I would vote for firmly rejecting his offer (well, theoretically there could be exceptions (such us "temporary aliance to beat denarians/outsiders/Winter Court/some other eldritch abomination"), but I would prefer to avoid them).
This is a good argument, yes. I have some counter-arguments:
1) The risk is significant if we are going from partially omniscient perspective - one that knows about Lea and the tracking spells, etc. From IC perspective, that gift giving is considered appropriate at all indicates that cursed gifts are a rarity. The gift giving tradition is a strong one in many traditions, including in stories of the fae. There has to be a reason for it.
2) Whites are almost certainly going to risk it, especially if we sell it with "buy it, and then wear it, advertising my crafts; as long as you keep doing so, your hunger will be suppressed". This is a way to game MiS.
3) Even for purely mortals, such as politicians, celebrities, etc, jewelry is far more politically / personally significant than gems themselves.
Basically, my main point is that jewelry takes us away from pure money generation, and adds a dimension of plot development / interpersonal communication. I don't want to spend AP on purely monetary issues. I want plot and story. And yes, I realize that family craft is probably more story-significant (because yes, I absolutely can see Nicodemius commissioning Michael for a table)
It could also be Devil Tiger's world body starting to coalesce.
1)Not in this setting. There are sometimes obligations of gift-giving between people who have existing relationships.
There arent expectations of gift-giving at meetings. We've seen the meetings on-screen.
Some people wont even guarantee that the drinks at diplomatic receptions are unpoisoned.
And frankly, Dresden Files precedent is that every time we've seen gifts offered, its been a screw job.
2)You are under the impression that most Whites would value the life or wellbeing of absolute strangers over the possibility of their getting mindwhammied by some magic. Which is not necessarily true.
Not everyone is Thomas; see Madeline.
The Hunger is only a problem for a White who has problems with draining people or general self-control.
3)Gems being commodity items is the point.
Jewelry is a luxury good, and as such its value is as much in its branding as its beauty.
We have no branding. We dont want to draw the sort of attention that branding would require.
We benefit from selling gems to others and letting them make the jewelry, while we stay in the shadows.
4)We dont need money generation to be a plot generation activity.
Just having the money will open plot opportunities.
I consider the project to be valuable preparations for Mab. It lets us establish ourself as a power, rather then just a lone agent. Craft 3 and Technology are perfectly sufficient for the project.
And the project seems like something that would give great opportunities for exp. On the other hand learning magic while very cool, is an exp and time sink that doesn't contribute to preparing for Mab. So our XP and time spending priorities should reflect that focus.
1)A Dragons Nest is a resource for improving personal power, its not a demonstration of your being a power.
Its like saying an oil rig or a laboratory establishes you as a power.
2) The option is titled Not A Wizard But.
What wizards are most famous for? Is knowledge. Thats why they are called the Wise.
Sure, magic as well, but also supernatural lore. Specifically, Winter lore. Also, Dragon Nest lore. White Court vampire lore. Ghoul lore.
All of which are things Bob knows which we do not, and which are of immediate relevance to the person preparing for Mab while renovating a spot in Undertown known to be in the same area as White Court renegades and ghoul packs.
Kinda sorta not really. Alchemy 4 (with discount) would allow us to make intelligence and perception improving potions. Fortune 3 would give us difficulty modifiers (and even a -1 difficulty adjustment is strong).
This line of argument fails to see crucial distinction between lottery and other more common games of chance. In the casino or underground gambling examples, you are either playing directly against the casino, or against other players who, crucially, agreed that they are all here to try to win to the maximum extent of their natural abilities.
The lotteries specifically prohibits any deviation from the pure chance based on any abilities of the participants, as evidenced by all the lottery regulations ensuring randomness of draws and legal decisions making methods of subverting randomness for positive EV illegal.
Using a natural ability to win against a casino or gamblers who agreed to a game with ability component is not cheating, using a natural ability to rig the lottery is cheating other participants who did not agree to any possibility of any abilities playing role in the lottery outcome. And lottery rigging has no effect on lottery organizers' income at all, you can't even say you are righteously profiting from the thieves.
Why go with the morally and legally dubious lottery rigging unless we absolutely have to? What is this specific pressing need to get 10s or 100s of millions of dollars in one go in the near future? If for whatever reason we would like to get money specifically from gambling, we could play high-stakes blackjack or sweep underground gambling parlors, it would get us millions. Or better yet, don't gamble, just produce and sell valuable goods, we are not lacking in abilities to do so now and certainly won't be in the future.
1)Thats because there isnt a distinction.
Lotteries and other games of chance have rules and codes of behavior established up front. As long as you arent breaking them, you're clear, legally and ethically. Noone
2)No, lotteries prohibit any interference with the normal functioning of the contest.
If you arent interfering with its workings, you can choose to read the entrails of a chicken, see an astrologer, take a dose of LSD or consult an oracular spirit to determine how you choose your numbers. All good.
You would have an argument if this was a situation where there was a pregenerated answer and Molly was using Scrying to look at the numbers where they were stored. Or if she was using telekinesis or mindwhammied people to alter the drawings.
She isnt.
manipulated or controlled by deceptive or dishonest means; fitted out with rigging of a specified kind… See the full definition
www.merriam-webster.com
Code:
manipulated or controlled by deceptive or dishonest means
It is not an applicable term because we are in no way manipulating or controlling the lottery or any of the people running it.
4)Because it gives us a base income to deal with, and.
Dresden may be fine living hand to mouth but I see no reason to.
And there are situations where having money solves problems; see Blood Rites, or Turn Coat.
5)I dont know how big the illicit gambling scene is, but high stakes underground gambling games are not generally open to the general public. High stakes games can get quite heated and dangerous when people have a significant chunk of their net worth on the line. Plus there's the law enforcement risk.
People get shot on street corners wagering twenties, let alone serious cash.
They get followed home and attacked at home or en route.
I'd prefer to stay out of underground gambling that isnt a plot thing.
Furthermore, I dont see how you can question the morality of winning a lottery with our powers, where the buyin for a Powerball lottery ticket is $2, but have no problem with us using those same powers to bankrupt people face to face at blackjack or poker or whatnot where people are dropping hundreds and thousands of dollars at a time they may be unable to repay.
Is that just my impression, or could it be that the White Court vamps are on the average much younger than the Red and Blacks?
I mean, Lord Raith himself is old for sure, but Lara is supposed to be his oldest living child and she seems to be a few centuries at best and we don't know any other seriously old members, most we see appear to be genuinly American even, which is a sign of young age for sure.
