Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

[DragonParadox]

Unforgotten ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

Leaning forward a bit you catch the old man's gaze for a moment before he averts it, fearing a soulgaze, or maybe just not wanting to look you in the eye. I can work with that. "Oaths are funny things. We hold to them so strongly, but often that which we bind the tightest is the first that we lose. Look no further than the fair folk to see how very important the will behind the words is in any promise.So tell us, what exactly did you promise, and by what terms."You smile and it is not a gentle thing, nor filled with any mirth, but hungry. Usum hums proudly at the back of your mind, this he is far more familiar with than even the song of battle.

Lost 1 Essence

For a moment Matthews freezes up and you can read Harry's annoyance flash across his face, but only for a moment. The old mage rallies with the swiftness of one who has gotten out of their fair of tight spots in their life. "You are free indeed with the risks that others must take fair lady, but know that is dancing perilous close to the edge of a cliff into which more than the likes of me would fall."

You wonder if he means more of his confederates, how many dodgy sorcerers are there in deep rural Illinois of all places, but then your eyes fall on the pictures upon the mantelpiece and you recall what the man had said about him, no mention of a son or daughter, just granddaughters. If he dies what would become of them

Lost 1 Essence

"When the edge is already crumbling under your feet it is best to try to jump to safety on your terms than hope that fate alone will deliver you a narrow narrow path to walk on. Help us help you and none of this will be able to follow you home again." Given what his choice of wall decorations looks like this fellow is either a magical arms seller or he is an arms holder and you are betting on the latter.

"Are you willing to make a vow to that?" he asks, looking between you and Harry.

Before you can reply Harry cuts in. "You called me a Warden, you know what that means, that's a duty I already took on."

"Not all who wear a Wardens' cloak cut by the Wardens' Laws," the old man replies with a knowing look. Seeing Harry's face darken he raises a hand for peace. "Even if you do, there's only so much law to in there: keep the peace, keep the secret, punish the lawbreaker. Where in there does it say you have to give a damn about me or Cindy or Alice?"

"Right between basic human decency and not wanting to be known as the sort of person who ignores it. There's plenty of things out there that will use a man and throw him away, but it always comes back to bite them in the end," Harry replies.

"Always." the old man gives a short dry laugh. "An optimist I see, you'll learn... or you won't."

He goes quiet again after that. "I promised not to betray the master's secrets nor lead ruin to the door of his other servants by speech or by silence, in life or in death. I swore also to keep faith with him and aid him in all his works to the best of my meager abilities. I was freed of the last bit back in '61 when the Council finally made death stick to him who thought himself its master."

Kemmler, he means Kemmler you realize, that big time necromancer Harry talked about and from the look on Harry's own face he was not expecting that confession. His right hand shifts a little closer to his blasting rod.

"Not getting out of this without a soulgaze am I?" the old sorcerer asks with a wintry smile. "Let's get this over with."

From the outside a soulgaze does not look like anything special, just two people locking gazes for a moment, before they break off, both looking shaken.

"While the master had no respect for the Laws when it came to himself and those he counted enlightened, he recognized that some were not ready to embrace the truth of their power, of the divinity that lies hidden in ever-rotting mortal flesh and veiled in the stink of their fear." That last part sounded like a quote, and one he did not like repeating, though it came easily to his lips. "I was fortunate enough to be unenlightened and away on an errand when his death found him. I haven't gone looking for his 'enlightenment' for forty five years now, longer than you've been alive Warden Dresden. All I want is to be left alone to finish raising my granddaughters and then I will face whatever's on the other side for the likes of me."

"There is forgiveness for sins if you repent," you answer softly. "God is love."

Matthews looks at you funny, but doesn't say anything while Harry gathers his thoughts. "You could argue that Kemmler doesn't have any secrets now that he's dead," he argues.

"You could, you never met him," Matthews shakes his head. "He was obsessed with immortality, the actual magical sort yes, but also legacy should the first fail, that's why he penned the Word and arranged for it to be copied and sent off far and wide, it is why he took apprentices. I heard him say once that only in being forgotten can oblivion be found."

"You did tell us some secrets, just now and no ill came of them." You take care not to seem like you are pushing too hard now, he seems almost relieved to be talking about this now or maybe by what he had seen in Harry's soul.

"I can tell you my own secrets, who I am, who I was who I used to know, but it is not... ah what's that called? It's not actionable intelligence to help unravel his legacy."

"Even if it's his legacy what they do after Kemmler's death can't be his secrets can they?" Harry asks suddenly. "You weren't that surprised when I asked about Gorfel, had the not-lie at the tip of your tongue. You've met him recently haven't you?"

"Two weeks ago on the seventh..." he stops as the spirit bindings on the wall start to sway though the air is still, takes a deep breath before continuing. You suddenly realize he must be terrified, enough so that his magic is spilling out and affecting the bindings, but you can see no sign of it on his face. Guess being able to hide fear is an important skill in working for an insane necromancer and much like riding a bike not one you forget. "Gorfel came much as you did, asking for information about Chicago, about you. He was particularly interested in last Halloween. A good thing I had not partaken of that soulgaze beforehand. Not many Wardens in good standing can claim to have... ah... done what you did."

"Yeah well I didn't do it for a joyride," Harry replies, a little defensively. You wonder what that's about.

Matthews nods, though you can tell it is more for politeness' sake before moving on.

"I shared rumor and tall tales, the kind of thing he could have gotten almost anywhere. Him I did not allow past the threshold and when he offered me a place among the Society again I told him to never darken my doorway again. He laughed and said I would crawl back begging for scraps eventually. Scraps or a whole cut it's all poisoned meat."

That is when Harry really gets into the questioning: "What was he wearing? How did he get here, did he come by car or by the ways? Was anyone with him?" On and on pocking at every single detail of the late night visit, with all the skill of a professional detective and all the precision of a wizard at his art.

Thus you find out all sorts of interesting things. For one Gorfel had been alone and not with his goon squad, nor had he been driving, in fact oddly enough for the middle of summer on a clear evening his boots had been wet. Harry quickly latched on to that and asked if the man had any weapons visible and what he had been wearing. As it turns out not a single scrap of steel, nor a glimmer of iron, which would mean he took the ways and the water might once have been ice which would mean he took the ways through Winter.

