Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
I had considered those stunts, though thinking about it whether you go or not has mechanical impact so you are right, it is relevant. This is what the vote looks like.
OK vote closed, looks like we are not going out yet
Arc 11 Post 69: In the Flash of a Demon's Eye
In the Flash of a Demon's Eye
13th of January 2007 A.D.
"I do have some preparations to make, but yes, that would be helpful, thank you. On campus, say, at 12 noon?" "Not immediately?" comes the reply "I could be at UNLV in forty minutes." Your lips purse involuntarily as you momentarily debate how much to share. "There was an older member of the Black Court in Las Vegas earlier tonight." There's a part of you that's itching to take advantage of the hours of the night, but alas it's hard to ignore one's side being more meat soup than ribs and sending Harry on his own... no, that just feels like too much of a risk with Tommy's gunmen wandering around like homing missiles.
"Yes, I shall have the elixir of memory prepared," Harrowmont answers shaken, but not as horrified as you thought he would be. Black Court vampires are rare these days, you remind yourself, and their elders rarer.
"There is no need, we have our own ways..." It is only at this point, the insights of Essence having just faded from your mind that you realize he might tale it ill. "It would be best if you are rested on the morrow, that you might make use of all your skills to aid in the investigation."
"Understood," there's an edge of frustration to the word, but not aimed squarely at you. "See you then. I'll have her schedule and I'll phone around to some of my colleagues to see if I can find out more about the odd reactions in other students."
After bidding Harrowmont farewell, though not good night, he's certainly not going back to bed, you focus your mind on the conversation that had just passed and pull from the strands of fate, such as they might be the names of Sandra's social group. Eight of them, on their own they mean nothing, but as she had done many times before Clippy starts to cross-reference
A while later just as you are finishing off your part of the 'Deluxe Buffet': Beef Tenderloin with supposedly wild mushroom sauce the report comes in, coldly succinct despite the troubling subject matter:
Jacob Cole, Jaida Porter, Kate House, analyses inconclusive.
Conclusion: 35.55% estimated probability theory: social camouflage.
Frankie Lewis, Ollie Black, Harriet Lane, Brooke Turner, all showing signs of anomalous online activity, sleep deprivation evident in images posted over the last three to five months, sudden dietary shifts, presence of occult of mixed and disordered type, breaking/fraying of existing social bonds, refusal to take apart in recreational/social events. Hobbies in common: photography 3 of 4, Animation 2 of 4, Music 4 of 4 (Note, distinction in music genre in relation to human social aggregation outside of present skill parameters). Fields of study in common philosophy 3 of 4, biology 2 of 4, chemistry 4 of 4.
Conclusion: 64.66% estimated probability that they have been instrumentalized as part of a cult/cabal,
Lost 1 Essence (Crown Question) -> Now at 6/15
Regained 6 Essence (CSR) -> Now at 12/15
Healed 2 Wound -> Now at 9/15
Still too earely to call, 03:45, too earely by far. Silk should be in, but you agree with Tiffany that it would be unwise to speak to her over the phone when she is a Red Court asset. "They are very close to the core of the onion... bomb... the exploding onion," you explain to Lydia waving around your fork. Maybe I am still a bit hungry, you admit, wondering if there is anymore of that Crème Brulee. It's not really something one can notice living at home with three square meals a day, but hunger doesn't quite feel like it used to. It comes all at once like a freight train pulling into the station whenever you have downtime between doing stuff.
"Well Mr Adkin's asleep and so's Warden Dresden after laying down some wards," your friend explains. "I think—" a yawn foreshadows her next words. "I'll turn in too."
The night passes uneventfully, until at last around seven you start to see the sun lightening though the high bathroom windows
You Regain All Essence -> Now at 15/15 (CSR and Dawn)
Healed 3 Wound -> Now at 12/15 -> Wound Penalty Removed
Lash Regains Faith -> Now at 3/3
Which group of Sandra's friends do you call?
[] The inconclusive group
-[] Write in stunt (optional)
[] The potential asset/cult group
-[] Write in stunt (optional)
[] Write in
OOC: Well you did not get attacked overnight, good for you.
Rolls
Not ruffling feathers+Stunt (One dice lost to injury) vs Opposed willpower
Cilppy and Co. to find & To Analize
*opposition rolls hidden*
Not ruffling feathers+Stunt (One dice lost to injury) vs Opposed willpower
Cilppy and Co. to find & To Analize
*opposition rolls hidden*
- Location
- Earth
I think this means Health Level "Hurt" aka 12 hours to heal on its own?
Huh, a bare success with 6vs5.
Why call any of them?
We do presumably have plenty of pictures of them from clippy&co crawling all over social media.
We can ask some questions without any risk of tipping them off.
How many do you allow us to ask?
Well you have eight people, they are as far as you can tell mundane, of eight in total over the whole group.
So she recruited a cult.
Presumably because that cult is necessary to her plans for Vegas.
Point of failure.
Still in bleach solution with ice.
So we should have gotten the benefits of BSM reducing the DC from 6 to 5
Doesnt really change the results much though.
===
We can either call and narrow down the questions we need to ask, or just waste the time.
I'd call the Inconclusive group, and see what we can get out of them; if the others have gone all weird, they almost definitely noticed.
Presumably because that cult is necessary to her plans for Vegas.
Point of failure.
Their skillsets are probably significant.
Nitpick:
Still in bleach solution with ice.
So we should have gotten the benefits of BSM reducing the DC from 6 to 5
Doesnt really change the results much though.
===
Because we have to heal first before we leave the hotel.
We can either call and narrow down the questions we need to ask, or just waste the time.
I'd call the Inconclusive group, and see what we can get out of them; if the others have gone all weird, they almost definitely noticed.
