As I said, I very much hope that after this they will either be willing to listen to our plans or they will be game-mechanical allies, not allies in name only.I understand Molly's motivation perfectly. However, I am not too happy as a player of this quest if we get nothing out of it.
At the very least I expect that putting our cyber devils into all their cell phones will happen quickly now. It's just embarrassing that the black council was able to communicate better with it's members than they could.
Alright. Time to properly participate with actual knowledge of what's going on at this very moment!
Naturally, I will start off with a summary/compilation and a question, because I will forget what I'm thinking if I don't put it down, and if I leave it in my notes I'll forget it for years.
Harry Dresden has Awakened Essence (Equivalent Essence ●● Max Mote Pool 5)
He must weave his mote pool though extended Arete roll at Base DC 7, each roll requiring an hour; 1 Success = 1 Mote. A Botch renders him unable to acess Essence until the next Sunrise or Sunset
Can Learn Supernatural Martial Arts up to Terrestrial
Can Study (Terrestrial) Ancient Sorcery
Can freely gift motes to Exalted, though not the reverse
Can freely convert his motes back into successes to any spells he casts
Mmm, but he got enough successes to get the Grand Prize here, huh?
Soulfire has limited use without worse than killing yourself, since you literally have to expend bits of your soul to use it, and it doesn't let you do anything fundamentally new that you couldn't do before, it just makes your magic more "Solid" by giving it a powerful framework instead of being purely ephemeral
Essence only requires you to spend some time meditating to refill your mote pool, and can be applied to just buy successes on spells. Want to cast something with a DC of 10? You can guarantee at least minimal success with a single mote, on top of opening the gateway of Ancient Sorcery and Terrestrial Martial Arts.
So, just pointing it out, Harry can, once per day, freely achieve a legendary feet of magic, ie 5 successes. 6, actually, also counting 1 willpower. He's now squarely in the archmage territory. Also, assuming it works like Awakened Essence in Exalted, he now can buy essence rating with XP. Up to 3, if I recall correctly (I'll have to check that). Above that he ascends to godhood.
This is a grand prize worth a hell of a lot. Also, it makes the project to learn how to awaken Essence much, much easier, since we can study Harry in our Courts.
Increasing the scale or scope of what a Mage's spell does is very much a matter of "Raising the DC", normally you don't want to let it get too high because you increase the risk of a Botch, but with Enlightened Essence and a very important cause, he can guarantee at least a floor of 3 successes by spending 2 motes and a willpower, that's enough to cast almost any spell he needs, even if the DC is 10.
If he were to just put all his essence and a willpower into making as much fire as he can? Six successes at DC 9? I'm going to have to check to be sure but I think that is the point at which he could do a fair impression of that satellite strike Ebenezer used with pure fire. He is probably never going to need as much fire as he can theoretically conjure now.
When you think about it, Dresden is now probably close to if not already at Morgan/Senior Council levels of combat prowess.
A wizard's greatest weakness is their fragility, but their greatest strength is the ability to tailor their approach to their opponent, givensufficient time. Which nobody ever gives wizards during combat, because the only thing worse than a healer is the dude powering up a Spirit Bomb aimed at your elemental weakness.
Now though? Dresden can actually use Thaumaturgy with combat-relevant speed, while before being able to do so marked you as a true Master of Magic, with peak human skill and centuries of experience.
And Dresden can teach this shit ro everyone. Putting aside how strong the Merlin's gonna be if he survives (remember, he's a Master of Warding, shit that usually takes time, and he was already strong enough to hold off armies in the Nevernever with a quickly-drawn Ward), the base ability of wizards to survive supernatural combat is gonna have a drastic spike up.
If it weren't for the fact he can't teach non-humans, you bet your ass Mab and Odin would be all over him. They still might; it's one thing to poke Molly for secrets when she has the capacity to ruin you, but Dresden is a whole different kettle of fish. Then again, the White Council is gonna be heavily invested in him too for the near-term future. Dresden isn't gonna be teaching baby Wardens for the next few years, he's gonna be teaching everybody.
(And this is 'just' from the autosuccesses he gets from Essence. Terrestrial Martial Arts can help a Wizard's defence like nothing else, considering those Martial Artists were hunting Solars in Wyld Hunts, and Exalted Sorcery is gonna blow some minds.)
