My fear is that if I give in at this point, the urge to try to non-lethally take them all down will be greater next time, Uju himself said: "So what? We are Solaradoid, we do the impossible"
We are facing dozens of wizards in the fortress that they have been preparing for centuries. I don't want to lose the essence (and a large number of post) trying long acrobatics to save them.
If it is just this insane wizard, as cover for our crown, I have no problem. The voting trends that may come from this decision, that is what I have a problem with.
1) Thats the job description for Solaroids. Its our job to exercise judgement as to where it applies.
2) The active conspiracy involved 54 wizards at original check globally. Only 7x of them were originally in Edinburgh, only 7x globally are always aware, and its been less than six hours since this entire thing kicked off.
There's a bunch of them who dont even know somethings popping, and I bet more are still asleep.
Shaw is in custody, the two who attacked McCoy are almost certainly dead, the toilet Warden is in custody and this guy is either dead or unconscious in short order. Thats down to 49 globally.
Most of the people in the Hidden Halls are going to have nothing to do with this.
And we have both a Senior Council member and the deputy commander of the Wardens, both of whom have the political authority and knowledge to contend with access to most of the protections of the Hidden Halls.
I mean, using the Sight to the point where you're so broken it provides a mechanical benefit against being broken further? That's a perfect effect that blocks even temporary interference with things a step removed from its actual result. He's cooked, and there almost certainly isn't anything anyone can do about it.
Derangements can be fixed.
IIRC, Regina specifically has the Gift EaseTheFeveredMind for that, even though it takes 20 successes over an extended period to get rid of a Derangement.
Question is figuring out if he's a willing conspirator or not.
You can't stand here preaching mercy for the warlocks and then turn around to execute one like that.
When not brainwashed by Outsiders she could very well be a stallwart defender of civilization. A caster of commodeable skill and careful arbiter of justice. She might even be privy to some crucial information about the plans of the conspiracy.
And a bunch of those hostiles out there are some of the casualties we are trying to avoid. You would have an argument about the difficulty of taking someone like, say, Peabody alive, who we know is rocking Outsider Investments courtesy of Ashraaaf. But these guys? Please. Especially if they keep feeding them to us piecemeal.
Just to be even clearer here, I have never stated that I wanted to kill every hostile. The response deemed appropriate should depend on the risk to those in our party or the people we're trying to save. A Death Curse typically poses a rather notable risk especially since you don't necessarily know what it's going to be before it happens.
If there were non Warlock hostiles around right now or just non Warlock/traitors near the presumed blast radius of this guy's DC would you be arguing for a riskier nonlethal takedown?
I dont agree. This is an assault team with two E4 Exalts, a Demon/Nephilim with Tier 5 Lore of Flesh, a Sorcerer/Assassin, SEVEN wizards/archwizards and a backup team of professional soldiers from Sanctuary. The OPFOR is 7x conspirators in Edinburgh at original check. There IS enough force here for a credible attempt at a no-kill run.
It's possible sure but I'll have to disagree with seeing it as realistic. Too many unknowns to say as such right now. You expend more resources (essence, time etc) doing it this way to compensate for the added risk of trying to take every hostile in non-lethally regardless of the scenario as opposed to having killing being on the table. Specifically the killing of Warlocks who may try deploying meat shield and hostage tactics down the line with anyone else who happens to be here.
This is assuming that they don't try and utilize a riskier but faster method to getting there with some success or that they don't establish communication with some who are already present at Edinburgh making stealth less viable. I doubt they would've been helpless without timely recourse here if they disapproved of Molly making an assault without them present. This sounds like the sort of thing one may spend a favor on considering the subject matter.
Olivia Spoiler: Crack shot 2 pt Merit
She will shoot the wizard this turn with us reducing his dice on all actions including Defense no matter how taking this wizard is handled (Bullet Surgery or Splat) he will be felled this turn.
Ah. So then the presumably high base DC as indicated by the authors note isn't because of the location Olivia is shooting. That changes things here. Thanks.
Derangements can be fixed.
IIRC, Regina specifically has the Gift EaseTheFeveredMind for that, even though it takes 20 successes over an extended period to get rid of a Derangement.
Question is figuring out if he's a willing conspirator or not.
I think these ones are special. He has them because of what he's seen, they're his reaction to his perfect memory of the Sight.
We just used a charm to throw 20 successes tweaking how he reacted to his memory of Molly - temporarily - and it didn't work. This is more closely bound to the memory than what we tried to do is.
Restoring him to what he was would be exposing the person whose reaction to X input is Y derangement and trying to stop it from happening in the same way even if we could cure him. Maybe we could change him so much that he no longer reacts to those things the same way, but after so much exposure what would be left of him afterwards?
You can't stand here preaching mercy for the warlocks and then turn around to execute one like that.
