Im pretty sure that those who need to know already know what Mika tried to pull; his fingerprints are all over Basilisk for whoever takes a look. That said, we are probably going to need to set up official offices in the next six months or so, and spend a little more effort on local social outreach.
It's not just about sharing information for its own sake, but being open to talking about what you're doing and why. It signals a willingness to engage and that you generally care about working with people on a diplomatic level.
I agree on the offices though. We negotiated basing rights in Vegas, it's a pretty safe place to start. Plunk an embassy down on a dragon nest and fortify the hell out of it. Make it known to the council, feds, and fey at the very least. If we want broader community reach then use the white court. They're the social vamps, word will get around.
[ ] Systemic Elimination
-[ ] Molly
--[ ] By Rage Recast Roll No cost
--[ ] Attack Warden 1
--[ ] Melee Excellency 1 Essence
--[ ] If killed Murder is Meat
-[ ] Tiffany
--[ ] Lore of Light Flash Bang
-[ ] Lydia
--[ ] Marble Flesh Roll No cost
--[ ] Attack Warden 2
--[ ] Hunter's Bolt agg 1 Essence
--[ ] If killed Rest Granting Strike
-[ ] Nergui
-- [ ] Attack Warden 3
-- [ ] Black wind Warden 3
I was thinking something like this because they are Akuma and or personal servants they might have Iron Mountain and regular stamina soak so aggravated damage is really good at very least kind of recommended. The drones have no ability to look away when Tiffany uses lore of light so they have to take the admittedly bashing damage as our yin aspected friend uses a bow and arrow from what I remember so he can shoot and then shoot again using Black Wind as long as he doesn't botch his control roll. I'm open to suggestions
While that is true taking a look would be difficult for a lot of the big movers and shakers. Donnar is quite odd with how much he keeps up on modern tech.Most beings his age do not know what a computer is much less the internet. Senior Council Wizards actively cannot interact with tech of that complexity. There is a reason, beyond just the economy having a 'Kick me' sign on its back why he was able to come so close.
Point of correction:
This isnt accurate AFAIK. Noone who is relevant fails to keep up with these things.
As far back as Fool Moon, we saw financial maneuvering as Harvey MacFinn and his wolfwere paramor tried to buy out the Northwest Passage Project.
Hades banked with Marcone's new mob bank in Skin Game.
Madrigal Raith was auctioning Dresden off on Ebay in Proven Guilty, and among the bidders was Duchess Arianna Ortega. The White Council was invited to bid but refused on principle.
Arianna Ortega owned the holding company that owned the company that owned Dresden's office building, and amused herself by jacking up the rent. And later put bombs in the walls.
In Turn Coat, part of the frame job on Morgan was a set of financial accounts which was set up to implicate the White Court, and noone thought it was unlikely for a wizard. In Jury Duty, the murdered Whampire was a stock broker.
In The Law, the Finnish demigod Talvi Inverno is both Winter-affiliated and a mob lawyer.
Then there's the whole Vegas situation from the RPG.
Its suggested by Butcher that Thor is in professional wrestling and that we'll see him in a later book.
The Chicago Cubs Curse is explicitly the doing of Gwynn ap Nudd, and we know that at least one Maenad of Dionysus is involved in sporting events.
The White Council in particular is intimately entwined with the economy.
Its Word of Butcher that they have massive financial holdings, as well as a bunch of wizards with the decades of economic experience to make it work, and that economic warfare has been a key modality by which they have waged war against the Red Court.
The Merlin is referred to as the most powerful wizard on the planet several times in the series. Is this just speculation, or is the Merlin position filled through some sort of test of power and skill?
The Merlin is a wizard who can give an order that probably 80 or 85 percent of the other wizards in the world will follow, including most of the Wardens. He's also the CEO of the White Council's financial holdings. He /is/ the most powerful wizard in the world, based on THAT if nothing else.
You don't get to be the Merlin without also being the guy that the rest of the Senior Council thinks can take them out, if it came down to a conflict–they're the ones who select a new Merlin from among themselves. Langtry regards direct, open conflict as a failure to use all his other options, when it comes down to it, and when he does fight he does it fast and hard and is utterly without fear–see the end battle with Peabody's pet in Turn Coat.
Their involvement with the economy, and financial matters, predates the advent of computers. And old wizards have had time to figure out workarounds for that sort of thing. They may have missed the setup because of distraction with the Vampire War, and because the economic bubble was frankly just mortal human activity, but they wont miss who was responsible for trying to blow it up.
