Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
Vote closed.
Because I know we're never going to actually invest in getting investigation or tracking skills, we have the tools of ultimate divination but we lack the ability to track someone who is on the move away from a certain place we have Dresden but he also has the same issue we do. we need to have someone who is capable of it and why not get a mystical Hound / pet while we're at it it's really a good deal I hope this is legal because holy shit is it difficult to actually make a character sheet on computer.
Willpower 8
Attributes
Abilities
(Bold are Favored Abilities)
A hound named hurricane blessed to always find its prey the Hunter. A Hound that would not be difficult to mistake for a German Shepherd if not for the abnormal size at a standing height of about a thigh on a normal human and a sitting height of about a hip along with teeth if bared that show Red Steel.
Willpower 8
Attributes
| PHYSICAL Primary +superior Body x2 | SOCIAL | MENTAL (secondary Superior Mind X2 | |
| Strength ●●●●○○○○ | Charisma ●●○○○ |
| |
| Dexterity ●●●●●●●○ | Manipulation ●○○○○ | Intelligence ●●●○○○○ | |
| Stamina ●●●●○○○○ | Appearance ●●●○○ | Wits ●●●○○○ |
Abilities
(Bold are Favored Abilities)
| TALENTS | SKILLS | KNOWLEDGES | |
| Animal Ken ○○○○○ | Academics ○○○○○ | |
| Athletics ○○○○○ | Crafts ○○○○○ | Computer ○○○○○ | |
| Awareness ●●●●● | Drive ○○○○○ | Finance ○○○○○ | |
| Brawl ○○○○○ | Etiquette ○○○○○ | Investigation ●●●●○ | |
| Firearms ○○○○○ | Law ○○○○○ | |
| Expression ○○○○○ | Larceny ○○○○○ | Medicine○○○○○ | |
| Intimidation ○○○○○ | Melee ○○○○○ | Occult ○○○○○ | |
| Leadership ○○○○○ | Performance ○○○○○ | Politics ○○○○○ | |
| Streetwise ○○○○○ | Stealth ●●●●● | Science ○○○○○ | |
| Subterfuge ○○○○○ | Survival ●●●●● | Technology ○○○○○ |
Emanations can soak lethal damage, but not aggravated.
Select either the Umbra or the Underworld. This is the emanation's native home. It may roam freely in its native realm, where it enjoys the natural ability to converse with the other native denizens and to navigate without undue difficulty (in the Umbra, this amounts to having the Charm Airt Sense, while in the Underworld it amounts to having several dots of Argos). The phantasm may manifest in the physical world only while within one hundred yards of its keystone, or within ten yards of its master. It must pay one Willpower to remain manifest for a scene. It may pay one Willpower to immediately teleport to its master's or keystone's location.
If the phantasm's master the emanation's name, the Arcana hears her words wherever it may be. If she commands the ephemera to attend her, it may teleport to her master's location and manifest without paying any Willpower. If the keystone is destroyed, the phantasm is also destroyed. If the emanation is slain, it may reform one hundred years later within its keystone. Each point of Essence fed into the keystone by its master quickens this recovery by 10 years.
If the emanation's master has learned The King and the Kingdom: The Thousand and First Hell, the phantasm may treat its master's Hell as a keystone.
Ephemera are always otherworldly, disturbing beings with demonic features of some sort that cannot be mistaken for as human.
Select either the Umbra or the Underworld. This is the emanation's native home. It may roam freely in its native realm, where it enjoys the natural ability to converse with the other native denizens and to navigate without undue difficulty (in the Umbra, this amounts to having the Charm Airt Sense, while in the Underworld it amounts to having several dots of Argos). The phantasm may manifest in the physical world only while within one hundred yards of its keystone, or within ten yards of its master. It must pay one Willpower to remain manifest for a scene. It may pay one Willpower to immediately teleport to its master's or keystone's location.
If the phantasm's master the emanation's name, the Arcana hears her words wherever it may be. If she commands the ephemera to attend her, it may teleport to her master's location and manifest without paying any Willpower. If the keystone is destroyed, the phantasm is also destroyed. If the emanation is slain, it may reform one hundred years later within its keystone. Each point of Essence fed into the keystone by its master quickens this recovery by 10 years.
If the emanation's master has learned The King and the Kingdom: The Thousand and First Hell, the phantasm may treat its master's Hell as a keystone.
Ephemera are always otherworldly, disturbing beings with demonic features of some sort that cannot be mistaken for as human.
