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Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

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DragonParadox said:
For some reason he gives you a guilty look.
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Probably because someone's been using that trick themselves and didn't notice it got subverted. Maybe a contingent curse for betrayal?
DragonParadox said:
That is when Lydia steps in looking halfway between frazzled and frustrated with news from the old man. Apparently he had gotten a vision that she should visit them over at the preserve and the rest of you should leave 'for your own good'. Now where had you heard that one before?
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I'm sure the Ra'ck is a mineral of honor, but I'd rather burn its temple down ourselves than follow that suggestion.
 
uju32 said:
A mindcontrolling slot machine. In Vegas.
It would be hilarious if it wasnt horrifying.
It does tell us that Sandra has access to high-end Enchantment in order to pull that off.

@DragonParadox
QUESTION
1) Is Oliver Adkin black? What ethnicity does he appear to be?
2) Why didnt Lash get a supernatural awareness roll on Adkin? Lydia fumbled hers, but there were two people there with supernatural senses.
3) What time is it? Are we now in a new day? How many hours from dawn? I ask because with a new day, everyone's pool of mojo refreshes.
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  1. Nope, he's white. Lash would guess English born and bread from his mannerisms
  2. For reasons that have to do with the difference between her and Lydia which would be spoilers to reveal, Lydia was the only one who could get that
  3. It is 23:45, yes you are technically, it is almost tomorrow. Also unfortunately Molly's Essense refreshes at dawn specifically
 
This one may end up being a bad idea, but I think it's worth considering the possibility of getting ourselves some demon support since we're facing mook spam. Molly regens faster in the FCF anyway so we're not giving up essence by doing those at the same time.

Taking too long out of contact is potentially dangerous, but we can work around that. Molly can bring some back with her if they're ready to go on the spot, but Harry is a half decent summoner even though it isn't his focus.

The big complication with demons isn't really getting them to show up anyway, it's doing it safely. Our presence or prior arrangement makes that significantly less of an issue.

We should pay them somehow, but I find it unlikely there aren't any willing to help their over-soul for secrets or earth luxuries. Maybe some Lord of the Land sourced stuff for whatever they're a part of on the other side.

Get some names and pay scale limits and get out with whatever immortals want to come in our return window, then have Harry summon any others we need up to whatever our practical cap is.

We're playing a god-damned demon planet, we don't need to let them hem us in with anti-murder hobo tactics.

There's also the possibility, either in addition to or as replacement for the above, of using our shiny new arsenal background to up arm everyone with loaners. Those ray guns are bullshit and make poking a group of prepared baselines way more dangerous. For reference:

DragonParadox said:
High quality electro flux gun: Damage 9 Levels; Range 400; Ammo: 5 (Can be recharged with Mana if the user possesses it) Conceal T (Trenchcoat) Special: Aggravated Damage as if it were flame; +2 Accuracy Bonus from the bound machine spirit
Electro-laser pistol: Damage 6 Levels; Range 50; Ammo: 15 (Can be recharged with Mana if the user possesses it) Conceal J (Jaket) Special: Aggravated Damage as if it were fire; +2 Accuracy Bonus from the bound machine spirit
Silver-Weave Armour: +4 Armour -1 DEX
Surge Kit: High end medical nano-tech from vat grown Waste lifeforms magically realigned to human biology The user rolls Stamina+Medicine with each success healing 1 point of lethal damage or two points of bashing damage, starting with the most severe wounds. A botch causes debilitating pain lasting three to five hours hours (-2 Additional Wound Penalty)
Haywyre Grenades: Destroy non-hardened electronics in 30 yards
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They're nearly uniformly better than the base version of whatever weapon type they are even without the special rules. I shudder to think of what assault rifles and the like do from the same tech tree.

The first vamps to think they can shrug off the bullets if it gets them to the blood bags faster would very briefly regret it.

Artemis1992 said:
Clearly whatever prophecy or divine insight or psychometric reading the old guy here had told him he needed Lydia at his temple.
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Yog said:
Possible, but I am unsure. If it's actually a sign, he's likely misinterpreting it. He's not super informed, I feel. He certainly doesn't know that there are three ladies, each of whom might be of interest to his god
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He's looking for the girl who called in the warning, which was Molly.

I wouldn't be surprised if the messenger was given the minimum possible information so he couldn't give as much away if captured. He has no reason to think that there's a more appropriate party member for the role of "anti-blamp girl" than the teenage demigod of death who met with him.

Actually, we should probably stunt in Lydia coaching him before meeting Molly so that we don't have a problem.
 
