We would have met them and rolled them over in the first three seconds/1 combat turn.
Thats what happens when you have 20+ party members with 20+ actions in the first combat turn, running into 7x opponents.
Similarly, we'd spend half the time Tiffany is spending saving lives because we would have two healers on the scene.
Action economy fucking matters. Thats how you save time and move fast enough to disrupt the enemy, instead of getting bogged down by fights and traps and the like.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion.
And Morgan IS a pretty potent combat wizard in his own right.
But Blackstaff McCoy and other Senior Council members run from Outsiders in canon, and Morgan is no McCoy.
The assertion that he's supposed to anchor a defense against a mistwraith or similar Outsider is on its own face ridiculous.
Especially since Outsiders are explicitly known for resistance/immunity to mortal magic.
1) There was no element of surprise. Peabody got initiative, but everybody knew shit was going down at that point.
And it speaks volumes that you are trying to downplay the fact that the mistwraith killed ~fifty wizards, a tenth or so of the assembly, in 1-2 combat turns. Just multi-action'd the place until Langtry grappled it.
2)We see Langtry asking other Senior Council wizards, specifically Rashid, to help hold the mistwraith so it does not kill HIM.
3) The Merlin Arthur Langtry was literally beaming a detailed RTS map into the heads of every wizard in the room.
Yet only the Senior Council wizards were of use in containing and banishing it.
And yes, they banished it, they couldnt kill it:
The Senior Council managed to contain and banish the mordite-infused mistfiend, a rare and dangerous gaseous being from the far reaches of the Nevernever, before it had killed more than forty or fifty wizards. All things considered, it could have been a lot worse, but the fact that it had been the gathering of LaFortier's former political allies who had been subject to the attack occasioned an enormous outcry of suspicion, with the offended parties claiming that the Merlin had disregarded their safety, been negligent in his security precautions, etc., etc. The fact that the attack had occurred while unmasking LaFortier's true killer was brushed aside. There was political capital to be had.
His orders to the other Council wizards in the room were to get on the ground, stay on the ground and help the injured.
Not to help, not to shoot the thing. Just shelter in place
Screams rose, sounds of genuine pain and terror—sounds the human body and mind are designed to recognize and to which they have no choice but to react. It hit me as hard as the first time I'd ever heard it happen—the desire to be away from whatever was causing such fear, combined with the simultaneous engagement of adrenaline, the need to act, to help.
Calmly, said a voice from right beside my right ear—except that it couldn't have been there because bandages covered that side of my head completely, and it was physically impossible for a voice to come through that clearly.
Which meant that the voice was an illusion. It was in my head. Furthermore, I recognized the voice—it was Langtry's, the Merlin's. "Council members, get on the ground immediately," said the Merlin's calm, unshakable voice. "Assist anyone who is bleeding and do not attempt to use lights until the mistfiend is contained. Senior Council, I have already engaged the mistfiend and am preventing it from moving any farther away. Rashid, prevent it from moving forward and disintegrating me, if you please. Mai and Martha Liberty, take its right flank, McCoy and Listens-to-Wind its left. It's rather strong-willed, so let's not dawdle, and remember that we must also prevent it from moving upward."
That speaks volumes.
Obviously, self-evidently untrue.
Go ahead and have mortal hands build a fortress complex and tunnel network in a volcanic plug formation that has lasted for over a thousand years without maintenance. The very existence of this place demonstrates its unnatural durability.
This assertion about wizards is unsupported speculation.
There is nothing I can recall in Dresdenverse mythology that makes wizards "hellish on things that cant fight back" as you put it.
There are no canon feats that support any such assertion either.
Its not a castle, its an underground fortress a lot like NORAD.
And they arent shaking it. They are doing something underground that is producing seismic tremors that might collapse it. Eventually. If they can get around the wards.
There is no timeline, and we know they havent been at this before Molly fingered them publicly.
That you can feel something is happening bears no relationship to its progression and how far along it is.
A single set of earth tremors is not, and has never been indicative of just how much threat a building is currently under.
Ask any Californian native.
This is not a random assortment of wizards.
This is a purposefully selected group of conspirators that was handpicked for their talents and access by the Ashraaf conspiracy and further incentivized to pursue certain lines of development, as we see with Shaw.
