Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

Zoolimar · Jun 9, 2024

Yog said:
On the last two interludes - the world of Chicago is becoming a lot more supernatural, isn't it? Or, rather, masquerade is fraying, becoming a polite fiction for those willingly blind. Having exalts and exalt-adjacent beings running around is bringing back the Age of Heroes.

More like Masquerade is more useful for predators. Comparatively good guys mostly care about plausible deniability not actual ignorance.
It would have been interesting to see how White Council was talking to Librarians haggling for a place in Chicago. If they of course did that. Else we are going to have a political show on our hands.

We are still pretty far from the Age of Heroes where guys like Roland were prancing about.

Yog · Jun 9, 2024

BronzeTongue said:
I think it's more that we're getting more awareness and involvement. Technically we haven't added to the people in the know after all.

Murphy is a toss up, it's unclear how much help she'll accept.

On one hand you are right. On another, I think a big difference is the perspective of those on the fringe of supernatural, like SI. With Harry, it's usually mysterious murders, or disappearances, or missing memories. With us getting involved it's blazing animas, flaming swords, and brass-armored god-queens dogfighting tentacled eldritch monsters in the skies above the city. Much more visual. That's definitely a shift in perspective.

With Murphy - we shall see. She has a lot of backing right now, and might be able to deal with this on her own.

Zoolimar · Jun 9, 2024

Yog said:
With us getting involved it's blazing animas, flaming swords, and brass-armored god-queens dogfighting tentacled eldritch monsters in the skies above the city. Much more visual. That's definitely a shift in perspective.

Well, Lydia is less visual but somehow even more visceral. Probably comes with her Death department. We need to get her some kind of illusion charm so she could talk properly.

fictionfan · Jun 9, 2024

BronzeTongue said:
Murphy is a toss up, it's unclear how much help she'll accept.

When it comes to Murphy the most useful help we can generally give is knowledge. We can arm her with the best ray guns and unchain her inner devils. And yet in the eyes of most supernaturals the most dangerous thing about her would still be her radio that she can use to call in backup.

Although I would like to get VEE to give her a safe word for escaping from danger.

BronzeTongue · Jun 9, 2024

Yog said:
On one hand you are right. On another, I think a big difference is the perspective of those on the fringe of supernatural, like SI. With Harry, it's usually mysterious murders, or disappearances, or missing memories. With us getting involved it's blazing animas, flaming swords, and brass-armored god-queens dogfighting tentacled eldritch monsters in the skies above the city. Much more visual. That's definitely a shift in perspective.

With Murphy - we shall see. She has a lot of backing right now, and might be able to deal with this on her own.

Harry has done some pretty obvious stuff himself before. When we're directly involved things can get more in your face, but purely in terms of overall masquerade impact our overall operations aren't fraying things as far as I can see.

fictionfan said:
When it comes to Murphy the most useful help we can generally give is knowledge. We can arm her with the best ray guns and unchain her inner devils. And yet in the eyes of most supernaturals the most dangerous thing about her would still be her radio that she can use to call in backup.

Although I would like to get VEE to give her a safe word for escaping from danger.

This is the kind of stuff I think she'd take issue with. The guns are probably fine, but IDU and VEE are big steps.

fictionfan · Jun 9, 2024

Zoolimar said:
More like Masquerade is more useful for predators. Comparatively good guys mostly care about plausible deniability not actual ignorance.
It would have been interesting to see how White Council was talking to Librarians haggling for a place in Chicago. If they of course did that. Else we are going to have a political show on our hands.

What do we do if project Dentulous tries to stick it's nose in again? Easy to look at the wizard war time training camp and say that it is a militant terrorist cell.

BronzeTongue said:
This is the kind of stuff I think she'd take issue with. The guns are probably fine, but IDU and VEE are big steps.

I personally don't even think that it is worth offering because the power gained isn't really enough to change any of her basic equations. Ok maybe a ray gun might make her more threating, but in the intimidation sense rather then really changing the type of threat she is.

