fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
+2 Xp lead a nest of red vampire to victory!
Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Crossover Fantasy
We are about to witness a fomori sorcerer, there's probably some secrets in there.
@DragonParadox is the anatomy of the barnacle shell a great magical secret (probably fleshcrafting or something like that)? Or at least the capability that fomor can make such things? Bioscultping is relatively rare in Dresden Files from what I understand. You don't usually see purpose-made living creatures serving specific functions like an airlock.
I am struggling with the stunt, honestly. Not sure about the empathy angle... Ok, let me try (I won't be satisfied). A controversial proposal.
[X] Try to ignore the frogmen, the vampires will beat them off you, head towards the destroyed dome to secure an entrance into the base (Charisma+Leadership Roll to inspire the vampires while continuing to parry the swarm)
-[X] Use Leadership Excellency
-[X] Stunt: "Frog legs are on the menu tonight, boys and girls!" you shout over the radio, moving towards the entrance of the dome. "I'll make a goblet from one of their skulls for the person who kills the most!". To your side Yellow Submarine orients to put a harpoon into the worm.
The stunt is to inspire the vampires. A personally crafted skull goblet from a demonic archfiend is a very enticing price, I feel. It's morbid, but it's good motivation. I'm not that worried about arcane links, really. The mystical nature of the frogman would probably dominate anyway.
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If you dissected the thing it would give you essencere generation, simply knowing that it exists is not enough to proc
- Pronouns
- She/Her
And having to let an enemy sorcerer do whatever he wants while we can't get within reach to do a fighter's counterspell makes me wish we had at least one dot in the Sorcerous Path to let us do an actual counterspell. So bumping that up our mental priority list a bit. We have the dice to make a pretty good show of it, too, even without the Excellency, especially if we stunt.
We are probably getting at least one dot of sorcery at the next xp spending point, yes.
...I am kind of starting to think that maybe Hellfire could be pretty decent for that ranged energy attack flavor; thanks to Spell Hanging, Hellfire could be very impressive in terms of damage output. I meme'd about it before, but maybe it is actually worth it.
...I am kind of starting to think that maybe Hellfire could be pretty decent for that ranged energy attack flavor; thanks to Spell Hanging, Hellfire could be very impressive in terms of damage output. I meme'd about it before, but maybe it is actually worth it.
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- Location
- Germany
Until 6 Dots Hellfire couldn't deal more damage than our basic Sandstrike Blast?
One success equals 2 Damage and you can't spend more than one success per dot in Hellfire on damage.
Spellhanging + Exalted dice shenanigans allows to get absolutely ridiculous amount of Hellfire blasts per round without multiattack charms or Celerity-equivalents.
Why wouldnt she? Noone in the scene had the knowledge to contradict her.
Its worth remembering that a major geographic body being destroyed or subsiding into the sea is the sort of thing that you dont need magic to notice in the era of geospatial mapping satellites and oceanographic surveys.
555 km by 370km. That much mass does not disappear without literally catastrophic consequences, and its previous location would be bleeding obvious on oceanographic survey.Wikipedia said:
Unless it never existed.
I am unwilling to burn a question on this, especially since its mandating worldbuilding by the QM that isnt relevant to the quest itself.
^^^
This.
COMMENTARY
-There's nothing alive around the base. Thats a bad sign in shallow water.
Its being on a dragons nest/leyline nexus does explain a couple things, including why the Pathfinders came back to Cleveland.
Odds are this base was here back in 1953.
-The base is shaped like a pentagram, and five hundred yards on the outside.
That means its at least 25 yards across, assuming a circle. 500 square yards = 4500 square feet. Thats roughly 8x the total square footage of an average UK house, and 2x the square footage of a US house.
And of course this base is likely to have at least three floors(top floor/ground floor/basement equivalents), so you're looking at around 1500 square yards and god knows how much internal volume.
Not to mention there's a good chance its wider below the surface than above it.
-Huh. Don Phillipe has wings.
Thats a lot more WoD Vampire influence than I expected older Red Court vampires to look in this quest.
-Assuming we caught them by surprise, this is either the patrol force, or the fast response force.
Thats 12x frogmen and 1x stealthy warbeast on patrol, and a sorcerer on duty. Potentially 3-5x that in reserve, assuming 4-6 hour shifts. We really need to close in before they can get more online.
-While Im not surprised they focus fired on the green-fire limned woman in black mail.
It does seem to me that other than the attack on Don Phillipe, they've left all the other 18 Rampires alone.
Maybe the sorcerer was expecting his spell to send them tearing into each other?
@DragonParadox
QUESTIONS
-What did we spend 2 Essence for? 1x is Melee Excellency, but whats the other?
Viridian Exoskeleton? Imperial Primacy Mantle? What do we have active?
-Shouldnt we have pinged Essence regen here?
The discovery of another dragons nest, first look at Fomori architecture and engineering, first look at Fomori combat servitors that might have been human, discovery of the Rampire Red Rage as a condition they suffer from.
Any of them should qualify as a supernatural secret.
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- Location
- Germany
Releasing a hung up spell still takes one turn.
You can't spam them, and you are still bound to the damage-limit of the Hellfire Path.
And in exchange for having that spell prepared for casting we take a penalty on everything else we do while it is hanging there.
No thanks.
- Location
- Germany
Let's not assume that.
We went around in the park with Lydia's Anima on full show and then we build our little hellfire-boat.