Is this hand of the queen or some lesser power, perhaps even a traitor? Usum wonders in your mind, but Harry just moves on: Had any of the locals noticed him. The answer as it turns out is no, Gorfel has ways to walk past the eyes of men veiled in shadow, but also yes. They had noticed his passage, particularly all fuse boxes shorting out at the old county jail house, a fact that Matthews had not previously connected with the visit of his old colleague.

The obvious question is 'Had that been where he had exited the Ways?' and that is where you find another bit of local history. The old jailhouse dates back more than a hundred years and one of the more ghoulish local stories is that of a sadistic local sheriff who would abuse the prisoners... including letting one of them freeze to death in the winter of 1901.

"We've got him, there's bound to be some kind of spirit that noticed his coming and going," you say excitedly.

"Better to ask once than walk into the lion's mouth once, I'll ask some contacts I know about it." It doesn't take a genius to realize Harry would not want to take you back into Winter's domain, even around the edges, but on the other hand you are really good where it's cold and you don't much like the notion of Harry having to barter with the fey for information.

"And you have had no other contacts with the Society between Kemler's death and the seventh of this year?" you ask not-quite idly.

"No, I did not seek it nor wish it," he replies instantly. "The wards are meant to hold against more than fey."

What do you do ?

[] Argue that you should follow the trail and see what you can find on the other side, the fey who had seen Gorfel with their own eyes are likely to be lesser in stature and thus easier to deal with than those who can command their fellows to speak up

[] Return to Chicago to do more research with this new information

[] Ask more questions
-[] Write in

OOC: Harry and Molly make a surprisingly good good cop bad cop here, though part of that is consistently good rolls on Harry's part. Soft social rolls are not his forte, but you pushed him into the role when you went for the super-powered intimidation.

 

[DragonParadox]

The Way and the Watcher ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

"Ah..." you open your mouth and then you close it, looking between Harry and the presumably reformed warlock's apprentice. Telepathy would be great about now, you think not for the first time. Barring that headsets and a mike. It would probably be easier to get Harry to wear a demon infused wire for just when you are on the job than getting a phone with one of your helpers.

As for Harry himself, he's not looking at you but at the old man, unsure for a moment what to make of him, or what to do. On the balance it is probably not common for a warden to meet a legacy of Kemmler, much less in a peaceful way. "You be careful now and if any more friends from back in the day come around give me a call."

He takes out a little pad to write his number on but Matthews raises a hand. "I know your number Warden Dresden, you are in the phone-book under wizard."

People still use the phone-book? You wonder if Harry would like a site to get the word out, just because wizards blow up computers does not mean the people who want to get a hold of them haven't moved on to the twenty-first century.

So the three of you leave with Mouse in the vanguard this time rather than watching the rear. As soon as you are safely out of earshot of the house you ask: "Is there any reason why we can't just drive by the jailhouse nice and slow so I can ask a question about where the other side of the Way Gorfel took on the seventh is."

"That will only get you the first stop," Harry points out. "See the way the Ways work is that conceptual distance doesn't match up with phisical distance so if you know your way around the Nevernever you can go from Chicago to Tokyo in half an hour, but you still might find yourself walking down to Rio de Janeiro and across town in Anchorage Alaska along the way."

You think about that for a moment, and you do not think about it alone. "I'm... pretty sure I can ask about the journey at this end, now that we have both a date and a time at least and it will give me the ultimate destination on the material side so we wouldn't have to traipse down whatever ways are welcoming to the likes of Gorfel."

"Traipse?" his lips twitch into a smile as he gets in the car.

"Blame mom for like seventy percent of my odd word choices, the other thirty percent is either Tolkien on Jane Austin."

It's a short drive to the jailhouse but along the way you still have time to ask idly. "Do you think Tolkien knew something about real magic? I've been thinking of the Ways how they are not really different roads, but one big web of interconnected realms and symbols. It sounds kind of like... 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.'"

"Maybe, but probably not the way you're thinking," Harry replies briefly just as pensive. "Painters, poets, artists, the good ones at least they see with a sharper eye and remember with a clearer mind, it's what draws the audience to them."

The county jailhouse looks... like you would expect an abandoned jailhouse dating back more than a hundred years to look, which is to say grunge creepy, between the grey walls, the patched up roof and the crooked storm-drain. If that place isn't haunted you I'm a Taylor Swift fan.

"From where came the wizard Gorfel who passed this way on the seventh of the month?"

You do not get anything like the long conversation you got on the matter of soulgazes, just a flash of a dark grey peak above scrub-land that stretches beside a glittering city, a glimpse and a name. "Clippy search Frenchman's Mountain, Nevada please."

The answer is as instantaneous as it is through: "The peak lies on a north to north-northeast trending ridge about 2000 feet above the nearby valleys. Sunrise Mountain lies 3.6 miles (5.8 km) to the northeast adjacent to Nellis Air Force Base. The north end of the McCullough Range about 12 miles (19 km) to the south has a parallel trend. The River Mountains lie to the southeast..."

"Thanks, save it and put it on screen." You give it a once over and then start to hand her off to Harry, but he is looking at your funny, a rather familiar state of affairs recently. "What? I didn't want to listen on speaker like that, it would look odd from anyone who sees us drive by."

"No, it's just... what was really fast, you looking to put me out of work?" Teasing again, better.

"Ha, ha," you faux laugh. "If you hadn't been there I might have scared him too much to talk and say what you will about my other senses, I can't see souls."

"You would likely be able to learn it oh Magnanimous Heart of Night," Usum offers. "It would not even require finding a way around the issue of manipulating lesser powers as it is a strictly passive ability."

"Well I certainly would not be able to magic up more than a decade of detective work," you inwardly roll your eyes

But you cannot stay grumpy for long, the weather's nice, the road's clear and unlike on the way here you actually know the way so you are not on the edge of your seat. Then Wheels of Fire starts playing on the radio. It's been a pretty awesome day so far.

***​

Sadly that evening you learn that the universe is all about balance. You had barely gotten back to Harry's place, half an hour or so of him going into the lab and bringing out some books 'to look into and give you a bit more of a rounded education' when you hear a knock on the door, loud and insistent.

Harry freezes, motions for you to hide again.