Zoolimar · Jun 9, 2024

fictionfan said:
Easy to look at the wizard war time training camp and say that it is a militant terrorist cell.

That's not going to be easy considering that they most likely won't have many firearms or explosives among them. Though they may try to nail them as some kind of cultists.

fictionfan · Jun 9, 2024

Zoolimar said:
That's not going to be easy considering that they most likely won't have many firearms or explosives among them. Though they may try to nail them as some kind of cultists.

Freedom of religion. There are no laws against being in a cult in the U.S. sometimes wish that there were, but there are not. So nailing them as some kind of cultists is a non-starter. All it does is allow them tax free status.
Edit: Not sure about the lack of firearms and explosives. The First Law means that wizards do their killing without magic. Of course they are preparing to fight vampires, but there are going to be minions as well.

BoredMan · Jun 9, 2024

The two leading plans don't look much different at this point. It's mostly a question of whether or not you want a to try for a 'breather arc' this turn. And if you think we should prep for the White Council plotline with the baby wizard plothook beforehand or if you believe associating with them before addressing the traitors and spies is counterproductive and risky.

In either case we should let Olivia know about the issue the WC is having so she keeps that in the back of her mind. Dresden already knows although I don't think he knows just how bad it is.

Yog · Jun 9, 2024

BronzeTongue said:
This is the kind of stuff I think she'd take issue with. The guns are probably fine, but IDU and VEE are big steps.

She herself yes, but I can see a number of SI cops and order of Cauldron members being quite eager to cast aside their humanity. Olivia is a very compelling showcase of our ability to elevate humans.

fictionfan said:
What do we do if project Dentulous tries to stick it's nose in again? Easy to look at the wizard war time training camp and say that it is a militant terrorist cell.

At some point soonish we arrange direct meeting with PoTUS, and put our military and police advisors within Daedalus. Or something like that. Basically leapfrog over them.

fictionfan said:
I personally don't even think that it is worth offering because the power gained isn't really enough to change any of her basic equations. Ok maybe a ray gun might make her more threating, but in the intimidation sense rather then really changing the type of threat she is.

The most important part is survivability.

DragonParadox · Jun 9, 2024

Zoolimar said:
More like Masquerade is more useful for predators. Comparatively good guys mostly care about plausible deniability not actual ignorance.
It would have been interesting to see how White Council was talking to Librarians haggling for a place in Chicago. If they of course did that. Else we are going to have a political show on our hands.

We are still pretty far from the Age of Heroes where guys like Roland were prancing about.

Pretty much, it is worth keeping in mind that the Accords were meant to stop large-scale breaches, applications of raw state power, particularly military, not mortals in general knowing. Large numbers of the Ventori Umbrorum are just regular mortals, the Library of Congress knows, the Vatican knows, it is technically a state. Ironically enough for a treaty guaranteed by the Winter Court of Faerie what matters is the spirit not the letter of the law. As long as SWAT Teams are not hunting trolls under bridges on the regular Mab does not care. More than that, she kind of prefers if mortals could handle some of their shit, it is not like she wants to have to have to dedicate resources to covering up a warlock feeding half of Long Island to his zombie horde. If some cop happens to put a bullet in his brain before that good for them.

uju32 · Jun 9, 2024

Back.
Gonna take some time to catch up.

Yog said:
SETI is looking for signs of advanced technological life in the form of signals from other stars. That's what they are doing. That's their methodology. We asked where we can find what they are looking for. Hence, coordinates of systems with advanced technological civilizations that send out signals.

No, thats not true.
I quote:

1st of September 2006 A.D.

The SETI Website is very space-y. Technical term that one remember if Usum. It's filled with the pictures of very serious looking scientists and projects with big, inspiring looking names and ambitious timelines. If optimistic futurism had a MySpace this would be it. We're gonna meet the aliens and it will all be just like Star Trek... or if you actually read the text instead of looking at the pictures of pretty sky-scapes and radio telescopes rising out of the rocky deserts like steel mushrooms we might get an email flung into the cold void of space, possibility from a civilization that is already gone.

