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Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

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Yog said:
[X] Plan political incident v3
-[X] Excellencies as appropriate and ATB with willpower to investigate the scene
-[X] Investigate the scene of the crime first
--[X] Check the whampire for identification
--[X] Have Clippy run a search for him, using facial recognition and ID, if you find any
--[X] Check with Thomas and, if he doesn't have anything, Isabela, to see if they know the whampire.
-[X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this
-[x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
--[X] Using the scene itself: For what reason has this attack occurred?
-[X] Call Detective Murphy, she might be able to help and you did promise to keep her up to date about supernatural dangers in the city
--[X] On her personal phone, and use metaphors to describe the situation
---[X] When she gets here, offer to destroy the body
-[X] Helen and other Ordo members, asking them to get off the street and behind wards if possible, until you verify the situation has been handled
-[X] Call Lydia, she is the local expert on the dead, maybe the vampire's soul is still around to interogate
-[X] Call Lara, this is her people, she can help you dispose of the body and damn well explain this
--[X] After checking that she is not responsible for this attack

Ok, I think that's about enough? We might add BSM, but that seems excessive - we already have WHWH running. I am tempted to add (using the whampire's shoes) the question of "who did the owner of these shoes serve?" to check for Nemesis.
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1)Do not destroy the body before talking to Lara.
She may take your word for it, but whichever House the vic belongs to will be easier to coerce if there's a body that demonstrates they have been fucking around.


2)And dont consult a police officer on disposing of a dead body. Youre criming on a felony level; dont compromise your law enforcement contact like that.

At least give them plausible deniability.
Whamps arent akuma, they dont dissolve into goo when shot. As far as the law is concerned its a homicide.
 
uju32 said:
1)Do not destroy the body before talking to Lara.
She may take your word for it, but whichever House the vic belongs to will be easier to coerce if there's a body that demonstrates they have been fucking around.


2)And dont consult a police officer on disposing of a dead body. Youre criming on a felony level; dont compromise your law enforcement contact like that.

At least give them plausible deniability.
Whamps arent akuma, they dont dissolve into goo when shot. As far as the law is concerned its a homicide.
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Ok, fair point, removed from the third version of the vote. Though I would argue that the option fo destroy the body should still be on the table.
 
Yog said:
Ok, fair point, removed from the third version of the vote. Though I would argue that the option fo destroy the body should still be on the table.
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The body is both evidence and currency in the supernatural world. Evidence of a truce breach, and currency that can be used to pressure whatever family/faction he was working for. And the state of the body makes it clear it wasnt Molly that killed him.

Not to mention a Crown focus.
We dont want to destroy it unless it's absolutely necessary.


Anyway:

[X]Yog
 
DragonParadox said:
Keep in mind that is is possible to contest the effects of charms with other forms of magic, the book even has rules for it, it is just hard because the Charms of the Exalted are the primordial investiture of the Incarna, the power of Gods such as do not exist in this world as seen though the lens of an Artisan Titan's greatest work, forged in an hour of desperate need.
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True but making you enemies spend massive amount of resources, and time on undoing the curse, is a pretty good win. And the Exalted can just say congrats your cursed again, and I also cursed your efforts to remove the curse.
 
Earth-Destroyer said:
True but making you enemies spend massive amount of resources, and time on undoing the curse, is a pretty good win. And the Exalted can just say congrats your cursed again, and I also cursed your efforts to remove the curse.
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By definition would would be cursing their efforts to remove the curse as long as it was done by someone outside the organization. Also you would have to find a different target within the organization each time you wanted to renew it since unless you take a leader captive they can just exclude any prisoners from their ranks so you cannot just keep one mook in your basement and span bureaucracy curses at him. the charm works a lot better on open institutions than say secret societies and the like. That said you would light up all of Nemesis as far as Molly understands its nature.
 
DragonParadox said:
She starts to turn, to run before you are even out of the car, but you call after her. Essene burns upon the tip of your tongue like brimstone. "Doctor Jackson, it's OK! I'm Molly, Molly Carpenter. I'm a friend of Abby's."

Hearing this she stops, hand against the nearest wall, reluctantly turns. "That's a vampire... White Court he... he tried to get me to go with him and when that didn't work he attacked me."
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Damn it.

