Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
If she is to stuck up on her carrier to save tennagers from a cannibal torturer. Then i don't really see her as an ally.
That's true, but seen from this perspective, what we are making would be nowhere close to the glory of an exaltation. Capable od fighting an exalt, but not capable of growth, and not holding any perfect effects.
- Location
- Who knows?
Also wait how massive is this van? 6 people, a super wolf and 6 birds of prey (also not small). This is sardine level packing in like a typical contractor van.
- Location
- Canada
Clearly, the Man Upstairs is aware of our circumstances and wants us to know who He's rooting for
You do, meaningful messages and such, they are after all your friends, but it is worth considering if you want to use the mores
To an extent, but it is worth keeping in mind that they can just move on to the next busy part of the city, unless you would like to have SI stop the van which would not go well
He's probably not planning to move until he talks with us unless he thinks we're up to something or it takes too long to reach us.
The whole point of this was to get us out of the way. If we don't know about the hostages before we're in his face Broken Seeker's risk profile goes up considerably.
He'd still pull the trigger if he had too, but the effort out in so far implies heavy emphasis on not wanting to fight Molly yet if at all.
It's not perfectly the same, but it's uncomfortably close. Guess we'll have to agree to disagree.
My more practical advice would be to swap some of the emanation's flaws out for geas. For spirits will and nature are one in DF, so this could reflect that fluff wise and reinforce the loyalty merit with some permanent teeth.
Incidentally to all of this, I want to know who sent this thing to town. It's probably a red court hit on Harry, but I want to put a name on our list and harvest their sub faction for prodigy fodder.
I happen to agree with Yzarc.
The one unmitigated good thing I will admit to in the Exalted 3E core sourcebook is the way they handled sorcery, and specifically Sorcerous Workings. Your spheres problem is specifically addressed by how they address Means and time:
Means
The Means of a sorcerous working are the resources that a sorcerer has available to put to use
beyond the baseline of her own sorcerous power. Means can take many forms, but all of them
have the same benefit—adding to the working's terminus. Multiple Means stack their benefit,
and it is intended that more ambitious workings will require the extra rolls from these to succeed.
A sorcerous working with no Means has a terminus of 5 rolls.
Common Means include:
• Complementary Abilities: A sorcerer who's mastered an Ability that naturally lends itself to
the sorcerous working she's undertaking may claim that as one of her Means, allowing her to
make one additional roll. Examples include using Medicine for a sorcerous working intended to
create a new form of organism, or Performance for a working to fill the air around her home with
songs which befuddle those who approach uninvited. In order to claim this benefit, the sorcerer
must have a rating of 5 in the complementary Ability, or a rating of 3+ along with an appropriate
specialty. At the Storyteller's discretion, a sorcerer who's invested in a significant number of
Charms or other supernatural powers that are either based on or enhance the complementary
Ability may instead receive an additional two intervals from that Ability.
• Complementary Spells: A sorcerer may claim one of her known spells as a Means if its
function is related to the working she is trying to perform, allowing her to make one additional
roll. A sorcerer attempting to breed a species of obsidian butterflies would obviously benefit
from knowing Death of Obsidian Butterflies, while one attempting to create a rift through which
demons can possess mortal cultists could claim benefits from knowing the spell to summon
demons of the same circle as those brought through the rift.
• Cooperation: The assistance of another sorcerer initiated into the Circle of the working allows
for one additional roll. Alternatively, the sorcerer could receive assistance from a supernatural
entity who, while not a sorcerer, possesses powers that naturally lend themselves to the
completion of the working—a sorcerer trying to revive a dry riverbed might seek the assistance
of a river god or water elemental, while one attempting to open a portal into the Underworld
might seek help from an Abyssal Exalt. As a third alternative, a character might use a group of
characters who are not sorcerers, but are well-versed in Occult, such as an infernal cult or a
Heptagram class. Each of these alternatives can add one roll, but they don't stack with each
other. In theory, a sorcerer who had access to a large organization of fellow sorcerers initiated
into the Circle of the working could add two additional rolls from this Means, but such organized
networks are few and far between in the current, fallen era.
