Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

[Alratan]

Looking at the reference to armed and armoured wan kuei; there's a fair chance that the Will has made its minions equipment from condensed Yin using Eightfold Yin Mantle.

With not too much effort a greater akuma can make weapons that do Strength + 9 aggravated damage.

It can also probably make armour that is very good at soaking damage, and incredibly good at soaking attacks using metal, like swords or bullets.

I think we need to make sure we permadeath the Will of Kakuri, just to help head off this sort of nonsense in the future. One of the main reasons the various supernatural factions don't just constantly murder each others lesser members is because that sort of thing has consequences. Establishing that Molly is someone you can't casually take a swing at without potential repercussions is somewhat important.

Plus you know, just fuck (most of) the Yama Kings in general and actually destroying a valuable and expensive minion is a good way to stick it to Emma-O.

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In an ideal world I'd like to capture and reverse engineer some of the lesser as well as the greater akuma.

I'd like to learn how Investments and Treatments as well as the rest of the transformation process are done, so we can try to develop sorcery/a charm to replicate it. We'd probably need our own Hell to do so, but it would be worth it.

 

[Artemis1992]

Looking at the reference to armed and armoured wan kuei; there's a fair chance that the Will has made its minions equipment from condensed Yin using Eightfold Yin Mantle.

With not too much effort a greater akuma can make weapons that do Strength + 9 aggravated damage.

It can also probably make armour that is very good at soaking damage, and incredibly good at soaking attacks using metal, like swords or bullets.

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Pretty sure those are temporary?

Wasting a lot of Chi on minion-equipment that only lasts a scene is not really a good idea.

 

[DragonParadox]

Looking at the reference to armed and armoured wan kuei; there's a fair chance that the Will has made its minions equipment from condensed Yin using Eightfold Yin Mantle.

With not too much effort a greater akuma can make weapons that do Strength + 9 aggravated damage.

It can also probably make armour that is very good at soaking damage, and incredibly good at soaking attacks using metal, like swords or bullets.



In an ideal world I'd like to capture and reverse engineer some of the lesser as well as the greater akuma.

I'd like to learn how Investments and Treatments as well as the rest of the transformation process are done, so we can try to develop sorcery/a charm to replicate it. We'd probably need our own Hell to do so, but it would be worth it.

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The weapons were plain steel the cyber-devils could tell that much, good steel, but also not spending limited Chi reserves on arming fodder.

 

[Earth-Destroyer]

Some training and actual equipment would be good, but I don't think this particular incident is something we could juiced them up enough to stop.

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Do to how combat works a group of max stat mortals can be a major threat to pretty much anything.

 

[DragonParadox]

Do to how combat works a group of max stat mortals can be a major threat to pretty much anything.

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Max stats mortals are not really easy to make outside of nonsense powers like training charms. Generally for a mortal to have 5 in anything is to be world-renowned.

 

[SerbobIV]

I think we need to make sure we permadeath the Will of Kakuri, just to help head off this sort of nonsense in the future. One of the main reasons the various supernatural factions don't just constantly murder each others lesser members is because that sort of thing has consequences. Establishing that Molly is someone you can't casually take a swing at without potential repercussions is somewhat important.

Plus you know, just fuck (most of) the Yama Kings in general and actually destroying a valuable and expensive minion is a good way to stick it to Emma-O.

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Why permadeath? We need some sweet infernal artifacts and there is a perfectly good Greater Akuma right there just begging to be melted down and turned into a gun or something.

 

[Wwind]

yeap, should have developed the HR. or would it be Monster Resources? XD
[X] Head right to the steel mill, maybe you can beat them there

probably this? the Yin guy should be pretty vulnerable to Harry's fire. and I would not bring cop squad against 8 armed vamps at nights, face to face. like... just no. Especially if they have Jade weapons or even simple Tsukumogami ones.

 

[uju32]

The Knot and the Dagger Black

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COMMENTARY
-Demonreach plot hook.

-Welp. I dont think any of the Carpenter family is going to school today. Or until this is resolved.
Might want to call everyone else we know to stay home if at all possible, and in sunlight or consecrated ground if not.
And that includes not just Cauldron, but Izzy, Alec AND Bella.