Even infamous luddite Harry Dresden was going to pay Kincaid after hiring him during Blood Rites by wiring him money to a foreign bank account.
Antigravity gliders? That looks like loot to me.
At least, something to bring along in case Joe Magarac is bigger/heavier than most normal humanoids.
Just have to kill the riders first.
3x Wardens on goblin gliders. 3x wingman drones, 5x slaver drones, and a portal that needs to be plugged.
Hmm....Lydia has a type advantage, but she will be suffering the effects of All Is Poison. Ditto Lash, though she has to have it better because her Lores are pass/fail.
Wardens are akuma, apparently. But not greater akuma.
Wonder what kuejin equivalent we are looking at.
Dharma 3? Dharma 5?
======
The standard activation roll for MHM is DC6.
When you add Molly's cumulative buffs of -DC5 (TLF 3 + CCC 3 + BSM 1 - All Is Poison 2), it should bring it down to the minimum of DC3, and start adding autosuccesses IIRC your rules correctly.
@DragonParadox QUESTION
1) Is there anything actually stopping Molly picking up everyone with MHM, punching Windborn Stride and just....leaving?
At Dexterity 10, she's doing 50 yards per second, and if she uses the active mode of Windborn Stride, she's going to be hitting close to 200 yards/second even without entering Shintai.
2) What are those elemental shields? How do they work? You describe them as alive; are they sapient?
Or mortal? Or demonic? Do they fight back?
3) How high off the ground are those goblin gliders?
How much do the gliders weigh? How much do the drones weigh?
Rough estimate/benchmark, no need for exact numbers.
4)Are there still drones coming through that portal?
5) Do we get a statblock for either of these enemy types? Or at least a rough comparison?
Are we looking at Demons of Iron and Violence? Or something weaker?
The Wardens are apparently Akuma; do they have ranged attacks? What of the Slaver Drones?
6)Where are Lydia's Hands on the Initiative order?
Zombies are usually last, but I dont know how they would stack up here.
@DragonParadox QUESTION
1) Is there anything actually stopping Molly picking up everyone with MHM, punching Windborn Stride and just....leaving?
At Dexterity 10, she's doing 50 yards per second, and if she uses the active mode of Windborn Stride, she's going to be hitting close to 200 yards/second even without entering Shintai.
2) What are those elemental shields? How do they work? You describe them as alive; are they sapient?
Or mortal? Or demonic? Do they fight back?
3) How high off the ground are those goblin gliders?
How much do the gliders weigh? How much do the drones weigh?
Rough estimate/benchmark, no need for exact numbers.
4)Are there still drones coming through that portal?
5) Do we get a statblock for either of these enemy types? Or at least a rough comparison?
Are we looking at Demons of Iron and Violence? Or something weaker?
The Wardens are apparently Akuma; do they have ranged attacks? What of the Slaver Drones?
6)Where are Lydia's Hands on the Initiative order?
Zombies are usually last, but I dont know how they would stack up here.
The fact that you do not know how fast those gliders are, they seem like they could be fast enough to keep up with you
They are enslaved iron elementals and they are precisely what it says on the tin, shields, they add 5 wounds to each Akuma for a total of 15 unless someone takes the time to break their chains, breaking one chain takes an action unless you guys come up with some more creative way to do so
They are about 30 ft off the ground and weight... about half a ton each. As for the drones they weigh as much as an adult human, so let's say 11 lbs
Not this turn, you get all your actions and then we see if something else wants to come through
Wardens are proper Akuma, fallen Wan Kuei and reasonably experienced ones that get the good tech, hence why it looks like it is actually from the future not the future's scrap heap like most things from the Wicked City. They are not elders, like the one Olivia killed, but they are not chaff either and here they are in a place that favors them. Drones and wardens both have some kind of high tech gun
After everyone else, they are zombies, that means they are always at the end of the initiative order
This place is... very well built, it was designed to withstand the Rift beside it exploding, which it does at thoroughly unpredictable intervals. As strong as MHM is with that many successes Molly does not think she can exert enough force to bring down the roof.
"Stay out of trouble. Sheathe that," you motion at the demon arm as Tiffany translates. At the flash of worry passing over the bone white face once she's done you add: "As a best you can."
Does this guy count as a CoD taken into our service for the purposes of essence recovery? He did jump ship to join the party and did accept orders from us when we took him on.