BronzeTongue said:
We're playing a god-damned demon planet, we don't need to let them hem us in with anti-murder hobo tactics.
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Yeah, collecting a squad of highly augmented commandos from our Hell and pretending they're in costume seems like a good idea.

I mean, if the enemy is throwing around RPGs on the streets, then it's a bit late to worry about things getting a bit loud.

Actually, if we have them, something like armed stealth VTOL drones possessed by higher tier cyber-devils with actual powers would probably be possible. Just get the superhumanly strong cyber-commandos to carry them over. Or hell, a cyber-devil piloted loitering cruise missile we can have on standby.

I mean, I doubt that Sandra is expecting us to say 'I see your RPG ambush, and I raise you an airstrike', like she's the Taliban in the War on Terror.
 
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DragonParadox said:
"The hour is later than we had hoped..." the old man sighed, looking very grave and very wise and Lydia wanted nothing more than to grab him by the collar and shake him until he rattle while shouting: 'What in this world and the other are you doing here!' If someone had told her that one of the thrice-be damned Black Court was looking for something in her temple her immediate reaction would not have been to leave it!"The dead spoke one who had the hands of the Lady of the Temple. It is of you whom they spoke."
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Im guessing that Lydia hasnt realized that the Temple is on Summer Court territory
And thus benefits from Summer Court security
So not as reckless as it would first seem.
BronzeTongue said:
Probably because someone's been using that trick themselves and didn't notice it got subverted. Maybe a contingent curse for betrayal?
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Nice catch
Its worth keeping in mind that there are very few people with clean hands in this city
DragonParadox said:
  1. Nope, he's white. Lash would guess English born and bread from his mannerisms
  2. For reasons that have to do with the difference between her and Lydia which would be spoilers to reveal, Lydia was the only one who could get that
  3. It is 23:45, yes you are technically, it is almost tomorrow. Also unfortunately Molly's Essense refreshes at dawn specifically
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-White means that he's not the black person who was once a man that Molly saw in her vision.
Unless he's under a glamor.

-Fair.

-Alright.
So we need at least 30 minutes, if not an hour, to recharge Molly; an hour will take us up to 13/15, but even 30 minutes will raise her to 11/15 motes of Essence.
Alratan said:
Or she modified an already existing device in some way.
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Which would STILL require high-end Enchantment to do.
 
BronzeTongue said:
This one may end up being a bad idea, but I think it's worth considering the possibility of getting ourselves some demon support since we're facing mook spam. Molly regens faster in the FCF anyway so we're not giving up essence by doing those at the same time.
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We're not facing mookspam, as I understand it.
We're facing the risk of expendable repeat attackers, and thats a threat thats easier to avoid by simply not being recognized.

At the moment, Im not convinced we need the manpower.
Maybe if we needed to assault a hardpoint.
Alratan said:
Nemesis is particularly good at corrupting things, so I don't think this follows.
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At corrupting people. Not things.
We've only seen it using an item as a vector of corruption once, and that was a serious piece of kit that presumably required a shitton of preparation.

Besides, there's no evidence so far that Nemesis is involved in this particular plot, any more than it was directly involved in the entire Splattercon incident.
He's not the only great Walker, let alone the only Outsider,

Besides, Marling appears to be more or less an independent agent who doesnt require supervision.
 
uju32 said:
We're not facing mookspam, as I understand it.
We're facing the risk of expendable repeat attackers, and thats a threat thats easier to avoid by simply not being recognized.

At the moment, Im not convinced we need the manpower.
Maybe if we needed to assault a hardpoint.
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We're in a much better position if we bring in support we prove not to need than to not bring it in and then prove to need it later. We can always not order them into action if they're here.

And we could well find that Sandra has subverted the local army and air force bases and has tanks or can call in airstrikes of her own, or something equally annoying.

uju32 said:
At corrupting people. Not things.
We've only seen it using an item as a vector of corruption once, and that was a serious piece of kit that presumably required a shitton of preparation.

Besides, there's no evidence so far that Nemesis is involved in this particular plot, any more than it was directly involved in the entire Splattercon incident.
He's not the only great Walker, let alone the only Outsider,

Besides, Marling appears to be more or less an independent agent who doesnt require supervision.
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We have no evidence that it was significant work to subvert the athame, just that it was possible. It could have been easy or hard, we just don't know.
 