When not brainwashed by Outsiders she's could very well be a stallwart defender of civilization. A caster of commodeable skill and careful arbiter of justice. She might even be privy to some crucial information about the plans of the conspiracy.
My only regret is that I didn't think to make a "toilet warden of the Privy Council" joke about the conspiracy until after I'd already flushed that word down the tubes.
Probably won't get any traction, but I felt it worth making an effort.
This dude is batshit crazy and willing to kill himself for what amounts to a delaying tactic. The chances we can extract any useful intel from interrogating him is negligible, while the potential cost in Essence and time to do so is significant. Spending Olivia's very limited resources on this also seems ill-advised, IMO. Better to put him down and move on. The longer this takes, the more time our enemies have to prepare, and the worst thing you can do when going against a wizard is to give them time to prepare, especially on their home ground. In this case, that also gives them more time to activate mind-fucked sleeper assets.
[X] Expedited Problem Solving
-[X] Olivia puts a bullet through the warlock's forehead
-[X] The wizards who aren't otherwise occupied will try to deal with the Death Curse, if the warlock is able to fire it off before Olivia takes her shot
-[X] Stunt: This is just the beginning of what promises to be a long, drawn out ordeal. You and your allies cannot afford to waste precious resources on the opening act, not when the forces arrayed against you have yet to truly show themselves. This man is a distraction, an expendable pawn that needs to be put down before he can delay you further. You call out to Olivia, trusting the skills imparted to her by your agents and the abilities you bestowed upon her. "Take the shot!" You have not even finished speaking when the muffled report from Olivia's powerful rifle sounds out, an hypersonic round larger than your index finger cutting through the air with deadly purpose.
--[X] Harry and his fellow Wardens know their business and don't need you to tell them how to defend against a warlock with a deathwish. Just as you can trust Olivia to play her part, so too can you trust them to play theirs.
[X]Plan Shutdown
-[X] Olivia tries to send a sniper bullet through the warlock's brain stem, causing him to blank out without technically killing him. Tiffany can fix him for interrogation later
--[X]Olivia: Flow of Ki + spend WP for automatic success: 1WP, 2 Mana
--[X]Molly: Shadow Spite Curse on warlock
--[X]Sophia: Grab body of warlock before he hits the ground and breaks his damned neck
--[X]Tiffany: Manipulate Flesh(Stamina) on self to increase soak
[X]Plan Shutdown
-[X] Olivia tries to send a sniper bullet through the warlock's brain stem, causing him to blank out without technically killing him. Tiffany can fix him for interrogation later
--[X]Olivia: Flow of Ki + spend WP for automatic success: 1WP, 2 Mana
--[X]Molly: Shadow Spite Curse on warlock
--[X]Sophia: Grab body of warlock before he hits the ground and breaks his damned neck
--[X]Tiffany: Manipulate Flesh(Stamina) on self to increase soak
Adhoc vote count started by Anaja on Sep 15, 2024 at 12:21 AM, finished with 93 posts and 12 votes.
[X]Plan Shutdown -[X] Olivia tries to send a sniper bullet through the warlock's brain stem, causing him to blank out without technically killing him. Tiffany can fix him for interrogation later --[X]Olivia: Flow of Ki + spend WP for automatic success: 1WP, 2 Mana --[X]Molly: Shadow Spite Curse on warlock --[X]Sophia: Grab body of warlock before he hits the ground and breaks his damned neck --[X]Tiffany: Manipulate Flesh(Stamina) on self to increase soak
[x] Let the wizards handle is
-[x]Use Shadow Spite Curse to make the Warlock fumble his death curse. BSM and CCC still apply.
-[x]Stunt: Dealing with the death curse of Warlocks is hardly anything new for Wardens of the White Council. But you put your thumb on the scale. The Warlock's spite is nothing compared to your own.
[x]Plan Simple vision
-[X]Olivia uses first dot hell weaving to trap the warlock in a scary vision. 1 demon chi and giving Molly a gold coin.
-[x] Molly uses Shadow Spite Curse to make the Warlock fumble his death curse just in case. BSM and CCC still apply.
