[X] Kill Hank as efficiently as you can, the world is a better place without his madness and you need to get back home
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
The Winter Court would pay attention that Molly has to be bound to explicit agreements, as will the White Council and Cauldron.
Brother D and the Shih make this sort of agreement with Jade Court vampires.
And every other antagonist we meet on the field will go into full spite mode over surrendering or letting themselves be captured by Molly. So the next time you have people like Cauldron or our friends being held by minions or mooks, they will NOT surrender.
They will not talk. They will try to damage us, our friends or or our interests rather than just die.
You basically sign the death warrant of future people for the sake of a little spite today.
Hell, if this guy is strong enough to death curse and sends it at Izzy and Alec instead of Molly in order to spite both Molly and Broken Seeker, we start to see effects early.
Michael refused to kill Quintus Cassius, a centuries old Denarian who surrendered in bad faith.
And wouldnt let Dresden do it either. Fucking hell, SANYA the Knight of the Cross used to be a Denarian and spent years committing atrocities with a Fallen whispering in his ear and a female Denarian by his side. He walked away.
The idea that Michael would approve is not credible.
EDIT
I will point out that by the rules of the White Council, Molly herself would have been executed and buried in a shallow grave five months ago for using mental magic on people. And they certainly wouldnt have had any compunction killing our ghouls if a Warden team had run into them a couple months ago; ex-Red Court servitors with a taste for human flesh get all the fire.
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I understand the ethical dilemma can be answered differently, although I am firmly on the side of sparing the captured man (who told us about an ambush), but I urge people who are voting for the execution to add some exit strategy. The exit of the current Way is under enemy control.
- Location
- oslo
Hi, kinda new to quests, and just started reading this and love it, but is there a easy way to check what people voted for? Still in arc 1, but would be awesome to check votes before reading a chapter. Takes a while to browse thread each time i want to find out 
Thx!
Thx!There is usually a post immediately before the update with the vote tally.Hi, kinda new to quests, and just started reading this and love it, but is there a easy way to check what people voted for? Still in arc 1, but would be awesome to check votes before reading a chapter. Takes a while to browse thread each time i want to find out
Also worth pointing out:
Trying to kill this guy by getting into arms reach, if he's as dangerous as the proponents of killing him are saying, means that we have to expend extra Essence, both on a Melee Excellency and on bringing up our armor. Just so we dont fuck up and eat unnecessary damage that requires spending time to heal.
Essence we are better off saving to actually fight his ex-boss.
Trying to kill this guy by getting into arms reach, if he's as dangerous as the proponents of killing him are saying, means that we have to expend extra Essence, both on a Melee Excellency and on bringing up our armor. Just so we dont fuck up and eat unnecessary damage that requires spending time to heal.
Essence we are better off saving to actually fight his ex-boss.
MHM is still active, so we can just throttle him to death.
According to Molly in the latest update, she doesnt think that would be enough.
I quote:
You can but he heals very damn fast so if you did not get him to dead in one round he would come at you again. safer to use your sword.
She thinks it might not be enough, which is different.
And if it isn't, she can do something like pick up a boulder and beat him to death with it, splattering it's body around the boulder so it's very hard for him to reassemble himself.
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We can only take one attack action in a combat turn without extra action charms, and holding him while hauling a boulder is two actions. If I understand the rules correctly, we would have to free him before grabbing a boulder to hit him with.
And thats assuming there's a boulder or similar here in the NeverNever.
Plus, Garou regen shenanigans against lethal and bashing damage.
He's not a fomori, that isn't what the Naagloshii did to him. He "just" taught him his style of magic. Our investigation would have mentioned something like possession.
Lash is a different case. For one she's more of Lasciel's daughter than the fallen herself, and for another she isn't an active threat right this minute.
How evil this guy is isn't as relevant as our current situation.
This happened with Thomas in canon. That Naagoloshii tortured him anyway under similar circumstances. It probably won't do anything permanent to anyone it thinks we care deeply about, but that doesn't mean it'll leave them untouched.
