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Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

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[X] Call out what you can exorcise those possessed of Nemesis (Charisma+Empathy)
-[X] Excellency
 
DragonParadox said:
Alchemical texts were passed on widely in the Greco-Roman space and while Britain was on the outskirts it was part of that first though political affiliation, then though trade and culture.



This is one of the 4 fey you marked out, Molly had a vision of all of them so she would recognize them
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-Fair.
Still puts her and her sister as from a solidly upper class family, and one that was disposed to educate its women.

-Ah.
So we'll need to remember to activate All Things Betray with Willpower, at a minimum.
Hellscy Chakra as well, if we have the Essence.

VOTE
[X] Plan Talking Demons
-[X] Call out what you can exorcise those possessed of Nemesis (Charisma+Empathy)
-[X] Empathy Excellency + 1 Willpower for autosuccess: 1m Essence + 1WP
[X]STUNT: "What one knows they all know" you warn, and Titania freezes. Once you have the full weight of her attention you continue, Essence guiding your choice of words. "The loyalty of Summer is exemplified by its sovereign, and famous not just to the Creationborn, but to the Enemy that has stalked the Courts for ages. One it tries to exploit." An undercurrent of sympathy enters your voice as you continue "Those Taken by the Enemy are alike unto the demon Legion in the land of Gerasenes; what you tell one victim, you tell them all, and the Antagonist that rides them. If warned they have been exposed, the Enemy will act to kill and maim and <infect> others of your subjects in the time they have left until they are brought down." You meet her eyes. "I can expunge the infestation; uproot it without killing its victims. In your presence, even; Ive performed a similar service for Winter. Its why Im here now, because it serves noone on this side of the Gates to let the Enemy of All get its fingers into the Courts."


RATIONALE
Charisma 3 + Empathy 5 + Excellency 8 + Stunt 2 + 1 autosuccess from Willpower
18 dice + 1 autosuccess at -1 DC from BSM

We only have 8 Essence available, so we cant afford to spend too much Essence in the Courts
But this needs to work.
So full spend.
 
Incidentally, we should probably start thinking of how to screw over Nemesis as much as possible since this is probably going to start going very fast once it kicks off.

Ideally we'll have 4 new direct foci to work with for poking Nemesis/the Outside's business.

For asking questions like:

1) Who are the agents of the Outside currently capable of influencing the mortal world?

2) What is the nature of nemesis's current plans?

3) What does Nemesis know of those working against it?

4) What does Nemesis possess that would hurt it most to lose?
— Not necessarily in the effectiveness sense here. We can't kill the whole thing yet, but we can probably make being in reality significantly more miserable for Nemesis. Which is its own reward.

Alternate 1) What secret would it be most damaging to the Outsiders for the Archive to know?

Alternate 2) How do the agents of the outside plan to react to the current efforts of the Archive?
— I know the crown has issues with prediction; the intent here is to get a snapshot of their side of their fight with Ivy. Like copying the current operations list of the KGB for the CIA at the hight of the Cold War.

——

Not necessarily those questions specifically, but something in the general area at least. We're the information supremacy exalt and playing spy games with us should be brutally, excessively, unfair. Some real I-can't-believe-it's-not-sadism level cheating.

No idea how we could possibly explain our knowledge to Ivy but it'd be pretty great to be able to just lay out where all the moles are, what the enemy is actually trying to do today, and where their soft spots are.

The Outsiders can have some privacy once they've stopped trying to kill us all. As a treat.

uju32 said:
"What one knows they all know" you warn, and Titania freezes.
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On this note, Titania should be aware of how nemesis works. Are we sure the updates are immediate? Maybe she has some way of blocking them that won't look immediately off to nemesis.

We should still try to stop her for a number of reasons, but it's weird that she's acting like this.

For all that it's Winter's job to hold the gates Summer is still involved after all. Harry seems them acting as combat medics at the Outer Gates, among other things.
 
DragonParadox said:
If you make your roll she will listen, at the moment she is very close to breaking the Nemesis infected fey lord out of her temporal effect.
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Fair enough.

BronzeTongue said:
Incidentally, we should probably start thinking of how to screw over Nemesis as much as possible since this is probably going to start going very fast once it kicks off.
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We could use any scene with an Nfested to ask for the identities of every Nemesis-infected or Outsider-infested person.
Which would sweep up the vast majority of the entire current existing Nemesis network.
And provide additional foci for followup.

