Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

[DragonParadox]

Making Connections ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

"Hello, who is this?" It takes you a moment to realize that Harry does not get to see the number calling him on his antique of a phone, nevermind a saved name.

"Molly, it's Molly," you reply, then before he can get another word in edgewise you continue. "I wanted to ask, did you get anything more on history's worst sore losers?" Maybe it's paranoid, but all the thinking you did on spying on other people's phones makes you not inclined to say any names over the phone. "I have some new powers that can help track them and if you do find them I figure you could use some backup."

"Don't worry about that," you can hear the mounting weariness in his voice. "I'll handle it and keep you informed if there's anything you can help with. An investigation's kind of like quicksand that way, if you go too fast or step too heavy you will sink right in you're a little obvious."

"I don't have to be obvious," you roll your eyes even though he can't see you.

"You're always obvious to those with the eyes to see," Harry replies quickly. "Remember when you said that magic unraveled in your hands if you tried to cast it, well that is not just your magic. I can feel the way you pull at the world and so can anyone else with a lick of sensitivity. Given we who are dealing with here I think it's fair to say they have at least two licks between them."

That is... actually a fair point, you admit reluctantly. You might be putting him in danger by your very obvious green glowing presence. If you thought that Harry Dresden was the sort of person to actually take things slow and cautious you might have even agreed with him, little though you like it. But as a matter of fact you do know a bit about how Harry Dresden investigates, you hadn't even had to listen at doors for those bits. Mom was more than loud enough. He is going to need someone who can parry bullets before this is done you're sure.

Lost 1 Essence

You take a sip of your Coke thinking of how to deal with it. "Like it or not I'm already involved, the guy with a love of rooftop views isn't going to forget me, no more than the Winter half of faerie. I'd like to cooperate so we don't double up on effort, but I'm going to be... looking anyway. Wouldn't you rather be there to watch me doing it?" Is flirty blackmail a good idea? It seems to work in the movies at least.

There is a really long pause in which you would like to think he is thinking of the flirting part, but it is probably just how to get out of the blackmail.

"And what would Charity think of this?" he finally asks.

"You would have to ask mom," you reply airily. "I always a did like the city at night you know, it has an air of mystery about it."

"Alright, come by my place and we'll talk," he sighs.

A part of you wants to echo 'and what would mom think of that' just to get back at him for pulling that card on you, but it's not worth it just be be petty.

***​

Mouse at least is unambiguously happy to see you. Sadly him jumping off the couch does send Harry's improbably sized cat, though not as improbable as his dog, tumbling which earns you a hiss of feline displeasure as Mister, you think his name is saunters off.

"So..." you start taking out your phone, "What have you got so far? Names addresses, I can do a web search on them."

"Don't take that out in here, " Harry says alarmed.

"Oh it's fine," you wave him off with what you hope is just the right amount of unconcern. "I bound a..." You are about to say 'helper kami' or something before you realize that even if his wizardly lore doesn't cover cyber-devils the Shadow of the Fallen in his head almost certainly knows enough to recognize it. "I bound a cyber-demon of the Wicked City into it, a sort of least spirit of alienation and anonymity, gave her a name and a place to stay that wasn't Hell. Say Hello Clippy."

"Hello Clippy," she replies in what is probably a joke, her chosen avatar flickering in the screen. "It is an honor to meet you Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden, you have brushed but lightly against the threads of data, I look forward to a fruitful collaboration between yourself and my mistress ."

Harry... does not take it well, eyes widening with alarm and his hand reaching for one of his foci before he stops himself. "Molly I can't believe I have to tell you this but demons aren't something you should be messing with.'

Lost 1 Essence

"This one is because that's how my power works," you reply. Seeing that he is about to interrupt you raise a hand. "Just let me finish OK? There has to be a reason my power draws in magic so strongly you can feel me from across the parking lot and it's not to make extra hot flames when I pull out my sword. Much like the Sith it does deal in absolutes. Remember when Mr. McCoy tested my mind and he said he had about as much of a chance of getting in while the shield was active as spoon assisted hard rock mining? Well apply that to assuring the loyalty in letter and in spirit of... ah sorry Clippy... very minor and weak demons."

"Query? What do you regret?" your assistant asks.

"That you might feel bad over me calling you weak," you explain carefully, gotta remember demon logic.

"My pride is difficult to damage, even so facts cannot do so at all," she assures you.

All through this Harry is looking between the two of you like he's waiting for someone to pop out of a corner of the apartment and announce he is on a hidden camera show. It is a struggle not to giggle, but you manage it.

Finally he manages to get out: "How did you do it?"

"I willed it so, that's actually one of the things I wanted to talk to you about. I can put more of them in security cameras to help stake out targets, or cars, those are valid too. We could know what they are talking about in the car and around it, not to mention if we get in car chase I can just tell the car to stop, it's line of sight."

"How many of these things can you summon from the Bad Town?" he asks looking at you really intensely.

Enough so that your laugh is as much nervous as proud, though at least you do not blush. "I don't think there is an upper number," you think about it a little more, the occult question going a ways to calming you down. "Or they might be a finite number, but it is something really large, like equal to the number of atoms in the universe so for all practical purposes infinity."

"Oh," he sinks back into the couch looking a little stunned. So it had been a 'you might be a civilization ending threat' intensity and not 'you are so pretty today Molly' intensity. Darn.

"I'm planning to be responsible with it," you say quickly. "I'm not going to go around ordering ATMs to spit out money or anything." Though you had admittedly thought about it. That was just being through when assessing your new powers. Speaking of new powers...

"Can I keep a bottle of Clorox at your place?"

He takes the description of healing in poison a lot better than he had Clippy, though that might be just because he is still in a bit of shock over it. You're sure he will come around eventually, but you do not make the offer of a demon phone yet.

"Alright, I'll buy some of that stuff..."

What the... You cut him off. "Harry, I have money for a bottle of cleaning supplies, I wasn't asking you to buy it for me, just if I could stash it with you." The ember of annoyance from when he had mentioned calling mom gets a little brighter. You are seventeen not seven, a legal adult in three months.

"Perhaps," Usum suggests softly at the back of your mind, "He treats you such not because your campaign of seduction has failed, but because it is working a bit too well and guilt drives him to overcompensate."

That is a very 'demonic tempter' take on things, but on the balance you do feel a little reassured. Still you do not want to think on it anymore. "Circling back what can I help you with?"

That afternoon you were...