You have no idea what the criteria that Peabody et al have exercised for recruitment is.
You have no idea who the members are, what investments they might possess or what spirit contracts and allies they might have in their retinue, what Gifts or blessings they might have, or what fetishes they might be carrying in their pockets.
For all you know, they are ALL brawny combat wizards and summoners.
Two of them were certainly able to set up a time trap for Blackstaff McCoy, and when that failed, had access to Hellfire.
=====
COMMENTARY
Extra actions are a Time 3 effect.
So that means McCoy has significant investment in that sphere, which makes sense since he broke that time trap, and has +3 Extra Actions for the rest of the scene, which is a pretty terrifying buff when dealing with a seriousface wizard like this.
Interesting that he does this by using Time instead of Mind or Life; I think Listens To Wind does it with Life.
*looks*
Im still not sure if wizards here roll Arete OR Arete + (highest)Sphere to produce an effect.
Assuming they roll Arete, that would put McCoy at Arete 8, Red Note at Arete 6, Thunderstop at Arete 4 and Knives at Arete 5.
While I buy McCoy being Enlightenment/Arete 8, I dont buy any of the other wizards here being Arete 5+ and getting led around by the traitor we captured. I certainly dont buy the young woman who just threw Red Note at Molly being Arete 6.
So Im going to assume they're rolling Arete + Sphere to cast magic.
Luccio sent Wardens out into Edinburgh eh?
I guess we know where the Warden we ran into at the toilet came from.
Im guessing Peabody has cut comms/couriers out of the Halls as well.
This is a bad stunt.
All this achieves is telling Peabody that we know he is the ringleader without actually stopping him.
We would rather he, or someone in his employ, try to walk into our hands while pretending innocence, instead of giving them advance warning that we have their IDs at hand and making them start looking for the exits, or start slaughtering every wizard they can find as a final Fuck You.
I'm not so sure on that one. They're already trying to explode the Hidden Halls which seems pretty much like they've gone loud already. He almost certainly doesn't have a bunch of peers to shoulder the magical heavy lifting of his nonsense here either. Perhaps we could luck into an outcome like that, but there's a cost to it.
We just saw them use their anonymity to nearly kill two wardens by stealth as prop for an ambush. They're killing by stealth and sowing chaos right now, and their targets don't know to defend themselves. Peabody in particular still being masked means he can potentially show up to the rally point prior to us and start organizing the people we're sending there to help fight his conspiracy.
What this accomplishes is hampering their ability to keep abusing trust and the fog of war to shiv trusting wizards and sit in on their planning meetings. He'll respond, but I'm not sold on the idea that the council is better off letting him continue on unhindered.
AtP would work in your favor in this case since it is just sound, it is made to make people ignore sensory input unless it distresses them significantly
I'm not so sure on that one. They're already trying to explode the Hidden Halls which seems pretty much like they've gone loud already. He almost certainly doesn't have a bunch of peers to shoulder the magical heavy lifting of his nonsense here either. Perhaps we could luck into an outcome like that, but there's a cost to it.
We just saw them use their anonymity to nearly kill two wardens by stealth as prop for an ambush. They're killing by stealth and sowing chaos right now, and their targets don't know to defend themselves. Peabody in particular still being masked means he can potentially show up to the rally point prior to us and start organizing the people we're sending there to help fight his conspiracy.
What this accomplishes is hampering their ability to keep abusing trust and the fog of war to shiv trusting wizards and sit in on their planning meetings. He'll respond, but I'm not sold on the idea that the council is better off letting him continue on unhindered.
They are trying to do it by confusing everyone about who is doing what, not by publicly announcing themselves.
Thats the point of the posing as vampires thing.
Exploding the Hidden Halls, even if successful, would not destroy the Council.
The vast majority of wizards are not here day to day, and
Any conspirators can just as easily show up among the survivors and spin whatever story they want.
And if they are senior enough, they can seize senior roles in the Emergency.
In pointing at specific people without corroboration, you have given none of the wizards any reason to trust a random voice, and you are warning the conspirators that there is no hope of hiding back into the mass, and to either try to run immediately, or try to go for maximum damage immediately by murdering as many wizards as they can get.
