Death's Swift Wings
18th of February 2007 A.D.
COMMENTARY
-*points at Peabody running Better Body rotes*
The bad guys have gotten, and are getting upgrades in response to Exalted bullshit.
This is something to keep in mind for the future.
-And on that note, Peabody is
Arete 8? The
fuck? That certainly explains how he got into Harry's head.
For reference, Blackstaff McCoy is Arete 8. Morgan appears to be Arete 5.
Peabody could have murdered every wizard here, and crushed Morgan and his squad like an egg.
Very good thing they had Exalted backup.
-Pale facsimile is just evidence that notNephandi remain sufficiently human to indulge in sour grapes.
If the Hollow Man ever wanted to speak to Molly, her address is in the phonebook. This was an attempt to stall and distract a hostile in the field.
Its also worth noting that all the Wardens here know how strong someone like Harry is compared to most wizards, so they actually know what it entails for Lydia to eat a fireball from him and proceed to continue as if she didnt care.
Nevermind what Sophia has done. Or Olivia.
The Warden AARs after this are going to be the stuff of Halloween reading.
-The Hollow Man being aware means that any conspirators not currently in the Halls will almost certainly get warning and go on the run before we or the Council can reach them. Since I doubt more than half the conspirators are currently here, that could mean upwards of twenty black wizards in the wind. Interesting Times ahead.
-Morgan, Zardok and Lady M have been active.
Gonna note that the fourth wizard, Nzola the illusionist has been pretty quiet. So has Olivia, for that matter.
Were they covering the rear against sneak attack?
-Gonna note that in canon, the wards over the Hidden Halls were comprehensive enough that you couldnt open a Way to or from the NeverNever until you were outside them.
Which was why in Turn Coat Peabody ran from the assembly hall until he could get outside the Halls.
That this warlock is opening a Way here means either that this area in the very heart of the Halls is outside the wards(unlikely) or Peabody and his conspirators have spent weeks and months creating vulnerabilities in the wards to allow for people to open Ways if at all necessary.
Which is another datum in favor of the theory that this entire disaster has been planned for weeks or months before Molly crashed it with her Circle.
-Generally the presence of OG Hellfire suggests that one or more Denarians is about, and that rule hasnt failed yet.
And this guy is probably the worst possible matchup for a bunch of wizards.
Thorned Namshiel is the magical specialist of the Denarians. As in, he actually appears to enjoy magic in all its ramifications, both using and teaching it. This is the guy who taught Polonessa Lartessa magic, taught Marcone to teleport, who trivially trapped Dresden in a circle mid-combat and nullified his magic until Uriel interfered.
Just saying that if this guy and his host are running loose in the Halls, he probably eats most any caster in this place alive, including the Senior Council members. And thats not counting his warform.
It probably explains WHERE the Merlin is.
-Question is: WHY is Namshiel here?
The guys who ambushed McCoy with Hellfire means that he has been involved with this particular conspiracy for a significant amount of time, so none of this was impromptu.
What I cant see is what he is getting out of it.
The wizard library undoubtedly hosts arcane secrets galore, but I cant imagine that they have more magical secrets than an actual Fallen Angel is privy to.
We appear to be looking at an actual example of a Xanatos Pile-Up; multiple plans colliding.
Red Court, Peabody/Hollow Man and Denarian, as a bare minimum.
If Molly manages to aggro three or more different factions in this evening, she deserves an extra helping of ice cream.
OOC: And there's the fight. Hope it worked. Personally I was a lot more happy with this than the last fight in the Wicked City, people almost died, Dresden got a brand new source of trauma, horrors man was not meant to know were faced and secrets were uncovered (even if not yet on screen...)
Lol.
I see Butcher has taught you well
2) Lydia is almost confirmed to be an attempt at recreating an exaltation, what with being called a "pale facsimile" of Molly. Goddamn, Kemmler was good.
Unlikely.
There's two potential explanations:
Liminal Exalts, which are a thing in the ExWoD setting, in which people make something close enough and Grandmother reaches up from the underworld and actually imbues the resulting product with life.
Or like BronzeTongue suggested, he figured out how to try to aspect an existing Exaltation differently, along the lines of the Dragons of A Different Color from Ex2E, where there were Dragonbloods who were aspected to the underworld.
Both would be impressive feats, but neither would require the dude literally doing shit that Primordials couldnt recreate.
Fair I guess, but it seems unreasonable for people to just remember they had extra powers and resources around. If it didn't really cost them anything they couldn't afford to lose and they could do it on short notice why wouldn't they already be doing it?
The US Army did not take B-52s to Mogadishu in the 1990s, and didnt patrol Iraq with M1 tanks.
That doesnt mean they didnt have the capability, it means they didnt have the requirements or want to take the trade-offs.
Similarly, black wizards who understand what the costs of calling on their associates entails arent going to be in a hurry to call on them if they can do it otherwise.
Even McCoy doesnt pull out the Blackstaff every time he wants to cast magic.