This place is... very well built, it was designed to withstand the Rift beside it exploding, which it does at thoroughly unpredictable intervals. As strong as MHM is with that many successes Molly does not think she can exert enough force to bring down the roof.
How about destroying the corridor behind her once the party is inside?
Also, does Molly have an idea of how much territory there's left to cover and how the plague should be doing by this point? It's relevant to estimating how much opposition we might have to face.
I realize a lot of that is uncharted territory, but Molly did help make it and has been running around with occult excellency+ATB up for the last few minutes. If there's anyone who could go "should spread at X rate, with Y constraints I can see on site, therefore Z" it's her.
[X] Systemic Elimination
-[X] Molly
--[X] By Rage Recast Roll No cost
--[X] Attack Warden 1
--[X] Melee Excellency 1 Essence
--[X] If killed Murder is Meat
-[X] Tiffany
--[X] Lore of Light Flash Bang
-[X] Lydia
--[X] Marble Flesh Roll No cost
--[X] Attack Warden 2
--[X] Dexterity Excellency 1 Essence
--[X] Hunter's Bolt agg 1 Essence
--[X] If killed Rest Granting Strike
-[X] Nergui
--[X] Storm Shintai 1: Knock every flying hostile down to the ground 1 Chi
-- [X] Yang Prana Attack Warden 3 1 Yang chi
-- [X] Yang Prana Warden 3 1 Yang chi
-[X]Bakemono Bob: Ranged attack
-[X]Hands: Attack grounded enemies
-[X] Stunt: As you move forward a growl crawls from your throat your own innate flight moves you off the ground and as you draw usum and the neon flame of hatred is somehow even more intense than usual. As Usum slams into the first Warden and his Elemental Shield a flash of light and a Javelin of deathly Essence fly by as blood flies through the air.
I'll answer the magic and tech questions later. It will take me a bit to get my thoughts in order. For now immediate questions
The fact that you do not know how fast those gliders are, they seem like they could be fast enough to keep up with you
They are enslaved iron elementals and they are precisely what it says on the tin, shields, they add 5 wounds to each Akuma for a total of 15 unless someone takes the time to break their chains, breaking one chain takes an action unless you guys come up with some more creative way to do so
They are about 30 ft off the ground and weight... about half a ton each. As for the drones they weigh as much as an adult human, so let's say 11 lbs
Not this turn, you get all your actions and then we see if something else wants to come through
Wardens are proper Akuma, fallen Wan Kuei and reasonably experienced ones that get the good tech, hence why it looks like it is actually from the future not the future's scrap heap like most things from the Wicked City. They are not elders, like the one Olivia killed, but they are not chaff either and here they are in a place that favors them. Drones and wardens both have some kind of high tech gun
After everyone else, they are zombies, that means they are always at the end of the initiative order
1) Fair enough. So disable the gliders as a priority.
2) Okay. So either break the gliders, or separate the akuma from the gliders. Either should work.
3) 30 feet? Will have to recheck the Falling Damage rules.
4) Okay. So stuffing an obstruction there might pre-empt further reinforcements.
5) Akuma, but not elders. So their Agg soak is Iron Mountain rating + Armor. And they still have to roll for Fire Soul and Wave Soul(essentially Rotschreck) if Molly's party goes loud, since everybody here meets the definition of "powerful demon". Only greater akuma are immune to that.
Worse, they'd have to roll for it while under the influence of Demonic Primacy's +2DC.
Good chance they break and flee if Molly flares anima here, especially if TLF and CCC both apply.
6)Gotcha.
QUESTION
1) Can Lore of Light 1 produce/count as sunlight? I ask because Wave Soul is triggered by, and I quote:
KoTE p150 said:
WAVE SOUL
By contrast, Kueirjin suffering the debilitating wave soul
completely lose control to impulses of terror. This state (so
named because Kuei-jin in its grip are seemingly buffeted about
by waves of fear) is considered exceedingly shameful by Hungry
Dead, who seek to avoid it at all costs, particularly in front of
their peers. The effects of wave soul are identical to the effects
of Rotschreck.
Kuei'jin resist wave soul with Yang. When circumstances
threaten to inflict wave soul on a vampire, the player rolls the
vampire's Yang rating in a resisted roll against his P'o. The
process is otherwise the same as resisting fire soul.