-Eight lesser akuma means they drew at least two people from the entourage around Eiko for this entire venture.
Samurai armor and swords, but no firearms.
Noting that it took a greater akuma to keep Porter out of things.


-I think its been made clear that its the Greater Akuma actually calling the shots here, and Eiko is just a front.
And its a HE, not a she.
Practicality beats preference for Emma-O with regards to servants.

Also worth noting that if they are taking prisoners, they can obviously stay awake through the day to guard them.
If the group around the Greater Akuma can, its safe to assume the rest can as well.


-If we had cyberdevils in cellphones down there, or even just access to cellphone cameras?
We could have images of the Greater Akuma.
And we can use that as a direct focus to get relevant information on his combat abilities.

-

"He has the seeming of a corpse, one who has drunk too deeply of Yin to show his face before mortalkind. He used unnatural swiftness and the guise of the demon, by will alone warding Porter from approaching until the others were subdued."

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Translation:
He is Yin Imbalanced, which means he is vulnerable to wood stakes and particularly to sunlight.
He demonstrated Black Wind(swiftness), Demon Shintai(demonform), Yin Prana(corpse seeming) and one or more of Tapestry,Feng Shui, or Chiuh Mui/Dragon Tears (fending off Porter).

===

OOC: So you know that streetwise Molly, and only Molly, made which she failed, that was to figure out the Barrels were right under South Works. No one else had heard the news of something nasty moving in nor did they have a rough map of undertown in their head. Also some of those rolls you did not make were perception rolls against some very skilled stealth is all I will say

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-Our primary access to Last Station was through a Marcone-held property that's staffed by humans all hours. Even in the absence of a threshold or magical wards, which might well have been there because Gard, they would have had to pass through two additional portals just to follow us, and Marcone's organization is competent enough to make that problematic.

And keeping up with a car at car speeds is probably beyond bakemono or lesser akuma.

Either Tuzi called them, which is unlikely because we read her, or there was a tracker on her that everyone with magical senses, Molly, Lydia, Michael and Tuzi herself, didnt notice.
Equally unlikely.

I suspect they already had a plan to attack a couple places for hostages as their Plan B if the lure out option failed, with Lydia's home, the Carpenter home and Last Station all being on the list.

They just activated the Last Station option after we moved Tuzi, because Lydia wouldnt have been home and the Carpenter home has enough of a threshold and possible angelic protection to be a hard target.
Kicking myself for missing it.


-This is one of those where better relations with the neighbors would have helped, or at least given us warning.
Given the geography of Undertown, they had to pass through malk territory to get to Last Station from the Barrens, and to return.
And if the malks noticed Molly setting up in Last Station, they certainly noticed the greater akuma in the Barrens weeks ago.

We chose to not make the effort when we last spoke with the malks because too much trouble.
Diplomacy matters.


-We have cyberdevils in the Jaslin Hotel security network.
We should have been keeping a closer eye on the comings and goings of the 11 resident tgere. Of course, its possible they left without passing through the doors and passageways.


-I am.....fairly annoyed with this OOC. Its logical, but Im still pissed.
Call in everything I can beg, borrow or steal pissed. And if I am of this general disposition, I suspect IC Molly is livid.
Not going to help her Nightmares flaw either.

Probably going to change Molly's priorities as well.
Summoning/Wards and Crafting go to the top of the list.
And Lydia needs a Spies(Ghosts) Background for keeping an eye on things in Chicago.

Rolls
Reading the ritual for weaknesses
Adam to spot the danger vs Elite Mook Stealth
*Adam gets torn apart by a trio of akuma with Black Wind*
Help? -> Your vampires show up
*brief fight scene with way too many rolls and one embarrassing mishap that had me restart it*
Jack the Skavis Vampire runs for his life (he has a merit that makes his very hard to catch in those tunnels)
Akuma to chase him down? Nope
Harry to mess with the ritual
Not contested because as it turns out the Greater Akuma was busy raiding the Last Station

It is now 5:00 AM

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Adam did pretty well here on his Awareness/Alertness roll. Poor dude.
Given as he's MiS'd, non-zero possibility his soul shows up in our Hell because atemporal wackiness.

Elite mook Dex + Stealth pool is 6, putting their Dex at between 1-5.
Thats still within base human range Attributes.
Before mojo.