This time you roll your eyes outwardly. "No blood this time," you whisper sharply. It might even be more incriminating, the part of your brain that is still on flirt with Harry mode notes. Stupid brain.

Realizing that he is not going to win this one Harry goes to get the door. to reveal a trio of carefully suited men whose manner practically screamed 'government agent.'

"Harry Dresden," the suit in the middle, filled out by a bald middle aged man who who appears to have just grown broader not fatter with age and sporting what you can only call 'the bald of power'. He flashes a badge. "Agent Alexander Wright FBI, you are under arrest for the murder of Officer Herbert Greene. You have the right to remain silent. If you do say anything, it can be used against you in a court of..."

Spoiler: Agent Wright

What... the... Hell, you watch in shock as leftmost suit takes out the handcuffs. Greene is dead and they think Harry did it. Did whoever had beaten him up before decide to up the stakes to murder? Why?

Harry manages to recover before you do, which is probably for the best because in the absence of any real plan you might have defaulted to Usum's suggestion which involves cowing the offending party into submission.

"I know you guys hear it all the time but I'm innocent, haven't even seen him since the ninth." Apparently Harry's first instinct upon being presented with people looking to arrest him is less 'look upon me and despair' and more wiseguy.

"You're a sick..." the guy with the cuffs says.

"We have witnesses placing you at the scene of the crime Dresden and we have cameras showing you disposing of the remains in the lake, we recovered it and it has your prints on it," Agent Wright cuts in dryly. "All we need to know now is why you did it, we know part of it but not what started it all."

Your mind is running at a thousand miles an hour, a glamor would not have registered on camera properly and a wizard's veil would most likely have shorted it, so it would have to be a physical transformation, an actual shapechanger.

What do you do?

[] Explain that Harry has been with you all day (Charisma+Empathy can use Excellency)
-[] Write in

[] One surprise deserves another, if these idiots are going to try to arrest a wizard then you will show them magic (Charisma+Intimidation can use Excellency)
-[] Write in

[] Write in

OOC: It was surprisingly hard to find art that fit a plain human in a suit.

 

[DragonParadox]

Papers and Prognostications ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

Once the first flash of shock passes you remember what your mom once told you do do if you think you might be the victim of an abuse of power , you take our your phone and start recording. Clippy does not need to see more than 'rec' before Recording Mistress fleshes on screen, writ in hellfire blue of her eyes. 'Cross-check everything they tell us'.

"Harry stop talking until we get a lawyer in here," you say, your voice surprising you with how even it is, no trace of anger and fear. "I'm going to need..." Who on earth can you call, dad? You don't know if dad knows any lawyers, he has never needed one to get out of trouble for Knight stuff. "Mr McCoy's number."

"I think he is too busy to be taking calls Molly," he answers with a look that makes it crystal clear he wishes you would just stay out of this and not get in trouble. Well that is too bad for him, you are not going to leave him high and try to get framed and you figure getting a lawyer is less problematic than breaking him out of jail by carving the door up with a flaming sword. Let's call that Plan B...

"You do not want to get involved in this Miss...?" the lead agent trails the warning into a question, though you note the guy with the cuffs has stopped and he is looking very hard at your phone. Worried about being recorded? No, he's looking between your phone and Harry... like he is expecting it to blow up.

They know about the tech-bane, you realize. Darn, darn darn... Are they imposters, some kind of ploy from the spooky side of things or... you remember your dad saying that governments often know more than the White Council suspects. It's not like Harry had been quiet about being a wizard.

"Molly Carpenter and I will be the judge of what I want agent Wright and I would like to see that badge if you please, properly," you asnwer calmly.

He takes it out, his face as expressive as stone.

"Information verified, preliminary assessment True." comes the response from your phone practically the same instant the badge is in the camera's sight. "Important anomalous element, not from the Chicago Field Office, not from any Field Office, central, from the FBI National Security Branch."

As as the others follow through they all prove to be from the same branch. You are pretty damn sure Harry isn't a foreign agent so there's something really odd going on here.

Don't cops tend to go in really hard on people who are known cop killers and if they knew or even suspected something about magic there would be battering rams and SWAT teams involved right?

The thought cuts off abruptly as you notice Mouse come up from the basement, though you are pretty sure the agents hadn't, he can be surprisingly silent for his size it seems.

Harry nods and motions to the bedroom with a twitch of his head. 'I've got this', he seems to say, but does he though.

"And what's the FBI got to do with an investigation in Chicago?" He asks leaning back in the wall a little, showing he's unarmed sure, but also showing he is not the least intimidated.

"Detective Greene's wife, is with the FBI here in Chicago, but you knew that didn't you Dresden?" Wright asks. "Come on now, get in the car and you will get your lawyer for all the good it'll..."

"Do you have a copy of that warrant on you?" you cut him off.

"Yes." For the first time since he had come in you can hear an emotion in his voice, even if it is just annoyance.

"Then you won't mind showing it to us now will you?" you say letting the smallest hint of a smile show. Annoyed people make mistakes, say more than they mean to.

"Miss, a word of advice, you are a little young to be getting in the middle of a criminal investigation," he says, leaning forward just a bit, you guess it's supposed to be intimidating.

That's not what catches your attention. "How do you know how old I am Agent Wright?"

"Your questioning by Detective Green is on record after the Splattercon attack Miss Carpenter," the guy with the handcuffs says.

Wright throws him a dirty look as he produces a copy of the warrant. According to Clippy it is at least the proper form for a warrant and the name and signature of the judge matches. Not to say it can't be a forgery, but if it is it's a good one.

What do you do ?

[] Press them on the slip, see what you can find out

[] Time for more demons, you are really curious what you'll find inside Agent Wright's phone

[] Write in

OOC: I did not even roll if they could intimidate you because it hit against Impervious Primacy Mantle's passive boon as you would be abandoning an intimacy,

 

[DragonParadox]

A Spy Unseen ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

"You'll get your phone call Dresden and your lawyer, but unless you are planning to do something really stupid..." Agent Wright motions to the cuffs. What are they doing? The part of you that is not viscerally offered wonders If they know about the tech-bane then they have to know those are only liable to make Harry less accurate from lack of a focus and not in any way less dangerous. Unless maybe they know more and not less than you had expected, unless they know about the First Law and are betting that Harry isn't going to use magic against them. He had been arrested before you vaguely recall, that was one of the reasons your mom had given you for Harry being disreputable when you had first met him. She had not liked it when you asked if he was actually guilty.