• Extra Time: A sorcerer willing to invest months or even years of preparation, research, and
diligent practice into a sorcerous working may claim that extra time as one of her Means.
Extending the interval of the roll from one week to one month allows the sorcerer to make one
additional roll, while extending the interval to one cycle (three months) allows for two additional
rolls. A sorcerer could receive three additional rolls by extending the interval to one year, but
only the most dedicated of sorcerers are willing to retire from the world for that long.
• Exotic Components: Esoteric or rare materials that the sorcerer has accumulated over the
course of the story may be consumed in the process of a working to count as a Means, allowing
the sorcerer to make one additional roll. What counts for this category is left largely to the
Storyteller's discretion, as he will generally be the one introducing these exotic components into
the game. The severed head of a Wyld behemoth, carved with glyphs of abjuration and displayed
prominently from the walls of a city, might aid in warding that city against the influence of the
Wyld, while an orichalcum lantern lit with a tongue of sunfire found in a First Age ruin could be
used as part of a working to purify a shadowland. At the Storyteller's discretion, exceptionally
rare or powerful components, such as the withered corpus-fragments of a slain Deathlord, can
add two additional rolls to an appropriate working
• Sorcerous Infrastructure: Sorcerous laboratories or ritual chambers stocked with esoteric
texts, occult reagents, and other tools of the sorcerer's trade add one additional roll to a sorcerous
working. It is no easy thing to assemble such infrastructure—even among the opulence of the
Realm, most sorcerers must make do with basic, rudimentary study chambers tucked away in the
far wing of a family manse. For a newly-Exalted sorcerer to assemble her own sorcerous
infrastructure would be an adventure in itself. Sorcerous infrastructure from the First Age could
provide two additional rolls to a working, if repaired and restored to full functionality.
The Means of a sorcerous working are the resources that a sorcerer has available to put to use
beyond the baseline of her own sorcerous power. Means can take many forms, but all of them
have the same benefit—adding to the working's terminus. Multiple Means stack their benefit,
and it is intended that more ambitious workings will require the extra rolls from these to succeed.
A sorcerous working with no Means has a terminus of 5 rolls.
Common Means include:
• Complementary Abilities: A sorcerer who's mastered an Ability that naturally lends itself to
the sorcerous working she's undertaking may claim that as one of her Means, allowing her to
make one additional roll. Examples include using Medicine for a sorcerous working intended to
create a new form of organism, or Performance for a working to fill the air around her home with
songs which befuddle those who approach uninvited. In order to claim this benefit, the sorcerer
must have a rating of 5 in the complementary Ability, or a rating of 3+ along with an appropriate
specialty. At the Storyteller's discretion, a sorcerer who's invested in a significant number of
Charms or other supernatural powers that are either based on or enhance the complementary
Ability may instead receive an additional two intervals from that Ability.
• Complementary Spells: A sorcerer may claim one of her known spells as a Means if its
function is related to the working she is trying to perform, allowing her to make one additional
roll. A sorcerer attempting to breed a species of obsidian butterflies would obviously benefit
from knowing Death of Obsidian Butterflies, while one attempting to create a rift through which
demons can possess mortal cultists could claim benefits from knowing the spell to summon
demons of the same circle as those brought through the rift.
• Cooperation: The assistance of another sorcerer initiated into the Circle of the working allows
for one additional roll. Alternatively, the sorcerer could receive assistance from a supernatural
entity who, while not a sorcerer, possesses powers that naturally lend themselves to the
completion of the working—a sorcerer trying to revive a dry riverbed might seek the assistance
of a river god or water elemental, while one attempting to open a portal into the Underworld
might seek help from an Abyssal Exalt. As a third alternative, a character might use a group of
characters who are not sorcerers, but are well-versed in Occult, such as an infernal cult or a
Heptagram class. Each of these alternatives can add one roll, but they don't stack with each
other. In theory, a sorcerer who had access to a large organization of fellow sorcerers initiated
into the Circle of the working could add two additional rolls from this Means, but such organized
networks are few and far between in the current, fallen era.
