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

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Duesal said:
[X] Crake

@Crake, would you mind fishing for information in turn? I'm curious about Oldtown's Underdark, and since we're talking to the nominal head of the Lantern Bearers we can probably get some more intel on their organization.
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DP never disengages from an important conversation unless we deliberately vote on it, and there's enough nuclear bombs in my plan that could end up necessitating multiple responses, that we can get it to it afterwards.

Edit: If you write up a series of questions though, I will tack it on in the case that he takes Safe Option A instead of Lucky Option B.
 
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Crake said:
[X] Wherein Viserys Targaryen Terrifies A Man Having A Mid-Life Crisis
-[X] While staring at your cup of tea to use a bit of casual mastery over flame to reheat it, softly wonder aloud: "Do you desire a comforting lie, like so many others, or do you want to be burdened with the truth as I have been?" Cut him off initially with a look. You have been fighting for three years against fear and horror. You have conquered both. You have sacrificed so much upon the altar of necessity, and gain as much or more, if you count the good friends who stood beside you all the while and held back the madness you know deep in your bones could have claimed you in full, in another time or place. Baelor has had none of that. He has not faced foes wielding blades of fear or dread. He has not stood against Gods and stared Hell in the face and spat defiance. He may have held fast against the storm, but he has not cut a wake through it as you have, nor could he do more than grip as tightly as he can not to be swept away in it. So if he thinks to tell you that he is insulted by the implication that couldn't handle the truth, or that it's his responsibility to do something about it, he can stop right there and take a different tack, because no Lord in Westeros has shown themselves to be prepared for the truth, and fewer still can handle it without going mad.
-[X] If he swallows pride, or just truly knows he's in way over his head, the Comforting Lie wearing silken Truth: "I care only for the absolute destruction of enemies of mankind and their allies. I will destroy slavers until they are as dust. I will eradicate monsters like vermin. And I will cleanse corruption so that the people might finally know peace. What more does any man need to know?"
-[X] If he insists on the truth, bare a smile that does not reach your eyes: "Very well." Baelor Hightower has a host of advantages over any other Lord you could let the veil behind your acts and motivations fall before, the best mixture of competence and sanity as much as comprehension of the changes to the world that truly matter with the ability to keep in mind the limitations of the Lords of Westeros as much as their highest virtues. Let him be the test case.
-[X] Full disclosure. He asked for it. "House Tyrell had sought to bargain for the safeguarding of what they have gained from three centuries of prosperity not wholly their own, the abeyance of legitimate claims of their loyal vassals in exchange for the support of those who had originally guaranteed it, and for all of the rampant scheming and politicking I have seen here in the Reach as much as anywhere else in Westeros, before I took an open hand in matters at the least, most would have followed them to war or the peace table if they had simply paid heed to their needs and obligations. They did not. They did not in the Rebellion, and refused to see bitter fruit be plucked from the outcome, the loss of influence or further decline. They did not when the Fair Folk came and threw their Kingdom into chaos. When the stakes rose with the awakening of magic, their caution was not raised to match the potential threat. They did not make sacrifices required to ensure peace for those bound unto them in turn. Instead their ambition was merely fed like master with hunting hound by hand, bloated like a fat tick, until it can only and inevitably burst. They sold out the Reach to deathless Fey, and I do not mean they merely jumped deeply into bed with them, but surrendered all agency or control of their lives and banner men in full."