 

[Wwind]

Muggles can be threats with modern arms though, and a ghoul should be able to handle a lot more gun than a human can.

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depends what you mean. but in WoD... just no. Vamps of all kind are more vulnerable to blades then bullets and for example werewolves all can access Lvl 2 'spell' that would jam all guns AOE. The exceptions are rare, like Technocracy or Wicked City and even they still use melee.

With not too much effort a greater akuma can make weapons that do Strength + 9 aggravated damage.

Click to shrink...

The weapons were plain steel the cyber-devils could tell that much, good steel, but also not spending limited Chi reserves on arming fodder.

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Yeap, would be very surprised if they bothered with this. would be very... uncharacteristic.

 

[DragonParadox]

COMMENTARY
-Demonreach plot hook.

-Welp. I dont think any of the Carpenter family is going to school today. Or until this is resolved.
Might want to call everyone else we know to stay home if at all possible, and in sunlight or consecrated ground if not.
And that includes not just Cauldron, but Izzy, Alec AND Bella.


-Eight lesser akuma means they drew at least two people from the entourage around Eiko for this entire venture.
Samurai armor and swords, but no firearms.
Noting that it took a greater akuma to keep Porter out of things.


-I think its been made clear that its the Greater Akuma actually calling the shots here, and Eiko is just a front.
And its a HE, not a she.
Practicality beats preference for Emma-O with regards to servants.

Also worth noting that if they are taking prisoners, they can obviously stay awake through the day to guard them.
If the group around the Greater Akuma can, its safe to assume the rest can as well.


-If we had cyberdevils in cellphones down there, or even just access to cellphone cameras?
We could have images of the Greater Akuma.
And we can use that as a direct focus to get relevant information on his combat abilities.

-
Translation:
He is Yin Imbalanced, which means he is vulnerable to wood stakes and particularly to sunlight.
He demonstrated Black Wind(swiftness), Demon Shintai(demonform), Yin Prana(corpse seeming) and one or more of Tapestry,Feng Shui, or Chiuh Mui/Dragon Tears (fending off Porter).

===

-Our primary access to Last Station was through a Marcone-held property that's staffed by humans all hours. Even in the absence of a threshold or magical wards, which might well have been there because Gard, they would have had to pass through two additional portals just to follow us, and Marcone's organization is competent enough to make that problematic.

And keeping up with a car at car speeds is probably beyond bakemono or lesser akuma.

Either Tuzi called them, which is unlikely because we read her, or there was a tracker on her that everyone with magical senses, Molly, Lydia, Michael and Tuzi herself, didnt notice.
Equally unlikely.

I suspect they already had a plan to attack a couple places for hostages as their Plan B if the lure out option failed, with Lydia's home, the Carpenter home and Last Station all being on the list.

They just activated the Last Station option after we moved Tuzi, because Lydia wouldnt have been home and the Carpenter home has enough of a threshold and possible angelic protection to be a hard target.
Kicking myself for missing it.


-This is one of those where better relations with the neighbors would have helped, or at least given us warning.
Given the geography of Undertown, they had to pass through malk territory to get to Last Station from the Barrens, and to return.
And if the malks noticed Molly setting up in Last Station, they certainly noticed the greater akuma in the Barrens weeks ago.

We chose to not make the effort when we last spoke with the malks because too much trouble.
Diplomacy matters.


-We have cyberdevils in the Jaslin Hotel security network.
We should have been keeping a closer eye on the comings and goings of the 11 resident tgere. Of course, its possible they left without passing through the doors and passageways.


-I am.....fairly annoyed with this OOC. Its logical, but Im still pissed.
Call in everything I can beg, borrow or steal pissed. And if I am of this general disposition, I suspect IC Molly is livid.
Not going to help her Nightmares flaw either.

Probably going to change Molly's priorities as well.
Summoning/Wards and Crafting go to the top of the list.
And Lydia needs a Spies(Ghosts) Background for keeping an eye on things in Chicago.

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Molly's thought is that is they have been down in the Barrels since last month it means they had scouted the Last Station already on their first entrance into Undertown, maybe they even knew you had some kind of interest in the place from other contacts in Chicago yes, it is unlikely even a well hidden Greater Akuma could have literally trailed you all the way to the station tonight.