In fact, if they are to have any hope of telling their version of the story to other wizards, they now have to kill every wizard that heard that broadcast.
And we do not have the personnel to try to hunt down every summon or construct they can throw into the tunnels.
A single Outsider would reap a horrific harvest against people whose magic will do fuckall against it.
Its just a bad idea to out people on the PA system when the people you are outing are strapped with ARs and suicide vests.
The conspirators already know there's no hope of surviving this day.
Molly identified Nemesis in Maeve, literally its greatest scheme. Molly identified literally every single Ninfected in Summer and Winter without ever appearing to investigate them personally. It's pretty obvious Molly has info supremacy and only an idiot would think they're somehow special and protected from someone of Molly's demonstrated power.
It's a horrible idea to keep the other wizards in the dark: at the very least, having all the wizards be paranoid will save them from getting stabbed in the back, a wizard's greatest weakness. Currently only the conspirators are aware and prepared for trouble, we need to make sure everyone else is ready for betrayal.
The conspirators already know there's no hope of surviving this day.
Molly identified Nemesis in Maeve, literally its greatest scheme. Molly identified literally every single Ninfected in Summer and Winter without ever appearing to investigate them personally. It's pretty obvious Molly has info supremacy and only an idiot would think they're somehow special and protected from someone of Molly's demonstrated power.
It's a horrible idea to keep the other wizards in the dark: at the very least, having all the wizards be paranoid will save them from getting stabbed in the back, a wizard's greatest weakness. Currently only the conspirators are aware and prepared for trouble, we need to make sure everyone else is ready for betrayal.
No, they dont.
We literally just got through interrogating Shaw and finding out that his co-conspirators have been keeping information from him.
Remember that Evil does not share information willingly.
What Ashraaaf knows, Peabody might not know. What Peabody knows, his minions might not know. This has been a consistent refrain in the Dresdenverse; what Cowl knew >>> What Vito Malvora knew >>> what Madrigal Raith knew.
We even saw it with Tiffany and Lasciel.
Nemesis sure as fuck isnt publicizing that some slip of a girl can find and shank him at will.
Not to its mortal minions.
And as far as we know, this isnt a Nemesis show anyway.
It's a horrible idea to keep the other wizards in the dark: at the very least, having all the wizards be paranoid will save them from getting stabbed in the back, a wizard's greatest weakness. Currently only the conspirators are aware and prepared for trouble, we need to make sure everyone else is ready for betrayal.
What happens when you out a prepared Arete 6+ Nephandi master wizard and his conspirators in a crowd of Arete 3-4 mages who were loaded for vampire is that the baby wizards all die.
Peabody has not just collaborators, he has mindcontrolled thralls and shit like pocket mistwraiths.
This just gets a lot of younger wizards killed for no good reason, when we're trying to keep those dudes alive.
Dont warn our target beforehand.
What happens when you out a prepared Arete 6+ Nephandi master wizard and his conspirators in a crowd of Arete 3-4 mages who were loaded for vampire is that the baby wizards all die.
Peabody has not just collaborators, he has mindcontrolled thralls and shit like pocket mistwraiths.
This just gets a lot of younger wizards killed for no good reason, when we're trying to keep those dudes alive.
Dont warn our target beforehand.
Peabody almost certainly already knows we're coming for him, that's why he's activated his contingency plans and is literally going for 'rocks fall, everybody dies' right now. Anything he's going to do, he's already doing. This feels like his last f-u before scarpering, trying to do as much damage as he can on the way out.
Peabody almost certainly already knows we're coming for him, that's why he's activated his contingency plans and is literally going for 'rocks fall, everybody dies' right now. Anything he's going to do, he's already doing.
Go To Hell would be him activating his mind-controlled thralls, bringing in some Outsiders and KILLING everything in the Halls before a response could arrive. This is him still being fancy in the hope that he can create enough chaos to maintain his position and Council access in the aftermath; if he actually thought he was outed, he wouldnt be bothering.
He's had an hour. The floor would be awash in blood.
Conversation seems to be ongoing and also the next update is going to be very roll-heavy so I'm going to leave this up until morning and then do the update when I'm feeling more up to it. Sorry for the delay guys, but I really do not want to mess up the rolls here given the stakes.