Where might I find what the organization behind this website seeks?

The sparks of eldritch fire that are your eyes unsleeping fly outwards faster than the speed of thought, faster than a lighting's flash, faster than space unfolding... Tearing itself apart, something dark ever-creeping whispers.

Thus you see them, one, two three, ten, a thousand, tens of thousands, coordinates in a base eight system you have never seen before and yet which feels oddly intuitive.

"No way," you gasp. "There is no way there are than many advanced..." Then you stop and laugh, very glad no one is here to hear this one. SETI is looking for aliens and all those are coordinates where alien life can be found... by you. You now know where a lot of alien life is, but you have no way of knowing how much of that is life that can be detected, or recognized if it is detected by Earth sensors.

I know where the aliens are but I have no way to prove it, just call me Jane Foster and put me in a spiny thing.

It gave coordinates for where aliens can be found. Thats all.
It didnt give coordinates for where alien radio-transmissions can be detected.

Yog said:
That's not enough. Porter's body takes 4 AP. We aren't finishing it this turn. Not unless you also dedicate SGI AP to it.

You're saying that building Porter a body he can wield takes more AP than building Tiffany a permanent body, and 40% of what it took to rebuild Last Station.
Can I get a cite?

Yog said:
Three of the Maidens are Fates here. Fate is a major holdover mechanism from previous iterations of Creation. They have something to do with it.

Even back in Creation, the Maidens and the Incarna had fuckall to do with the actual creation of Creation.
The Primordials built the place, both the landscape, the humans and gods. The Loom of Fate was built by Autobot.
THEN the Maidens showed up.

There is zero supporting evidence in any of the source material that they have the sort of power or authority that you are trying to imply with regards to creating stuff.

Yog said:
Yes? White God made the universe, and there's a non-zero chance, I would even say a high chance, that he made stars to guide Starborn. As you like to point out, Uriel is a galaxy buster.

When the White God chooses to send messages in the Dresden Files, he sends prophecies.
He has literal angels and mortal followers to also do this. We have seen Uriel come and go onscreen, and offscreen we know he has regular talks with Odin. We know that (Archangel)Michael literally appeared to Sanya.

He doesnt literally rearrange quadrillions of quadrillions of quadrillions of tons of mass to give a subset of a human population on Earth guides. The birth of Christ only warranted a single luminous star, and that was literally the birth of Christ.
In Christian theology, the incarnation of the Son of God on Earth.

Furthermore, there is currently no evidence, no suggestion that the Starborn are the White God's direct work.
Any more than the Archive is, or Demonreach. Or the Black Court.
Or the incarnation of Lash in this AU, for that matter.

I will point out: Drakul is Starborn. Canon.

Yog said:
Holden also said no manses. We are playing in a more intact Creation than WoD.

Harry also cannot do oneiromancy, yet Bob was able to teach us enough theory that we taught Rosie.

1)The Arcane Forge isnt a manse.

2) Harry knows oneiromancy is a thing, and practices it on occasion.

He did oneiromancy in Grave Peril, where he lured the Nightmare in, killed it and ate its power, and again in Dead Beat, when he hosted his father's ghost in his head. He did oneiromancy all the time between Dead Beat, when Lash showed up, and White Night, when she died.

He used to do oneiromancy with Molly to practice her mental defenses after she became his apprentice, and did it in Ghost Story, when he entered Molly's head to witnessed Molly and Corpsetaker's mental battle.

uju32 · Jun 9, 2024

BronzeTongue said:
Harry has done some pretty obvious stuff himself before. When we're directly involved things can get more in your face, but purely in terms of overall masquerade impact our overall operations aren't fraying things as far as I can see.

