The first one obviously expect that the implant in question is just part of the winter knight mantel that Mab didn't have to make. It's already designed to allow knights to keep going until full bodily destruction.
Eh, it's a conjecture. The only kind of truly undead vampires in Dresden Files are created by Outsiders, who are antithetical to Mab and Winter (which is associated with death and end, certainly not necromancy).
Eh, it's a conjecture. The only kind of truly undead vampires in Dresden Files are created by Outsiders, who are antithetical to Mab and Winter (which is associated with death and end, certainly not necromancy).
That tracks. I don't see much value in it though unless this would stop them from summoning spirits and the like from Molly's soul to Earth but even in that case we could just get Dresden to teach one when he has time.
How is our realm's enchantment? I think I remember that although they have cool magi-tech they don't actually have WOD level enchantment yet and in that case I really want them to. Next time our agents should be even better equipped.
There's something almost familiar, something not-a-little alarming. "Not just the Ancient Dead, they are just the ones who figured it out in the long silence of their being. All ghosts, proper ghosts I mean lingering souls... could do this if you could find a way to teach them."
I'm also tempted to try to weaponize this as a more common tool against the outside. It sounds like the danger is greatest for those who are most invested in the hate, but still possible for others.
What if we set up something like ghost fetishes that let the user fire ghost flames at things, and asked the people we're going to let reincarnate in our world if they'll volunteer for a few years of service first? Basically being weird sutra.
Given how our people work extensively with spirit binding this seems like something they could potentially design given time to study ghosts.
I don't want to make it a condition of helping them, but maybe we could offer some incentive to make their new lives better if they agree?
I think the difference in opinion comes from how I see exalts as net positives, and you see them as, at best, large investments. Since we are unlikely to agree here, and I don't want to revisit that talk, we'll have to agree to disagree.
I do want to get rid off the crafting debt quickly, and this plan aims at that.
I want:
1) A plan that has connected actions.
2) To get done with crafting the items we owe quickly
3) To get ahead of crises for once, and buy breathing room to do stuff that's not directly "try to keep Creation from being finished"
I think this proposed plan does that well. I'll prefer to table this discussion to when it's relevant, though.
That's a difference, but we're still talking past each other.
Getting into a cursed dragon's hoard should be a significant project. Finding the potential lunar should be a major endeavor, and actually getting it loose in a helpful manner another one.
The same goes for the abyssal, with the release being overlapped with the solar's but more complicated for that because they're evidently wired to a continent destroying bomb.
Even if you think they're a net positive, which I emphatically don't, trying to clear one a week is ridiculous. Much less while doing anything else. I certainly don't think it's possible to do so safely if it'd even work at all.
The alternative is to get ahead on craft and start mobilizing the existing defenses of reality to counter the problem so that we have space to work on the next step in. Look what happened leaving nemesis alone even this long; we need to get people up to speed so they can suppress things while we try to break the game.
My preference would be ghost-guns that let mortals in power armor fry outsiders, which we finesse into making mortals as a group matter to defending reality instead of as fodder for entities to do it for them, but even if it's exalts instead that doesn't change.
Let's imagine for the moment we get really lucky with the exalt choices and get three excellent picks. No exalted jingoists, crime lords, or death cultists at all. Wonder of wonders, they don't even have baggage or fundamental disagreements on the nature of morality with us.
Getting them at all should by all rights take at least a few months at minimum, and then a few more to get up to speed. We can't afford to do that unless someone else is holding before we switch tasks.
This applies to dead people, actual 'previously souls of the living' ghosts weaponizing their rage at being dead, at being mortal into something akin to hellfire.
As far as Lydia can tell only the most ancient of ghosts, those who have lost all bonds to their mortal other than the desire to keep existing can use it, but also there is nothing stopping one from teaching a younger ghost the skill, because it is a skill and the power can be found in all of them if they are not consumed.
I just realized that our plasma guns are likely to become the new Warden sword that they use whenever they want to kill lawbreakers without breaking the Laws themselves. Given that the wizard who enchanted the Warden swords is dead now at the same time as the White Council is expanding recruitment.
I just realized that our plasma guns are likely to become the new Warden sword that they use whenever they want to kill lawbreakers without breaking the Laws themselves.
You can still block shots from that with the right spell, it is harder to do than a bullet, but say Harry's shield bracelet can take some shots. A Warden's sword on the other hand would go right through it. Those things are some of the most optimized enchantments on the setting, at the precise mid-point of cost and effectiveness and they do two things:
Be Swords
Cut Magic
Then again if you wanted to kill a Lawbreaker with elector-lasers you could get half a dozen people to shoot them at once, there is only so much shielding one wizard can do. It is anyone's guess if they would actually take advantage of that.
