fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
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[X] How do did you learn your phenomenal cosmic powers?
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
They can't do anything with that information that we won't detect.
The question could also reveal their resources.
Huh.
Close enough to be the same age group. Now I'm tempted to have Molly build him a techbane-proof modern car for his birthday in January, at the same time she's doing the same for Dresden. Just have it delivered to his family's restaurant in LA.
Casual flex.
Pretty much.
It was always going to be a hard sell. The Hell we voted for leaned hard into nonhuman esthetics, instead of a human society with quirks. Nonhuman population majority, nonEarthlike geography, and a lot of blatantly nonhuman technology.
In some ways, a visitor to Hades or Arctis Tor will find them more familiar.
If we were minded to sell the Brass Courts as someplace else, we shouldnt have done that.
Kinda hard(not impossible, but hard) to do a one eighty now.
We dont have infinite focuses, and the Crown has issues with free will, as we saw when we used it after fleeing to Lara Raith's estate with the captured skinwalker.
The Crown is immensely powerful, but that kind of dragnet surveillance is very much not what it was designed for.
1) I was talking both about Dresdenverse and World of Darkness, since it was mentioned in the discussion
2) In Dresden verse the good guys are managing not to lose too badly with ever-increasing participation and contribution from Dresden and his protagonist privilege. On the institutional level the bad guys are winning in the sense that each of their next hits is more than the one before. That's a point of the series, which is supposed to end in Apocalypse. And Dresden wins despite how the system is set up, not thanks to it.
Fair enough
1)I cant speak for World of Darkness as much, because everyone there is differing shades of gray.
At best.
2)For one thing, Dresden's protagonist privilege is a given since he's the MC.
For another, Dresden's entire involvement in the greater setting has only been around six years, and its been limited to Chicago. Chicago is not the center of the world; other people have been handling shit offscreen elsewhere.
And its notable that he's generally survived his troubles to date because other people made an effort to keep him alive.
Morgan saved his life at the end of Storm Front iirc. Murphy saved his life at the end of Fool Moon. Justine and Susan dragged him out of the burning mansion in Grave Peril. Michael carried him through the climax of Death Masks, and Marcone kept him from drowning. Lara Raith saved him in Blood Rites.
3)An escalating series of attacks =/= winning.
The attempts at fucking over the Faerie Courts failed. The Darkhallow failed. The magic plague failed. The attempt at subverting the Archive failed. The attempt(s) to breach Demonreach failed. The Red Court lost the Vampire War. Ethniu got caged.
Sure, its a war, and there's almost certainly stuff happening offscreen.
I'll even concede that each defeat may have advanced the goals of some of his enemies in some way.
But every major confrontation we see onscreen results in a clear loss for the bad guys.
4)Dresden wins because of how the system is set up, and his ability to use those rules.
He didnt overpower the loup-garou. He didnt kill the Summer Lady by outmatching her on the field of battle. He didnt beat Eldest Fetch by his internal power, or Eldest Gruff by force of arms. He didnt beat Nicodemus by strength of arms or force of intelligence.
He sure as fuck didnt outmatch any of the Heirs who came to Chicago.
Even his getting to survive his own assassination is precisely because of how the system is set up, and people objecting to the attempts of the Opposition to game the rules.
EDIT
Dresden being Starborn, and enjoying certain advantages as a consequence, is pretty much a fact of the Rules of this setting.
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Really? Like how we knew about the will of Kakuri and Broken Seeker but they could do nothing?
The crown isn't a passive danger sense and it isn't an autopilot to victory.
We used it to cautiously need to spam it more
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Incidentally if anyone listened to city of the bullgod and wants another Exalted vs WoD podcast Heaven for Everyone sponsored by nobody is fairly good. I am a little disappointed that in all the ExWod podcasts I have seen despite Infernals being a fairly popular choice they never seem to pick the crown of eyes. Then again I guess when you are at the same table as the story teller it is a bit hard for them to stop you from asking questions whatever it says on your character sheet.
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Dresden is the reason that Red Court vs. White Council was kicked off when it did, a strategic event that ultimately favored White Council. He is, arguably (I am not actually prepared to argue this specific moment), a core reason for why Mab was able to discover Maeve was Nemesis'd (through a convoluted series of connections from Dresden to Leanansidhe to Maeve). He is the reason Mab had a backup Winter Lady when Maeve's plot went down. A lot of things can be traced back to Dresden.
We are talking about different systems. I am talking about the society as a system, and the "no one trusts anyone, information does not proliferate". He cheats because he has Bob, but in general the system that I was talking about is screwing him over and he is working against it.
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- washington
I'll note the unkillability of certain outsiders is said by canon Dresden files.
[X] How do did you learn your phenomenal cosmic powers?
I'm philosophically inclined to agree with you, but by definition, if we know it about history, the groups we know about weren't sufficiently good at keeping secrets.
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- Location
- washington
Now that halloween is coming up I have the distinct regret that we didn't make a Halloween themed world.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
There's no reason why our world can't celebrate it's own version of Halloween which shifts everything around dramatically.
- Location
- washington
I'm getting some nostalgia and imagining actually halloween town.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
We only have 5 cities, but there could be a small Halloween town somewhere. Likely underground.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
One of my favorites was when the party started getting nerf bats to fight with because of how fragile humans are. Great scene when they start taking them out with menace.
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- Location
- washington
was that campaign actually finished though I know the uh bull god one finished but what about this one?
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Only 13 episodes and I don't think that there are going to be anymore since they moved on to other things. Personally I don't know if I would count city of the bull god finished. They were just about to start making some big changes in the world and then just stopped after the boss battle.
- Location
- washington
its kinda finished they just didn't really change the world. Well they have its just we don't get to see it. It was a we've finished the first season and then never had a second season for the 13 episode one though right?
