ParanetOnline
The Dresden Files => DF Spoilers => Topic started by: Smaug with OCD on July 24, 2020, 07:23:28 AM
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This is just for a bit of fun. A mental exercise I've been wondering at for a while and haven't really come up with any answers for. So...
How would you do it? Assuming you have
500 Einherjar
The Archive
4 Senior Council members
"A detachment of wardens" (I'm gonna assume between 50 and 100)
A mostly confused and scrambling CPD
The FBI(probably in a similar state to the CPD)
Criminals in the know under Marcone
The Winter and Summer Knights and Ladies(with the Ladies providing roles as described in text)
A family of ghouls
The White Court of Vampires in Chicago
The Svartalfs
2 Knights of the Cross
The Paranet members of chicago(currently hiding)
(other members of the Accords I'm forgetting that showed up)
2 Divine artifact weapons in the keeping of one Harry Dresden, Winter Knight and warden... and Warden
Assume you have at least a few Nemfected companions.
City Conditions: As described in the book, the power is out, people are panicking, and feces is hitting the proverbial fan. You begin with the BFS building as a stronghold. The low-level talents gathering in places like Mac's pub and Saint Marry of the Angels church. People are beginning to panic and riots are starting by the time the battle actually begins. Odin and Ferrovax have prevented the enemy from using Ways and underground travel.
Your goals are to 1) Neutralize Ethniu and the Eye of Balor, 2) Protect the City, and 3) Save as many lives as you can.
How do you begin and proceed?
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Use Little Chicago to deploy your forces to force or lure Ethnui towards Demonreach’s maximum range, then Harry and the Knights Harry Ethnui with Harry shooting the Athame from the end of his staff using stored kinetic energy right through the Eye of Balor and Ethnui’s head (parallel with how Balor died). Recover the the Athame with his Earth Magic Spell of magnetism and perform the ritual.
The best lure, probably Mac.
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1) Use the CPD to spread some kind of story (freak storm event took out the power and caused a mini-tsunami on Lake Michigan!) to clear civilians away from the lakefront.
2) Senior Council and Wardens help Dresden to construct a kick-ass summoning circle somewhere near the middle of the lakefront. (Possibly the Svartalves help.) I'd expect aspects of what we saw in Small Favor -- both the ring that held the Archive on the island and the hellfire pentagrams. For symmetry, I'd expect Harry's soulfire to be used. (Recall that Uriel gave Harry soulfire explicitly to balance Lucifer's use of hellfire to make the two giant pentagrams in that book.)
3) Mab is "bait", present in her jumbo-sized aspect so no one can miss it and Ethniu will have to come right for her (or look like she's afraid or avoiding the big fight) -- and into the area with the prepared summoning circle.
4) Knights (Cross and Fairy) are all on "get her blood" duty. When one of them has a sample of Ethniu's blood, they get it to Harry.
Alternate 4) Toot!! and the 'Za Guard get Ethniu's blood. This only works if they can come up with a weapon that Toot can wield that can get through titanic bronze. (Would that fairy athame from Grave Peril work? Mab's got that now, and it's been cleansed, right?)
5) Harry the Warden Binds Ethniu into a Demonreach cell.
6) Everybody else (Einherjar, WCVs, Wardens, Marcone's hitters, Ghouls, etc) are on beachfront duty -- fighting fomor as they emerge from the lake over several miles of lake. It's possible that CPD SWAT and the National Guard and so on could have a role here.
7) Summer brings the donuts and party lights for impromptu victory celebrations all up and down the lakefront.
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Can the Archive help? Is her neutrality going to interfere?
Two other possibilities not mentioned: Toot-Toot and Harry's other Little Folk allies (possibly very useful for intelligence) and the Alphas (unless you're including them under Paranet members - but I doubt they will hide; they've been fighting the Fomor for a while).
