BoredMan
Maintaining the Agenda is our top priority
Last one.Fixed, including the British thing that I did not realize was British
It's "then" because it's talking about time.
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
Vote closed.
Arc 14 Post 31: Foundations Quake
Foundations Quake
18th of February 2007 A.D.
"My people are already guarding one, a second one won't change much."
"Doubt it," Morgan says sharply, sword half drawn.
"We'll put him in a coma!"
Things are about to get more complicated, but Tiffany takes the moment of distraction to grab the warlock's wrist. She shivers head to toe, but doesn't fall. Instead his eyes go wild as he looks at McCoy. "Do you know what's going to happen now that you brought your freak show to town? They'll tear down the supports, open up the Hall, wizard war in the streets! But that's alright, you won't be killing any of them with your own hands right? That's the only law that matters, it's the only fucking thing that matters!"
"What...?" McCoy starts to ask, though he never gets an answer as Tiffany squeezes tighter around the warl... around Antonio's wrist. Now even I'm doing it, 'acceptable targets'.
He goes down like a sack of potatoes, leaving you with more questions than answers.
Before anyone can interrupt Sophia breathes out and out and out. Her breath becomes a thing unseen and manifest, a spirit of the winds to carry the prisoner back to the gym.
Maybe to offer another distraction Lydia clears her throat. "I don't think he was controlled but rather convinced. He thought, still thinks there's something worth dying for here."
"Those who deal with Outsiders soon find they have nothing worth living for," Zadock says with just a hint of condescension for the silver haired girl who doesn't seem to notice or maybe just doesn't care.
"He was irrational, on the verge of willfully crossing over in the hopes of compelling us to keep him company then he blurted out a name he shouldn't have and finally antagonistic but coherent. The reactions are too genuine for a thrall, too chaotic for a true believer but rather something in between. If we could pull out his soul to talk... "
"Later, come on!" you call, reflecting that at least Lydia had drawn the wizard's wary eyes to her.
For all your elan you do not know where the nearest entrance to the Halls even is, closer to the castle on its lonely perch so soon enough it's McCoy and Morgan in the lead again, though you stick close to them in case they trip another trap, but none is forthcoming. Electric lights cling to the edges of rough-hewn stone, the sound of voices and music both in the air far off. Somewhere to your left a car streaks by, speeding up.
"He'll just think it's cosplay," you say as much for your own sake as the others as Morgan turns an old rusted key that looks to be decorative, part of the wall or maybe having served its purpose in some bygone era. Instead of opening the wall though as you had half expected turning the key makes a large stone plaque to your right open in the ground on well oiled hinges.
You were in... now all you need to do is find the traitor. On the one hand using your Crown to navigate would give you a direct path to were he is right this moment, but on the other you cannot help but worry of all the times you demonstrated a 'skill for divination'. Most the terms of the equation are there if they care to look and you very much worry that your present company is good at this sort of math. The walls shake, once and then again twice in quick succession.
And on the third hand you might be running out of time. The words of your second prisoner come back all too sharply. 'Tear down the supports...'
What are the plans of the consipiracy? You look down at the copper tube in your hands.
Tear down the Hall. Kill the brave and drive out the craven. The answer is stark and terribile. If no one stops this the Hidden Halls will not stay hidden long.
Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 9/18
Regained 2 Essence -> Now at 11/18 (Urge)
What do you do?
[] Split up, you and the Circle look for the source of the tremors the wizards try to find more of the Senior Council
[] Head right for the Senion Council Chambers
[] Use your Crown again.
-[] Write in questions
[] Write in
OOC: For once you were lucky with the background dice and did not find anymore trouble in town.
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Rolls
Body Control vs Willpower
Second Go: Body Control vs Willpower
Reading the reaction: Tiffany, Lydia
...Molly does not need to roll after that.
Body Control vs Willpower
Second Go: Body Control vs Willpower
Reading the reaction: Tiffany, Lydia
...Molly does not need to roll after that.
Yes, just edited it in, you even got more essence than you put in but... it's not good news.
Literal explosions in the actual rock along with taking down the enchantments that would prevent that from happening.