We missed our opportunity to be the most comically over leveled random encounter in the city. :V

On a more practical level it occurs to me we have a dead simple way to make the Ordo much safer with our current skill set.

Dresden Files talents are up to a certain point all about props. Their foci don't typically have any real magic of their own, and the meaning to them is as much personal as it is reflective of the properties of magic.

Molly is inhumanly good at crafting and occult. We could trivially make foci that are dramatically better than what the Ordo has access to, and the the difference foci make isn't small.

For Dresden it's the difference between exhausting himself throwing around a handful of defused fire blasts and spending all night blowing holes in monsters by putting half the energy in a quarter of the area.

They don't give you new skills or expand your resource pool but they make things you might not be able to do without intense focus easy enough to use in combat and decrease the costs to do so substantially so effectively they might as well be.

Some 10+ success custom foci balancing the personal reference frames of the users with the occult insight Molly can bring to bear could have interesting results. Especially for the shadow talent over there, because of our Kakuri specialty.

Not sure what that should work out to mechanically though, since WoD doesn't really work that way. Maybe make them reduce the success count
taovkool said:
[X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this

Yeah, we need more info on this.

It could be just the usual 'victim fought back against monsters' but it could also be 'one of Lara's Nemesis Hunting Party found out something dirty about the doc and tried to get her for it.'
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Probably just a vampire out for lunch. If it was a white court op going after nemesis or something serious like that he wouldn't have come alone.

He could be one of Madrigal's, because he's a fuck up and actively working against the Ordo right now, but not something from anyone serious.
Klaus Wulfenback said:
Are we positive that this isn't a shapeshifter impersonating the dentist in order to get us into conflict with the white court? The dripping liquid shadows sounds vaguely like shapeshifter bodily fluids mentioned in the book about stealing Hades's stuff.
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Unlikely. We just saw her throw around magic, and last time we saw one of the naagloshi's students do that it was pretty distinctive.

If they did manage to set something up to ambush us this would sort of be a waste of their time. To pull this they'd need to be aware of where we were and our route home.

With that and some white court vampire they'd picked up why not intercept Rosie instead, feed her to the vamp at magical gunpoint, then state an escape that fits the profile of a white vamp and kill the cutout somewhere out of the way?

That'd piss us right off and without the crown, which they don't know about, setting up the crime scene to point at the white court would be a lot more feasible than trying their luck impersonating a minor talent directly in range of our senses.
uju32 said:
Linear sorcery's use in surprise combat depends on your chronicle and your use of the optional rules for making Path sorcery faster to cast and more powerful. Given the general tenor of the Dresden Files, I suspect most Path sorcery in this setting is running with all the options for power combat enabled.
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The foci stuff in this post would be a good answer for that.
Yog said:
[X] Plan political incident v3
-[X] Excellencies as appropriate and ATB with willpower to investigate the scene
-[X] Investigate the scene of the crime first
--[X] Check the whampire for identification
--[X] Have Clippy run a search for him, using facial recognition and ID, if you find any
--[X] Check with Thomas and, if he doesn't have anything, Isabela, to see if they know the whampire.
-[X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this
-[x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
--[X] Using the scene itself: For what reason has this attack occurred?
-[X] Call Detective Murphy, she might be able to help and you did promise to keep her up to date about supernatural dangers in the city
--[X] On her personal phone, and use metaphors to describe the situation
-[X] Helen and other Ordo members, asking them to get off the street and behind wards if possible, until you verify the situation has been handled
-[X] Call Lydia, she is the local expert on the dead, maybe the vampire's soul is still around to interogate
-[X] Call Lara, this is her people, she can help you dispose of the body and damn well explain this
--[X] After checking that she is not responsible for this attack

Ok, I think that's about enough? We might add BSM, but that seems excessive - we already have WHWH running. I am tempted to add (using the whampire's shoes) the question of "who did the owner of these shoes serve?" to check for Nemesis.
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For my part I think we shouldn't tell Murphy until the situation is handled. Bringing mortal authorities into things is seen as a nuclear option by the supernatural in most cases, and this is already sort of delicate. If she shows up this could get dicey.

We promised to keep her aware, and we should let her know when we can, but that isn't the same as wedging her into a situation before we're even sure what's going on.

If this is a vampire out to lunch it's routine problem that isn't dangerous anymore, if this leads us to learning out Madrigal's little genocide trial or some third white vamp game boiling over then it's a material different situation. Confusing hip fire reports are nearly as unhelpful as ones that come too late in their own way.