All right, I get some of this. Spending Essence to get successes - great! I'm afraid I'm far more familiar with Awakening than Ascension (and I still have trouble grokking the base system; I'm an Ex:2e player at heart), and that's probably not going to change, but I get the basics. He can speed up or strengthen the effects from ritual-to-instant, and from pebble-to-boulder, casting Archmage-tier spells like Rotes. Gifting motes for free? Fantastic, we need more of those - we're about to get a Perfect Defense! Ancient Sorcery? The doc for ExVWOD doesn't sort it into tiers, but I'm guessing it's based on where it was in 2e, no trouble. MA? Fantastic, this man needs more soak.
But. What does it mean to 'weave' his motes? He can clearly use them instantly for spells - is he required to take an hour for each mote of Essence Respiration? I suppose he can't get them back from sunrise, and we don't have a Lease the Flame equivalent…
Also, as a wizard, Harry made his rings to store kinetic energy, and I think he had a way of storing life force? Could he learn to make a Soulfire Crystal equivalent? I doubt we can make him chalcanth, or celestial wine (I miss the original Principle Invoking Onslaught).
He's the Demonreach's Warden (something the council is likely still unaware of), the first awakened essence user among them (and the source of that knowledge), the best Molly handler they have, and a starborn.
Ok, can we make a bargain with Mab to let her act directly against Outsiders in some way she can't already do? (Basically, can we go beyond just 'letting them act "freely",' and make it a thing to bargain over? We let Mab curbstomp her enemies, she lets us bind her to crush the Denarians?
I mean, I'm assuming there's still political costs involved, and Mab isn't exactly chained - but power has limits in DF, at least unless you're Ethniu, apparently.
Lastly (for now), hiring Joe Magarac - that cost us a favor, not him, and that's why his name has a little dash in front of it - it's a minus sign. Right? (But I don't understand why Tiffany and Lydia would have favors owed to them, in that case. Was he just... desperate for work? I could have sworn the vote said it would cost us the favor...)
[X] Try to expand the central chamber to the full size of your influence (Contested Manipulation+Occult)
-[x][Stunt] Stretching your influence feels as comfortable as stretching your arms even against resistance. A imitation of your tower grows under you allowing you to better survey your domain.
Ancient Sorcery? The doc for ExVWOD doesn't sort it into tiers, but I'm guessing it's based on where it was in 2e, no trouble. MA? Fantastic, this man needs more soak.
This hour-long ritual awakens the spiritual Essence
of a Dragon Nest and grants its blessing to the Exalt
and her companions for one full cycle of the moon.
System: Spend 5 Essence to begin the ritual, and
roll Wits + Occult (difficulty 7) to contest with the spir-
it of the Dragon Nest. It is otherwise identical to the
Rite of the Opened Caern (see Werewolf 20 th Anniver-
sary edition, p. 206).
What does this do? It gives you and your companions bonuses according to the nature of the Dragon Nest / Caern:
Type
Power
Spirits Encountered
All
Open Moon Bridge*
Enigmas
Enigmas Ability
Illusion, Shadow, Chameleon-spirit
Gnosis
Gnosis points
Engling, Ghost
Healing
Health Levels
Peace, Calm, Water elemental
Leadership
Leadership, Intimidation
War, Bird-spirit
Rage
Rage points
War, Pain
Stamina
Soak dice
Protection, Guardian, Turtle-spirit
Strength
Strength attribute
War
Urban
Streetwise
City Elemental
Visions
Oracular Visions
Bird-spirit
Will
Willpower points
War, Ancestor-spirit
Wisdom
Rituals, Expression
Owl-spirit, Ancestor-spirit
Wyld
Anything
Wyldling
Power: Either One point/level/die is gained per success on the Rite of the Opened Caern, up to the level of the Caern, or flat Caern rating bonus (W20 is internally self-contradicting).
Spirits Encountered: These are the spirits most often encountered near this type of caern. How-
ever, there's no guarantee they'll be there. Other spirits may appear at the Storyteller's discretion.
* Only if the caern has completed a Rite of the Opened Bridge to a destination for that Moon Bridge.