POTENTIAL TRIGGERS
• Fire
• Sunlight
• The presence of a powerful demon, such as a Yama King
Molly's sword will probably trigger it just fine, as should her anima banner, and her very presence.
So would Lydia, as an Exigent of Death, and possibly Nergui as an elder Bone Flower.
And since Wicked City is Yin-aspected, most of these guys are going to have low Yang ratings.
2) How big are the gliders vis a vis the portal?
Would a glider block it?
3) How far, by the party's estimation, from their current location to their objective?
QUESTION
1) Can Lore of Light 1 produce/count as sunlight? I ask because Wave Soul is triggered by, and I quote:
Molly's sword will probably trigger it just fine, as should her anima banner, and her very presence.
So would Lydia, as an Exigent of Death, and possibly Nergui as an elder Bone Flower.
And since Wicked City is Yin-aspected, most of these guys are going to have low Yang ratings.
2) How big are the gliders vis a vis the portal?
Would a glider block it?
3) How far, by the party's estimation, from their current location to their objective?
Lore of Light does count as bright light, but it does not count as sunlight, not the same reason it does not cause them to rot... and why it did not cause your Elder Friend to start to rot from exposure, it is not conceptually sunlight The sword will trigger it, not so much the Anima banner. While it might look like flaming eyes it also feels like pretty dramatic cold, that kind of mismatch hints to this being magical signaling not actual 'outch it hurts!' fire
Each glider is only about large enough for its rider to stand on it so call it three feet across, the gap is about ten feet square
Two more levels down then another 600 yards or so, though you will have to cut through some more blast doors once you are in the forge proper.
Lore of Light does count as bright light, but it does not count as sunlight, not the same reason it does not cause them to rot... and why it did not cause your Elder Friend to start to rot from exposure, it is not conceptually sunlight The sword will trigger it, not so much the Anima banner. While it might look like flaming eyes it also feels like pretty dramatic cold, that kind of mismatch hints to this being magical signaling not actual 'outch it hurts!' fire
Each glider is only about large enough for its rider to stand on it so call it three feet across, the gap is about ten feet square
Two more levels down then another 600 yards or so, though you will have to cut through some more blast doors once you are in the forge proper.
1)So Lore of Light wont count as sunlight, but it can still do damage and stun people.
OTOH, Molly's archdevil presence + burning sword will most definitely trigger Wave Soul/Rotschreck.
And since spending 2m of Essence for VLE + Excellency is going to be necessary, she's going to flare her anima anyway.
2)Ten feet square is roughly 3.3 feet to a side, assuming a square entrance.
So it will fit, but leave too much space IMO.
3)Fair enough.
As an aside, Falling Damage is 1 dice every 10 feet in V20, so it doesnt really seem relevant to this fight.
Ugh.
I was thinking of doing the Hulk thing and breaking a glider with another glider; Molly with a Melee Excellency and a stunt and the ensuing buffs can deal around 20 successes to one of those things, which would be enough to break it.
QUESTION
What of the slave drones? Do they count as sentient?
Tell me they dont count as sentient.
QUESTION
1)Can they shoot/use ranged attacks while grappled?
I know that you cant use Black Wind for ranged attacks, just melee. And that activating Demon Shintai locks them out of all other disciplines.
2) Nergui has Storm Shintai 5.
Storm Shintai 1: Conjure the Duke of Wind can be used to knock people over, and push over flying birds and the like.
Its an AoE effect. Would it hit all of one group of enemies?
QUESTION
1)Can they shoot/use ranged attacks while grappled?
I know that you cant use Black Wind for ranged attacks, just melee. And that activating Demon Shintai locks them out of all other disciplines.
If the plan works none of the enemies should have any actions to act in. Even just defending against our attacks should use up more than their action allowance. The wonders of high initiative always keeping enemies on the back foot.
1)Molly activates VLE + Occult Excellency + Stunt, grapples one of the akuma, and uses it to block a second.
Anima banner flares, activating Rage Recast Aspects and anima power. Roll Intimidate to trigger Wave Soul in the akuma.
2) Lydia activates Marble Skin, then throws ranged attack with Hunters Bolt.
3) Tiffany activates Apocalyptic Form for the defensive buffs, and flashbangs
4) Nergui uses Storm Shintai 1 to throw everyone currently flying on the ground
5) Bakemono Bob gets to shoot, assuming he has a ranged attack
6)Then Lydia's Hands zergrush.
