A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

Seventeenth Day of the Third Month 293 AC

"There are certain beings who would be uniquely suited to discerning the mind of the Old Gods, but they would not be ones I would set to legal or administrative matters," you reply. Then with a smile, "Perhaps I can find a clerk or two who burn easily from too much sun."

The Sealord delivers usual Braavosi response to such a statement with pitch perfect outrage. "I'll have you know I saw the sun just last month." For just the snap of a few heartbeats honest laughter rings through the chamber, the sort one might hear by the Moon Pool or in a tavern by the docks when the wine flows free.

"Would you be interested in a play, Serenity?" you ask, a sudden whimsy gripping you. "There are many among my friends with a love of theater and skills one would not oft find among mummers..."

"Ah, you mean rulers?" Ferrengo Antarion replies, keeping his tone just as light. "What are we if not mummers who make of the world entire our stage?"

"A philosophy I cannot bring myself to disagree with, but no, I mean an actual play accompanied by magic, perhaps of the conquest of Tyrosh..."

"No... no, a bit too inspiring," the Lord of Braavos replies the moment of levity set aside. "I do not need crowds of rowdy apprentices and bravos drunk on glory marching on Pentos when the time comes. Perhaps it is best to keep it to Mantarys. That is distant enough as not to fire the blood to folly."

"As you wish, Serenity," you agree graciously. The man knows his people better than you can, after all. "Speaking of unbridled calls to action, is there any troubling pirate band or other threat in these northern waters you would wish removed? I find myself in command of certain captains whose effectiveness is only matched by their utter lack of subtlety."

"The infamous enchantress, yes," Syrio speaks up unexpectedly. "Tell me, is she indeed one of the threshold fey as they loudly claim to any who would listen?"

"Yes," you answer, hiding a smile at the man's surprised and disappointed look, no doubt at the fact that he would not be able to silence the braggarts.

After throwing a commiserating look at his First Sword, wholly alike to one you might have shared with Ser Richard, the Sealord notes that there have been tales of a small Ibbenese fleet turned to piracy in the Shivering Sea, though it is always particularly hard to tell the work of pirates from storms in those treacherous waters.

You make no promises save that you will look into the matter before moving on to a far more serious concern: "I realize that through my own actions dragon eggs are now far more than the beautiful curiosities they once were. I would be willing to offer training for ten mages at the Scholarum paid in full for the opportunity to make offers for them to any Braavosi who might possess them, and an aditional two mages for every egg I can secure."

The Sealord listens to you carefully, but the answer he gives is not what you might have expected: "Tell me, Your Grace, how much would you pay for three such eggs?"

"From your family's collection?" Lya asks, surprised.

Ferrengo Antarion shakes his head firmly. "The city treasury, held in the most secure vault of the Iron Bank." The tone bespeaks of grim deeds in acquiring those treasures, but he does not elaborate.

"What would you ask for them?" you ask, not a question you would pose to any common goods to be sure, but even before the tides of magic began to rise a dragon egg was a prize to enoble the greatest of collections. Here and now, to you in particular, they are worth as much as dragon riders to be, a weapon by which kingdoms might be made to kneel.

"Had you not already agreed to the plans for Pentos I would have asked for that pledge," he admits. "Now my thoughts turn to something more long lasting..." he trails off, and for the first time since you have first laid eyes upon him the Sealord seems at a loss for words, or rather fearful of speaking them.

"We all know how the game is played, the games of court are little different than those of commerce. I will not hold an over-bold bid against you," you assure him.

The man nods to himself far more than you: "An understanding that you shall not found your own bank under the understanding that in time the Iron Bank might extend its influence southwards to the betterment of all."

You draw back, shocked that he would so strongly hint at his city's submission so soon in the game. Such a uniquely Braavosi audacity. Still, you suspect most of the Keyholders would not thank the Sealord for his gamble.

What do you reply?

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OOC: The rolls for this part were really good, so the Sealord took a chance on your alliance here and revealed something he would normally have kept much closer to the chest about the Braavosi strategy (or at least that of his faction).