Rite of the Opened Bridge
Level Four
This rite creates a moon bridge, a shimmering portal
serving as a mystical means of transportation between
two caerns. Such moon bridges are vital links among the
sacred spaces of Gaia. Once per year, a caern must renew
its connection with other caerns to which it wishes to
maintain moon bridges. This rite is always held during
a moot, and it must be enacted simultaneously by both
participating caerns.
The primary requirement to open a moon bridge is a
pathstone. Pathstones are found in the Umbra, and they
are often the objects of quests. These extraordinarily rare
stones resemble flat pearls with the imprint of a wolf's
paw on one side. It is possible to steal a pathstone from a
caern, but such a theft is considered blasphemous, and it
may well result in war between two septs.
The rite establishes (or reestablishes) a spiritual con-
nection between the pathstones of two separate caerns
by way of the caerns' totem spirits. At the rite's culmina-
tion, a moon bridge opens between the two participating
caerns. During this time, Garou from both septs can travel
between the caerns to join in a wild revel. Moon bridges
allow Garou to traverse distances in 1/1000 th the normal
time required. This rite must be renewed once every 13
moons (roughly a year).
System: The roll is Wits + Enigmas (difficulty 8 minus
the level of the ritemaster's caern). If the ritemaster's pack
totem is the same as the totem of the caern, she receives a
bonus of three dice to the roll. If the rite was unsuccessful
previously, the difficulty level of the rite increases by one.
The ritemaster needs to obtain a number of successes equal
to the target caern's level to complete the rite.
If the rite succeeds, the moon bridge opens imme-
diately, and the spirit-bond between the two pathstones
is established. Moon bridges may now be opened at any
time between the two caerns. The bridges may be opened
with the Rite of the Opened Caern or the Ragabash Gift:
Open Moon Bridge (if performed at the caern). If the rite
fails, no moon bridge opens, and the rite must be tried
again next year. Moon bridges to the caern may still be
opened, but they aren't as safe as they might be.
See page 311 for moon bridge distances.
Harry has Demonreach, which is either a 5 dot, or an outright N/A dragon nest / caern / manse that won't be contesting his challenge. We have Last Station and Boston Forge. That's a lot of bonuses.
But. What does it mean to 'weave' his motes? He can clearly use them instantly for spells - is he required to take an hour for each mote of Essence Respiration? I suppose he can't get them back from sunrise, and we don't have a Lease the Flame equivalent…
Lastly (for now), hiring Joe Magarac - that cost us a favor, not him, and that's why his name has a little dash in front of it - it's a minus sign. Right? (But I don't understand why Tiffany and Lydia would have favors owed to them, in that case. Was he just... desperate for work? I could have sworn the vote said it would cost us the favor...)
We saved him from hell. He's a fae so he owes a favor to everyone who participated in that.
[X] Try to expand the central chamber to the full size of your influence (Contested Manipulation+Occult)
-[x][Stunt] Stretching your influence feels as comfortable as stretching your arms even against resistance. A imitation of your tower grows under you allowing you to better survey your domain.
Yog: Thank you. Upon reflection, that should have been clear to me. Thank you for helping me with my... whatever my issue is. (Although it's 'an extended roll lasting an hour;' it doesn't say it requires a dramatic action or anything, but I'm pretty sure he has to meditate or something - otherwise, he'd outpace Molly's Exalted essence regen, barring MiM.
Hmm. It just grants the bonuses, and doesn't grant Essence at range a la Hearthstones... And we don't really know what Demonreach would grant. Probably just the same stuff becoming the Warden grants - it would be strange for that island to have any power not already allocated towards keeping the prisoners imprisoned - but where book Dresden clearly couldn't use Demonreach as his own personal leyline, I suppose that Essence Attunement might make that more feasible?
Not that he necessarily needs the raw power, anymore... but if he ever needs to fight with a god's worth of strength for an extended period of time, against someone who doesn't also have god-tier skill and precog... it's something to investigate.
Boredman: Thank you. That makes sense - I appreciate your patience in spelling out the obvious. I'll try to improve in the future.
Hmm. It just grants the bonuses, and doesn't grant Essence at range a la Hearthstones... And we don't really know what Demonreach would grant. Probably just the same stuff becoming the Warden grants - it would be strange for that island to have any power not already allocated towards keeping the prisoners imprisoned - but where book Dresden clearly couldn't use Demonreach as his own personal leyline, I suppose that Essence Attunement might make that more feasible?