 

[uju32]

Looking back at it, getting the spirit to safety only put her in danger. We should not have tipped oir hand like this.

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No, she was already in danger.

And there was no way this raid was put together between the 3.21AM when we picked up Tuzi and the 5AM it currently is on the clock; Undertown has too many gribblies and environmental hazards for you to not need to survey your attack and retreat routes, at the bare minimum. Let alone the chance of stumbling into the territory of a rogue sorcerer with a golem, or some Fae.

No, it was preplanned and prepared for, and just activated when we picked up Tuzi, makimg it clear that Plan A for luring us out to the Memorial Park wouldnt work. Remember when someone was asking what their backup plan was?
This was Plan B: kidnap known associates of the Infernal to provoke a reaction.

This is why I insisted on Cauldron keeping a low profile.
I just thought Dragon Nest + Porter would have been enough of a deterrent here to Eiko, and didnt recalibrate when we heard about the Greater Akuma.

 

[Artemis1992]

Also worth noting that if they are taking prisoners, they can obviously stay awake through the day to guard them.
If the group around the Greater Akuma can, its safe to assume the rest can as well.

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I'd almost guess this comes from Dresden Files rules, where Vampires are much less hindered by the sun (though still wounded by direct sunlight).

In return, they propably also have Dresden-weaknesses like proper thresholds.

And keeping up with a car at car speeds is probably beyond bakemono or lesser akuma.

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At least one Bakemono was a taxidriver.

Eyes like plaid lanterns, like some insect's gaze, look out of a face made gaunt with worry and lined with deep resentment past the windscreen of a taxi and into the night.

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Keeping up with us driving is propably not that hard for a good driver, we are a mediocre one.
Not that I'm saying they did it in this particular case, but in general that's something to look out for.

Elite mook Dex + Stealth pool is 6, putting their Dex at between 1-5.
Thats still within base human range Attributes.
Before mojo.

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Lucky thing that Black Wind is some mono-focussed on violence.
Other vampires with Celerity are much better in all non-fighting activities that require Dexterity.

 

[bengalqueen]

This was Plan B: kidnap known associates of the Infernal to provoke a reaction.

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Well, they at least provoked a reaction from me: my reaction is: everyone involved gets permadead through MiM. No exceptions. Let's see if they have the power to stop us.

Also, what is the timeframe until sunrise? If it's soon enough, we can still attack them during daylight hours when they're weaker and we have had our +5 essence from dawn. That would be nice.

 

[DragonParadox]

Keeping up with us driving is propably not that hard for a good driver, we are a mediocre one.
Not that I'm saying they did it in this particular case, but in general that's something to look out for.

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From what Molly saw of that particular fomori that seems possible is all I am going to say.

 

[Artemis1992]

depends what you mean. but in WoD... just no. Vamps of all kind are more vulnerable to blades then bullets and for example werewolves all can access Lvl 2 'spell' that would jam all guns AOE. The exceptions are rare, like Technocracy or Wicked City and even they still use melee.

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We could also get a Charm to blow up all guns in a large area around us.
Fun stuff.

I just thought Dragon Nest + Porter would have been enough of a deterrent here to Eiko, and didnt recalibrate when we heard about the Greater Akuma.

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We have very little idea what Porter can or can't do.
That he can't stand up to a Greater Akuma is one thing, but we would have had no real clue what things against Eiko or even regular vamps would look like.

@DragonParadox
Will we get to know him better over the course of the next Repair-actions?

 

[uju32]

yeap, should have developed the HR. or would it be Monster Resources? XD
[X] Head right to the steel mill, maybe you can beat them there

probably this? the Yin guy should be pretty vulnerable to Harry's fire. and I would not bring cop squad against 8 armed vamps at nights, face to face. like... just no. Especially if they have Jade weapons or even simple Tsukumogami ones.

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Its a major gamble to assume that we can get there before it, or that there are no defenders left behind.
Because it has had 2 weeks to fortify the place, and charging headfirst into kueijin defenses while its still dark seems suboptimal.
Especially if its possible that Eiko's contingent could come in behind us as reinforcements.

Visit Eiko first.

At least one Bakemono was a taxidriver.

