The Lost Files (C:TL/Dresden Files) (CK2-ish)

Vote close delayed until Saturday night, and I'm going to say that the update might take a while. It's after EOAE, and my writing tonight on EOAE was interrupted with a car accident and short hospital visit, so yeah.

It'll come when it comes. Incidentally, we'll be starting with the War Turn, and probably if you choose either Stoneguts or Maggie (I'm startled nobody has stood up for just how badass she is) it'll begin with a sort of 'Point buy/pick your team' thing.
 
All Vote Posts... Cleaning... "Expanding the Web" wins with... 8 Votes.

Initial Redshirt Plan got 2 Votes, as Redshirt changed to advocate "Expanding the Web"

Sweece was the only voter for their Plan...

[X] Plan Expanding The Web
-[X] Continue doing the last few steps to rebuilding the personal situation of the Freehold and its careers and lives.
-[X] The city…
--[X] Look more into the Gardiners and increase contact (and surveillance) of them.

-[X] Pay a large part.

-[X] Have King Stonguts gather some operatives to break the Changeling out, sneaky-style. Similar loss of personnel temporarily, similar chance that it could (for better or worse) turn into a war-turn, though more...cold war in this case.

-[X] Continue Repairing the Network (74/???)

-[X] Continue looking into the new magic system and all it might imply.

-[X] Put agents in place at sister cities to learn about problems like these earlier on.

-[X] Look into and begin examining the nature of the visions that Eva and the others had (excepting Roy Taylor)
-[X] Check up on Jason "Smiles." He's been very quiet recently.

-[X] Help Persephone find a topic of study.

-[X] Explore the Dreamscapes to see if anything has changed in that respect.
-[X] Follow up on the rumors about the spear in Galway.
-[X] Continue work on studying the book, such as making sure the DNA tests of the book's leather is completed, and other matters.

[x] Plan Redshirt

[x] Continue doing the last few steps to rebuilding the personal situation of the Freehold and its careers and lives.

[x] The city…
-[x] The Mayor and the halls of power could use defending and expanding of just what Marble Arch can do.

[x] Pay a large part.

[x] Have King Stonguts gather some operatives to break the Changeling out, sneaky-style. Similar loss of personnel temporarily, similar chance that it could (for better or worse) turn into a war-turn, though more...cold war in this case.

[x] Continue Repairing the Network.

[x] Research the differences in law, society, and history.

[x] Investigate
-[x] Vampires.

[x] Look into and begin examining the nature of the visions that Eva and the others had (excepting Roy Taylor)

[x] Work on each of the members of the circle willing and with time on improving their powers and abilities.

[x] Examine Malthus M. Riddle's "New Spirits."

[x] Follow up on this Fiddler.
[x] Follow up leads on this 'Book.'

[x] Begin working on personally figuring out this 'magic circle' business.

[X] Continue doing the last few steps to rebuilding the personal situation of the Freehold and its careers and lives.

[X] Pay a large part.

[X] Send a small Summer task-force to assist them in recovering their lost member, immediately.

[X] Continue Repairing the Network (74/???)

[X] Checking up on the spear that was found in Galway.

[X] Put agents in place at sister cities to learn about problems like these earlier on.

[X] Continue helping Roy Taylor with his problems.
[X] Spend extra time helping out Layla on developing her powers. (more focused than the one above.)

[X] Help Persephone find a topic of study.

[X] Begin working on personally figuring out this 'magic circle' business.
[X] Look into the historical and current-events changes.
[X] Follow up on the vague hints of that last party crasher, the one who isn't human and arrived right about as she left.


[X] Plan Expanding The Web
-[X] Continue doing the last few steps to rebuilding the personal situation of the Freehold and its careers and lives.
-[X] The city…
--[X] Look more into the Gardiners and increase contact (and surveillance) of them.

-[X] Pay a large part.

-[X] Have King Stonguts gather some operatives to break the Changeling out, sneaky-style. Similar loss of personnel temporarily, similar chance that it could (for better or worse) turn into a war-turn, though more...cold war in this case.

