I wonder how much of Charity´s approval of the merc hiring was influence by the fact that it meant Molly did not take a trip into Red Court territory again.
[X] Focus on the metaphysics: You know how I told you my power is old strange. Well turns out I did not know the half of it
-[X] Stunt: Turns out there is no Crown without an Empire
[X] Focus on your secular duties: I might not know what I am doing, but I am trying to learn and not break anything in the meantime
Olivia it totally getting recruited by our spy agency, isn't she? She's, like, perfect candidate for recruitment and deep cover infiltration of Earth.
@DragonParadox a question about possible charm synergy - if we buy Source Code Compliance Protocol, and use actual Primordial speech, instead of mortal Old Realm to make magic, would it have any effect on the results of our magic / craft?
[X] Focus on your secular duties: I might not know what I am doing, but I am trying to learn and not break anything in the meantime
Olivia it totally getting recruited by our spy agency, isn't she? She's, like, perfect candidate for recruitment and deep cover infiltration of Earth.
@DragonParadox a question about possible charm synergy - if we buy Source Code Compliance Protocol, and use actual Primordial speech, instead of mortal Old Realm to make magic, would it have any effect on the results of our magic / craft?
It would have significant synergy though only for those projects made of materials resilient enough to endure being carved with concepts older than time, so of the stuff you have now just the gossamer.
If anything the furor caused by the Merlin rolling into town had made her even more resolved to find some kind of security apart from the auspices of the White Court.
"Big Hat magic man rolls into town and we all have to pull on our forelocks and courtsy like medieval serfs, hope he does not notice us. Screw that."
Even though you do point out the Merlin would not actually have expected any kind of special deference she counters that he had not gone out of his way to calm spirits either, just rolled into town, empty out Mac's place for the evening did his business and rolled out. Ignoring the disguiet of her fellow talents had been in her eyes almost a worse sin than having caused it himself.
To be fair to Merlin, he's the leader of humanity's greatest guardians in the middle of an existential war against a major supernatural faction, he has to practice infosec just to avoid getting ganked like Molly just ganked Arianna. And he's a busy man too, he has Dresden literally in the same city to calm down any up-jumped spirits who got antsy from having the Merlin pop by.
Of course, he didn't explicitly tell Dresden to take care of things, but then again he was probably a little distracted by Molly creating 5 billion souls as an aside to having the power to 1v1 supernatural heavyweights to a degree no wizard has approached before. Like, that shit's a titanic shift to the current world order, seemingly outta nowhere. He's got a lot on his mind!
It would have significant synergy though only for those projects made of materials resilient enough to endure being carved with concepts older than time, so of the stuff you have now just the gossamer.
So, good for making that manse we discussed and Green Lantern's ring (speaking of, the moremI think about it, the weirder it gets - it sits right in the middle between Splendors, which I modeled it as, and Prodigies, as it's an active artifact with actual material component), not so good for Porter's train body. Not unless we make it out of jade and other magical materials...
And it should also be good for making high level gods.
So, good for making that manse we discussed and Green Lantern's ring (speaking of, the moremI think about it, the weirder it gets - it sits right in the middle between Splendors, which I modeled it as, and Prodigies, as it's an active artifact with actual material component), not so good for Porter's train body. Not unless we make it out of jade and other magical materials...
And it should also be good for making high level gods.
Technically you could try to reforge the piece of jade you have, but that is more of an item and less of a material, it can serve as an Essence Battery
Yes, she is not about to give up seven hours of extra time each night. It's almost like her and a certain someone have a lot in common
Wod demons almost all have amnesia to be 'small' enough to escape hell and finding something alive that can contain them. The theme of a demon the fallen game can go many ways, but they made sure that the human they're possessing has a outsized influence in the character, and thus the chronicle flavor. Also nerfing.
There are demons that never went to hell\escaped using alternative means and were made surlier by living in the WoD and the deluxe ashtray treatment they got and are exclusively antagonists possessing large objects or geography (earthbound). Lucifer is going 'who dis? New phone. \disconnect' to their calls, unlike dresden files lucifer that still seems pretty invested on that whole against the heavens thing.
There are a lot of differences besides 'christian angels'. Id expect many demon\fallen angels of the WoD to potentially not be 'that bad a person' especially if they're lucky with the host, and id expect any of the fallen on the DF to be much harder to 'redeem', pretty much requiring divine plans (lasciel herself wasnt redeemed, just her shadow).
OOC: A bit of a short update, but Olivia is the firs member of the Order of the Cauldron you are taking to your realm, how you choose to do so is quite relevant.