The Reds have these ancient monsters in Southern America and their direct minions are still sometimes former aztecs or conquistadors. And the Blacks have people like Vlad and Mavra as medival members.
Eh. Lord Raith had a brother who was alive until sometime in the last forty years, and was presumably pretty old himself.
Then there's the head of the other Houses...
Its just that most of the onscreen Whites tend to skew young in appearance, while the comparable Blacks and Reds skew old.
Thomas maybe 40ish, but Lara is several hundred years old IIRC. And the other Raith sisters are somewhere inbetween.
They just dont look it, because they are the pretty ones.
The majority of Reds AND Blacks seem to be no older than Whites; they have too high an attrition rate for it to be otherwise.
The youngest full White we've seen was Tania Raith, who was around 20.
Every other one seems to be Thomas age or older.
By comparison, new Blacks and Reds are basically throwaway.
Not how it works. If we're under a time limit the QM will tell us so OOC. Or Porter will IC.
I mean, its worth remembering that this would normally be a months long project for a multiperson crew.
For Molly alone, if she didnt have Tool Constructs for a x10 speed multiplier, a 8 AP project like this would be more like 80 AP, which would represent around 13x 6AP-months devoted exclusively to work here.
Porter is not expecting it to be done tomorrow or next month
I think Mollys contacts, as in Dresden and being the daughter of a Knight of the Cross will play a larger factor in his decision as to how far to escalate. Those aren't enemies you make lightly.
Molly isn't an enemy you make over trivialities.
^^^
You dont look at someone who your magic consultant used Superman as a benchmark for and decide to antagonize them lightly.
Marcone has shared this city with Dresden and the White Court, and the Red Court before Dresden obliterated Bianca's retinue.
Both Winter and Summer Ladies have regularly passed through unmolested.
He didnt survive this long by being dumb.
It is not a victimless crime, that's the hill I'm ready to metaphorically die on.
Consider an illustrating example.
You and me are employees of a big company and voluntary participated in a New Year raffle with thousands of other employees, with part of the purse going to charity, part used for the expenses of organizing it all and part comprising a desirable big prize (e.g. a car or an all expenses paid trip to a good resort with +1) which has gone to a winner chosen at random. Except it is discovered that the winner is actually an unscrupulous employee who due to their expertise in details of implementation of badly designed RNG used by the draw process was able to predict the number of the winning ticket and thus rig the raffle.
For me this employer is obviously is a scumbag and their actions are morally reprehensible, they cheated you, me and other participants and robbed us of our chance to win, and robbed the prospective winner of their prize.
Now remove discovery, nobody knows that the raffle was rigged. The purported winner, as you said, will never know and never suffer for the loss, and all other participants including you and me will never know and never suffer for the feeling of being cheated and for being robbed of a chance to win. Yet the unscrupulous employee is still a scumbag and a cheater and their actions are still morally reprehensible, only it's just nobody knows except them.
That's why I say that rigging a lottery with CoE is morally reprehensible, it's the same in all the pertinent details, uniform game of chance with buy-in is a lottery draw instead of the raffle draw, and the knowledge which allows to preferentially select the winning ticket is provided by the CoE instead of professional knowledge on details of the draw process. Cheating of participants out of their chances to win and the prospective winner out of their prize is morally bad move, whether everybody knows it happened or only the cheater.
I see people consistently oppose me on this, am I somehow out of touch? Am I missing something, is there a hole in the logic of the argument above?
In the case given, the employee required insider knowledge of the RNG implementation to win. He has to have helped organize the raffle, or got the information from someone who did, and is using that knowledge to win the prize. Thats why lottery employees, and even their family members, are generally not allowed to play. Dude is cheating, and is open to both criminal and civil penalties.
That has absolutely no relevance to Molly's situation.
She is not involved in the running of the lottery, she has not suborned any of the employees with money or magic or manipulation.
She isnt altering the drawing with magic either, or even applying a Blessing to herself beforehand.
She just happens to be predicting, accurately, what it will be.
1)VEE only makes people listen to you after three years of their accepting successive endowments, one each year
2)I would not assume that Mab and the Winter Queen Mantle do not have defenses against this sort of effect
3)Attempting to apply mind-influence magic to Mab against her will sounds like a great way to get turned into pink mist.
1)VEE only makes people listen to you after three years of their accepting successive endowments, one each year
2)I would not assume that Mab and the Winter Queen Mantle do not have defenses against this sort of effect
3)Attempting to apply mind-influence magic to Mab against her will sounds like a great way to get turned into pink mist.
We ask Mab to make a wish warning her to wish for something she actually wants.
Then once that wish is granted we give her the task to absolving all of Molly and Harry Dresden's fey debt.
We get to give her a finite task after just one wish and absolving all of Molly and Harry Dresden's fey debt is a finite task.
Even the damned pray, and the Infernal may choose to answer these prayers. When the Infernal hears another being express a wish to be something they currently are not (stronger, smarter, more beautiful, more wealthy, and so forth), she may reach out with her Essence to grant the stated wish, even if the wish was not uttered in serious expectation of fulfillment. There is, of course, a price. System: Upon hearing an uttered wish, the Infernal may spend 5 Essence to grant it. The world conspires to bring about the Infernal's blessing as soon as possible, usually within the same scene. The beneficiary knows only that the hand of fortune is upon them, and they may accept or reject it. Rejection costs a point of Willpower. Sensing the sinister price attached to the gift requires a Perception + Awareness roll against difficulty 8. The Infernal can grant any of the following: a dot of an Attribute; a dot of an Ability; a dot of a Background; a Merit; or she can remove a Flaw. No character can have more than one wish granted in the course of a year. There are two hidden prices to the Infernal's gift. First: At any point after granting a wish, the Infernal may approach the beneficiary and ask them to perform one task on her behalf. The task may be as involved or lengthy as the Infernal desires, so long as it isn't impossible or utterly suicidal, and so long as it has some defined end-point within a year and a day. If the beneficiary refuses or shirks the Infernal's task, he is ripped from the world and cast into the Hell of Bur- 232 rowing Maggots… and he is instinctively aware of the wages of disobedience, once the task has been spoken. Second: After accepting three gifts from the Infernal, the beneficiary becomes a creature of darkness, instinctively loyal to the Infernal, who reduces the difficulty of all social rolls against the character by three.
People are focusing on the wish and the creature of darkness bit, but the power to assign a task for only one wish is also powerfull.
