Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
Arc 11 Post 20: At Her Majesty's Side
At Her Majesty's Side
7th of January 2007 A.D.
Best to talk about this in private and not in front of the whole court when it might seem to be an attempt to wring as many favors as you can out of your skills. So you wait.
Though the Queen of Summer does not need to sleep, no more than any of her subjects, she still withdraws to her chambers at moonrise each day behind a phalanx of ladies in waiting their bright hair not free flowing but wrapped and sewn in place. The Archive shares that it's a style common to the very cusp of the Renaissance. It means nothing in particular yo you but to her it seems a sign of a softening position, a willingness to engage with you, with both of you in your rubber-soled sneakers and factory sewn clothes on your own terms, or as close to your terms as she is willing to bear.
So up the stairs you go and up and up and up so far as to make one wonder if it's some strange möbius of gold and marble, another test. But no, one does not set set such things for honored guests, there is the landing, oddly plain compared the the grandeur of the staircase, plain limestone carved in simple geometric patterns soft grey and pale yellow. The door too is built to lesser scale, painted a darker almost ashy grey.
"So that's how that looked like," the Archive murmurs under her breath. "I know what this is. It's her bedroom as a mortal way back when, see the lintel there, it looks like of post-Roman, I'm not sure if this is for us to read meaning into or if she's just putting herself in a recollecting sort of mood to deal with our self-avowedly humans selves," the last is said with an edge of self-deprecation, but before you can answer she knocks at the door, passes the stoic lady in waiting to be greeted by Titania though not as you had seen her in court.
The golden-white hair is tightly braided, though part of it still forms the impression of a crown woven with pearls, but the fantastical dress had been replaced with a white gap-sleeved tunic covered in a purple over-robe belted with soft leather. She is seated on a high-backed hair, its carvings almost giving the impression that they are about to take flight.
To her right, perched on a stool not quite so tall as her liege lady's seat is Lilly... wearing silver mail her hair done up to fit under a helm.. The first words she speaks confirm your suspicions: "Merry met, it gladdens my heart to see such company in these halls now that Fix and I returned from battle."
That's why I wasn't able to find her these last few days, you realize, the pieces falling in place, Lilly had offered to help deal with the infected which would also make the offer you are about to make go all the smoother even if she did come back unharmed this time. Did she coma back unharmed this time? The fear sudden fear hits you like a blow out of the blue.
Maybe you should ask? Can you with Titania and the Archive present, looking at you intendly? The chamber feels too narrow all of a sudden.
What do you do?
[] Use the Crown to make sure Lilly is still herself
[] Do not use the crown, continue explaining your gift, you can check in on her later
[] Write in
OOC: A bit short, but given what you found out I think a vote at this point is a good idea
Rolls
Figuring out the signs... nope
The Archive: Past lives and.... Damn this roll was wasted on something that only needed 3 successes to figure out something
*background rolls hidden*
Figuring out the signs... nope
The Archive: Past lives and.... Damn this roll was wasted on something that only needed 3 successes to figure out something
*background rolls hidden*
Need to head to work, so, let others figure out the vote.
Yep, she did just go out there to fight the thing and Molly was just thinking that she's a potential weak link.
I think the question comes down to if the risk of discussing our gift to Lily and any details of the exorcism that come up in front of nemesis is higher and greater than the one of all three of them learning more about the crown.
On the balance I'm more concerned about nemesis than Titania, but I'm worried about the Archive's reaction if enough detail on the crown is exposed.
It dictates how Ivy has to act to a significant degree, and the crown is an existential threat to its purpose. We can undo everything it's ever done with a single question and it can't reliably stop us from getting the foci to ask it if we want to.
Still, I'll take it. If we can't make them stop we can at least make them suffer while invading.
On the balance I'm more concerned about nemesis than Titania, but I'm worried about the Archive's reaction if enough detail on the crown is exposed.
It dictates how Ivy has to act to a significant degree, and the crown is an existential threat to its purpose. We can undo everything it's ever done with a single question and it can't reliably stop us from getting the foci to ask it if we want to.
… freaking Rakasha bullshit.
Still, I'll take it. If we can't make them stop we can at least make them suffer while invading.
Eliminating ALL of nemises in the Summer court was the goal. If the goal post moved, we should be aware. In a best case scenario we might be able to use subterfuge to not have anyone notice us using the crown, and use the scene to ask something like, "Who along the Summer court has been infected containing the infected" to get a new complete list, and not just check Lily.
[X] Use the Crown to make sure Lilly is still herself
-[X] Subterfuge excellency to make the crown look like a line of sight obvious nemesis detection ability.
--[X] Use BSM in an obvious way as part of the deception - ask for a glass of water, and pour it over yourself to look through flowing water at Lily
This burns Lily, but doesn't reveal bsm or the crown, and in fact disguises them further
-[X] Subterfuge excellency to make the crown look like a line of sight obvious nemesis detection ability.
