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

Eighth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC

You agree to the raid of course, not only for pragmatism but for sense and sanity's sake, to finally end that most hideous age-old cruelty of the Brazen Throne. Still, the prospect of establishing a web of agents in so perilous a place as the City of Brass is daunting, and so you ask the Vizier how long he would be willing to wait at most, if three months is how much you must hold off.

"Half a year, perhaps a little over than that. More I cannot say. I do not dictate the tides of battle, and in the swirling chaos of war even the judgements of the most learned can prove false," he replies, the slow courtly words of the tongue of stone turning a dire warning into something almost poetic.

"Good then, I trust that any information will only be shared in the strictest confidence and if possible only among those warded against all mortal divination." At his nod you continue. "Then we will require as much information as you hold on both the city itself and your own agents within it, not to make any use of their resources you understand, but to assure ourselves that we do not trip unseen threads by a sheer mischance in growing too close."

"Of course," the genie lord reaches inside his robes, the telltale subtle whirl of color marking a arcane pouch where space had been folded, drawing forth from within a collection of tightly-rolled scrolls in silvered cases bound together by delicate gold threads. "They are warded. Take care to open these yourself and destroy them after they have been read."

Gained Shaitan Intelligence Briefings

"Perhaps I should eat them," you offer with a smile. "I hear the entrails of dragons make poor oracles."

"As good a means as any," Mahuroos Tepani snorts. "If you should require any other resources..."

"Talismans to ward away the diviner's gaze," you interject at once. "To be honest, if it were feasible, I would have everyone in by service make use of one."

"That is a more common sentiment than you might think among those of us who must fight in the shadows. Let us say that there are few things that can have the master of the Royal Purse weeping as a spy given wide latitude to spend coin on a mission." The Vizier matches your jest with his own. "I can shake loose eight such talismans for use in the period required."

"Excellent, then I have only two more questions to ask for you, not related to the offer, merely a matter of personal curiosity." You pause to assess his reaction. Trust is never so well weighted as in the disclosure of information that is not strictly required. The smooth grey gates are still open as they have ever been... "What became of the Efreeti I delivered, and do you intend to use the mirror-way into the Plane of Molten Skies?"

"The high command has not yet decided how to use the portal. Normally we would begin to slip agents through, but with the raid on the Forge looming we do not wish to arouse Efreeti suspicions with a glut of spies. As for the prisoner, he has been of use in revealing the weaknesses in two fortified caravanserai, allowing us to take them with much smaller losses than was initially anticipated." To your surprise the Shaitan lord sighs, the sound soft even to your ears. "He also had knowledge of the plot to slay the Sultana's father, not much you understand, but enough that it would have put us on guard. If this clan of enterprising Xorn had delivered the jewel to the Opaline Vault when they first acquired it they would have been honored beyond their dreams."

"Alas that before time even the greatest of powers must bow," you agree, an old wyrm's saying or near enough.

From the glint in Mahuroos Tepani's eye he knows the original form, that referred only to dragons, as the pinnacle of strength and wisdom both. "Fare thee well, King Viserys, Lady Lya," he bows to each of you in turn, then vanishes, whisked away by the very shadows of the room.


Seeking out a place for a shrine of Yss is far less startling in the realms of stone. No old mysteries unveil themselves before your eyes, no uncanny twists of fate, only a small sculptor's studio sold out when the worker died, tucked away between the shops and homes of slaves. It costs more to obtain the permits to preach and offer magical healing than to buy the shrine.

Lost 3,100 IM

Alas that as you move into the bazaar none of the creatures present catch your eye. You had thought to seek more beings with an affinity to precious metals to see if they might not serve as templates for the flesh forge. "No living hoard it seems," Lya says in jest.

"Of course I have a living hoard," you answer in mock outrage. "Whatever did you think a kingdom was?"

House Adjar has better, though also more costly news to share. They had sent out an expedition into the depths far beyond the dominion of the Peerless Empire to find some of the elusive silver bells to sell to you, though they caution that the silver the plants make does not have the proper metaphysical weight to slay shapeshifters or devils for instance.

Do you buy Silver Bell seeds?

[] Yes (Default cost Cost 20,000 IM)
-[] Try to bargain the price down (Write in by how much)

[] No (Will lower relations with House Adjar)

OOC: Shapeshifter ashes and bards will be in the next update, since this one is jumping around enough as is.