The Arcana can project its thoughts into the minds of other nearby people to communicate with them. It can communicate with its master across up to (Arcana rating x 100 miles) of distance. By spending a point of Willpower, it can also receive communications from someone… or, to put it another way, it actively reads their surface thoughts for the rest of the scene. The target can always sense this, and can shut the Arcana out by spending a point of Willpower.
The Arcana gains three additional dots of Mental Attributes, which may increase its traits to 6. Taking this Feature a second time provides only two bonus dots, but raises the permitted cap to 7.
The Arcana gains three additional dots of Physical Attributes, which may increase its traits to 6. Taking this Feature a second time provides only two bonus dots, but raises the permitted cap to 7.
You remember, with perfect detail, things you see and hear. Documents, photographs, conversations, etc., can be committed to memory with minor concentration. If you as the player forget an important piece of information the Storyteller believes your character would recall, the Storyteller will jog your memory. Under stressful conditions involving numerous distractions, you must make a Perception + Alertness roll to concentrate and absorb what your senses detect.
You have a sixth sense warning you of danger. When in danger, the Storyteller will make a roll against your Perception + Alertness; the difficulty depends on the remoteness of the danger. If the roll succeeds, the Storyteller will say you have a sense of foreboding. Multiple successes may refine the feeling and give an indication of direction, distance, or nature.
Your physical sentences are unusually strong, capturing nuances that few people ever notice. In game terms, your character reduces the difficulty of her perception-based roles by -2. At the 1 Point level a single sentence (vision, hearing, touch, taste, smell) is more cute than usual at the 3-point level all five physical senses are equally Sharp.
The Arcana doesn't really have proper hands, as such; or if it does, they're not really equipped with functional fingers. It also doesn't have anything to adequately substitute for the lack, like nimble tentacles or pseudopods. As such, it suffers a +2 difficulty penalty when engaging in tasks requiring fine manipulation.
The Arcana has the mind of a beast. While it can still understand its master's commands, it cannot understand anyone else's speech, and cannot use language. It cannot be designed to possess the following Abilities: Academics, Computer, Crafts, Drive, Etiquette, Firearms, Finance, Larceny, Law, Science, or Technology.
It was true at the time, but things change.
I like the tree design I posted earlier as a generalized solution for despair eaters. We can work something out for the others too, but Skavis need an artificial source more than they do.
Arc 11 Post 43: The Scent of Times Gone By
The Scent of Times Gone By
12th of January 2007 A.D.
If Lash's attempts to get to talk had been effortlessly elegant, your own attempt at recruiting him is harrowing. He does not fight back, not even with words, he doubts and wonders which of the powers of the city you represent, or what use you may have for such seeming fantastical lies. But Mutt had seen fantastical lives before, they glitter on billboards and call over from tables covered in sour smoke and broken dreams. In the end one is left to darkly wonder if he had agreed to come with the four of you not because because he believes you, but because he believes nothing and this at least promises him a more interesting end than playing the part of Cerberus to one narrow, squalid slice of hell.
So, trailing a shadow you make your way to the Strip. It's everything you could have imagined and some things you could not, a canvas painted clashing colours, each bolder than the last: blood red and icy blue, decadent purple, sizzling gold, a cauldron of humanity from all walks of life, all directions of the compass stewing in booze and cigarettes, but most of all in that ever intoxicant of substances, hope. There aren't any big casinos around just an assortment souvenir shops to mark your triumphs and strip malls for the cheap booze to drown your sorrows into but their advertisements falls across every way, luminous shadows of fortunes unmade, the customers all too willing seducees.
"Exciting isn't it?" Tiffany asks. Her tone is even, her cheeks are flushed. "So much roiling passion it feels like you're at sea, the peaks and vales writ in the lines of the human soul. Wanting to play just to see the emotions dance and flicker."
You open your mouth to say 'no', but that's not what comes out. "Can't really gamble and mean it though. Don't care about the money."
"Oh, but we are gambling," the demon offers with a knowing smile. Just with things far more precious than dollars. She motions ahead and as if my magic your destination reveals itself behind a stand of date trees. It's a nightclub in the 'ultralounge' style which Lash explains had become very popular less than ten years ago, offering as it does the a mix of the casual and the exclusive with VIP "bottle service" for an exorbitant
amount of money—this provides one with a reserved seating area one's whole party and, as the name suggests, bottles of alcohol. To this cocktail the Hanging Gardens adds one more thing, an air of the exotic columns in polished limestone set in a style older the the invention of dome and arch reveal nooks filled with the animal headed gods, some merely statues, others drinking fountains and snack dispensers, the courtiers of Ishtar's court. There the goddess is unwinding one of her veils upon the bass relief, an eight-pointed star upon her brow, and there gentling a lion with but a warning touch of her hand, alabaster bathed in neon lights.
