COMMENTARY
Going to point out that Harry was there when Michael beheaded Ursiel's bearer. When Michael stabbed one of Nicky's minions to death. And has himself been responsible for the deaths of Quintus Cassius and the first death of the Corpsetaker.
All humans. I assume his chivalry is just acting up.
Honestly not sure what the intent here is supposed to be.
The cultists had no way of knowing Molly would be here at this time, so all this prepwork, with the observer and the camera, would have been to record the shooting of Liz. They set up a second person to record one of their own guys committing a murder?
Why?
I mean, fanatics often arent rational, but this is dumb even for them.
Of course, the potential of Whampire mind magic in the mix complicates stuff, because we dont know how much here is free will and how much wololo is in play.
On the bright side, the fact that this dude, acting under the aegis of his Whampire handlers, pointed a sniper rifle at a party including an Infernal, a Warden regional commander and the son of the White King gives us undisputable casus belli against his handlers.
People might have tried to quibble about the Cauldron members, but they sure as hell cant quibble about this.
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So, not a complete amateur.
Anyone who's watched a crime TV show knows about gloves and fingerprints.
All it tells us is that this was a premeditated action, because he came prepared with gloves beforehand.
And given that this is November, he might have just been wearing gloves for the weather.
... An unpopular decision, but... Delay kingdom by one more turn. Buy splintered gale incarnation. Get out of AP hell.
Speaking as an advocate of Splintered Gale Incarnation?
I dont really expect it to get rid of AP hell, because thats a feature of questing, just to improve our flexibility and firepower.
Involving the cops will only make our job more difficult. If Murphy even learns of this event we can explain this fact to her. The police are fucking useless against the supernatural in fact sometimes they are actively detrimental because they don't know of the danger. That mortal sniper is working with the Whampires who would have no issue at all breaking into a police station to kill someone with a mortal protection detail.
The thread consensus voted to keep Murphy in the loop.
I didnt think it was a good idea, but that was the thread consensus, and we gave our word on that basis.
So we need to honor our commitment somehow.
The follow-up question is "how much of a connection to the supernatural you need to be insulated from the law?". Because ants of god aren't a cartel. They are a local street gang. Winter Court is North Korea, White Court is a Mexican cartel / mafia, but ants of god are a local minor gang preying on a local neighborhood association. Do they also get immunity from the law? Do we want them to have it?
They arent a local street gang, they are a Whampire catspaw.
That rather changes the context of events. If we didnt know what they were, dumping them on the cops would be fine.
Now that we do....
Potential consideration: The Sniper's Gun.
It's potentially useful battlefield loot to give our minions?
Edit: Or did we make it unsalvageably unfunctional? I forget.
Its a weapon belonging to someone who was prepared to commit premeditated murder of a civilian.
There's good chance its previously been used in the commission of a crime.
Never steal and keep weapons from known criminals, lest you unwittingly incriminate yourself.
Molly will take it, I mean if nothing else leaving it on the ground would be evidence and she does not want any of that at the scene of the
force choking friendly hug
Going to point out that this is America, land of the NRA. Now that Molly is 18, she can legally cross the border into Wisconsin or Indiana and buy an AR15 assault rifle or some boutique sniper rifle over the counter without issue. Same day.
She could even buy it in Illnois as well, but it will take longer because she doesnt have an FOID card yet.
It wont cost her more than $600 or so for a basic AR-pattern assault rifle, and less than $2k for a high quality rifle.
And thats without just building her own.
She isnt doing it because she doesnt need it, and because it reduces her legal exposure.
COMMENTARY
Sniper dude is in his twenties, camera guy in his fifties.
The disparity in ages makes it unlikely they were part of an organic friend group.
We need to look for something else in common. Job, church, family, military unit.
Their having been fed on before increases the likelihood they are both under a geas of some sort.
Madeline Raith did it to a lawyer in Turn Coat, and Lara did it to the lesser skinwalker, so I would assume its possible their vampire handlers have done so here.
In particular, Camera Guy's attempt to commit suicide rather than risk capture screams of an implanted command.
Dresden could soulgaze them to check, but I wouldnt ask that of him. And I dont know if Thomas can do so.
Molly should be able to tell if she spins up Hellscry Chakra; domination/compulsion magic will show up in their aura.
That means we need to use Empathy to get around whatever commands are in their head.
As opposed to Intimidation, because they might be straight up unable to obey.
OOC: Rolling for this was a mess. I initially treated your strength for the purposes of keeping the guy in place as 7 (the successes you rolled for mind hand) and thanks to some skewed rolls you got the situation above, but then I did it again with the proper 8 (Your temporary willpower) and it went a lot worse so I'm just keeping the first set of rolls. I did accidentally give you guys an extra damage dice on the last turn because I added up your temp willpower as the full 9 and not the 8 it should have been after you paid ATB from it so it balances out
No harm done, but you did the rolls wrong:
With 3+ successes, the Infernal can "fly" by moving herself around telekinetically. She may also grapple or strike her opponents using telekinesis, using a dice pool of Intelligence + (lower of Occult and Brawl or Melee). These attacks inflict bashing damage, and the Infernal's Temporary Willpower acts as her effective Strength value.
Normal grapple rolls are Str + Brawl vs Str + Brawl.
Only here, MHM substitues with Int + Brawl/Occult/Melee, whichever is lowest.
That opposed roll would have been Molly(Intelligence 4 + Occult 5 + Occult Excellency 9 at DC6 - BSM 1) vs Camera Guy(Str + Brawl at DC6). Since you chose to use the results of the original roll, it would be Molly(7 successes) vs Camera Guy(??sux)
Molly would have won those rolloffs pretty handily.