[] In Harry's car outside a quiet suburban carwash you cannot believe belongs to Marcone waiting to speak to the man himself about where he had gotten those bones from

[] In a small rural county so different from busy Chicago you could not believe it was only two and a half hours drive following up on a tip Harry got from some Wyldfae about a man who might know something about rage spirits and what it takes to bind them

[] Still in his apartment, trying to make what you can of the bullet you had recovered from the gunman
-[] Write in question for Crown use

OOC: I was tempted to make the last one post-question asking but since you guys only get only one for the bullet I did not want to assume, you might have a better idea what to ask than I did.

 

[DragonParadox]

Strangers' Way ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

The trip starts, like most really interesting trips with an argument, specifically about who's going to drive. Harry sees no issue with driving a mostly blue Volkswagen Beetle with AC from the sixties though the heat of midsummer on a two and a half hour journey. Not that you haven't had your share of daydreams about being stuck in some too confining place with Harry, but there is such a thing as too hot and sweaty. Part of you wonders if this is one last attempt to dissuade you from coming at all. Rather than accuse him of that you make the point that Mouse could be really helpful out in the boonies especially if you run into more beserkers.

"Trying to fit him into that car is a crime against dog," you proclaim to an approving woof from the fellow in question. "Look we take my car and you can pay for the gas, how about that?"

"Trouble is who's going to pay for all the electronics that get fried?" he argues. "Look I know that my car can make it because it has for years. No to take more risks we don't have to before we even leave the city." I know my way works so that's what I want to do, you hear in his tone.

"There's a solution to that," you point out, motioning to your phone. Seeing him shift uneasily on the couch you are quick to remind him. "You spent an hour in the basement looking at wizard books or whatever, did you find anything to say that what I'm doing isn't safe?"

"Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence Kirk," he quips.

"Still not a good Spock, maybe a late season McCoy," you counter. "Look it's my car I'm gonna do it anyway, why not do it now so we can drive around in something that isn't pushing half a century and the cruise control doesn't get shot? You get to have more leg room I don't risk dad's insurance premium, everyone wins." You are pretty sure you could fix anything that might happen to your car on the road, even if you have to do it in the middle of the Illinois wilderness or something, but that is beside the point. "You can even observe how the Beige Wagon acts once it has been demonified."

He stops, looks at the car again, then his eyes go just a little out of focus, talking to Lasciel's shadow. 'Ooh... don't put petty demons in the cruise control Molly, I'm just going to have a chat with one of the sub-souls of the Fallen.' Admittedly there is a part of you that is more annoyed that you can't hear her than at any hypocrisy on his part, but still.

"OK do your thing then," he finally says.

You get in and tap your fingers across the dashboard to the tune of Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell, humming along in your mind, calling forth one of Mikaboshi's hell to serve a better cause if they would.

Lost 1 Essence
Demon bound for 1 Week. Will need to be reapplied.

The concept of 'better' is confusing at first, almost shocking and by the time you still the confusion in the buzzing chorus the binding feels loose, frayed... less than it should be. It will last for maybe a week before the spirit is returned to your anima and you have to try again. Ah well good enough for the trip...

Now for the important part, who gets to choose the radio station.

***​

"So what did the fey tell you about this guy?" you ask, as Harry finally relaxes a little and leans back into his seat once you are out of the traffic of Chicago's suburbs. He is not, you are relieved to note, a backseat driver, though he apparently cannot help but loom and make it really obvious he would like to say something.

Still between your new friend smoothing out some of the sudden stops and starts and using the warning lights to to signal when you are about to do something silly with the lights you did great for your first long trip outside the city without dad, if you do say so yourself.

"He deals with the same kind of spirits as Gorfel, uses iron to ward his house against them and the land spirits around here, the ancestor ghosts of the Mamaceqtaw don't like him much. That could also indicate that he's been messing with the dead which is a second connection to Gorfel and his lot."

"So we walk in, threaten him into spilling what he knows and then follow the trail where it might lead us."

"Hold on there, we don't know if he was with Gorfel at all, he might just not be liked by the local spirits and that's not a crime and there is no sense in making enemies over nothing," Harry answers. But is is Usum who, unintentionally persuades you to that side. "Such petty conjurors are far below that you can count as enemies Crown of the Endless Night"

Probably not a good attitude to take going into this. Pride goeth and all that so you nod.

***​

The town of Menominee, named for the English name of said native tribe doesn't seem to have a lot of people in it, a lot of cows sure sure munching the still green grass along the creek that runs though town, but even near the red brick church in the center of town there aren't that many people on the street and those that are look real funny at the car with Chicago plates coming into town. You wonder what they would think if they knew how strange the car really is...

Patting the dashboard in thanks you get out of the car to the none too well hidden stares of the locals. This isn't church so you had seen no reason to dress any differently than you normally do, piercings and all, if anyone has anything to say about it they can say it to your face.

As for Harry, though he isn't precisely inconspicuous himself he does get into talking to the locals asking about the local landmarks, playing the hapless tourist, lost and too proud to admit it. What he is really doing, he explains is getting the names of local landmarks which the Wyldfae had used to mark where the sorcerer lives.

"Why didn't you just have one of them guide us?" you ask, curious to see what the rebels and rabble of faerie are like. They sound like your kind of spirits.

"If a sorcerer goes to the trouble of making a cold iron anchored ward odds are good they have cold iron weapons, around here cold iron bullets. Not worth the risk to save us a few minutes of looking like clueless tourists," he replies as you make a turn towards somewhat uncreatively named Catfish Creek. The bridge over it is a narrow slab of concrete, its barriers cracked and worn like the bones of some strange water beast left out to rot in the sun

'Old Man Matthews' is on the other side of the bridge, a widower who lives with his grandchildren according to a somewhat chatty fellow in an oversized football jersey. "Don't stop round his part, just drive on through and you'll find the main road eventually," was what he'd said at the last.

Indeed the house makes that impression all by itself. The facade may once have been white, but it so that must have been around the time that Harry's car was factory-new. The windows creek listlessly even in the almost nonexistent breeze and even the roof seems to be shedding tiles. Whatever Old Man Matthews does with his magic it can't be very profitable.

What do you do?

[] Follow Harry's lead

[] Take point
-[] Drop hints about Gorfel and his lot, see if he bites
-[] Pretend to be some kind of winter fey displeased by all the cold iron, that would give him all sorts of wrong ideas about what you can and can't do

[] Write in

OOC: I thought about giving a name vote for the car, but is already has one, it's just that it's alive now.