-[X] Continue Repairing the Network (74/???)

-[X] Continue looking into the new magic system and all it might imply.

-[X] Put agents in place at sister cities to learn about problems like these earlier on.

-[X] Look into and begin examining the nature of the visions that Eva and the others had (excepting Roy Taylor)
-[X] Check up on Jason "Smiles." He's been very quiet recently.

-[X] Help Persephone find a topic of study.

-[X] Explore the Dreamscapes to see if anything has changed in that respect.
-[X] Follow up on the rumors about the spear in Galway.
-[X] Continue work on studying the book, such as making sure the DNA tests of the book's leather is completed, and other matters.

[X] Plan Expanding The Web


[X] Plan Expanding The Web

[X] Continue doing the last few steps to rebuilding the personal situation of the Freehold and its careers and lives.

[X] The vampires need to be met with, need to be dealt with

[X] Pay a large part.

[X] Send a small Summer task-force to assist them in recovering their lost member, immediately.

[X] Continue Repairing the Network (74/???)

[X] Scour the goblin markets for anything of interest, there is a certain market coming up, but more than that, there might be hints of this new world.

[X] Put agents in place at sister cities to learn about problems like these earlier on.

[X] Look into and begin examining the nature of the visions that Eva and the others had (excepting Roy Taylor)
[X] Continue helping Roy Taylor with his problems.

[X] Help Persephone find a topic of study.

[X] Follow up leads on this 'Book.'
[X] Follow up on this Fiddler.
[X] Follow up on the rumors about the spear in Galway.

[X] Plan Expanding The Web

[x] Plan Expanding the Web

[X] Plan Expanding The Web

[X] Plan Expanding The Web

[X] Plan Expanding The Web
 
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You know what? I'm bored.

Update coming today instead of tomorrow.

The winning vote is pretty interesting. It gets some important things...but it also misses some things I thought would be priority, like activating the college professor asset.

Basically, you have to take the action to get the asset, just like checking up on your Prophet Circle before Turn 1 got you access for turn 1, and checking on the Lord Sages on turn 1 got it for you on turn 2.
 
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Turn 2--Sao Luis Showdown, Part 1
Turn 2--Sao Luis Showdown, Part 1

Morning was a time for preparation, for readying for the day to come. In normal circumstances, King Stoneguts liked to start the morning slowly, to wake up early to ambush the day and to slowly set everything in order so that by the afternoon everything was running along smoothly, working well.

He had been reading through some poems when he got the phone call, relaxing after running through a few matters he'd set his own networks on. It was Cora, and he smiled slightly as he got up, moving over to the closet of his apartment to get dressed.
Sure it was possible that it was nothing more than a social call, but as much as he liked mornings, Cora disliked them, and so a social call was far more likely to take place at night. In his dreams, at that.

She showed up often in his dreams, and in other circumstances that might be an interesting metaphor about lust without love, about the way one can feel desire coursing through your cold, hard skin and warming you, and about the way that dreams grasp what the world cannot…

But in this case it was usually quite literal. Cora Graves was a surprisingly literal woman when it came down to it, and all of her subtlety and lies and tricks all hid a mind that could be far more straightforward than anyone expected.

*****
One short phone conversation later, and he was in a hurry, racing throughout his room, gathering materials. Sao Luis, Brazil. The Island of Love, the Brazillian Athens that had seen the best of the Indianist writers, and had birthed the founder of the Neo-Concrete movement

Of course he knew the place. He'd been there before, and at a guess it was easy to assume a few things. First, the place where they were taken wouldn't be in the traditional heart of Sao Luis, nor anywhere with a traditional portuguese architecture. Too many windows for vampires, and they seemed to obey the rules.

Second, if they'd taken the Changeling--Marco, his name was--recently, it meant there wasn't a large amount of time.

Third, of course, if Cora had decided to ask him (and that's all it was. Questions asks and information given, simple and fast) it was because she wanted a Fall-Winter solution. A strike in to steal the Changeling away and, at most, damage their ability to pursue.