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Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Those skill sets also feel like they were deliberately curated by Sandra for a specific purpose. Not sure exactly what that may be, since there are so many possibilities, but I'm leaning toward social engineering.
Hell, she could just be putting together an Outsider-tainted band to spread the corruption.
They all have Chemistry 4, Biology 2, and Sandra herself was taking organic chemistry classes involving lab work.
Odds are they are making drugs, whether hallucinogens or hypnotics or something similar, and whatever magic ritual they intend to use to crack shit open involves a ton of mental-state altering drugs being delivered somehow to a significant number of people, and then exploiting their reaction somehow .
Thats supported by the Music 4, Animation 3, Photography 2 skills also on their character sheets, which help you stage a scene or production for others to see.
If I had to guess, since its Vegas the target is a big casino, not a stadium.Casinos already pipe in oxygen to their gaming floors and manipulate the music and conditions, all to keep people gambling. And the biggest ones have more than 150,000 square feet of gaming space, and hundreds, if not thousands of people gambling at a time.
So if you have the access, swap out oxygen for aerosolized drugs, change the music and effects, and you might be able to bootstrap yourself the proper conditions for a big magic ritual.
Furthermore, it has some uncomfortable symmetry with what happened in Chicago at Splattercon.
Where the final fetch attack on the convention included shutting down the lights, then having a couple fetches do their best horror movie mass murderer impressions, sending crowds into a screaming panic.
Which casino is the question. But the Crown will probably answer that.
- Location
- Germany
Pretty sure those numbers where not skill-numbers, but shared classes.
So basically 4 of the 4 have Chemistry as a Course, 2 of the 4 have BIology and so on. Not all of them everything.
This is accurate, the cyberdevils cannot read sheets.
Music + visual arts + philosophy makes me lean toward some kind of movie or tv show. Chemistry being involved though is another thing... Makes me lean toward hypnosis in combination. Maybe a gas to make people suggestible accompanied by some kind of show to make people unwittingly participate in a ritual?
There are a lot of indoor shows in Vegas. She'd want a big one with a big screen to do the show on.
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VOTE
[X] The inconclusive group
-[X] Impersonate a doctor doing contact tracing for potential exposure to contaminated street drugs.
-[X] All Things Betray + Empathy Excellency + Etiquette Excellency + Boiling Sea Mastery + Without Honor: 3m
-[X] STUNT: A thoroughly irritated young male voice answers your spoofed number on the tenth ring. "Whatever you're selling, Im not goddamn buying. Jesus." You cut him off before he can slam the phone, projecting authority at him by voice alone. "Dr Elizabeth Cuddy, University Medical Center's ER department. Are you Chris Taub?"
RATIONALE
I dont think Molly will lose any sleep implying to people that Sandra may have been dealing drugs to her "fellow" students.
And doctors generally get to exploit authority dynamics without being automatically seen as likely to screw you over.
[X] The inconclusive group
-[X] Impersonate a doctor doing contact tracing for potential exposure to contaminated street drugs.
-[X] All Things Betray + Empathy Excellency + Etiquette Excellency + Boiling Sea Mastery + Without Honor: 3m
-[X] STUNT: A thoroughly irritated young male voice answers your spoofed number on the tenth ring. "Whatever you're selling, Im not goddamn buying. Jesus." You cut him off before he can slam the phone, projecting authority at him by voice alone. "Dr Elizabeth Cuddy, University Medical Center's ER department. Are you Chris Taub?"
RATIONALE
I dont think Molly will lose any sleep implying to people that Sandra may have been dealing drugs to her "fellow" students.
And doctors generally get to exploit authority dynamics without being automatically seen as likely to screw you over.
- Location
- Germany
On the positive side, maybe we can get some of the cultists to join our film-studio later.
Freshmen undergrads. Unlikely.
We're going to have enough trouble saving their lives if its at all possible.
BoredMan
Maintaining the Agenda is our top priority
We'd get these motes back because we are still healing in the bathtub right?
Thats the plan.
Does Molly know her more significant demons by name as part of her hell info dump? If we wanted to try parallelizing our efforts getting him to call them up and then negotiating with them while we're in the room confirming that we want them to play nice seems like a tempting play. Going to the FCF so we can get a list would potentially mess with things though, depending on the timing.
I have another thing too @uju32 - even if we accept the idea that Sandra is by some means immune there's still a vulnerability. Her cultists.
We wouldn't want it to be as permanent or nasty, but they're clearly doing something for her and are otherwise in her proximity. If one of them is cursed to catastrophically fuck up anything they try to contribute towards that would hit her operations. How carefully do you suppose she's been policing them for stuff like that?
I have another thing too @uju32 - even if we accept the idea that Sandra is by some means immune there's still a vulnerability. Her cultists.
We wouldn't want it to be as permanent or nasty, but they're clearly doing something for her and are otherwise in her proximity. If one of them is cursed to catastrophically fuck up anything they try to contribute towards that would hit her operations. How carefully do you suppose she's been policing them for stuff like that?
I have an idea for a very ... blunt approach:
1. We ask the crown where we could find a magical foci Harry could use for sympathetic magic on Sandra
2. We retrieve it.
3. We use the new foci ask the crown what Sandra's (travel) itinerary is for the day
4. We use THAT to get close to her and then Harry's tracking magic to keep her from slipping away
1. We ask the crown where we could find a magical foci Harry could use for sympathetic magic on Sandra
2. We retrieve it.
3. We use the new foci ask the crown what Sandra's (travel) itinerary is for the day
4. We use THAT to get close to her and then Harry's tracking magic to keep her from slipping away
You could provide somehow who knows summoning and warding or the appropriate rote such names yes