 

[DragonParadox]

Warden's Work ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

As soon as I crossed the property line I could feel the wards. Most people anchored their wards to the actual threshold of their house because it was easier and cheaper on magic, but the old Matthews place had a circle embedded in the very earth is stood on, it felt kind of scratchy against the inner senses, not dark necessarily but clashing with the normal magic of the land like it had literally been nailed to the skin of the eatrth. That would take either serious power, serious help or a hell of a ritual, the kind hell would approve of. I just hope it's option one or-option two. A warlock was always harder to deal with when they were part of a close-knit community like this one and not just in the practical sense. 'Sorry kids your grampa is a danger to every living thing out there' was no comfort at all.

"Does it help to partake of the guilt in advance of knowing if it is required my host?" a soft sultry voice floated up on the evening breeze. I thought of putting her back now that we were out of the demon-mobile and I no longer needed her advice on the matter, but I did not do it for two reasons: first because while I could shut Lash down in a moment letting her out to talk took focus and concentration and much as I hated to admit it she was the best expert he had on call when it came to demonic supper-weapons. With no way to know what Molly was doing until it was too late short of opening his sight and getting an eyeful of eldritch power that man was not meant to know Lash was the only early warning system on offer

"Thinking about the possibility is always required," I shot back mentally. "It's called having a conscience."

"Interesting definition... maybe I should make it a therapy couch next time." The words were perfectly innocent, the tone was not, bringing to mind all the unprofessional one could do on one of those couches.

"Well you go think about that then," I shot back, willing the mental bindings back into being. If there is one thing I had learned in dealing with Lash it was that you should not make hard and fast rules for what is and is not acceptable talk or she would just treat the line like it's the highway and she is one of those big yellow tow trucks.

As I reached out towards the door it wrenched open and an old man who was probably the owner looked up at the three of us suspiciously. Between the still flowing curly hair turned almost entirely white and the respectable beard he looked more like most people's idea of a wizard then I did, though the striped colorful shirt made one think more of an aging hippie. Not really what you would think of as an ally if as Molly put it 'history's worse sore losers'.

Spoiler: Old Man Matthews

"Howdy, what can I do for you Warden Dresden?" The smoky grey eyes flickered to my face for just a moment before dropping it too fast to be snared on a soul gaze, same with Molly but then his eyes dropped to her purse. He probably noticed the demon in her phone. A lot of sorcerers and folks with specialized talents have a particular sensitivity to the kind of magic they work with every day, in this case spirits. So if he is on the level he's all the more likely to spook him more.

"If I said the name Gorfel would that mean anything to you?" I asked, hoping to startle a reaction out of him.

"I don't know anyone named that," he answers quickly, too quickly in fact, like one who had been expecting to be asked the question and that got me thinking about the way he put it. It sounded very much like the way the fey lied, put the emphases on the right thing and it isn't a lie at all, not their fault if you misunderstood.

"Are you sure, because I do know a Gorfel and he sounds like a dangerous man to know, his friends even more." Looking past the man into the house I could just make out the picture of two dark haired girls smiling out of what looked like a holiday picture somewhere in the woods, like summer camping, next to that a misshapen vase, the kind a kid would make in art class filled with wildflowers. "The sorts who use long guns to shoot more than white tails.

"Then it's a good thing for me I don't know them..." the sorcerer said, more loudly this time.

"I bet he wished he didn't know his buddies when the sniper bullets started flying, but knowing goes both ways and spite makes for long memories," Molly cuts in, her words like a sword in the dark.

Lost 1 Essence

One that it seems had found its mark, the old man winces then steps a little aside. "Come in if you would vow not to harm any who dwell in this house and eat at this hearth."

"We enter as friends, as friends we shall depart," I quickly improvised a vow, 'as friends' does not mean you have to be friends and it put a solid end condition to the vow. Molly murmured the words after me.

Now that I could see the living room it was all the clearer how much it contrasted with the outside of the house. a big four person couch covered in a colorful patchwork quilt was at the center of the room with a hardwood coffee table, a stack of coasters on one end and a pack of what looked like Tarot cards on the other. There was a big tube TV in front of it the kind that still had dials. For his part Mouse judges the couch a good place to jump onto, tongue lolling a little out of his mouth... though you cannot help but notice that puts him just behind Matthews as he keeps talking after closing to door.

The walls weren't all just pictures of kids though, but bundles of woven grass, fur, teeth and claws. Now I'm no enchantment expert and certainly no expert in hunting and the trophies that came of it, but I could feel power humming in each of those, red and raw... and there were an awful lot of them, like someone 's been spending years putting this together year by careful year.

"I used to know a man who has taken to calling himself Gorfel, thought I knew him at least and that is a part of my life I don't want to revisit. If you want to deal with him Warden I have no quarrel with you, though mark that the man is as cunning with words as he is with sorcery." He paused and looked between me and Molly. "Many people have misspent youths, though few as bad as poorly spent as mine. Unfortunetly I did not come out of it with just wisdom earned the hard way. There are vows a man can't break for all the good will in the world, curses that linger in the blood. I can't help you find Gorfel."

So he doesn't know Gorfel's been captured, or at least that's what he wants us to think, I thought. The whole story sounded more plausible than not, but then all the best lies did and I couldn't help but notice that he was stonewalling questions anyway.

What next?

[] Let Harry Continue

[] Interject
-[] Ask what he swore and to whom, maybe there is a way to thread the needle

[] Write in

OOC: Not posting rolls for this one because knowing who won the social contests could be a clue one way or the other

 

[DragonParadox]

Unforgotten ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

Leaning forward a bit you catch the old man's gaze for a moment before he averts it, fearing a soulgaze, or maybe just not wanting to look you in the eye. I can work with that. "Oaths are funny things. We hold to them so strongly, but often that which we bind the tightest is the first that we lose. Look no further than the fair folk to see how very important the will behind the words is in any promise.So tell us, what exactly did you promise, and by what terms."You smile and it is not a gentle thing, nor filled with any mirth, but hungry. Usum hums proudly at the back of your mind, this he is far more familiar with than even the song of battle.

Lost 1 Essence

For a moment Matthews freezes up and you can read Harry's annoyance flash across his face, but only for a moment. The old mage rallies with the swiftness of one who has gotten out of their fair of tight spots in their life. "You are free indeed with the risks that others must take fair lady, but know that is dancing perilous close to the edge of a cliff into which more than the likes of me would fall."

You wonder if he means more of his confederates, how many dodgy sorcerers are there in deep rural Illinois of all places, but then your eyes fall on the pictures upon the mantelpiece and you recall what the man had said about him, no mention of a son or daughter, just granddaughters. If he dies what would become of them

Lost 1 Essence

"When the edge is already crumbling under your feet it is best to try to jump to safety on your terms than hope that fate alone will deliver you a narrow narrow path to walk on. Help us help you and none of this will be able to follow you home again." Given what his choice of wall decorations looks like this fellow is either a magical arms seller or he is an arms holder and you are betting on the latter.