It wont get the willing agents like Sandra, or the corporeal Outsiders that arent possessing people, but its the undercovers that are most perilous to the status quo.
The only question is whether we want to use the Crown in front of the Archive and Titania.
BronzeTongue said:
On this note, Titania should be aware of how nemesis works. Are we sure the updates are immediate? Maybe she has some way of blocking them that won't look immediately off to nemesis.
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Should, yes.
Dresden knew this much by by the point of Cold Days.
Thomas exhaled slowly through his nose, his eyes narrowed. "I don't know much about them," he said.
"That's not surprising," I said. "There's not a lot of information on Outsiders. We think that's because most people who run into them don't get a chance to tell anyone about it."
"Lot of things like that in the world," Thomas said. "Sounds like these things are just a little creepier than your average demonic nasty."
"It's more than that," I said. "Creatures out of the Nevernever are a part of our reality, our universe. They can get pretty bizarre, but they have a membership card. Outsiders come from someplace else."
Thomas shrugged. "What's the difference?"
"They're smarter. Tougher. Harder to kill."
"You handled that one pretty well. Didn't look so tough."
I snorted. "You missed out on the end. I hit that thing with my best shot, and I barely made it uncomfortable. It didn't leave because I hurt it. It left because it didn't expect me to fight clear of its whammy, and it didn't want to take any chances that I might get lucky and prevent it from reporting to its superiors."
"Still ran," Thomas said. "Yeah, that mind-meld thing was awful, but the bastard wasn't all that bad."
I sighed. "That little creep Peabody dropped one Outsider on a meeting of the Council. The best wizards in the world were all in that one room and took it on together, and the thing still managed to murder a bunch of them. It's hard to make magic stick to Outsiders. It's hard to make them leave. It's hard to hurt them. It's hard to make them die. They're insanely violent, insanely powerful, and just plain insane. But that isn't what makes them dangerous."
"Uh," Thomas said. "It isn't? Then what is?"
"They work together," I said quietly. "Near as we can tell, they all work together."
Thomas was silent for a moment as he considered the implications of that. "Work together," he said. "To do what?"
I shook my head. "Whatever they do. Their actions are not always predicated on rationality—or at least, that's what the Council thinks."
"You sound skeptical."
"The White Council always assumes that it's at least as smart as everyone else all put together. I know better."
"Because you're so much smarter than they are," Thomas said wryly.
"Because I'm on the street more than they are," I corrected him. "The Council thinks the Outsiders are just a giant box of crazy that can go rampaging in any random direction."
"But you don't think that."
"The phrase 'crazy like a fox' leaps to mind."
"Okay. So what do you think these Outsiders are doing?"
I shrugged. "I'm almost certain they aren't selling Girl Scout cookies. But don't quote me."
"Don't worry; I hardly ever want to sound clueless. But the fact that they're working together implies a purpose. A goal."
"Yes."
"So?" my brother asked. "What do they want?"
"Thomas, they're aliens. I mean, they're like super-mega-überaliens. They might not even think, at least not in the way we understand it. How the hell are we supposed to make even an informed guess about their motivation—assuming that they have one?"
"Doesn't matter how weird they are," Thomas said. "Moving together implies purpose. Purpose implies a goal. Goals are universal."
"They aren't from this universe. That's the point," I said. "Maybe you're right; I don't know. But until I have a better idea, it's smarter to keep reminding myself that I don't know, rather than assuming that I do know, and then translating anything I learn to fit my preconceptions."
"Here's a fact that is no assumption," Thomas said. "They wanted you."
"Yeah," I said.
"Why?" he asked.
"All I can do is guess."
"So guess."
I sighed. "My gut says they're planning a jailbreak."
Thomas grunted. "Might have been smarter for them to have left you alone. Now you know something."
I made an exasperated sound. "Yes. Those fools. By trying to kill me, they've revealed their very souls. I have them now."
Thomas gave me a steady look. "Being Mab's bitch has made you a pessimist."
"I am not a pessimist," I said loftily. "Though that can't last."
That made Thomas grin. "Nice."
"Thank you."
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I would expect that Titania would know more.
But I wrote that stunt on the presumption that her being emotional at the moment means that someone needs to remind her of whats at stake if she's wrong. And that she'd be hurting her other subjects.
 
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I wonder if the goal of The Outsiders is to break the pin of linear time. The first pin of linear time is Omphalos or Mt. Meru the elemental pillar of Earth at the center of creation. Though if the white God swooped in to the burning wreckage of creation before the unshaped could destroy the Omphalos and then built his own Universe on top of it with that allowing him to keep the wyld from dissolving back to time not and not have to do the work of 23 primordials by himself. Making his own custom Universe the center of existence and the new thing preventing the unshaped from going back to stories where things change people 'live' people 'die' they write themselves out and in but they don't end.
 
