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Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

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fictionfan said:
In order to make sure our meeting with Mab starts off on the right foot we need to make proper ontrays. And when I say proper I mean that the Red Dogs are going to be amazingly happy because 10 successes isn't good enough and they get to eat all the failures. We want 15 success ontrays something amazing enough that Mab feels in our debt just from tasting them.

And it is going to take many tries because cooking is very far from Mechanics and our (dex/Int) + (Craft-2) only equals 5 dots which we double with the excellency to 10 dice add in cold and we have 12 total dice. Since we are going for more successes then we are rolling dice the DC reductions don't matter that much even though we have alot of them.

Fortunatly TTC means that we cook at super speed so multiple attempts is more limited by our essence spending then cook time. Well CSR and RVD means that the essence isn't that much of a bottleneck either.

So basically Molly locks herself into the kitchen until she makes finger food that people are willing to give up fingers to eat.
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I like this idea lol. Write it down for when the vote comes and ill vote it.
 
Winning Vote
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Apr 30, 2023 at 3:28 AM, finished with 56 posts and 11 votes.
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Arc 6 Post 54: The Quiet and the Music
  • Threadmarks
    • The Quiet and the Music ​

    19th of October 2006 A.D.

    In the end you decide not to borrow trouble for Anna, not when you are so new yourself. Still learning alongside J is pleasant enough. He knows quite a bit about magic, if from a perspective that would freak out most sorcerers, but then who are you to argue against power from pain, from the numbness of the body and the stillness of the mind, the thousand little deaths that come with joining a spirit that heralds death's touch? After all you have a demon in your head. Head filled with new knowledge you slip into the embrace of tainted water, into sleep.

    We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away.

    The words echo back yo you not in Brother Divisinimar's calm and thoughtful voice, but heavy with hidden meaning. Again and again they come transformed:

    We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like spring and summer, they gradually pass away.

    Somewhere close, far too close, you hear familiar laughter ringing in the dark, a voice of try crackling wood and eyes that burn with mockery. Did you really think you could get away? Did you really thing you wouldn't pay for your sins little girl? It's cold, colder than you have ever felt before like the darkness is pouring into your veins and yet you are afraid to make light, knowing what it will reveal, ice, the throne and the tree.

    Abruptly you wake, heart hammering. It takes a long time before you dare reach for the light.

    You are Exhausted: -1 die for all actions

    It would be too much to hope that mom does not notice you shamble into the kitchen like a zombie the next day and almost spill the coffee pot in the process and this time she is not satisfied with the mumbled 'bad dreams'. She wants to know what about.

    Maybe all of Usum's praise had been working more than you let yourself admit, but it feels wrong to explain how bad it's gotten, to admit weakness, but you force yourself to get the words out. Before you even get halfway to explaining the muddled dream logic mom is hugging you. It feels, nice, comfortable... and then she shivers. Right, it must feel like hugging a block of ice.

    "Sorry mom," you mumble as you struggle free.

    "It's alright sweetie," she says instantly.

    "You'll catch your death of cold," you manage with a wan smile, a warning she had given you more times than either of you can count. More seriously you add. "I'm working on it now, soon it won't be a problem."

    "The... magic coffee has been doing fine for me," she says at last.

    "Glad you like it," you answer, your tone saying far more than the words. Two months ago you could not imagine your mother saying the words 'magic' and 'fine' in the same sentence, unless it was 'we'll do fine without the darn magic'.

    The other part of the Nightmare-Be-Gone plan is not, alas going to be as easy as brewing the right teas. Much like you cannot get anything more than mildly buzzed off drink that would have left you smashed before an alien crown landed on your head, the teas that would help with balancing the mind of a mortal have about as much impact on you as spring rain has to magnesium fire burning white. According to the old monk your mind and body are fundamentally disconnected in ways that seem to him deliberate, like the partition doors on a ship so that if water were to flood into one the whole ship does not go down. Good to know in a 'captain of your own mind' sort of way, but not really helpful.