Good night guys, see you tomorrow as Molly tries to make sure the seat of the White Council does not crumble in a prelude to the rest of it doing the same
- Location
- Canada
Ah shit. Peabody fled in canon, but here it seems he's planning to fight it out, along with every minion and traitor he's got, since he probably knows you can't keep secrets from Molly. So all the Black Council members that laid low in canon because nobody knew who they were, are gonna go guns blazing and take as many wizards down with them as they can.
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Didn't we tell Odin, and he say he'd tell Arthur?
I have a hard time seeing how they'd rip up the wards while the leader of the council is literally a warding specialist and aware of the problem. Especially because the whole point of the grave peril plotline was predicated on needing external actors to do that.
If the conspiracy was able to break the council in this manner they should have done it years ago. Yeah sure they're super paranoid about losing the opportunity, but if they're able to smuggle arbitrary amounts of explosives and position people to break centuries of wards on short notice it strains credulity to believe they'd be as indirect as they are.
It's been less than 6 hours and only a handful of people knew what was about to happen. How is the council more screwed than it was in canon? Especially with the grey council counter conspiracy being a thing.
The gross incompetence of the council in all things at all times across this plotline is verging on parody.
However we got here, at this point we're far enough into crisis mode that I'm willing to risk more crown exposure. The traitors somehow destroying the hidden halls would be catastrophic.
I have a hard time seeing how they'd rip up the wards while the leader of the council is literally a warding specialist and aware of the problem. Especially because the whole point of the grave peril plotline was predicated on needing external actors to do that.
If the conspiracy was able to break the council in this manner they should have done it years ago. Yeah sure they're super paranoid about losing the opportunity, but if they're able to smuggle arbitrary amounts of explosives and position people to break centuries of wards on short notice it strains credulity to believe they'd be as indirect as they are.
It's been less than 6 hours and only a handful of people knew what was about to happen. How is the council more screwed than it was in canon? Especially with the grey council counter conspiracy being a thing.
The gross incompetence of the council in all things at all times across this plotline is verging on parody.
However we got here, at this point we're far enough into crisis mode that I'm willing to risk more crown exposure. The traitors somehow destroying the hidden halls would be catastrophic.
[X] Split up, you and the Circle look for the source of the tremors the wizards try to find more of the Senior Council
The important part is not "tear down the Halls". It's "Wizard War in the streets". This is another attempt at catastrophically breaking down maquerade. We seriously need to start preparing for this eventuality. The way it goes, there's going to be something within the year, two at most, that just won't be possible to conceal.
The important part is not "tear down the Halls". It's "Wizard War in the streets". This is another attempt at catastrophically breaking down maquerade. We seriously need to start preparing for this eventuality. The way it goes, there's going to be something within the year, two at most, that just won't be possible to conceal.
I am fairly sure Lydia is onto something here, and I am a bit surprised the wizards aren't really affected by her royal bearing.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
It won't. A wizard war in the streets will fry every recording devise for miles around. Yes there will be a bunch of eyewitnesses, but that just means another urban legend in a city that has been the center of the white council for centuries. There are already tones of urban legends here to explain why people are making up this one.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
So, hypothetically speaking, how much trouble do y'all think it would be if we had to replace the governing apparatus of the White Council because most of them got killed?
We could import personnel from Sanctuary, interface with surviving wizards who prove cooperative, and hand out IDU empowerments to a few select individuals.
We could import personnel from Sanctuary, interface with surviving wizards who prove cooperative, and hand out IDU empowerments to a few select individuals.
COMMENTARY
Warden zero-tolerance instincts come to the fore.
This is one of those times that demonstrates these are meaningful decisions; when the QM offers an option to interfere in whether a person lives or dies, there are often knockon effects down the line.
Im getting the impression that Peabody has been spreading quiet lies among parts of the wizard population, sprinkled with portions of the truth and a liberal dosage of mind control magics.
Im guessing Odin didnt get through to Langtry in time, did he?
This wouldnt be going down as it is if the rest of the Senior Council, or even any of the senior wizards like Montjoy, Gomez, Luciozzi, Schneider or Klaus was in the Halls and active. Or maybe they are in the Halls and....indisposed.