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With the Ways shut down, the Fomor attack is probably constrained to come out of Lake Michigan. Water is bad for mortal magic, but doesn't impede Fomor magic (as seen in Even Hand), so putting the wizards on boats is probably a bad idea.
So I'd station most of the Wardens and the more combative Senior Council members on the shore - within sight of the lake but not close enough for some big monster to grab them without leaving the water. Their job is to burn up the Fomor troops and counter and hopefully kill the Fomor sorcerers (like Mag from Even Hand). The Senior Council should take a shot at King Corb if they can. But they shouldn't engage Ethniu herself directly (if she shows up, pop into the Nevernever).
The Einherjar/Valkyries and the combat-competent White Court should largely be here too, with some of them (those equipped with pretty heavy modern weapons) as a first line of defense here too. (Though not mentioned in the original post, the Alphas probably also will be.) If the First Law keeps the Wardens from killing the Fomor-altered-human-servitors, then these forces will have to handle them.
The other White Council types should be doing intelligence, divinations, coordinating with the Fae and Svartalfar, etc.
While all those people and creatures deal with the Fomor army, Harry, Butters, and Sanya go hunt down Ethniu herself. They're probably the only ones present who could harm her without massive collateral damage. Either Faithsaber-mode Fidelacchius or the Spear of Destiny/Lance of Longinus/Athame is probably needed to draw the blood Harry needs to imprison Ethniu.
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All the Swords should be able to cut through Titanic Bronze, the Faithsaber can do it without cutting through innocent flesh beneath as well. That might be important if the Titan is Nemfected.
I really do expect at one point for one of Butters opponents to stop fighting and start geeking out over the Faithsaber.
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I don't think they will meet the enemy in Burnham Harbor. I think the enemy will march up the river and the fight will become a melee in downtown. the fight will become multiple fights with ad hoc groups that form in the confusion. Harry's group will take the fight to the Titan and the spear will be used as it was used in the crucifixion to draw blood from her. This fight is where Harry's allies will stand or fall.
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I don't think they will meet the enemy in Burnham Harbor. I think the enemy will march up the river and the fight will become a melee in downtown. the fight will become multiple fights with ad hoc groups that form in the confusion. Harry's group will take the fight to the Titan and the spear will be used as it was used in the crucifixion to draw blood from her. This fight is where Harry's allies will stand or fall.
Oh boy, I bet you’re right. They’ll almost definitely attack from the river, as well as the lakefront. Lakefront huge assault, while troops move invisibly upriver to the downtown to start wrecking mortals, or attach the allies from behind.
Hopefully someone in the Chicago Defense will think of posting Summer fey in the river - if they can surprise Dresden in Cold Days with how many fey were invisible in the river, surely they can take away most of the oomph out of the river attack.
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Ley lines which mean they are going to come up out of the lake near the Shed Aquarium, so I would prepare my defence next to it.
Next to the Shed is the Field Museum, which means
“THE BEST DEFENCE IS A T-REX.” Harry Dresden, Peace Talks.
This time Murphy is the drummer. Sue is hideously effective against large groups and Harry can be charging into battle playing the Dino serenade brandishing his super weapons jousting with Ethnui.
Jim said Sue would be back some time. She is a fan favourite.
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Ley lines which mean they are going to come up out of the lake near the Shed Aquarium, so I would prepare my defence next to it.
Next to the Shed is the Field Museum, which means
“THE BEST DEFENCE IS A T-REX.” Harry Dresden, Peace Talks.
This time Murphy is the drummer. Sue is hideously effective against large groups and Harry can be charging into battle playing the Dino serenade brandishing his super weapons jousting with Ethnui.
Jim said Sue would be back some time. She is a fan favourite.
I'd *love* to see this.
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It is the ultimate fan service and may have been directly foreshadowed in PT in the same way the Faithsaber was in Ghost Story. It would be especially good to see a Sue v Genowskwa fight, Godzilla v Kong with as it is posited the army may include old enemies of Harry. Gen and Mavra have been specifically name dropped. We thought Gen thoroughly dead in SG but this is the only thing truly worthy of his resurrection.
