Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
ExWoD specifies that he's super dead right now; that crown vision showed us the identity of a person we were looking for not his current state. It came up in the follow up questions to that chapter.
The bit about the wyld is harder to say, but something in the Outside has clearly seriously changed to the point where it's at least a question. If the Outside was just the wyld as it was and regular Rakasha were still running around then we'd see very different behavior from the Outsiders.
Turning to the matter of actually getting the cup back, we're going to need to work out a safe way to interact with Demonreach. We don't know about the Warden stuff IC and it's a maximum security prison for shit like what Molly feels like to supernatural senses.
I'd rather not get stuck in a box by something that can actually keep us there despite all our bullshit.
I'd rather not get stuck in a box by something that can actually keep us there despite all our bullshit.
Vote closed.
Pedantically: it doesn't. It specifically says that Malfean Neverborn might still be around:
And this might well not apply to this quest.
This isnt an Exalted cross, its an Exalted vs World of Darkness cross.
And this is what we were told at the very beginning of the story:
ExWoD p10-11 said:
Whatever Malfeas and the Yozi were splintered into, we couldnt put them back together.442 said:
Thats well outside our capabilities.
Or frankly that of the First Age Solar Deliberative.
I try to assume that even when I violently disagree with someone else, that they are arguing in good faith.
Please do me the courtesy of assuming the same.
Thank you.
Arc 13 Post 31: Names Old and New
Names Old and New
7th of February 2007 A.D.
This is dangerous, you know. This is very, very dangerous and not just for the obvious face-melting reasons. Any place, nameless or otherwise that needs a battering ram this powerful to break into is liable to be harder by far to enter than Caer Sindi and God alone knows what's in there that the Denarians would want to loose. Yet you cannot just turn your face away, for all the dangers there's a right thing to do here, not just for Embermane's broken self, but for your friends, your family, Harry and the whole city of Chicago. While he is here and in this state he might still be taken advantage of by those who would do evil. "I will seek your cup Ancient One, east we will travel, but to find all ends we will need more than one direction."
"Directions are illusion, a trick of perspective," the fire crackles waspishly, you'll take that over incandescent rage any day. "Ask your questions herald."
Herald? Oh, you had just introduced Harry hadn't you? For one who's struggling to keep others in mind the title would seem as good as any other. Each word weighed carefully to rouse his remaining graces you ask: "What was the name of the tool and the one who used it? Which of the Thirty has transgressed so flagrantly against you?"
"I did not hear the Name, but the flame-given gifted it to me for the undoing of his foes." Lines of fire drip upwards from its many eyes, like molten lead into an invisible mold, an unfamiliar angelic seal.
Tilting your head back and affixing your mind to the almost-Enochian you speak you're able to read it plain as day: Eschtamidel.
"I will give you the name of the mortal, though it will serve you not at all," the spirit continues, his thickening breath a cloud of noxious vapors that forces Harry to conjue wind to shield himself. "Samuel Maskelyne."
"Why is that no good?" the wizard in question asks.
"He did not outlive becoming the epicenter of my rage. The vessel of his master was beyond my power to disturb so I hurled it as far and as fast as I could to at least inflict upon him the inconvenience of distance."
"What of the sacrificed, bringer of valued tidings? What name bore he?" you press, even though that first name gives you a bit of a hint. That is a name for someone who lived in Chicago, the city, though that still gives you centuries to work with it's less than the two thousand years the involvement of the Denarians would imply.
"A... priest... a servant of the One in White. Murphy... yes that was it, Father Murphy, though not just for his own children."
"Is there anything left of either of them?" Harry asks the question one might expect of both a wizard and a detective.
"No," The mountain shakes, restive in its struggles to recall the hour of its maiming, but vengeance and perhaps hope animate it. "The flesh was given to the fire and each was taken: the first dragged down, the second greeted by the One in White and taken Beyond. Of those fates I can say no more."
"When did this happen, when the city was still much of wood or when it was stone?" you adjust the question to what the names already reveal.
"Of wood it was and wood burns bright." Odds of it being the Great Fire are only getting better... or at least more likely, you're not sure if 'better' is the word.