*checks Summer Knight and sees how Wardens seal wizard meeting rooms from the outside before meetings start*
*remembers that Peabody has mindcontrolled a lot of serving Wardens including the Captain*
We need to get to the Senior Council rooms.
I suspect they are going to need one or more people with superhuman counterspelling capacity right the fuck quick.
=====
Never split the party.
Our entire authority for Molly's Circle being here in the Hidden Halls as friends instead of invaders is that we are in the company of duly authorized, senior, respected Council members. Carlos is too young to have the respect regardless of title, Harry is...controversial, and their boss is Luccio who is mindcontrolled.
Without them, entirely innocent wizards would be reasonable to attack the rest of us on sight.
Especially since the War Weavers are notably inhuman, which might be a cool esthetic in isolation, but have negative PR when you are trying to reassure nervous people about your friendliness in a stressful situation.
We dont want to have to cut our way through a bunch of misinformed wizards as meatshields. Thats why we brought Morgan and McCoy. Splitting up and leaving them behind is dumb.
Also, the old guard Wardens with us are demonstrably notably zero-tolerance, and it might be necessary to have Molly present to force people to consider stepping back, taking a breath and reassessing shit.
Else we're going to have unnecessary casualties, or lose priceless intelligence.
Odin's messenger didnt make it in time.
Or Langtry didnt realize how far up the infiltration went.
Peabody is the Senior Council secretary; he would receive any messenger before they got to the Merlin.
Dont you remember that McCoy said he almost got time trapped in the NeverNever?
What do you think are the odds that the conspiracy invested that much effort in researching and creating something like that and were only going to use it on one Senior Council member?
How difficult would it have been for a trusted functionary to wait for them to assemble for an emergency meeting with a courier from Odin and then set it off? Or to do it during a meeting with a lot of other wizards, and blame it on anoth
This is pretty close to what happened in Turn Coat with the mistwraith, only here they have no warning.
There might even be more than just Senior Council wizards in said trap.
From Summer Knight's Council meeting:
The Wardhound growled again and then appeared to lose interest, pacing back over to sit down beside its mate, suddenly inanimate again.
I turned my eyes to Morgan and stared at him, hard. "Satisfied?" I asked him.
For a second I thought he would meet my gaze. Then he shoved my staff back at me as he turned away. "You're a disgrace, Dresden. Look at yourself. Because of you, good men and women have died. Today you will be called to answer for it."
I tied the bandage back on as best I could and gritted my teeth to keep from telling Morgan to take a long walk off a short cliff. Then I brushed past the Wardens and stalked into the theater.
Morgan watched me go, then said to his partner, "Close the circle." He followed me into the theater, shutting the door behind him, even as I felt the sudden, silent tension of the Wardens closing the circle around the building, shutting it off from any supernatural access.
I hadn't ever actually seen a meeting of the Council—not like this. The sheer variety of it all was staggering, and I stood staring for several moments, taking it in.
The space was a dinner theater of only moderate size, lit by nothing more than a few candles on each table. The room wouldn't have been crowded for a matinee, but as a gathering place for wizards it was positively swamped. The tables on the floor of the theater were almost completely filled with black-robed wizards, variously sporting stoles of blue, gold, and scarlet. Apprentices in their muddy-brown robes lurked at the fringes of the crowd, standing along the walls or crouching on the floor beside their mentors' chairs.
The variety of humanity represented in the theater was startling. Canted Oriental eyes, dark, rich skins of Africa, pale Europeans, men and women, ancient and young, long and short hair, beards long enough to tuck into belts, beards wispy enough to be stirred by a passing breeze. The theater buzzed in dozens of languages, of which I could identify only a fraction. Wizards laughed and scowled, smiled and stared blankly, sipped from flasks and soda cans and cups or sat with eyes closed in meditation. The scents of spices and perfumes and chemicals all blended together into something pervasive, always changing, and the auras of so many practitioners of the Art seemed to be feeling just as social, reaching out around the room to touch upon other auras, to echo or strike dissonance with their energies, tangible enough to feel without even trying. It was like walking through drifting cobwebs that were constantly brushing against my cheeks and eyelashes—not dangerous but disconcerting, each one wildly unique, utterly different from the next.