Alas poor Harry is dealing with something a lot worse than your mom's issues.

"You into Shakespeare Agent Wright?" He asks as he offers up his wrists. "Maybe take some advice from Hamlet on this one: There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

"I do not deal with dreams or with plays Dresden, I deal with facts and with reality, no matter how ugly it gets."

There's two police vans outside, CPD and one of them seems to be SWAT as well as three police cars one of which had stooped traffic. So much for the locals not being in on it... you think. They are probably on the level, too bad they are shit at their job.

One of the female officers is moving towards you to spirit you away from the big bad wizard maybe. Your glare stops her cold.

So you just stick around long enough for Agent Wright to take out his phone, a blocky older model and start to type up a message. Every move you make, every breath you take... the song almost plays itself in your head. Maybe it's all the people making the demon shy, maybe it's you being pissed off and trying not to show it, but the spirit slips through your fingers, but of course to everyone else you hadn't done anything, so you just try a again, the flare of essence still unseen.... and you fail again.

Lost 2 Essence

Third time had better be the charm because fourth comes with blaze of balefire and all-seeing eyes that would be rather hard to explain away.

You take a deep breath and try to think of what you are doing wrong. You've been concentrating on what you need your new helper to do, not on what it is, on what it wants. The least of the Wicked City will serve and they will served willingly for a way out of hell, but you have to show them the way first: connection, sympathy. And so you sing to yourself the bars of another song, about that they are and what they were born of and what you are sometimes

Spoiler: Only The Lonely

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaPTELylZ1s

Lost 1 Essence
Demon Bound for One Month

Thus the magic from beyond sings in echo, the power catches root. Breathing a sigh of relief you realize that Agent Wright is returning your gaze insistently, like he is expecting you to blink or something. Instead you smile: "It seems really unusual to me that three agents from the the FBI's National Security Branch would be serving a murder warrant. Doesn't that seem strange to you, Harry?"

The gaze suddenly sharpens from vague annoyance to something more like the point of a dagger. "How did you know that?" he asks softly, too softly for the nearest CPD agent to hear.

What do you reply?

[] "I guessed," you glibly answer to see if you can get more answers out of a rise

[] "Magic," you say with a smile, curious to know how serious he would take it

[] "What's the answer worth to you?" Usum suggests trying to cut some kind of deal and he claims step one of that is showing you have power and are not minded to reveal it for free.

[] Write in

OOC: That was some really poor luck on the dice for the possession. Good thing you have Anima control.

 

[DragonParadox]

Daedalus ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

Giving the man your most winning smile you reply, loudly "I guessed."

You could swear you heard Harry groaning even as he is ushered into one of the cars and somehow you don't think it was because he hit his head on the roof.

"A word of advice miss be careful with that guessing. Who I work for is public knowledge but the details of ongoing investigations are not publicly available and for good reason. The real world isn't a place for Nancy Drew." As threats go this isn't an particularly harsh one, in fact judging by the tone one could even mistake that for simple advice, albeit one spoken in the kind of tone that is almost guaranteed to get a rise out of any red blooded teenager.

But that is not what interests you, it's the implication. It sounds like Wright he think you have some kind of clairvoyance, which you do of course, but it's not what you used on him.

Apparently your thoughtful expression looks like you are actually considering his 'advice' because he adds: "You're a clever kid and you aren't easy to shake, that's a gift. Make sure you don't waste it getting in trouble."

The word 'gift' rings like a bell in your head. He thinks you are some kind of talent, you are sure about it, but his intentions remain murky.

Maybe his phone will have more answers.

Much to your surprise the cops don't execute a search warrant, the whole cavalcade drives off leaving you in front of the door wondering who to call.

First you try detective Murphy, but her phone goes to voicemail then dad, who thankfully does pick up. "Molly, where are you, do you need a ride back?"

Though you are a little offended that his first thought was that you had gotten stranded somehow you quickly explain what you had seen and a little of what you suspect. For his part dad is sympathetic, but he can't really help. "Go to Saint Mary's. Father Fothi should still be at the church and he knows the law." And he'll keep you from doing anything unwise, his tone says.

Welp you had best get the good Father some evidence to work with.

***​

"Clippy do you have space to fully clone Agent Wright's phone?" you ask as you settle down in the back of a small cafe out of hearing of the sparse clientele and the bored looking servers.

"Negative," she replies, "External space required."

"Filter out personal data and pictures," you reply after a moment. It's not like you need the man's family pictures, you would feel weird even having them.

"Query. What is personal?"

It turns out that explaining privacy to a spirit born in no small part though its systematic violation is not an easy nor a fast process. For Clippy and her kindred on the other side data is data, to be classified only by its utility on a moment by moment updating priority.

"Information about close family, important dates and life milestones can help in generating password data, viewing history can be used in advertising and propaganda, 'privacy' is an impediment to the creation of a faithful model."

How much data is harvested from every single person every second of every day? you think, the coffee turning sour in your mouth before you shake it off. You aren't here to ponder violations of privacy on the internet, you just need to explain...

"I don't care about Wright," you try again. "Only about his investigation, he is a cog in the machine, I would like to know whose machine. That information which I designate private is extraneous to my purpose."

"Noted mistress," Clippy sounds relieved to finally understand what you want of her. "Compiling"

Jackpot, looking through his email history you quickly realize that Wright is part of something called 'Project Daedalus', a subgroup within the NSB which is concerned with understanding and countering 'para-terestrial activity'. It's hard to get a hold the group's history from scattered messages, but you harvest quite a lot of agent names and email addresses. And of course there is a lot of jargon to parse through.

PTL stands for para-terestrial lifeforms and as far as you can tell it is a catch all for everything from vampires, to ghouls to the fey. LLE, life-like energy fields are ghosts, though from looking through one three month old message it looks like they lump all spirits into that. Esper, which a quick Google search tells you is a derivative from ESP extra sensory perception, is their name for human talents of which Project Daedalus seems to have access to a small number, less than they would like. It is maddeningly vague how they got them or what powers they have.