    That leaves meditation.

    "Tools, herbs, massage, needles, all are external things, so say the Council of the wise and so you know it is," Brother Divsimar proclaims encouragingly and as far as it goes he is right. If only it did not go so slow.

    Balance of Chi Progress: 7/15

    And come Halloween I have to meet the Scarecrow's boss again. The prospect makes your stomach twist, half with fear half with anger. As bad as you had fucked up you did not deserve what happened in Arctis Tor, just like none of Winter's other victims deserve what happens to them, but this is the world you live in.

    Fuck

    ***​

    20th of October 2006 A.D.

    You spend some time with your friends over the following days , mostly meandering around the Mall from the food court to the movies to the arcade and once evening comes you even go to the clubs you used to frequent only to find that,most of the people who had known you casually thing you had fallen off the face of the Earth, one guy mentions going to jail for using. Really? Really? That is what they think of me?

    "Lighten up Molly, I think you made him piss himself," Izzy shouts into your ear over the thrum of the music.

    "Did not," you roll your eyes as you finish your drink and pull her towards the dance floor. "Come on, lets dance, that guy in the white tshirt has been ogling you all night, at least give him something to watch. He's kind of cute in the shaggy puppy kind of way," And he is not a vampire, faerie or other danger to her life and sanity, you add to yourself.

    "You think so?" she asks deliberately not looking in the direction so hard she might as well have been staring at him.

    "I know so, I am the keeper of the secret lore of the dance," you proclaim.

    In this one evening, for this one hour you let go of all your worries and your cares and surrender yourself to the music, like a ship carried where the currents will.

    ***​

    22th of October 2006 A.D.

    As with all things in life though one can only procrastinate so long though before the need to decide where you want to meet the Wicked Witch of the North. Part of you wishes the Last Station was done, but it's not and it's hard to blame Porter for not wanting to have her in his home when it's still half-ruined. Harry on the other hand had opened his house to you if you want to meet there. With the house empty of jawas for trick-or-treating and Daniel going to a party you could meet her at home like dad had suggested. There's something to the notion of putting Queen Mab under the eye of a even greater power... but the thought of her in the house those things had invaded last summer doesn't sit right with you.

    The only other alternative, the only true neutral ground recognized by the same Accords Queen Mab guarantees is Mac's, but if you are going to consider it you have to scout the place around first. It would be rather rude towards McAnally not to mention any patrons inclined to use the pub as shelter on a dangerous night to drop in with the Queen of Air and Darkness.

    Who do you visit McAnally's Pub with?

    [] By yourself, you need no introduction but your history

    [] With Harry, he's friendly with the owner and pops in from time to time, though most of the regulars are skittish around him

    [] Pauline, the various members of the Order of the Cauldron are known here and they are not likely to cause as much of a stir as Harry

    [] Your father. Going to a bar with your dad is so uncool you feel like you might spontaneously shapechange into a perfect square, but he has a good reputation at least

    [] Lydia, maybe her weirdness will distract from your weirdness and vice-versa

    [] Write in

    OOC: Initially I thought the roll that made those nightmares was a botch, which is why I made the cut where I did yesterday, but then I remembered that after the last nightmare Molly sleeps under BSM so the DC was only 6 not 7 turning it from a botch 'thinks she is still in the nightmare when awake' into just the fail state of 'you have nightmares'.
     