• Extra Time: A sorcerer willing to invest months or even years of preparation, research, and
diligent practice into a sorcerous working may claim that extra time as one of her Means.
Extending the interval of the roll from one week to one month allows the sorcerer to make one
additional roll, while extending the interval to one cycle (three months) allows for two additional
rolls. A sorcerer could receive three additional rolls by extending the interval to one year, but
only the most dedicated of sorcerers are willing to retire from the world for that long.
• Exotic Components: Esoteric or rare materials that the sorcerer has accumulated over the
course of the story may be consumed in the process of a working to count as a Means, allowing
the sorcerer to make one additional roll. What counts for this category is left largely to the
Storyteller's discretion, as he will generally be the one introducing these exotic components into
the game. The severed head of a Wyld behemoth, carved with glyphs of abjuration and displayed
prominently from the walls of a city, might aid in warding that city against the influence of the
Wyld, while an orichalcum lantern lit with a tongue of sunfire found in a First Age ruin could be
used as part of a working to purify a shadowland. At the Storyteller's discretion, exceptionally
rare or powerful components, such as the withered corpus-fragments of a slain Deathlord, can
add two additional rolls to an appropriate working
• Sorcerous Infrastructure: Sorcerous laboratories or ritual chambers stocked with esoteric
texts, occult reagents, and other tools of the sorcerer's trade add one additional roll to a sorcerous
working. It is no easy thing to assemble such infrastructure—even among the opulence of the
Realm, most sorcerers must make do with basic, rudimentary study chambers tucked away in the
far wing of a family manse. For a newly-Exalted sorcerer to assemble her own sorcerous
infrastructure would be an adventure in itself. Sorcerous infrastructure from the First Age could
provide two additional rolls to a working, if repaired and restored to full functionality.
Means can be specific reagents or access to specific locations or tools.
Can be assistants of a minimum skill or heritage. Can be specific occult or technical knowledge.
Or the ability to cast thematic spells(ancient sorcery or linear sorcery) or Rating 3+ in associated Abilities.
For high level workings, you might even use lower-priced workings as components.
The same system works for both crafting and for magic projects.
Just, instead of Int + Occult for magic, you should probably roll Int+Craft for crafting.
As for Paradox, to my recollection thats not a thing in the Dresden Files. Or for M20 sorcerers.
Nah, that's not how it works.
You CAN put longterm mindcontrol magic on people. As per Bob:
Bob's pen flickered over the parchment. When I draw maps I usually end up with a series of lopsided squares and wavery lines and incomplete circles. Bob's drawing looked like it could have been done by da Vinci. "There were three bodies stacked up in a corner of the basement," Bob said. "A few of the shelter's staff had been made into rough thralls and are covering for them, sort of. Maybe half a dozen people hadn't been enthralled, but they were tied up and locked into a cedar closet."
"Any goons?"
"Big time. Half a dozen Renfields, and each of them has a darkhound to boot."
"Renfields?" I asked.
"How in the world can you exist in this century and not know about Renfields?" Bob demanded. "You need a life, stat."
"I read the book. I know who Renfield was. I'm not familiar with the parlance for Renfield in the plural."
"Oh," Bob said. "What do you need to know?"
"Well. First off, what did they call them before Stoker published the book?" I asked.
"They didn't call them anything, Harry," Bob said in a tone of gentle patience. "That's why the White Court had Stoker publish the book. To tell people about them."
"Oh. Right." I rubbed at my eyes. "How do the vampires do their recruiting?"
"Mind-control magic," Bob said. "The usual."
"Always with the mental control," I muttered. "Let me make sure my facts are straight. Rough thralls just stand around looking blank until they get orders, right?"
"Yeah," Bob said, pen scratching. "Sort of like zombies, but they still have to go to the bathroom."