--[X] Use BSM in an obvious way as part of the deception - ask for a glass of water, and pour it over yourself to look through flowing water at Lily
This burns Lily, but doesn't reveal bsm or the crown, and in fact disguises them further
The thing is you have no control of how your charms present, it is a very all or nothing position, if they can notice anything then they will. Any rolls are out of your hands.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Couldn't we detect Nemesis using HellScry Charka?
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Couldn't we be a bit less specific to avoid burning Lilly as a focus?
What if we used the Crown to ask which beings in this room are Nemesis agents, or better yet, ask for the names of any agents who have ever been in the presence of anyone in this room?
As for obscuring the nature of the Crown, we could simply choose to deliberately flare our Anima and make a show of carefully inspecting our surroundings. This would imply that the ability requires a visible manifestation and some degree of concentration to perceive what we're looking for.
What if we used the Crown to ask which beings in this room are Nemesis agents, or better yet, ask for the names of any agents who have ever been in the presence of anyone in this room?
As for obscuring the nature of the Crown, we could simply choose to deliberately flare our Anima and make a show of carefully inspecting our surroundings. This would imply that the ability requires a visible manifestation and some degree of concentration to perceive what we're looking for.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
We are almost certainly going to use this scene as a focus.
BoredMan
Maintaining the Agenda is our top priority
Is that the case? I don't recall it being used like that but I don't remember us trying either.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
I mean Nemesis is clearly a creature of darkness and HellScry Charka auto detects the presence of all creatures of darkness without even needing a roll. The roll is just for finding out how they are feeling.
True, which is why I am limiting this to Lily here, so our all seeing sight doesn't propagate outwatds. A perfect line of sight effect is scary, but less scary than the crown.
Maybe we could ask for a promise and offer one in turn related to the secrets any of learned here?
I don't want to give anyone the deal we gave the white god, but something to the effect of an oath to keep everything learned of each other's secrets during this meeting* to absolute privacy, to be shared or discussed with no one but their original owner by any means, and independently used or considered in no other way save the battle against the Outside.
A promise like that isn't usually worth much, but with the way fey work if they promise not to plot using certain information they legitimately can't do so. The Archive isn't fey, but making a promise like that in front of Titania and breaking it is a bold move to say the least.
This isn't to say we'd then explain ourselves, but we could use the crown and move on without quite as much concern.
* Or perhaps skirmish with the enemy, defined as the immediate effort to clear nemesis's current hosts in Summer.
I don't want to give anyone the deal we gave the white god, but something to the effect of an oath to keep everything learned of each other's secrets during this meeting* to absolute privacy, to be shared or discussed with no one but their original owner by any means, and independently used or considered in no other way save the battle against the Outside.
A promise like that isn't usually worth much, but with the way fey work if they promise not to plot using certain information they legitimately can't do so. The Archive isn't fey, but making a promise like that in front of Titania and breaking it is a bold move to say the least.
This isn't to say we'd then explain ourselves, but we could use the crown and move on without quite as much concern.
* Or perhaps skirmish with the enemy, defined as the immediate effort to clear nemesis's current hosts in Summer.
Probably best to drop the clause on how they got infected. It's possible that nemesis, nothing it was being rooted out, had outside agents infect others completely unrelated to the containment op because those people would be under more scrutiny for simply coming in contact with it.
Rather than that, how about a promise not to look at what we are doing? I am tentatively ok with Archive knowing something about the crown, and we ask fae to metaphorically blink for a second.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Because we are not yet sure that HellScry Charka works on Nemesis yet. It should by the rules, but if there was any exception Nemesis would be it.
Of course Nemesis is most of the reason we bought HC in the first place.
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BoredMan
Maintaining the Agenda is our top priority
In that case we should use HellScry first then the Crown if that doesn't work for some odd reason. No point in using the Crown first.
We wouldn't know if it didn't work. That's the issue. Positive result is conclusive, negative tells us nothing. Also, Hellscry only works on Lily and those present, not on whoever Nemesis was able to get in the Court elsewhere. But ok
And didn't Hellscry fail to work when Lash was hiding inside/behind Harry's soul?
[X] Plan: actually looking
-[X] Activate All things Betray with Willpower, Occult Excellency, and pay one willpower for additional success
-[X] Use Hellscry chakra, including the optional effect
-[X] Request Archive to cast any sensory enhancing magic she can on you
Can anyone think of a stunt? Those additional two dice wouldn't be amiss. Right now we are rolling 16 dice (3+5)*2 at DC3. DC cannot go lower per ATB rules, so there's no point in BSM or anything like that. We could probably try for WHWH somehow, but we are in the core of Summer, so that's politically very unwise and likely impossible. 16 dice, DC3, 1s don't count, is an average of 15.8 successes, plus one from willpower, for almost guaranteed >15 successes. If Hellscry chakra can work here, it will work.
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Active the charms then use the crown to find out if their are any new infected that Nemesis got into summer with the recent shakedown of its agents.
@Yog I think it only failed to work on Dresden because Lash was partially made up of dresden's Soul stuff so if she wasn't actively using her abilities she wasn't visible. I don't think that's true of nemesis because it's a whole spiritual presence embedded into another being. It may grow fond and grow to want to be the individual but it's not actually made up of or a part of them it Whispers between their thoughts it is separate.