"Are you willing to make a vow to that?" he asks, looking between you and Harry.

Before you can reply Harry cuts in. "You called me a Warden, you know what that means, that's a duty I already took on."

"Not all who wear a Wardens' cloak cut by the Wardens' Laws," the old man replies with a knowing look. Seeing Harry's face darken he raises a hand for peace. "Even if you do, there's only so much law to in there: keep the peace, keep the secret, punish the lawbreaker. Where in there does it say you have to give a damn about me or Cindy or Alice?"

"Right between basic human decency and not wanting to be known as the sort of person who ignores it. There's plenty of things out there that will use a man and throw him away, but it always comes back to bite them in the end," Harry replies.

"Always." the old man gives a short dry laugh. "An optimist I see, you'll learn... or you won't."

He goes quiet again after that. "I promised not to betray the master's secrets nor lead ruin to the door of his other servants by speech or by silence, in life or in death. I swore also to keep faith with him and aid him in all his works to the best of my meager abilities. I was freed of the last bit back in '61 when the Council finally made death stick to him who thought himself its master."

Kemmler, he means Kemmler you realize, that big time necromancer Harry talked about and from the look on Harry's own face he was not expecting that confession. His right hand shifts a little closer to his blasting rod.

"Not getting out of this without a soulgaze am I?" the old sorcerer asks with a wintry smile. "Let's get this over with."

From the outside a soulgaze does not look like anything special, just two people locking gazes for a moment, before they break off, both looking shaken.

"While the master had no respect for the Laws when it came to himself and those he counted enlightened, he recognized that some were not ready to embrace the truth of their power, of the divinity that lies hidden in ever-rotting mortal flesh and veiled in the stink of their fear." That last part sounded like a quote, and one he did not like repeating, though it came easily to his lips. "I was fortunate enough to be unenlightened and away on an errand when his death found him. I haven't gone looking for his 'enlightenment' for forty five years now, longer than you've been alive Warden Dresden. All I want is to be left alone to finish raising my granddaughters and then I will face whatever's on the other side for the likes of me."

"There is forgiveness for sins if you repent," you answer softly. "God is love."

Matthews looks at you funny, but doesn't say anything while Harry gathers his thoughts. "You could argue that Kemmler doesn't have any secrets now that he's dead," he argues.

"You could, you never met him," Matthews shakes his head. "He was obsessed with immortality, the actual magical sort yes, but also legacy should the first fail, that's why he penned the Word and arranged for it to be copied and sent off far and wide, it is why he took apprentices. I heard him say once that only in being forgotten can oblivion be found."

"You did tell us some secrets, just now and no ill came of them." You take care not to seem like you are pushing too hard now, he seems almost relieved to be talking about this now or maybe by what he had seen in Harry's soul.

"I can tell you my own secrets, who I am, who I was who I used to know, but it is not... ah what's that called? It's not actionable intelligence to help unravel his legacy."

"Even if it's his legacy what they do after Kemmler's death can't be his secrets can they?" Harry asks suddenly. "You weren't that surprised when I asked about Gorfel, had the not-lie at the tip of your tongue. You've met him recently haven't you?"

"Two weeks ago on the seventh..." he stops as the spirit bindings on the wall start to sway though the air is still, takes a deep breath before continuing. You suddenly realize he must be terrified, enough so that his magic is spilling out and affecting the bindings, but you can see no sign of it on his face. Guess being able to hide fear is an important skill in working for an insane necromancer and much like riding a bike not one you forget. "Gorfel came much as you did, asking for information about Chicago, about you. He was particularly interested in last Halloween. A good thing I had not partaken of that soulgaze beforehand. Not many Wardens in good standing can claim to have... ah... done what you did."

"Yeah well I didn't do it for a joyride," Harry replies, a little defensively. You wonder what that's about.

Matthews nods, though you can tell it is more for politeness' sake before moving on.

"I shared rumor and tall tales, the kind of thing he could have gotten almost anywhere. Him I did not allow past the threshold and when he offered me a place among the Society again I told him to never darken my doorway again. He laughed and said I would crawl back begging for scraps eventually. Scraps or a whole cut it's all poisoned meat."

That is when Harry really gets into the questioning: "What was he wearing? How did he get here, did he come by car or by the ways? Was anyone with him?" On and on pocking at every single detail of the late night visit, with all the skill of a professional detective and all the precision of a wizard at his art.

Thus you find out all sorts of interesting things. For one Gorfel had been alone and not with his goon squad, nor had he been driving, in fact oddly enough for the middle of summer on a clear evening his boots had been wet. Harry quickly latched on to that and asked if the man had any weapons visible and what he had been wearing. As it turns out not a single scrap of steel, nor a glimmer of iron, which would mean he took the ways and the water might once have been ice which would mean he took the ways through Winter.

Is this hand of the queen or some lesser power, perhaps even a traitor? Usum wonders in your mind, but Harry just moves on: Had any of the locals noticed him. The answer as it turns out is no, Gorfel has ways to walk past the eyes of men veiled in shadow, but also yes. They had noticed his passage, particularly all fuse boxes shorting out at the old county jail house, a fact that Matthews had not previously connected with the visit of his old colleague.

The obvious question is 'Had that been where he had exited the Ways?' and that is where you find another bit of local history. The old jailhouse dates back more than a hundred years and one of the more ghoulish local stories is that of a sadistic local sheriff who would abuse the prisoners... including letting one of them freeze to death in the winter of 1901.

"We've got him, there's bound to be some kind of spirit that noticed his coming and going," you say excitedly.

"Better to ask once than walk into the lion's mouth once, I'll ask some contacts I know about it." It doesn't take a genius to realize Harry would not want to take you back into Winter's domain, even around the edges, but on the other hand you are really good where it's cold and you don't much like the notion of Harry having to barter with the fey for information.

"And you have had no other contacts with the Society between Kemler's death and the seventh of this year?" you ask not-quite idly.

"No, I did not seek it nor wish it," he replies instantly. "The wards are meant to hold against more than fey."

What do you do ?

[] Argue that you should follow the trail and see what you can find on the other side, the fey who had seen Gorfel with their own eyes are likely to be lesser in stature and thus easier to deal with than those who can command their fellows to speak up

[] Return to Chicago to do more research with this new information

[] Ask more questions
-[] Write in

OOC: Harry and Molly make a surprisingly good good cop bad cop here, though part of that is consistently good rolls on Harry's part. Soft social rolls are not his forte, but you pushed him into the role when you went for the super-powered intimidation.

