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

Twenty-Third Day of the Sixth Month 293 AC

The armor of Mantarys' explorers gleam in the sun like silver, not the common garb of the city's guard, forged for practicality alone that every scrap of steel be made to serve as much as it could as a ward against the city's many foes. There was something almost whimsical about it, vines and stars, laughing beasts and even blooming flowers worked into the metal. Their cloaks were gold, their eyes bright, their laughter heard as often as their words, and if that laughter had an edge of nervousness to it then you could hardly blame them, considering the road ahead and the company they would be keeping on it.

Rather than play games with glamours and trickery, risking the expedition upon a chance broken enchantment in the cauldron that Valyria has become, you bid the Furies show themselves in their true form and explain the circumstances of their service. Even with Yrael himself vouching for their truthfulness, the priests and warriors of Mantarys are ill at ease to find themselves in such company, though to their credit the Sisters themselves reserve the odd dark look only for Naeron.


When you explain that you would rather go by air along the shore of the Sea of Sighs the codex spirit speaks up unexpectedly: "The sailors certainly will not regret the choice. They are loyal as much as skilled, but no amount of either will drive a man to joy at the thought of passing under the curse that still blackens the skies of Valyria."

"Sensible men those sailors. Alas that they won't grow rich from it, in tales or in gold," Garin jests, earning him smiles from the pair of warriors who had been previously eyeing Mereth suspiciously.

"I imagine not, but that is not the point I wished to make," the scholarly archon interjects. "Rather that without days aboard a ship there will be little time to study the records we have on Lyceos and to try to piece together what may have survived for good or ill."

Lya's eyes light up so excitedly at the word 'study' that you cannot even think to deny her the chance even if you wished to, not that you would of course. It's a long way from piecing together tales of living dead and dark spirits in Braavos, but one thing has not changed, for one facing arcane perils knowledge is power.

For his part Ser Richard takes one look between you and her before offering to find a tavern, in of course the most neutral and respectful of tones. Not that it keeps Tyene from laughing, of course. She offers to join in alongside Waymar and Garin.


Thus you come to sit at a table filled almost to overflowing with ancient charts and scrolls restored through careful skill and sorcerous ritual, all while Aebys files to and fro, his claws wet with ink as he makes a correction here and a note there. The city that unveils itself to your gaze from yellowed parchment and time-lost memories is an unusual one. Crowded against the slopes of Mount Nerehos, northernmost of the Fourteen Fires, and what is now the Sea of Sighs, Lyceos was surrounded by terraces filled with sweet grapes and lush fruit trees, at least until it flowed over them and tripled in size in the span of less than a generation. It is the cause of that sudden growth that proves the most fascinating part of the tale.

"The Threefold Oracle of the Fateweaver: one to speak of what was, another of what is, and the last to utter riddles of what may yet be," Dany reads out from a poem dated just seventy years after the Doom. "Few dare their eyeless gaze and none descend as they have climbed from... eternity?" the last word is a question as she looks about the room.

Malarys sighs while looking down at the text: "I suspect whoever wrote this was trying to force the metric like a man hammering a wooden peg in place. That should probably be Eternity's Stairs. It was a test of some sort the petitioner would have to face before reaching the Three. I fear, however, that that is the limit of my knowledge on the subject, as I never saw the point of daring the gaze of the Fatespinner in such a manner."

"Did Syrax have a dark reputation?" you ask warily, for something to be counted perilous by the Valyrians who thought nothing of enslaving fiends by the scores and thousands does not inspire you with confidence.

"No, but she was the goddess of fate as much as magic, thus she derived her power as much from the act of prophecy fulfilled as from prayer. I had no intention to set my fate in stone by passing by her eye," Malarys explains. With a faint smile he adds, "Considering how improbable my future truly showed itself to be, I count myself fortunate for the choice."

"Wisely said," Lya speaks up. "Better by far to forge one's own life with every breath than to be just another thread in some tapestry of fate."

"Still no talk of a weapon, 'one the eldest fears'?" you ask, impatient in spite of yourself.

"No, but then if it were common knowledge, or even knowledge we could reasonably find, then we would not have required the tablets fortuitously falling into out laps," Dany replies reasonably. "To tell the truth I think we should visit the Aedil's palace before the temple, assuming it still stands. Centuries of taxing petitioners come from the length and breadth of Valyria would have made for quite a treasury."

"And assuming Aebys' former mistress was not misinformed on the matter, some of that wealth was put towards trying to match Oros' great library," Lya puts in. "Though that may have ultimately failed, it would be a failure I would very much like to get a look at."

"As would we all, Wisdom," Naeron agrees, and not merely for politeness' sake you suspect. While the archon may have a more narrow notion than Lya of what constitutes as 'lore worthy of study,' he is no less passionate about seeking it out. Aught you seek it here still or set off at once? you wonder.

"Regardless of what awaits us we certainly will not run out of room to keep it in," Dany smiles in amusement and anticipation both. "The sheer scale of the folded dimension would allow us to relocate if not the whole city then at least a decent chunk of it."

What do you do next?

[] Try to find more information about Lyceos
-[] Through research
-[] Through divination (write in)

[] Set off at once
-[] Write in traveling formation

[] Writer in

OOC: Over the last two adventures there has been a serious issue of insufficient background which not only make you guys hesitant when voting but I think took away from the sense of history and wonder, making places feel a little too much like 'dungeons'. Thus I decided to go with the research stage beforehand (since it also makes sense IC).