"So a Renfield is the fine version of thralldom?"
"No," Bob said. "A fine thrall is so controlled that they might not even know that they're a thrall at all, and it lasts long-term."
"Like what DuMorne did to Elaine."
"Uh, I guess so, yeah. Like that. That kind of thing takes a subtle hand, though. Enthralling someone also requires a lot of time and a certain amount of empathy, neither of which has been readily available to Mavra."
"So?" I said, getting impatient. "A Renfield is a…?"
Bob put the pen down. "It's the quick, dirty way for the Black Court to pick up some cheap muscle, Renfields have been crushed into total thralldom through brute psychic force."
"You're kidding," I said. "The kind of mental damage that would do to someone…"
"It destroys their sanity when it happens," Bob confirmed. "Makes them no good for anything but gibbering violence, but since that's pretty much what the vampires wanted to begin with it works out."
"How do you get them out of it?" I asked.
"You don't," Bob said. "The original Merlin couldn't undo it, and neither could any of the saints on record who have tried. A thrall can be freed, or recover over time. Renfields can't. From the moment their minds break they've got an expiration date."
"Ugh," I said. "What do you mean?"
"Renfields get more and more violent and deranged, and they self-destruct in a year or two. You can't fix them. For all practical purposes, they're already dead."
I went over the facts in my head, and admired how much uglier the situation had just become. Over the years I've learned that ignorance is more than just bliss. It's freaking orgasmic ecstasy. I glanced at Bob and said, "Are you sure about your facts?"
The cloud of orange light flowed tiredly back into the skull on its shelf. "Yes. DuMorne did quite a bit of research on the subject back in the day."
"Murphy isn't going to like this," I said. "Dismembering monsters with a chain saw is one thing. People are another."
"Yeah. People are easier."
"Bob," I growled. "They're people."
"Renfields aren't, Harry," Bob said. "They might still be moving around but they're pretty much gone."
"Boy, would it be fun to explain that to a courtroom," I said. I shuddered. "Or to the White Council, for that matter. If I take out the wrong person, I could wind up in jail-or in a White Council star chamber trial. Mavra's using the laws to protect herself against us. That's so backward."
"Screw the laws! Kill 'em all!" Bob said with weary cheer.
I sighed. "What about the dogs?"
"Your basic animal," Bob said. "But they've been infused with a portion of the same kind of dark power that the Black Court runs on. They're stronger, faster, and they don't feel pain. I once saw a darkhound rip its way through a brick wall."
"I bet they look like normal dogs afterward, huh?"
"And before-ward," Bob said.
"I guess if the cops are on my case when this is over, the SPCA can come along for the ride." I shook my head. "And on top of all that, Mavra is also keeping those hostages in the closet for food. She'll use them as human shields once fighting starts."
"Or as bait in a trap," Bob said.
"Any goons?"
"Big time. Half a dozen Renfields, and each of them has a darkhound to boot."
"Renfields?" I asked.
"How in the world can you exist in this century and not know about Renfields?" Bob demanded. "You need a life, stat."
"I read the book. I know who Renfield was. I'm not familiar with the parlance for Renfield in the plural."
"Oh," Bob said. "What do you need to know?"
"Well. First off, what did they call them before Stoker published the book?" I asked.
"They didn't call them anything, Harry," Bob said in a tone of gentle patience. "That's why the White Court had Stoker publish the book. To tell people about them."
"Oh. Right." I rubbed at my eyes. "How do the vampires do their recruiting?"
"Mind-control magic," Bob said. "The usual."
"Always with the mental control," I muttered. "Let me make sure my facts are straight. Rough thralls just stand around looking blank until they get orders, right?"
"Yeah," Bob said, pen scratching. "Sort of like zombies, but they still have to go to the bathroom."
"So a Renfield is the fine version of thralldom?"
"No," Bob said. "A fine thrall is so controlled that they might not even know that they're a thrall at all, and it lasts long-term."
"Like what DuMorne did to Elaine."