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[X] Lydia should go with Oliver back to his temple, according to your vision whatever is in there is linked to the Final Dusk, maybe she can get the stones to share some insights
-[X] Everyone goes, no break to recharge, not when the Blampire will probably act this night
-[X] Spend the ride in a bottle, to regain at least one or two Essence
 
Alratan said:
We're in a much better position if we bring in support we prove not to need than to not bring it in and then prove to need it later. We can always not order them into action if they're here.

And we could well find that Sandra has subverted the local army and air force bases and has tanks or can call in airstrikes of her own, or something equally annoying.
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No we are not.

The bigger our footprint in the city, the easier we are to track and to pin down, and the bigger the risk of unplanned confrontations. Pulling in a squad, or a short platoon of hitters into a city they dont know and where they'll stick out will simply make it easier for people to notice and track us.

And on a night where RPGs have already been used on the Las Vegas strip, a lot of people are going to be jittery.
We not only have to worry about Sandra and her collaborators and pawns, we also have to worry about entirely innocent civilians and officials of the law noticing something and someone amiss and acosting us.

So no. Hard disagree.
Alratan said:
We have no evidence that it was significant work to subvert the athame, just that it was possible. It could have been easy or hard, we just don't know.
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If it was easy, we would see a surfeit of Nemesis and Outsider tainted items used for subversion
You'd literally get shit as spam mail delivered by USPS: gift pens, bottle openers, nail clippers, USB drives, and any of the thousand and one things that get sent out as cheap memorabilia.

Since we dont see anything of the sort, it suggests that turning a physical item into a vector for Nfestation is a non-trivial exercise in power and skill and expertise.

Similarly, Peabody who mindcontrolled the bulk of the junior Wardens had to do so personally.
He couldnt just send everyone files of intelligence briefings and get them that way; he had to use magical inks to provide a vector for his influence, had to be present, and to work on his victims over days and months and years.
 
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uju32 said:
No we are not.

The bigger our footprint in the city, the easier we are to track and to pin down, and the bigger the risk of unplanned confrontations. Pulling in a squad, or a short platoon of hitters into a city they dont know and where they'll stick out will simply make it easier for people to notice and track us.

And on a night where RPGs have already been used on the Las Vegas strip, a lot of people are going to be jittery.
We not only have to worry about Sandra and her collaborators and pawns, we also have to worry about entirely innocent civilians and officials of the law noticing something and someone amiss and acosting us.

So no. Hard disagree.
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If we have bring in a squad of cyber-bakemono and a couple of devil possessed VTOL drones, they can stay here until we need them. It does not meaningful increase our exposed footprint in the city compared to how it is now. Indeed, it can add some much needed defences to a place we want to survive.

Refusing to do so just handicaps us.

uju32 said:
If it was easy, we would see a surfeit of Nemesis and Outsider tainted items used for subversion
You'd literally get shit as spam mail delivered by USPS: gift pens, bottle openers, nail clippers, USB drives, and any of the thousand and one things that get sent out as cheap memorabilia.

Since we dont see anything of the sort, it suggests that turning a physical item into a vector for Nfestation is a non-trivial exercise in power and skill and expertise.

Similarly, Peabody who mindcontrolled the bulk of the junior Wardens had to do so personally.
He couldnt just send everyone files of intelligence briefings and get them that way; he had to use magical inks to provide a vector for his influence, had to be present, and to work on his victims over days and months and years.
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Wardens are also taught magical mental defences and have magical senses up to and including the Sight. You have to be subtle to get to them because they can see what you're doing if you're not. The Leansidhe may have defences and inferior magical senses, but using the athame may well have opened a weakness that made her more vulnerable.

Regular people do not have those defences. Molly, almost completely untrained could mind control her friends. The Korean warlock that Harry saw executed was completely untrained and self taught and could manage.

Mind controlling mortals is not hard.
 
VOTE
[X]Plan Walk Without Rhythm
-[X] Arlene is right it would be helpful to be disguised so that you do not draw anymore bullets or worse as you are wandering around in public
-[X] You should take a chance to rest and get some Essence back: 30 minutes/2m
-[X] Dont split the party: Everyone goes to the temple
-[X]On way to temple, spend time in bottle of bleach to regen extra Essence: 15 minutes/1m
-[X]Crown Question: Focus RPG launcher 1: Identities of everyone currently suborned/mind-controlled by the person who ordered this weapon to be used in an ambush against us


RATIONALE
Walk without rhythm, and you wont attract the worm.

An enchanted slot machine could easily have impressed itself on hundreds, even thousands of people.
Arlene is right: Molly needs to take five minutes to change the appearance of herself and her party members, or we'll keep tripping over mooks and having to spend Essence to disable them. Thats a priority.