What if we set up something like ghost fetishes that let the user fire ghost flames at things, and asked the people we're going to let reincarnate in our world if they'll volunteer for a few years of service first? Basically being weird sutra.
The hatefire is inherently linked to utter rage at the unfairness of mortality and death. I think knowing you're gonna get a second shot at life kind cuts that off at the knees
I dislike both options - I don't believe Maeve to be competent enough that I would want her intervention in most situations, and we know how harsh Winter tutoring is from canon, that's not something I want.
What do we need or want that she can provide? Lore maybe? Something that we could use. Or magically resources - we rather strongly need those. Ideally it should be something Maeve likes to give us, if we are trying to cultivate good relationships. My ideas:
1) A guided tour to the Outer Gates and a chance to study them - we could use them as a focus to locate all the Outsiders
2) the lore (or at least a list) of Starborn
3) Lore on ancient egyptian god-kings
4) A visit to Mothers Winter and Summer?
5) The locations of all weak points in reality like what is being kept closed in Vegas
Honestly, I don't know, but I don't like the options we are given, and I'd like to repay our party members somehow.
I dislike both options - I don't believe Maeve to be competent enough that I would want her intervention in most situations, and we know how harsh Winter tutoring is from canon, that's not something I want.
Are you talking about the time in Grave Peril where Harry was suffering from breaking his word to Leanansidhe and Susan Rodriguez negotiated on his behalf? Because that doesn't seem like healing him more like stopped hurting him.
"Not really." She let out a cross sigh. "There's no cut here. I don't appreciate jokes, Mister Dresden. There are people in need to attend to."
I felt my mouth drop open. "No cut?" But there had been a nice, flowing gash in my head at some point, pouring blood into my eyes and mouth. I could still taste some of it, almost. How could it have vanished?"
I thought of the answer and shivered. Godmother.
"No cut," she said. "Something that might have been cut a few months ago."
"That's impossible," I said, more to myself than to her. "That just can't be."
She shone a light at my eyes. I winced. She peered at each eye (mechanically, professionally—without the intimacy that triggers a soulgaze) and shook her head. "If you've got a concussion, I'm Winona Ryder.
That makes zero sense in context, and that isn't how people use peer even if it's technically acceptable. When talking about Winter's relationship with Heaven I'd be highly surprised to hear anyone suggest Mab is in the white God's peer group, for example.
Butcher calls them peers and describes a condition where Uriel can't pierce Nemesis' attempts to hide when it's being subtle. That's putting them in the same ballpark of power at minimum.
For the quest's purposes Nemesis is the only entity we've ever pointed the crown at who got a roll to resist. He hasn't succeeded yet, but that's supposed to be impossible to even attempt. Point of fact, the white god and Uriel struck a deal precisely because they didn't think blocking it was practical. Otherwise the big guy would just spin up a boosted ward in heaven or whatever and stop us from peeking directly.
That says sim about how powerful nemesis is, and where it's invested that strength.
Comparing a rogue to a barbarian based on how much they can dead lift is making the wrong comparison, and even outside of that Creation is Uriel's home ground. The outside has three big walkers who can slip in, and there are more archangels than that. If they could have it out violently it may be unwinnable even if they spite shot the mortal world.
Nemesis is explicitly an entity that you can and do hide from or deceive by not mentioning its name, according to the Fae. Its something that we have seen Dresden force to answer questions. It does not dare actually contest Demonreach on its island; when its attempt to dupe Dresden failed in BG, it fled.
Every feat attributed to it in canon points to foresight and power orders of magnitude less than an angel.
I honestly do not see how you could have read The Warrior short story, see the timescales that Uriel is explicitly maneuvering along and still argue that Nemesis is supposed to be his equal.
As opposed to just someone who does the same job for a different organization.
I sipped some more Scotch. "Come to think of it, there are a lot of things I don't get about this whole situation."
"And you want an explanation of some kind?" asked a man seated in the pew beside me.
I just about jumped out of my skin.
He was an older man. He had dark skin and silver-white hair, and he wore a workman's blue jumpsuit, like you often see on janitors. The name tag read JAKE.
"You," I breathed. "You're the archangel. You're Uriel."
He shrugged. The gesture carried acknowledgment, somehow.
"What are you doing here?" I asked—maybe a bit blearily. I was concussed and half the flask was gone.