This, I very much don't agree with. We will be attracting attention one way or another, and this isn't a bad way to do so. Having a mundane brand recognition is not a bad idea.
Do we have a reason to say no? I mean, a moral reason to say no is still a reason to say no... but there are lots of circumstances when making a deal makes things better or at least doesn't make things worse.
We're not a fangirl for him or anything but, if it ever seems like shaking the man's hand is the right move, I'm not going to refuse out of spite or fear of setting precedent.
If we're not sure if something is the right move, pray and go with what feels right. God in this setting is a bro.
Actually nevermind maybe he isn't going to come to us with any deal. I can't think of anything that he can offer us besides his vassalage which is unlikely to be his opening offer.
I imagine it will be situational. While, yes, he doesn't have something we need that we can't obtain through other means... things come up. Some crisis or problem rolls along that he has the right information in regard to, or he has the right connections or the right ear, and suddenly everything is Coming Up Milhouse.
Hell, maybe its something really basic. He stumbles upon some arcane doohickey or another Himalayan corpse and, while he could find another buyer, its hard to put this stuff of ebay or craigslist. We give him money once we take on a couple zeros to our current intake, he gives us the thing, nobody has complaints.
A working relationship doesn't require indebtedness, just squid pro quo.
Actually nevermind maybe he isn't going to come to us with any deal. I can't think of anything that he can offer us besides his vassalage which is unlikely to be his opening offer.
He can offer non-aggression, and possibly his contacts in the criminal and supernatural world. We could, in principle, use smuggler contacts. He also seems to have a supernatural lore library.
1)Thats because there isnt a distinction.
Lotteries and other games of chance have rules and codes of behavior established up front. As long as you arent breaking them, you're clear, legally and ethically. Noone
2)No, lotteries prohibit any interference with the normal functioning of the contest.
If you arent interfering with its workings, you can choose to read the entrails of a chicken, see an astrologer, take a dose of LSD or consult an oracular spirit to determine how you choose your numbers. All good.
You would have an argument if this was a situation where there was a pregenerated answer and Molly was using Scrying to look at the numbers where they were stored. Or if she was using telekinesis or mindwhammied people to alter the drawings.
She isnt.
That's where we disagree. If you accept that there isn't a distinction, then of course CoE tricking lotteries becomes fine, but there is.
For lotteries the premise making them legal and a justification for them being not so immoral is the uniformity of chance of winning that can't be influenced by whatever, case in point as BronzeTongue mentioned, as soon as a guy discovered a method of subverting that uniformity, it was made illegal.
Like you said, lotteries prohibit any interference with the normal functioning of the contest, and the normal functioning in their case is that winning ticket/numbers can't be predicted and each ticket/number is uniformly likely to win, whatever the participants try, entrails, LSD, stargazing or consulting their grandmother's spirit with ouija.
In fact, if it was discovered that anything consistently works, you better be sure it would be outlawed and taken precautions from, just like the prediction and buying method of the guy from BronzeTongue's example. Because it breaks the lottery's premise and spirit of the rules, breaks justification of it being not so immoral and is cheating other participants of the lottery.
And obviously if it was discovered that someone in particular had a method of consistently winning lotteries, they would be banned from participating. That's the meaning of rigged I'm using, rigged (Wiktionary): "Pre-arranged and fixed so that the winner or outcome is decided in advance", as soon us we have used CoE to choose the ticket or numbers, we rigged the lottery, we fixed it in advance so that the winner is us. Pre-generation of the outcome plays no role, it only matters if it can be consistently predicted breaking uniform chance of winning.
If you don't accept this distinction, that lotteries in particular are meant to have uniform chance of winning whatever the participants try and that breaking it is cheating and immoral, let's agree to disagree and move on.
4)Because it gives us a base income to deal with, and.
Dresden may be fine living hand to mouth but I see no reason to.
And there are situations where having money solves problems; see Blood Rites, or Turn Coat.
5)I dont know how big the illicit gambling scene is, but high stakes underground gambling games are not generally open to the general public. High stakes games can get quite heated and dangerous when people have a significant chunk of their net worth on the line. Plus there's the law enforcement risk.
People get shot on street corners wagering twenties, let alone serious cash.
They get followed home and attacked at home or en route.
I'd prefer to stay out of underground gambling that isnt a plot thing.
Furthermore, I dont see how you can question the morality of winning a lottery with our powers, where the buyin for a Powerball lottery ticket is $2, but have no problem with us using those same powers to bankrupt people face to face at blackjack or poker or whatnot where people are dropping hundreds and thousands of dollars at a time they may be unable to repay.
Please don't mischaracterize my position, I want Molly to have all the money to help her solve problems and I have all the problems with any form of the gambling. I'm consistently proposing to treat gambling as something we only do if we have pressing reasons to do it and have no other means to get the money.
If we are getting money from gambling by consistently winning using our heightened abilities, we are consistently harming other participants. Above board in casino may be least bad of the choices, underground gambling is worse due to less safety and unintended side-effects, and lotteries are worst of all because rigging them harms millions of participants, while the comparative damage is much smaller to each of the participants, the scale is enormous.
Let's first try getting the money by more moral means and go less moral routes only if we no other options. And generally consider more moral actions before less moral.
I mean, its worth remembering that this would normally be a months long project for a multiperson crew.
For Molly alone, if she didnt have Tool Constructs for a x10 speed multiplier, a 8 AP project like this would be more like 80 AP, which would represent around 13x 6AP-months devoted exclusively to work here.
Given her general magical presence and the way Porter treated Molly you can assume that he has at least some assumptions of her being better at the task she has taken on that a bog standard mortal, whether it be by magic or mundane resources.
OK, this looks pretty settled, vote closed. Time to see how Chicago will react to the new power abroad.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Dec 6, 2022 at 2:35 AM, finished with 180 posts and 42 votes.
[X]Plan Diamonds Are Forever -[X] Masterworks for Money: 1AP --[X] Diamonds are a girl's best friend -[X] Look into the Minor Talents of Chicago: 1 AP --[X] A Rose's Tale -[X] A Friend in Need: 1AP --[X] Dreaming True -[X] The Bridges of the Spirit: 1AP -[X] Not a Wizard, but: 1AP -[X] Restoring the Last Station(0/8): 1AP
[X]Plan Small marvels of hellish beauty -[X] Masterworks for Money: 1AP
--[X] Small marvels -[X] Look into the Minor Talents of Chicago: 1 AP --[X] A Rose's Tale -[X] A Friend in Need: 1AP --[X] Dreaming True -[X] The Bridges of the Spirit: 1AP -[X] Not a Wizard, but: 1AP -[X] Restoring the Last Station(0/8): 1AP
-[X] Instead of taking a shower in the morning and in the evening, get into the habit of using TTC and excellency for supernaturally good body (and hair and nail) care and beautification procedures
Hm. My vote did not counted, as well as votes of @zxzx24 and @bengalqueen . Not that it change anything, but it is... strange. Some kind of bug, perhaps?