Not that he necessarily needs the raw power, anymore... but if he ever needs to fight with a god's worth of strength for an extended period of time, against someone who doesn't also have god-tier skill and precog... it's something to investigate.
Demonreach's power in general is not safe for consumption or channeling in general. It's tainted by all the evil that is contained within and partially used to further power the prison. Normally, Harry can't really access it, at least remotely. AYD doesn't care. By running reality's admin console, it sets the value of Harry's something to +N, where N is the rating of the dragon nest. Further, it also gives those bonuses to Harry's companions, who wouldn't be able to get them. No downsides, no conservation of energy, no nothing.
I expect Demonreach to grant willpower and / or essence. In fact, I expect all dragon nests to give essence regeneration to wizards.
Right now, our circle has four main dragon nests (or equivalents): Last Station (urban, and probably at least 3 dots), Boston Forge (almost certainly counts, is likely Wyld, likely 4 to 5 dots), Lydia's ancestral castle in NeverNever (Gnosis? Wisdom?, 5 to NA dots), and DemonReach (NA rating, and I don't know what type). That's a hell of a lot of bonuses.
Demonreach's power in general is not safe for consumption or channeling in general. It's tainted by all the evil that is contained within and partially used to further power the prison. Normally, Harry can't really access it, at least remotely. AYD doesn't care. By running reality's admin console, it sets the value of Harry's something to +N, where N is the rating of the dragon nest. Further, it also gives those bonuses to Harry's companions, who wouldn't be able to get them. No downsides, no conservation of energy, no nothing.
I expect Demonreach to grant willpower and / or essence. In fact, I expect all dragon nests to give essence regeneration to wizards.
Right now, our circle has four main dragon nests (or equivalents): Last Station (urban, and probably at least 3 dots), Boston Forge (almost certainly counts, is likely Wyld, likely 4 to 5 dots), Lydia's ancestral castle in NeverNever (Gnosis? Wisdom?, 5 to NA dots), and DemonReach (NA rating, and I don't know what type). That's a hell of a lot of bonuses.
All right, I get some of this. Spending Essence to get successes - great! I'm afraid I'm far more familiar with Awakening than Ascension (and I still have trouble grokking the base system; I'm an Ex:2e player at heart), and that's probably not going to change, but I get the basics. He can speed up or strengthen the effects from ritual-to-instant, and from pebble-to-boulder, casting Archmage-tier spells like Rotes. Gifting motes for free? Fantastic, we need more of those - we're about to get a Perfect Defense! Ancient Sorcery? The doc for ExVWOD doesn't sort it into tiers, but I'm guessing it's based on where it was in 2e, no trouble. MA? Fantastic, this man needs more soak.
He can spend Essence on rituals as well as Rotes, which yes does allow him to scale them impressively, but he has a very limited pool or motes. He can he can cast one thing that reasonably should be a major ritual as a rote and then he needs to get his essence back, which takes several hours, basically he can be one major or two minor rituals in a can, or he can use his essence to make his other spells more reliable. It is a game changer, but not entirely unbeatable.
But. What does it mean to 'weave' his motes? He can clearly use them instantly for spells - is he required to take an hour for each mote of Essence Respiration? I suppose he can't get them back from sunrise, and we don't have a Lease the Flame equivalent…
Also, as a wizard, Harry made his rings to store kinetic energy, and I think he had a way of storing life force? Could he learn to make a Soulfire Crystal equivalent? I doubt we can make him chalcanth, or celestial wine (I miss the original Principle Invoking Onslaught).
That would be me using poetic language in the mechanics (Sorry.)
He is not technically respiring the way someone would do in the Age of Sorrows, there isn't any free essence around. He has to use magic to literally hand craft the motes and then store them in his soul, in a manner analogous to how your Exaltation works, only that is less artisanal and more 'The craft of the Great Maker will not be overcome even by the passing of ages'
Ok, can we make a bargain with Mab to let her act directly against Outsiders in some way she can't already do? (Basically, can we go beyond just 'letting them act "freely",' and make it a thing to bargain over? We let Mab curbstomp her enemies, she lets us bind her to crush the Denarians?
I mean, I'm assuming there's still political costs involved, and Mab isn't exactly chained - but power has limits in DF, at least unless you're Ethniu, apparently.
