Lets re-read The Dresden Files

Yay... Morgan is the kind of guy you don't want near you.

And now we continue with the Train Wreck that is The Dresden Files.

Chapter 7

Considering how the previous chapter ended, no one can blame Harry for having the “begeezus” scared out of him. His reaction: quick-breath and almost said “a quasi-Latin phrase on the exhale, one that would set the man's body on fire and reduce him to a mound of ashes.”

Instead he politely greats “Morgan” and points out that the law applies to mortals and Toot had a choice, so he did not break the Fourth Law. Morgan is Harry's own personal guard dog Warden who is under orders, from the White Council, to kill Harry if he bends or breaks any of the Laws of Magic. He is also “one of the deadliest evocators in the world,” so not casting a deadly spell at him was probably a good idea.

Morgan points out that the explanations Harry gave are mere technicalities. Harry has had a long day and Morgan is just pissing him off at this point, so Harry calls his bluff: “Unless you want to convene a meeting of the Council to call me on it, we can just drop the discussion right here.” Considering that the Council is a bunch of “crotchety old men,” Morgan scowls at Dresden and puts his sword (AKA symbol of a Warden's power and can cut through magic) away.

Harry tries to walk away, but apparently Morgan has something else to say, as a person and not a Warden, and blocks him. Now Harry feels like he is being bullied on top of the scare and annoyance. So he punches Morgan in the mouth. No law against that.

This time Morgan's the one who get angry. “You're a fool Dresden. An arrogant little fool.” Harry's reply: “Probably.” And Harry prepares to run away fast. His first instinct is to blow things away with overwhelming force, but he tries to stay away from hopeless fights.

Someone killed two people with sorcery last night, Dresden. I think it was you. And when I find how you did it and can trace it back to you, don't think you're going to have time to cast the same spell on me.

...Oh. So that is why Morgan wanted to catch Harry so badly. And, by extension, the Council thinks Harry killed those two people. Makes sense, considering that Harry has killed with magic before, even if it was self-defense. Maybe that punch was not such a good idea.

Okay. I probably still would have hit him in the mouth. But I wouldn't have done it quite so hard.

That's Harry for you. After a bit more verbal fencing, Harry turns around to leave again and get punched in the chin for his trouble. Can't blame Morgan for that one. One final threat from our “nice” law-abiding citizen, and Harry leaves the area while feeling Morgan watching from behind.

Well, there is one more reason to find the culprit as fast as possible. Ah, Morgan. Why do you remind Harry of his “angsty teenage days?” Oh that is right, that is where Harry's back-story occurs. When he started to learn magic and his “mentor tried to seduce me into Black wizardry, and when he attempted to kill me when he failed. I killed him instead...”

The only reason Harry was not killed right away was because of a self-defense (or defense of the helpless) clause in The First Law (which comes down to Thou Shalt Not Kill). Instead, the Doom was placed on him and even one mistake equals death. Individual members of the wizarding community think that the sentence is to harsh and others think he should have been killed, but that is where he stands. Harry's non-traditional policy of openly practicing magic has not endeared him to the community vary much, ether.

As to what to do next, Harry's in a pair of catch-22's. Not finding the culprit will leave him as the primary suspect and likely be killed for it while finding the culprit requires figuring out the spell and is just as likely to get him killed. Talking to Bianca is now a necessity, not just priority, for finding out what she knows about the victims/spell used and Murphy won't be happy about that, but telling her why he has to be the one who talks to Bianca is another no-no from the Counsel's perspective.

You know, sometimes I think Someone up there really hates me.

No He doesn't. But that is another story

86/322, about 9.5 11.5 hours from the start putting the time he heads home at about 10:30 12:30.

Edit: strikes are because the next chapter proves I was probably off by a couple of hours.

edited 9th Nov '10 12:50:50 PM by Belian

To his credit, Harry's gotten a lot better when it comes to self-control through the books. Gotta love that character development, Harry doesn't take as many compels nowadays, if you excuse the Dresden Files RPG lingo.

I will start doing this again later this week. I have a paper due today and two presentations this week :(

Chapter 8

“By the time I got home, it was after two o'clock in the morning.” …CRAP! My time-line is off by a couple hours! (*fixes*) There we go. Now where was I...

It's been a rough day for Harry so he decides to do some alchemy to unwind. That's right, more magic. He does not really have another hobby but this also means we get to meet Bob this chapter, so all is forgiven.

Harry lives in the basement and subbasement of a, “roomy old house that has been divided up into lots of different apartments.” This also means that he pays, “less than all the people who have whole windows,” and he hears all the creaks and sounds from the whole house. “It's home.”

And Mister is waiting at his front door to be let in. Let me try that again. And Mister, the over-thirty pound gray cat with little fat on his frame that Harry saved as a kitten, is waiting to be let into his apartment that he happens to share with Harry. The jokes Harry has about Mister are endless (eats smaller dogs, parent was a large cat, etc.).