You need to merge name-votes with the full plan. Give me a minute, and…
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Dec 6, 2022 at 2:35 AM, finished with 180 posts and 42 votes.
[X]Plan Diamonds Are Forever -[X] Masterworks for Money: 1AP --[X] Diamonds are a girl's best friend -[X] Look into the Minor Talents of Chicago: 1 AP --[X] A Rose's Tale -[X] A Friend in Need: 1AP --[X] Dreaming True -[X] The Bridges of the Spirit: 1AP -[X] Not a Wizard, but: 1AP -[X] Restoring the Last Station(0/8): 1AP
[X]Plan Small marvels of hellish beauty -[X] Masterworks for Money: 1AP
--[X] Small marvels -[X] Look into the Minor Talents of Chicago: 1 AP --[X] A Rose's Tale -[X] A Friend in Need: 1AP --[X] Dreaming True -[X] The Bridges of the Spirit: 1AP -[X] Not a Wizard, but: 1AP -[X] Restoring the Last Station(0/8): 1AP
-[X] Instead of taking a shower in the morning and in the evening, get into the habit of using TTC and excellency for supernaturally good body (and hair and nail) care and beautification procedures
This, I very much don't agree with. We will be attracting attention one way or another, and this isn't a bad way to do so. Having a mundane brand recognition is not a bad idea.
We will be drawing supernatural attention as a matter of course. We have no interest in drawing mortal attention, because mortal attention means heightened scrutiny by a lot more people. And given the number of people around us whose lives would be adversely affected by undue mortal attention, we most definitely dont want that.
Our father's Calling involves swordfights in dark alleys with Infernally-powered humans and their goons, a process that often leaves human corpses. Dresden is a military commander who enforces a set of laws whose only mandated punishment is execution.
Hell, I will point out precisely just how many people whose lives change for the worse once its becomes publicly known that they, or someone in their family, comes into wealth or fame. There is many a modern tragedy prefaced by the words: he suddenly became rich, and it was public knowledge.
Congratulations! You just won millions of dollars in the lottery! That's great.
Now you're fucked.
No really.
You are.
You're fucked.
If you just want to skip the biographical tales of woe of some of the math-tax protagonists, skip on down to the next comment. To see what to do in the event you win the lottery.
You see, it's something of an open secret that winners of obnoxiously large jackpots tend to end up badly with alarming regularity. Not the $1 million dollar winners. But anyone in the nine-figure range is at high risk. Eight-figures? Pretty likely to be screwed. Seven-figures? Yep. Painful. Perhaps this is a consequence of the sample. The demographics of lottery players might be exactly the wrong people to win large sums of money. Or perhaps money is the root of all evil. Either way, you are going to have to be careful. Don't believe me? Consider this:
Large jackpot winners face double digit multiples of probability versus the general population to be the victim of:
Homicide (something like 20x more likely)
Drug overdose
Bankruptcy (how's that for irony?)
Kidnapping
And triple digit multiples of probability versus the general population rate to be:
Convicted of drunk driving
The victim of Homicide (at the hands of a family member) 120x more likely in this case, ain't love grand?
A defendant in a civil lawsuit
A defendant in felony criminal proceedings
Believe it or not, your biggest enemy if you suddenly become possessed of large sums of money is... you. At least you will have the consolation of meeting your fate by your own hand. But if you can't manage it on your own, don't worry. There are any number of willing participants ready to help you start your vicious downward spiral for you. Mind you, many of these will be "friends," "friendly neighbors," or "family." Often, they won't even have evil intentions. But, as I'm sure you know, that makes little difference in the end. Most aren't evil. Most aren't malicious. Some are. None are good for you.
Jack Whittaker, a Johnny Cash attired, West Virginia native, is the poster boy for the dangers of a lump sum award. In 2002 Mr. Whittaker (55 years old at the time) won what was, also at the time, the largest single award jackpot in U.S. history. $315 million. At the time, he planned to live as if nothing had changed, or so he said. He was remarkably modest and decent before the jackpot, and his ship sure came in, right? Wrong.
Mr. Whittaker became the subject of a number of personal challenges, escalating into personal tragedies, complicated by a number of legal troubles.
Whittaker wasn't a typical lottery winner either. His net worth at the time of his winnings was in excess of $15 million, owing to his ownership of a successful contracting firm in West Virginia. His claim to want to live "as if nothing had changed" actually seemed plausible. He should have been well equipped for wealth. He was already quite wealthy, after all. By all accounts he was somewhat modest, low profile, generous and good natured. He should have coasted off into the sunset. Yeah. Not exactly.
Whittaker took the all-cash option, $170 million, instead of the annuity option, and took possession of $114 million in cash after $56 million in taxes. After that, things went south.
Whittaker quickly became the subject of a number of financial stalkers, who would lurk at his regular breakfast hideout and accost him with suggestions for how to spend his money. They were unemployed. No, an interview tomorrow morning wasn't good enough. They needed cash NOW. Perhaps they had a sure-fire business plan. Their daughter had cancer. A niece needed dialysis. Needless to say, Whittaker stopped going to his breakfast haunt. Eventually, they began ringing his doorbell. Sometimes in the early morning. Before long he was paying off-duty deputies to protect his family. He was accused of being heartless. Cold. Stingy.
Letters poured in. Children with cancer. Diabetes. MS. You name it. He hired three people to sort the mail. A detective to filter out the false claims and the con men (and women) was retained.
Brenda, the clerk who had sold Whittaker the ticket, was a victim of collateral damage. Whittaker had written her a check for $44,000 and bought her house, but she was by no means a millionaire. Rumors that the state routinely paid the clerk who had sold the ticket 10% of the jackpot winnings hounded her. She was followed home from work. Threatened. Assaulted.
Whittaker's car was twice broken into, by trusted acquaintances who watched him leave large amounts of cash in it. $500,000 and $200,000 were stolen in two separate instances. The thieves spiked Whittaker's drink with prescription drugs in the first instance. The second incident was the handiwork of his granddaughter's friends, who had been probing the girl for details on Whittaker's cash for weeks.
