Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

I think we should own that we released them, sticking to "it was either this, or Kemmler's pet spirit doing this" story.
Maybe along with a mention of how that spirit was working with the Black Court to subvert multiple government intelligence agencies, successfully in many cases, for purposes we aren't entirely clear on, but which definitely involved spying on supernatural factions and likely using governmental assets against them.

[X] Yog
 
[X] "I'm on my way. There are things Inari needs to know, and while I don't have all the answers I have more than anyone else."
 
Maybe along with a mention of how that spirit was working with the Black Court to subvert multiple government intelligence agencies, successfully in many cases, for purposes we aren't entirely clear on, but which definitely involved spying on supernatural factions and likely using governmental assets against them.

[X] Yog
Yes, absolutely. Evil Bob is ultra dead and cannot counter our slander. So, lay the blame on him as much as possible.
[X] There are some things she'd probably want to know in person for security reasons. Some things you can say over the phone though.
-[X] Give her the basics of what Inari is, a few guesses as to what her powers are like, and any initial advice she might need as a death flavored exalted.
-[X] If she needs you, you can be there immediately. Otherwise, suggest that a meeting be arranged as soon as Inari feels she can handle it. She will very likely not be well mentally at all, so anything to calm her down is good.
-[X] Also, advise she avoid any sort of crimes against nature, and death related decisions until you have a chance to speak. The biggest problem you have is often not in doing things, it's in the results afterwards.
I really, really like this, but if at all possible we need to get within line of sight of Inari to use her as a focus to find other abyssal exalted. Even if we assume that Michael and Sanya are both on this, and can handle this perfectly, this still leaves one abyssal unaccounted for.
 
So, genuine question / idea - after we gather what abyssals we can, should we call Uriel so he can give some heavenly perspective? He clearly can say some things at least, about exaltations, and we know his True Name (well, likely a part of it, but still) from his own lips - we should be able to call him.
 
@DragonParadox This doesn't seem to have ever been done, along with the cost, what did the Crown say?

Oh right, you would have gotten a flash of the shards flying though reality but your crown cannot see the future when it comes to free will and the the Abyssal Exaltation is an act of free will. Inari for instance could have said 'nah, I'm good with death' and she would not have Exalted.
 
Anyway, I am very interested in how Lara got to Inari so quickly.

Also, regarding the exaltation, I am thinking we say the following:
1) Stick to the version of the story we told the wizards - we were pursuing Kemmler's spirit, and in preventing him from subverting Black Court, we released these things

2) The black exaltation seems to be something like ours. I think we can tell Lara "it is called an Exaltation, and by the words of Uriel, it was meant for mortals, so they could achieve not just hard things, but genuinely impossible ones". Definitely spin "meant for mortals" as "meant for the good of Creation", I think. The name will give Lara something to look through sources for, but that should be somewhat ok, I think? It buys us credibility.

3) Tell them to expect the unexpected. Exaltations are not static, they are growth.

4) Offer FSB? If Lara accepts MiS for Thomas, she may accept either MiS or FSB for Inari.
 
We should remind people that Molly isn't exactly the standard Exalt either. Most Exalts don't grow so fast, don't have a Soul-Kingdom, etc.

But also Molly is kinda not specialized, meaning if people come in expecting to fight Molly from a few months ago, they might get very surprised by a combat-specced Abyssal. Or a social-specced Abyssal. Or you get the idea.
 
Speaking of going there, if we play our song during a phone call so that it sounds on the other side of the call, would that be enough of a beacon to travel there?
 
We should remind people that Molly isn't exactly the standard Exalt either. Most Exalts don't grow so fast, don't have a Soul-Kingdom, etc.

But also Molly is kinda not specialized, meaning if people come in expecting to fight Molly from a few months ago, they might get very surprised by a combat-specced Abyssal. Or a social-specced Abyssal. Or you get the idea.
Bear in mind, Molly herself doesn't know all that much. She may come to wrong conclusions. Like, I would expect her to at least account for the possiblity of abyssals developing world bodies of their own. "Expect the unexpected" is genuinely the best advice here.

Lydia has access to LoV, and as soon as we get him responsive enough to be subject to ARM, we should download all his knowledge of exaltations to Lydia. He is likely the Creation's biggest expert right now, barring (some) angels and (some) walkers.
We should be careful about what we share, because our insight is our bargaining chip. If we tell Lara too much she has little reason to keep us involved.
MiS and FSB are also our bargaining chips, as is our Craft. Like, an analog of what we made for Summer Lady to at least partially shield Inari from the Nameless Curse seems like an obvious thing to offer, and it's something we are known for already. We have advertised as a crafter.

in terms of Craft we are actually genuinely better than the competition, especially where it comes to large scale craft.
Speaking of going there, if we play our song during a phone call so that it sounds on the other side of the call, would that be enough of a beacon to travel there?
RVD might be better, it reveals less.

EDIT: Once we buy VEE, Spark of Life might also be a good thing to offer.
 
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MiS and FSB are also our bargaining chips, as is our Craft. Like, an analog of what we made for Summer Lady to at least partially shield Inari from the Nameless Curse seems like an obvious thing to offer, and it's something we are known for already. We have advertised as a crafter.

in terms of Craft we are actually genuinely better than the competition, especially where it comes to large scale craft.
We don't actually know if any of those would work, and if they did they would have significant downsides.