That suited him fine. Vampires weren't a threat to take lightly, and even the weakest of them, assuming--as was only reasonable--that they were at least as strong as the vampires in the old world, were enough to overwhelm all but a dedicated fighter.

He'd operate as much as possible under an assumption that the odds were against him unless given reason to believe otherwise.

Which meant he'd need some equipment. As he dialed the number of the burn phone of his closest contact, he was already digging through his closet for a few uniforms.

First, his mundane outfit. That was what he called it, though he'd had other names suggested to him. It was clothing, which was the only obvious thing that could be said about it. It was usually jeans and a T-shirt, nowadays, but it could and did become any outfit that fit into a rather arbitrary average for an area. It was bullet resistent, capable of taking small arms fire and even some military grade fire for a limited time, about equivlent to good kevlar, but more importantly it was lightweight, and the shoes themselves had the symbol of the wings of Hermes on them, giving them speed and swiftness beyond that of the norm.

While it gave very little in the way of a bonus towards sneaking, those who saw him dressed in it who didn't know who he was would find themselves dismissing him as just another person on the street, unless they had a reason to think otherwise.

His second outfit was actually rather simple, if unlikely to be used, but he'd take it out of thoroughness. It was riot gear, clear and simple. Except it weighed nothing, could stop far more than riot gear could in terms of small arms fire, and it was colored so that its profile would blend in with that of a city, chameleon-like. It was not particularly stealthy, by his standards, but while it wasn't his full battle armor, it is what he'd feel safest in.

Then, of course, there was the Black Suit. With it he could step in the shadows and disappear, and he'd thrown in some interesting distortions that would make it hard even on camera to see him if you didn't know where to look for the blur that showed up. It was reasonably bullet resistant, but most of all it was designed for the simple task of burglary. He'd thought of making a version of this for her sometime, actually, but Cora had been too busy.

And then he gathered weapons. That was difficult because frankly there weren't many good choices. Brazil didn't allow one to carry weapons outside of one's residence in most cases, so he'd stick with a more easily carried and deniable pistol, and then a few heavy knives, but after that he was left a little short of choices, except for The Baton, and after a moment he added it to the roster, and then packed away anything else that would be useful as he began to talk to his contacts.

It wouldn't be useful against vampires, but in his experience, most vampires had mortal servants.

****
The Baton is a stun baton. More specifically, it is a Token that works the way that people *think* stun batons work. It cannot work on anyone that King Stoneguts knows the name of, or anyone who is a Changeling (it seems to work on Mages, but didn't work on Vampires the one time it was tried), but a single hit and a person is effortlessly and quietly shocked into compliance/sleep, and otherwise put down pretty easily.

*****
The base unit that will be occupying and making up the quick taskforce pulled together is the Winter Agent.

Winter Agent: The quick, the bold, the sneaky. They have at least 6, and usually more, dice on most major areas of subterfuge, though each might have a specialty like infiltration, or a weakness like being a gruff murderer and thus not so good at playing the charismatic, blend in with the crowd part of the work. Their Contracts are not combat optimized, and their dice pools for combat can go from 3/4, or up as far as 6, but are not overall incredibly impressive by the standards of those that are going into a fight knowingly.[1] Theirs is the job of wetwork primarily, though of course they are each unique snowflakes and all.

[1] OOC: A dice pool of four isn't bad, if you actually place it in the context of actual human beings and all (considering most of you have a dice pool of 'Attribute-untrained penalty), but for a combat unit, not so much.