Degorium said:
I wonder if the goal of The Outsiders
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From the horse's mouth
Battle Grounds said:
"Apocalypse isn't an event," Nemesis murmured. "It is a frame of mind."
I probably would have staggered anyway, but the phrase hit hard.

"This was less a plan than . . . an act of faith, I suppose you would say," the Outsider continued through Justine's lips.
"Faith?" I asked.
"In what is coming," the Walker said. "The unraveling of all things into darkness and silence."
"Empty Night," I breathed.

"Empty Night," the creature echoed, in the hushed tone of a holy phrase. "So we pressed the attacks at the Outer Gates. While I sowed havoc within the walls of reality. We loosed some of the primal forces of your own precious Creation against you. Undermined Mab, her people, the Accords, the delusion of order you force upon the universe with your useless presence." She smiled, dropping lower, the motion feline, sensual, hypnotic. "You may have survived the day. But the deed is done. We are the tide. Infinite. Unrelenting. And one day, starborn, make no mistake, we will wipe away all that you know. All we need is a single opening."

"Must suck," I panted, "to get whipped by some stupid punk from Chicago. 'Cause it looks to me like I beat you."

Something ugly went through her voice. "There was never a victory for you to gain," Nemesis hissed. "The mortals have been given terror they have not known in centuries. There is nothing more that need be done. They are your death stroke. Now I need only wait."

I finally reached the back of the boat and said, "Funny you should mention waiting."

Justine tilted her head, too far, silent.
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uju32 said:
We could use any scene with an Nfested to ask for the identities of every Nemesis-infected or Outsider-infested person.
Which would sweep up the vast majority of the entire current existing Nemesis network.
And provide additional foci for followup.
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I guess if we're willing to front load the essence cost we can, but we do need to fight the shard afterwards.

I think we could sweep up the willing agents in one question though. I deliberately phrased the first question in my list to cover that sort of thing. Word games like "agents of the outside" the bread and butter of the crown.


uju32 said:
The only question is whether we want to use the Crown in front of the Archive and Titania
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That's a risk yeah. If the nemesis shards leave anything we can harvest for crafting purposes we could use that later, trading number of foci for security.
 
Adhoc vote count started by Luca Nox on Dec 5, 2023 at 12:36 AM, finished with 50 posts and 18 votes.
  • [X] Plan Talking Demons
    -[X] Call out what you can exorcise those possessed of Nemesis (Charisma+Empathy)
    -[X] Empathy Excellency + 1 Willpower for autosuccess: 1m Essence + 1WP
    [X] Call out what you can exorcise those possessed of Nemesis (Charisma+Empathy)
    -[X] Excellency
    [X] Call out what you can exorcise those possessed of Nemesis (Charisma+Empathy)
    [X]STUNT: "What one knows they all know" you warn, and Titania freezes. Once you have the full weight of her attention you continue, Essence guiding your choice of words. "The loyalty of Summer is exemplified by its sovereign, and famous not just to the Creationborn, but to the Enemy that has stalked the Courts for ages. One it tries to exploit." An undercurrent of sympathy enters your voice as you continue "Those Taken by the Enemy are alike unto the demon Legion in the land of Gerasenes; what you tell one victim, you tell them all, and the Antagonist that rides them. If warned they have been exposed, the Enemy will act to kill and maim and <infect> others of your subjects in the time they have left until they are brought down." You meet her eyes. "I can expunge the infestation; uproot it without killing its victims. In your presence, even; Ive performed a similar service for Winter. Its why Im here now, because it serves noone on this side of the Gates to let the Enemy of All get its fingers into the Courts."
    [X] Remind the queen that Nemesis is capable of sharing information across all its hosts.
    -[X] Stress that it is their right to defend themselves, of course, but that the accusation should only be leveled against them when they are all present before the queen, otherwise they might have time to erase evidence or cause harm to the queen's subjects.
    [X] Call out what you can exorcise those possessed of Nemesis (Charisma+Empathy)
    -[X] "You know, Your Majesty, that Queen of Air and Darkness wouldn't have gambled on her heir or with the threat of Outsiders. I will be able to save your vassals, if the Enemy doesn't know about us."
    -[X] Activate suitable social boni.
    [X] Plan: Oh fuck.
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uju32 said:
From the horse's mouth
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In the context of the crossover, that's probably Time-Not:
TIME NOT
Once existence was truly timeless. It did not necessarily
come before the advent of what is now understood as time.
The minds of the Creation-born understand it to have occurred
"before" the current cycle of Ages, but that's only
because the understanding of the Creation-born can move
in only one direction. Philosophical arguments could be
made that this period is a state of being yet to come at the
end of all Ages—the entropic perfection toward which all
things strive. Even that distinction, however, relies on the
Creation-born concept of time, and this period was not a
time. To the best of the knowledge of the raksha, this period
is simply Time Not.
During Time Not, everything existed, but it existed in
no place. This region was infinite, and all things within it
were infinite as well. Nothing was apart. There was nothing
from which to be apart. Everything was all at one point,
which was the wholeness of infinity. Everything was possible,
but nothing was necessary or likely. Infinity was whole, and
existence was perfection.
The raksha can be made to speculate about Time Not.
When they do, they occasionally express a sadness that the
Creation-born choose to mistake for homesickness. This
sadness is not genuine. The raksha are no more creatures
of Time Not than the Creation-born are. It is even possible
that Time Not is an unachievable ideal to which the raksha
aspire. No one can speak with authority about
Time Not because it cannot coexist with
the present arrangement of Creation,
even conceptually.
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Arc 11 Post 18: An Offer Matched
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    • An Offer Matched ​