Even Whittaker's good-faith generosity was questioned. When he offered $10,000 to improve the city's water park so that it was more handicap accessible, locals complained that he spent more money at the strip club. (Amusingly this was true).
Whittaker invested quite a bit in his own businesses, tripled the number of people his businesses employed (making him one of the larger employers in the area) and eventually had given away $14 million to charity through a foundation he set up for the purpose. This is, of course, what you are "supposed" to do. Set up a foundation. Be careful about your charity giving. It made no difference in the end.
To top it all off, Whittaker had been accused of ruining a number of marriages. His money made other men look inferior, they said, wherever he went in the small West Virginia town he called home. Resentment grew quickly. And festered. Whittaker paid four settlements related to this sort of claim. Yes, you read that right. Four.
His family and their immediate circle were quickly the victims of odds-defying numbers of overdoses, emergency room visits and even fatalities. His granddaughter, the eighteen year old "Brandi" (who Whittaker had been giving a $2100.00 per week allowance) was found dead after having been missing for several weeks. Her death was, apparently, from a drug overdose, but Whittaker suspected foul play. Her body had been wrapped in a tarp and hidden behind a rusted-out van. Her seventeen year old boyfriend had expired three months earlier in Whittaker's vacation house, also from an overdose. Some of his friends had robbed the house after his overdose, stepping over his body to make their escape and then returning for more before stepping over his body again to leave. His parents sued for wrongful death claiming that Whittaker's loose purse strings contributed to their son's death. Amazingly, juries are prone to award damages in cases such as these. Whittaker settled. Again.
Even before the deaths, the local and state police had taken a special interest in Whittaker after his new-found fame. He was arrested for minor and less minor offenses many times after his winnings, despite having had a nearly spotless record before the award. Whittaker's high profile couldn't have helped him much in this regard.
In 18 months Whittaker had been cited for over 250 violations ranging from broken tail lights on every one of his five new cars, to improper display of renewal stickers. A lawsuit charging various police organizations with harassment went nowhere and Whittaker was hit with court costs instead.
Whittaker's wife filed for divorce, and in the process froze a number of his assets and the accounts of his operating companies. Caesars in Atlantic City sued him for $1.5 million to cover bounced checks, caused by the asset freeze.
Today Whittaker is badly in debt, and bankruptcy looms large in his future.
But, hey, that's just one example, right?
Wrong. Nearly one third of multi-million dollar jackpot winners eventually declare bankruptcy. Some end up worse. To give you just a taste of the possibilities, consider the fates of:
Billie Bob Harrell, Jr.: $31 million. Texas, 1997. As of 1999: Committed suicide in the wake of incessant requests for money from friends and family. "Winning the lottery is the worst thing that ever happened to me.
William âBudâ Post: $16.2 million. Pennsylvania. 1988. In 1989: Brother hires a contract murderer to kill him and his sixth wife. Landlady sued for portion of the jackpot. Convicted of assault for firing a gun at a debt collector. Declared bankruptcy. Dead in 2006.
Evelyn Adams: $5.4 million (won TWICE 1985, 1986). As of 2001: Poor and living in a trailer gave away and gambled most of her fortune.
Suzanne Mullins: $4.2 million. Virginia. 1993. As of 2004: No assets left.
Shefik Tallmadge: $6.7 million. Arizona. 1988. As of 2005: Declared bankruptcy.
Thomas Strong: $3 million. Texas. 1993. As of 2006: Died in a shoot-out with police.
Victoria Zell: $11 million. 2001. Minnesota. As of 2006: Broke. Serving seven year sentence for vehicular manslaughter.
Karen Cohen: $1 million. Illinois. 1984. As of 2000: Filed for bankruptcy. As of 2006: Sentenced to 22 months for lying to federal bankruptcy court.
Jeffrey Dampier: $20 million. Illinois. 1996. As of 2006: Kidnapped and murdered by own sister-in-law.
Ed Gildein: $8.8 million. Texas. 1993. As of 2003: Dead. Wife saddled with his debts. As of 2005: Wife sued by her own daughter who claimed that she was taking money from a trust fund and squandering cash in Las Vegas.
Willie Hurt: $3.1 million. Michigan. 1989. As of 1991: Addicted to cocaine. Divorced. Broke. Indicted for murder.
Michael Klingebiel: $2 million. As of 1998 sued by own mother claiming he failed to share the jackpot with her.
Janite Lee: $18 million. 1993. Missouri. As of 2001: Filed for bankruptcy with $700 in assets.
So, what the hell DO you do if you are unlucky enough to win the lottery?
This is the absolutely most important thing you can do right away: NOTHING.
Yes. Nothing.
DO NOT DECLARE YOURSELF THE WINNER yet.
Do NOT tell anyone. The urge is going to be nearly irresistible. Resist it. Trust me.
/ 1. IMMEDIATELY retain an attorney.
Get a partner from a larger, NATIONAL firm. Don't let them pawn off junior partners or associates on you. They might try, all law firms might, but insist instead that your lead be a partner who has been with the firm for awhile. Do NOT use your local attorney. Yes, I mean your long-standing family attorney who did your mother's will. Do not use the guy who fought your dry-cleaner bill. Do not use the guy you have trusted your entire life because of his long and faithful service to your family. In fact, do not use any firm that has any connection to family or friends or community. TRUST me. This is bad. You want someone who has never heard of you, any of your friends, or any member of your family. Go the the closest big city and walk into one of the national firms asking for one of the "Trust and Estates" partners you have previously looked up on http://www.martindale.com from one of the largest 50 firms in the United States which has an office near you. You can look up attornies by practice area and firm on Martindale.
/ 2. Decide to take the lump sum.
Most lotteries pay a really pathetic rate for the annuity. It usually hovers around 4.5% annual return or less, depending. It doesn't take much to do better than this, and if you have the money already in cash, rather than leaving it in the hands of the state, you can pull from the capital whenever you like. If you take the annuity you won't have access to that cash. That could be good. It could be bad. It's probably bad unless you have a very addictive personality. If you need an allowance managed by the state, it is because you didn't listen to point #1 above.
Why not let the state just handle it for you and give you your allowance?
Many state lotteries pay you your "allowence" (the annuity option) by buying U.S. treasury instruments and running the interest payments through their bureaucracy before sending it to you along with a hunk of the principal every month. You will not be beating inflation by much, if at all. There is no reason you couldn't do this yourself, if a low single-digit return is acceptable to you.