On Lara, I think it's worth adding something explicitly clarifying that while we didn't kill this guy if he'd been alive when we showed up we would have*. Further, that retaliation against the Ordo over this would result in a violently negative reaction.

We don't need to be super belligerent about it, but this diplomatic incident is coming from their side and we have lines to establish from the outset. I don't want her trying to roll over us just because one of her dudes fucked around and found out.

* I at least would have voted to make him the star of his own Mortal Kombat finisher just to make a point.
 
I doubt this Whampire was one from the Raith family, if only because stalking and attacking random victims in dark alleyways is so far outside their normal feeding MO. Would be a much better fit for someone from House Malvora, though I guess he could be like Madrigal who managed to switch their feeding method. That's supposed to be rare, however, so a Malvora remains the chief suspect, IMO.
 
Goldfish said:
I doubt this Whampire was one from the Raith family, if only because stalking and attacking random victims in dark alleyways is so far outside their normal feeding MO. Would be a much better fit for someone from House Malvora, though I guess he could be like Madrigal who managed to switch their feeding method. That's supposed to be rare, however, so a Malvora remains the chief suspect, IMO.
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Or they were just crazy. I wouldn't be surprised to find out this guy was in the same situation as our whamps were when we found them.
 
DragonParadox said:
Good night guys, see you in the morning with... some very urgent conversations in all sorts of places throughout Chicago.
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Yeah.
Someone's clever little plot was steaming along just fine before it ran into an iceberg. Theyve fucked around, they get to find out.

Yog said:
Yeah, when a random mugging turns into an incident between nuclear-equivalent powers, that's going to prompt a lot of conversations in a lot of places.
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BronzeTongue said:
Damn it.
We missed our opportunity to be the most comically over leveled random encounter in the city. :V
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Wasn't random.
This was a targeted hit. Someone is/was intentionally starting shit.

There's a lot easier targets to dine on on a cold November evening/night than a Cauldron-affiliated dentist that just briefly stepped out of her workplace.
Goldfish said:
I doubt this Whampire was one from the Raith family, if only because stalking and attacking random victims in dark alleyways is so far outside their normal feeding MO. Would be a much better fit for someone from House Malvora, though I guess he could be like Madrigal who managed to switch their feeding method. That's supposed to be rare, however, so a Malvora remains the chief suspect, IMO.
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You forget the Skavis.
I'm betting on this being a Skavis, with a small chance of it being a Malvora.

Specifically, I think this is "Priscellie".
The crossdressing Skavis heir Mouse killed in White Night.
BronzeTongue said:
The foci stuff in this post would be a good answer for that.
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Enchantment 1 allows you to make mentat stones as foci for linear sorcerers and psychics.
As soon as we train it, we're just gonna spam them like gumdrops.

But I think it's rather more than that here.

Lesser talents like Aristides and the Alphas and even Mortimer Linquist are entirely too effective for Dresden Files to be modelled just with foci. Especially since two of those Ive just named, the Alphas and Mortimer, dont actually use foci of any sort.

BronzeTongue said:
Probably just a vampire out for lunch. If it was a white court op going after nemesis or something serious like that he wouldn't have come alone.
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Nope.
For one thing, the streetlights are on. In November.That makes it after dark, well after lunch time. For another, her collar is torn, and she said the Whamp tried to force her to go somewhere. So this was a snatch; a dine and dash wouldnt even have required physical contact.


For one human target? Why?
It's one human lesser talent and the Whampire gets the advantage of surprise. When the White Night plotters went after Cauldron in canon, the Whampires all acted alone except when they attacked Thomas's boat, which was when Madrigal brought a posse of ghouls. At most the vic here has a getaway car with an accomplice behind the wheel.

And the more ppl involved, the greater the risk of a leak.
BronzeTongue said:
If this is a vampire out to lunch it's routine problem that isn't dangerous anymore, if this leads us to learning out Madrigal's little genocide trial or some third white vamp game boiling over then it's a material different situation. Confusing hip fire reports are nearly as unhelpful as ones that come too late in their own way.
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This was a targeted hit. Let me explain.

Chicago has 2.3 to 3 million ppl, two thirds of whom are adults. That makes for 1.6 to 2 million adults. The chances of a random encounter are pretty low.