VOTE
[X] Focus on your secular duties: I might not know what I am doing, but I am trying to learn and not break anything in the meantime
Molly is explicitly still either freaking out about the metaphysical side?
Or trying very hard not to think about them yet.
I dont see any way that she would start out by introducing the metaphysical side to a guest.
Well, as a devil's advocate - the metaphysical bit is more relatable to Olivia, whose life also was affected by ancient and unknown legacy (raksha ancestry in her case)
[X] Focus on the metaphysics: You know how I told you my power is old strange. Well turns out I did not know the half of it
-[X] Stunt: Turns out there is no Crown without an Empire
Noting that Lash has a good grasp on how persuasive a motivated Molly can be.
Even more amusing that she knows about it, knows when Molly is doing it, and still cant actually muster up a good enough argument to thwart her.
I wouldnt be surprised if it turns out that she turns out to be a motorcycle person instead.
Which would make the second blond woman in Dresden's life, after Murphy, who has a fondness for motorcycles. At least Lash appears to be around six feet tall in her mental image, which would put her around the same height as both Molly and Charity.
Shiela is the first name that she gave to Dresden when appearing to him for the first time.
Lash is the name that Dresden gave her. notTiffany, derived from Theophania, is the name that she sorta introduced herself to Molly as. Wonder what her new Name will be.
Either way, Molly's involvement in this is going to be so deep that she'll probably know Lash's incarnation Name in excruciating detail whether or not she shares it.
Its a good thing for Lash that an incarnation constitutes such a major life event as to change your Name, because I am reasonably sure that Lasciel knows her current Name.
I do wonder what her internal reaction was to hearing the Uriel namedrop.
Noting how that little comment set everything off.
I think this is about the point where both Dresden and Lash learn not to make suggestions around Molly that they arent ready to follow through, because she'll take the ball and RUN with it.
You can just tell when Lash realizes that Molly is not only serious, but capable of doing what she ways
Porter gets to see Ancient Sorcery at work as a spectator for the first time.
I dont think he was awake for when Molly exorcised the orphan who got possessed by a demon of Yomi Wan.
Wonder what he was thinking.
Also, Dresden just saw Ancient Sorcery for the first time ever.
For a wizard, an actual magic caster interested in his Craft, that must have been one of the more fascinating things he's seen.
Of course, with Molly around, Dresden is risking weirdness/uniqueness overload.
I'm guessing that Essence vessel is probably going to be one of the components of the Arcana we're going to make
And Molly keeps invoking Primordials.
Interesting that she resonates with Luna of all people. I would have thought one of the Maidens was more likely; Secrets, probably.
Revealing look at Lash's attitude towards her clone-mother there though.
That comment about what memories Lash was allowed to keep was nasty.
Scarily plausibly, but revealing a very nasty set of calculations there.
Very nice touch on the part of the QM.
Going to note that according to the rolls, Harry is Arete 5.
Not bad at all for a 30-something year old. His Spheres are probably a fair bit lower(I'd WAG Forces 3, Correspondence/Entropy/Matter 2, Mind/Spirit/Prime 1, Life/Time 0), but it does demonstrate why so many people appear to want him, even without counting the Starborn custom Merit.
And there you see that wizard Willpower roll in action.
I wonder if the Jade Dogs could hear Dresden make noise, and what they thought was happening.Given as noone came to check, Im going to assume the soundproofing is good.
I do wonder if the healing effect of the potions also healed the lingering damage from when his left hand got napalmed.
Or if Molly will have to get him a regeneration potion from her Hell for Christmas.
Noting that Seal with interest. I suspect it might be plot-relevant.
Now that Lash is out of Dresden? It frees up the Jade Talisman for Lydia's Christmas Gift.
Or rather just as equipment.
A gift will probably be something more mundane.
Green eyes, blond hair.
That's different; in Dead Beat chapter 25, she's described as having deep blue eyes.
That was odd, because I'd never been in a cave like this, either.
"Hello?" I called. My voice bounced around the empty cavern.
I heard the sound of movement, and a woman stepped into sight from behind a rock formation. She was a little taller than average and had hair that fell in a sheet of golden silk to her shoulders. She was dressed in a silken tunic belted with soft rope, both pure white. The outfit neither displayed any impropriety nor allowed anyone looking to ignore the beauty of the body it clothed. Her eyes were of a deep, deep blue, like a sunny October sky, and her skin glowed with wholesome appeal. She was, quite simply, a stunning creature.
"Hello. I thought it was time we had a talk," she said. "You've had a hard day. I thought pleasant surroundings might suit you."