"Uh, I guess so, yeah. Like that. That kind of thing takes a subtle hand, though. Enthralling someone also requires a lot of time and a certain amount of empathy, neither of which has been readily available to Mavra."
"So?" I said, getting impatient. "A Renfield is a…?"
Bob put the pen down. "It's the quick, dirty way for the Black Court to pick up some cheap muscle, Renfields have been crushed into total thralldom through brute psychic force."
"You're kidding," I said. "The kind of mental damage that would do to someone…"
"It destroys their sanity when it happens," Bob confirmed. "Makes them no good for anything but gibbering violence, but since that's pretty much what the vampires wanted to begin with it works out."
"How do you get them out of it?" I asked.
"You don't," Bob said. "The original Merlin couldn't undo it, and neither could any of the saints on record who have tried. A thrall can be freed, or recover over time. Renfields can't. From the moment their minds break they've got an expiration date."
"Ugh," I said. "What do you mean?"
"Renfields get more and more violent and deranged, and they self-destruct in a year or two. You can't fix them. For all practical purposes, they're already dead."
I went over the facts in my head, and admired how much uglier the situation had just become. Over the years I've learned that ignorance is more than just bliss. It's freaking orgasmic ecstasy. I glanced at Bob and said, "Are you sure about your facts?"
The cloud of orange light flowed tiredly back into the skull on its shelf. "Yes. DuMorne did quite a bit of research on the subject back in the day."
"Murphy isn't going to like this," I said. "Dismembering monsters with a chain saw is one thing. People are another."
"Yeah. People are easier."
"Bob," I growled. "They're people."
"Renfields aren't, Harry," Bob said. "They might still be moving around but they're pretty much gone."
"Boy, would it be fun to explain that to a courtroom," I said. I shuddered. "Or to the White Council, for that matter. If I take out the wrong person, I could wind up in jail-or in a White Council star chamber trial. Mavra's using the laws to protect herself against us. That's so backward."
"Screw the laws! Kill 'em all!" Bob said with weary cheer.
I sighed. "What about the dogs?"
"Your basic animal," Bob said. "But they've been infused with a portion of the same kind of dark power that the Black Court runs on. They're stronger, faster, and they don't feel pain. I once saw a darkhound rip its way through a brick wall."
"I bet they look like normal dogs afterward, huh?"
"And before-ward," Bob said.
"I guess if the cops are on my case when this is over, the SPCA can come along for the ride." I shook my head. "And on top of all that, Mavra is also keeping those hostages in the closet for food. She'll use them as human shields once fighting starts."
"Or as bait in a trap," Bob said.
Then there is Simon Peabody in Turn Coat.
Who had been tweaking the attitudes of the Senior Council for at least a decade. Who had installed voice-activated mental controls in the heads of essentially every junior Warden in the Council who wasnt named Dresden.
Who mindcontrolled Warden Captain-Commander Anastascia Luccio first into hooking up with Dresden, then murdering Senior Council member Aleron LaFortier without even remembering she did it, and finally into coming to Chicago to check up on Dresden's doings for her master.
All with no perceptible degradation in their performance.
It all appears to depend on the skill of the malefactor and the age and resilence of the victim.
And I'm reasonably sure that compared to the very top levels of the White Court, Peabody is a journeyman at best.
It is true that we dont see Whampires being subtle onscreen very often; literally the only time I recall was with Madeline Raith and the lawyer in Turn Coat, and Madeline is one of the less....careful Raiths we see onscreen.
So if she can do that sort of delicate work, I shudder at what Lara, for example, is capable of.
1) I make no claim to being a mindreader.
But this was what the winning vote that we voted for says:
The argument wasnt that he was too dangerous to be held; it was that he was too inconvenient.
2) We didnt ask him to drop his warform; even the police in the worst parts of the US will usually demand you drop your weapon before shooting you.
Not to mention that if you are a sorcerer under someone's guns, or in this case with a magic fist around your throat, unexpected movements or magic castings are strongly contraindicated.