In any case we want to stop this as early as possible, which means we don't have time to waste screwing around. Remember when we decided to act like the Will of Kakuri would wait for us to finish all the prep we wanted and then it immediately screwed us over?
You're doing the same thing but spending the time on something that doesn't help.
He's been studying us too, so don't expect Broken Seeker to make the same mistakes any of our prior opponents have.
The kidnapping operation is already underway, this is all hands on deck, and a phone call is highly unlikely to substitute for our presence.
Doubling back and negotiating costs us time, not counting the second trip back, by the time we're back things will already be over.
This guy isn't worth ten minutes, let alone all the time and effort we'd be spending when we need them for the people he was actively involved in hurting.
Especially since we have zero reason to believe he's actually subdued right now and won't make another play during transit, or as early as the next time we let go of him.
His soldiers aren't wizards, and there isn't s quick and dirty field solution to holding a pissed off skinwalker. Not one that lasts terribly long anyway.
The job he pays them for is being mercs; they shoot guys like Hank, not arrest them.
I'd be very surprised if something that works by ruining the caster's concentration with pain actually worked that well on these guys. Dresden is the ideal candidate for those things, since he's pretty straightforward as a caster and still in the mid game as far as magical experience goes.
These guys aren't the same.
He kind of is yeah. Not totally detached from reality, but note the part where he made his threat and despite the immediate threat of retaliation for his death he still almost got attacked for it. He's been in these situations enough to know how running his mouth can go and does it to his own detriment anyway.
They are when you torture and kill people over it. Consenting adults having kinky sex aren't the same as how this guy interacts with the world.
We came at him with multiple charms already active and he threw enough dice at us to make a credible threat of harm.
Not needing to turn on the full kit we had up to kill a Walker doesn't mean he isn't dangerous.
Even the Geneva Convention, which is way stricter than any supernatural rules of warfare, requires explicit surrender or for the individual to be incapacitated before it counts.
This guy is armed, dangerous, and escaped our nonlethal containment attempt once already before making a credible attempt to seriously injure Molly. If you put Molly on trial for this in The Hague and she'd be acquitted.
What you do follows you, but the critical part of that is what exactly you did. Anyone holding this specific thing against us would just be looking for an excuse.
He's only a prisoner in the sense that a guy point a pistol at someone aiming an assault rifle at him is. He hasn't even dropped his war form, much less indicated he's done.
My point was that people use the advanced shit because a basic circle doesn't cut it once you start dealing with things of any real power.
Having the resources doesn't mean they used them in a particular way, or in a particular locality. Why would their secret armory have place to bottle up dangerous prisoners?
Every additional step or speed bump is a time cost when we're counting our budget in minutes.
Yzarc
The Spark of Madness
So based on a lot of feedback regarding the spell section, I have completely reworked them.
Now you still have to do a working to gain a spell but you now have much, MUCH more freedom in What you cast. The more effects you want, the more the difficulty raises.
The base difficulty is 6 and adding effects raises it to a max of 9. So 3 additional effects at the most.
I updated a bunch of stuff as well on how to become sorcerers and added more workings in the variable workings.
@BronzeTongue @DragonParadox tell me what you think of the updated system.
Now you still have to do a working to gain a spell but you now have much, MUCH more freedom in What you cast. The more effects you want, the more the difficulty raises.
The base difficulty is 6 and adding effects raises it to a max of 9. So 3 additional effects at the most.
I updated a bunch of stuff as well on how to become sorcerers and added more workings in the variable workings.
@BronzeTongue @DragonParadox tell me what you think of the updated system.
His soldiers dont have to be wizards to do this.
And no, the dude who is equipping his troops with heavy weapons is not going to neglect magical measures in this setting.
The Einherjar are out here humping infantry heavy weapons in the middle of Chicago, mortar tubes and light machineguns.
Are you seriously arguing they dont carry thorn manacles? Silver? Cold iron?
Even the Denarians carry magical restraints, and they are hardly the type to routinely take prisoners.
Nevermind in a base, where the actual heavy stuff can be deployed.
The pain is incidental.
