear. Twenty bucks says that the major flight lanes don't come within five miles of the place." I thumped my finger on the spot and nodded. "It feels right. She's there."
"If she is," Molly asked, "then what do we do about it?"
Luccio tilted her head at me, frowning.
"Captain, I assume you already contacted the Council about getting reinforcements?"
"Yes," she said. "They'll be here as soon as possible-which is about nine hours from now."
"Not fast enough," I said, and narrowed my eyes in thought. "So we call in some favors."
"Favors?" Luccio asked.
"Yeah," I said. "I know a guy with a boat."
"It's a map," I replied, like the knowledgeable mentor I was supposed to be.
She snorted. "I can see that," she said. "But a map of what?"
Then I got it. "Ley lines," I said, looking up at Luccio. "These are ley lines."
Molly pursed her lips and studied the paper. "Those are real?"
"Yeah, we just haven't covered them yet. They're…well, think of them as underground pipelines. Only instead of flowing with water, they flow with magic. They run all over the world, usually running between hot spots of supernatural energy."
"Connect the dots with magic," Molly said. "Cool."
"Exactly," Luccio said. "The only method that would have a chance of restraining the Archive's power would be the use of a greater circle-and one that uses an enormous amount of energy, at that."
I grunted acknowledgment. "It would have to be dead solid perfect, too, or she could break loose at the flaw."
"Correct."
"How much energy are we talking about?" I asked her.
"You might be able to empower such a circle for half an hour or an hour, Dresden. I couldn't have kept it up that long, even before my, ah"-she waved a hand down at herself-"accident."
"So it would take loads of power," I mused. "So how are they powering it?"
"That's the real question," she said. "After all, the Sign they raised at the Aquarium suggests that they have an ample supply."
I shook my head. "No," I stated. "That was Hellfire."
Luccio pursed her lips. "You seem fairly certain of that."
"I seem completely certain of that," I said. "It's powerful as Hell, literally, but it isn't stable. It fluctuates and stutters. That's why they couldn't keep the Sign up any longer than they did."
"To imprison the Archive, they would need a steady, flawless supply," Luccio said. "A supply that big would also be able to support a very complex veil-one that could shield them from any tracking spell. In fact, it's the only way they could establish a veil that impenetrable."
"Ley lines," I breathed.
"Ley lines," she said with satisfaction.
"I know of a couple around town, but I didn't realize there were that many of the things," I said.
"The Great Lakes region is rife with them," Luccio said. "It's an energy nexus."
"So?" Molly asked. "What does that mean?"
"Well, it's one reason why so much supernatural activity tends to happen in this area," I said. "Three times as many ships and planes have vanished in Lake Michigan as in the Bermuda Triangle."
"Wow," Molly said. "Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"Next summer I think I'll stick to the pool."
Luccio started tracing various lines on the map with a fingertip. "The colors denote what manner of energy seems to be most prevalent in the line. Defensive energy here. Disruptive force here, restorative lines here and here, and so on. The thickness of the line indicates its relative potency."
"Right, right," I said, growing excited. "So we're looking for an energy source compatible with the use of a greater circle, and strong enough to keep a big one powered up and stable."
"And there are four locations that I think are most likely," Luccio said. She pointed up toward the north end of Lake Michigan. "North and South Manitou islands both have heavy concentrations of dark energy running through them."
"There's plenty of spook stories around them, too," I said. "But that's better than two hundred miles away. If I were Nicodemus, I wouldn't want to risk moving her that far."
"Agreed. A third runs directly beneath the Field Museum." She glanced up at me and arched an eyebrow as her voice turned dry. "But I think you're already familiar with that one."
"I was going to put the dinosaur back," I said. "But I was unconscious."
"Which brings us to number four," Luccio said. Her fingertip came to rest on a cluster of tiny islands out in the center of the lake, northeast of the city, and the heavy, dark purple line running through it. "Here."
Molly leaned across me and frowned down at the map. "There aren't any islands in that part of Lake Michigan. It's all open water."
"Listens-to-Wind gave this map to me, Miss Carpenter," Luccio said seriously. "He's spent several centuries living in this general region."
I grunted. "I hear a lot of things. I think that there are some islands out there. They were used as bases for wilderness fighters in several wars. Bootleggers used them as a transfer point for running booze in from Canada, back in the Prohibition days. But there were always stories around them."
Molly frowned. "What kind of stories?"
I shrugged. "The usual scary stuff. Hauntings. People driven insane by unknown forces. People dragged into the water by creatures unknown, or found slaughtered by weaponry several centuries out-of-date."
"Then why aren't they on the maps and stuff?" Molly asked.
"The islands are dangerous," I said. "Long way from any help, and the lake can be awfully mean in the winter. There are stone reefs out there, too, that could gut a boat that came too close. Maybe someone down at city hall figured that the islands would prove less of a temptation to people if everyone thought they were just stories, and invested some effort in removing them from the public record."