--[X] Leave nothing out. The seeking of the Crown of Flowers, to raise an even more powerful Fey Lord above himself for retaining even the merest scrap of influence over the Reach, even as the Court of Stars as a whole hopes to shape the Kingdom into a woven tapestry of narrative and figment, turning men into barely thinking puppets and they into the architects of Fate itself. No choices matter. Virtues are as worthwhile as sins, for there to be a story there must always be a virtuous man to oppose the dastard and the villain. There is no light of reason. There is no hope of peace. Only cyclical beginnings and endings. Neither time, nor armies or even dragons would have a hope of changing any of that before all who now live in the Reach would have long since faded away into the tales they so love, hollow fragments of Fey glory.
---[X] House Tyrell had only managed to be better than some men of influence in Westeros by virtue of damning millions to a type of purgatory instead of Hell. For all their wealth and power, when left to their games unsupervised, that is the best that can be said. All supporting details necessary are provided, the involvement of the Florents, of Devils who were left to do as they pleased by uncaring Fey masters, and the temerity of House Tyrell to dither over marriage prospects under the very roof that held host to agents of the Master of Minauros, who had cleaned out their coffers for all intents and purposes and who now at this very moment owe you a million and more Marks, and a Raven with interest to boot.
-[X] You don't even give him much time to digest any of this, not really, forging onward: "Even while this occurs, the servants of the Seven such as Lucan have proven to either be enormously ignorant, or extremely malicious, neither detail of which is flattering its own right. But outright damning when it would lead to the torch and the sword raised against their fellow man, for all the myriad threats and however much they counter and maneuver against each other and circle like sharks, that when fear and blood reigns, they have already won."
--[X] You tell him of Mammon, who you have already mentioned, and the threats you have eliminated in short order because there was no one else who could. Full stop. No one saw it. All who could have raised their hands act as Lucan do, and spread strife and fear which serves the Lord of the Third well.
---[X] You speak of the Deep Ones, who he knows well, but more than he could possibly know, the dozens of fortresses and strongholds beyond the reach of the Lords of Westeros, two of which you have shattered and not without cost, and a war you have stopped from pursuing because you were then a Prince of a Thousand Enemies and one more could bide their time. Time which is indeed running out. Lost ruins where fleshcraft that would make ancient Valyrians run screaming in terror. Of making mages prisoners in their own body while hallowing it out and letting something else in.
----[X] You speak on, of the march of Winter, how all this and more that Lucan would incite as he howls for bloody crusade and pogrom against those with which the stability and security of the realm is contingent, of how even if these many foes did not triumph before the fall of Dusk, inevitably Night would come, and he would have doomed them all. This isn't possibility. This isn't chance. This isn't misfortune. This is inevitable. Winter is Coming.
-[X] Enjoy another, stiffer drink pulled from your cloak, and amiably talk about pedestrian things, of how House Lannister and the High Septon sharing around gold and favors like venereal diseases to Most Devout and Septons 'fairly' bought, of how a man can be so damnably prideful to grasp for more than he already holds while screaming at the mages he makes literal slaves of to fight harder and ward away the horrors who hound him, or else waste time girding his host with weapons to use against not these things howling in the night, but against Dragons who care more for scouring the world of them. Then smile pleasantly and say: "Was that sufficient, my Lord?"
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I think our plans are relaying the same message, if in different manners. Yours seems to say a bit more than necessary, however, in multiple places. Mentioning Mammon, for example, is just gratuitous info dumping on him.