I hope Harry does an accounting of several old enemies in BF, Listen, Mavra and Gen all spring to mind. Not Nicky, he is his own monster.
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I hate reruns. I don't want to see Sue or the Genowskwa. Has Jim run out of ideas?
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I hate reruns. I don't want to see Sue or the Genowskwa. Has Jim run out of ideas?
Peace Talks/Battle Ground seems to be chocked full of reruns. It's partly a way to show how different the same old threats are to Harry now, showing how much he's grown both in subtlety and power. But I think this is also a transition book like Changes. In Changes, everything changed for Harry. In PT/BG, everything is changing for the world.
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Depends on how the recurring characters are used. If the mere re-occurrence offends, so why not take a blue pencil and remove all the Butters, Michael, Sanya Scenes, Marcone, scenes, Carlos scenes, Murphy scenes, Thomas scenes, Eb scenes and Lara scenes from PT.
Sue would be excellent if Harry has to get through the Fomor lines to Ethnui, and a one on one battle with the Genowskwa interesting as Harry has been outmatched physically every time previously.
My only concern abut Sue in BG, is that Ferrovax might get overly attached to her.
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Why kill some one if death isn't final? Either he's got 24 or 25 books in him or he doesn't.
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They do have a few things going for them
The Knights can apply balance to fights, making victory possible. Theoretically they could slice up a titan and her power would affect them less than others.Harry had also had a sword for many years and tends to turn up at the right place at the right time. wink wink. And sword is the least important word in Knights of the Sword.
Communication. With the power down communication is limited to magic and word of mouth. The archive has powerful, efficient magic to broadcast and she can recieve messages from anyone with the ability to write. She is also bound to neutrality and I would think - preserving reality. She might also have oblivion war motives.
They know the territory.
Harry has a win the fight ace in the hole
Harry has a bear trap on the island for Ethniu
They have mixed offense. Most of them can kill mortals. Wizards can go ham on the fomor and goddess.
Mother Winter can destroy any enchantment
Harry has less to worry about from the council till this end of times stuff blows over
Marcone is a good community organizer and his people are wise to the supernatural
There are many more actively worshipped gods stronger than Ethniu and Chicago is a pretty diverse place.
Mortals are a bit crafty and some electronics would have been turned off for ethniu's EMP. Its possible some generators will be able to bring certain things back online.
Marcone has a well developed plan for killing supernatural practicioners. It worked on a powerful fomor castor already and was planned to kill Harry. Something like that on a Larger scale could be adapted for the fomor sorcerers.
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The local news services will have kit in storage, cameras capable of long distance imaging, satellite phones etc. This is going to be televised.
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Heck, Harry's fight with the Loup Garou was filmed and aired on TV.
And he's been on the Larry Fowler show.
But, yeah, riding a T-rex into battle against frogmen in the streets with a hundred thousand live witnesses and video footage would definitely take it to a new level.
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That tape went missing and was debunked.
We live in an age of cellphones with cameras, statistically a significant percentage will have been powered down, and available to record.
I also bet Paranoid Gary has a permanently powered down satellite link and computer system, for just such a circumstance ever since Cowl did something similar in Dead Beat. He will be uploading stuff as soon as it gets to him.
The Water Beetle was diesel and survived, not sure if the vehicle used to get to the docks survived, it only just got them there before the splosion so Harry will be on foot unless he can get a Mount like last time there was a blackout.
I just had a thought, on Why Conjouritis, the Blackout reminds him of Dead Beat and he sneezes, bringing up Sue, no need to go to the Field Museum, for the bones.
Let’s think of insulting nicknames for King Korb which Harry will use, I start with Mr Toad.
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I also bet Paranoid Gary has a permanently powered down satellite link and computer system, for just such a circumstance ever since Cowl did something similar in Dead Beat. He will be uploading stuff as soon as it gets to him.