"That wouldn't be possible," Molly said.
"It might be," Luccio responded. "The energies concentrated around those islands would tend to make people unconsciously avoid them. If one did not have a firm destination fixed in mind, the vast majority of people in the area would swing around the islands without ever realizing what they were doing."
I grunted. "And if there's that much bad mojo spinning around out there, it would play merry hell with navigational gear. Twenty bucks says that the major flight lanes don't come within five miles of the place." I thumped my finger on the spot and nodded. "It feels right. She's there."
"If she is," Molly asked, "then what do we do about it?"
Luccio tilted her head at me, frowning.
"Captain, I assume you already contacted the Council about getting reinforcements?"
"Yes," she said. "They'll be here as soon as possible-which is about nine hours from now."
"Not fast enough," I said, and narrowed my eyes in thought. "So we call in some favors."
"Favors?" Luccio asked.
"Yeah," I said. "I know a guy with a boat."
And it takes only Prime 3 to wake a dormant one.
In Exalted 1E/2E, demesnes where you could raise manses were allegedly at a density of 1 every 25 square miles.
In DF they are geographic features of the environment that occur on their own and brook very little mortal intervention, and require very cautious handling. There's a reason the Darkhallow was "eat the life energy of spirits and humans" instead of "plug yourself into a ley line or node until you grow buff enough to ascend."
In my opinion? Its more plausible to have Tass or whatever form at Dragons Nests and be the renewable resource being tapped to empower her creations. Or that it takes time for the magical turbulence in the area to die down sufficiently to repeat an empowerment ritual at the same Dragons Nest.
All of these are mechanically identical, but much less chronicle-defining.
And, IMO, a lot more narratively coherent than the idea that a single Celestial Exalt can
1) Exhaust a geologic feature of the planet with one ritual creating one 5-dot item, not even an NA
2) Not suffer major political and geological consequences in the aftermath from everyone else, let alone being able to do it over and over again with noone objecting strenuously and that being the focus of the next several years a la the Darkhallow.
And even the idea that Molly would go about depleting things that sapient spirits like Porter need to stay conscious and sapient?
Seems sketchy as fuck.
Thats uncomfortably like creating a famine by buying up food for industrial uses.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
It is going to be a bit tricky for us to get large amounts of magic materials. Like we could make ghost jade or soul steel, but well moral hazard.
Fair estimation, mechanically it would be identical to create too much turbulence with a working and this would also be solved by capping the place with a manse winch would allow an even uninterrupted draw as well as focus enough power for something like heartstone to run the power hungry magi-tech of the First Age.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
That would be tricky. Hard to do an hour long ritual if the Fallen and host are fighting you.
Great Heist of Yomi Wan, just saying those palaces were built over something.... 😈
Molly: First you bludgeon them unconscious.
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fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
We are likely the most qualified person on earth to do that sort of heist, but I would want to get some extra backup. Maybe some Jade Elder vampires. I am sure that they would like some stuff as well.
So we need to convince 10 arhats of Jade Court to pull Molly's Eleven?
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
That's a problem because the Fallen part is in the coin and can't lose consciousness. I don't know what tricks the fallen can do to heal and wake up a willing host, but I expect that they have options.
Usum *clinically*: Sufficient brain damage should do it. They can be healed at a later date as your majesty prefers. 😈
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
I was thinking more like 1 or 2. Also we would want to get Thief as Release so the Yomi king doesn't remember the thing after we steal it from them. Less compilations that way.
Yeah, I am not so sure we should be exercising the fallen out of people. Lash is one thing. The coins are prisons. I don't want to pop a fallen out of a person only for the Fallen to suddenly be in our face. Sure, we are extremely good at killing things, but I am not sure I 100% trust us to not get a bad roll fighting an angel tier being.
Does our own kingdom have magical materials? I wrote it as at least knowing such materials, if not having them being abundant, but obviously that's up to you.
People do tend to come out with odd things from the very deepest delving into the Labyrinth, things which are found nowhere else.
OctarineShrike
Avatar of Mandos
Speculation: If it has magical materials it would take engaging in conflict against the Labyrinth residents to get any.
Edit: Ninjaed by GM
We should at least try to put them on our Christmas Wish List. We have an in with the big man in red and HAVE been a very very good girl this year.
- Location
- Earth
don't they get pulled back into the coins then since we are exorcising them of the people, not the coins?
Do we actually know that for sure? I would HATE to get a face full of demon bear monster for miscalculating that one.
- Location
- Germany
Exorcising the people is nearly pointless.
They can willingly drop the Coin and be free, like Sanya did.
And exorcising the Coin is a dangerous business that we shouldn't try without being prepared to fight the Fallen in his full power.