Lastly (for now), hiring Joe Magarac - that cost us a favor, not him, and that's why his name has a little dash in front of it - it's a minus sign. Right? (But I don't understand why Tiffany and Lydia would have favors owed to them, in that case. Was he just... desperate for work? I could have sworn the vote said it would cost us the favor...)
Lol.
Very inconvenient time for a Nephandi archmage to roll that badly against an E4 Celestial.
=====
VOTE [X] Try to expand the central chamber to the full size of your influence (Contested Manipulation+Occult)
RATIONALE Attack, and dont give him time to react.
Occult is Key for Molly, so she ignores 1s.
King and Kingdom is active. So is Boiling Sea Mastery, Hellscry Chakra and All Things Betray.
Without Honor is also active.
We are in the Labyrinth, a hostile wilderness type place, so Transcendent Lord of Flies should also be active for -3DC
She rolls Manipulation 4 + Occult 5 + Without Honor 2 + Stunt 2 = 13 dice.
BSM + King and Kingdom = -2DC bonus.
TLF should be active here as well, because Molly is expanding her soul bubble to protect the missing wizards and the ones with her as well.
So that should provide -3DC as well.
Also FPoR, it's one of our free passives so we should essentially run it all the time. Opening the gate was occult, so we should be up to +1 dice.
I think it's worth a new stunt too, with something to help hold our ground and guide the wizards in.
[X] Try to expand the central chamber to the full size of your influence (Contested Manipulation+Occult)
-[X] [Stunt]: Squaring her shoulders, Molly stretched the ever more familiar feeling of her world. Her heart beat open into a glare, the teeth that spiraled inwards along its slitted pupil grinding against each other with annoyance.
—[X] Between one second and the next the world changed. Instead of a shadowy room they stood on a mountain peak, an exit to the labyrinth thrust up to tower over the rest of it. In the distance overhead, as far as the eye could see in all directions, rests the Great Ring.
—[X] For a moment the radiance spiked, a flash of blinding incandescence. With it the wind howled, at once a force of nature and the furious challenge of a monster the size of a world.
Might be a bit of a stretch, but I'm hoping to exploit the way we're dealing with relative spacial warping. Technically the labyrinth - both labyrinths - are underground and wouldn't be intentionally illuminated like this just from an exit. However, at the edge of our range it stops being the FCF and starts being Outsider bullshit but our actions still partially carry over. So the light of our exit should be cast into it precisely because he chose to wrap his "story" of the world around ours.
It seems like exactly the sort of narrativium based nonsense essence heavy life forms engage in, where physical reality isn't as important as the symbolic interaction.
[X] Try to expand the central chamber to the full size of your influence (Contested Manipulation+Occult)
-[X] [Stunt]: Squaring her shoulders, Molly stretched the ever more familiar feeling of her world. Her heart beat open into a glare, the teeth that spiraled inwards along its slitted pupil grinding against each other with annoyance.
—[X] Between one second and the next the world changed. Instead of a shadowy room they stood on a mountain peak, an exit to the labyrinth thrust up to tower over the rest of it. In the distance overhead, as far as the eye could see in all directions, rests the Great Ring.
—[X] For a moment the radiance spiked, a flash of blinding incandescence. With it the wind howled, at once a force of nature and the furious challenge of a monster the size of a world.
Once Harry teaches it, however, things become a lot more scary for WC's enemies. Because right now collective workings are almost certainly limited by a risk of botches. But ten senior council wizards just dumping 50 cumulative successes into a single ritual, no risk involved? That's a scary number of successes.
Once Harry teaches it, however, things become a lot more scary for WC's enemies. Because right now collective workings are almost certainly limited by a risk of botches. But ten senior council wizards just dumping 50 cumulative successes into a single ritual, no risk involved? That's a scary number of successes.
Gonna be honest harry doesn't have teaching charms I very much expect it to be several months of hard training and you might gain essence. This fails to mention that one he might need to teach only a few at a time, two that many white council members don't have the time as their at war with their own areas they live in, and three the quest is slow paced its not even been a year in story yet I think.
The crucial question, can people who are successfully taught by Harry go on to teach others without any further involvement on his part, or does it have to pass through him?
One is much more game changing than the other.
This is the first time Arthur has really seen Molly pushing the envelope. It'll be interesting to see how their policy changes based on what he sees here independent of the other things we've been doing today.