Molly would have actually been justified snapping his neck if he suddenly started doing magic without permission.
3)A situation where one party is fresh, untouched and has their magic fist around the throat of the second party, who is injured and low on mojo? Is not a standoff of any description I've heard.
Like I said before, Molly didnt even bother to put on magic armor.
4)The man had burned through at least 3 Willpower just to go from human to bird to warform, and then to shake off the naagloshii's murder curse. Then he burned through all his Rage, burned an aggravated HL to get some more, and burned through it all again.
He didnt have much left to burn.
None of these are things you do if you have anything like a choice.
At the point where he was ripping off his skin he was basically just selling his life dear.
He would have been no more difficult to transport than the lesser akuma we stored at Dresden's place before passing them off to the Library. It feels very much like the "He was coming right at me" defense.
=====
Moot point now.
But you deserved a reply.
Sunrise and sunset times in Chicago, November 2006
Calculations of sunrise and sunset in Chicago – Illinois – USA for November 2006. Generic astronomy calculator to calculate times for sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset for many cities, with daylight saving time and time zones taken in account.
www.timeanddate.com
Sunrise 6.43AM
Sunset is 4:26PM
Weather: Haze, Mist. No precipitation.
Temperature: Very cold but not freezing, 32-45 degrees Fahrenheit
Weekend, so no school or work.
Visibility is poor.
Temperature is low enough that people arent going to be idling
@DragonParadox
QUESTION
What time of day is it?
It's 19:00, so well past sunset, but traffic is still going strong downtown and that is where the van is.
- Location
- Germany
Pretty sure real-world weather can't and shouldn't be applied here.
Just Mab's anger some weeks ago would have messed up the weather-patterns, not sure if only for a bit or butterflying them permanently.
Just Mab's anger some weeks ago would have messed up the weather-patterns, not sure if only for a bit or butterflying them permanently.
Also this looks wrong, we were just in November.
Mab can clean up after herself just fine, I suspect.
An evening's storm isnt going to do much.
No rush hour on weekends.
But people will be out at theaters and fine dining and the like. And downtown is the sort of place with lots of cameras.
Haze should help with cutting down on visibility though.
Molly cant approach without being felt. But her looming aura is obvious.
So there's good odds that whatsisface already knows Molly is in Chicago, but that her phone is off for some reason.
Whether dead battery, or her being in a meeting, or being somewhere with no service.
- Location
- Germany
The weather staid unnaturally cold for several days.
She clearly let her storm calm out the slow, natural way, rather than clean it up.
Besides, as I already mentioned at some point, the weather-patterns should not look like those of our world in general.
Too often are they affected by the waning and waxing power of the Fey Courts and by the will of gods and sorcerers and other beings with power over weather.
The weather should be different and meterology should be a somewhat less reliable and respected field than it is IRL.
Fixed, I had C&P-ed the wrong thing so you (briefly) time traveled.
- Location
- Germany
By the way, would Climate Change even be a thing in DF?
Would mundane influences on the atmosphere outweight, or even affect, the metaphysical powers affecting it?
Would global warming be impossible, or would it still exist?
And if it does, would that strenghten the Summer Court due to the relation of Power of Summer - Physical Effects of Summer going in both directions?
Would mundane influences on the atmosphere outweight, or even affect, the metaphysical powers affecting it?
Would global warming be impossible, or would it still exist?
And if it does, would that strenghten the Summer Court due to the relation of Power of Summer - Physical Effects of Summer going in both directions?
1)Its November.
Cold is kinda the default, especially in Chicago.
2) In the absence of explicit evidence suggesting otherwise, I'll stick with historical record.
If we had to take the power of the supernatural into account, the world would be unrecognizable. This is a world where there was a mass use of chemical weapons in an African city with four or five digit death tolls and god knows how many nonlethal casualties just last year. Even if covered up as "gas release from a volcano or volcanic lake", that sorta thing has ripples.
