Mind you, she's living under the protection of angels as part of Michael's general security package. So long as she's not actively participating in the struggle, she's probably one of the safer people Molly could tell.
The house is not particularly protected yet, just before the start of the quest some Fetches broke in.
The full-time guard was part of Michael's retirement-package I think.
And even if the house was secure, Charity just went out of her way to attack Arctis Tor for us, or went to Undertown to help us with the ghoul-recruitment. That definitly counts as putting herself at risk.
I guess you're right that it's ambiguous how protected the place is before Michael actually retired. That said, the Fetches broke in because Molly brought them there and they had a legitimate claim on her, which is the sort of thing I'd expect to be allowed.
I think that faerie claim thing is a misunderstanding of something from Summer Knight, and the claim thing only applies to the queens. They can't personally go after people who aren't involved in fae business somehow. Knights are the hatchetpeople for faerie queens.
The general idea makes sense but I'd like to point out that good communication is an important part of any relationship, much less one as strained as Molly and Charity's.
Not telling her everything is fine, but I think it's worth our time to specify that it isn't because we don't trust her or something.
[X] Talk to both parents about MiM, but don't mention Eiko's plans to mom.
-[X] Make it clear that there's some stuff you afraid to talk about with anyone you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt are immune to the workings of dedicated arch demons. It's too new for uncertainty and too delicate to gamble with.
Though I'd point out that despite the guardian angels being part of the retirement package no one, not even the Denarians really involve the family of knights unless they bring themselves into a situation first.
The closest they ever get is tossing a coin at little Harry, which was apparently so spicy an op it's the first and only time they dared do it.
That speaks to me of someone big paying attention, drawing lines, and making examples of the people who cross them. The guys Micheal fights just aren't the type to keep to a rule that isn't strictly and regularly enforced.
Also worth noting that even when the family of knights do get drawn into things, it tends to go really poorly for everyone involved.
Like those fetches. I'm pretty sure almost everyone who stepped foot in the Carpenter household got killed later in the same book. That's a curiously complete bit of work there. Almost like Uriel pays attention to the family of the man he was willing to trust his Grace to.
[X] Talk to both parents about MiM, but don't mention Eiko's plans to mom.
-[X] Make it clear that there's some stuff you afraid to talk about with anyone you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt are immune to the workings of dedicated arch demons. It's too new for uncertainty and too delicate to gamble with.
[X] Talk to both parents about MiM, but don't mention Eiko's plans to mom.
-[X] Make it clear that there's some stuff you afraid to talk about with anyone you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt are immune to the workings of dedicated arch demons. It's too new for uncertainty and too delicate to gamble with.
[X] Talk to both parents about MiM, but don't mention Eiko's plans to mom.
-[X] Make it clear that there's some stuff you afraid to talk about with anyone you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt are immune to the workings of dedicated arch demons. It's too new for uncertainty and too delicate to gamble with.
[X] Talk to both parents about MiM, but don't mention Eiko's plans to mom.
-[X] Make it clear that there's some stuff you afraid to talk about with anyone you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt are immune to the workings of dedicated arch demons. It's too new for uncertainty and too delicate to gamble with.
[X] Talk to both parents about MiM, but don't mention Eiko's plans to mom.
-[X] Make it clear that there's some stuff you afraid to talk about with anyone you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt are immune to the workings of dedicated arch demons. It's too new for uncertainty and too delicate to gamble with.
[X] Talk to both parents about MiM, but don't mention Eiko's plans to mom.
-[X] Make it clear that there's some stuff you afraid to talk about with anyone you don't know beyond a shadow of a doubt are immune to the workings of dedicated arch demons. It's too new for uncertainty and too delicate to gamble with.
This is like an ant speculating on the build quality of a boot that's about to stomp on it for these guys. They don't have the positioning to do anything yet. Especially since you're voting to send them to Eiko, who will use their recovery to gain brownie points back with home office. They'll explicitly be back in the chain of command.
The Yama kings aren't as absolute as they pretend, but if this system didn't work 99.9% of the time they wouldn't use it.
It's neither simple or quick to get out once they're in. The cost of their potential redemption can be measured in the victims they make between now and then.