Dresden literally rode a zombie T-rex through downtown Chicago two years ago in Dead Beat.
Before that, he killed a loup-garou on video in Fool Moon.
And last year he beat an Alien xenophage to death in a hotel lobby in Proven Guilty.

Remember that Old Man Mathews lives several hours out of Chicago, tries to keep a low profile, and even he had heard of some of the shit Dresden got up to.
The Masquerade has a certain amount of give in it.

fictionfan said:
What do we do if project Dentulous tries to stick it's nose in again? Easy to look at the wizard war time training camp and say that it is a militant terrorist cell.

Gard was able to put up a simple ward that made a prepared fire team turn around and leave at the museum.
An actual prepared wizard facility will simply have sufficient wards that they wont even see the place without a LOT of mojo.

I mean, White Council HQ is in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has managed without detection for at least the better part of a millenium. That suggests that when they actually put their mind to it and think its worth the effort, wizards can hide shit from mortals exceptionally well.

BoredMan said:
The two leading plans don't look much different at this point. It's mostly a question of whether or not you want a to try for a 'breather arc' this turn. And if you think we should prep for the White Council plotline with the baby wizard plothook beforehand or if you believe associating with them before addressing the traitors and spies is counterproductive and risky.

In either case we should let Olivia know about the issue the WC is having so she keeps that in the back of her mind. Dresden already knows although I don't think he knows just how bad it is.

They are very different. That plan to go after Peabody is a terrible one.
Its not just the narrative issues.
There are hard mechanical ones as well.

Going up against an Outsider mage who has mindcontrolled innocent wizard pawns, you want both human and spirit countermagic to deal with both the human magic, and when the Outsider magic comes into play.
Tallying Molly's warparty:
Molly: Human countermagic.
Lash: No countermagic
Lydia: Spirit countermagic
Olivia: Fae countermagic

This was the XP plan that won; it didnt plan for a confrontation with Peabody this turn.
Any mechanical confrontation is going to be fucked. You do not go into a confrontation with wizards where you are trying to avoid collateral without the relevant countermagic.

Not unless you want to murder a lot of innocents. Or get into a punch-up with a Senior Council wizard.

This is especially important since Lash, who is both our second best potential counterspeller after Molly and our best medic, has zero countermagic.
AND hasnt finished her upgrades, so she'd be a base mortal if shit pops off.

Yog · Jun 9, 2024

uju32 said:
You're saying that building Porter a body he can wield takes more AP than building Tiffany a permanent body, and 40% of what it took to rebuild Last Station.
Can I get a cite?

Yes, I provided it already, but here:

DragonParadox said:
[] NEW [SGI] A Train for Porter: Though he is a lot more happy for the company and the rush of energy though hidden cables Porter retains his fascination with trains... something the Spirit Binders of the City of Journey could help him with Costs 4 AP

Porter is a major urban elemental / lesser elemental dragon. He is fairly large in scale, and his body reflects that. A train is large. I expect that to be the reason for the AP cost.

uju32 said:
Even back in Creation, the Maidens and the Incarna had fuckall to do with the actual creation of Creation.
The Primordials built the place, both the landscape, the humans and gods. The Loom of Fate was built by Autobot.
THEN the Maidens showed up.

There is zero supporting evidence in any of the source material that they have the sort of power or authority that you are trying to imply with regards to creating stuff.

I never said they created Creation. But they might have been involved in this iteration simply by virtue of being there already.

uju32 said:
When the White God chooses to send messages in the Dresden Files, he sends prophecies.
He has literal angels and mortal followers to also do this. We have seen Uriel come and go onscreen, and offscreen we know he has regular talks with Odin. We know that (Archangel)Michael literally appeared to Sanya.

He doesnt literally rearrange quadrillions of quadrillions of quadrillions of tons of mass to give a subset of a human population on Earth guides. The birth of Christ only warranted a single luminous star, and that was literally the birth of Christ.
In Christian theology, the incarnation of the Son of God on Earth.