"It smells like strong wine, like flour and... ash?" Lydia looks to Lash. "There's definitely something there, something more than mortal magic."
"Kamān tumri, pure cakes of unleavened flour baked in the ash from the day's of fire as she was born anew in the depths of the underworld, of the forms of the Ishtar far from the grandest, but the most lasting."
"I'm going to stop you right there," Harry interjects. "Cake's great and all, but compared to all this..." he motions at the entryway, the temple not really hiding what it is.
"Statues left in darkness, altars buried in the sands are no more forms of the gods than a skeleton in a tomb is a man," the once-demon recounts. "But what does a man know what his wife bakes in the privacy of her own domain in the dark hours before dawn? This is a mark I had not expected to find. Arlene Ghorbani it seems is no mere explorer of old faiths, but an heir to unbroken legacy now walking in the light, as much as anything in this city is at least."
As you try to enter a pair of guards in crimson and yellow bar your way, the look in their eyes troubled but undeterred as they move from your face to Lydia's, lingering on her earrings, to Harry's staff, to Tiffany where they kind of stutter to a halt at her beauty. Soo unfair. A small but all too lively part of you sighs
Mutt's scornful laughter startles them back to their senses. The one on the left stutters out: "Do you have a reservation?"
How do you handle introductions?
[] Let Tiffany handle it, she seems to have things... under control (Manipulation + Empathy)
[] Ask to speak to Arlene about a business proposition (Charisma + Leadership)
[] Lydia formally seeks entrance into the House of Ishtar for herself and her companions (Manipulation + Etiquette)
[] Harry, speaking as a Warden of the White Council (Charisma + Intimidation)
[] Write in
OOC: Hope this isn't going too slow, but I really do need to know what approach you are taking this and it made sense to ask this after I'd given you a roll to sense the presence in the temple.
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"Come with me and I will show you wonders your mind can hardly comprehend. I will give to you..."
"Lady, I don't really care. At this point I would be half tempted to follow a 5 dollar hooker down a dark alley on the off chance something other than a half brick in a sock waits for me. You, at least, promise an entertaining death."
"Lady, I don't really care. At this point I would be half tempted to follow a 5 dollar hooker down a dark alley on the off chance something other than a half brick in a sock waits for me. You, at least, promise an entertaining death."
I have a second point to raise.
Mutt can easily feed ethically in our kingdom. Ending one's life in our world isn't unethical and simply allows one to start anew. While we try to minimize and treat things like depression I strongly suspect that people who are simply depressed to the point that treatment is not fully effective exist and when death is a revolving door I also suspect there is a point where "Maybe you should just try again?" becomes the medically recommended course of action.
Mutt can easily feed ethically in our kingdom. Ending one's life in our world isn't unethical and simply allows one to start anew. While we try to minimize and treat things like depression I strongly suspect that people who are simply depressed to the point that treatment is not fully effective exist and when death is a revolving door I also suspect there is a point where "Maybe you should just try again?" becomes the medically recommended course of action.
@DragonParadox I was reading over the spell awakened eye of the Dragon. Does Molly know the last stations nature or would she only find out if she did the spell?
She would definitely learn more if she cast the spell.
This has been covered on the last few pages; Mutt can't eat unless the target wants to end their life, dying with the intent and expectation that you'll come back doesn't count.
The people who want out have to pass rigorous psychological exams to make sure they're really sure, and the unavoidable consequences of feeding would interfere with them.
We shouldn't use Harry's warden status if we can avoid it, since that's trading on the council's reputation. Tiffany is probably not going to impress once we hit someone who knows enough to see the marks of the fallen.
Nominally we came here because of Lydia, but I'm skeptical of the idea that a minor Welsh god of death and Ishtar had any personal connection. Which leaves her a demigod petitioning a foreign goddess; not exactly a sure thing.
This is Molly's show, we're technically the only one getting paid* and the only one with a personal grudge against Sandra.
* Not to just keep stacking crafting task, but we really should let our circle and near circle allies feel the love too. Splendors are a lot, but prodigies can be very powerful too. Even handing out some weapons and armor from the FCF would take even less time and be a straightforward improvement.
Their quest reward for Vegas should a bunch of ray guns.
To be fair you are not talking to Ishtar, as far as Lash and Lydia were able to sense, you are going to talk to a high priestess, one who is from an unbroken line of mentor and acolyte going back to at least the days of the Assyrians. It is guaranteed that she has some kind of sponsored magic.