The next obvious question comes to mind. "What do you know of the island?"
"Only what I have told you, only what I have been told. I dare not go near lest my desire to be whole overtakes me," the fire crackles low, the eyes begin to close, as the will that had driven it first to rage then conviction is starting to fade. "Mayhap the wind in the North knows more."
Where do you head to now?
[] East to the prison right away
[] Back to mortal Chicago, you know where the Great Fire was said to have started and you have at least one name that must have belonged to a local, check that information
[] North to the Empty Roost, the spirits dwelling there are described as being gripped by the sorrow than wrath, maybe there's something you can do to help or at least some agreement you can reach with them on borders in the Nevernever
[] Write in
OOC: Enjoy
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Rolls
Argument
How well does he remember? One answer per success... that is one determined Raksha
SSC (personal) to read the seal
Argument
How well does he remember? One answer per success... that is one determined Raksha
SSC (personal) to read the seal
Ok, let's think about it. Going to the North requires Lydia, if I understand correctly. @DragonParadox do I understand correctly that spirits there are either ghosts or something ghost-adjacent, given their previous description:
?
Yes, that is literally the description you got from the spirits of mystery
COMMENTARY
-Apropos of nothing?
Nevile Maskelyne was the 5th Royal Astronomer of the UK, and a magician who died in 1811.
Nevil Maskelyne - Wikipedia
There's also a different Maskelyne family, also British, that produced 3 stage magicians in different generations:
=John Nevile Maskelyne (1829-1917)
=Nevile Maskelyne(1863-1924)
=Jasper Maskelyne(1902-1973)
Might be relevant might not.
-The Great Chicago Fire was October 8-10, 1871.
Twelve years before Ebenezer blew up Krakatoa in 1883.
Eighteen years before Donald Morgan was born in 1889.
Im not sure that they are related events to the matter we're facing.
Specifically, Im not seeing any reason why the Denarian who tried this would have waited until October to do it and still have done it outside Halloween.
-Eschtamidel is a non-canon Denarian.
Tiffany should know of him though, and might know his bearer at the time.
I will note that this particular Fallen has been name dropped before in this quest as someone with a fondness for fire:
Tiffany might have some idea when Eschamidel lost this particular host.Sanya's Interlude said:
Or what the fuck he was trying to accomplish.
=====
Father Murphy, OTOH, makes things easier.
The Catholic Church has records of who its priests are, and I am pretty sure that even if we cant find him online, Father Forthill can tell us when he served the church.And when he vanished, which would give us a RL date.
Given that he knew of Demonreach, he was probably working in the Church's Ordo Malleus.
And if he knew of Demonreach, the Church does as well. So Molly can probably use a scene with Father Forthill as a Crown focus to learn what the Church knows/knew about Demonreach.
Hell, she can probably use a scene with Harry to learn what the White Council knows about Demonreach.
I WILL point out that the name of the priest is suggestive, given that everything appears to have.
Ten to one Father Murphy was from the Murphy clan.
Karrin Murphy's family.
It doesnt require her.
It would make things easier, but Molly has Demonic Primacy, and the dead are Creatures of Darkness.
She can probably manage just fine.
That said, I am not aware of any immediate urgency that would make Molly press on without at least calling Lydia to see if she was interested.
Oh right... I did not mention it did I? In this world the Great Chicago Fire happened on Halloween
Ah.Oh right... I did not mention it did I? In this world the Great Chicago Fire happened on Halloween
So the Darkhallow fuckery two Halloweens ago was only the latest in a long line of attempts to play fuckfuck games in the Chicago area on Halloween.
That settles it then.
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VOTE
[X] Back to mortal Chicago, you know where the Great Fire was said to have started and you have at least one name that must have belonged to a local, check that information
-[X] Crown Question: What does the White Council know about the Nameless Island. Focus: Current scene with Harry Dresden, warden regional commander for the Eastern United States.
RATIONALE
Talk to the specialists.
Talk to Forthill and Michael about Father Murphy, and Tiffany about Eschamidel.
And bring in Lydia before going to the North.