Anyway, Mister enters first and we get a look at the inside. Studio room with a fireplace and kitchenette, check. One other room that is the bed- and bath-room, check. The lab in the subbasement, reached via trapdoor and ladder that is always cold so he normally wears a robe while working down there (thus fulfilling the “wizard” look), check. Oh, and lots of things that use fire to produce light. The ceiling lights “foul up so often it almost isn't worth turning them on.” At least it all smells nicely of woodsmoke and charcoal from the fireplace (no matter what he does).

The lab is where you find all the interesting wizard supplies. A pawn-shop owner would be proud with the variety of apparently useless stuff Harry has. Other than a completely clean brass circle set in the floor, there are four tables (one table in the center and three more against the walls) and shelves on all the walls filled with “empty cages, boxes, Tupperware...several old books, a long row of notebooks filled with my own cramped writing  ^*

Harry “Bob, wake up.” Pause. “Come on, lazybones.”

A pair of lights came up in the empty sockets of the skull, orangish, flickering like candle flames. “It isn't enough that I have to wake up. I have to wake up to bad puns. What is it about you that you have to make the bad puns?”

”Quit whining,” I told him, cheerfully. “We've got work to do.”

An now you have met Bob the Skull. The centuries old, cocky, wisecrack-making, extremely perverted, spirit of air that Harry uses instead of a computer. Not only can Bob keep track of where everything in the lab is, he has detailed knowledge of “the slowly changing laws of quasiphysics.” To be clear, the skull is not Bob's, it is just the container that “he” is forced to live in.

Apparently, Bob knows how to get Harry out of his current predicament. But he wants “out for a ride” in exchange.

Harry That made me wary. “Bob, I let you out once. Remember?”

He nodded dreamily, scraping bone on wood. “The sorority house. I remember.”

To summarize the rest of the banter/conversation: H: “don't understand why you're obsessed with sex.” B: “academic interest.” H: Yeah right. Etc. The whole point is that Bob learns about the date and insists on Harry making a second potion along with the escape potion Harry wants. Specifically, a love potion. Harry agrees, but not before we learn that A) a potion's effect is determined by the ingredients more than the intent (unlike spells and why Harry wants Bob's imput) and B) potions are only good for a couple of days.

After a little chat about just how badly some of Harry's previous attempts at potion making turned out, we get the basic recipe for a potion: a liquid base, something related to each of the senses, something for the mind, and something for the spirit for a total of 8 ingredients.

How to make an Escape potion by Bob

Eight ounces of Jolt cola (liquid base), a drop of motor oil (smell), cut-up bird feather (touch), three ounces of powdered chocolate-covered espresso beans (taste), shredded bus ticket (mind), broken chain (spirit/heart), a flickering shadow (sight), and mouse scampers (hearing).

Effect: be the wind for a few minutes.

The shadow was stored in a clean white cloth “for just such an occasion,” and the mouse scampers were in a jar. I told you a pawn-shop owner would be envious.

How to make a Love potion by Bob with input from Harry

Eight ounces of Tequila (liquid base)thinks this will produce a sleazy result and champagne would be better, three ounces of dark chocolate (taste), drop of perfume (smell), an ounce of shredded lace (touch), last sigh from a jar (hearing), candlelight (sight), passionate love letter fresh out particularly erotic paragraph from a erotic novel (spirit/heart), teaspoon of powdered diamond no diamonds torn up fifty dolor-bill last of the fifties I have (mind).

Final step is to run enough magic into the potions for all the ingredients to activate/combine. This magic energy “can come from a special place... a focus... or from inside people.” The last generally means emotions of some kind and Harry throws all of his anger/worry/stubbornness into completing the potions. Once they stopped fizzing, he puts them into their own, clearly labeled, sports bottles.

The whole process did exactly what Harry wanted it to do: it tired him out enough that he can go to sleep peacefully.

99/322, 13.5 hours from the start, about 2:30 in the morning. No good end of chapter quote for me to work with, just a recap of what the overall situation is.

Thinking back, I probably did not need to type out the entirety of the potions... Oh well. They show just how varied the materials Harry has in his lab are.

Also, feel free to let me know if my hottips in the index post (first post) are missing anything important.

edited 19th Nov '10 8:25:40 PM by Belian

Bob, such a pervery skull...This liveblog is making me remember little details.

I always loved how Alchemy worked in this series, I'm not sure why, but it kind of makes sense, if you accept the magic system the series operate under, of course. Also, Bob is awesome.

Also, it answers the "why can't muggles make potions?" question nicely.

Actually, I bet Muggles could make a potion. The only hard parts are the hearing/sight ingredients and enough magic. Various sounds could be recorded then played "into" the potion and lighting effects can be projected into the potion. Magic would then be supplied by some sort of focus.

Now, the chances that a Muggle would get anywhere near the effect they were looking for... I think I would rather try the lottery. Or go to a casino.

edited 20th Nov '10 2:36:22 PM by Belian