You aren't going to get even remotely the amount of the actual jackpot. Take our old friend Mr. Whittaker. Using Whittaker is a good model both because of the reminder of his ignominious decline, and the fact that his winning ticket was one of the larger ones on record. If his situation looks less than stellar to you, you might have a better perspective on how "large" your winnings aren't. Whittaker's "jackpot" was $315 million. He selected the lump-sum cash up-front option, which knocked off $145 million (or 46% of the total) leaving him with $170 million. That was then subject to withholding for taxes of $56 million (33%) leaving him with $114 million.
In general, you should expect to get about half of the original jackpot if you elect a lump sum (maybe better, it depends). After that, you should expect to lose around 33% of your already pruned figure to state and federal taxes. (Your mileage may vary, particularly if you live in a state with aggressive taxation schemes).
/ 3. Decide right now, how much you plan to give to family and friends.
This really shouldn't be more than 20% or so. Figure it out right now. Pick your number. Tell your lawyer. That's it. Don't change it. 20% of $114 million is $22.8 million. That leaves you with $91.2 million. DO NOT CONSULT WITH FAMILY when deciding how much to give to family. You are going to get advice that is badly tainted by conflict of interest, and if other family members find out that Aunt Flo was consulted and they weren't you will never hear the end of it. Neither will Aunt Flo. This might later form the basis for an allegation that Aunt Flo unduly influenced you and a lawsuit might magically appear on this basis. No, I'm not kidding. I know of one circumstance (related to a business windfall, not a lottery) where the plaintiffs WON this case.
Do NOT give anyone cash. Ever. Period. Just don't. Do not buy them houses. Do not buy them cars. Tell your attorney that you want to provide for your family, and that you want to set up a series of trusts for them that will total 20% of your after tax winnings. Tell him you want the trust empowered to fund higher education, some help (not a total) purchase of their first home, some provision for weddings and the like, whatever. Do NOT put yourself in the position of handing out cash. Once you do, if you stop, you will be accused of being a heartless bastard (or bitch). Trust me. It won't go well.
It will be easy to lose perspective. It is now the duty of your friends, family, relatives, hangers-on and their inner circle to skew your perspective, and they take this job quite seriously. Setting up a trust, a managed fund for your family that is in the double digit millions is AMAZINGLY generous. You need never have trouble sleeping because you didn't lend Uncle Jerry $20,000 in small denomination unmarked bills to start his chain of deep-fried peanut butter pancake restaurants. ("Deep'n 'nutter Restaurants") Your attorney will have a number of good ideas how to parse this wealth out without turning your siblings/spouse/children/grandchildren/cousins/waitresses into the latest Paris Hilton.
/ 4. You will be encouraged to hire an investment manager. Considerable pressure will be applied. Don't.
Investment managers charge fees, usually a percentage of assets. Consider this: If they charge 1% (which is low, I doubt you could find this deal, actually) they have to beat the market by 1% every year just to break even with a general market index fund. It is not worth it, and you don't need the extra return or the extra risk. Go for the index fund instead if you must invest in stocks. This is a hard rule to follow. They will come recommended by friends. They will come recommended by family. They will be your second cousin on your mother's side. Investment managers will sound smart. They will have lots of cool acronyms. They will have nice PowerPoint presentations. They might (MIGHT) pay for your shrimp cocktail lunch at TGI Friday's while reminding you how poor their side of the family is. They live for this stuff.
You should smile, thank them for their time, and then tell them you will get back to them next week. Don't sign ANYTHING. Don't write it on a cocktail napkin (lottery lawsuit cases have been won and lost over drunkenly scrawled cocktail napkin addition and subtraction figures with lots of zeros on them). Never call them back. Trust me. You will thank me later. This tactic, smiling, thanking people for their time, and promising to get back to people, is going to have to become familiar. You will have to learn to say no gently, without saying the word "no." It sounds underhanded. Sneaky. It is. And its part of your new survival strategy. I mean the word "survival" quite literally.
Get all this figured out BEFORE you claim your winnings. They aren't going anywhere. Just relax.
/ 5. If you elect to be more global about your paranoia, use between 20.00% and 33.00% of what you have not decided to commit to a family fund IMMEDIATELY to purchase a combination of longer term U.S. treasuries (5 or 10 year are a good idea) and perhaps even another G7 treasury instrument. This is your safety net. You will be protected... from yourself.
You are going to be really tempted to starting being a big investor. You are going to be convinced that you can double your money in Vegas with your awesome Roulette system/by funding your friend's amazing idea to sell Lemming dung/buying land for oil drilling/by shorting the North Pole Ice market (global warming, you know). This all sounds tempting because "Even if I lose it all I still have $XX million left! Anyone could live on that comfortably for the rest of their life." Yeah, except for 33% of everyone who won the lottery.
You're not going to double your money, so cool it. Let me say that again. You're not going to double your money, so cool it. Right now, you'll get around 3.5% on the 10 year U.S. treasury. With $18.2 million (20% of $91.2 mil after your absurdly generous family gift) invested in those you will pull down $638,400 per year. If everything else blows up, you still have that, and you will be in the top 1% of income in the United States. So how about you not fuck with it. Eh? And that's income that is damn safe. If we get to the point where the United States defaults on those instruments, we are in far worse shape than worrying about money.
If you are really paranoid, you might consider picking another G7 or otherwise mainstream country other than the U.S. according to where you want to live if the United States dissolves into anarchy or Britney Spears is elected to the United States Senate. Put some fraction in something like Swiss Government Bonds at 3%. If the Swiss stop paying on their government debt, well, then you know money really means nothing anywhere on the globe anymore. I'd study small field sustainable agriculture if you think this is a possibility. You might have to start feedng yourself.
/ 6. That leaves, say, 80% of $91.2 million or $72.9 million.
Here is where things start to get less clear. Personally, I think you should dump half of this, or $36.4 million, into a boring S&P 500 index fund. Find something with low fees. You are going to be constantly tempted to retain "sophisticated" advisers who charge "nominal fees." Don't. Period. Even if you lose every other dime, you have $638,400 per year you didn't have before that will keep coming in until the United States falls into chaos. Fuck advisers and their fees. Instead, drop your $36.4 million in the market in a low fee vehicle. Unless we have an unprecedented downturn the likes of which the United States has never seen, should return around 7.00% or so over the next 10 years. You should expect to touch not even a dime of this money for 10 or 15 or even 20 years. In 20 years $36.4 million could easily become $115 million.