-Sent back to Eiko they would have fallen back into the general mass of Kakuri-pledged akuma, who are allegedly numerous enough that Emma-O and his peers will destroy some for entertainment, or lose track of them altogether. Nothing in those circumstances makes them special. Being in captivity in the US does.
-Dresdenverse morality doesnt care.
Christian morality doesnt care. You are not responsible for any crimes caused by someone given a second chance, and the Knights refuse to pre-judge your future intentions.
This was something we saw Michael firmly establish during Death Masks, when both he and Sanya let Cassius walk despite knowing he was insincere, and despite Cassius refusing to tell them where Nicky was.
If anything I'd expect the mentoring to go up and not down. In any case, good is not nice applies. These guys aren't human anymore, they don't play by the same rules. I don't expect him to be happy about it, but I'd rather have that discussion in character if it becomes a sticking point. Even if it does I don't believe it'll be a dramatic end point.
A cop doesnt, cannot continue to mentor someone who deliberately shoots and kills a restrained detainee in handcuffs. People trust the Knights not to do that sort of thing. In so doing we would make it materially impossible for him to do his job, and his Calling. Michael is Mentor 5 because he's a Knight of the Cross; Michael without Amoracchius would be Mentor 2 at best.
I rather doubt the Knights, or the White God's agents backing them, see it that way.
Knights do not kill Whites or Reds on sight even though they might kill in the future. Hell, they dont drop bearers of Coins on sight; Dresden held possession of Lasciel for years with Michael's knowledge, and neither Butters nor Sanya have gone after Marcone, the bearer of Thorned Namshiel since Battlegrounds either.
If they were that easy to infiltrate they'd already be infiltrated. Emma-O got these guys into the country easily enough, he could have gotten them already.
The library is and does more than that. We know from our discussions with them that they've got connections with everyone who does supernatural stuff in the US government and diplomatic relations of a kind with the white council. They may not directly be enforcement themselves, but if they're unable to handle it (despite the WoQM that they can) then they can work something out.
1)We dont know that they arent. We know very little about the Library.
We can speculate, but we KNOW nothing.
2)Emma-O's primary area of human interest for the last four thousand years has been China and Southeast Asia.
The US is barely two hundred and forty years old. My guess is that he may not even have known the Library existed, or the scope of its portfolio before now. Its not exactly the White Council.
Besides, the US only became a global superpower in the mid-20th century. Which is pretty recent by the standards of immortals.
3)They have confirmed connections in the United States and with the Church. The US is <5% of the world's population.
There's a bunch of very important magical shit in North America, but only some, like Chicago and Demonreach, are in places where they have resources. Others, like Chitchen Itza, are not.
There are genuine questions about their expertise at high-risk containment.
Still are.
You are misremembering.
Quintus Cassius aka Snaky Boy did give up his Coin, and the Knights left him alone. Without prompting, like Cassius expected. They didnt stay behind to stop Dresden beating him up after they left, but they didnt touch him or even berate him.
Even Dresden was going to leave him untouched until he deliberately taunted him, at which point Dresden broke his joints until he spilled where Nicodemus was.
"Do you think that you frighten me, wizard?" said the Denarian. "I was destroying men more powerful than you before this pathetic nation was born."
"Where is Nicodemus and what is he doing with the Shroud? I'll give you a hint. It's got something to do with a plague curse."
"I have served Nicodemus since-"
"Since my last dental appointment, I get it," I said. "But let me point something out to you. Nicodemus isn't here." I held my palms out to either side of me, Vanna White-style. "These two gentlemen are very much here. And very much angry."
Sanya stared at the Denarian, the saber in his hand swishing back and forth a little. He growled. It was enough to make me want to edge away from him.
"Look," I told him. "We're going to find Nicodemus and push his face in. We're going to shut down whatever he's got in mind, and we're going to get Shiro back. And you're going to tell us what we need to know."
"Or?"
Michael said, in a very quiet voice, "I end you."
The snakeman stared at me for a very long time. Then he started to rasp and shake. It took me a minute to realize that he was laughing at me. Snakes weren't really meant for laughter. It didn't sit well on a serpentine body.
"You cannot threaten me," he said. "There is nothing you can do to me."