Thorn manacles work by disrupting and diverting the magic being gathered by the magic worker, preventing them from getting the mojo to fuel any magical effects. We first see them used on Dresden in Death Masks.
In other words, it works in the cultural context he operates in, where bluff and threat display matter.
If it looks crazy but it works, maybe it isnt crazy.
Bloodsports arent that long ago in human history.
Western societies used to throw criminals and people from outgroups to wild animals as public entertainment, and at least some of the Native American tribes used to torture captives to death. It doesnt imply insanity, just a different cultural context.
Just like when the nobility of Europe, as late as Victorian England used to import and eat Egyptian mummies for "health reasons".
It didnt imply insanity either. Might cause it, if you eat someone with prion disease, but doesnt imply it
This guy may be evil, or may be adapting to the culture he's lived in for several decades.
We dont know.
Im not defending the naagloshii, who knows better, but other than WoG, we have no reason to assume this dude is unsalvageable.
And all the other reasons for not killing him continue to hold true.
From his being an intelligence windfall, to the precedents we set with the mooks of other factions.
Yes?
An Einherjar with an assault rifle or light machinegun on auto can manage much the same thing by the stated rules, and in that case we would have to actually activate armor charms.
Lots of things are dangerous, and can hurt you if they can hit you.
IF.
We have our magic hand around the guys neck and he's answering questions.
He's a prisoner.
Which counts as prisoner.
Again, we were interrogating him. As for his not dropping his warform, have we demanded that he do so?
Shagnasty canonically disrupted a soulfire-enhanced spell that was killing him with a basic circle.
Literally drawn in the dirt.
Its a skinwalker, not a true naagloshii.
Its powerful, but its not even in the same tier of threat as a White Council wizard, and basic circles can and will impede your Dresden-strength wizard in combat.
And the immortal soldiers of the All-Father are not going to be using basic, bottom-tier gear.
Because the legacy center, built during the Cold War, would have had facilities for doing this.
Why would their secret base have facilities for weapons platform fabrication here, instead of back home in either Iceland or Norway? Or a direct computer tap into the weapons specs of the US MIC?
Yet they all exist.
Odin has been doing this shit for centuries, and the Einherjar originate from a time when supernatural creatures were the norm, not the exception. They will have the training and the gear; Odin isnt cheap.
We've seen his HQ in canon.
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Setting aside how in this quest Lash is Lasciel's subsoul, she fully retains all hpof her creator's motivations. And yes, she's an active danger. Less overt, but far more dangerous.
Broadly speaking I really like the system, but the only thing I am worried about is how it is going to interact with the already complex Crafting mechanics.
Anyway Vote closed, end of the line for Hank... still probably kinder than being left as a prisoner of the White Court.
Yzarc
The Spark of Madness
My suggestion would be that you replace Holden's crafting system with Workings and call it a day. It is what we are doing for the game we are playing.
I would need to limit your spheres somehow or the Everything Wand happens. Also they would have to accumulate paradox faster.
Yzarc
The Spark of Madness
Huh. The craft mechanics we are using is, do some rolls and accumulate successes to make a blueprint. Then estimate how many resources are needed and go out and gather them or barter for them or kill for them. Then, once you gather the stuff, you do craft rolls and make your item.
We then do Workings to "enchant" them using the Sorcerer revised as a rough guide. Power is also capped by Circle.
Workings are also singular in effect. So to get a wand of everything, you need to do hundreds of workings to get it and not fail even one. This combined with the scarcity of Magical ingredients means we generally have to either save up them and hope they match for what we want to do or do an emergency working and hope the ingredient is not required later.
EDIT: Yeah, the working is based on the reagent. So spheres do not really apply.
To add more to it, the First Circle workings are more mundane utility and quality of life improvements, with generally few obvious magical effects.
Second Circle is where the more obvious magic starts but is capped by the need for Magic ingredients which are also required to be resonant with the working. We generally roll a D100 and 75 to 90+ are considered resonant when gathering for a Second Circle ingredient while the rest are not resonant and we store them away.