Im hardly going to worry about weather discrepancies. Its also less work for the QM that way.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
In that case @DragonParadox care to roll up/tell us what the weather is? Or would you rather that we stunt it?
The weather is cold but clear, humidity is low. For your purposes yes WHWH triggered.
- Location
- Germany
It's not like deciding (or rolling) what the weather is like is a huge effort.
Besides, if we are going to change the world, we'll need to deal with ripples anyway.
Can't have all the non-historical events fall under "hidden and without consequence".
Chicago has at least 50,000 cameras in 2023
Police Surveillance in Chicago: Video Surveillance
Video monitoring is the most well-known part of Chicago's surveillance infrastructure, consisting of a network of well over 50,000 cameras (including cameras on the CTA). This system is operated by Chicago's Office of Emergency Management (OEMC).
chicagopolicesurveillance.com
@DragonParadox
QUESTION
1)If Molly HMPs one of the traffic/surveillance cameras, does it give her access to the entire network?
2) Is Harry bringing Mouse?
3) Can we see the licenseplate on that van? And can the cyberdevils run a check via DMV?
Back in a bit.
Chicago has at least 50,000 cameras in 2023
Police Surveillance in Chicago: Video Surveillance
Video monitoring is the most well-known part of Chicago's surveillance infrastructure, consisting of a network of well over 50,000 cameras (including cameras on the CTA). This system is operated by Chicago's Office of Emergency Management (OEMC).
@DragonParadox
QUESTION
1)If Molly HMPs one of the traffic/surveillance cameras, does it give her access to the entire network?
2) Is Harry bringing Mouse?
3) Can we see the licenseplate on that van? And can the cyberdevils run a check via DMV?
Back in a bit.
- No, you would have to get the server that services them to do more than one camera individually
- No, he does not really see Mouse as a combat character
- Yes to both
It's explicitly called out as needing to be subtle, and he got both of them young. Peabody's trick was also closer to a slight push over a long period of time.
It's not impossible, especially since whamps are good at this, but pulling Molly style personality highlights to lessen the strain is something of a trick to pull with the violently insane who actively hate and barely know you when not under stronger binds.
Even then you're still not totally free of harm. DuMorne wanted bruisers, being an unsophisticated brick wasn't a problem for him.
Shape shifting spies aren't as useful if their reflexes slow down and their senses dull from fraying judgement.
Thread discussion influences this, the "we need to get home" clause does a lot of lifting there.
Be bad at least one more shot in him and none of this addresses the factor of time.
Travel one way, negotiations, travel back, any surprises or essence use on the new legs of the trip, it all added up and Broken Seeker would use that opening.
Convenience and operational need aren't the same. The purposes of this was in my eyes a legitimate use of force in a highly uncertain and unconventional combat space aimed at minimizing innocent death/suffering.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Maybe we can get that van reported as stolen. There is a good chance that it actually is. In any case some cops pulling them over might give us useful cover. (Shame we lack any of our hell favored stealth or disguise charms.)
Last edited:
That'd probably lead to mortal cops v. magical shapeshifting cannibals. Might also tip our hand.
My preference is to get into position to HMP them from way the hell away by exploiting the LoS function, then have it stuff them to the side during a low visibility part of their route where we're waiting in ambush.
Even planning to drive around people they can't be in the middle of crowds all the time.
If at all possible, pair this with the surprise flame burst to the front seat I posted earlier to force the two inside to waste a turn regenerating while we make with the rescue and bug out.
Once we have our people back the leverage is equal again. Lydia is out of reach and everyone else has real angels on the clock protecting them.
Next time we upgrade alchemy, so escape potions would be good to hand out.
I'd prefer something like an autonomous escape item but that's harder to swing, especially since repeats are limited.
Low dot arcana have few material requirements, so maybe we could spec somewhat novel ones designed around senses and carrying a passenger to safety to hand out?
Or just try to convince them to accept escorts when we know trouble is up.
I figure a pair of with ghouls with good equipment wouldn't stop higher level stuff, but it would make trying louder than most would prefer.