*****
You Have 4 Points

[] [2 points] Sorcery Suite: A few sorcerers can go a long way. Focus on getting candidates and members of the task force, both those who are Winter Agents, and those who aren't, who have a solid grounding in sorcery. Depending on the situation, of course, their particular talents. Still, it's a reasonably flexible too.
[] [1 point] Alley Cat: She's unstable, she's also very, very loyal. She's dangerous in a fight and reasonably stealthy, though she'll likely stick close by his side, and is not as good on independent missions sometimes. But she's a very good bodyguard, and within limited objectives, dangerous as all heck.
[] [1 point] Assassin: Straight up bring an assassin. Good at stealth, pretty good at killing people (though that isn't the same as combat, or at least might not necessarily be), great for a first strike, though likely to run into trouble if they are foiled in the medium and long term.
[] [1 point] Bomb-Maker: Fire is a universal weapon against vampires, and there's a relatively large chance that fire hurts them, and besides that, if this operation does become hot, the use of bombs and explosives, while automatically drawing down attention...also automatically draws down attention, which can hardly help the vampires.
[] [2 points] Madcap Manny: He's an ally of Cora rather than King Stoneguts, but while his overall view of vampires is rather more positive than Kinge Stoneguts is comfortable with, he knows not to truly trust all vampires, and he has a lot of skill at taking out and dealing with vampires. While some of it might not actually translate, other elements and Tokens he has might still be very effective against vampires in a pinch.
[] [2 points] Have Faith: Faith courtiers might or might not be useful, but a select member or two from that area who can keep up could be useful, and they could also provide translation and knowledge. King Stoneguts remembers that one of them is from Brazil, or rather spent a long time there and was a member of Sao Luis's freehold.
[] [3 points] Maggie the Zookeeper: She needs little in the way of introduction. The powerful monarch means if it does come down to a fight things will be in good stead, though she'll have to be helped through some of the plans not in terms of her comprehension, for the woman is just as intelligent as you, but in terms of the skill required to do well. Still, if her minor deficits could be covered, she comes with major advantages, though it'd take time and effort to persuade her to come along (which is represented by the 3-points, so don't worry about further drawbacks.)
[] Write-in an idea and I'd tell you if it was valid or not.

What to start with?

When arriving, which is given priority?

[] Rendezvousing and coordinating with the local forces.
[] Scouting out the location they say is the target in order to develop the best possible plan for sneaking into it and extracting the Changeling.

******
A/N: Okay, here we go. There. Vote by plan, it's the only thing that makes sense.
 
[X] Plan Brazilian Inquisition
-[X] [1 point] Assassin: Straight up bring an assassin. Good at stealth, pretty good at killing people (though that isn't the same as combat, or at least might not necessarily be), great for a first strike, though likely to run into trouble if they are foiled in the medium and long term.
-[X] [1 point] Bomb-Maker: Fire is a universal weapon against vampires, and there's a relatively large chance that fire hurts them, and besides that, if this operation does become hot, the use of bombs and explosives, while automatically drawing down attention...also automatically draws down attention, which can hardly help the vampires.
-[X] [2 points] Have Faith: Faith courtiers might or might not be useful, but a select member or two from that area who can keep up could be useful, and they could also provide translation and knowledge. King Stoneguts remembers that one of them is from Brazil, or rather spent a long time there and was a member of Sao Luis's freehold.

Primary mission is extraction, which means limited sustained combat, but when combat starts up we want massive amounts of burst output before getting out.

Faith for both the holy symbols and also the local intel. Extraction missions where you don't know the enemy are hard. Missions where you don't even know the area are doomed.

-[X] Scouting out the location they say is the target in order to develop the best possible plan for sneaking into it and extracting the Changeling.

Stealth is the gold here, so we need the whole insertion route covered.
 
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[X] Plan Dresden It
-[X] [2 points] Sorcery Suite: A few sorcerers can go a long way. Focus on getting candidates and members of the task force, both those who are Winter Agents, and those who aren't, who have a solid grounding in sorcery. Depending on the situation, of course, their particular talents. Still, it's a reasonably flexible too.
-[X] [1 point] Bomb-Maker: Fire is a universal weapon against vampires, and there's a relatively large chance that fire hurts them, and besides that, if this operation does become hot, the use of bombs and explosives, while automatically drawing down attention...also automatically draws down attention, which can hardly help the vampires.
-[X] [1 point] Alley Cat: She's unstable, she's also very, very loyal. She's dangerous in a fight and reasonably stealthy, though she'll likely stick close by his side, and is not as good on independent missions sometimes. But she's a very good bodyguard, and within limited objectives, dangerous as all heck.
-[X] Rendezvousing and coordinating with the local forces.