"I see a couple of holy swords here that make me think otherwise."
"No," the Denarian said. He reached up to his forehead and clawed at the sigil there, as if trying to peel off his own skin. The symbol flashed, and then faded, along with the second set of eyes. The whole of him rippled, scales abruptly melting away. For a second, the features of Father Vincent emerged from beneath the scales. Then they too faded away, replaced by a man's pinched and hardened features. He was dark of skin, maybe Moorish, and he wasn't big. Five feet and a little change, and not more than one-fifty. Average height, several centuries ago.
The man lowered his hand and let a slightly tarnished silver coin roll across the floor to Michael's feet. "My name is Quintus Cassius, and I have long been slave to the will of the demon Saluriel." His dark eyes glittered with malice, and his tone dripped with sarcasm. "I beg you for mercy and the chance to mend my ways. How ever can I thank you, Sir Knight, for saving me from that torment."
Shit. He was playing the morality card. I shot a glance at Michael.
The big man frowned at snakeboy Cassius, but didn't miss a beat in drawing out a white handkerchief embroidered with a silver cross, and folding the coin up in it. Michael and Sanya exchanged a long look, and then both of them put away their swords.
"Uh, guys. What the hell are you doing? Dangerous demon murderer here, remember?"
"Harry," Michael said. "We can't. Not if he's surrendered the coin and asked mercy." "What?" I demanded. "That's stupid."
"Of course it is," Cassius said. Glee danced in his voice. "They know that I am not sincere. They know I will turn on them at the first opportunity. That I will obtain one of the other coins and return to what I have done for centuries."
I stood up, angry enough that the chair fell over. "Michael, if you turn the other cheek on this bastard he'll tear it off your face. You're supposed to be the freaking Fist of God."
"No, I'm not, Harry," Michael said. "The purpose of the Knights is not to destroy those who serve evil."
"Indeed not," Cassius said. Somehow, there was more of a hiss in his voice now than when he'd been a snake. "They're here to save us."
"To save them?" I stared at Michael. "Is he kidding?"
Michael shook his head. "No one else can face the Denarians, Harry. No one else can challenge the Fallen. This moment might be the only chance Cassius has to turn aside from what he has chosen. To change his path."
"Great. I'm all for changing his path. Let's change it to a direct line to the bottom of Lake Michigan."
Michael's expression was pained. "The Knights are here to protect freedom. To give those who are under the oppression of dark forces the chance to win free of them. I cannot sit in judgment on this man's soul, Harry Dresden. Not for you. Not for anyone. All I can do is remain faithful to my calling. Give him the chance to see hope for his future. To show him the love and compassion any human being should show another. The rest is out of my hands."
I watched Cassius's face while Michael spoke. His expression changed. It became harder. More brittle. And bitter. What Michael said had touched him. I didn't believe for a second that it had touched Cassius enough to change his mind. But it touched him enough to drive him toward fury.
I turned to Michael and said, "Do you really think that thing is going to start sipping of the milk of human kindness?"
"No," Michael said. "But that doesn't change my purpose. He has surrendered his coin, and the influence of it. The rest is not for Sanya or me to decide. It is Cassius's choice."
"You've seen these things," I snarled, stalking over to face Michael. "I've seen the corpses they've left. They would have killed me, Susan, you-hell, all of us-without blinking an eye. God only knows what they have in mind with that curse they're putting together."
"All power has its limits, Harry." He shook his head. "This is the limit of mine."
Without really thinking about it, I shoved his shoulder. "They might already have killed Shiro. And you're going to let this bastard walk?"
Michael caught my arm in one hand and twisted. Michael is strong. I had to rise up onto my toes to relieve the pressure he put on my elbow, and he shoved me back from him, his eyes hard and cold and angry as hell.
"I know that," he said in that same deadly quiet voice. "I know they've hurt him. That they're going to kill him. Just as Shiro knew that Nicodemus would betray his promise to set you free. It's one of the things that makes us different than they are, Harry. The blood on their hands does not make it right to bloody my own. My choices are measured against my own soul. Not against the stains on theirs." He looked at Cassius, and the Denarian flinched away from the silent flame in Michael's expression. "It is not for me to judge his soul. No matter how much I might want to."