 

[DragonParadox]

The Way and the Watcher ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

"Ah..." you open your mouth and then you close it, looking between Harry and the presumably reformed warlock's apprentice. Telepathy would be great about now, you think not for the first time. Barring that headsets and a mike. It would probably be easier to get Harry to wear a demon infused wire for just when you are on the job than getting a phone with one of your helpers.

As for Harry himself, he's not looking at you but at the old man, unsure for a moment what to make of him, or what to do. On the balance it is probably not common for a warden to meet a legacy of Kemmler, much less in a peaceful way. "You be careful now and if any more friends from back in the day come around give me a call."

He takes out a little pad to write his number on but Matthews raises a hand. "I know your number Warden Dresden, you are in the phone-book under wizard."

People still use the phone-book? You wonder if Harry would like a site to get the word out, just because wizards blow up computers does not mean the people who want to get a hold of them haven't moved on to the twenty-first century.

So the three of you leave with Mouse in the vanguard this time rather than watching the rear. As soon as you are safely out of earshot of the house you ask: "Is there any reason why we can't just drive by the jailhouse nice and slow so I can ask a question about where the other side of the Way Gorfel took on the seventh is."

"That will only get you the first stop," Harry points out. "See the way the Ways work is that conceptual distance doesn't match up with phisical distance so if you know your way around the Nevernever you can go from Chicago to Tokyo in half an hour, but you still might find yourself walking down to Rio de Janeiro and across town in Anchorage Alaska along the way."

You think about that for a moment, and you do not think about it alone. "I'm... pretty sure I can ask about the journey at this end, now that we have both a date and a time at least and it will give me the ultimate destination on the material side so we wouldn't have to traipse down whatever ways are welcoming to the likes of Gorfel."

"Traipse?" his lips twitch into a smile as he gets in the car.

"Blame mom for like seventy percent of my odd word choices, the other thirty percent is either Tolkien on Jane Austin."

It's a short drive to the jailhouse but along the way you still have time to ask idly. "Do you think Tolkien knew something about real magic? I've been thinking of the Ways how they are not really different roads, but one big web of interconnected realms and symbols. It sounds kind of like... 'It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.'"

"Maybe, but probably not the way you're thinking," Harry replies briefly just as pensive. "Painters, poets, artists, the good ones at least they see with a sharper eye and remember with a clearer mind, it's what draws the audience to them."

The county jailhouse looks... like you would expect an abandoned jailhouse dating back more than a hundred years to look, which is to say grunge creepy, between the grey walls, the patched up roof and the crooked storm-drain. If that place isn't haunted you I'm a Taylor Swift fan.

"From where came the wizard Gorfel who passed this way on the seventh of the month?"

You do not get anything like the long conversation you got on the matter of soulgazes, just a flash of a dark grey peak above scrub-land that stretches beside a glittering city, a glimpse and a name. "Clippy search Frenchman's Mountain, Nevada please."

The answer is as instantaneous as it is through: "The peak lies on a north to north-northeast trending ridge about 2000 feet above the nearby valleys. Sunrise Mountain lies 3.6 miles (5.8 km) to the northeast adjacent to Nellis Air Force Base. The north end of the McCullough Range about 12 miles (19 km) to the south has a parallel trend. The River Mountains lie to the southeast..."

"Thanks, save it and put it on screen." You give it a once over and then start to hand her off to Harry, but he is looking at your funny, a rather familiar state of affairs recently. "What? I didn't want to listen on speaker like that, it would look odd from anyone who sees us drive by."

"No, it's just... what was really fast, you looking to put me out of work?" Teasing again, better.

"Ha, ha," you faux laugh. "If you hadn't been there I might have scared him too much to talk and say what you will about my other senses, I can't see souls."

"You would likely be able to learn it oh Magnanimous Heart of Night," Usum offers. "It would not even require finding a way around the issue of manipulating lesser powers as it is a strictly passive ability."

"Well I certainly would not be able to magic up more than a decade of detective work," you inwardly roll your eyes

But you cannot stay grumpy for long, the weather's nice, the road's clear and unlike on the way here you actually know the way so you are not on the edge of your seat. Then Wheels of Fire starts playing on the radio. It's been a pretty awesome day so far.

***​

Sadly that evening you learn that the universe is all about balance. You had barely gotten back to Harry's place, half an hour or so of him going into the lab and bringing out some books 'to look into and give you a bit more of a rounded education' when you hear a knock on the door, loud and insistent.

Harry freezes, motions for you to hide again.

This time you roll your eyes outwardly. "No blood this time," you whisper sharply. It might even be more incriminating, the part of your brain that is still on flirt with Harry mode notes. Stupid brain.

Realizing that he is not going to win this one Harry goes to get the door. to reveal a trio of carefully suited men whose manner practically screamed 'government agent.'

"Harry Dresden," the suit in the middle, filled out by a bald middle aged man who who appears to have just grown broader not fatter with age and sporting what you can only call 'the bald of power'. He flashes a badge. "Agent Alexander Wright FBI, you are under arrest for the murder of Officer Herbert Greene. You have the right to remain silent. If you do say anything, it can be used against you in a court of..."

Spoiler: Agent Wright

What... the... Hell, you watch in shock as leftmost suit takes out the handcuffs. Greene is dead and they think Harry did it. Did whoever had beaten him up before decide to up the stakes to murder? Why?

Harry manages to recover before you do, which is probably for the best because in the absence of any real plan you might have defaulted to Usum's suggestion which involves cowing the offending party into submission.

"I know you guys hear it all the time but I'm innocent, haven't even seen him since the ninth." Apparently Harry's first instinct upon being presented with people looking to arrest him is less 'look upon me and despair' and more wiseguy.

"You're a sick..." the guy with the cuffs says.

"We have witnesses placing you at the scene of the crime Dresden and we have cameras showing you disposing of the remains in the lake, we recovered it and it has your prints on it," Agent Wright cuts in dryly. "All we need to know now is why you did it, we know part of it but not what started it all."

Your mind is running at a thousand miles an hour, a glamor would not have registered on camera properly and a wizard's veil would most likely have shorted it, so it would have to be a physical transformation, an actual shapechanger.

What do you do?

[] Explain that Harry has been with you all day (Charisma+Empathy can use Excellency)
-[] Write in

[] One surprise deserves another, if these idiots are going to try to arrest a wizard then you will show them magic (Charisma+Intimidation can use Excellency)
-[] Write in

[] Write in

OOC: It was surprisingly hard to find art that fit a plain human in a suit.

