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

Fifth Day of the Ninth Month 293 AC

There are six houses from which one can technically observe the manse where the Golden Company infiltrators have set up their base, two of them so poorly placed behind fireplum trees and creeping rosebushes that one would be ill-suited to watch any of the doors. Leto is quick to point out that an arrow through the windows will serve just as well, but that is not your purpose here. Instead you set your sights on the remaining four manses. Less than a shadow in starlight you are as you pass through stone, a specter of sorcery conjured, the world leached of color. Unfortunately none of the manses are conveniently empty, nor isolated enough that you would lightly risk casting the inhabitants into enchanted slumber.

Bright-liveried footmen rush through on their masters' errands, maids in faded grey dresses work to set flowers, dust away the cobwebs, and make the windows sparkle in preparation for the conclave, and even the gardeners seem rushed as they trim the trees and flowers. The morning has an air of anticipation veiling uncertainty as rumors about the various delegations and their positions fly from one to the other.

"Did you hear about Septon Kyle? They say he kept two mistresses... two, and that he is not right behind his holiness waving the Seven-Pointed Star. It's not right I tell you..."

"...stuff and nonsense. That's probably what that old fool Naron from Highgarden wants you to believe. The Tyrell's court fool is what he is, not a septon at all."

"I heard that there will be miracle-workers. Septa Danelle..."

"Sorcerers the lot of them, probably using the blood of honest men. She's just that Northerner's whore is what I heard..."

Unseen you pass from hall to hall observing master and servant, child and parent, until you have some grasp of the four villas you might use to keep an eye on your foes. The news is not the best you might have hoped for. The first manse belongs Ser Moryn Tyrell, Lord Commander of the City Watch of Oldtown. Not only do you spot freshly carved wards in the loping fey manner along the door frames, but even if you could lull the entire household into enchanted slumber you suspect the Lantern Bearers would be quick indeed to check on them.

So you cross the cobbled paths under the sweet-smelling preach trees into the manse looking in on your quarry from the south. The townhouse of Lord Robert Shermer is considerably less lively than that of the Lord Commander, an air of grim malaise hangs from the eaves like the shadows of lingering night. It does not take you long to learn that the lord has been long ailing and thrice called for a septon to perform last rites. Rather than rumors of miracle-workers none dare even whisper of magic here.

"Father is being called to the Seven, Elys. I will not have some foul witchcraft dirty his way!" An angry voice rings out through an oaken door as you pass.

You only just get out of the way in time to avoid knocking into a young woman rushing from the room in tears, leaving behind the bearded knight who had been speaking. Intrigued you follow along on silent steps. The woman speaks to the head footman... biding him to travel to 'Master Lormar's house', the very same house you had been set to watch, to search for a healer. It seems your foes have not been as quiet as they could have been if they are playing at that game. Perhaps that will be your chance to capture someone. You glance deeper upon the scene, to see if the lady is warded... she is not, but much worse, for she and the servant are enthralled.

Backtracking quickly you look for the knight. He too is likewise snared. Is someone working to ensure the lord dies? The Golden Company or some other more tangled intrigue?

Shaking off the question for now you head for the third house only to be greeted by a thankfully sleepy merchant's household. The attic is filled with last century's furnishing under a deep carpet of dust, but the widows give a good view of 'Master Lormar's house' so there you set up shop together with Waymar, Ser Richard, Lya and Vee. Two of the Furies are called to add their sight to the task while more of their sisters spread out on the streets of Oldtown seeking to discover how the Golden Company mages gained their reputation for healing.


Over the next few hours you see no one go in or out of the manse you are watching, the very fact uncommon in of itself on the busy streets, but it is Leto who makes the greater discovery. "Supposedly this 'Lormar' had dealings with the Smith's Sept down the river, selling candles and incense, so I had one of my sisters look in on that and found rather more than she was expecting. The septon there had been replaced with one of the Many-Headed Queen's demons, a dragon-skinned fiend of a crimson coat. I suspect the whole sept has been reconsecrated to Her service. I also suspect the Golden Company have not been so much recruiting as converting the locals to serve as their eyes and hands."

Uncharacteristically Waymar curses under his breath. While it has been long indeed since he could have been called a faithful son of the Seven Who Are One, the desecration of a sept is not something he can ignore.

"So we probably have a full fledged cult of Tiamat, probably centered on the Smith's Sep," Lya muses. "Most of those who pray there would be artisans and craftsmen, the sort of people the Golden Company's artificer-mages could be of great help to..."

"So the question now is do we try to cut off the head of the snake, or try to nibble on its scales to better to get a taste for it..."

What do you do?

[] Investigate the enthrallment in the Shermer townhouse
-[] Write in how

[] Investigate the cult of Tiamat at the Smith's Sept
-[] Write in how

[] Keep watching the manse, looking for an opportunity to take a prisoner
-[] Write in conditions/precautions

[] Write in

OOC: You guys rolled into the middle of an interesting web.