Our targets are already warned, hence all the chaos and fake vampires everywhere. It's an hour too late for that.
Your view of our opponents being simultaneously idiots too stupid to breath without direction and 500 IQ hypercompetent murderhobos is, as ever, breathtaking.
Go To Hell would be him activating his mind-controlled thralls, bringing in some Outsiders and KILLING everything in the Halls before a response could arrive. This is him still being fancy in the hope that he can create enough chaos to maintain his position and Council access in the aftermath; if he actually thought he was outed, he wouldnt be bothering.
He's had an hour. The floor would be awash in blood.
He's literally in the process of trying to collapse the place and kill everyone inside. This is an attempt to decapitate the Council, kill its entire leadership and its administrative staff.
He almost certainly has activated his victims, they're just not that mind controlled, they're mentally influenced. He can't use them as puppets, just influence them. That's very likely why they're susceptible to the bullshit claims about vampires disguised as wizards, which wizards, with the Sight, would immediately know how to see through unless they've been influenced not to remember they can do this. They're just not puppets. What he's very likely doing is using his victims to create enough disruption so that his attempt to collapse the Halls and kill everyone has time to succeed.
Remember, he hasn't had as much time to influence them or to build or resourced like the mistwraith as he had in canon, and has less prep time to retrieve dangerous and incriminating weapons from off-sight.
If he's not bringing in Outsiders it's not because he doesn't want to kill everyone, he does, it's because he can't.
They are trying to do it by confusing everyone about who is doing what, not by publicly announcing themselves.
Thats the point of the posing as vampires thing.
Exploding the Hidden Halls, even if successful, would not destroy the Council.
The vast majority of wizards are not here day to day, and
Any conspirators can just as easily show up among the survivors and spin whatever story they want.
And if they are senior enough, they can seize senior roles in the Emergency.
In pointing at specific people without corroboration, you have given none of the wizards any reason to trust a random voice, and you are warning the conspirators that there is no hope of hiding back into the mass, and to either try to run immediately, or try to go for maximum damage immediately by murdering as many wizards as they can get.
In fact, if they are to have any hope of telling their version of the story to other wizards, they now have to kill every wizard that heard that broadcast.
And we do not have the personnel to try to hunt down every summon or construct they can throw into the tunnels.
A single Outsider would reap a horrific harvest against people whose magic will do fuckall against it.
Its just a bad idea to out people on the PA system when the people you are outing are strapped with ARs and suicide vests.
Yes, they're abusing the fact that no one knows they're traitors to do damage because they think it's the most effective way to do so. Which is why we'd be taking that away.
Perhaps loud was the wrong way to put it. They clearly haven't explicitly announced themselves, but they're doing things that will burn their identities long term or at least have a very high risk of it. They're relying on tactical chaos to get as much use out of their identities while they're still secret.
I mean, wasn't your argument for sending the group to the senior council chambers that Peabody might have put them in time out? Do you think he could do that then somehow trick everyone into thinking he wasn't involved while also dedicating resources to tearing down their capital and terrorizing the wizards with traitors pretending to be glamoured vampires?
If they could pull in an army of Outsiders to destroy the council they'd be doing it. I don't think the enemy is stupid, and they want the council dead. If there was a better option for their last minute play than this one for achieving that aim they'd be doing it instead.
On trust; we'll be a very convincing voice. At the very least they'll be suspicious about things where they weren't before. You're also tipping them off with the base vote, but by not saying anything else you're not stopping the traitors from continuing to exploit their positions.
He's literally in the process of trying to collapse the place and kill everyone inside. This is an attempt to decapitate the Council, kill its entire leadership and its administrative staff.
He almost certainly has activated his victims, they're just not that mind controlled, they're mentally influenced. He can't use them as puppets, just influence them. That's very likely why they're susceptible to the bullshit claims about vampires disguised as wizards, which wizards, with the Sight, would immediately know how to see through unless they've been influenced not to remember they can do this. They're just not puppets. What he's very likely doing is using his victims to create enough disruption so that his attempt to collapse the Halls and kill everyone has time to succeed.