Now look at the circumstances.
Dr Jackson is wearing her whites, which means she is within walking distance of her workplace; doctors don't wear lab coats very far from work. Either walking to or from her car, or went out to grab some food near her workplace.

It's Thur November 9.
Sunset is around 4.30pm. And according to the update the streetlights are on and the shadows visible so it's well after dark. Dr Jackson wouldn't just have been loitering outside, so this required very tight timing.

And because it's late, any hungry vampire would be lurking for victims outside the local nightspots or near the storea, where people congregate at this time. Not near a dentists workplace, in an area where she would be known and able to summon assistance from passersby.

You only do that when you're going after a particular target.

=====
My current impression is that she was scouted and specifically ambushed at this location. The person who did it knows who she is, and was aware of her habits and affiliations. Very good odds there is a car or van nearby to move her.

It just happens that because her Talent is, and I quote, "Something she has no use for in real life" so noones seen it at max power, and our wannabe hit man had no reason to suspect she was a Level 5/6 adept in Shadowmancy.
And she rolled very well to boot. Cue surprise neck massage.

It might even be that shes never needed to push herself that hard before and didn't know she could. Or that she just leveled up on the spot when attacked, and was Level 3-4 Shadowmancy 10 minutes ago.


Basically, I think this is the beginning of Priscellie's serial murder campaign in canon which served most of the basis for the plot in White Night. It is currently November 2006, while White Night happened in May 2007 in canon, but I assume Madeline's death(we still don't know who killed her) has accelerated the political schemes that the murders were meant to support, because the other two major Whamp Houses think they scent weakness and an opportunity to overthrow the Raiths.

That and/or Madrigal accelerating plans to keep Lara off his back and save his own hide.
Plus revenge for his sister. Maybe.
 
@Yog
One more suggestion that should make things easier. Just occurred to me:

===
[]Search the body for the victim's wallet, ID and cellphone
[]HMP the cellphone for details of the phone number, contact list, call history, emails and texts, location history(if available) and any other data.


===
Always look for the cellphone.
If we need to give the cellphone to Lara, we can try to recall our Cyberdevils.
 
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Earth-Destroyer said:
Their are a dozen better ways to kick off a large scale mass murder spree then this. And that is not counting all the options magic brings.
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This is CANONICALLY what happened.
Single whampires ambushing and murdering solitary female practitioners.

And the point was demonstrating that such a plot could be carried out covertly, without drawing attention from most humans or the White Council.
Given the shit wizards can pull in retaliation, thats kinda important. The Blackstaff just dropped a satellite on the last vampire warlord who irritated him.

Artemis1992 said:
Madrigal is an idiot?

I mean, the one-by-one murders through singular Whampires was how that serial killing worked in canon I believe.
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Yes he's an idiot.

To be fair, it wasnt Madrigals idea.
It was "Priscellie" and his father Duke Skavis, which was then coopted by Vittorio Malvora(and the Black Council) and his mother Lady Malvora.

Madrigal is a pawn.
Odds are he was promised a role as figurehead King or vizier in Lara's place.
 