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Keeping up with us driving is propably not that hard for a good driver, we are a mediocre one.
Not that I'm saying they did it in this particular case, but in general that's something to look out for.

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From what Molly saw of that particular fomori that seems possible is all I am going to say.

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I do remember that minion.

However, Murphy accompanied us to the warehouse, and Murphy has been a Chicago cop for at least a decade now.
Her Streetwise is Good. Hell, her Perception + Alertness is hella good; she once detected Molly under a veil from purely mundane cues, and canonMolly's veils were better than Dresden's.

 

[Yog]

No, she was already in danger.

And there was no way this raid was put together between the 3.21AM when we picked up Tuzi and the 5AM it currently is on the clock; Undertown has too many gribblies and environmental hazards for you to not need to survey your attack and retreat routes, at the bare minimum. Let alone the chance of stumbling into the territory of a rogue sorcerer with a golem, or some Fae.

No, it was preplanned and prepared for, and just activated when we picked up Tuzi, makimg it clear that Plan A for luring us out to the Memorial Park wouldnt work. Remember when someone was asking what their backup plan was?
This was Plan B: kidnap known associates of the Infernal to provoke a reaction.

This is why I insisted on Cauldron keeping a low profile.
I just thought Dragon Nest + Porter would have been enough of a deterrent here to Eiko, and didnt recalibrate when we heard about the Greater Akuma.

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No, we failed the streetwise check and took her directly to Greater Akuma where it probably detected her. If we just met her, without doing anything else, it's likely that everyone would be ok.

 

[DragonParadox]

I do remember that minion.

However, Murphy accompanied us to the warehouse, and Murphy has been a Chicago cop for at least a decade now.
Her Streetwise is Good. Hell, her Perception + Alertness is hella good; she once detected Molly under a veil from purely mundane cues, and canonMolly's veils were better than Dresden's.

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It is... but that is a literal demon host with stealth gifts. Or it could have been the Greater Akuma literally ghosting along. Kakuri is good at teaching that as much as the dark spirits of that realm are skilled in stealth.

 

[uju32]

We have very little idea what Porter can or can't do.
That he can't stand up to a Greater Akuma is one thing, but we would have had no real clue what things against Eiko or even regular vamps would look like.

@DragonParadox
Will we get to know him better over the course of the next Repair-actions?

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He's enough that IIRC Gard warned us about them:

"The station you describe is called Last Station, no one is quite sure how it ended up like this, but I have heard tell that it always looks about twenty years out of date and out of repair, changing as the years pass. I think it might be more in the Nevernever than most places even down here. It's White Court Dregs territory... those of them who break somehow, go mad or just don't have the will to carry on, but he Hunger drives them to do the bare minimum to hunt. They shouldn't be much of a danger, but the tunnels you described, those sound like wyrm holes..."

"Wyrm like Dragon?" you ask, not even trying to keep the trepidation out of your voice.

"In the same way a spark of flint is like a lightning bolt," she snorts. "Still they are dangerous in their own dens and territorial. I doubt they would fail to notice either of you. If something tries to grab you out of the wall don't try to break the grip directly, lean into it and then jerk away. Stone moves most often slow and sometimes very swift, but never does it change it's course swiftly and so their minds are befuddled."

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Which was enough for me to count a gang of ghouls and Whamps backed by Porter to be secure against Eiko.
And it took a Greater Akuma to neutralize him in his own den.

 

[Alratan]

Pretty sure those are temporary?

Wasting a lot of Chi on minion-equipment that only lasts a scene is not really a good idea.

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No; once made they last forever. There's no time limit specified for how long they last as there are for charms that create temporary items. You just create them and then that's it. They have their own independent existence from then on.

You can tell by the way you can use them to create bullets with a Craft Gunsmithing roll. When you make rounds for a weapon just creating the bullet is only one part of it, you also need to put the bullet in a cartridge with propellant. If they only lasted a scene they would evaporate after you stepped out of your workshop.

Also, they can be used as chains on prisoners, which also wouldn't make sense if they only last a scene.

The weapons were plain steel the cyber-devils could tell that much, good steel, but also not spending limited Chi reserves on arming fodder.

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Note that Greater Akuma in their home hell have limitless chi. They can make Eightfold Yin Mantle weapons in advance. They last forever once made, unless other magic or massive force is used to destroy them.