The only thing the wizards had in common was that none of them looked as scruffy as me.
A roped-off section at the far right of the hall held the envoys of various organizations of allies and supernatural interests, most of whom I had only a vague idea about. Wardens stood here and there where they could overlook the crowd, grey cloaks conspicuous amid the black and scattered brown ones—but somehow I doubted they were as obtrusive as my own faded blue-and-white flannel. I garnered offended looks from nearly everyone I walked past—mostly white-haired old wizard folk. One or two apprentices nearer my own age covered their mouths as I went past, hiding grins. I looked around for an open chair, but I didn't spot one, until I saw Ebenezar wave at me from a table in the front row of the theater, nearest the stage. He nodded at the seat next to him. It was the only place available, and I joined him.
On the theater stage stood seven podiums, and at six of them stood members of the Senior Council, in dark robes with purple stoles. Injun Joe Listens to Wind and Martha Liberty stood at two.
I turned my eyes to Morgan and stared at him, hard. "Satisfied?" I asked him.
For a second I thought he would meet my gaze. Then he shoved my staff back at me as he turned away. "You're a disgrace, Dresden. Look at yourself. Because of you, good men and women have died. Today you will be called to answer for it."
I tied the bandage back on as best I could and gritted my teeth to keep from telling Morgan to take a long walk off a short cliff. Then I brushed past the Wardens and stalked into the theater.
Morgan watched me go, then said to his partner, "Close the circle." He followed me into the theater, shutting the door behind him, even as I felt the sudden, silent tension of the Wardens closing the circle around the building, shutting it off from any supernatural access.
I hadn't ever actually seen a meeting of the Council—not like this. The sheer variety of it all was staggering, and I stood staring for several moments, taking it in.
The space was a dinner theater of only moderate size, lit by nothing more than a few candles on each table. The room wouldn't have been crowded for a matinee, but as a gathering place for wizards it was positively swamped. The tables on the floor of the theater were almost completely filled with black-robed wizards, variously sporting stoles of blue, gold, and scarlet. Apprentices in their muddy-brown robes lurked at the fringes of the crowd, standing along the walls or crouching on the floor beside their mentors' chairs.
The variety of humanity represented in the theater was startling. Canted Oriental eyes, dark, rich skins of Africa, pale Europeans, men and women, ancient and young, long and short hair, beards long enough to tuck into belts, beards wispy enough to be stirred by a passing breeze. The theater buzzed in dozens of languages, of which I could identify only a fraction. Wizards laughed and scowled, smiled and stared blankly, sipped from flasks and soda cans and cups or sat with eyes closed in meditation. The scents of spices and perfumes and chemicals all blended together into something pervasive, always changing, and the auras of so many practitioners of the Art seemed to be feeling just as social, reaching out around the room to touch upon other auras, to echo or strike dissonance with their energies, tangible enough to feel without even trying. It was like walking through drifting cobwebs that were constantly brushing against my cheeks and eyelashes—not dangerous but disconcerting, each one wildly unique, utterly different from the next.
The only thing the wizards had in common was that none of them looked as scruffy as me.
A roped-off section at the far right of the hall held the envoys of various organizations of allies and supernatural interests, most of whom I had only a vague idea about. Wardens stood here and there where they could overlook the crowd, grey cloaks conspicuous amid the black and scattered brown ones—but somehow I doubted they were as obtrusive as my own faded blue-and-white flannel. I garnered offended looks from nearly everyone I walked past—mostly white-haired old wizard folk. One or two apprentices nearer my own age covered their mouths as I went past, hiding grins. I looked around for an open chair, but I didn't spot one, until I saw Ebenezar wave at me from a table in the front row of the theater, nearest the stage. He nodded at the seat next to him. It was the only place available, and I joined him.
On the theater stage stood seven podiums, and at six of them stood members of the Senior Council, in dark robes with purple stoles. Injun Joe Listens to Wind and Martha Liberty stood at two.