[X]Plan Shutdown -[X] Olivia tries to send a sniper bullet through the warlock's brain stem, causing him to blank out without technically killing him. Tiffany can fix him for interrogation later --[X]Tiffany: Flow of Ki + spend WP for automatic success: 1WP, 2 Mana --[X]Molly: Shadow Spite Curse on warlock --[X]Sophia: Grab body of warlock before he hits the ground and breaks his damned neck --[X]Tiffany: Manipulate Flesh(Stamina) on self to increase soak
[X] Expedited Problem Solving -[X] Olivia puts a bullet through the warlock's forehead -[X] The wizards who aren't otherwise occupied will try to deal with the Death Curse, if the warlock is able to fire it off before Olivia takes her shot -[X] Stunt: This is just the beginning of what promises to be a long, drawn out ordeal. You and your allies cannot afford to waste precious resources on the opening act, not when the forces arrayed against you have yet to truly show themselves. This man is a distraction, an expendable pawn that needs to be put down before he can delay you further. You call out to Olivia, trusting the skills imparted to her by your agents and the abilities you bestowed upon her. "Take the shot!" You have not even finished speaking when the muffled report from Olivia's powerful rifle sounds out, an hypersonic round larger than your index finger cutting through the air with deadly purpose. --[X] Harry and his fellow Wardens know their business and don't need you to tell them how to defend against a warlock with a deathwish. Just as you can trust Olivia to play her part, so too can you trust them to play theirs.
Considerably easier yes, she is trying to hit a specific part of his brain with a bullet and make sure the trajectory does not continue into places she does not want it to be.
[x] Let the wizards handle is
-[x]Use Shadow Spite Curse to make the Warlock fumble his death curse. BSM and CCC still apply.
-[x]Stunt: Dealing with the death curse of Warlocks is hardly anything new for Wardens of the White Council. But you put your thumb on the scale. The Warlock's spite is nothing compared to your own.
Because its the only reference he has for what he's seeing.
Older, more knowledgeable wizards might have different referents to use, or those from different backgrounds; a Japanese wizard might speak along the lines of a child of Amaterasu, or something similar.
Nephilim are descendants of angels; I dont think the child of a demon/nephilim necessarily qualifies.
Kinda like how the child of a demigod is not necessarily a demigod themself.
You aren't listening. Why is this the reference he's making? What in Morgan's perception allows him / points him to "this is a nephilim"? He doesn't know Tiffany's origins. All he has to go on are her physical appearance and the feel of her magic-like abilities. I highly doubt he used Sight on her. Further, I highly doubt he has seen Lore use firsthand before. Denarians are capable of it, but as I understand it, they mostly augment their mortal bearers. He wouldn't use Sight on Swords of the Cross obviously. Has Morgan seen direct divine miracles before? Most of those should be True Faith or mortal magic, and thus feel different from Lore use. Has he seen angels fighting something directly? I highly doubt that.
Point is - why and how is he making the reference based on what he knows? What in Tiffany's looks, magic, aura, etc says "descendant of / related to angels of White God"?
I don't dispute that this is an appropriate reference. I am questioning how he came to make it.
[X]Plan Shutdown
@DragonParadox does Olivia have access to any special munitions from the Courts? Non-lethal / enchanted / stun / phasing / anti-magic etc?
The Storm Heart ●●●●
A thunderstorm packed into the soul a powerful weaving of concealed ancient sorcery, an imitation of power innate. While dislodged from its home/Host it appears to be an orb containing a pitch black thunderstorm with the occasional crack of yellow lightning. While embedded the bearer fears not the sting of a storm whether that be chill, sleet or lightning. If the bearer has the power to imbue the embedded Storm heart they may activate its dread transformation. An invocation of the storm that bathes the bearer of the storm heart in lightning suffusing their form and transforming them into a being of Lightning, Clouds and Raging Winds.
System: This transformation works largely like the Shintai transformation of The infernal exalted. Except it only cost one mystical resource and one Willpower rather than two of each. Additional attempts to activate this false Shintai requires a roll of (Splendor rating) Dice, beginning at difficulty 6 and increasing by +1 with each subsequent attempt, to a maximum of difficulty 9. If the difficulty Is already 9, No more rolls can be made.
Failure on any of these rolls causes the shell of the storm to crack, botches cause 2, after receiving four such cracks the storm shell ruptures causing the storm to Rampage on the inside of the bearers soul causing them (Splendor rating) x 2 Dice of aggravated damage that can only be soaked with stamina. Should the bearer manage to ride out that storm. The heart cannot be used again until the next story or 28 days past whichever comes first.
As an emulation of innate power No Lunar, no Solar if they possess Supernal - Final Ray of Light, No Abyssal should they possess Apocalyptic - Birth of Sanity's Sorrow nor Any exalt that possesses Birth of the Perfect Ego Juggernaut Form and Finally as the origin no Infernal may Activate this thunderous heart.
Form of Graceful Winds (1 pt. Form Element)
The Splendor takes the form of something that is graceful, or cold, or crackles with electricity, or is marked with decorations evocative of winds and clouds. It might be made of ice. This Element defines the Splendor's physical form and gives it a character, and that character is aligned with the elemental power of air. Other Elements may draw upon this fact.
The Splendor cannot be harmed by wind, cold, or electricity. As an Adornment, increases its
user's basic movement speed, before any multiplication by Charms or other powers, by
(Splendor's rating) yards per turn.