 

[DragonParadox]

Papers and Prognostications ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

Once the first flash of shock passes you remember what your mom once told you do do if you think you might be the victim of an abuse of power , you take our your phone and start recording. Clippy does not need to see more than 'rec' before Recording Mistress fleshes on screen, writ in hellfire blue of her eyes. 'Cross-check everything they tell us'.

"Harry stop talking until we get a lawyer in here," you say, your voice surprising you with how even it is, no trace of anger and fear. "I'm going to need..." Who on earth can you call, dad? You don't know if dad knows any lawyers, he has never needed one to get out of trouble for Knight stuff. "Mr McCoy's number."

"I think he is too busy to be taking calls Molly," he answers with a look that makes it crystal clear he wishes you would just stay out of this and not get in trouble. Well that is too bad for him, you are not going to leave him high and try to get framed and you figure getting a lawyer is less problematic than breaking him out of jail by carving the door up with a flaming sword. Let's call that Plan B...

"You do not want to get involved in this Miss...?" the lead agent trails the warning into a question, though you note the guy with the cuffs has stopped and he is looking very hard at your phone. Worried about being recorded? No, he's looking between your phone and Harry... like he is expecting it to blow up.

They know about the tech-bane, you realize. Darn, darn darn... Are they imposters, some kind of ploy from the spooky side of things or... you remember your dad saying that governments often know more than the White Council suspects. It's not like Harry had been quiet about being a wizard.

"Molly Carpenter and I will be the judge of what I want agent Wright and I would like to see that badge if you please, properly," you asnwer calmly.

He takes it out, his face as expressive as stone.

"Information verified, preliminary assessment True." comes the response from your phone practically the same instant the badge is in the camera's sight. "Important anomalous element, not from the Chicago Field Office, not from any Field Office, central, from the FBI National Security Branch."

As as the others follow through they all prove to be from the same branch. You are pretty damn sure Harry isn't a foreign agent so there's something really odd going on here.

Don't cops tend to go in really hard on people who are known cop killers and if they knew or even suspected something about magic there would be battering rams and SWAT teams involved right?

The thought cuts off abruptly as you notice Mouse come up from the basement, though you are pretty sure the agents hadn't, he can be surprisingly silent for his size it seems.

Harry nods and motions to the bedroom with a twitch of his head. 'I've got this', he seems to say, but does he though.

"And what's the FBI got to do with an investigation in Chicago?" He asks leaning back in the wall a little, showing he's unarmed sure, but also showing he is not the least intimidated.

"Detective Greene's wife, is with the FBI here in Chicago, but you knew that didn't you Dresden?" Wright asks. "Come on now, get in the car and you will get your lawyer for all the good it'll..."

"Do you have a copy of that warrant on you?" you cut him off.

"Yes." For the first time since he had come in you can hear an emotion in his voice, even if it is just annoyance.

"Then you won't mind showing it to us now will you?" you say letting the smallest hint of a smile show. Annoyed people make mistakes, say more than they mean to.

"Miss, a word of advice, you are a little young to be getting in the middle of a criminal investigation," he says, leaning forward just a bit, you guess it's supposed to be intimidating.

That's not what catches your attention. "How do you know how old I am Agent Wright?"

"Your questioning by Detective Green is on record after the Splattercon attack Miss Carpenter," the guy with the handcuffs says.

Wright throws him a dirty look as he produces a copy of the warrant. According to Clippy it is at least the proper form for a warrant and the name and signature of the judge matches. Not to say it can't be a forgery, but if it is it's a good one.

What do you do ?

[] Press them on the slip, see what you can find out

[] Time for more demons, you are really curious what you'll find inside Agent Wright's phone

[] Write in

OOC: I did not even roll if they could intimidate you because it hit against Impervious Primacy Mantle's passive boon as you would be abandoning an intimacy,

 

[DragonParadox]

A Spy Unseen ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

"You'll get your phone call Dresden and your lawyer, but unless you are planning to do something really stupid..." Agent Wright motions to the cuffs. What are they doing? The part of you that is not viscerally offered wonders If they know about the tech-bane then they have to know those are only liable to make Harry less accurate from lack of a focus and not in any way less dangerous. Unless maybe they know more and not less than you had expected, unless they know about the First Law and are betting that Harry isn't going to use magic against them. He had been arrested before you vaguely recall, that was one of the reasons your mom had given you for Harry being disreputable when you had first met him. She had not liked it when you asked if he was actually guilty.

Alas poor Harry is dealing with something a lot worse than your mom's issues.

"You into Shakespeare Agent Wright?" He asks as he offers up his wrists. "Maybe take some advice from Hamlet on this one: There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, / Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

"I do not deal with dreams or with plays Dresden, I deal with facts and with reality, no matter how ugly it gets."

There's two police vans outside, CPD and one of them seems to be SWAT as well as three police cars one of which had stooped traffic. So much for the locals not being in on it... you think. They are probably on the level, too bad they are shit at their job.

One of the female officers is moving towards you to spirit you away from the big bad wizard maybe. Your glare stops her cold.

So you just stick around long enough for Agent Wright to take out his phone, a blocky older model and start to type up a message. Every move you make, every breath you take... the song almost plays itself in your head. Maybe it's all the people making the demon shy, maybe it's you being pissed off and trying not to show it, but the spirit slips through your fingers, but of course to everyone else you hadn't done anything, so you just try a again, the flare of essence still unseen.... and you fail again.

Lost 2 Essence

Third time had better be the charm because fourth comes with blaze of balefire and all-seeing eyes that would be rather hard to explain away.

You take a deep breath and try to think of what you are doing wrong. You've been concentrating on what you need your new helper to do, not on what it is, on what it wants. The least of the Wicked City will serve and they will served willingly for a way out of hell, but you have to show them the way first: connection, sympathy. And so you sing to yourself the bars of another song, about that they are and what they were born of and what you are sometimes

Spoiler: Only The Lonely

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaPTELylZ1s

Lost 1 Essence
Demon Bound for One Month

Thus the magic from beyond sings in echo, the power catches root. Breathing a sigh of relief you realize that Agent Wright is returning your gaze insistently, like he is expecting you to blink or something. Instead you smile: "It seems really unusual to me that three agents from the the FBI's National Security Branch would be serving a murder warrant. Doesn't that seem strange to you, Harry?"

The gaze suddenly sharpens from vague annoyance to something more like the point of a dagger. "How did you know that?" he asks softly, too softly for the nearest CPD agent to hear.

What do you reply?