Remember, he hasn't had as much time to influence them or to build or resourced like the mistwraith as he had in canon, and has less prep time to retrieve dangerous and incriminating weapons from off-sight.
What the Council knows about Avalon is that Molly came there with the Archive, killed a god-thing and earned three Favors.
They dont know that Molly was the person who detected Nemesis; we didnt tell Titania or Lily that either.
The Archive was the person who told Titania that her Court was Nfested.
They might not even know that Molly was the person who exorcised Nemesis.
The exorcisms were not done in public.
And not very many people gossip about a Queen's business.
And certainly, even if Peabody somehow knows?
That in no way means that the other 50+ members of the conspiracy do.
Shaw certainly did not.
Our targets are already warned, hence all the chaos and fake vampires everywhere. It's an hour too late for that.
Your view of our opponents being simultaneously idiots too stupid to breath without direction and 500 IQ hypercompetent murderhobos is, as ever, breathtaking.
Our targets are not aware of the full dimensions of the threat.
They KNOW, or at least believe, that Molly picked up on some of the mind-control.
Some of them are certainly of the persuasion that we are here for someone, but not for ALL of them.
They have no reason to know or believe that Molly has the names of the entire conspiracy, or even of the leadership.
He's literally in the process of trying to collapse the place and kill everyone inside. This is an attempt to decapitate the Council, kill its entire leadership and its administrative staff.
He almost certainly has activated his victims, they're just not that mind controlled, they're mentally influenced. He can't use them as puppets, just influence them. That's very likely why they're susceptible to the bullshit claims about vampires disguised as wizards, which wizards, with the Sight, would immediately know how to see through unless they've been influenced not to remember they can do this. They're just not puppets. What he's very likely doing is using his victims to create enough disruption so that his attempt to collapse the Halls and kill everyone has time to succeed.
Remember, he hasn't had as much time to influence them or to build or resourced like the mistwraith as he had in canon, and has less prep time to retrieve dangerous and incriminating weapons from off-sight.
If he's not bringing in Outsiders it's not because he doesn't want to kill everyone, he does, it's because he can't.
This is an op, not a kill operation.
Like I said, if he wanted everyone in the Halls dead, he would have gone about this differently. He evidently has the resources to do so. Destroying the Halls damages but doesnt destroy the Council.
Thats not actually true. He can absolutely use them as puppets; he did this with Luccio in canon, and we were told that she was only the first of many rigged up that way. They believe the reports because he is a senior wizard who is mind-controlling the Warden Captain. This isnt a mystery.
They dont use the Sight because there's things you can see with the Sight that can blast your mind, and a high-Mind wizard like Peabody would know how to rig up those types of traps.
He has a notNephandi archmage-demigod thing backing him in this AU, unlike in canon.
He has 50+ co-conspirators.
He's significantly better resourced than we saw in Turn Coat.
Hes having to activate this contingency prematurely, IMO.
But even that isnt sure. Given the attempts on both Morgan and McCoy needed prior setup and preparation, its entirely possible this entire series of events was already planned and Molly just pulled an interrupt.
I would certainly be more restful if this wasnt arranged on a couple hours notice.
Yes, they're abusing the fact that no one knows they're traitors to do damage because they think it's the most effective way to do so. Which is why we'd be taking that away.
Perhaps loud was the wrong way to put it. They clearly haven't explicitly announced themselves, but they're doing things that will burn their identities long term or at least have a very high risk of it. They're relying on tactical chaos to get as much use out of their identities while they're still secret.
I mean, wasn't your argument for sending the group to the senior council chambers that Peabody might have put them in time out? Do you think he could do that then somehow trick everyone into thinking he wasn't involved while also dedicating resources to tearing down their capital and terrorizing the wizards with traitors pretending to be glamoured vampires?
If they could pull in an army of Outsiders to destroy the council they'd be doing it. I don't think the enemy is stupid, and they want the council dead. If there was a better option for their last minute play than this one for achieving that aim they'd be doing it instead.
On trust; we'll be a very convincing voice. At the very least they'll be suspicious about things where they weren't before. You're also tipping them off with the base vote, but by not saying anything else you're not stopping the traitors from continuing to exploit their positions.
1)We simply get a bunch of people killed, because the conspirators are ready, while the others are not.