Form of the Hero's Shadow (2 pt. Form Element)
The Splendor manifests in the world as an enchantment embedded in a specific person present at the time of its summoning, chosen by its owner. If it has no other Form Element, then it appears as a mark like a tattoo somewhere on the infected individual's body. Wherever they go, so too goes the Splendor. If it has a physical Form Element, then it appears in the infected individual's possession, and will always return to them at the beginning of each scene even if thrown away, left behind, or given away. If its physical Form is something immobile like a tree, then the targeted individual is going to find that tree wherever they go for the duration of the Splendor's manifestation.
If the Splendor is an Adornment, then this Element allows its benefits to be enjoyed by the person to whom the Splendor is attached, even if they're not its owner and not attuned to it. Even if they're not Exalted at all.
Transformation (3 pt. Root Element)
The Splendor causes a transformation in accordance with its character, as defined by Form
Elements such as Form of Graceful Air. The nature of the transformation depends on the Form or Forms in play, but might include transformation into things like a sparrow (air), pig (earth), a living flame (fire), a fish (water), a stag (wood), a walking corpse (death), a semitranslucent spirit (spirit), or a fantastic beast such as a sphinx (dreams). These are meant to be examples, and not an all-inclusive list.
As an Adornment, this Splendor requires a point of Willpower and a turn spent in transformation to either assume the characteristic form or return to the user's native form.
Sacred Protection (3 pt. Root Element)
This Splendor defines that which cannot threaten those within its influence, according to the Splendor's character as defined by appropriate Form Elements.
It provides immunity to damage from wind, cold, and electricity (air); being crushed, cut, or
pierced by stone or metal (earth); being burned (fire); being drowned (water); being poisoned or struck by wooden objects (wood); disease (death); possession (spirit); or the twisting of the mind by supernatural powers (dreams).
Thunder Bringer Shintai
The character assumes a modified version of her own human form, a living thunderstorm surging with lightning and wind but still fundamentally recognizable as the character as Trails of clouds and lashing winds abound.
Strength +3, Dexterity +3, Stamina +3 Appearance ≤ 3
Golem (Storm) Health Levels: 0/0//0//0//0//0//-3//Inc Arcana Features:
-Elemental Frame (Air): Immune to damage from electricity, it cannot be moved against its will by powerful winds and is immune to falling damage.
-Reinforced Body : +3 Soak
-Flight: the Arcana is capable of flight at its normal movement speed
-Superior Body (x2): Strength +1, Dexterity +3 Stamina +1
-Unfeeling: The Arcana cannot feel pain. It reduces all wound penalties by two, and takes no wound penalties at all from bashing damage. Merit / Advantages:
-Soak Aggravated Damage (5 pts.)
-Alacrity (6 pts): 3 Extra actions per turn where Willpower is spent for this effect.
-Armor (2 Pts): +1 Soak
-Flexibility (2 pts) +2 to Athletics for (escaping ropes, grappling an opponent, and so forth) You may also tuck yourself into spaces that a creature of your size would not usually be able to squeeze into, and might (depending on the situation) be able to slither between bars, coil around branches, and so forth.
Reasoning/ Rationale: I was thinking of ways to do transformation splendors then it came to me that while there's a lot of weird interactions between trying to stack a transformation into an Arcana onto a normal character there was already a system for stacking multiple Advantage is / aspects onto an existing character with its own drawbacks and advantages.
So just make the assumption that all of the information of the character remains the same but you put on the features of the Arcana and merits/advantages as if they were Aspects but don't interact with the flaw buy down system both to keep the complexity low and to not play Silly buggers with an optional/ Impermanent transformation that isn't character generation.
It works, at the very limit of your abilities and it should be 5 dots. Also invoking it would make a mortal user unable to use any other magic for the duration or their soul would short-circuit.
So what exactly does mortal mean here (Human?) or like Sorcerers, Martial artist, Non-Bane Fomori, Ghouls (are Wizards/White Vampires included) or does that mean actual Mortality.
So what exactly does mortal mean here (Human?) or like Sorcerers, Martial artist, Non-Bane Fomori, Ghouls (are Wizards/White Vampires included) or does that mean actual Mortality.
Does the Splendor rating need to match the Arcana rating? Or is it something else that I'm missing. It could also be because it's pushing edge of system as you said.
Does the Splendor rating need to match the Arcana rating? Or is it something else that I'm missing. It could also be because it's pushing edge of system as you said.
On the subject of the toilet warden, we might want to look into why she was over here in the first place. Clearly she didn't have anything better to do, but I doubt they're doing random patrols.
Presumably there's a plan in place beyond casting major spells on the council's doorstep and crit fishing with death curses.
I'm also worried about what's going on with the Council, because this seems like something they should have noticed.