Also worth noting that if they are taking prisoners, they can obviously stay awake through the day to guard them.
If the group around the Greater Akuma can, its safe to assume the rest can as well.

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This doesn't follow at all. They can just knock them out, throw them in a warded cell, or use other restraining magic on them.

Regular wan kuei who are incapable of staying awake are fully capable of taking prisoners.

Also, they can have bakemono or summoned devils to keep watch.

 

[uju32]

No, we failed the streetwise check and took her directly to Greater Akuma where it probably detected her. If we just met her, without doing anything else, it's likely that everyone would be ok.

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No, disagree.
The Streetwise check was for the location of the Barrens in relation to South Works, and to notice we were under surveillance on the street. The Greater Akuma itself could not have tracked us to Last Station through Marcone's warehouse.

Look at the timeline.

Remember, we picked up Tuzi at 3.21.
It took us at least 30 minutes, but less than 45 minutes to drive to Marcone's warehouse; we know this because in the way back we regenned 2m of Essence, which requires 30 minutes soak.

Plus however long it took to walk from Marcone's warehouse to the Dragons Nest with an old monk.

Tuzi being there appears to have been just bad luck.
Once we met her the second time, and we were seen meeting her, by an enemy agent we didnt see, the clock was already ticking.

The raid on Last Station would still have happened if we'd taken her to the Carpenter house instead.
And if we'd left her where we found her, she would have been questioned by akuma about what we asked and they'd know that we know. And the Last Station raid would happen.

This was something we couldnt have stopped without the ability to notice the hostile surveillance.

 

[DragonParadox]

No; once made they last forever. There's no time limit specified for how long they last as there are for charms that create temporary items. You just create them and then that's it. They have their own independent existence from then on.

You can tell by the way you can use them to create bullets with a Craft Gunsmithing roll. When you make rounds for a weapon just creating the bullet is only one part of it, you also need to put the bullet in a cartridge with propellant. If they only lasted a scene they would evaporate after you stepped out of your workshop.

Also, they can be used as chains on prisoners, which also wouldn't make sense if they only last a scene.



Note that Greater Akuma in their home hell have limitless chi. They can make Eightfold Yin Mantle weapons in advance. They last forever once made, unless other magic or massive force is used to destroy them.



This doesn't follow at all. They can just knock them out, throw them in a warded cell, or use other restraining magic on them.

Regular wan kuei who are incapable of staying awake are fully capable of taking prisoners.

Also, they can have bakemono or summoned devils to keep watch.

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I do not think 9+Str Agg weapons for minions would be in the least balanced given that Molly has a 2+Str Agg weapon that cost her no small number of Character Creation choices. When you can arm your mooks better than most Solarioids that might be a bit of an issue balance-wise.

 

[uju32]

This doesn't follow at all. They can just knock them out, throw them in a warded cell, or use other restraining magic on them.

Regular wan kuei who are incapable of staying awake are fully capable of taking prisoners.

Also, they can have bakemono or summoned devils to keep watch.

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Ghouls may be low level supernaturals, but they are STILL supernaturals, and incredibly hardy ones at that. Dresden removed half the 'imbs of one IIRC, and it was still alive, alert and able to move.You dont plan to grab a group of up to 10 ghouls and 3 whampires plus half a dozen humans and rely on knocking them out, or a warded cell in an abandoned factory.

They have 4x bakemono, one of them a preteen.
That was never gonna cut it as a guard force if they needed to sleep in the daytime, let alone both guard the entrances and guard double digit prisoners. If they thought they needed a mortal guard force they would have recruited three or four times as many.

No summoned devils at our last check; devils dont appear to have the capacity to hang around indefinitely in the material world in the Dresdenverse. And none of them is a sorcerer, so I dont have to worry about golems autonomous guard constructs.