He probably has all the kit he needs inside a circle.
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Molly said in Bombshells that the turtlenecks were getting mentally less human all the time, and they've had a couple years to get further down that path. They might not be illegal for the Wardens to kill with magic at this point, any more than the cultists in Cold Case or a Renfield.
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He probably has all the kit he needs inside a circle.
He is PARANOID Gary, his spare kit is powered down and inside THREE active circles.
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He is PARANOID Gary, his spare kit is powered down and inside THREE active circles.
And then there's the backup to his backup.
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I hate reruns. I don't want to see Sue or the Genowskwa. Has Jim run out of ideas?
I love Sue. Re-runs of her are fine by me, and I'm pretty sure it'd have some original content.
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And then there's the backup to his backup.
And the backup to the backup’s backup, this is one dude who is never going to be kept off-line.
I would be happy to see Sue again, there is more that can be done with her, a romantic scene between her and Mr Ferro perhaps?
“I rode Sue to the BFS in the dark, as I drew up to the Castle, I heard Ferrovax’s voice bellow down from the roof “what’s a nice girl like you, doing with a jerk like Dresden?”. Great, someone was trying to chat up my ride.”
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Let’s think of insulting nicknames for King Korb which Harry will use, I start with Mr Toad.
Kermit
Didn't Jim say Dresden would fight a Kaiju at some point in the series? I could foresee a ton of Godzilla references if that turns out to be this book and Harry goes to get Sue again.
You just know Harry is going to be the one who gets his face caught on camera. With his luck, there's no other way it could go. And, knowing him, it probably happens while he's in a brawl with some Fomor and burning down a building.
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Or riding Sue.
If the Genowskwa is back Godzilla v Kong.
Kermit is too nice an insult for Corb on its own. Kermit the Corb, yes.
I go with a mashup of Beatrix Potter and South Park, Jeremy Fishsticks
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Sue was badass way back in book whatever I forget at the moment...I wonder how she'll turn out with Soufire added in...
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All the Swords should be able to cut through Titanic Bronze
Quite possibly. I was thinking that though the Swords cancel out supernatural protections, it would probably still work like mundane armor... maybe better than ordinary bronze, Etri calls it an 'alloy' which might suggest that its superiority isn't just a matter of active magic like Harry's duster.
Whereas even mundane armor wouldn't be any use against new Fidelacchius.
That might be important if the Titan is Nemfected.
I doubt it... the Fomor seem pretty monstrous already.
And I would tend to think a being significantly stronger than Mab might be immune to Nemfection.
Sue was badass way back in book whatever I forget at the moment...I wonder how she'll turn out with Soufire added in...
Hmm - I wonder if using Soulfire could make her more "alive" than "undead"?
(And Dead Beat was book 7.)
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Mother Winter can destroy any enchantment
Yeah, but she doesn't get involved.
There are many more actively worshipped gods stronger than Ethniu
I dunno. I think the gods are mostly either far-diminished (like Odin and possibly the Lords of Outer Night, if they ever really were gods rather than faking it) or distinctly not intervening in the mortal world.
And there may not be as many out there as it seems, given the possibility of one being holding multiple mantles and names (Odin and Kringle and Beowulf are all Vadderung) and cross-overs between different mythologies (Grendel was a Bigfoot). Vadderung might also be Mercury and Thoth (historically the ancient Romans considered Wotan/Odin and Thoth to be Mercury worshiped under other names).
Not sure how much worship has to do with the amount of power a being has. I think that's a feature of other fantasy universes, not a Dresdenverse thing. Knowledge of a being can be relevant to give a being access to the mortal world... but belief isn't required, much less worship - knowledge of it in a fictional context is good enough, from "Backup".
Ethniu seems stronger than Odin in PT and I don't think she was really ever worshipped even in pre-Christian Ireland; the Fomorians were more monsters than gods. If she were, her worship certainly would have died out long before Odin's. (Ireland became Christian well before Scandinavia.)