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

Twenty-Sixth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC

Having no particular task in mind for the Dornishman but also not wishing to alienate him, you explain that you have no shortage of foes in need of slaying, ranging from the mundane to utterly fantastical. If he wishes to slay monsters, or take up a grand keep and guard the Demon Road from creatures crawling out of the Valyrian Badlands, or join what is quite literally the best army in the world to glory and victory, the world is wide open to him. He seems more than a little dubious about the prospect, not so much the existence of demons and monsters as the notion that they might so easily be found by any who would write a tale of glory in their blood.

Absent the time and, to be entirely honest, the patience to explain the workings of the world to the proud young knight, you suggest that he pass by the Scholarum to learn, mentioning the opportunity to study any common lore besides. Somewhat to your surprise the power to heal wounds and illnesses certainly appeals to Ser Dayne. "Dying of a wound gone sour would be a poor end to any tale," he explains.

In that you wish him good fortune. The more knights are willing to treat magic as just another tool the better.

As the jousts begin again a knight of an uncommon breed meets one who is no knight at all. Ser Harras Harlaw, Knight of the Grey Garden and heir to House Harlaw of Ten Towers, is among all the assorted mystery knights one of the most careful of his secret, faces Ivezhqoy, a woman of Dothraki blood who had bound herself to your service. Dothraki skill, too, from the way she casts the Ironborn heir from his saddle on the first blow, while wielding the heavy Legion lance deftly to ward off his own blow. The bells bound to her saddle ring in victory as she makes the honor ride before the royal box before withdrawing.

The next to meet in battle is another uncommon set, a knight of the Vale and heir to the ancient house Redfort, facing a Braavosi 'knight' who rides with all the swagger and confidence of a bravo treading water. Not without cause, certainly, for on the first tilt he scores a hit upon his opponent's shield and stays in the saddle despite Ser Jon Redfort's blow to the center of his breastplate. In the second tilt, however, the Braavosi over-balances while seeking the perfect blow, perhaps hampered by the heavy western lance, and so he falls and Redfort rides on to the cheers of the crowd, and of his squire and brother.

"Mya mentioned meeting those two a fortnight past," Dany notes. "She said Jon didn't want to be healed with magic..."

"But he is fine with competing for a prize of Valyrian Steel," you snort. "One wonders what craft he thinks goes into the making of that, baking?"

"Sense and the desire for Valyrian Steel have nothing to do with each other, Your Grace," Ser Richard says, to which the Hound surprisingly grunts in agreement.

"You should have seen the lords in the Westerlands scrambling over it. A sword is only as good as the hand it's in," he states.

There is no time to discuss the foibles of knighthood further, though, for two more knights ride out to cross lances: Ser Ronnet Connington, called the Red, and Karyl Grafton, second-born son of that house. The knights meet in a clash like a hammer upon the anvil, and indeed both blows are as heavy as ever a smith has cast, but Grafton clings to his seat while Red Ronnet briefly flies like the beast upon the seal he cares not show.

"Connington..." your mother muses. "Do you think it might be worth approaching them? They have been greatly weakened in the aftermath of the Usurper's War, so they would not being any great strength, but I am concerned about precisely what other influences they might carry to Westeros." She looks meaningfully at Dany.

"There is no magic to them and no glamours," your sister adds, her eyes flashing briefly with deeper sight. "They are not the B... Her pawns now, I think, though they could be. Anyone could."

As most of your attention is turned to discussing the matter of House Connington, you almost miss the first tilt between Jaedor Taraellis of Volantis and Ser Raynald Mooton who had come to Sorcerer's Deep with 'the Lads'. The silver-haired lancer is swift and bold as the tiger upon his shield, almost throwing the knight from his saddle while only taking a glancing blow in return, but on the second pass Westerosi experience shines through again, winning the match for Ser Raynald.

The following match-up is between another of Benjicot's, though only incidentally, with Ser Karl Terrick and a Tyroshi magister of a far more martial bent than most of his fellows. Lances shatter, shields crack, and it is only by the thinnest of margins that the Riverlander knight triumphs, his opponent sliding from his horse.

With that the action pauses briefly once again to give the merchants time to shout their wares, the wine sellers to soothe throats with their concoctions... and unexpected visitors to make their appearance. Seeing the flaming hair and beard of an Azer is uncommon but not unheard of in Sorcerer's Deep, particularly with the Terminus opening, nor the horns of one bearing fiend blood, but the Adamantine hammer and flowing azure robes are far more familiar than that.

"Yrten, Siduri," you greet the two corsairs without bothering with titles, since accolades of pillaging and killing do not make for good formalities. "Come to see the joust?"

"Indeed we did. The wonder of all the world it is seeing all these poor blighters trusting their lives to dumb beasts," the Azer captain jests, luckily doing so in Ignan. "We're thinking of going in for the team fight, but before that we were interested in doing some trade in your fine markets, buying fine woods, ivories, and drink while the price is still high out in the Sea of Fire..."

"I do not think the King is overly invested in our plans, Yrten. At least not those ones," Siduri interjects while entering the box.

"Right you are... raiding it is. We caught wind of the big Brazen Fleet planning a raid into the Skylands of course, but that's not all. They aren't just trying to scamper off with some loot and give the Djinn a rattling. They are looking to scatter the Djinn fleet so they can force through a Doomship."

"Doomship?" you prompt. It obviously isn't good news, but you would like to know the level of misfortune you are dealing with.

"A general term for ships that do not so much fight the enemy but by their very presence make their lives hell," Siduri explains absently. As you had suspected she would she caught Oberyn's eye and seems to return the interest... though it might just be his various arcane accouterments she is curious about.

"In this case it's a ship carrying some kind of treasure that used to belong to a Demon Lord. The snaky one I think, Abraxas," Yrten explains. "Once the ship is in position they're going to drop the wards and let whatever the hell it is curse and taint wind and storm. Give it a few more days and it will the swarming with demons. A neat little distraction if they can pull it off, but they won't because we have the journey mapped right here..." With that he produces a slate of ash-grey stone with the route he had promised. Unfortunately the path is mostly skirting the edge of the Wild, meaning you would either have to risk the dark artifact being let loose at the edge of the Plane of Air or dare those dangerous realms. Alternatively, you could just tell the Djinn about it, negating the whole plot.

Their other two suggestions are far more tame, a supply convoy leading to adamantine mines bearing slaves to the mines and ore out which could be attacked on either leg of the journey, and what seems to be an expedition of the Brazen Throne's court mage looking for obscure arcane ingredients, though where they are looking Yrten knows not. He only knows they will dock in a particular haven sometimes towards the end of next month.

What do you do next?

[] Speak with more of the jousters
-[] Write in which and what about

[] Continue with the jousts

[] Question Yrten further
-[] Write in

OOC: Four more duels to go. I felt I had to put another break point in here because otherwise all the talking would take up multiple updates of just jumping from one knight to the next.