EDIT
Citations: Ghoul hardiness
White Night c23

My vision went red with rage. Or maybe that was the Hellfire. I called upon still more of the dark energy in midleap, staff gripped in both hands, and rammed the tip into the small of the ghoul's back as I snarled, "Fuego!"
The blow, with all my weight and power and speed behind it, probably broke a couple of the ghoul's vertebrae all by itself. The fire spell came rushing out at the same time, filling the tunnel with thunder and light.
Tremendous heat blossomed before me, rushed into the ghoul, and tore him in half at the waist.
The same thermal bloom washed into the stone wall behind the creature and rebounded. I got an arm up to shield my face, and I dropped the staff so that I could draw my hands into my duster's sleeves. I managed to keep much skin from being directly exposed, but it hurt like hell all the same. I remembered that, later. At the time, I didn't give a flying fuck.
I kicked the ghoul's wildly thrashing lower body into the black ness of the mine shaft. Then I turned to the upper half.
The ghoul's blood wasn't red, so he burned black and brown, like a burger that fell into the barbecue just as it was finished cooking. He thrashed and screamed and somehow managed to flip himself onto his back. He held up his arms, fingers spread in desperation, and cried, "Mercy, great one! Mercy!"
Sixteen years old.
Jesus Christ.
I stared down for a second. I didn't want to kill the ghoul. That wasn't nearly enough to cover the debt of its sins. I wanted to rip it to pieces. I wanted to eat its heart. I wanted to pin it to the floor and push my thumbs through its beady eyes and all the way into its brain. I wanted to tear it apart with my fingernails and my teeth, and spit mouthfuls of its own pustuled flesh into its face as it died in slow and terrible agony.
The quality of mercy was not Harry.
I called up the Hellfire again, and with a snarl cast out the simple spell I use to light candles. Backed by Hellfire, directed by my fury, it lashed out at the ghoul, plunged beneath its skin, and there it set fat and nerves and sinews alight. They burned, burned using the ghoul for tallow, and the thing went mad with the pain.
I reached down to the ghoul, caught him by the remains of his robes, and hauled him up to my eye level, ignoring the little runnels of flame that occasionally licked up from the inferno beneath the ghoul's skin. I stared into its face. Then forced it to look at the bodies. Then I turned it back to me, and my voice came out in a snarl so inhuman that I barely understood it myself.
"Never," I told it. "Never again."
Then I threw it down the shaft.
It burst into open flame a second later, the rush of its fall feeding the fires in its flesh. I watched it plummet, heard it wailing in terror and pain. Then, far below, it struck something. The flame flowered and brightened for a second. Then it began to slowly die away. I couldn't make out any details of the ghoul, but nothing moved.

Click to shrink...

I'm not going to kill you," I told the ghoul in a very quiet voice. "You get to carry word to your kind." I thrust the end of my staff against its chest and stared down. Wisps of sulfurous smoke trickled down the length of the wooden shaft and over the maimed ghoul. "Tell them this." I leaned closer. "Never again. Tell them that. Never again. Or Hell itself will not hide you from me."
The ghoul groveled. "Great one. Great one."
I roared again and started kicking the ghoul as hard as I could. I kept it up until it floundered away from me, heading for the open desert with only one leg and one arm, the movements freakish and terrified.
I watched until the maimed ghoul was gone.
By then, the ants had found his buddy. I stood over it for a time and beheld what I had wrought without looking away.

Click to shrink...

 

[uju32]

Kidnapping is a crime under mortal codes of law.
And Im betting that our group is not the first one that has got grabbed.

I do not think 9+Str Agg weapons for minions would be in the least balanced given that Molly has a 2+Str Agg weapon that cost her no small number of Character Creation choices. When you can arm your mooks better than most Solarioids that might be a bit of an issue balance-wise.

Click to shrink...

Even more pertinently, I think those are Yin weapons.

Yin chakra evaporates at a rate of 1/turn in sunlight, and vampires cant even spend Yin chakra while in sunlight; I suspect Yin weapons would suffer the same fate as well in sunlight. Or in contact with Holy water. Or a Sword.
Even Fire probably has an effect, given the purification angle it has in Dresdenverse magic.

One thing to use them in Yomi Wan.
Literally the last thing you want to rely on in the material world, even underground.

===
Anyway, question:

QUESTION
How would Gard take a last minute recruitment phonecall?
Because I think Molly is IC justified in pulling on every string she currently has access to.

 

[DragonParadox]

QUESTION
How would Gard take a last minute recruitment phonecall?
Because I think Molly is IC justified in pulling on every string she currently has access to.

Click to shrink...

This last minute? Molly does not know her well enough to guess, you would have to try and find out