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    • [X] Pauline, the various members of the Order of the Cauldron are known here and they are not likely to cause as much of a stir as Harry
     
    [X] Lydia, maybe her weirdness will distract from your weirdness and vice-versa

    Mab's already aware of Lydia being a thing, but showing up with two Exalted puts the power balance squarely in our favor; unless Mab brings Odin or the Leanansidhe with her, if things happen to go south I'll put good odds on two Exalted steam-rolling her (I don't think Mab quite realizes just how dangerous Molly is to her in person up close, or she'll be trying to have this conversation over a phone call)

    I doubt things will go south, this is most likely gonna be purely social, but having the option to just kill Mab outright is something I'll always want on the table when dealing with her evilness; Mab is still someone who's gonna end up on the chopping block eventually for her crimes, so best to treat her carefully and all that

    Edit: Sorry my bad for poor reading comprehension, I'll still vote Lydia for the meme of two Exalted walking into a bar though :grin:
     
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    TheGrape said:
    [X] Lydia, maybe her weirdness will distract from your weirdness and vice-versa

    Mab's already aware of Lydia being a thing, but showing up with two Exalted puts the power balance squarely in our favor; unless Mab brings Odin or the Leansidhe with her, if things happen to go south I'll put good odds on two Exalted steam-rolling her (I don't think Mab quite realizes just how dangerous Molly is to her in person up close, or she'll be trying to have this conversation over a phone call)

    I doubt things will go south, this is most likely gonna be pure social, but having the option to just kill Mab outright is something I'll always want on the table when dealing with her evilness
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    Ah... this is not the vote to talk to Mab, it is the vote for who to do on a scouting mission to see if the pub is a good place to talk to Mab. The meeting itself is still nine days away.
     
    [X] With Harry, he's friendly with the owner and pops in from time to time, though most of the regulars are skittish around him

    This is an introductory visit. Not the meeting with Mab yet.
     
    [X] Pauline, the various members of the Order of the Cauldron are known here and they are not likely to cause as much of a stir as Harry

    Our least threatening option,maybe we won't even clear out the room by entering like this.
     
    [X] With Harry, he's friendly with the owner and pops in from time to time, though most of the regulars are skittish around him
     
    [X] With Harry, he's friendly with the owner and pops in from time to time, though most of the regulars are skittish around him
     
    [X] With Harry, he's friendly with the owner and pops in from time to time, though most of the regulars are skittish around him
     
    [X] Pauline, the various members of the Order of the Cauldron are known here and they are not likely to cause as much of a stir as Harry
    [X] Your father. Going to a bar with your dad is so uncool you feel like you might spontaneously shapechange into a perfect square, but he has a good reputation at least
    [X] Lydia, maybe her weirdness will distract from your weirdness and vice-versa

    We don't really want people to associate us with the White Council.
     
    [X] Pauline, the various members of the Order of the Cauldron are known here and they are not likely to cause as much of a stir as Harry
    [X] Your father. Going to a bar with your dad is so uncool you feel like you might spontaneously shapechange into a perfect square, but he has a good reputation at least
    [X] Lydia, maybe her weirdness will distract from your weirdness and vice-versa
     
    TheGrape said:
    [X] Lydia, maybe her weirdness will distract from your weirdness and vice-versa

    Mab's already aware of Lydia being a thing, but showing up with two Exalted puts the power balance squarely in our favor; unless Mab brings Odin or the Leanansidhe with her, if things happen to go south I'll put good odds on two Exalted steam-rolling her (I don't think Mab quite realizes just how dangerous Molly is to her in person up close, or she'll be trying to have this conversation over a phone call)

    I doubt things will go south, this is most likely gonna be purely social, but having the option to just kill Mab outright is something I'll always want on the table when dealing with her evilness; Mab is still someone who's gonna end up on the chopping block eventually for her crimes, so best to treat her carefully and all that

    Edit: Sorry my bad for poor reading comprehension, I'll still vote Lydia for the meme of two Exalted walking into a bar though :grin:
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    Bruh we aren't winning a fight with mab. Not now at least.
     
    firefrog600 said:
    Bruh we aren't winning a fight with mab. Not now at least.
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    Yeah, neither Molly nor Lydia are nearly combat-optimized enough for that sort of fight.
    If we're that worried about things potentially going south, we should bring Harry and Michael as well, at the very least.
    That's for Mab alone, mind.
    Although, if Mab is able to leverage Harry's favor/fey debt(?), that might well make him a liability in a fight, if she could force him to flip sides.
     