Furthermore, there is currently no evidence, no suggestion that the Starborn are the White God's direct work.
Any more than the Archive is, or Demonreach. Or the Black Court.
Or the incarnation of Lash in this AU, for that matter.

I will point out: Drakul is Starborn. Canon.

We have a citation. That's enough to investigate. Also, I hunted down previous rulings:

Yog said:
@DragonParadox while I understand that it would take a vote and an update to have a discussion with Bob about it, could we get an answer whether astrology is actually a thing in some way?

DragonParadox said:
In the Exalted sense? No, there is no Loom of Fate, the world has a lot more free will than that one.

Yog said:
No, I meant modern understanding of the word. Horoscopes and such. Is this something that is a thing in Dresdenverse magic at all?

DragonParadox said:
Yes, though modern horoscopes are very far from their sacred/magical roots. There are in many magic systems, particularly ritual casting, elements of astrology.

Astrology is a thing. Maybe not for divination, but for magic rituals for sure. And I think it's worthwhile to study it, as we have certain advantages others do not.

uju32 said:
1)The Arcane Forge isnt a manse.

Never said it was, the manse is a separate project that we can do:

Yog said:
Canon ExvsWoD is clear on the subject and doesn't allow manses. This is a higher energy setting. So, I'm guessing, a multistage project at the very edge of possibility. First raise Dragon Nest to 5 dots, then do multiple linked 5 dot wondermaking projects. Something like that?

DragonParadox said:
Yep, it is basically making your own Demonreach, though of course you do not have to make it a prison.

DragonParadox said:
It's a gemomatic working so some adaption of how that works in exalted would be used. Imagine a public works project, but it is also high grade magic. It would require significant amounts of labor not just mundane, but arcane as well, sorcerous assistants and on that note it is a good thing you have a friendly elemental.

DragonParadox said:
The most immediate benefit is a manse would not constantly drain from crafting.

You would get a heart-stone, which is the thing you need if you want to build a daiklave or other works of sorcery and artifice out of lost ages

Chicago would have a lot more magic overall to direct, a lot more magic, enough so for city wide enchantments like 'any Red Court vampire who tries to hunt here gets lost and always ends up on the same street where coincidentally there is a payroll of Molly and Co'. We are talking one or two enchantments about a strong as your charms.

It's one of the major projects I am looking forward to. To bring a tangible, physical, magical change to the world on a large scale.

uju32 said:
Going up against an Outsider mage who has mindcontrolled innocent wizard pawns, you want both human and spirit countermagic to deal with both the human magic, and when the Outsider magic comes into play.
Tallying Molly's warparty:
Molly: Human countermagic.
Lash: No countermagic
Lydia: Spirit countermagic
Olivia: Fae countermagic

Olivia also has human countermagic. Wait. What the hell. @DragonParadox : the plan that won is posted here. Olivia part reads:

Yog said:
-[X] Olivia, 12 XP
--[X] Counterspell: Human, 3 XP
--[X] Counterspell: Fae, 3 XP
--[X] Psychoportation 3, 6 XP

Yet the vote tally doesn't notice human countermagic at all for some reason. The XP costs account for it, so it should be included.

In anti-Peabody operation Olivia and Molly are going to be the most important. Olivia benefits from ridiculous always-on DC reducers when going after Peabody.

DragonParadox · Jun 9, 2024

Yog said:
Olivia also has human countermagic. Wait. What the hell. @DragonParadox : the plan that won is posted here. Olivia part reads:

Thanks for pointing that out, will add. No idea how the tally messed up and missed that.

DragonParadox · Jun 9, 2024

Good night guys.

BronzeTongue · Jun 9, 2024

Yog said:
At some point soonish we arrange direct meeting with PoTUS, and put our military and police advisors within Daedalus. Or something like that. Basically leapfrog over them

That's almost certainly never going to happen. The Library's job is to keep supernaturals from taking over the government, and an inevitable requirement of that is keeping anyone with social powers from sharing a room with them.