    5th of January 2007 A.D.

    "Stay your hand Majesty that I might draw the poison from the wound!" She stops, the barest moment, perhaps meaning to rebuke you, but that is all you need to drive the point home. "In thy own halls thine will be done, I can but contest the outlaw with all my might, but if this one can see though stolen eyes what we intend three others may be lost, dragging who knows how many others down with them."

    Lost One Willpower -> Now 7/9

    "You speak with a strange confidence child," the Queen of Summer sets luminous gaze upon you. "That which you speak of is no mere sickness to be purged from the wound with cloth soaked in spirits, it is a cancer that grows and spreads unseen whose flower is suspicion, whose fruit is murder. As soon would it lie by slow and subtle means to see cut in their prime the great and good as it would infect them, sooner in fact for it requires less of its attention to organize such a miscarriage of justice." Her eyes grow not cold but hard as she looks to the Archive from from a height more than physical. "Her knowledge is only as good as ink upon the page and many are the lies so recorded passed hand from hand."

    She is afraid the exorcism will hurt them... she is afraid it might kill them... Titania does not understand her sister at all, the thoughts chase each other though your head as you grasp the crux of the conflict. She does know about Halloween, all of it even that you can remove the interloper from him hosts, but she thinks Mab risked her daughter's life in allowing you to work the spell.

    "Upon my name and honor, God as my witness, no harm shall come to those upon which this exorcism is wrought that even mortal elixirs cannot heal."

    "Not since the days of Arthur Rex have any invoked the White God on the shores of Avalon," the Archive intones in the dust dry tones of a chronicler.

    "Not since the days of Arthur..." Titania trails off, the muscles of her jaw unclenching almost imperceptibly. "Very well, child of the line of kings daughter to a knight of repute, I shall hold you to your word. You know the limits of thine power you bear better than I." From her tone it's clear as day she does not wish to know it.

    In the blink of an eye, in a flash off the water there are now two of Sathar standing where one had been. Instinct moves your hand to grasp the sword that is Usum and draw it, but Kincaid of all people raises a hand for peace. "It's just a glamor, she's making a fake princeling so she can put the real one on ice until you can fix 'im."

    "You will address my lords with courtesy hound!" Titania says,her words perilously soft.

    Though he recoils a touch under the weight of her regard the mercenary steels himself to answer: "I did, there's worse things I could have called him just as truthfully."

    So it's not just Harry that does that, the thought pops into your head unbidden, even though you are pretty sure Harry would deny any similarity to a gun for hire like Jared Kincaid.

    The Archive looks on, frowning in worry, annoyance or both together, though thankfully Titania does not deign the words with another reply, returning her gaze instead to you.

    "I shall summon the others whom you have named and if they do not come I shall send a host and ride out myself to recover them. In the meantime the three may partake of the hospitality of Avalon the fair which few of mortal blood have ever supped." Before you can answer time snaps back into motion and there is but one Lord Sathar, the figure spun of light, the other one must have been whisked away to be... well not put on ice. Pickled maybe? You swallow a laugh, you're not out of the woods yet.

    With gracious words and subtle compliments, no barbs in sight about your nature or the Archive's habit of bringing ill news Titania renews her offer before the court.

    What do you do?

    [] Refuse, you have better things to do than wait around while the Summer Court recovers its wayward nobles, like helping the others in New York (Charisma+Etiquette to refuse without giving offense opposed roll against Titania since you are refusing a high honor)
    -[] Write in stunt

    [] Accept, between your father's faith, Harry's magic, Lash's cunning and Lydia's power you are sure the others will be fine and this does give you the chance to speak more to Lilly before you spring the gift on the whole court and her mother

    [] Write in

    OOC: So far so good.
     
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