And that assumes that everyone even hears it, or that someone doesnt try to block the transmission with magic.
2) Yes, I think he could.
Thats exactly how he had Senior Council member Aleron LaFortier killed in Turn Coat; he used a mind-controlled patsy.
Why wouldnt he do the same here?
Prepared wards/talismans are a thing in the Dresden Files; just give it to a patsy to apply and activate.
Bonus if Ashraaaf supplies it.
3) The majority of the Council isnt here. Most wizards dont live here full time.
Blowing up the Halls is a blow, but it wont destroy the Council. Destroying it requires destroying the bonds and trust of the members between each other, or it will simply reassemble, like it's done before.
4) Assembling a full army of Outsiders into Edinburgh undetected is hard.
Bringing a bunch of bottled mistwraiths, OTOH, is something that we know can be done covertly.
5) Undirected paranoia plays into the hands of the conspiracy.
A Council that comes out of this still looking at each other distrustfully is one that has been crippled longterm.
Just to be clear:
Im not objecting to announcing that there are traitors/warlocks cosplaying as vampires. Im objecting to identifying them before we have the rest of the Senior Council and/or senior wizards with us to go after them immediately.
And if anyone does say it, McCoy does.
We dont have the credibility or record with the Council to do so.
Excellency or not, you're still going up directly against the Intimacies of a bunch of people predisposed to stubborness.
Peabody had six people present here, and we've captured three of them so far. It's possible he brought more in, but I don't think he's had enough time to bring large numbers of supporters to the Halls if he wanted to.
A significant portion of the senior council is here full time as are other powerful wizards. He's got to handle them, the wards of the fortress, and the body of the council at large with this vampire stuff, with four people counting himself.
I also think it's unlikely that the conspiracy has a large number of powerful wizards or that it'd keep most of them here if it did. Those guys are alway useful to have running around doing things for you instead of sitting in one spot.
In order to perform this hypothetical double back up plan what would he be giving up on?
1)We simply get a bunch of people killed, because the conspirators are ready, while the others are not.
And that assumes that everyone even hears it, or that someone doesnt try to block the transmission with magic.
2) Yes, I think he could.
Thats exactly how he had Senior Council member Aleron LaFortier killed in Turn Coat; he used a mind-controlled patsy.
Why wouldnt he do the same here?
Prepared wards/talismans are a thing in the Dresden Files; just give it to a patsy to apply and activate.
Bonus if Ashraaaf supplies it.
3) The majority of the Council isnt here. Most wizards dont live here full time.
Blowing up the Halls is a blow, but it wont destroy the Council. Destroying it requires destroying the bonds and trust of the members between each other, or it will simply reassemble, like it's done before.
4) Assembling a full army of Outsiders into Edinburgh undetected is hard.
Bringing a bunch of bottled mistwraiths, OTOH, is something that we know can be done covertly.
5) Undirected paranoia plays into the hands of the conspiracy.
A Council that comes out of this still looking at each other distrustfully is one that has been crippled longterm.
Just to be clear:
Im not objecting to announcing that there are traitors/warlocks cosplaying as vampires. Im objecting to identifying them before we have the rest of the Senior Council and/or senior wizards with us to go after them immediately.
And if anyone does say it, McCoy does.
We dont have the credibility or record with the Council to do so.
Excellency or not, you're still going up directly against the Intimacies of a bunch of people predisposed to stubborness
1) Ready for what? You were just arguing they don't know what we know and will be surprised by it. They're improvising a murder plan based on the fact that they're unknown right now. They won't just drop dead but they're scraping the bottom of the barrel right now too.
2) He put Lucio in a fugue state after months of dedicated effort. He notably did not seem able to make her perform magic or do anything particularly complex. His other victims similarly only ever clumsily applied physically actions to his orders.
I don't think he could use a thrall for this, especially this last minute. Magic weapons like that don't grow on trees.
Moreover, if he did have one why didn't he try using it on us when he spent two conspirators on keeping us out/delayed?
3) We have no idea how many people are here. It is however indicated that the place has a full staff for organizing the wardens and that many of the senior council stay here regularly during times of crisis.