"Hell's bells," I muttered. "No wonder Nicodemus has killed so many Knights, if you're all as idiotic as this."
"Harry- " Michael began. I interrupted him. "Look at him, Michael. He isn't a victim. He's a freaking collaborator. That poor bastard Rasmussen might have been dragooned into working with the Denarians, but Cassius does it because he wants to do it."
"There's no way for you to be sure of that, Harry," Sanya said.
"Why are you giving him a fair chance? Which of them has ever turned away from their coins?"
Sanya put his dark hand on my shoulder and said, "I did."
I looked back at him, frowning.
"I was of their number," Sanya said. "I was less experienced. Foolish. Proud. I did not set out to be a monster, but that much power corrupts. Shiro faced the Fallen I had allowed in. He exposed its lies. And I made a better choice."
"Traitor," said Cassius, his voice cold. "We handed you the world. Power. Glory. Everything you could have wanted." Sanya faced the man and said, "What I wanted you could never give me. I had to find it for myself." He extended a hand. "Cassius, you can leave them just as I did. Help us, please. And let us help you." Cassius leaned back, as though Sanya's hand might burn him, and hissed, "I will eat your eyes."
"We can't leave him here," I said. "He'll shoot us in the back. He'll try to kill us."
"Maybe," Michael said quietly, and didn't move.
I wanted to be angry with Sanya and Michael. But I couldn't. I'm only human. I'd flirted with dark powers before. Made stupid deals. Bad choices. I'd been given a chance to work free of them, or I'd have been dead long ago.
I understood what Michael and Sanya were saying and doing. I understood why. I didn't like it, but I couldn't really gainsay it without making a hypocrite of myself. There but for the lack of a demon-infested coin went I.
Cassius started wheezing and laughing his dry, contemptuous laugh. "Run along," he said. "Run along. I'll think over your words. Reexamine my life. Walk the straight and narrow."
"Let's go," Michael said quietly.
"We can't leave him," I insisted.
"The police aren't going to have anything on him, Harry. We're not going to kill him. We're finished here. Have faith. We'll find an answer somehow." Cassius laughed at Michael's back as he walked out. Sanya followed him, lingering to look back over his shoulder at me.
"Fools," Cassius murmured, rising. "Weak fools."
I picked up the bat again and turned to the door. "You're wrong," I said to Cassius.
"Weak," Cassius repeated. "The old man was screaming after only an hour, you know. Nicodemus started with his back. Lashed him with chains. Then Deirdre played with him."
I gave Cassius a hard look over my shoulder.
He was sneering, lip lifted from his teeth. "Deirdre likes to break fingers and toes. I wish I'd been able to stay longer. I only got to pull out his toenails." His smile widened, eyes gleaming. "The woman, the Fellowship woman. She is yours?"
I felt my lip lift away from my teeth.
Cassius's eyes gleamed. "She bled prettily, didn't she? The next time I catch her, you won't be there to disrupt my conjuration. I'll let the snakes eat her. Bite by bite."
I stared at him.
Cassius smiled again. "But there is mercy for me, is there not? Forgiveness. Indeed, God is great."
I turned away from him again and said, very quietly, "People like you always mistake compassion for weakness. Michael and Sanya aren't weak. Fortunately for you, they're good men."
Cassius laughed at me.
"Unfortunately for you, I'm not."
I spun around, swinging the bat as hard as I could, and broke Cassius's right kneecap.
He screamed in shock and sudden surprise, and went down. Odd crackling sounds came from the joint.
I swung again and broke his right ankle.
Cassius screamed.
I broke his left knee for him too. And his left ankle. He was thrashing around and screaming a lot, so it took me maybe a dozen swings.
"Stop!" he managed to gasp. "Stop, stop, stop!"
I kicked him in the mouth to shut him up, stomped his right forearm to the floor, and crushed his hand with another half dozen swings.
I pinned his left arm down the same way, and put the bat on my shoulder. "Listen to me, you worthless piece of shit. You aren't a victim. You chose to be one of them. You've been serving dark forces your whole life. Freddie Mercury would say Beelzebub has a devil put aside for you."