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
I am actually only on episode 2. I might be recommending it a bit too early for all I know it is all downhill from here. In which case I apologize.
This is a bit late considering we got her head a while ago but can we ask using our crown about all of the red Court magical stockpiles (books, reagents, dragon nests) and then on that list of places if it's in a city we can get a picture of the building and ask using the crown after we compile a list of the ones that are in cities which one of these is the least guarded at which point we could raid a lot of magical resources and deprived the red Court of them and if we're fast enough without them even knowing that we're there. This is more for like Library background stuff I really like the idea of just stealing the Reds entire Library over the course of the war.
Edit: the reason for this is it seems like we're not going to be taking a Super Active role in the red Court White Council War and doing this allows us to at least benefit from the chaos and stop the knowledge from just disappearing into white Council archives never to be seen again or destroyed by the white Council flat out.
Edit: the reason for this is it seems like we're not going to be taking a Super Active role in the red Court White Council War and doing this allows us to at least benefit from the chaos and stop the knowledge from just disappearing into white Council archives never to be seen again or destroyed by the white Council flat out.
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Vote closed
Arc 10 Post 22: Waters of the Past
Waters of the Past
13th of December 2006 A.D.
"How did you learn your phenomenal cosmic power?"
Carlos shrugs, the gesture ending with his eyes on the ceiling, as though he is looking for some stray thought up there before beginning in earnest: "I guess if you squint you would say the usual way. My master is... was Adrien O'Sullivan, he doesn't much hold with babying apprentices, 'cosseting' as he calls it because you learn a whole new vocabulary dealing with wizards and I don't just mean to cast spells in. He's not usually one for taking apprentices but well... I guess I should tell you about la Llorona."
For just a moment it is as if you can taste the biter waters of the Lerna on your tongue again. That names you remember from your brief stint of research before going after Arianna. The Crying Woman, the Wailer in white, cursed to walk eternal along river and stream seeking the children she had drowned, never to find them and when she finds the children of others... they suffer the same dark fate.
He obviously had not expected a grim nod that so you are quick to reassure him. "Just thinking, go on."
"Thought I'd have to explain the legend, but now we get to skip right to to me being a dumbass. So there I was fourteen years old at my cousin Silvia's engagement party not really next to the river but near enough that you knew it was there, oldest kid there with a whole troupe of anklebiters after me. What was I to do? Well lucky for me uncle Mateo had just retold that story to scare the little mites away from falling in the water and drowning, but not me. I was way too grown up to believe in the bogeyman, figured if I went down by the river I could brood in peace, compose shitty poetry or something, whatever angsty teens so, I don't remember that bit of it so well compared to what came after, you know?"
Even though he says the words with a smile you can see the shadow in his eyes. Still you nod and smile as expected of you.
"So I hear crying, faint and far away, that's obviously my imagination from the stupid story. It's just the wind right? So I start going towards it to prove there's nothing there. It gets louder and louder, but not all at once, in waves like it was coming from a badly tuned radio. That's what it was, a radio. Or maybe it was cousin Marco getting clever, if it was I had to give it to the kid, that's some good acting. Maybe I should turn back now..." he trails off dramatically. "As soon as the thought crossed my mind I was something white reflected in the water. It is at this point that most people would start running, but though I knew it not I was a wizard, given to discover the arcane mysteries of the world."
In spite of the tension, or maybe because of it you give a muffled laugh.
"I look behind me and there she is white dress dripping, face bloated and half-rotten, her hand grips the back of my head from behind like a vice and I'm in the water. As I am struggling, trying to kick this thing punch it and promising God that I would not skip out on another game of cops and robbers in my life. But then the water starts moving with me, rising and shooting at the thing, foaming and crackling as it pulls her in with me. The grip around my head goes slack so I could have gotten away. But as scared as I was a part of me was just angry, more angry than I had been at anything in my life at this thing. It, she was drowning kids just because they were playing by the river or some shit so I twisted round and tried to hold her under the water..." Carlos pauses, waiting for a reaction.
"You tried to drown the water ghost?" you ask mildly.
"I'm pretty sure I was going off movie logic I had just seem Freddy's Dead on tape, you know the last..."
"Nightmare on Elm's Street movie in the series proper not the Hollywood one yeah," you finish. Good taste in movies.
With a nod he continues: "Right. So you know how in that movie Maggie kills Freddy by stabbing him with his own glove? I figured a ghost who drowns kids would be weak to drowning, plus and the water seemed to want me to use it. Of course it didn't work out like that as soon as I had my hands around her neck she melted away into the flow of the river, still crying."
"Because she couldn't come after you anymore," you muse aloud. "Intent to kill marked you as beyond her remit, no longer a child."
The young warden kind of looks at you funny. "That's what my master said when I told him the story later, but most people do not usually guess that cold."
"There are patterns with things like that, rules about they can go after and how," you shrug. "I know a lot of spooky stuff OK?"
"Not judging," Carlos hastens to explain. "Just surprising you know. Anyway when O'Sullivan heard what I did, he's the kind who prefers you call him by his last name or sir if you're in a hurry, he said I was just crazy enough to learn from an old warden. I wasn't really interested in the whole pitch until he told me about all the monsters out there preying on people. I have a responsibility to help, especially since what I am best at is water magic, the element of unbinding."
How does Molly respond?
[] That was a deeply personal story, share the tale of her own empowering (excluding the Black Magic parts)
[] Try to give some advice on what else water magic is good for, Carlos should not think of himself as just a monster hunter, just a weapon.
[] Write in
OOC: No social rolls for this one, just a glimpse into what makes Carlos Ramirez tick. What Molly does with it is up to you.
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