Yeah, but I expect a decent level of competence both ways - Peabody should have a decent idea of what he might be able to get away with with some error to account for is incomplete knowledge of who is aware of what.
Knowing you've been made by at least some people and going for explosive implies he already has or can easily smuggle in high power explosives and thinks he can move them around freely. Further, that he has the right people in the right places to collapse the magical defenses entirely on demand.
For that to be the case I'd expect him to reasonably be able to do it under normal circumstances too. Perhaps it's a highly risky play even then, but rushing things doesn't make them more stable. That the plan hasn't changed implies he's still going strong.
If his plan was to assassinate as many critical wizards as he could while smuggling out key information, opening the doors to a major power who could do more damage, or something like that I'd understand. This is just crazy.
Remember that we took out the observation wizard before asking this question. Which means Peabody should know McCoy is literally at the door and still thinks he can do this.
I wasn't joking when I said this feels like parody. The council dropped the ball pretty hard here in canon, but this situation feels like the conspiracy gets a presumption of competence where we don't know precisely what they were doing but the council is obligated to suck at everything unless someone is holding their hand.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Not going to happen the Senior council are both the only people are we are sure not infiltrated and the least likely to die.
We named names to Peabody; Odin knew exactly who he was dealing with.
Being able to completely sabotage the entire senior council and outplay Odin without raising any alarms before proceeding to bomb the Hidden Halls out of existence is exactly the ridiculous hypercompetence I was just talking about.
I mean seriously, secretly turning their entire meeting room into a magical prison? Trapping the entire senior council inside without recourse for any period of time? Circles aren't unbeatable, that's why the Loup Garou in canon had a fancy one with extra stuff specifically to deal with mixed magical and physical creatures, and why Harry had to wrestle the Erlking after summoning him.
If he could do something like this without even a quarter of his conspiracy able to actively help right now why hasn't he been making bigger moves?
He's very good, but that doesn't mean everyone else should be ineffectual idiots.
Arianna Ortega paralyzed the White Council with a covert bioweapon in Changes, delivered under flag of truce.
And then subsequent intra-Council turmoil meant Harry could call on not a single wizard for help during Chitchen Itza, and the Grey Council had to act autonomously.
There's precedent for this, is what Im saying.
Parts of canon were a close run thing. If the Merlin had fumbled a split second in Turn Coat when the mistwraith showed up, if Peabody had been more interested in destruction than survival, if there had been two or more inkwells, he could have decapitated the Senior Council and killed a significant chunk of the adult wizard population.
Never mind the events of Dead Beat.
The same thing happened to the White Court in White Knight.
And to the Red Court in Proven Guilty.
So its not a Council exclusive failing. Noone's perfect.
If we did, that wouldnt mean that Odin would pass on uncorroborated intel.
Especially since we were trying to keep the Crown secret, and he was trying to keep to the spirit of our wishes.
However, we did NOT tell him about Peabody.
We told him the same shit we told Carlos. And we didnt tell Carlos about Peabody.
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If Peabody specifically could do this then it throws lots of other plot points into question. Grave Peril happened specifically for the sake of getting someone strong enough to break the Hidden Halls.
Also, I have no idea what you're talking about with the chemical weapon thing. The reds used that sort of thing on wardens in the field, but I don't recall that being what was going on in Changes. Looking at the wiki for the book I see no mention of it, but instead gave the explanation that the council refused to support his request for a duel because the reds were offering to have peace talks.
The council never shows up because they're officially engaged in those and don't want to screw them up. Harry only ever tells the grey council about what he's doing.
The wiki isn't perfect, but that's a huge plot point to miss.
Canon was close in parts, but not like this. The mist fiend couldn't have practically done enough damage to compare to losing the halls.
It's not actually clear because the vote doesn't specify and we give a vague longer account to him. I thought that included names.
Even if it didn't the trap we saw him trigger failed. I don't buy that he could catch every other wizard alive like that, especially if Odin is sending the message with the understanding that an unknown number of traitors are active inside the council.
If the council was this fundamentally incapable they'd have already choked to death on their tongues trying to walk and talk at the same time ages ago.