/ 7. So you have put a safety net in place.
You have provided for your family beyond your wildest dreams. And you still have $36.4 million in "cash." You know you will be getting $638,400 per year unless the capital building is burning, you don't ever need to give anyone you care about cash, since they are provided for generously and responsibly (and can't blow it in Vegas) and you have a HUGE nest egg that is growing at market rates. (Given the recent dip, you'll be buying in at great prices for the market). What now? Whatever you want. Go ahead and burn through $36.4 million in hookers and blow if you want. You've got more security than 99% of the country. A lot of it is in trusts so even if you are sued your family will live well, and progress across generations. If your lawyer is worth his salt (I bet he is) then you will be insulated from most lawsuits anyhow. Buy a nice house or two, make sure they aren't stupid investments though. Go ahead and be an angel investor and fund some startups, but REFUSE to do it for anyone you know. (Friends and money, oil and water - Michael Corleone) Play. Have fun. You earned it by putting together the shoe sizes of your whole family on one ticket and winning the jackpot.
The money bit is interesting but the key lesson is in the first spoiler tags.
Public fame is bad for the chances of anyone in your immediate circle living a normal life. Famous people employ a lot of that personal staff because they often need them, and their lives change as a result.
Mortal life and supernatural life operates on different sets of rules.
We DONT want mortal fame.
That's where we disagree. If you accept that there isn't a distinction, then of course CoE tricking lotteries becomes fine, but there is.
For lotteries the premise making them legal and a justification for them being not so immoral is the uniformity of chance of winning that can't be influenced by whatever, case in point as BronzeTongue mentioned, as soon as a guy discovered a method of subverting that uniformity, it was made illegal.
Like you said, lotteries prohibit any interference with the normal functioning of the contest, and the normal functioning in their case is that winning ticket/numbers can't be predicted and each ticket/number is uniformly likely to win, whatever the participants try, entrails, LSD, stargazing or consulting their grandmother's spirit with ouija.
In fact, if it was discovered that anything consistently works, you better be sure it would be outlawed and taken precautions from, just like the prediction and buying method of the guy from BronzeTongue's example. Because it breaks the lottery's premise and spirit of the rules, breaks justification of it being not so immoral and is cheating other participants of the lottery.
And obviously if it was discovered that someone in particular had a method of consistently winning lotteries, they would be banned from participating. That's the meaning of rigged I'm using, rigged (Wiktionary): "Pre-arranged and fixed so that the winner or outcome is decided in advance", as soon us we have used CoE to choose the ticket or numbers, we rigged the lottery, we fixed it in advance so that the winner is us. Pre-generation of the outcome plays no role, it only matters if it can be consistently predicted breaking uniform chance of winning.
If you don't accept this distinction, that lotteries in particular are meant to have uniform chance of winning whatever the participants try and that breaking it is cheating and immoral, let's agree to disagree and move on.
-You keep saying this, and its both wrong, and prejudices the conversation.
There is no trickery involved. There is no manipulation involved. There are magic ways to actually interfere with the running of a lottery in her favor, by trickery or manipulation. Molly would be using none of them.
-If you have a history of consistently winning big at casinos, even if they dont find you being involved with anything illegal, they will eventually ban and blacklist you, as will other casinos preemptively.
All-you-can-eat restaurants can and will ban you if they decide you are eating too much, despite it being the point.
That has nothing to do with ethics or morality, its just about a business doing whats most profitable for it.
Rest assured that if one guy for whatever reason (divine blessing or curse, aliens having a giggle, Teela Brown gene) began to win every lottery jackpot in a row, he would be banned too.
Because lotteries sell an illusion, and anything that threatens the appearance of that illusion is an existential threat.
Please don't mischaracterize my position, I want Molly to have all the money to help her solve problems and I have all the problems with any form of the gambling. I'm consistently proposing to treat gambling as something we only do if we have pressing reasons to do it and have no other means to get the money.
If we are getting money from gambling by consistently winning using our heightened abilities, we are consistently harming other participants. Above board in casino may be least bad of the choices, underground gambling is worse due to less safety and unintended side-effects, and lotteries are worst of all because rigging them harms millions of participants, while the comparative damage is much smaller to each of the participants, the scale is enormous.
Let's first try getting the money by more moral means and go less moral routes only if we no other options. And generally consider more moral actions before less moral.
There is no harm done I can see from winning a US lottery with the Crown of Eyes; that money has been pre-spent by the players regardless of who the winner is. In buying a ticket herself, Molly would be acting entirely within legal and, critically, moral limits.
And the point has to be made that Powerball tickets are half the price of a Big Mac.
I find nothing particularly immoral about it, any more than the rest of our economic system.
Or Molly's general existence.
If we pass an exam into a prestigious university by using heightened abilities, we're taking the place of someone else.
If we enter the market with an economic product, some people will make the case we are using unfair means to outcompete others.
If we buy a car at auction by using social Excellencies, we're depriving someone else of a car.
Given her general magical presence and the way Porter treated Molly you can assume that he has at least some assumptions of her being better at the task she has taken on that a bog standard mortal, whether it be by magic or mundane resources.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Dec 6, 2022 at 2:35 AM, finished with 180 posts and 42 votes.
[X]Plan Diamonds Are Forever -[X] Masterworks for Money: 1AP --[X] Diamonds are a girl's best friend -[X] Look into the Minor Talents of Chicago: 1 AP --[X] A Rose's Tale -[X] A Friend in Need: 1AP --[X] Dreaming True -[X] The Bridges of the Spirit: 1AP -[X] Not a Wizard, but: 1AP -[X] Restoring the Last Station(0/8): 1AP
[X]Plan Small marvels of hellish beauty -[X] Masterworks for Money: 1AP
--[X] Small marvels -[X] Look into the Minor Talents of Chicago: 1 AP --[X] A Rose's Tale -[X] A Friend in Need: 1AP --[X] Dreaming True -[X] The Bridges of the Spirit: 1AP -[X] Not a Wizard, but: 1AP -[X] Restoring the Last Station(0/8): 1AP
-[X] Instead of taking a shower in the morning and in the evening, get into the habit of using TTC and excellency for supernaturally good body (and hair and nail) care and beautification procedures
Frozen edged shadows haunt your dreams, a chill you can no longer feel in your waking hours slipping under the blanket turned imprisonment cocoon. You wake to the sight of down and fabric scattered through the room. "Darn, Usum why didn't you wake me?" you ask embarrassed and a little scared by the loss of control. What if you had hit something more important than a blanket?