"Perhaps I'm a hallucination brought on by head trauma and alcohol," he said.
"Oh," I said. I peered at him, and then offered him the flask. "Want a belt?"
"Very kind," he said, and took a swig from the flask. He passed it back to me. "I don't exactly make it a habit to do this, but if you've got questions, ask them."
"Okay," I said. "Why did you guys let Michael get so screwed up?"
"We didn't let him do anything," Jake replied calmly. "He chose to hazard himself in battle against the enemy. The enemy chose to shoot him, and where to point the gun and when to pull the trigger. He survived the experience."
"So in other words, God was doing nothing to help."
Jake smiled. "Wouldn't say that. But you got to understand, son. God isn't about making good things happen to you, or bad things happen to you. He's all about you making choices—exercising the gift of free will. God wants you to have good things and a good life, but He won't gift wrap them for you. You have to choose the actions that lead you to that life."
"Free will, huh?"
"Yes. For example, your free will on that island."
I eyed him and sipped more Scotch.
"You saw the Valkyrie staring at Michael. You thought he was in danger. So even though it was your turn, you sent him up to the helicopter in your place."
"No good deed goes unpunished," I said, with one too many sh sounds. "That's where he got hurt."
Jake shrugged. "But if you hadn't, you'd have died in that harness, and he'd have died on that island."
I scowled. "What?"
Jake waved a hand. "I won't bore you with details, but suffice to say that your choice in that moment changed everything." "But you lost a Knight," I said. "A warrior."
Jake smiled. "Did we?"
"He can barely walk without that cane. Sure, he handled Douglas, but that's a far cry from dealing with a Denarian."
"Ah," Jake said, "you mean warrior in the literal sense."
"What other kind of warrior is there?" I asked.
"The important kind."
I frowned again.
"Harry," Jake said, sighing. "The conflict between light and darkness rages on so many levels that you literally could not understand it all. Not yet, anyway. Sometimes that battlefield is a literal one. Sometimes it's a great deal more nebulous and metaphorical."
"But Michael and I are literal guys," I said.
Jake actually laughed. "Yeah? Do you think we angled to have you brought into this situation because we needed you to beat someone up?"
"Well. Generally speaking. Yeah." I gestured with the flask. "Pretty much all we did was beat up this guy who had good intentions and who was desperate to do something to help." Jake shook his head. "The real war happened when you weren't looking."
"Huh?"
"Courtney," Jake said. "The little girl who almost got hit by a car."
"What about her?" I asked.
"You saved her life," he said. "Moreover, you noted the bruise on her cheek—one she acquired from her abusive father. Your presence heightened her mother's response to the realization that her daughter was being abused. She moved out the next morning." He spread his hands. "In that moment, you saved the child's life, prevented her mother from alcohol addiction in response to the loss, and shattered a generational cycle of abuse more than three hundred years old."
"I ... um."
"Chuck the electrician," Jake continued. "He was drunk because he'd been fighting with his wife. Two months from now, their four-year-old daughter is going to be diagnosed with cancer and require a marrow transplant. Her father is the only viable donor. You saved his life with what you did—and his daughter's life, too. And the struggle that family is going to face together is going to leave them stronger and happier than they've ever been."
I grunted. "That smells an awful lot like predestination to me. What if those people choose something different?"
"It's a complex issue," Jake admitted. "But think of the course of the future as, oh, flowing water. If you know the lay of the land, you can make a good guess where it's going. Now, someone can always come along and dig a ditch and change that flow of water—but honestly, you'd be shocked how seldom people truly choose to exercise their will within their lives."
I grunted. "What about second baseperson Kelly? I saved her life, too?"
"No. But you made a young woman feel better in a moment where she felt as though she didn't have anyone she could talk to. Just a few kind words. But it's going to make her think about the difference those words made. She's got a good chance of winding up as a counselor to her fellow man. The five minutes of kindness you showed her is going to help thousands of others." He spread his hands. "And that only takes into account the past day. Despair and pain were averted, loss and tragedy thwarted. Do you think you haven't struck a blow for the light, Warrior?"
"Um . . ."
"And last but not least, let's not forget Michael," he said. "He's a good man, but where his children are involved, he can be completely irrational. He was a hairbreadth from losing control when he stood over Douglas on the beach. Your words, your presence, your will helped him to choose mercy over vengeance."
I just stared at him for a moment. "But . . . I didn't actually mean to do any of that."