Crown Question about Demonreach, using the current scene with Harry as a focus.
He's a significant figure in the White Council, and he's supposed to be responsible for the Eastern US, which includes Demonreach. That makes scenes with him an applicable focus.
Of course, Harry is the person who named the island in canon. Prior to that it didnt have a name.
Alfred, the spirit of the island, didnt have a name either.
[X] Back to mortal Chicago, you know where the Great Fire was said to have started and you have at least one name that must have belonged to a local, check that information
-[X] Crown Question using the current scene: What are the Rules the Nameless Island is operating under?
@DragonParadox is this question valid, or would something narrower be better? If needed, I'll add "in regards to visitors and prisoners, their acquisition, holding and release conditions".
-[X] Crown Question using the current scene: What are the Rules the Nameless Island is operating under?
@DragonParadox is this question valid, or would something narrower be better? If needed, I'll add "in regards to visitors and prisoners, their acquisition, holding and release conditions".
Why this question? It adds separation where none is required. Harry can ask around by himself, without using the Crown question. Better to learn how the thing operates from the absolute perspective - I am betting White Council doesn't have all the details.
That does not work unfortunately, the island has been mentioned, but specifically in the context of him not knowing much about it. You could ask under what conditions the Grace is kept since you are looking at the rest of the same being, but nothing about the island in general
-Applicable foci.
Embermane is not an applicable foci for the Nameless Island.
Especially since Embermane outright says he knows nothing else about the place. The White Council usually supplies the person who acts as Warden; they almost definitely know the most about the place.
When we meet Father Forthill, we'll use the scene with him as a focus to learn what the Catholic Church knows about it.
-White Council information on Demonreach is restricted. Really restricted.
Probably more restricted than things like "the White Council has a hitman".
Even after bonding Demonreach in canon, Dresden knew next to nothing about the island itself until the island told him about it. Nobody in the know on the Senior Council or among the senior wizards called him and talked to him about it or the place, not even his grandfather or the Gatekeeper.
I dont expect that will change now; he goes looking, he'll find nothing.
And have to answer questions.
-Demonreach was built by the first Merlin.
The people who know the most about this place, the people who have the most written records, are almost definitely wizards.
Ok. So, something like this "What are the rules under which the Embermane's Grace was acquired, is kept and can be released"? It's a single question, since those are all part of the same ruleset.
Demonreach was built by Merlin violating the hell out of the Laws. I am unsure how much of the design he shared or recorded, and how much wasn't intentionally distorted.
Not for the island as a whole, but for ruleset under which it's being held? Should work. Better to use something of Harry's to learn what White Council knows, a pair of Tiffany's shoes to learn what Denarians know, etc. Those, while useful, are still separated and distorted and not using the cron to its fullest potential, I feel, though. Useful to ask, but we can do better.
Yep that would give you something about those rules.
Did he? The Laws quite likely didnt exist when he built this place.
The Blackstaff has served the White Council almost since its establishment, and its literally his job to break the Laws.
Furthermore, the White Council has provided Wardens for the island pretty regularly for at least a thousand years. Thats a thousand years of different wizards serving, gathering information and experience.
And you cant run a mystical prison without knowing the operating manual at bare minimum.
Thats why my question is : What the White Council as a whole knows. Not "what a single person knows".
Thats something we can use a scene with Demonreach to determine.
If necessary, we can go away, come back to Demonreach later and use a fresh scene as a focus; scenes are renewable resources. We dont really need physical foci for this.
And like I said above, the operating manual/guidelines have to be known to the wizards who are expected to be guardians for this place, and when necessary, to imprison new threats. There had to be a Warden to have imprisoned the Grace in the first place; if not, the Grace is probably lying somewhere on the island. They are physical objects after all.
Assuming this was linked to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, then this would have been around Kemmler's tenure as Warden, either during or just before/after.
We dont know which of his deaths was when he lost guardianship.
We need to curse the shit out of ritual magic for Halloween and the whole week leading up to it or something, because a historical pattern of apocalypse plots in one city is bullshit.
- Location
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Is the grace referring to the entities good graces, or a physical or incorporal object that has true faith with it?