"What do you think you're doing?" He gasped. "You can't - you won't -"
I leaned down and twisted his false priest's collar, half choking him. "The Knights are good men. I'm not. And I won't lose a second's sleep over killing you." I shook him with each word, hard enough to rattle his bloodied teeth. "Where. Is. Nicodemus."
Cassius broke, sobbing. His bladder had let go at some point, and the room smelled like urine. He choked and spat out blood and a broken tooth. "I'll tell." He gasped. "Please, don't."
I let his collar go and straightened. "Where?"
"I don't know," he said, cowering away from my eyes. "He didn't tell me. Meeting him tonight. Was going to meet him tonight. Eight."
"Meet him where?"
"Airport," Cassius said. He started throwing up. I kept his arm pinned, so it mostly went all over himself. "I don't know exactly where."
"What is he doing?"
"The curse. He's going to unleash the curse. Use the Shroud. The old man's blood. He has to be moving when he completes the ritual."
Even then, Dresden didnt kill him.
He DID kill him later in Dead Beat, or rather Mouse did on his orders, when Cassius came back to town with the Kemmlerites.
Its particularly hilarious that after his pontificating about the essential evil of Coin holders, Dresden himself becomes one when Nicodemus tosses Lasciel's Coin at him at the end of the same book. And he catches it, and spends the next four books or so dodging Michael out of fear and guilt that Michael will find out and chop his head off.
Despite Michael having explicitly told him what Knights are, and Michael having seen him catch the Coin anyway without his knowledge. But Dresden doesnt often think things through, even when his heart is in the right place.
Its a very pointed lesson that I dont think all that many people catch.
So if we take them away after a complete loss and stick them in a containment unit they become a super threat, but if we send them back to sit directly under his eye they'll be fine?
You're dramatically exaggerating how easy it is to get out and glossing over the cost of the potential they'll do it.
I don't think any given baby grade akuma is actually capable of supporting arbitrary enhancements and skillfully applying them to the degree that they can pull what you're describing.
If it was ever that easy someone else would have taken over and patched that hole centuries ago.
-Yes. Location matters. Circumstances matter.
Think of all those bacteria that arent a problem in a normal human system, but in a body where overuse of antibiotics has wiped out the normal population, they can kill you.
Or when gut bacteria like E.Coli which is harmless in the intestine gets in your urinary system and causes a UTI, or Staphylococcus aureus usually found on the skin, crosses the blood-brain barrier and get into your brain and causes meningitis, or Strep mutans gets out of your mouth and into the bloodstream to cause heart disease.
Or in the Dresdenverse, how Demonreach is not an issue until you are in its range when it has a hostile Warden, and then you're fucked.
-The fact that the US can routinely give every mechanized infantry platoon nuclear weapons a la Davy Crockett doesnt mean they choose to, or want to. Technical capacity is often restrained by political and resource considerations.
That also applies to Yama kings.
Like I've said previously, like most human dictators, Yama King priorities are personal power, not building up the geopolitical power of their polity. Many Hells dont appear to survive the fall of their Yama Kings anyway. A strategy that builds up the institutional power of their Hell, but increases the vulnerability of an individual Yama King to his servitors?
Is something they are almost guaranteed NOT to do routinely. Even if they could.
Might be too late to matter, but couldn't Lydia's Rest-Granting Strike free them?
That way we effectivly destroy them, but also ensure that their souls move on, rather than end up in Yomi Wan again, or get shredded by our infernal power.
They're lesser akuma.
If they die, they dont resurrect in Yomi Wan. Its theoretically possible that if killed their soul ends up in Yomi Wan again, but as far as I know its never happened in the lore.
COMMENTARY
Going to point out that breaking the bonds of akuma-dom is in theory well within the portfolio of a Sword bearer.
Just like exorcising a demon out of a girl child is as well.
I wonder if it just didnt occur to Michael, or if it was the ancillary considerations.
Speaks to their comfort in Molly's presence that Bones was willing to even about disposing this in front of law enforcement.
Adam was killed with dark fire that left no body. Convenient.
Sounds like Yin Prana 7: Yin Nihilus. Could also be Ghost Fire Shintai 4: Goblin Scorch.
Of course, its always possible that he is in whatever our Hell is right now, given that its establishment has acausal characteristics.