We have no idea who her mother is. For all we know she's the daughter of Isis or something equally as outrageous.
I kind of agree but people seem to be allergic for lack of a better word to spending AP on anything that isn't social or murder or finding out things for more murder or more social which is painful for an exalted Quest if I just wanted socials and murder I would just read any generic fantasy especially when they cheap out on the murder.
So what are we going to offer and reveal here?
This is unlikely to be a long term investment for us, and it's unlikely they'll take cash for this kind of trouble. I'd rather not trade another IOU for a splendor either.
A well designed prodigy that we can make right now would be the most I'd go for, and that's more because I really like the crafting magic items* than because it's a necessarily a good idea.
Maybe we could offer information for information? It's not like we knows our sources and our reputation is sterling for what Molly feels like. Offer information gathering services in the future on par with the value of what she gives us now.
* This does spark another idea actually; we're not the only ones who exploit this stuff, and one of the many benefits of the FCF is that it has quality reagents at industrial scale.
We can't make exalted items from them, but they do work for alchemy and potentially other skills we don't possess. As Molly herself pointed out, earth mortals can't pop down to the corner store for a bottle of liquid hunger or powdered darkness. They need to work with what they have available.
If the temple has those sort of talents around, which would fit with the cooking elements, the FCF equivalent of a cart full of products from CVS could be very useful.
To bad we don't have access to the SBS charmset though, this would make it worth a long term entanglement:
System: Spend 5 Essence while touching an open vessel filled with water (such as a large bowl or chalice) and dedicating it to a person or spirit. If it is to be dedicated to someone other than the Infernal, the subject or a priest of the subject must likewise touch the vessel. Afterwards, a flame alights atop the water.
As long as the vessel stays intact and the flame stays lit (and it will, so long as the vessel contains any amount of water) the vessel bestows the following effects:
The Infernal can maintain up to her Essence rating + Cult rating in vessels. No person or spirit other than the Infernal can have more vessels dedicated to them than their Cult rating.
Even then "demigod interacts with high priest of someone other than their parent" is a pretty dicey proposition.
I doubt it is though, because Arawn is a guppy and a fuckup. If he had a kid with a goddess big enough for us to know the name of he wouldn't be the only side of her heritage to express itself.
Prodigies take an hour a cost-dot to enchant after you finish the mundane crafting, and don't cost reagents till the third dot. Technically we could produce a utility belt of tools with a week of effort and just swap the attuned set around as needed. Hell, we could make little gizmos for everyone.
Mirror-metal tools with 1 dot difficulty reducers for their primary occult/sensory/combat stuff would be great even if we didn't get creative with it.
Our current paradigm of one or two items per
AP is frustrating, but we probably need a compromise between this and that.
This is unlikely to be a long term investment for us, and it's unlikely they'll take cash for this kind of trouble. I'd rather not trade another IOU for a splendor either.
A well designed prodigy that we can make right now would be the most I'd go for, and that's more because I really like the crafting magic items* than because it's a necessarily a good idea.
Maybe we could offer information for information? It's not like we knows our sources and our reputation is sterling for what Molly feels like. Offer information gathering services in the future on par with the value of what she gives us now.
* This does spark another idea actually; we're not the only ones who exploit this stuff, and one of the many benefits of the FCF is that it has quality reagents at industrial scale.
We can't make exalted items from them, but they do work for alchemy and potentially other skills we don't possess. As Molly herself pointed out, earth mortals can't pop down to the corner store for a bottle of liquid hunger or powdered darkness. They need to work with what they have available.
If the temple has those sort of talents around, which would fit with the cooking elements, the FCF equivalent of a cart full of products from CVS could be very useful.
To bad we don't have access to the SBS charmset though, this would make it worth a long term entanglement:
Inextinguishable Sacred Flame (•••••)
The Infernal consecrates a vessel with the fires of her heart, helping facilitate proper devotion to the gods among the faithful — and proper respect to the Infernal among the gods.System: Spend 5 Essence while touching an open vessel filled with water (such as a large bowl or chalice) and dedicating it to a person or spirit. If it is to be dedicated to someone other than the Infernal, the subject or a priest of the subject must likewise touch the vessel. Afterwards, a flame alights atop the water.
As long as the vessel stays intact and the flame stays lit (and it will, so long as the vessel contains any amount of water) the vessel bestows the following effects:
- While they are at rest and free from distraction, the subject can directly speak through, see through, and listen from the flame for a scene with a Stamina + Occult roll at difficulty 6. Anyone viewing or touching the flame during this time is a valid target for abilities requiring eye contact or touch (respectively) from the subject.