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jun 15, 2023 at 1:37 AM, finished with 68 posts and 14 votes.
  • [X] Plan political incident v3
    -[X] Excellencies as appropriate and ATB with willpower to investigate the scene
    -[X] Investigate the scene of the crime first
    --[X] Check the whampire for identification, and cellphone
    --[X] Have Clippy run a search for him, using facial recognition and ID, if you find any
    --[X] Check with Thomas and, if he doesn't have anything, Isabela, to see if they know the whampire.
    -[X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this
    -[x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
    --[X] Using the scene itself: For what reason has this attack occurred?
    -[X] Call Detective Murphy, she might be able to help and you did promise to keep her up to date about supernatural dangers in the city
    --[X] On her personal phone, and use metaphors to describe the situation
    -[X] Helen and other Ordo members, asking them to get off the street and behind wards if possible, until you verify the situation has been handled
    -[X] Call Lydia, she is the local expert on the dead, maybe the vampire's soul is still around to interogate
    -[X] Call Lara, this is her people, she can help you dispose of the body and damn well explain this
    --[X] After checking that she is not responsible for this attack
    [X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this
    [X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this
    -[x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
    --[x] In who's interests was this attack which is a vague way of saying who was this guy working for, but I am also trying to include the possibility of him being manipulated into the attack somehow or being an unwitting dupe.
    [X] Call Lydia, she is the local expert on the dead, maybe the vampire's soul is still around to interogate
    -[x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
    --[x] In who's interests was this attack which is a vague way of saying who was this guy working for, but I am also trying to include the possibility of him being manipulated into the attack somehow or being an unwitting dupe.
    [X] Call Detective Murphy, she might be able to help and you did promise to keep her up to date about supernatural dangers in the city
    [X] Plan political incident
    -[X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this
    --[X] Excellencies as appropriate and ATB with willpower to investigate the scene
    --[x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
    ---[X] For what reason has this attack occurred?
    -[X] Call Detective Murphy, she might be able to help and you did promise to keep her up to date about supernatural dangers in the city
    --[X] On her personal phone, and use metaphors to describe the situation
    ---[X] When she gets here, offer to destroy the body
    -[X] Helen and other Ordo members, asking them to get off the street and behind wards if possible, until you verify the situation has been handled
    -[X] Call Lydia, she is the local expert on the dead, maybe the vampire's soul is still around to interogate
    -[X] Call Lara, this is her people, she can help you dispose of the body and damn well explain this
    [x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
    -[x] Event all reasons behind what transpired here.
    -[x] Body all secrets know to the vampire.
    [X] Plan political incident v2
    -[X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this
    --[X] Excellencies as appropriate and ATB with willpower to investigate the scene
    --[x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
    ---[X] For what reason has this attack occurred?
    -[X] Call Detective Murphy, she might be able to help and you did promise to keep her up to date about supernatural dangers in the city
    --[X] On her personal phone, and use metaphors to describe the situation
    ---[X] When she gets here, offer to destroy the body
    -[X] Helen and other Ordo members, asking them to get off the street and behind wards if possible, until you verify the situation has been handled
    -[X] Call Lydia, she is the local expert on the dead, maybe the vampire's soul is still around to interogate
Click to expand...
 
uju32 said:
If we need to give the cellphone to Lara, we can try to recall our Cyberdevils.
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I'm not sure we can? The other suggestion is ok, that's reasonable, and edited that in, but I'm not sure we can, in fact, recall, cyberdevils at will. Charm text doesn't allow for voluntary dismissal. So it would take our Exorcism ritual to get rid of them. We could HMP the phone when Lara gets here - she almost certainly already knows of our capability through elder Skavis, who saw us using cyberdevils, and with whom she likely talked.
BronzeTongue said:
For my part I think we shouldn't tell Murphy until the situation is handled. Bringing mortal authorities into things is seen as a nuclear option by the supernatural in most cases, and this is already sort of delicate. If she shows up this could get dicey.

We promised to keep her aware, and we should let her know when we can, but that isn't the same as wedging her into a situation before we're even sure what's going on.
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Whampires are close enough to being human that this guy almost certainly had USA citizenship. This is, genuinely, Murphy's official business, in my opinion. It's a case of a self-defense homicide. Yes, it was done by means that mean there will be no court hearing, but I think Murphy should be here to at least voice an opinion.

BronzeTongue said:
On Lara, I think it's worth adding something explicitly clarifying that while we didn't kill this guy if he'd been alive when we showed up we would have*. Further, that retaliation against the Ordo over this would result in a violently negative reaction.

We don't need to be super belligerent about it, but this diplomatic incident is coming from their side and we have lines to establish from the outset. I don't want her trying to roll over us just because one of her dudes fucked around and found out.

* I at least would have voted to make him the star of his own Mortal Kombat finisher just to make a point.
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That's true, but a matter of the next vote, I feel. We do need to establish our credentials in the whole "mutual non-agresssion pact" and stake the claim on ordo members.
 