Some sort of advisory system and institutional interaction is one thing, but requesting a personal visit is just asking to freak them out.

uju32 said:
Furthermore, there is currently no evidence, no suggestion that the Starborn are the White God's direct work.
Any more than the Archive is, or Demonreach. Or the Black Court.
Or the incarnation of Lash in this AU, for that matter

We know their souls aren't his work, they're older than the last few instances of reality at least.

Given the role they serve it's possible they're important enough to make significant design concessions for. We don't know anything for certain, but I wouldn't count it out entirely either.

One scenario that seems plausible to me is that the essential idea of a star in terms of thematic associations and narrative is something necessary for the starborn to enter into reality as a result of whatever they were in the age of legends. At its root a lot of exalted metaphysics is very narrative driven, so keeping things across iterations could easily require interacting on that level.

So the stars didn't have to be huge balls of burning gas, but creator god of the era has to make a place for their themes in whatever order of the cosmos they're putting together.

uju32 · Jun 9, 2024

Yog said:
Yes, I provided it already, but here:

Yog said:
Porter is a major urban elemental / lesser elemental dragon. He is fairly large in scale, and his body reflects that. A train is large. I expect that to be the reason for the AP cost.

Thats new. Noted.
Still an SGI action, so a second normal AP next month, plus 2 SGI actions to finish it.
Or I could pull 3x SGI actions off this turn from the Alchemy thing to help finish it.

Need to think this over a little.

Yog said:
I never said they created Creation. But they might have been involved in this iteration simply by virtue of being there already.

There is neither evidence nor indication of this.
If I had to judge by their track record, they simply parachuted in later; going from individual Maidens to Fates/ Hecate is

Nor does the influence of any of the pantheons in this setting extend off Earth and its surroundings
Angels do, but they are angels.

Yog said:
We have a citation. That's enough to investigate. Also, I hunted down previous rulings:

Yog said:
Astrology is a thing. Maybe not for divination, but for magic rituals for sure. And I think it's worthwhile to study it, as we have certain advantages others do not.

You were talking astrology for divination.
My contention is, there is no such thing in the Dresdenverse.

Yog said:
Never said it was, the manse is a separate project that we can do:

Yog said:
It's one of the major projects I am looking forward to. To bring a tangible, physical, magical change to the world on a large scale.

I dont really care for it.

Yog said:
Olivia also has human countermagic. Wait. What the hell. @DragonParadox : the plan that won is posted here. Olivia part reads:

Yog said:
Yet the vote tally doesn't notice human countermagic at all for some reason. The XP costs account for it, so it should be included.
In anti-Peabody operation Olivia and Molly are going to be the most important. Olivia benefits from ridiculous always-on DC reducers when going after Peabody.

Olivia is mortal even with IDU, and does not share the same degree of supernatural resilience of the two Exalts and the nephilim here, all of whom can nope mind control.

She is also quite susceptible to a hard shutdown like the one that happened in canon when Vito Malvora's Outsider magic paralyzed the leadership of the White Court, Marcone, an entire team of immortal Einherjar, and both Dresden and Ramirez. And Lash had to literally kill herself to break Dresden free.

And she is additionally hard-capped to 8 dice in counterspelling. Wits 5 + Occult 3.

For comparison:
-Molly throws 16 dice with an Occult Excellency, 18 with a stunt, and 20 with Without Honor.
-Lash would throw 15 dice with Manipulate Flesh.
-Lydia is the person who sucks, because she currently throws 6 dice (Wits 4 + Occult 2), going up to 8 with a stunt. If we buy her a Wits Excellency she goes to 16 dice, 18 with a stunt.

There's a reason why I dont really care about Olivia's counterspelling in the major cases.
Her counterspelling is not relevant agains the big boys.

uju32 · Jun 9, 2024

BronzeTongue said:
We know their souls aren't his work, they're older than the last few instances of reality at least.