One thing is clear, they would like to have more and their researchers working with the the Library of Congress of all things are in the habit of pulling espers off field-work and into the lab, much to the frustration of the NSB agents. You get more from one page-long rant about egg-heads than all the rest of the messages combined. You suspect they only have minor talents, maybe one or two that you would call sorcerer material.

As for the White Council had managed to stay under the radar for however many years Project Daedalus had been working right until the war with the Red Court had blown a lot of wizard's cover in a hail of bullets and bombs. There are a few oblique references to 'New Orleans' where there had been a SNAFU involving a wizard's sanctum and some dead cops, specifically in the context of 'Better lose the target than risk another New Orleans Wright'.

The target... that is where it gets really interesting. It looks like the NSB is aware of the fact that Harry was framed, specifically because they do not think he could have been properly filmed to the fidelity that the recording shows as well as his implication in the 'Harley MacFinn affair'. 'Dresden has been marked as one of the Lawmakers, though his financial and employment conditions to not match any of the rest of the group,' one report said.

Lawmakers is the NSB's name for the White Council you guess, probably because of all it does it is the enforcement of the Laws which is the most likely to filter down to minor practitioners.

"Agent Wright is making a call to Agent Cole, likely superior," flashes across the screen, just long enough for you to read it, interrupting your reading "Intercept Y/N"

You tap Y of course and put the phone to your ear.

"Dresden is safely in custody, he didn't resist just like we had hoped, he's a wiseguy and thinks he's a lot funnier than he is, the sort of guy who went for being a Private Investigator because he saw one too much Magnum PI at an impressionable age."

"Are you sure it's not an act?" comes the question from the other end of the line "I've met espers who could sell you a bridge in Death Valley never mind Brooklyn. Man who just got accused of murder has ever interest to look harmless."

"Oh, he didn't look harmless sir, if I'd left him to the CPD in the car with no cameras he might have had a busted lip before he even came into the station. Dresden does not know when to shut up for his own good . I'll let the locals have a go at him in the interrogation room and when it finally sinks in how deep the shit he's in, I'll come in with the offer of a wipe if he'll work with us"

"Make damn sure he doesn't report us to the Lawmakers, they probably don't take well to snitches, especially from pariahs."

"Understood," Wright replies. "Any leads on what actually killed Greene."

"Class Four Wright, we're still working on containment nevermind investigation. I'll keep you posted."

And with that the conversation clicks off leaving you with a lot of answers and a lot of questions still. You can feel all that you have learned settle into the depths of your soul, kindling for a fire that had been running dangerously low. Enough of it? Only time will tell

Gain 2 Essence

What do you do now?

[] Go to Father Forthil like your dad suggested, see if there is anything he can do for Harry

[] Call Wright with an offer, maybe you can work with him and if not the closer you are to him the easier it will be to deal with him

[] Try to talk to Detective Murphy in person

[] Write in

OOC: Turns out being able to riffle though people's phones for files and passwords is a hell of a investigative tool. To be clear you did not hack anything, but if a password is saved on a computer which is possessed the demon knows the password just inherently.

 

[DragonParadox]

Pro Bono ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

It's not that you lack for ideas as you stare at Clippy and your near empty coffee cup, you have all sorts of ideas, from threatening phone calls, to actually trying to reason with Wright and his lot to getting Father Forthil to call in the White Council and let them handle it since it can't be the first time something like this happened to them and if they were in the habit of hanging their members out to dry pretty soon they would not have members.

But you do not really want to fight the NSB or Daedauls or whatever they are called, you want to get Harry out and his name cleared and for that you need to know what they are holding him on beyond 'someone who looked like him was filmed dumping Greene's body in the lake'. There is really only one legal mind you can call on safely with all this stuff...

***​

Father Forthil sets Clippy aside gingerly as though he is afraid she will explode, or maybe that he will hurt her. Thankfully he seems to have bought the 'helper kami' redefinition. Not that I was lying to him, you remind yourself, that's just branding. Clippy and her kin fit the broad definition of animistic spirits and they are inherently helpful to me.

"Well that is certainly not admissible in court," he says with a shake of his head and a weary smile that quickly fades into a more serious expression. "The last time a three letter US agency tried to intervene in the world of magic it ended poorly for everyone..."

"The CIA, back in the sixties right? Dad told me about that, they ended up summoning demons."

"Right," he nods. "At a guess it probably took them a generation before someone else even thought of trying again, maybe they found some old files, maybe someone high up enough obtained enough proof to start digging. The when does not really matter for us right now, what does matter is the talk of wipes and containment."

"Wright said they were only going to do a wipe if Harry cooperates and well... the Fallen start making snowmen in Hell before that happens."

He snorts a little in his tea at the unexpected mental image . "Indeed, but you have to remember how the legal system works as well. As satisfying as it is to play Hercule Poirot when one is seeking evidence to exonerate someone all you need is reasonable doubt, a strong alibi. If for instance you could find camera footage of Harry out where you in Menominee with a timestamp close enough to the one the police have that Harry could not have been where the latter places him then you will have undermined their case. If you have solid enough witnesses to his presence there it's similarly troublesome for any prosecution."

"But the recording and the fingerprints will still be there," you point out, letting your worry show fully for the same time. For all your power you don't think you can take on the whole of the government yet, or for that matter than you even want to.

"That would be an uncanny contradiction, the kind that gets buried with SI, or in this case with the NSB. The standard here is not just a reasonable doubt but a reasonable capacity to reveal too much in a public trial, and what happen to Greene would ensure a high profile trial. That would force them to bury the whole thing before trial and given their disinclination to get into a conflict with the White Council the path they are almost certain to choose is to vanish the falsified evidence anyway without trying to compel Harry."

"Are you saying we should blackmail them?" you blurt out startled.

"I would prefer not to get that far," he sighs. "But this is very much an instance of he who lives by the sword perishes by the sword. Far better to force the hand of those who have already proven they have no concern for the law they pledge to uphold then to let an innocent man be condemned."

"That will make them an enemy," you point out.

"I have no secrets for them to use against me. If this organization should choose to use its time against me rather than against those who are actually victimizing people then I mourn for their folly."

"You're willing to represent Harry?" You ask. True you had hoped he would but it is a relief to hear confirmation.

"He is an innocent man being framed with a heinous crime, for that alone I would do it, to say nothing of all the good he did," the priest replies simply.

What do you do next?