Winning Vote
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jun 15, 2023 at 1:37 AM, finished with 68 posts and 14 votes.
  • [X] Plan political incident v3
    -[X] Excellencies as appropriate and ATB with willpower to investigate the scene
    -[X] Investigate the scene of the crime first
    --[X] Check the whampire for identification, and cellphone
    --[X] Have Clippy run a search for him, using facial recognition and ID, if you find any
    --[X] Check with Thomas and, if he doesn't have anything, Isabela, to see if they know the whampire.
    -[X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this
    -[x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
    --[X] Using the scene itself: For what reason has this attack occurred?
    -[X] Call Detective Murphy, she might be able to help and you did promise to keep her up to date about supernatural dangers in the city
    --[X] On her personal phone, and use metaphors to describe the situation
    -[X] Helen and other Ordo members, asking them to get off the street and behind wards if possible, until you verify the situation has been handled
    -[X] Call Lydia, she is the local expert on the dead, maybe the vampire's soul is still around to interogate
    -[X] Call Lara, this is her people, she can help you dispose of the body and damn well explain this
    --[X] After checking that she is not responsible for this attack
    [X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this
    [X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this
    -[x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
    --[x] In who's interests was this attack which is a vague way of saying who was this guy working for, but I am also trying to include the possibility of him being manipulated into the attack somehow or being an unwitting dupe.
    [X] Call Lydia, she is the local expert on the dead, maybe the vampire's soul is still around to interogate
    -[x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
    --[x] In who's interests was this attack which is a vague way of saying who was this guy working for, but I am also trying to include the possibility of him being manipulated into the attack somehow or being an unwitting dupe.
    [X] Call Detective Murphy, she might be able to help and you did promise to keep her up to date about supernatural dangers in the city
    [X] Plan political incident
    -[X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this
    --[X] Excellencies as appropriate and ATB with willpower to investigate the scene
    --[x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
    ---[X] For what reason has this attack occurred?
    -[X] Call Detective Murphy, she might be able to help and you did promise to keep her up to date about supernatural dangers in the city
    --[X] On her personal phone, and use metaphors to describe the situation
    ---[X] When she gets here, offer to destroy the body
    -[X] Helen and other Ordo members, asking them to get off the street and behind wards if possible, until you verify the situation has been handled
    -[X] Call Lydia, she is the local expert on the dead, maybe the vampire's soul is still around to interogate
    -[X] Call Lara, this is her people, she can help you dispose of the body and damn well explain this
    [x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
    -[x] Event all reasons behind what transpired here.
    -[x] Body all secrets know to the vampire.
    [X] Plan political incident v2
    -[X] Try to question Dr Jackson some more before you involve anyone else in this
    --[X] Excellencies as appropriate and ATB with willpower to investigate the scene
    --[x] Use your crown to ask one or more questions of the scene
    ---[X] For what reason has this attack occurred?
    -[X] Call Detective Murphy, she might be able to help and you did promise to keep her up to date about supernatural dangers in the city
    --[X] On her personal phone, and use metaphors to describe the situation
    ---[X] When she gets here, offer to destroy the body
    -[X] Helen and other Ordo members, asking them to get off the street and behind wards if possible, until you verify the situation has been handled
    -[X] Call Lydia, she is the local expert on the dead, maybe the vampire's soul is still around to interogate
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Arc 8 Post 6: Marks of Hateful Purpose
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    • Marks of Hateful Purpose ​

    9th of November 2006 A.D.

    "Stay in the car, please," you say to the still dazed looking woman in the backseat. Most people do not react to sudden violence the way you... No this isn't even a weird green fire thing, more like a Carpenter thing. Most people don't get monthly drills for running to the safe room from the time they are six or what Daniel humorously calls the 'brain the cultist with a pipe' speech when they are in fifth grade, that being the example mom uses to explain when it's acceptable to use lethal force to get out of trouble and let God handle what comes next.

    Lost 1 Willpower (ATB) -> Now at 8/9

    Doing a sweep of the alleyway it looks no different than at first glance, dingy, dark and just the kind of place one would expect a mugging to take place in... which is probably what the vampire was trying to feign. He looks way too healthy and his clothes to clean to be at the end of his rope, you know what a white court vampire at the end of their rope looks like. Wallet, no ID... Handgun of the shinny and silver variety, you are not a gun person... there phone, thank God for Nokia. You pluck that out telekinetically and put it on the dashboard. Speaking of phones...

    "Clippy I want a image search of this face and put a image of it on a third party host. Cover your tracks."

    "Inputs clear. Processing."