I eyed her for a moment. I was naked, which was good. The surface of the pool had enough in the way of bubbles and froth to be opaque, which was also good. It saved me the embarrassment of my response to her. "Who are you?"
She lifted golden brows in a faint smile, and seated herself beside the hot tub, on the floor of the cave, her legs together and to one side, her hands folded on her lap. "Have you not reasoned it yourself by now?"
I stared at her for a long minute and then said, quietly, "Lasciel."
Maybe she just changed because of all the blue-eyed blondes in Dresden's life.
Interesting that some variant of Enochian appears to be related to Old Realm.
We might want to look into this in our copious free time.
Look around for any books or texts in (alleged)Enochian. Time to visit Bock's next yea.
Molly's reminder that she had class was all sorts of hilarious.
Im guessing that Lash probably has like Academics 5, and either Library 5+, Dream or Mnesis as fundamental parts of her character sheet.
Maybe we should be looking at Demon The Fallen for insight as to where the QM is going.
Poor Harry is walking around in shock; first time in ~4 years he's been alone in his head.
I think the only persons who knew about Lasciel were Will and Georgia of the Alphas, Bob and Michael. He tells Murphy, but only years later. And that means the only people he can talk to about the exorcism are Michael and Bob.
Im guessing he is getting rid of Lasciel's Coin to Father Forthill in the next couple of days.
Pity; I would have loved Molly to be there when its dug up, so she can actually see a Coin, and more importantly, be able to use the scene as a Crown focus.
Looks like we'll have to devote an action in January to getting our Resources back up to 4.
I was hoping to put that off until March and the ~$390 million lottery.
Ah well. Not like we need cash immediately.
I do wonder how that conversation with Thomas went after Molly dumped a duffelbag of $100 bills on his desk.
Probably gonna need ID documents for Lash as well, but that can wait.
Charity keeps enjoying bonuses against her daughter
Its always fun to see children realize that their parents are people too.
Ah Olivia.
A reminder that she is literally still a teenager herself, and as hotheaded as one. Gonna need some cold water on her head, or potentially enough information to make it clear that the wizards were trying to avoid bringing more trouble to their ends.
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.
Hmm.
To be fair, there's very little Age of Legends tech that Molly would need a heartstone to run; RL tech generally has peer equivalents or superiors. Magic stuff, maybe, but thats very high end.
An airbase/hangar for magitech transports would certainly help justify the need for a manse, though.
Honestly, I'm very okay with just killing people who don't willingly drop the Coin.
Even the Knights are okay with killing those.
No need to go through all those hoops when the solution is a blade's edge away.
The Knights consider it a failure for everyone they have to kill. Michael repeatedly tries to talk Nicodemus down.
And Molly's death count is quite likely approaching, or past, that of Sanya, despite a career thats a fraction of the length of his.
Its as much for her sake as that of any Denarians that she tries to salvage.
Strongly disagree with the last bit. A Denarian that doesn't want to give up the Coin can die.
To be clear, if the situation allows it I'm in favor of using our full suite of supernatural abilities, from social skills to an alchemical Willpower-boost for the host to give them a genuine chance at dropping the Coin.
But if they don't, we should kill them.
Not like they'll stop being a problem after being forcefully de-Coined, as seen with Cassius.
Sure you are. Is Molly? Because we are roleplaying her.
Every body Molly kills is someone she has to carry for however long she lives.
Do remember that even Dresden has let multiple assassins, from Binder to Stevie, walk away after taking a shot at him.
Furthermore?
Any living Denarian is an intelligence motherlode on what he/she and his Fallen have been up to for the period they were together as host and guest, which makes it a lot easier to spike any longterm plans, identify allies and dupes and the like.
And Molly, as empress of the Brass Courts, literally has a nationstate's intelligence services behind her to spend time on extracting that information. The ability to take and hold longterm prisoners of different species and allegiances for interrogation is a strategic advantage that we should exploit to its fullest extent.
Like you said, see Cassius. More than a thousand years of operating as a Denarian with the Fallen Saluriel.
Often as part of Nicodemus' inner circle. Then later as accomplice to a Kemmlerite.
Imagine exactly how much we could have gotten him to spill if he'd fallen into Molly's hands after the Courts showed up.
Well, as a devil's advocate - the metaphysical bit is more relatable to Olivia, whose life also was affected by ancient and unknown legacy (raksha ancestry in her case)
I dont see it.
Olivia has no frame of reference for any of that; she literally only just found out that she had any spirit influence in her life when Molly told her about it.
A middle-class white person in the US finding out that they have Black ancestry in one of those 23andme tests doesnt automatically make the struggles of African people relatable.