[] Accompany Father Forthil to the police station when he meets with Harry, if he is willing to have his phone improved you could talk to Harry through it without fear of the tech-bane

[] Go back to Menominee, start looking for that alibi

[] Ask Father Forthil to contact the White Council with the information if he can

[] Go back to Harry's place, make sure Mouse's OK and no on e tried to break in

[] Write in

OOC: Welp you got Harry a lawyer at least, now to give him something to work with.

 

[DragonParadox]

Familiar Trouble ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

"Mom... listen I am saying at Harry's tonight because he's been kidnapped by sketchy FBI agents," you get the words out in a rush because you know just the first part on its own is likely to provoke a rather strong reaction.

Lost 1 Essence

"What do you mean kidnapped? He was arrested," she snaps, but you cut her off "He's been arrested before you know and that does not require you or anyone else guarding his apartment. Did he ask you do?"

"No, but listen mom this is probably a plot to get him out from under his wards which means either and attack on him or an attempt to steal something from his home."

"Are Dresden's... what do you call them? His wards still intact." You do not like the way her voice is working its way slowly up the octave.

"I mean yeah no one broken them but but static defenses can't..."

"His dog, the one that's some kind of guardian spirit, he's fine and still there and Dresden has every expectation that he will guard the place?"

"Mouse is all alone in there any any well-planned assault will have planed for him."

"Molly," she snaps in a tone that would make a drill sergeant proud. "Has it occurred to you that the man does not want you wandering around his apartment."

The way she emphasized man makes you want to squirm and yell at her at the same time. "Mom this could be an attempt on Harry's life precipitated by something I asked him to do, including asking him not to get help so that he would not reveal my weird powers and make me a target. If he is going to be upset at me for sleeping on the couch to make sure Nazi magicians to not break into his appartment that is something I am willing to bear."

"Well I am not willing to bear you sleeping in a strange man's house in what you called danger in order to protect Dresden's prized collection of magical crap. Remember what we agreed to two years ago about staying overnight in unsafe places? This is one of them. Come home, now."

The call goes dead and you have to spend three seconds with your eyes closed just to calm your racing heart. It is particularly hard to recall that she means well when your mother goes like this. This is a far cry from your agreeing not to stay overnight with people you do not know after parties and she knows it.

You could either do what she told you, ordered you do do... or you could ignore her and damn the consequences. It's not like she could get past Harry's wards without Mouse letting her in and he would have no reason to.

What do you do?

[] Continue with the plan, this is more important than your mother throwing a hissy fit

[] Go home, between you and dad you'll be able to wear her down in the morning (Requires a DC 7 Willpower roll, if failed will default to ignoring her)

[] Write in

OOC: The tradition of rolling terribly in contested rolls against Charity's willpower continues. Alas she also failed her roll against Molly's willpower, leaving her furious, which is why it will take a willpopwer roll to actually do what she wants even if you guys vote for it

 

[DragonParadox]

What the Nose Knows ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

There is a part of you, loud and growing louder that just wants to pick up and head to Harry's right now. What is mom going to do yell in front of the warded steel door all night? You can feel a smile pulling at the corners of your mouth at the mental image and then abruptly you stop. I want her to be pissed off, so would I be doing this because I am worried about Harry's place and about Mouse or just because she would hate it?

Maybe it's pride, but you don't want to have that fight with mom, the big one, just because she pissed you off treating you like you are ten, if you are going to stand on principle than you want it to be rock solid the right thing to do and you have to admit guarding the unknown contents of Harry's laboratory probably doesn't count.

With an eye-roll to the uncaring night sky you get in the car. Without touching the dial the radio turns to your favorite station letting the worst of your anger flow out on leaden wings of bass.

"Dad I'm going to need some money for a cheap burner phone for Mouse, I'll pay you back." You rush out the words because you don't want to see mom right now, just in case she takes into her head to ask you why you are going out again. At that point all the principles in the world aren't going to cut it.

"Those don't work very well around magic from what Harry told me..." he starts

"I can fix that now dad," you cut him off with a sheepish smile. "Just another sort of weird Molly magic."

"OK, be careful out there alright." from the tone it's clear he doesn't mean around the corner to buy a phone. "Do you need me to go sleep at Harry's?" he asks unexpectedly.

And that is the other reason you do not want to have the big fight, you remember abruptly very glad you had chosen to come home. Dad doesn't deserve to be caught in the middle. "No, it's OK dad, I think Mouse can handle himself and he'll be able to call for help if he has to," you reply with a smile, taking the money.

You briefly wonder if the inside of a bottom of the barrel Nokia is cramped for the spirit you will be conjuring, but Clippy is quick to dissuade you of the notion: "The Silent-Enduring Domain of Matter is far preferable to the Cacophony of Eternally-Devouring Memory-Space."

And so Burny the Burner Phone is born, reborn maybe, his mark a pixelated flame logo and his ringtone Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire.

Lost 1 Essence
Biding Achieved for One Month

Mouse is glad to see you, though he is obviously worried about Harry from his body language. After a good sniff he judges that Burny is allowed in as well. You had reasoned that he could just bark at Burny who would know to call you, but Mouse is not happy with just that. Soon enough he is getting messages in by gently booping the keys with his nose, a sight as impressive as it is adorable. You swear Harry could solve all his money problems by just selling Mouse merch online.

"Do you and Mister need anything, food, water?" you ask once he is done sending his first text message.

A shake of his golden head assures you that he does not. You are about to leave when he pulls on your sleeve to wait.

"What?" you ask, then you see him go back to the phone. "Burnny read out what he writes."

"Harry... did ... not... tell... you... everything.... wanted... to... protect... you..."

Of course he did, it seems like everyone you knows wants to protect you, in spite of the fact that you are a lot more bullet-proof than they are.

"He... has... a case... The... Cold... Queen... asked... him... to... find... someone.... in... Chicago... According... to... her... they... will... not... be... here... long. Maybe... an... enemy... wants... him... to... fail."

An entire different layer of danger Harry is in that you did not know about because he did not tell you. Why would he not just tell you he's too busy to go after the Thule Society lead this week.