If the Library are turning up tomorrow, Molly is missing school for a third day in a row: Monday, Tuesday and now Wednesday.
Thats a lot of homework to catch up on.
I assume she sent the all-clear to Cauldron and her friends and charges by midday Tuesday.
COMMENTARY
-Twenty square foot memorial wall? Thats 4.4 ft x 4.4 foot, or a circle with a radius of 2.5 ft.
I assume you meant yards, not feet.
-Im not sure if we're just thinking of putting defense systems in the walls along the lines of lasers and plasmacasters, or if we're thinking of giving him whats essentially a deployable avatar/jouten like an armored train.
If we're committing to building Potter a train, we're absolutely going to need Exalted Crafting AND Ancient Sorcery.
Probably a transforming chassis somewhere between a StarCraft Siege Tank and Astrotrain or Trainbot from the Transformers franchise. Or one of the Transformers from the liveaction Transformers movies.
After all, the first Bayverse Transformers movie is about eight months away(release date June 2007), and Molly's probably seen some of their early marketing. Or at least watched the old cartoons; she would have been 8 years old when Beast Wars started airing on daytime television in 1996.
Might also want to think in terms of making paying XP to make him a Familiar as well. Or at least an Ally.
-And speaking of construction, this is the latest vehicle we've committed to building after Odin's vehicles.
I think we're going to need to find the money to buy a auto repair shop/property close enough to hook into the tunnels. Somewhere that can take deliveries of and store metric tons of refined raw material(steel/iron, titanium, carbon, copper etc) and
Would also give minions a secure exit from Undertown. One not reliant on Marcone.
-Of course we should talk to Michael; no point spending XP to get Mentor 5 if you dont take advantage of their advice.
That said, if we're telling one parent, we're telling them both. Thats kinda given.
If Michael talks about Dresden's affairs with his wife (and that is canon as of Death Masks), he will definitely talk with his wife about his daughter. One has to assume the protections he benefits from apply to her as well.
They're lesser akuma.
If they die, they dont resurrect in Yomi Wan. Its theoretically possible that if killed their soul ends up in Yomi Wan again, but as far as I know its never happened in the lore.
Michael is a nobrainer; he's Mentor 5, seek his advice.
As for security, I doubt Charity's head is any less secure than that of any of the other shen or mortals that Eiko has already involved in this plot. Woman is a bona fide True Faith wielder. You're not rooting around in her head.
And its not really productive to ask Michael not to discuss his daughter with his own wife.
They are people with an Awakened P'o.
By the rules, as WanKuei who didn't make the Road to Heaven, they should definitly go to Yomi Wan.
They might not escape again and become Wan Kuei once more, but their souls are damned.
Only a fraction of the dead ever go to Yomi Wan in the first place.
I rather doubt they get a doover. Nor is it a concern of normal kueijin that if they get killed, they end up in Yomi Wan.
Besides we know that greater akuma who get killed in Yomi Wan dont end up in Yomi Wan; indeed, killing a greater aluma in Yomi Wan is canonically one of the ways to true kill them absent a spiritkiller.
Stands to reason lesser akuma dont end up in the same place either.
Michael is a nobrainer; he's Mentor 5, seek his advice.
As for security, I doubt Charity's head is any less secure than that of any of the other shen or mortals that Eiko has already involved in this plot. Woman is a bona fide True Faith wielder. You're not rooting around in her head.
And its not really productive to ask Michael not to discuss his daughter with his own wife.
True Faith can be used to resist mental influence or reading, but it is not immunity to it. Molly does not have immunity to having her mind read, she needs to spend the essence for IPP.
That is not to say Charity, or anyone else in the family is not protected by other means.
True Faith can be used to resist mental influence or reading, but it is not immunity to it. Molly does not have immunity to having her mind read, she needs to spend the essence for IPP.
That is not to say Charity, or anyone else in the family is not protected by other means.
But its Willpower 8 Charity, with a family Intimacy to apply, and True Faith bonuses on top of that.
In a specific situation of this nature, she has more dicepool to throw than the actual head conspirator of the Emma-O plot.
Even before additional angelic protections come into play.
Im not worried about her information security. She's probably more secure than Dresden.