He smiled. "But you chose the actions that led to it. No one forced you to do it. And to those people, what you did saved them from danger as real as any creature of the night." He turned to look down at the church below and pursed his lips. "People have far more power than they realize, if they would only choose to use it. Michael might not be cutting demons with a sword anymore, Harry. But don't think for a second that he isn't still fighting the good fight. It's just harder for you to see the results from down here."
I swigged more Scotch, thinking about that.
"He's happier now," I said. "His family, too."
"Funny how making good choices leads to that."
"What about Father Douglas?" I asked. "What's going to happen?"
"For the most part," Jake said, "that will be up to him. Hopefully, he'll choose to accept his errors and change his life for the better."
I nodded slowly. Then I said, "Let's talk about my bill."
Jake's eyebrows shot up. "What?"
"My bill," I said, enunciating. "You dragged me into this mess. You can pay me, same as any other client. Where do I send the invoice?"
"You're . . . you're trying to bill the Lord God Almighty?" Jake said, as if he couldn't quite believe it.
"Hel—uh, heck no," I said. "I'm billing you."
"That isn't really how we work."
"It is if you want to work with me," I told him, thrusting out my jaw. "Cough up. Otherwise, maybe next time I'll just stand around whistling when you want me to help you out."
Jake's face broadened into a wide, merry grin, and laughter filled his voice. "No, you won't," he said, and vanished.
I scowled ferociously at the empty space where he'd been a moment before. "Cheapskate," I muttered.
But I was pretty sure he was right.
Hell, you can simply look at the measures the White God has taken in-universe for some evaluation of their threat levels.
The appearance of the Fallen two thousand years ago necessitated three angels to take residence in blessed steel specifically to give mortals the ability to contest them. They moonlight handling other things, but their primary job is to counter the Fallen.
Nemesis and his fellows OTOH are considered to be well within the ability of mortal and Fae to contest. He Who Walks Behind has been explicitly free in Creation since the end of Blood Rites more than two years ago, and the world is still turning as normal.
Imagine if, say, Lasciel was unbound from her Coin and turned loose for that long.
===
I cant see you =/= I cant track you.
An archangel like Uriel explicitly has demonstrated advanced time manipulation and sufficient precognition/postcognition to look up and down the timeline for at least several hundred years, and was (in canon, not this quest) explicitly multitasking across alternate timelines, dealing with millions of alternate Dresdens and alternate Mabs etc,
"I cant see you directly" is roughly as much of an impediment as "the Swords have to go to those of royal blood."
Not when he can look a couple seconds into the past of the person you are possessing and see what they did, build a profile and have a good guess of what they will do.
When you have that kind of multitasking and perception?
The angel could probably track the life history and actions of literally everyone that Nemesis has ever possessed or associated with since he entered Creation. At literally a couple seconds delay.
And frankly, the idea in this quest that he couldnt see Nemesis directly, that Nemesis is a blindspot and he still was able to both predict and outmaneuver it is even scarier than the idea that he could see him
Thats just information mastery on a whole different level.
===
To use a different analogy?
Thinkers are ajudged the scariest type of powers around in the Worm universe, and of all the various Thinkers around, the scariest one was the Simurgh. Ziz. Who couldnt actually see in the present, had blindspots with particular characters, but due to perfect postcognition and some precog was still the scariest Thinker in the setting.
Uriel is basically hyper-Ziz.
His ability to blow up galaxies helps establish where he and his fellow archangels sit on the setting's hierarchy of power.
But its nowhere as scary as his ability to alter the fate of worlds with seven words to the right person.
The Primordial War was fought by almost a thousand Celestial Exalts, Solars + Lunars + Sidereals, a million Dragonbloods and tens of millions of spirits, mortals and non-mortal support troops. They had the support of two Primordials and topspec gear.
Against low double digit Primordials who were taken by surprise.
And with all that, the then-Primordials still killed their way through multiple iterations of the Solar Host like a combine harvester in a wheat field. There's a reason that the Exaltation shards were designed to be auto-respawn.
A single combat-spec Third Circle Demon would probably partywipe an unsupported full circle of E5s.
People be having pretty misleading impressions of where pre-Elder Exalts stand on the power-comparison chart.
In my opinion.
1) Its not a Lunar Exaltation.
Current speculation points at it potentially being Balor's Eye, the superweapon Ethniu used in Battle Grounds.
And we saw it on the border of Russia and Norway.
2) Like I and BronzeTongue have previously argued, rolling the dice on additional Celestial Exaltations is a boneheaded idea at the best of times, let alone when one of them is an Abyssal Exaltation.
If they are being released because Plot, then the QM releases them because Plot.
Molly isnt going to do so IC.