- The subject benefits from effects similar to the Hear Prayers charm or discipline, but with a radius centered on the vessel. This is in addition to the effects of the actual charm or discipline, should he know it.
- The vessel can substitute as the subject's person for the Prayer-Eating charm or discipline, allowing him to benefit from it without being physically present at the ceremony. The ceremony must be performed by a priest of the subject.
- The Infernal lowers the difficulty of all social actions and mind-affecting charms against the subject by 2.
- Finally, should the Infernal die, the flame on the nearest vessel briefly expands to the size of a bonfire before dying back and revealing her unmarred body and a shattered vessel. Reincarnating in this fashion reduces the Infernal's Essence rating by 1. If this would reduce her to Essence 0, then reincarnation is impossible.
The Infernal can maintain up to her Essence rating + Cult rating in vessels. No person or spirit other than the Infernal can have more vessels dedicated to them than their Cult rating.
That makes sense. I figured we'd stir some interest from corporate when the report came in, but they are pretty restricted these days.
Even then "demigod interacts with high priest of someone other than their parent" is a pretty dicey proposition.
If that ends up being the case we need story time with Arawn, cause that'd be crazy.
I doubt it is though, because Arawn is a guppy and a fuckup. If he had a kid with a goddess big enough for us to know the name of he wouldn't be the only side of her heritage to express itself.
I think part of it is working out how to balance the AP.
Prodigies take an hour a cost-dot to enchant after you finish the mundane crafting, and don't cost reagents till the third dot. Technically we could produce a utility belt of tools with a week of effort and just swap the attuned set around as needed. Hell, we could make little gizmos for everyone.
Mirror-metal tools with 1 dot difficulty reducers for their primary occult/sensory/combat stuff would be great even if we didn't get creative with it.
Our current paradigm of one or two items per
AP is frustrating, but we probably need a compromise between this and that.
[X] Lydia formally seeks entrance into the House of Ishtar for herself and her companions (Manipulation + Etiquette)
-[X] Use manipulation excellency
-[X] Use manipulation excellency
- Location
- Germany
[X] Lydia formally seeks entrance into the House of Ishtar for herself and her companions (Manipulation + Etiquette)
-[X] Use manipulation excellency
-[X] Use manipulation excellency
Yeah I just get kind of frustrated with the complete lack of Engagement I guess with the infrastructure of how we are meant to use our abilities. We chose to be a witch as well as an infernal with high occult and high craft but then there's always an argument about what we can use it on how we can use it or if we can make those things better and it always feels draining.
Why bother being an infernal or playing a witch or wizard if you're never going to do magic make magic items or going to affect change in the world around you why even bother playing exalted at that point it's just deeply frustrating.
Maybe I can kind of understand it cuz in real life better crafting or industrialization is literally all about numbers go up. In exalted and in general magic settings the adventure comes from you need to gather a pure Elemental water so you can make this specific metal for this specific Wonder.
So to me there is a story to be told there that doesn't revolve around talking to the awful fairies and having to deal with the generally terrible things that we do not get to kill that is still interesting and benefits our character and Our Character like Lily helping her really put me back on. That is using your abilities to effect a real change in the world to help somebody.
Then let me get to the real kicker the out and out rejection of messing with real things. Corrupt politicians corrupt police dealing with the housing issues like anything that might affect a real change in people's lives that is complete within our ability to do something about rejected out of hand.
Now Dragon Paradox may have said something about not want to deal with real world stuff that I missed but I don't think they did but it still was just rejected. That's the kind of stuff at least to me that makes up the meat and potatoes of exalted you've got the real politic and you've got the Fantastical elements.
The fact that we didn't jump on the White Court influence peddling and trafficking rings made my fuckin brain and heart hurt so bad. The fact we didn't kill that sadistic evil deity that chose to be a sadistic evil deity and we killed one of his followers makes me want to fucking scream That thing is an obligate kidnapper and torturer Praying On innocent people And we let it get away twice.
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- Location
- Who knows?
Eh I think the genuine suicidal despair is the food, so peaceful death wouldn't work unless we do infernal crafting. At that point might as well try to go full hog.
Lydia's heavily implied daddy dearest played hooky with the Egyptians for her creation. I am legit interested in what's going on there.
[X] Lydia formally seeks entrance into the House of Ishtar for herself and her companions (Manipulation + Etiquette)
-[X] Use manipulation excellency