[] "I guessed," you glibly answer to see if you can get more answers out of a rise

[] "Magic," you say with a smile, curious to know how serious he would take it

[] "What's the answer worth to you?" Usum suggests trying to cut some kind of deal and he claims step one of that is showing you have power and are not minded to reveal it for free.

[] Write in

OOC: That was some really poor luck on the dice for the possession. Good thing you have Anima control.

 

[DragonParadox]

Daedalus ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

Giving the man your most winning smile you reply, loudly "I guessed."

You could swear you heard Harry groaning even as he is ushered into one of the cars and somehow you don't think it was because he hit his head on the roof.

"A word of advice miss be careful with that guessing. Who I work for is public knowledge but the details of ongoing investigations are not publicly available and for good reason. The real world isn't a place for Nancy Drew." As threats go this isn't an particularly harsh one, in fact judging by the tone one could even mistake that for simple advice, albeit one spoken in the kind of tone that is almost guaranteed to get a rise out of any red blooded teenager.

But that is not what interests you, it's the implication. It sounds like Wright he think you have some kind of clairvoyance, which you do of course, but it's not what you used on him.

Apparently your thoughtful expression looks like you are actually considering his 'advice' because he adds: "You're a clever kid and you aren't easy to shake, that's a gift. Make sure you don't waste it getting in trouble."

The word 'gift' rings like a bell in your head. He thinks you are some kind of talent, you are sure about it, but his intentions remain murky.

Maybe his phone will have more answers.

Much to your surprise the cops don't execute a search warrant, the whole cavalcade drives off leaving you in front of the door wondering who to call.

First you try detective Murphy, but her phone goes to voicemail then dad, who thankfully does pick up. "Molly, where are you, do you need a ride back?"

Though you are a little offended that his first thought was that you had gotten stranded somehow you quickly explain what you had seen and a little of what you suspect. For his part dad is sympathetic, but he can't really help. "Go to Saint Mary's. Father Fothi should still be at the church and he knows the law." And he'll keep you from doing anything unwise, his tone says.

Welp you had best get the good Father some evidence to work with.

***​

"Clippy do you have space to fully clone Agent Wright's phone?" you ask as you settle down in the back of a small cafe out of hearing of the sparse clientele and the bored looking servers.

"Negative," she replies, "External space required."

"Filter out personal data and pictures," you reply after a moment. It's not like you need the man's family pictures, you would feel weird even having them.

"Query. What is personal?"

It turns out that explaining privacy to a spirit born in no small part though its systematic violation is not an easy nor a fast process. For Clippy and her kindred on the other side data is data, to be classified only by its utility on a moment by moment updating priority.

"Information about close family, important dates and life milestones can help in generating password data, viewing history can be used in advertising and propaganda, 'privacy' is an impediment to the creation of a faithful model."

How much data is harvested from every single person every second of every day? you think, the coffee turning sour in your mouth before you shake it off. You aren't here to ponder violations of privacy on the internet, you just need to explain...

"I don't care about Wright," you try again. "Only about his investigation, he is a cog in the machine, I would like to know whose machine. That information which I designate private is extraneous to my purpose."

"Noted mistress," Clippy sounds relieved to finally understand what you want of her. "Compiling"

Jackpot, looking through his email history you quickly realize that Wright is part of something called 'Project Daedalus', a subgroup within the NSB which is concerned with understanding and countering 'para-terestrial activity'. It's hard to get a hold the group's history from scattered messages, but you harvest quite a lot of agent names and email addresses. And of course there is a lot of jargon to parse through.

PTL stands for para-terestrial lifeforms and as far as you can tell it is a catch all for everything from vampires, to ghouls to the fey. LLE, life-like energy fields are ghosts, though from looking through one three month old message it looks like they lump all spirits into that. Esper, which a quick Google search tells you is a derivative from ESP extra sensory perception, is their name for human talents of which Project Daedalus seems to have access to a small number, less than they would like. It is maddeningly vague how they got them or what powers they have.

One thing is clear, they would like to have more and their researchers working with the the Library of Congress of all things are in the habit of pulling espers off field-work and into the lab, much to the frustration of the NSB agents. You get more from one page-long rant about egg-heads than all the rest of the messages combined. You suspect they only have minor talents, maybe one or two that you would call sorcerer material.

As for the White Council had managed to stay under the radar for however many years Project Daedalus had been working right until the war with the Red Court had blown a lot of wizard's cover in a hail of bullets and bombs. There are a few oblique references to 'New Orleans' where there had been a SNAFU involving a wizard's sanctum and some dead cops, specifically in the context of 'Better lose the target than risk another New Orleans Wright'.

The target... that is where it gets really interesting. It looks like the NSB is aware of the fact that Harry was framed, specifically because they do not think he could have been properly filmed to the fidelity that the recording shows as well as his implication in the 'Harley MacFinn affair'. 'Dresden has been marked as one of the Lawmakers, though his financial and employment conditions to not match any of the rest of the group,' one report said.

Lawmakers is the NSB's name for the White Council you guess, probably because of all it does it is the enforcement of the Laws which is the most likely to filter down to minor practitioners.

"Agent Wright is making a call to Agent Cole, likely superior," flashes across the screen, just long enough for you to read it, interrupting your reading "Intercept Y/N"

You tap Y of course and put the phone to your ear.

"Dresden is safely in custody, he didn't resist just like we had hoped, he's a wiseguy and thinks he's a lot funnier than he is, the sort of guy who went for being a Private Investigator because he saw one too much Magnum PI at an impressionable age."

"Are you sure it's not an act?" comes the question from the other end of the line "I've met espers who could sell you a bridge in Death Valley never mind Brooklyn. Man who just got accused of murder has ever interest to look harmless."

"Oh, he didn't look harmless sir, if I'd left him to the CPD in the car with no cameras he might have had a busted lip before he even came into the station. Dresden does not know when to shut up for his own good . I'll let the locals have a go at him in the interrogation room and when it finally sinks in how deep the shit he's in, I'll come in with the offer of a wipe if he'll work with us"

"Make damn sure he doesn't report us to the Lawmakers, they probably don't take well to snitches, especially from pariahs."

"Understood," Wright replies. "Any leads on what actually killed Greene."

"Class Four Wright, we're still working on containment nevermind investigation. I'll keep you posted."

And with that the conversation clicks off leaving you with a lot of answers and a lot of questions still. You can feel all that you have learned settle into the depths of your soul, kindling for a fire that had been running dangerously low. Enough of it? Only time will tell

Gain 2 Essence

What do you do now?