He's supposed to have compromised some things and influence over a lot more, not have arbitrary levels of control over the council's key assets and security.
VOTE
[X] Head right for the Senior Council Chambers
-[X]Molly: All Things Betray: 1m
-[X]Tiffany: Lore of Flesh 3(Perception) + Lore of Awareness 3(if necessary): 0
-[X]Sophia: Secret of Gaia + Sense The Unnatural: 1WP
STATUS
Molly: 10/18m, 7/9WP
Sophia: 12/14WP
Tiffany: 3/3 Faith
Olivia: 3/5 Mana, 3/3 Demon Chi
Lydia: 11/8m
RATIONALE
Dont split the party.
We have no authority to be here with a war party absent Deputy Captain Morgan and Senior Council wizard McCoy, and we dont want to fight our way through misinformed wizards who are under the impression the hell-queen is an invader.
Not to mention that any legit defenses are more likely to respond to a Senior Council member and the deputy Warden commander than a bunch of Teenagers With Attitude(TM)
The Hidden Halls originally belonged to the Fae. The Senior Council chambers are the likeliest spot for a map/controls to the entire complex, who can tell us what is happening where. And we have McCoy, who has a right to be there.
So we should go there first.
=====
Molly activates ATB to reduce the DC of all Perception rolls by -3
Sophia uses Secret of Gaia to reduce the DC of her Perception rolls by -3, to see into the NeverNever, to extend her sensory range by several miles, and to add +1 dice to all her non-combat rolls.
While Sense The Unnatural allows her to sense supernaturals and supernatural activity. Roll Perception + Occult.
Tiffany has her miniSight ability, which rolls Perception + Awareness at DC7 over [Permanent Faith] miles.
So increasing her Perception with Lore of Flesh 3 makes her better at detecting whatever supernatural activity is going on.
EDIT
Sophia's Perception + Occult roll is
Perception 7 (Base 4 + Mega-Perception 3) + Occult 5 + Secret of Gaia 1 = 13 dice at -3DC
[X] Head right for the Senior Council Chambers
-[X]Molly: All Things Betray: 1m
-[X]Tiffany: Lore of Flesh 3(Perception) + Lore of Awareness 3(if necessary): 0
-[X]Sophia: Secret of Gaia + Sense The Unnatural: 1WP
STATUS
Molly: 10/18m, 7/9WP
Sophia: 12/14WP
Tiffany: 3/3 Faith
Olivia: 3/5 Mana, 3/3 Demon Chi
Lydia: 11/8m
RATIONALE
Dont split the party.
We have no authority to be here with a war party absent Deputy Captain Morgan and Senior Council wizard McCoy, and we dont want to fight our way through misinformed wizards who are under the impression the hell-queen is an invader.
Not to mention that any legit defenses are more likely to respond to a Senior Council member and the deputy Warden commander than a bunch of Teenagers With Attitude(TM)
The Hidden Halls originally belonged to the Fae. The Senior Council chambers are the likeliest spot for a map/controls to the entire complex, who can tell us what is happening where. And we have McCoy, who has a right to be there.
So we should go there first.
=====
Molly activates ATB to reduce the DC of all Perception rolls by -3
Sophia uses Secret of Gaia to reduce the DC of her Perception rolls by -3, to see into the NeverNever, to extend her sensory range by several miles, and to add +1 dice to all her non-combat rolls.
While Sense The Unnatural allows her to sense supernaturals and supernatural activity. Roll Perception + Occult.
Tiffany has her miniSight ability, which rolls Perception + Awareness at DC7 over [Permanent Faith] miles.
So increasing her Perception with Lore of Flesh 3 makes her better at detecting whatever supernatural activity is going on.
EDIT
Sophia's Perception + Occult roll is
Perception 7 (Base 4 + Mega-Perception 3) + Occult 5 + Secret of Gaia 1 = 13 dice at -3DC
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Why not use the crown to get directions to the explosives and cut off the plot before it gets too far along? We have McCoy, he should be able to tell us about that sort of thing if needed.
Also, do you have a cite for that bio weapon thing? I've been looking into it and I can't find anything.