    Tapping the phones together you draw forth another sentient array from the poisoned data-streams of the Wicked City. It won't linger long before sinking back into the protection of your anima but that's fine by you. Alas the answers are not what one might have hoped, all the settings are factory standard and if does not even have any calls, just a handful of messages confirming the time and place of 'EJ' and the... location of the getaway car. Eyes darting across the street you see nothing, they had bailed. But there is one weird question in there asked of whoever is on the other end:

    "Weights n rope?
    Gotem"

    Affronts of decent spelling aside you can well imagine why someone planning a kidnapping would need ropes, assuming they did not trust their powers to keep the prisoner compliant, but weights?

    Lost 1 Essence -> now at 12/15 (HMP)

    Closing the trunk, still keeping your hands clear of everything you get back in the driver's seat and take one last look around the alley: For what reason has this attack occurred? The answer comes fractured, yet one in its essence, like the rattling links of a chain: Ambition... Demonstration... Culling the population of mortal magicians.

    Dear God...     Your stomach roils as much at the second part as the third, this had been not just an attempted murder, but proof of concept in murder.

    "Single Group photograph found with 76.6% chance of depicting the target," Clippy speaks into your ear before you can get your thoughts in order. "Highschool graduation picture originally from 1972" On the one hand that's a very impressive demonstration of how deep your electronic friends can dig, but you do not think you will be going to... What is that? Columbus Ohio to ask some guy about his old high school classmates. Alas neither Thomas nor Isabela know the dead vampire, though both of them offer to show up as backup. More vampires probably would not help the poor doctor so you shoot that down.

    "I know this is... a lot, but can you tell me what happened there, in as much detail as you can?" you ask as you 'start driving', by which you mean signal to Black Rider that you want to get out of here with the pedals. No reason to alarm the poor woman anymore than she already is.

    Dr Jackson explains that she felt someone was following her as she was coming back from the pharmacy, something even those with a touch of magic learned to trust and she clearly had more than a touch. Spooked she had tried to pull the shadows to her to hide, but the vampire had been waiting in the alley.

    "Said he'd protect me," she spits. "When I said I didn't need any protecting from the likes of him he tried to take my mind, he was clumsy with it. I... panicked, hit him with everything I have. What the wizards call evocation I hear, like the..." she waves her hands around to indicate your telekinetic. "For me its like shadows that break things. I never could get it to do any kind of fine manipulation for all I tried."

    "Protect you from what? A prickle at the back of your neck?" you ask frowning.

    "I've been getting these letters, more strange than threatening at first, Bible verses." She stops and visibly collects herself, though she can't quite bring herself to relax into the soft leather of the backseat. "Then last night someone killed a cat and marked our backdoor with a cross in blood and the last letter... well it wasn't subtle: 'If you would obtain Absolution for thy Sins like the man from Bern, freely lay bare all that thy knows of witchcraft, for though you have but death to expect you may yet be spared the flames of hell.' and there was a picture of an ant someone had clipped out of a magazine under if for some damned reason. "

    'Witch hunters...' After silently vowing that if you ever get a working time machine you will go back and scare King James' translators straight you quickly start calling the rest of the Ordo with the news, starting with Helen and Anna. As Clippy flashes Detective Murphy's number on the screen you hesitate. Essence fills you bringing with it the right words, the right tone, the right way to tilt your head:

    "I know a woman in the CPD, she's a lieutenant now for Special Investigations, which is what they call the place they throw all the monster sightings to be papered over. I think we should call her to get ahead of any issues. Obviously neither of us have anything to do with the, you know the thing in the back since we didn't touch it, but it's best to make that clear." You give a laugh feigning nervousness under bravado. "There I go sounding like a mob boss, but what can you do? It's the world we live in."

    "Sure, sure that sounds good," she says. "If you know she's alright."

    Unsurprisingly Detective Murphy wants to talk in person, having gotten across loud and clear that this isn't something you chat about over the phone.

    It does not take supernatural perception to realize Dr Jackson is caught between not wanting to recount the attack again to law enforcement and not wanting to leave a kid, even one scarily good with magic, with a body in the trunk to explain to said cop.

    What do you do?

    [] Reassure her that you will deal with this, drive her home before calling Murphy
    -[] Write in how you present your findings so far to Detective Murphy

    [] Stick together for now, she no doubt has decent wards, but you are better protection than any ward could ever be
    -[] Write in how you present your findings so far to Detective Murphy

    [] Write in

    OOC: Had to stop for a vote here since there is no way Murphy would not want to meet when you started talking in coded language over the phone.
     
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