I firmly believe that this is not a minor whoopsie either; blowing up the Halls is an attack on those binds because of the context this is happening in.
In any case, setting off maximum violence with an army of outsiders or whatever would still do more damage and wouldn't be more revealing than what we've already seen them do. It'd be the better play if they could do it.
4) He has one in canon, I don't think those are simple to throw around. If he could have pulled in even a single additional mistwraith it'd probably have saved his life. This isn't the same as canon, but I don't think it's so different that he can bring in handfuls of the things on less notice than he had there.
5) You are calling for undirected paranoia. The base vote says "your friends are wearing glamours and murdering you in the hall, good luck" and then moves on.
We don't need full trust, we need them to pay extra attention and act on what they see. To check themselves for influence and think about inconsistencies in a targeted way.
We are trying to keep the Crown secret in all this. We only have corroboration for Peabody's treason from the messenger we captured, and for some of the European conspirators from Shaw. We have no evidence for most of the conspirators OR for any mind-controlled thralls. We have no evidence that Luccio is mind-controlled.
We do not want to have to answer questions about how we have the information to accuse people.
We are trying to keep the Crown secret in all this. We only have corroboration for Peabody's treason from the messenger we captured, and for some of the European conspirators from Shaw. We have no evidence for most of the conspirators OR for any mind-controlled thralls. We have no evidence that Luccio is mind-controlled.
We do not want to have to answer questions about how we have the information to accuse people.
I only meant the relevant ones; we know the warlocks here from when we got a full breakdown of who was aware and where they were located at the time.
The point is to tell them about the people we know are around and want to stab them, not stop to read a formal indictment. I phrased it like that because I wasn't sure how much the PA spell would let us say.
The list of actionable names should have at most four names on it since we've already got three of the known traitors in the Halls. We shouldn't bother with anyone we don't have reason to believe is here right now.
Peabody had six people present here, and we've captured three of them so far. It's possible he brought more in, but I don't think he's had enough time to bring large numbers of supporters to the Halls if he wanted to.
A significant portion of the senior council is here full time as are other powerful wizards. He's got to handle them, the wards of the fortress, and the body of the council at large with this vampire stuff, with four people counting himself.
I also think it's unlikely that the conspiracy has a large number of powerful wizards or that it'd keep most of them here if it did. Those guys are alway useful to have running around doing things for you instead of sitting in one spot.
In order to perform this hypothetical double back up plan what would he be giving up on?
He had the time to dispatch agents to arrange an ambush of McCoy in the NeverNever.
I think its safe to assume that he isnt simultaneously throwing the entirety of the Hidden Halls into chaos and trying to undo the foundational magics of the Hidden Halls with 1-2 wizards.
At the very least, I would assume that the 5x European and 12x African conspirators are here as well, because similar time zones as Scotland. While the Latin American, NeverNever and Asian ones couldnt make it.
Roughly 50% is my guess. Or at least, my hope; the full ~50 here would be....an issue.
Its wartime and the Council canonically mans facilities across Europe and Africa.
We literally had to go to South America to get Morgan and his crew. I suspect you are overestimating how many wizards are usually here day to day.
1) Ready for what? You were just arguing they don't know what we know and will be surprised by it. They're improvising a murder plan based on the fact that they're unknown right now. They won't just drop dead but they're scraping the bottom of the barrel right now too.
2) He put Lucio in a fugue state after months of dedicated effort. He notably did not seem able to make her perform magic or do anything particularly complex. His other victims similarly only ever clumsily applied physically actions to his orders.
I don't think he could use a thrall for this, especially this last minute. Magic weapons like that don't grow on trees.
Moreover, if he did have one why didn't he try using it on us when he spent two conspirators on keeping us out/delayed?
3) We have no idea how many people are here. It is however indicated that the place has a full staff for organizing the wardens and that many of the senior council stay here regularly during times of crisis.
I firmly believe that this is not a minor whoopsie either; blowing up the Halls is an attack on those binds because of the context this is happening in.
In any case, setting off maximum violence with an army of outsiders or whatever would still do more damage and wouldn't be more revealing than what we've already seen them do. It'd be the better play if they could do it.