Third Circle are end game stuff but its all up to luck as getting 3 resonant magical material requires us to roll 90+ on the d100.
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Just don't give us access to spheres. All sphere related concepts must come from the regent. If we want to make something time related then time based symbolic regents are needed.
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It just the system i stole from scion 2e.
Arc 8 Post 48: An End in Blood and Bone
An End in Blood and Bone
18th of November 2006 A.D.
Plans fly though your mind like seabirds across the foam-crested ocean, you could carry him back to the workshop, you could carve him up and leave him to Piotr, you could pop over the veil and send out a phone call, but beneath it all the dark ocean stretches, every second you spend here your friends are in the grasp of a mad sadistic godling. A good person, your dad maybe, would value the life of the man before you more than the pain Izzy and Alec might suffer.
Turns out I am not that good. No sooner had the thought crossed your mind that Hank reads something in your eyes. Instead of the rage you had expected to see writ on his face there is a moment of focus, inward-twisting as, under your revolted gaze then his fur, his skin peels off with a loud slurp leaving the even more misshapen beastman crouching on the forest floor, chords a mismatched muscle bulging, skin a giant scab.
Hank Used Shed to Escape your Grapple
Without warcry, without word you lunge, sword raised high and burning hungry bright. You deal a blow that should have parted head from shoulders, but he scrambles back at the last moment just enough that the blow instead cuts though the thick muscle of his shoulder and down scraping along his side, sending shards of rib flying, still alight with poison flame.
A normal man, heck even those who are not men at all like the vampires of the Red Court would have been too lost to pain to stand, but Hank lunges one last time, one clawed hand outstretched jaws slavering wide. As you catch the blow and turn it on the guard of your sword you see yourself reflected in eyes no longer burning red, but filled with blood.
Hank uses Resist Pain to ignore the wound penalties from Crippled
"Go to Hell!" he spits as you turn the grip fully and drive it into his heart.
"I hope you don't," you sigh.
Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 12/15 (Melee Excellency)
The power seems to drain out of the body along with its heart-blood, leaving it still skinless, but recognizably human other than a collar of patchwork fur at his neck and a bone rattle around his left foot you realize is made of the hollow bones of hawks. After a moment's hesitation you take them both. Just leaving them on the body would basically be littering the woods with black magic, Usum has a point.
"I often do my lady," the demon preens just a little. "If you find his death a waste of a useful servant then avenge yourself and him upon the one who used him ill."
Instead of answering you just shake your head and sheathe him into the body to make sure the flames consume it utterly, you do not want to see it again puppeted by some opportunistic horror of the spirit world.
Gained Fetish of Fury and Fetish of Flight
In the hands of a lesser Skinwalker these items allow them to take on both fully animal and fearsome hybrid warform. Where the first is obviously designed for battle, mingling the most bloody aspects of many feared hunters the second only includes hawk bones and of a single species yet, obviously meant more for flight than for battle. These talismans might be cleansed or used in arcane workings related to The Wild, Hunger and Hatred
Racing back to the cartridge you explain the situation in as few words as you can, finding the Einherjar, to his credit as horrified and incensed at such treachery and willing to do all he can to help. Alas that does not include getting you to Chicago instantly, it is still thirty minutes by road, a third as much if you simply pick up the whole carriage and fly with it. He's more than a little bemused when you ask what's the fastest way to salt water from here, but he explain anyway. "A cave down that path and 'round the old barrow, spit thee times a the door and it will lead to what the Raven called the Mouth of Cold Fire once, though there's things made of frozen blood down there, not sure whose blood but I wish they had kept it in their veins for how dangerous they are."
What do you do next?
[] Continue on to Chicago (20 minutes flight)
[] Cross the veil here and send warning ahead using Piotr's Satellite Phone
[] Take the fastest route to the ocean (8 minutes flight; will involve a dangerous passage to a deserted island in the Antarctic Ocean)
[] Write in
OOC: I know this is short, but it occurred to me that a lot of people might not have read the discussion last night about where you can get into the real world from here and even those that had would be focusing more on the 'to kill or not to kill' vote.
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