4 Essence Recovered -> Now at 10/12
"A thousand apologies, Lady Fel and Fair, by the time I realized why I had been summoned the damage had been done," the demon replies, sounding as sheepish and annoyed at himself as you feel.
"That's OK, I can fix this... just wake me up next time. I know mom still likes to check on us kids. She hasn't done it to me in a while, but I would not like to explain why the blanket is in a dozen pieces in the middle of the night."
Thankfully tailoring is one of those things you have both the tools and the skill for, even if it does feel feel weird to be feeding buts of cloth into a machine that seems to have been sized to sow something vaguely human shaped, and judging by the restraints at the corners, not necessarily willing.
Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 9/12
After what you consider an unreasonable wait to use the bathroom you slip into another toxic bath to refresh your essence and consider your plans for the day ahead and in particular for one stubborn wizard.
Essence Restored to Full -> Now at 12/12
***
Whatever Harry had been expecting on his doorstep at 11 AM on a fine summer day it was not you hefting three super sized BBQ Chicken Pizzas like a knight's shield. "A delivery for Mr. Mouse, is Mr. Mouse at home?" you ask cheerfully.
"Hi Molly," At least he is smiling at the joke, though he adds: "You know pizza isn't very good for dogs."
"Well lucky for the fellow in question a semi-divine stomach comes with the package," you laugh at the approving bark coming from deeper in the apartment.
The lady speaks wisdom, a synthesized voice calls out from between the cushions of the off-orange couch. Looks like Burny had found a new home.
"If you say so, though if 'the lady' keeps buying meals this size for a certain greedy guts she's going to go broke," Harry replies as he goes over to the kitchenette to fetch some plates.
"Ah... that would take a lot more than Pizza, even in Chicago. So you know how diamonds are just carbon that is arranged in a funny pattern so it sparkles. Turns out you just need the right tools to rearrange it, and I have all the right tools." It is at this point that a neutral observer might say you sound smug, but it's a pardonable sort of smug if you do say so yourself and Usum agrees. When has he been less than utterly frank with me?
Though you try to hold back a giggle at the silly thought it does not work.
For his part Harry looks more worried than anything else. "Diamonds? Molly be careful with those, there's a cartel that deals in them I heard and for that kind of money they might get dangerous."
Now you just have to roll your eyes. "What kind of money? Harry I made fifty thousand dollars worth of obviously artificial diamonds, the multi-billion dollar industry is not going to notice it. Actually speaking of that money how much do I owe you?"
Spent 1 Essence -> Now at 11/12
"Owe me? Owe me for what?" He sounds genuinely confused. Really now?
Though you do manage not to roll your eyes it's a struggle. Instead you content yourself with counting off the things he had done for you off on your fingers. "Saving me from Arctis Tor and the consequences of my own stupidity at personal risk, cashing in a favor from the Summer Lady in the process, helping out when we brought an unconcious Nazi sorcerer to your door, investigating said organization in the face of dangers from everything from rooftop snipers to ancient necromancer ghosts, getting arrested in the process thus getting a file with those cowboys Daedalus who think due process is some kind of funny French cuisine, getting shot at with a haunted submarine's gun. Oh and let's not forget the information on the Pathfinders you got from Bob. As you lower the seventh finger you shake your head. "I think that is worth a retainer don't you? I've only got fifteen thousand on me right now, long story, but I can get more no problem..."
"Molly," he interrupts. "I'm a Warden, dealing with necromancer ghosts, evil valkyries and possessed submarines is my job. You did not hire me as a PI, a thing which is generally agreed in advance, instead you and Michael brought to my attention stuff I was supposed to handle. If anything I should be paying you for the help."
He has a really nice smile, but you are not going to let that distract you. "And how much does the White Council pay you for that job?"
"Enough." That's a lie, a pretty good lie granted, spoken with enough emphasis to show he means it, but not so much as to look like he is trying to hard, but you instantly notice how his eyes move just a little in Mouse's direction, even though the big floof in question is way too busy with his pizza to call out any noble lies Harry may be telling.
What do you reply?
[] Offer to get him a working computer/TV or any other electronic he might want by means if HMP instead
-[] Write in Stunt
[] Offer to sit down and write down some of the stuff Usum knows which the White Council might not, that should segue into talking to Bob nicely, knowledge for knowledge but you will make sure he gets the better deal
-[] Write in Stunt
[] Write in
OOC: Given that you guys took so many actions that are Harry related, from finding a teacher for Rosanna to learning from Bob I thought it would be best to start you off with him
[X] Offer to get him a working computer/TV or any other electronic he might want by means if HMP instead
-[X] Write in Stunt:
She learns forward " A Warden has to protect the innocent right?" She grins " like little burny, he was in so much danger before you gave him your protection." She takes his hand in hers " surely you have it in your heart to protect his siblings as well?"
[X] Offer to get him a working computer/TV or any other electronic he might want by means if HMP instead
-[X]"Well I'm not a fey, but by my thinking if you gave up your debt from the summer lady to save me then logically that means that debt effectively transfers to me. And not to toot my horn too much that is bargain deal on your part." Sidelong look "Or if you won't let me pay you back directly I can see about paying off your debt to Mab."
[X] Offer to get him a working computer/TV or any other electronic he might want by means if HMP instead
-[X]"Well I'm not a fey, but by my thinking if you gave up your debt from the summer lady to save me then logically that means that debt effectively transfers to me. And not to toot my horn too much that is bargain deal on your part." Sidelong look "Or if you won't let me pay you back directly I can see about paying off your debt to Mab."
We do want to help him with that stuff, but actually saying it out loud is probably not a good plan. Harry would just get paranoid and overprotective about the idea of Molly poking the fey and probably work even harder to keep us out of it.
Yes uh, he'll just enter "Oh no, nonono" stubborn panic mode and nothing productive will be done unless we roll ridiculously well. Don't mention Mab in that context.
We do want to help him with that stuff, but actually saying it out loud is probably not a good plan. Harry would just get paranoid and overprotective about the idea of Molly poking the fey and probably work even harder to keep us out of it.
[X] Offer to get him a working computer/TV or any other electronic he might want by means if HMP instead
-[X]"Well I'm not a fey, but by my thinking if you gave up your debt from the summer lady to save me then logically that means that debt effectively transfers to me. And not to toot my horn too much that is bargain deal on your part." Sidelong look "Or if you won't let me pay you back directly I can see about paying off your debt to Mab."
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