"Likely because you would then have asked what he is busy with mistress and the wizard is far less skilled at lying than you are at spotting lies, particularly when you impose your rightful authority upon the world. The best way for him to keep a secret would thus be to not mention it at all even obliquely," Usum offers far too reasonably. That sounds like Harry logic alright, take on another task that cuts into limited time just to make sure you do not know about the initial danger and get in the middle of it.

You turn to Mouse hoping he knows more, but he just shakes his shaggy head sadly. Mab had not given Harry the task in Mouse's hearing, all he had to go on was him speaking to someone else about the thing.

"Who was he talking to, maybe I can ask them," you reply. It's not even eight thirty, you can still go around town if you have to.

"Secret... Big ...Secret... DANGEROUS." Burny shouts out the all caps, which is just ow, he could have just said it was capitalized.

Do you try to persuade Mouse to tell you who Harry was talking to?

[] Yes, you need to know all the trouble he's in if you are going to help him (Charisma+Empathy, can use excellency)
-[] Write in stunt

[] No, if this is an important secret for Harry you won't snoop, you can ask Father Forthil ask him, or better yet get him out of jail and ask in in person

[] Write in

OOC:If the Mab Mab Mab vote had actually won somehow the results would have been interesting.

 

[DragonParadox]

Spirits Dark and Spirits Strange ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

With a sigh you kneel on the worn rug to look Mouse in the eye. "Yeah, I figured. And maybe Harry doesn't want me wrapped up in dangerous stuff. But if that's really true... Harry's used to being alone, but it's a lot easier to get through dangerous stuff together. You know I'm not just a pretty face, and I'm probably one of the best suited to help Harry right now. Can you please tell me who might be able to give me more details about Harry's case? Otherwise I'm going out there half blind and that isn't going to help Harry or me."

Lost 1 Essence

Mouse considers this a long while, all the doggy energy seeming to vanish leaving him still as stone as watchful spirit. Finally he snaps his jaws, licks his snout and nods, before turning for you to follow him. Much to your surprise he leads you to the trap door half hidden by the throw rug in the back of the room, the way to the lab.

Did Harry write down an address and put it down there you wonder? Part of you wants to ask Mouse to just look in there and then text it out, you don't want to snoop. Well no, that is a lie, you do want to snoop, but you know it's wrong to. As Mouse paws quickly at the air above the trap door like he is trying to swat an invisible bug out of the air, shifting the wards around, you vow to only look at what you need to and not what you might be curious about.

That resolve is quickly put to the test as you open the trap door and the light of Clippy's lantern reveals in harsh electric white this room has not seem since Harry moved in a scene fantastical and odd, Every inch of wall space is taken up by shelves that contain everything from Tupperware filled with indistinct liquids to carved wooden boxes filled with myrrh, sage, jasmine and honeysuckle to empty cages made of delicate brass wire that probably could not hold a mouse to reddish brown pelts neatly rolled up to a pair of antlers with way too many points for their small size. And books, of course there would be books in a wizard's laboratory dog-eared battered books with no title on the spine, a Latin dictionary, what looks like books on magic by McCoy himself, books bound in leather and brass alongside notebooks with their contents noted in permanent marker.

There are three long tables along the walls, one of which holds a fantastically detailed model of Chicago made of concrete and stone,wood and shingles, bark and leaf for the trees even. A magical focus for scrying, you realize, impressed by the fine detail work.

As you move a little closer to look at it you feel a cold draft around your ankles and freeze. You don't feel normal cold. Looking down you see a brass circle inscribed on the bare concrete. There is something there in the middle, no under it, bound by stone and circle, old and powerful... and oddly familiar. Lasciel, that is where be put the coin.

Wait a second, why can I feel it? You wonder abruptly, it's not like you could feel Harry's focus or his shield bracelet even when you were sitting next to him in the car.

As you reach out for the unwavering flame of certainty at the heart of your mind, or your soul the cold goes away. It was reaching out to you revealing itself to you. "Cute, better luck never bitch." You like to think the core of Lasciel is seething in her magically enforced time out.

Lost 1 Essence

Mouse gives a woof, though you are not sure if it is a warning or just confusion at the byplay as he leads you to one of the shelves in the back, but these aren't books on magic, they seem to be fiction of a... peculiar sort: bodice-rippers to be precise from the improbably chiseled shirtless men wearing dubiously historical costumes and doe-eyed spunky heroines. You had bought Izzy one of these last Christmas as a joke. It featured a kilt wearing 'Irish Lord' who 'kidnapped' a remarkably amenable English heiress. According to her it was a fun read if you did not overthink it, which was fair enough you guess. The mind was clearly not what the author meant to excite.

As out of place as the books were in the room was the skull along them, covered in finely chiseled glyphs that flowed along where the major veins and arteries of the head would be with a three pointed seal where the third eye would be, a binding yes, but also an empowerment. From the handful of markings you can recognize you guess this is a spirit of intellect, reason and memory made manifest. In other words a perfect assistant for a wizard. At the same time you are pretty sure Harry did not make this, it looks orders of magnitude more complex than even the model of Chicago.

Lost 1 Essence

Spoiler: Bob the Skull

When light glimmers along the runes and then pools in the eye-sockets as points of arcane flame you are not the least surprised.

"Well hello there pretty lady, I'd ask if I died and went to heaven, but I'm pretty sure you'd be distracting all the angels."

The corny come on though, that's a little surprising. "Er... hello, I'm Molly, Harry might have mentioned me, he's in trouble and I'd like to ask you a few questions. Oh but first what are you called?"

"Harry calls me Bob I'm a..."

"Spirit of intellect, got that from the runes," you cut him off. "Power of the high airs, keeper of reason... something something.... unwavering lantern of the mind though the night of ignorance. I can't read the rest it's on the back."

"You can pick me up if you like, hold me close," the spirit says suggestively.

The book collection Bob is placed among makes more and more sense with every word out of his lipless mouth. Looking on the bright side least it's going to be really easy to get him to talk

"I could do that," you tap your finger on your chin just under your lips. "But that would be over in a moment. Are you sure you don't want something more long lasting for your help. I could get you more books you know."

He doesn't answer leaving you briefly worried that you had lost him before a breathy 'wow' comes out.

Don't giggle at the silliness Molly, don't giggle, you tell yourself and with a Herculean act of will you somehow manage it.