The Dresden approach. Pretty girl, magic, fire and more fire.
 
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Hmm... Well, all plans have a chance of success... I think...

So, do I want fun and sorta silly with the Dresden Plan? Well, most of the humor's in the name... Making a large noise means attracting attention, that there is some group that has all this stuff and wants to retrieve the Changeling... ...

Or the Brazilian Inquisition (Quiet/Sneaky Plan)? ... Nah. Custom Plan...


[X] Plan Really, Really, Really, Really Sneaky (That's 4 Reallys)

Get the sneakiest crew I can for 4 points.

[X] Scouting out the location they say is the target in order to develop the best possible plan for sneaking into it and extracting the Changeling.

***


You missed this:

When arriving, which is given priority?

[] Rendezvousing and coordinating with the local forces.
[] Scouting out the location they say is the target in order to develop the best possible plan for sneaking into it and extracting the Changeling.
 
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[X] Plan We are all reasonable professionals.
-[X] [1 point] Alley Cat: She's unstable, she's also very, very loyal. She's dangerous in a fight and reasonably stealthy, though she'll likely stick close by his side, and is not as good on independent missions sometimes. But she's a very good bodyguard, and within limited objectives, dangerous as all heck.
-[X] [1 point] Assassin: Straight up bring an assassin. Good at stealth, pretty good at killing people (though that isn't the same as combat, or at least might not necessarily be), great for a first strike, though likely to run into trouble if they are foiled in the medium and long term.
-[X] [2 points] Madcap Manny: He's an ally of Cora rather than King Stoneguts, but while his overall view of vampires is rather more positive than Kinge Stoneguts is comfortable with, he knows not to truly trust all vampires, and he has a lot of skill at taking out and dealing with vampires. While some of it might not actually translate, other elements and Tokens he has might still be very effective against vampires in a pinch.
-[X] Scouting out the location they say is the target in order to develop the best possible plan for sneaking into it and extracting the Changeling.

l like Madcap since he seems to be the most flexible, Assassin for making the first strike stick, alley cat for when it doesn't.

I don't quite like the bombmaker since that is an escalation of in the level of currently used force (I assume).
 
[X] Plan Michael Bay

-[X] [1 point] Bomb-Maker: Fire is a universal weapon against vampires, and there's a relatively large chance that fire hurts them, and besides that, if this operation does become hot, the use of bombs and explosives, while automatically drawing down attention...also automatically draws down attention, which can hardly help the vampires.
-[X] [3 points] Maggie the Zookeeper: She needs little in the way of introduction. The powerful monarch means if it does come down to a fight things will be in good stead, though she'll have to be helped through some of the plans not in terms of her comprehension, for the woman is just as intelligent as you, but in terms of the skill required to do well. Still, if her minor deficits could be covered, she comes with major advantages, though it'd take time and effort to persuade her to come along (which is represented by the 3-points, so don't worry about further drawbacks.)

-[X] Rendezvousing and coordinating with the local forces.
 
Bombs and assassin seem to overlap the same role a bit too much for the inquisition plan to feel cost-effective. On the other hand, good sorcerers should make the bombs redundant. Going for Maggie...if we wanted her we should have gone with the full assault. Mostly though, Alley Cat sounds fun, and a point spent on fun is a point well spent.

[X] Plan We are all reasonable professionals.
 
Vote Tally : The Lost Files (C:TL/Dresden Files) (CK2-ish) | Page 42 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.5.6