4) He has one in canon, I don't think those are simple to throw around. If he could have pulled in even a single additional mistwraith it'd probably have saved his life. This isn't the same as canon, but I don't think it's so different that he can bring in handfuls of the things on less notice than he had there.
5) You are calling for undirected paranoia. The base vote says "your friends are wearing glamours and murdering you in the hall, good luck" and then moves on.
We don't need full trust, we need them to pay extra attention and act on what they see. To check themselves for influence and think about inconsistencies in a targeted way.
1)Ready for mayhem.
Ready to use killing magic against other mortal wizards, while said other wizards arent because of the First Law.
The First Law isnt quite as inflexible as people make out, since it does allow for self-defence, but its notable that the White Council didnt kill Kemmler with magic, but with mortal weapons.
You would be kicking off a situation where the conspirators have a tactical advantage
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2)We have no evidence of exactly what happened during that murder except from the mouth of Morgan on his deathbed.
And Morgan was incentivized to do his best to protect Luccio, so not exactly an impartial observer.
Especially since Peabody allegedly wanted Luccio to be caught.
There are multiple options for using mind-control, from deception to a backup personality, so we dont know whats in play here.
He did get her to go off to Chicago and use magic pretty freely in the process of getting close to Dresden and watching him for Peabody.
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3) The fulltime pre-War Wardens numbered around 200.
They lost almost 150 during Dead Beat; by the time of Turn Coat, they were coming close to 300 again. They dont have very many fulltime HQ staff in addition to that.
I think you are significantly overestimating the number of people who are here day to day.
Note how LaFortier was murdered and noone saw Morgan get Luccio out of the crime scene.
And in this scene, we have been explicitly told that Luccio sent a lot of Wardens away before shit popped off.
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4)Simple, no.
But given that he appears to have way more resources now than in canon, including a bona fide patron that has given him Nephandi Investments, its safe to assume that he has at least as much as he did in canon.
Ashraaaf didnt give Peabody good enough magic to contest Exalted perception charms and then omit giving him anything else.
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5)We do need full trust.
You are essentially asking people that other wizards, the people who watch their back are going to be using killing magic and other Law-breaking sorcery against them, and to be willing to use magic of the same scale in return.
Thats very much a situation where you need More People.
We got the names of Peabody from the messenger in front of McCoy, and the Europeans from Shaw in front of Morgan and his crew. We havent shared any of the other ~40+ conspirators. We havent shared the full list of mind-controlled thralls.
Because we would be asked how we could tell.
Updating my plan to add AtP with excellency, bringing our net essence change since entering the Halls from +4 down to +1, and clarify who we should name.
I think this is an important enough point to be worth making well and masking from the conspirators. I doubt they have contingencies for everything we can do or that they can trivially deploy what they do have. Being forced to make a counter move against us disrupts their activities.
If we could make this as an etiquette check it'd save us a mote, but I don't think we can.
[X] Send a shout through the tunnels as Tiffany suggests
-[X] Leadership excellency, FPoR, BSM
-[X] AtP and Etiquette excellency to mask from the conspirators
-[X] Name the traitors we know to be present in order of importance as time allows.
-[X] [Stunt]: As the wizards prepared their spell Molly took a moment to center herself. With the beat of a red drum thrumming through her bones she stretched, reaching for one note of the song.
—[X] Opening eyes she did not realize she'd closed, Molly nodded to her companions and took a breath.
—[X] Her voice did not so much carry her words as carve them into the silence. Even where there was other sound they seemed to carry their own hush about them like a cloak, something terrible and sublime seizing attention with all the remorseless strength of the gravity pinning them to Earth.
—[X] "Wizards of the White Council, you have been betrayed. Glamoured warlocks walk the Halls and kill by stealth in the name of distant masters. I have masked this message from them as best as I am able to give you an advantage. Peabody and his stooges have desecrated free will of many. Teachers, shield your students' minds. Students, guard your teachers' lives. We rally at the Warden's Barracks."
We are trying to keep the Crown secret in all this. We only have corroboration for Peabody's treason from the messenger we captured, and for some of the European conspirators from Shaw. We have no evidence for most of the conspirators OR for any mind-controlled thralls. We have no evidence that Luccio is mind-controlled.
We do not want to have to answer questions about how we have the information to accuse people.
