Eliminating the Infernals or causing them to defect has the same end-result; denying the Ebon Dragon information about Nilul. Elimination has a 150,000XP bonus attached to it and is, arguably, a bit safer. However, there are other stronger advantages to convincing them to defect, which is why it does not garner an XP incentive.
That's a fair assessment, I just think the defection is far riskier and if negotiations go sour? We have to fight them as ourselves. Ayala might've been content to live & let live when we didn't know about them, but if their cover's blown, you bet we're going to have a tough fight on our hands. Two Solar-tier Exalts? I don't like those odds without an ambush. Sorcerors can get their motes a bunch of ways from 3E, so Ayala'll probably be able to pop out some buffs really quickly, especially depending on what her control spells are.
1. Ayala is a Solar-level Sorcerer and thus a strategic asset. She could save Ulyssian hundreds of thousands of XP to use elsewhere. Or if he does go with Sorcery, she can help with training times by being a mentor. She can also be places he can not, meaning the highest level of sorcery couldd be employed in two places at once to aid his cause. She can help stack Workings. She is incredibly valuable.
Ayala's just a CCS at the moment. I want Sorcery in the future, though, so part of this (for me) is wanting to avoid overlapping skillsets between us/our allies.
2. Fei Ling is a Solar-level Assassin and thus a strategic asset. Assassination is a very viable way to manipulate politics and the circumstances of the outbreak of civil war in the Realm. She can also be places that Ulyssian is not, so he does not have to carry out every assassination by himself.
We plan on recruiting Dragon-Blooded allies, since we declined the murderhobo option and it seems like we're gonna use Predictionist stuff on Seacrown, so it's not as if we'll lack for assassins. The ones we do acquire will possess less uncertain loyalties (she did just suggest killing us) and be more numerous. The tougher jobs, I imagine Odyssial would want to handle himself.
3. Killing them denies the Infernals information about Nilul. Swaying them to our side lets us send false information to the Infernals about Nilul. It involves lying to the Ebon Dragon, which is an epic Odysseus-tier achievement, but we could send him off on a wild goose chase in, say, An Teng. Or the furthest West, or wherever. Funkspiel, as it were. We can also hide their reasons for defection later on and, again, send other Infernals off on a wild goose chase, further damaging the progress of the Reclamation.
It involves
Ayala and Fei Ling lying to the Dragon, which is nowhere near a sure thing, and you can be sure that the deception won't remain in place for long. Once they start ignoring the Yozis' directives, all bets are off.
4. Killing them means the Yozis have to train two new Infernals. Swaying them to our cause means they indefinitely lose 2 out of their mere 50 Exalted; and their powers are added to our powerbase, greatly increasing the relative loss to the Reclamation.
Exalts with the potential to become a SCS are rare, as are assets embedded in the Realm. If we really could sway them to our side, of course that would be a better long term gain, but killing them is much much
much safer, less likely to push Nilul out of her comfort zone, and arguably more in-character.
5. Interrogating Ayala and Fei Ling will shed light on Yozi objectives and actions in the Realm, which is the kind of information needed to anticipate their plots and roll them up. Information about Yozi activities would also be a potential card to play in negotiations with Annys Syn and the Bronze Faction.
Are we actually interested in negotiating with her? The Bronze Faction basically doesn't exist as a discrete entity anymore. Anyway, in the Odyssey the various Infernals were split into Project Groups, with each kept in the dark about the other's activities. Don't assume we get to blow their entire operation in the off-chance we actually turn two Infernals with Odyssial's abysmal social skills.
6. Nilul isn't even asking us to kill them. Do we want Ulyssian to start solving all his problems through expedient murder? I thought we didn't want that? If we want Ulyssian to be less Heartless than Odyssial, then he should act that way. And we need Presence Charms anyway if we are going to convince people, and Odysseus was certainly a convincing fellow.
No, Nilul is asking us to get the fuck out of here asap. You think she'd actually want to go and talk to them? It was really hard for her to even risk exposing herself. She may not be asking us to kill them, but if leaving wasn't on the table (and since we aren't voting for it, it might as well not be)? You bet she would be. Anyway, I didn't want Ulyssian to become less ruthless, I've always argued against that.
7. In the short term, Ulyssian is not going to be in a position to guarantee Zao's security. Predictionism used for the Academy will help but not guarantee. Having two completely unknown Solar-tier combatants at the Academy that our various enemies can't possibly anticipate will greatly improve the chances of Zao living through any kind of attack on the Academy or supernatural assassination attempt.
You're assuming both that these two Solar-tier Infernals are going to be content to sit around at the Academy and provide security and that their loyalties won't be swayed again in the future. There's only one option that helps ensure Zao's survival and that's using Predictionism on the Academy.
We've take very ill-advised risky actions before for dubious gain. Fighting the Sworn Brotherhood when Zao could have just ordered them away was one case. It certainly hasn't done anything to stop Anys Syn from wanting payback, diminished her influence over the Immaculate Order, and it exposed Ulyssian's power level to her. Nor is it clear beating them has greatly increased Ulyssian's freedom of action in the Realm.
I'd wager it has hurt her influence at least a bit. Anyway, yeah, we've taken risks. Sooner or later one of them is going to bite us in the ass. Having taken risks that haven't really paid off in your opinion is not an argument for taking more risks.
The risk is less here due to existing write-ins and the fallback of combat being an option; and the gains are clear and utterly overwhelming compared to just assassinating them, which is why Assassination has that XP bonus.
Falling back on combat means killing another competitor as Ulyssian, not to mention being much more risky. How the hell are you going to sell that to Mnemon? "Oh, sorry, one of your champions was Anathema, along with her retainer, so I killed them." Both them and Cathak would be out for our blood. Zao can withstand the Order, probably the Order and House Cathak. Two Great Houses and the Order, plus Anys' plots? I don't think so.
It's fine if you want to take the risk. I mean, I can see the possible gains. But let's not pretend that if negotiations backfire we aren't looking at possible death and probable disgrace, because we totally are. This is Ulyssian we're talking about.
Negotiating. You can bet your ass Nilul won't want to do this and will probably be off her game, too.
Our way to destroy creation and rebuild them is more efficient r,they should know better.