She has a ringside seat for how easily her own Exaltation could have gone badly in the wrong hands.
3)Going near a dragons hoard, haunted by a dragons death curse a la Wagnerian myth, without both Counterspelling and the Sight as a minimum, and preferably Fortune Path as well? And then bringing that shit home to somewhere people you care about live? Thats just called being a dumbass.
There's a goddamn good reason why noone else in this setting has looted the site in the roughly twenty years since Michael shanked his ass.
And its not because wizards and Red Court vampires and other supernaturals dont like dragon gold and magic shit.
That's not actually true you keep saying that but Merela strangled one of them to death with her bare hands and an essence 5 dawn caste solar can one shot the Ebon Dragon flat out. The idea that the primordials need to be tapped to be killed is wrong. That may be how they fought the entire War dying and having to destroy demon armies but the primordials could be killed by singular exalted.
Merela handled the coup de grace after said Primordial was worn down.
Thats not the same thing as being able to kill one solo, or with a raid party of the homies.
There's a reason there was a Solar Host, instead of just a couple hundred Solars.
1) Its not a Lunar Exaltation.
Current speculation points at it potentially being Balor's Eye, the superweapon Ethniu used in Battle Grounds.
And we saw it on the border of Russia and Norway.
2) Like I and BronzeTongue have previously argued, rolling the dice on additional Celestial Exaltations is a boneheaded idea at the best of times, let alone when one of them is an Abyssal Exaltation.
If they are being released because Plot, then the QM releases them because Plot.
I will not be discussing this further, because it's pointless. We made each other's positions clear, and the arguments are repetitive, tiring, and useless. We'll let votes decide.
3)Going near a dragons hoard, haunted by a dragons death curse a la Wagnerian myth, without both Counterspelling and the Sight as a minimum, and preferably Fortune Path as well? And then bringing that shit home to somewhere people you care about live? Thats just called being a dumbass.
There's a goddamn good reason why noone else in this setting has looted the site in the roughly twenty years since Michael shanked his ass.
And its not because wizards and Red Court vampires and other supernaturals dont like dragon gold and magic shit.
@uju32
I suspect on the highest levels, Archangels and WG, DragonParadox will eventually have to make some decisions to work more with WoD/Exalted, or more with Dresden Files. Or maybe he has already, IDK.
The problem is that Dresden Files is pretty clearly a Christian story and for all that it pays lipservice to other deities, the WG is the alpha and the omega, the omnipotent and omniscient true God.
That doesn't really fit in a story with Exalted.
The simple existence of our Crown and the fact that we were asked not to look at his stuff already tells us that he is not truly without limits in this story. After all, an omnipotent being could put itself beyond the sight of a non-omnipotent being. Or I guess in mechanical terms could keep a perfect scrying-defense running whenever Molly tries to see, or just permanently.
On the other side of the equation, you have Exalted, where the basic conceit is that anything is possible, not easy, not without consequences, but you can definitely go on your classical Murder the Gods and Topple Their Thrones journey, including the closest figure to the Christian God in that world, Theion.
So sooner or later the QM has to decide whether to give Uriel or the White God a statsheet (thus making them mortal (if it has health, it can die) and going against the implicit and explicit metaphysics of the Dresden Side of things, or he has to make a "You Die" note like WoD had for Caine, thus breaking with Holden's intentions and the basic conceit of the WoDxEx game.
Nemesis and his fellows OTOH are considered to be well within the ability of mortal and Fae to contest. He Who Walks Behind has been explicitly free in Creation since the end of Blood Rites more than two years ago, and the world is still turning as normal.
The process of entering creation nerfs the Outsiders. As in they leave most of their power and form Outside. Maybe not in every case but if Nemesis can get shards eaten and continue operations it would make sense to me if the main body/mind is in the Outside.
COMMENTARY
Its a pity that you guys did not vote for actually using that scene as a focus for finding a list of other Outsider agents on the planet.That would actually have been valuable information.
Thankfully, we still have at least one scene with her here to use as a Crown focus, once Maeve leaves.
Hmm.
That sounds like Lydia is describing pyre-flame.
VOTE [X] Fey trainers in one of the sorcerous arts for you or a person of your choosing up to Mastery level
Molly's Urge is Curiosity.
IC, it makes sense that she would value knowledge over most other things unless there was a pressing reason otherwise. And knowledge is something she can share with her people and allies.
The Fae do have some of the most knowledgeable teachers around short of actual gods; for example, Eldest Gruff of Summer has explicitly bodied multiple Senior Council members in duels.