[X] Plan Brazilian Inquisition
-[X] [1 point] Assassin: Straight up bring an assassin. Good at stealth, pretty good at killing people (though that isn't the same as combat, or at least might not necessarily be), great for a first strike, though likely to run into trouble if they are foiled in the medium and long term.
-[X] [1 point] Bomb-Maker: Fire is a universal weapon against vampires, and there's a relatively large chance that fire hurts them, and besides that, if this operation does become hot, the use of bombs and explosives, while automatically drawing down attention...also automatically draws down attention, which can hardly help the vampires.
-[X] [2 points] Have Faith: Faith courtiers might or might not be useful, but a select member or two from that area who can keep up could be useful, and they could also provide translation and knowledge. King Stoneguts remembers that one of them is from Brazil, or rather spent a long time there and was a member of Sao Luis's freehold.
-[X] Scouting out the location they say is the target in order to develop the best possible plan for sneaking into it and extracting the Changeling.
No. of Votes: 6
Plan: ◈Brazilian Inquisition

Arkatekt
Diomedon
Redshirt Army
Sivantic
tinkerbell
veekie

[X] Plan Dresden It
-[X] [2 points] Sorcery Suite: A few sorcerers can go a long way. Focus on getting candidates and members of the task force, both those who are Winter Agents, and those who aren't, who have a solid grounding in sorcery. Depending on the situation, of course, their particular talents. Still, it's a reasonably flexible too.
-[X] [1 point] Bomb-Maker: Fire is a universal weapon against vampires, and there's a relatively large chance that fire hurts them, and besides that, if this operation does become hot, the use of bombs and explosives, while automatically drawing down attention...also automatically draws down attention, which can hardly help the vampires.
-[X] [1 point] Alley Cat: She's unstable, she's also very, very loyal. She's dangerous in a fight and reasonably stealthy, though she'll likely stick close by his side, and is not as good on independent missions sometimes. But she's a very good bodyguard, and within limited objectives, dangerous as all heck.
-[X] Rendezvousing and coordinating with the local forces.
No. of Votes: 3
Plan: ◈Dresden It

lkmcclenahan
NemoMarx
wingstrike96

[X] Plan We are all reasonable professionals.
-[X] [1 point] Alley Cat: She's unstable, she's also very, very loyal. She's dangerous in a fight and reasonably stealthy, though she'll likely stick close by his side, and is not as good on independent missions sometimes. But she's a very good bodyguard, and within limited objectives, dangerous as all heck.
-[X] [1 point] Assassin: Straight up bring an assassin. Good at stealth, pretty good at killing people (though that isn't the same as combat, or at least might not necessarily be), great for a first strike, though likely to run into trouble if they are foiled in the medium and long term.
-[X] [2 points] Madcap Manny: He's an ally of Cora rather than King Stoneguts, but while his overall view of vampires is rather more positive than Kinge Stoneguts is comfortable with, he knows not to truly trust all vampires, and he has a lot of skill at taking out and dealing with vampires. While some of it might not actually translate, other elements and Tokens he has might still be very effective against vampires in a pinch.
-[X] Scouting out the location they say is the target in order to develop the best possible plan for sneaking into it and extracting the Changeling.
No. of Votes: 2
Plan: ◈We are all reasonable professionals.

adaer
dpara

[X] Plan Michael Bay
-[X] [1 point] Bomb-Maker: Fire is a universal weapon against vampires, and there's a relatively large chance that fire hurts them, and besides that, if this operation does become hot, the use of bombs and explosives, while automatically drawing down attention...also automatically draws down attention, which can hardly help the vampires.
-[X] [3 points] Maggie the Zookeeper: She needs little in the way of introduction. The powerful monarch means if it does come down to a fight things will be in good stead, though she'll have to be helped through some of the plans not in terms of her comprehension, for the woman is just as intelligent as you, but in terms of the skill required to do well. Still, if her minor deficits could be covered, she comes with major advantages, though it'd take time and effort to persuade her to come along (which is represented by the 3-points, so don't worry about further drawbacks.)
-[X] Rendezvousing and coordinating with the local forces.
No. of Votes: 1
Plan: ◈Michael Bay

Sweece

[X] Plan Really, Really, Really, Really Sneaky (That's 4 Reallys)
[X] Scouting out the location they say is the target in order to develop the best possible plan for sneaking into it and extracting the Changeling.
No. of Votes: 1
Plan: ◈Really, Really, Really, Really Sneaky (That's 4 Reallys)

Malady

Total No. of Voters: 13
 
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