"What do you want to know? I know lots of stuff, about the underpinings of magic and the principles of enchantment, the nature of spirits and gods, blessings and curses, demons and dragons and even the fey. Winter got to you didn't they? And you found something in there that invested you with ancient lore and authority over the seen and the unseen? Listen if you promise not to let it get back to her I can even tell you some things about Mab she'd rather people don't know. Pull up a chair, make yourself at home."

You can't help yourself. "Maybe lean over the table a bit?"

"Far be it from me to say how you should sit fair lady," he manages, a hint of an accent slipping into his voice. You are not sure what it is, maybe French.

What do you ask Bob?

[] Just what case Mab gave Harry

[] Any guesses he may have about what you are

[] Ask about Dragons, Lasciel seemed to believe they might know something about you

[] Ask about Leylines and where you might find a place of power, Usum says such a place could be really useful

[] Write in

OOC: Given what you rolled for charming him Bob will literally spend the next several days talking to you just for the chance to do so.

 

[DragonParadox]

A Riddle Twice Told ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

You are tempted, oh so tempted to ask this being for knowledge. To lean ever so forward, adjust your clothes just so, making best use of your beauty to lure lore old, obscure and perhaps forbidden from it. But no. That would be crossing the line from helping to betrayal. To do this would be to take advantage of his situation for your own profit. You won't do this. And when Harry learns of it, maybe you'll be able to ask your questions in the open.

"I want to know what other case Harry is working on," you explain simply. "What did the Queen of Air and Darkness ask of him?" you pause for a moment. "I do hope he got something good out of the deal."

"Well yeah, being alive and not enthralled is what you'd mostly call a good deal," Bob snorts.

Wait, when would Harry need help not to be enthralled? And then it hits you, Justin, Lasciel had mentioned that Harry only bested him though the aid of 'one of the ladies of the Winter Court'. You mentally file away 'standing debt to Mab' as something Harry has to deal with and might need more help with especially if Winter is mixed up with the Thule Society somehow..

"You know all this politicking should really be a lot more off-putting than it it," you muse. "I never really liked thinking about cliques and whose popular and all that Mean Girl stuff."

"Must be the 'queen' part in the whole God Queen Mantle you have going there," Bob opines.

"What do you mean...?" you cut yourself off. "No, no I am not asking about anything except what I need to help Harry."

"Aww... Are you sure?" Bob sounds so disappointed you almost pat the skull. almost because you do not want to deal with the fifty corny lines that would be sure to ensue if you did.

"Mab asked Harry to find the Ankou, the oberour ar maro..." the bale-lights of his eyes flicker in a faux blink. "And now you have me talking French again. It'll stick in my head for weeks. ankou are a kind of fey, like sidhe, cat sith..."

"The fetch," you cut in, not bothering to keep the anger and disgust out of your voice.

Bob doesn't seem to notice, too engrossed in his lecture. "But there is ankou and there's the Ankou, eldest and mightiest of their kind who was once worshiped as a god by the Welsh and many of their celtic kin. Arawn he was to them, lord of Annwn and master of the dead. But the story is familiar enough I'll wager, the White God came and the old gods faded, they died or they changed. For his part Ankou was a practical sort, for a king and a god at least. Crowns do funny things the the heads that wear them you know."

You nod along. "So what did Ankou do then?"

"He swore an oath to Winter, him and all his kin, they became the keepers of the dead in Winter's service. Most of the fey are bad at fighting ghosts and spirits and the wizards to rile them up because they do not understand mortality and the secret power that can be born of it. " Bob clears his non-existent throat. "Most of the fey are weak against necromancers when matching power against power, but not the Ankou in whom still dwells the memory of Annwn."

"Does the Summer Court often ally with necromancers?" You ask though you are pretty sure the answer is 'no'. You're missing something.

"Winter has more enemies than Summer," Bob says his tone suddenly dark. "Enemies far more willing to unravel the order of reality."

"Outsiders, you are talking about outsiders," the words, though just come to your lips are a lot more certain than you thought they would be.

"Shh... don't just say that aloud for everyone with ears to hear it," the spirit hisses.

"We are in a warded subbasement," you point out. "Hard to get much safer than that."

"Not hard, easy if Harry would pay more attention to his defenses and less to how to poke the biggest hornets' nest he can find," his eyes flicker in the direction of the model city.

Huh, you guess that would be pretty dangerous to use. Still you feel the need to defend Harry. "They say the best defense is a good offense."

"I'm guessing they are people who've never been to war," Bob grumbles. "So anyway the Ankou and their king joined Winter with pledge of blood on iron spilled before the Mothers... which makes it really strange that Queen Mab would be looking for him in Chicago with Harry's help."

"Mouse said something about a time limit as well, is he going to poof into a pumpkin in three days if we don't find him?" you ask.

"Nah... everything was clear mortal side so Harry summoned one of the Loa, you know what those are?"

"Ancestor spirits?" There is a lot more question in your answer this time.

"Eh, close enough, they are prophetic beings, that is they are willing to speak prophecy. Let me tell you there are a lot of spirits whose existence transcends linear time, it's finding the ones who will tie themselves in knots for a price mortals are willing to pay that's the hard part. So anyway Harry called the spirit since he figured a retired god would be visible enough to the Loa's sight to give him something. It wasn't much." He pauses a moment then intones:

The carriage yet flies where the veiled road leads
On the trail of one who rides upon stolen steeds
The hunt grows savage, the hunt grows close
The last note comes ere the wilting of a rose ​

"So Ankou is hunting someone as well and he's close to finding them and the last bit is the timing?" you muse. "How long does it take a rose to wilt?"

"About a week" Bob replies, then anticipating your next question: "The prophecy was made four days ago."

"So three days left and now Harry is stuck in jail for at least the weekend which would leave him one more day to find Ankou before he goes who knows where," you conclude even as the fires of your soul grow a little brighter with the knowing of Ankou and his secret flight. "So did Mab say to talk to the spirit or capture him or..." you do not want to say kill, even though you know Queen Mab would not hesitate to try to use Harry as an assassin.

Gain 2 Essence

"Just find," Bob answers simply. "That's going to be hard enough."

What do you do?

[] Ask more questions
-[] Write in

[] Go home, take that Clorox bath then get as much sleep as you can before heading out to look for evidence to spring Harry from jail

[] Write in

OOC: And here we are, more answers and more questions as well.