Given the role they serve it's possible they're important enough to make significant design concessions for. We don't know anything for certain, but I wouldn't count it out entirely either.

One scenario that seems plausible to me is that the essential idea of a star in terms of thematic associations and narrative is something necessary for the starborn to enter into reality as a result of whatever they were in the age of legends. At its root a lot of exalted metaphysics is very narrative driven, so keeping things across iterations could easily require interacting on that level.

So the stars didn't have to be huge balls of burning gas, but creator god of the era has to make a place for their themes in whatever order of the cosmos they're putting together.

Most of the souls are old.
Whether all of them are remains to be seen. Drakul is explicitly a Starborn, and also something quite inhuman. Which suggests its a status that can be acquired.

If Christ only rates a single star glowing for a couple nights around his birth? I dont buy the argument that the White God literally rearranged the universe for the sake of these guys. Especially since there's a lot more of them around these days (forty thousand this cycle, by Word of Butcher) than there were when the population was smaller.

And this is further reinforced by the fact that the Starborn themselves literally know shit about their condition until others tell them about it. Since Lash said that some Starborn served Old Gods in ignorance, which is I think prima facie evidence there's no instruction manual for them or special sign.

BronzeTongue · Jun 9, 2024

uju32 said:
Most of the souls are old.
Whether all of them are remains to be seen. Drakul is explicitly a Starborn, and also something quite inhuman. Which suggests its a status that can be acquired.

Or that he was changed somehow, souls are not completely immutable and it's been a long time.

uju32 said:
If Christ only rates a single star glowing for a couple nights around his birth? I dont buy the argument that the White God literally rearranged the universe for the sake of these guys. Especially since there's a lot more of them around these days (forty thousand this cycle, by Word of Butcher) than there were when the population was smaller.

And this is further reinforced by the fact that the Starborn themselves literally know shit about their condition until others tell them about it. Since Lash said that some Starborn served Old Gods in ignorance, which is I think prima facie evidence there's no instruction manual for them

We do know that their near existence is part of the lock keeping the Gates barred. They might not need to know what they are to be useful, but still need stars to guide the souls through the world to incarcerate.

fictionfan · Jun 9, 2024

If confronting Peabody is there any reason that we would not bring Harry to help with counter spelling?

uju32 · Jun 9, 2024

Yog pointed out that the QM updated plan options to give a canon Porter Train option. So Im updating my plan

VOTE
[X]PLAN HOME SECURITY
-[X] MOLLY PRIME: 6 AP + 2 Malcoffee AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS] A friend in need. You promised Rosie that you would help and so you will: 1 AP
---[X] Moving out. The sooner you get Rosie out of that house the better
--[X][FINANCES AND INFRASTRUCTURE] The Other side of the Mirror: Secure Nevernever areas corresponding to the Last station: 1 AP
--[X][ARCANE ALLIES] NEW Getting Lydia a Good Boy: assist Lydia in getting a dog, maybe a magical one. Mouse might be interested in helping. 1 AP
--[X][ARCANE ALLIES] NEW Training... Wizards?: Carlos would like to meet with you. 1 AP
--[X][CRAFTING] New Artifact Workshop: Crafting a place of potential(0/10 AP)[+1d4 AP Joe Magarac + 4 AP Tiffany]: 1 AP + 2 Malcoffee AP
--[X][CRAFTING] NEW [SGI] A Train for Porter: Though he is a lot more happy for the company and the rush of energy though hidden cables Porter retains his fascination with trains(0/4AP): 1 AP + 3 SGI AP
-[X]SPLINTERED GALE INCARNATION: 21/24 SGI AP
--[X][SCHOOL][SGI] Attend school: 1 SGI AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS][SGI] Look into the Minor Talents of Chicago: 3 SGI AP
---[X] Alphas, friends of Harry, close to you in age
---[X] Friends in Low Places, she might work for Marcone but Grad was really cool
---[X] Spirit Speaker, Mortimer Lindquist is the real deal
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS] Updated [SGI] Higher Education: Engage with mundane side of getting into Harvard: 2 SGI AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS][SGI] Crown and Scepter, see what good your unique talents can be in Sanctuary: 6 SGI AP
--[X][INVESTIGATIONS] [SGI] NEW Teachings of Winter: Teach unknown Paths to the spirit binders of Sanctuary.Your presence, in some manner will help smooth matters. 3 SGI AP
--[X][ARCANE ALLIES] Cauldron Bubble, your new friends in the Ordo Lebetis could use more help
---[X] Updated [SGI] Online presence, See if you can convince the others to set up a strong online presence. 1 SGI AP
--[X][FAMILY TIME] [SGI] Updated Family Unknown, Even if they didn't you have other more distant family in Boston that it would be cool to meet. 1 SGI AP
--[X][FAMILY TIME] [SGI] NEW Introductions to more of you: Twin jokes. Get your family used to other yous: 1 SGI AP
--[X][WRITE-IN: CRAFTING] ALCHEMY: Making potions of Astarte Veneria and Nabu Mercury: 3 SGI AP