[] Go to Father Forthil like your dad suggested, see if there is anything he can do for Harry

[] Call Wright with an offer, maybe you can work with him and if not the closer you are to him the easier it will be to deal with him

[] Try to talk to Detective Murphy in person

[] Write in

OOC: Turns out being able to riffle though people's phones for files and passwords is a hell of a investigative tool. To be clear you did not hack anything, but if a password is saved on a computer which is possessed the demon knows the password just inherently.

 

[DragonParadox]

Pro Bono ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

It's not that you lack for ideas as you stare at Clippy and your near empty coffee cup, you have all sorts of ideas, from threatening phone calls, to actually trying to reason with Wright and his lot to getting Father Forthil to call in the White Council and let them handle it since it can't be the first time something like this happened to them and if they were in the habit of hanging their members out to dry pretty soon they would not have members.

But you do not really want to fight the NSB or Daedauls or whatever they are called, you want to get Harry out and his name cleared and for that you need to know what they are holding him on beyond 'someone who looked like him was filmed dumping Greene's body in the lake'. There is really only one legal mind you can call on safely with all this stuff...

***​

Father Forthil sets Clippy aside gingerly as though he is afraid she will explode, or maybe that he will hurt her. Thankfully he seems to have bought the 'helper kami' redefinition. Not that I was lying to him, you remind yourself, that's just branding. Clippy and her kin fit the broad definition of animistic spirits and they are inherently helpful to me.

"Well that is certainly not admissible in court," he says with a shake of his head and a weary smile that quickly fades into a more serious expression. "The last time a three letter US agency tried to intervene in the world of magic it ended poorly for everyone..."

"The CIA, back in the sixties right? Dad told me about that, they ended up summoning demons."

"Right," he nods. "At a guess it probably took them a generation before someone else even thought of trying again, maybe they found some old files, maybe someone high up enough obtained enough proof to start digging. The when does not really matter for us right now, what does matter is the talk of wipes and containment."

"Wright said they were only going to do a wipe if Harry cooperates and well... the Fallen start making snowmen in Hell before that happens."

He snorts a little in his tea at the unexpected mental image . "Indeed, but you have to remember how the legal system works as well. As satisfying as it is to play Hercule Poirot when one is seeking evidence to exonerate someone all you need is reasonable doubt, a strong alibi. If for instance you could find camera footage of Harry out where you in Menominee with a timestamp close enough to the one the police have that Harry could not have been where the latter places him then you will have undermined their case. If you have solid enough witnesses to his presence there it's similarly troublesome for any prosecution."

"But the recording and the fingerprints will still be there," you point out, letting your worry show fully for the same time. For all your power you don't think you can take on the whole of the government yet, or for that matter than you even want to.

"That would be an uncanny contradiction, the kind that gets buried with SI, or in this case with the NSB. The standard here is not just a reasonable doubt but a reasonable capacity to reveal too much in a public trial, and what happen to Greene would ensure a high profile trial. That would force them to bury the whole thing before trial and given their disinclination to get into a conflict with the White Council the path they are almost certain to choose is to vanish the falsified evidence anyway without trying to compel Harry."

"Are you saying we should blackmail them?" you blurt out startled.

"I would prefer not to get that far," he sighs. "But this is very much an instance of he who lives by the sword perishes by the sword. Far better to force the hand of those who have already proven they have no concern for the law they pledge to uphold then to let an innocent man be condemned."

"That will make them an enemy," you point out.

"I have no secrets for them to use against me. If this organization should choose to use its time against me rather than against those who are actually victimizing people then I mourn for their folly."

"You're willing to represent Harry?" You ask. True you had hoped he would but it is a relief to hear confirmation.

"He is an innocent man being framed with a heinous crime, for that alone I would do it, to say nothing of all the good he did," the priest replies simply.

What do you do next?

[] Accompany Father Forthil to the police station when he meets with Harry, if he is willing to have his phone improved you could talk to Harry through it without fear of the tech-bane

[] Go back to Menominee, start looking for that alibi

[] Ask Father Forthil to contact the White Council with the information if he can

[] Go back to Harry's place, make sure Mouse's OK and no on e tried to break in

[] Write in

OOC: Welp you got Harry a lawyer at least, now to give him something to work with.

 

[DragonParadox]

Familiar Trouble ​

21st of July 2006 A.D.

"Mom... listen I am saying at Harry's tonight because he's been kidnapped by sketchy FBI agents," you get the words out in a rush because you know just the first part on its own is likely to provoke a rather strong reaction.

Lost 1 Essence

"What do you mean kidnapped? He was arrested," she snaps, but you cut her off "He's been arrested before you know and that does not require you or anyone else guarding his apartment. Did he ask you do?"

"No, but listen mom this is probably a plot to get him out from under his wards which means either and attack on him or an attempt to steal something from his home."

"Are Dresden's... what do you call them? His wards still intact." You do not like the way her voice is working its way slowly up the octave.

"I mean yeah no one broken them but but static defenses can't..."

"His dog, the one that's some kind of guardian spirit, he's fine and still there and Dresden has every expectation that he will guard the place?"

"Mouse is all alone in there any any well-planned assault will have planed for him."

"Molly," she snaps in a tone that would make a drill sergeant proud. "Has it occurred to you that the man does not want you wandering around his apartment."

The way she emphasized man makes you want to squirm and yell at her at the same time. "Mom this could be an attempt on Harry's life precipitated by something I asked him to do, including asking him not to get help so that he would not reveal my weird powers and make me a target. If he is going to be upset at me for sleeping on the couch to make sure Nazi magicians to not break into his appartment that is something I am willing to bear."

"Well I am not willing to bear you sleeping in a strange man's house in what you called danger in order to protect Dresden's prized collection of magical crap. Remember what we agreed to two years ago about staying overnight in unsafe places? This is one of them. Come home, now."

The call goes dead and you have to spend three seconds with your eyes closed just to calm your racing heart. It is particularly hard to recall that she means well when your mother goes like this. This is a far cry from your agreeing not to stay overnight with people you do not know after parties and she knows it.

You could either do what she told you, ordered you do do... or you could ignore her and damn the consequences. It's not like she could get past Harry's wards without Mouse letting her in and he would have no reason to.

What do you do?

[] Continue with the plan, this is more important than your mother throwing a hissy fit

[] Go home, between you and dad you'll be able to wear her down in the morning (Requires a DC 7 Willpower roll, if failed will default to ignoring her)

[] Write in

OOC: The tradition of rolling terribly in contested rolls against Charity's willpower continues. Alas she also failed her roll against Molly's willpower, leaving her furious, which is why it will take a willpopwer roll to actually do what she wants even if you guys vote for it