More to the point those aren't bargaining chips of any value to Lara, and she is gatekeeping Inari right now. For a multitude of reasons it's not in her interests to let us recruit an Abyssal out from under her and to all appearances her younger sister has basically handed her a social victory on a platter. Forcing our way in without at minimum her begrudging acceptance would at best make this situation more difficult and at worst cause us to fail entirely.
 
[X] Offer to come to San Francisco to help
-[X] Offer insights you have both to her and Inari, but they need to be explained face to face
--[X] You know some of where they come from, some of the risks and dangers that come with them

-[X] "I'm on my way. There are things Inari needs to know, and while I don't have all the answers I have more than anyone else."
 
Let's not forget, there's little Lara could do to stop us from talking with Inari. It's not like she can ask Inari to help fight us for... wanting to talk to Inari.
Lara is a very, very, skilled social manipulator and Inari has some level of trust left for her. While she could fire off a social excellency to stand her ground, it's unlikely Lara would approach in a way that provokes that sort of reaction.

Lara probably can't physically stop us, but the least dangerous part of a whamp is their physical anything. Poisoning the well and otherwise ruining our first impression would be trivial for her, and retaliating would just make it worse.
 
Lara probably can't physically stop us, but the least dangerous part of a whamp is their physical anything. Poisoning the well and otherwise ruining our first impression would be trivial for her, and retaliating would just make it worse.
That's escalating the situation to the point Molly's next best move is to kill everybody involved, especially Inari before she ramps up. Not a good long-term move.

It's not like anyone else can expect the Abyssal Exalted to be just as powerful as the Infernal. Nobody knows what to think right now.
 
That's escalating the situation to the point Molly's next best move is to kill everybody involved, especially Inari before she ramps up. Not a good long-term move.

It's not like anyone else can expect the Abyssal Exalted to be just as powerful as the Infernal. Nobody knows what to think right now.
Depends on what exactly she does, and what Inari is like. Molly isn't one to just execute people even if it's the optimum play from a cold blooded perspective.

Again, Lara is good at this. She can walk a very narrow line if she needs to. She's also willing to stomach quite a bit of risk when she needs to; even if you were right if she overestimates her own abilities we'd at best win the battle and lose the war.

It is deeply unwise to assume people we may end up in conflict with are incapable of opposing us, or that their opposition will be without consequence even if we do overcome it.

This doesn't mean we have to bow to Lara's superior position, but it informs how we interact with her. We need a hook that only pays off for her if we're able to show up wherever she's stashed Inari.
 
Lara is not in a superior position. Right now she's in a very dangerous position where all it takes is Inari learning why she was targeted (from the people she's clobbering), for some very uncomfortable questions to be asked of Lara. And we can find Inari easily, she ain't exactly trying to hide. Unlike Molly, it's doubtful she's hiding her Aura.

Lose what war? With who? Inari isn't affiliated with the White Court. She's very disaffiliated.
 
Lara is not in a superior position. Right now she's in a very dangerous position where all it takes is Inari learning why she was targeted, for some very uncomfortable questions to be asked. And we can find Inari easily, she ain't exactly trying to hide. Unlike Molly, it's doubtful she's hiding her Aura.

Lose what war? With who? Inari isn't affiliated with the White Court. She's very disaffiliated.
She's a social build in a position of trust with the subject of this event given time to talk and first mover advantage. That's a superior position in this type of business.

The war here meant the conflict over how Inari falls relative to us.

We have cards to play ourselves, but if that risks essentially creating an everyone loses outcome where Lara and Molly smear shit on each other and Inari just leaves.

This sort of encounter isn't a pure dice roll thing, there's positioning and strategy involved that changes your leverage. Teleporting to Inari after using the crown to find her then trying to talk past Lara on this is sort of like sprinting past a high level rogue in DnD. You're probably going to eat an attack of opportunity; maybe it doesn't kill you but it's still a stupid idea.

The alternative is to simply not take a knife to the kidney just to prove we're to important to pay attention to our surroundings. Play a little nice, but don't get the game away. Keep Lara from sabotaging our chances until after we're in the room with Inari and have had a chance to start talking.
 
We don't actually know if any of those would work, and if they did they would have significant downsides.

More to the point those aren't bargaining chips of any value to Lara, and she is gatekeeping Inari right now. For a multitude of reasons it's not in her interests to let us recruit an Abyssal out from under her and to all appearances her younger sister has basically handed her a social victory on a platter. Forcing our way in without at minimum her begrudging acceptance would at best make this situation more difficult and at worst cause us to fail entirely.
We just used FSB to sever LoV from the influence of the Neverborn - it's a very reasonable assumption that the same can be done with an abyssal.

Lara has to at least pretend she has Inari's interests in heart for the moment.
Lara is a very, very, skilled social manipulator and Inari has some level of trust left for her. While she could fire off a social excellency to stand her ground, it's unlikely Lara would approach in a way that provokes that sort of reaction.
Several updates before you were arguing that Molly is not a socially aspected exalt. Lara is, by numbers, strictly worse at social manipulation than Molly. She enjoys a privileged position, but we have Thomas as an agent of influence.

Lara should know that she cannot prevent us from meeting Inari in any sort of middle or long term. Thus she is unlikely to try.
 
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