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    Nyarky said:
    Wow, way to shift the goalpost there, suddenly, we're not about whether the method can work or not but if bad actors would try to sabotage it, which they wouldn't do if they thought it wouldn't work, by the way.
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    … fair point, shouldn't have gone that direction. Rhetorical yellow card there.

    I would maintain that both of these points are true though. It wouldn't be broadly effective and it would be sabotaged because it doesn't need to be effective to threaten the masquerade.

    The only slice I think it could really help with would be the mind magic stuff, and then only with the casual use slice of things.

    Nyarky said:
    We're back to my comment about the people on which it works being invisible there.

    How many people not already addicted to nicotine didn't begin to smoke because of these pictures? It could very well be a significant number, but since we don't see them, we can't count them.
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    If they're invisible you can't count them either, so they make for poor support. For your position to make sense they have to be at least a plurality of the warlock population, and you can't demonstrate that.

    Nyarky said:
    Doesn't matter, we would not be trying to reach the ones that already have an education due to their family with this thing.
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    It does matter, because we're attempting to define the space we're operating in.
    Alratan said:
    Our opposition has limits, and with our Charms we can do things that are very expensive or literally impossible for them easily. If we find something that wants an influence war for ownership of Chicago, knowing they exist (and are so part of the city's problem that needs fixing) is itself a benefit.

    An additional thing to note. Thanks to VEE, if the opposition starts to push against our assets being promoted, reality will deform itself in whatever way is necessary to make them fail. If they push hard, that will at best for them make what they're pushing with obvious and at worst break it.

    To give us an example, if they own the police appointments board and we use VEE to promote Murphy to Captain and they try block that, then something will happen so that she gets that promotion. The fact of the promotion is an immovable object, while their ownership of the Appointments board isn't an irresistible force. The likely result is that there ends up being either no Appointments Board with decision making power or their people on it being replaced or freed of their influence.

    We're not operating in a vacuum, but we're using tools that our opposition can't match and may not even comprehend exist. They'd keep looking for how we're managing to do things when there is no how. We just decide that they will and the rest of existence bends around the fact that we've made incontestable.

    We shouldn't just be doing this with SI. We should be finding people in Vice, and Internal Affairs, and the general leadership cadre, and not just in the Police, but in the DAs office, and in City Hall, and in the local big business and sports teams.

    Because it's so easy for us to do what would take vast amounts of efforts from large conspiracies of supernaturals, we can hit everywhere at once so they can't respond.
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    Some of that may be true, but it's doesn't actually contradict my point.

    VEE ensuring a promotion doesn't ensure our agent has back room access the same way, and it doesn't ensure they won't get hit from other angles.

    Our tools give us advantages, but our opposition isn't helpless and they won't just roll over for us.

    Even if Molly did win an influence war for Chicago, which with the right prep she does have a good shot at, that doesn't mean the SI guys we're talking about right now would avoid becoming casualties of one sort or another, or that this would help them do their jobs in the intended way.

    Edit:

    [X] With Harry, he's friendly with the owner and pops in from time to time, though most of the regulars are skittish around him

    In this case skittish is a good thing. If we're bringing Mab around a signal that it'd be safe to get out of sight is probably worth sending to the community.
     
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    Edit:

    [x] With Harry, he's friendly with the owner and pops in from time to time, though most of the regulars are skittish around him

    [x] Pauline, the various members of the Order of the Cauldron are known here and they are not likely to cause as much of a stir as Harry

    [x] Your father. Going to a bar with your dad is so uncool you feel like you might spontaneously shapechange into a perfect square, but he has a good reputation at least

    [x] Lydia, maybe her weirdness will distract from your weirdness and vice-versa



    [jk] Write-In: Charity 'Willpower' Carpenter, in case we need someone to stare someone else down
     
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