Cause Molly's signature charm isn't something you really see in the DF.
[X] Try to expand the central chamber to the full size of your influence (Contested Manipulation+Occult)
-[X] [Stunt]: Squaring her shoulders, Molly stretched the ever more familiar feeling of her world. Her heart beat open into a glare, the teeth that spiraled inwards along its slitted pupil grinding against each other with annoyance.
—[X] Between one second and the next the world changed. Instead of a shadowy room they stood on a mountain peak, an exit to the labyrinth thrust up to tower over the rest of it. In the distance overhead, as far as the eye could see in all directions, rests the Great Ring.
—[X] For a moment the radiance spiked, a flash of blinding incandescence. With it the wind howled, at once a force of nature and the furious challenge of a monster the size of a world.
[X] Try to expand the central chamber to the full size of your influence (Contested Manipulation+Occult)
-[x][Stunt] Stretching your influence feels as comfortable as stretching your arms even against resistance. A imitation of your tower grows under you allowing you to better survey your domain.
Gonna be honest harry doesn't have teaching charms I very much expect it to be several months of hard training and you might gain essence. This fails to mention that one he might need to teach only a few at a time, two that many white council members don't have the time as their at war with their own areas they live in, and three the quest is slow paced its not even been a year in story yet I think.
It may take ten years or more, but to those in the know, it's now a race against the clock. Because once the council fully embraces and accesses essence, they'll be able to nuke pretty much anyone.
It may take ten years or more, but to those in the know, it's now a race against the clock. Because once the council fully embraces and accesses essence, they'll be able to nuke pretty much anyone.
Squaring your shoulders, with a sound of metal and stone grinding you you exhale, heart beat open into a glare, the teeth that spiraled inwards along its slitted pupil sparking against each other with annoyance. Between one second and the next the world changes. Instead of a stone tomb you are all standing up on a mountain peak, an exit to the labyrinth thrust up to tower over the rest of it. You look up hoping to see the Great Ring overhead, but Sanctuary does not stretch that far. All you can see above is blackness. No, in among it there are lighter points, dull grey where once there had been light, the glare of long dead stars.
"Don't.. look... up." you say slowly as in those starts you read the names of things best left Nameless within the circles of the world. These are the names the Archive would see expunged from the knowledge of man. No sooner had you said the words that a false moon rose, an eye, the Eye. Light fell like knives and shadows writhed with monstrous life, connecting to the Labyrinth below, just beyond the foot of your mountain.
Somewhere out there six figures move, twisting and turning in the torment of their own making, six are the ladders of shadow, the false mountains ascending to nowhere.
"Fight me you coward! Fight me!" you shout and your voice is the roar of an avalanche sending stone onto the twisting paths. "Fight me or be known a failure to all who bear witness!"
Worms of light split the rotten skin of the sky in a parody of lighting and in a moment you are not alone.
Six figures robed and cowled stand form a circle imperfect around the pinnacle of the mountain, but these are not the missing wizards, they are not some lesser servants of the Old Ones that move though the sky. Each the Hollow Man.
There's a snap of dislocated air, one of them goes flying straight up despite a tendril that tries to grasp it and pull the misshapen form to safety. Why...? you have an eye-blink to wonder why McCoy had chosen to throw it up instead of something more violent then a comet of blue-white fire hits it. Harry Dresden might have spent his Essence, but he is still a heck of a wizard.
Five Iterations Remaining
"I need to get close to hit him properly my spear won't reach from here!" Lydia calls and she makes a good point. The enemy is within your influence yes, but only just, four miles out as the crow flies, in range of wizardry and fire arms, but well beyond your own... unless you move from the center and whichever direction you move in it will give the others a chance to retake the center. Sanctuary's influence moves with you, the exit is fixed.
What do you do?
[] Keep trading blows from afar, Harry and McCoy certainly did a good job, you can just intercept spells with counter-magic
[] Kill them all, the Hollow Seer will not be this vulnerable again
[] Write in
OOC: Sorry for how short this is but I was very busy today and this was quite mechanically dense. Also yes a wizard deciding he has several bodies now is a canon rote, albeit a very powerful one since it gives him more actions and also more health... for all the good the latter did when Harry rolled 6 successes on his arete.