If they had eyes out at all we were noticed.
Ooops, thought it was instant. Everything else is workable, but this one is a killer.
Alas, no fireball barrages then. Sandstrike or Mind-Hand it is.
DF comics sometimes depict them roughly like that, according to a brief google search.
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- Location
- Germany
I think the only way to do the real pre-prepared fireball spam is with Time Sphere Magik.
And that is either heavily punished with Paradox in the original game or against the Laws in this setting.
And the ancient sorcery spell flight of the brilliant raptor is still straight up better as it is 15 Agg
They were underwater. Their base is underwater.
Its really kinda difficult to make out shit thats happening on the beach a mile away while underwater. Doubly so because water is usually a magic insulator in the Dresdenverse. Sure they noticed something magic was happening when we did magic stuff. Not the same thing as "invasion imminent"; might have been other stuff in the city
They presumably kept their heads down to avoid notice, and kept their patrol force on high alert.
Thats presumably how they managed to get a response out within thirty seconds to a minute of our approach.
EDIT
Also, the Rampires sent 18x vamps. They know the Fomor a lot better than we do.
Consider what that means for the size of the OPFOR.
EDIT2
I mean, this is obviously a patrol force.
There are 18x Rampires in the water. Why would you only send out 12x frogmen?
They'll just get eaten to power up the Reds.
Depends on the rules you use.
There's literally rules in Paths of Power for firing it off the way DF wizards throw fireballs.
It depends on how you choose to portray your setting.
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You used your crown to figure out what the layout of the base is like, that is how you knew about the barnacle, worm entrance.
- Location
- Germany
They literally had an invisible assassin on watch here.
I doubt he didn't look out of the water for the last hours.
It would be, if it didn't cost 4 Essence.
Four essence. For 15 Agg. That's just, offensively bad economy. Solars can do better with Emerald Induction supernal, but that takes a signature slot, and Solars can do much better than that for supernal charms.
We'll see how mechanics of sorcery pan out, but if DP decides that us throwing around an absolute ton of fireball isn't going to happen, Sandstrike or Mind Hand are our ranged attacks.
...Probably Mind Hand; Sandstrike arguably got better weapon stats, but range of 60 is baaaad, meanwhile Mind Hand is line of sight.
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- Pronouns
- ImBuda
You have to remember that we attacked them the last day inside of their own territory. We made the bleed so they should at least have increased the defenses in case we tried to attack them on their stronghold
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What is the layout actually? How many chambers? How large? How many corridors? Any other exits? What sorts of doors?
Invisible underwater assassin is not a mage, and has no mage senses afaik. Might not even be sapient.
The sorcerer(s), who can sense magic, are in the base.
THEY arent poking their heads out of the water.
Furthermore, if they knew there was an invasion, they would have attacked the boats before the Rampires could have geared up.
Then the vamps would have no air and be fighting forces with an environmental advantage.
Again, thats just 12x frogmen out there.
Thats not even enough for 1 per Rampire, and Rampires are better close combat.
The Reds will gut them and drink their blood to regen any injuries, even if Molly wasnt here.
The force parity is so bad that there's no way this is a planned deployment, else they would have either attacked the boats to prevent the Rampires getting ready, or retreated inside the base to make use of their own fortifications.
See above.
You dont send out 12x frogmen and 1x invisible assassin to attack 18x Rampires, 1 glowing demon thing and a submersible.
Thats all the hallmarks of a patrol force caught outside and responding immediately, possibly under orders of a surprised sorcerer.
Alternatively, that's genuinely all they have / can spare at the moment.
- Two levels, five chambers each
- There are two entrances, now three with one of the rooms blowing up, the one you have not seen so far is an underground escape hatch that seems to lead from what looks like the leader's chamber into a long tunnel that eventually connects with the sewers
- The place looks like more of a bunker than anything, though they have been doing something magical with this dragon's nest as far as Molly can tell
Then they'd be kept back to make use of the base's geography to fight a defensive action.
In a situation where they can deny the Reds the ability to leverage their numerical advantage all at once. Sending everyone out like this, 12 vs 18, just guarantees they get massacred by getting double teamed.
This reads a lot more to me like someone is buying time to deploy the rest of their guys.
Or an incompetent/panicking commander.
Which is also possible, I guess.
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How large are the chambers? ~10 square meters each? 30? 100? I am trying to estimate how many beings this facility can / is likely to house.
And it seems the chambers are isolated from each other. We'll probably have to choose between pursuing the escaping leader and leaving the base to reds or securing the base and letting the leader escape. Unless we earn loyalty of the reds here.
Or they need sacrifices / participants for whatever they are doing to the Dragon's Nest. Maybe they are doing an emergency summoning. Though that's unlikely.
So, anyway, more argument for my stunt: we need to earn loyalty of the reds and to motivate them to do their best. We already provided the stick, scaring them not to (immediately) betray us. Now, we need a carrot. A promise of some sort of favor, or a gift, even a symbolic one - we look like a demon, those things matter.
There's also a possiblity of turning them to our side, I feel. I mean, their leader at least seems to feel betrayed by God, and to believe humanity to be something beautiful. Worse beings have been redeemed. It might be doable.
That bit also seems to point at continuation of consciousness and rampires being physically and mentally transformed/warped versions of people they were before, rather than unrelated gribblies that inherited some memories from previous owners of their meatsuits.
Meaning Mercy in Servitude is good for more than just making them soak sunlight damage.