====
RATIONALE
QM's option says Porter Train will take 4AP, so 1 Molly AP + 3 SGI AP.
Its critical to have it up and running before going after Peabody next turn; the last time someone was winning against the Bad Guys, they pulled a diversion by staging an attack somewhere else.

I DONT want to deal with the Solar Exaltation or Peabody. Not this turn.
Each of those is one its own a major plot point that will dominate the story arcs they are in, and both deserve their own story arcs. And we need to breathe a little, both OOC and IC.

Furthermore, we are not ready for such a confrontation. Most of our party members lack enough counterspelling to be useful against hostile or mindcontrolled wizards without killing them. And Lash is still working on her own personal upgrades; until they are finished, she remains a squishy mortal who will die to a gunshot.

Please vote for this plan if you

Want a cooldown arc
Want to take time to prepare before aggroing Peabody next turn.
Trust that I have some idea what Im talking about

uju32 · Jun 9, 2024

fictionfan said:
If confronting Peabody is there any reason that we would not bring Harry to help with counter spelling?

Harry counterspells with Arete. 5 dice only, lower than Lydia.
Lower than Olivia.
There's a reason why we were so surprised and pleased that he managed to counterspell the Dragon in Vegas.

Artemis1992 · Jun 9, 2024

I'd still much prefer to leave confronting Peabody in-house for the White Council.

For us it would be a quick and dissapointing fight against a squishy mortal, but with negative consequences because Wizards don't like it when an outsider kills one of their own.

It's a much more interesting challenge for Harry and Ebenezer.

uju32 · Jun 9, 2024

Artemis1992 said:
I'd still much prefer to leave confronting Peabody in-house for the White Council.

For us it would be a quick and dissapointing fight against a squishy mortal, but with negative consequences because Wizards don't like it when an outsider kills one of their own.

It's a much more interesting challenge for Harry and Ebenezer.

Sandra Marling was neither a quick nor disappointing fight, and Sandra had only seven months of preptime, compared to the decades of investment that Peabody has here.
Furthermore, there's a Nephandi Gilledian with a line directly to him to pump him power and knowledge.

This is a significantly more dangerous threat than his canon counterpart, and his canon counterpart managed to kill fifty wizards in his unsuccessful escape attempt. That Ebenezar and Dresden failed to stop.

We need to be there to minimize casualties, or we'll be dealing with the fallout for years if not decades.
And we REALLY dont want a Nephandi wizard recurring enemy.
We get one chance at this.

BUT.
We dont need to do it this turn. We arent prepared for it. Our primary counterspellers dont have the right skills.
Our medic is still squishy.
We have not fortified our home base against diversionary attack.

Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

Please sir, may I have some Meows?

Please sir, may I have some Meows?

Please sir, may I have some Meows?

Dinosaurs came in many flavors. Like potato chips.

Please sir, may I have some Meows?