Change everyone's hair color, some fake glasses, maybe different clothes and hats, shit like that.
Ten minutes, Tool Constructs, some household chemicals, and maybe a hundred dollars of purchases.
And you have the return of Margaret Carpenter and her entourage.

Lash might be able to do outright temporary physical changes to Appearance with Lore of Flesh; I am not sure.
By the exact text she shouldnt be able to, but I think the QM said she can, back when we were discussing whether to bring Isabella to Vegas.

Crown question allows us to recognize everyone who might be out there and under mindwhammy to shoot Molly or her party members on sight.
AND it should count for Essence regen for that scene.


Quick Math
30 minutes rest = +2m
Crown Question to uncover secret = +1m
Tool Constructs to disguise party = -1m
Drive to temple = +1m

==
Net change in Essence = +3m
Final total = 9 + 3 = 12/15m Essence
 
Alratan said:
If we have bring in a squad of cyber-bakemono and a couple of devil possessed VTOL drones, they can stay here until we need them. It does not meaningful increase our footprint in the city compared to how it is now.

Refusing to do so just handicaps us.
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For one thing, you are taking unwonted liberties with a club and holy place that isnt our own.
Arlene's interests arent identical to ours, and you are making assumptions about her willingness to turn her HQ into an armed encampment for our use.


For another, this is a high end night club, with civilian patrons and staff around.
Milspec cyborgs will stick out worse than Las Vegas gangsters. Nevermind the space to actually stack milspec VTOL drones in the middle of Las fucking Vegas, literally 8 miles from Nellis AFB


And for a third, bringing people out of our Hell to Las Vegas and then stashing them across the city where they will have to try to get through Vegas traffic to get to any location? Is just a terrible logistical idea.
Are they supposed to run across the city? Bring their own helicopters and AFVs? Hire a cab?


If we need backup in this city, they stay in our Hell until we need them.
Bringing them out into this place makes no tactical sense.
Alratan said:
Wardens are also taught magical mental defences and have magical senses up to and including the Sight. You have to be subtle to get to them because they can see what you're doing if you're not. The Leansidhe may have defences and inferior magical senses, but using the athame may well have opened a weakness that made her more vulnerable.

Regular people do not have those defences. Molly, almost completely untrained could mind control her friends. The Korean warlock that Harry saw executed was completely untrained and self taught and could manage.
Mind controlling mortals is not hard.
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Regular people dont generally need those defences.
Molly required her own physical presence to mindfuck Rosie and Nelson.
The Korean warlock mindfucked his family and friends, people that he lived with and had regular contact with.

The commonality in all those cases was that the perpetrator was a mage/spellcaster who had unrestricted access to their victims and the time to work. They didnt, and couldnt, simply enchant some item to do it for them or to automate the process; they had to be there to whammy the mortal victim personally.

Literally the only item we know which can do that routinely does that sort of thing to mortals is a Denarian Coin.
 
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BoredMan said:
Wait how do we have 9 essence right now? We had 7 then spent 2 to capture those mooks then got 2 more back?
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We regained 2 Essence when Arlene briefed us about supernatural Las Vegas
DragonParadox said:
"Assuming some kind of collective intern leadership, or more likely an adjunct keeping the death of the previous leader a secret it would not be beyond the pale, it would not be the first keep to bar its gates until succession has been settled."

Regained 2 Essence -> Now at 9/15 (Urge)
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Lydia in the meantime should be around 6 7/7 Essence I think(need to check); her Jade Talisman is at 0/2 Essence.
Lash is at 0 Faith.
 
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Adhoc vote count started by Goldfish on Jan 14, 2024 at 7:55 PM, finished with 31 posts and 6 votes.
  • [X] Lydia should go with Oliver back to his temple, according to your vision whatever is in there is linked to the Final Dusk, maybe she can get the stones to share some insights
    -[X] Everyone goes, no break to recharge, not when the Blampire will probably act this night
    -[X] Spend the ride in a bottle, to regain at least one or two Essence
    [X]Plan Walk Without Rhythm
    -[X] Arlene is right it would be helpful to be disguised so that you do not draw anymore bullets or worse as you are wandering around in public
    -[X] You should take a chance to rest and get some Essence back: 30 minutes/2m
    -[X] Dont split the party: Everyone goes to the temple
    -[X]On way to temple, spend time in bottle of bleach to regen extra Essence: 15 minutes/1m
    -[X]Crown Question: Focus RPG launcher 1: Identities of everyone currently suborned/mind-controlled by the person who ordered this weapon to be used in an ambush against us
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