None of this, and nothing of your vote in general that I can see addresses the meat of the problem: what do we do to gain access to dr. Niemi and how do we handle the meeting (ie intimidate him, knock him out and abduct him, etc).
Yes, thats deliberate.
Because the other actions previously stated will (probably)alter the optimal choice of actions. Molly might as well allow her father run point on this, and react, because this is the sort of thing Knights do, amd their reputation matters.
Just like Dresden ran point on their first meeting with Mathews and leaned on the Wardens reputation while .
We haven't used the shell companies for questions yet, and they don't matter once the cult is gone. Taking the credentials and moving stuff around at the layer designed for anonymity using cyber devils seems doable if we're interested in the effort.
Wouldnt work.
There's always paperwork records, and the people and legal firms who set it up. Shell companies just obfuscate.
Unless we are actively, physically involved in running down all records and eliminating the people involved, this isnt reqlly possible.
Besides, we dont know that the staff of the holding company are competent, or capable of operating without direction.
We might just set up things for a massive class action lawsuit instead.
Yeah, but they can do that in their own territory and keep more control of the situation. It's not like young reds are known for self control, and a slip up means getting stomped on away from support.
It's not completely nonviable, but it's probably not worth it unless you're running a specific game.
It belatedly occurs to me that if they thought this was critical? They had no reason to be here.
The Unseelie Accords have provisions for truce contacts. Thats how Ortega challenged Dresden in Death Masks.
They could have dumped this on the White Council whose corporate mission demands they deal with this, or the Fae Courts in the knowledge that the White Council would shut it down, and that the Fae have no love for competitors.
Even the White Court would have been able to get the nursing home shut down.
And that wouldnt have cost them resources. So yeah, I think they are running a game.
Edit:
As an aside, there might be other opportunities here for us after this is over.
A lacking supernatural community leaves lots of openings for enterprising outsiders, and once we clean out the cultists and bat monsters the local competition will be even weaker.
Setting up some remote stuff here might be even easier than trying in Chicago. We could plant cyber devils for industrial espionage, stock games, grey market information trading, and stuff like that without being under the eye of as many people capable of tracking or stopping us.
Eh.
Cleveland doesnt have the supernatural or economic significance of Chicago.
We have no reason to invest additional resources and effort in Cleveland unless we're moving there.
So... thinking more about it - is what they the cultists doing illegal under the White Council Law? The raksha is inside the reality already, so it's not Reaching Beyond the Outer Gates. Summoning various beings and bartering with them is not illegal - Dresden did it while still under the Doom of Damocles, including calling up actual demons. Engineering specific emotions in mortals and murder are (changing others and thou shalt not kill respectively), but, depending on how it's done, it could be a very grey area. And this brings me to the next question that I don't think canon Dresden lore has an answer to: let's say you summon a demon and bind them into your service for a year and a day, bartering away half of your name and the memory of your first kiss. This is a general "be my servant/bodyguard and carry out the tasks I set for you" summoning, no specific goal in mind. That, in principle, isn't Lawbreaking, I think. Now, let's say six months into the deal, something happens and you order the demon to go and murder somebody. For the sake of the argument let's assume that the demon / being you summoned is not bound by "can't harm mortals" rules of non-interference. Are you breaking the Laws here? Or does the demon doing the deed provide the protection against corruption, ironically enough?
If it's the latter, well, I suspect that after we make our kingdom, Harry is going to be summoning a lot of our guys to work for him. He's powerful, and is actually good at summoning magic. And, as their sovereign we could provide him with good price. Starting with "go on a date with us" type of silly stuff, and, more seriously, mentoring and access to White Council lore and resources. In fact, renting our demonic kill squads out to senior White Council members might be a way to establish ourselves politically. There aren't many, if any, factions that would be prepared to work with mortals for morally acceptable prices, like money.
1)Yes it is illegal.
Attempting to free some imprisoned entity which skullfucks mortals just when they see it in their dreams is enough to get you shanked. Let alone that you are using unknowing unwitting mortals as a sacrifice to do so.
As described, the very existence of the cultists breaks Laws 1 to 4: Law 1, against killing with magic(see Fred), Law 2 against transforming others(how they recruit), Law 3 against invading the minds of others(see Nieminen, and how they recruit, and what they've been doing with Iku Turso), and Law 4 against enthralling others(how they recruit).
Furthermore, the canon Cold Case short story demonstrates the White Council keeps eyes on some entities imprisoned inside the Gates. And can get very scorched earth when they discover cultists of the same.
2)Sending a demon or magic construct to kill someone is a Law 1 breach: Thou shall not kill with magic.
A summoned and bound demon certainly qualifies. It was established back in the first book, because it was a plot point that Victor Sells repeatedly tried to do this to Dresden with both magic constructs and summoned demons.
As a contrast, Binder the mercenary mass summons some sort of NeverNever entity, but its not Lawbreaking because his arent bound the same way. So while the Wardens have been eyeing him for over a hundred years, they cant touch him legally.
3)Trust.
The White Council are wizards, and like sensible wizards wont make use of forces they dont either control and cant guarantee.
Let alone the forces of an Infernal Exalt, who might take offense if they get mistreated.
Not to mention that I'm pretty sure that I recall something about how summoning or using an inhabitant of a Hell outside of a summoning circle for information is almost certainly grouped under the same general rules as an Outsider breach.
Else they'd have just been dropping them on the Reds since the war started.