Thanks for writing it up, though. If I didn't already have a plan I'm happy with, I wouldn't have any issue voting for your version.

The color coding is much appreciated, too!
 
Crake said:
DP never disengages from an important conversation unless we deliberately vote on it, and there's enough nuclear bombs in my plan that could end up necessitating multiple responses, that we can get it to it afterwards.
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Normally I'd agree, but I'm foreseeing him condensing the majority of the vote like he's been doing lately for the Sealord. I was hoping to have a bit more laid out for the conversation in advance, but it's fine if we don't. We can just get to it the update after.
 
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by egoo on Apr 25, 2019 at 7:40 PM, finished with 47 posts and 15 votes.
  • [X] "I am here in Old Town for the Conclave, just like so many others. Whereas the cultists of Tiamat seek to corrupt the Faith of the Seven for their insatiable goddess and the Deep Ones appear to seek to control it for there own twisted ends, I aim to do nothing less than irrevocably splinter the Faith of the Seven."
    -[X] "The Faith once served to unite the warring kingdoms of Westeros in a manner which superseded the petty squabbles between neighboring realms. Now, however, the Faith has become a stifling presence which, if left unchecked, would leave the realm not only unprepared for the trials and tribulations that are yet to come, but nearly defenseless against them."
    --[X] "Most Devout Septon Kyle is a tool of the Tyrells. It is his goal to convince the Conclave that it is acceptable for Fey to wed humans as part of a ploy to allow a marriage between a Fey King and Margery Tyrell. I could care less about who the girl marries, except..." Go on to explain what we have learned of the Reach Fey and their intentions to turn the breadbasket of Westeros into a literal Faerie Tale, sans free will.
    --[X] "Most Devout Ollidor is an obvious tool of Tywin Lannister. I worry not overmuch about his agenda, save that it likely aims to further entrench the Lannisters into the power structure of the kingdom, like a tick burrowed so deeply it must be cut from a hound's flesh." Explain the basics of what we have learned about Tywin, that he binds mages in virtual slavery, and that there is strong evidence he has used similar tactics, perhaps even outright enchantment, to control many of his banner lords.
    --[X] "Elder Septa Maer means well, but her disdain for magic is a threat to the continued well being of Westeros which cannot be ignored. You no doubt know some of what waits at the edge of existence, or even further, to prey upon humanity. Without magic to combat such forces, we would be lost, little more than cattle and playthings for monsters beyond counting."
    --[X] "And we cannot forget Brother Lucan, a fanatic and the supposed Chosen of the Father with a mission to destroy me, all while preaching against the practice of magic, save for those who swear themselves to his gods. He not only seeks to outlaw magic, but to once more raise the Faith Militant in order to persecute all who would gainsay his interpretation of the Seven Pointed Star."
    -[X] "It is all too likely that, should these disparate factions manage to align, there will be war. A Holy War in name, but a civil war in practice. This cannot be allowed to come to pass, for the strength of Westeros must not be spent so frivolously, not when Demons, Devils, Deep Ones and all manner of monsters are waiting for us to falter. And worst of all...Winter is coming." Explain the threat posed by the Others, against which all other foes pale in comparison.
    --[X] "Why else do you think I have not already retaken the Iron Throne? Do not mistake this for idle boasting, Baelor Hightower; if I did not care for the lives which would surely be lost in the endeavor, lives which would be better spent in the defense of humanity itself, Westeros could be mine within a week and all meaningful opposition crushed before month's end.
    [X] Wherein Viserys Targaryen Terrifies A Man Having A Mid-Life Crisis
    -[X] While staring at your cup of tea to use a bit of casual mastery over flame to reheat it, softly wonder aloud: "Do you desire a comforting lie, like so many others, or do you want to be burdened with the truth as I have been?" Cut him off initially with a look. You have been fighting for three years against fear and horror. You have conquered both. You have sacrificed so much upon the altar of necessity, and gain as much or more, if you count the good friends who stood beside you all the while and held back the madness you know deep in your bones could have claimed you in full, in another time or place. Baelor has had none of that. He has not faced foes wielding blades of fear or dread. He has not stood against Gods and stared Hell in the face and spat defiance. He may have held fast against the storm, but he has not cut a wake through it as you have, nor could he do more than grip as tightly as he can not to be swept away in it. So if he thinks to tell you that he is insulted by the implication that he couldn't handle the truth, or that it's his responsibility to do something about it, he can stop right there and take a different tack, because no Lord in Westeros has shown themselves to be prepared for the truth, and fewer still can handle it without going mad.
    -[X] If he swallows pride, or just truly knows he's in way over his head, the Comforting Lie wearing silken Truth: "I care only for the absolute destruction of enemies of mankind and their allies. I will destroy slavers until they are as dust. I will eradicate monsters like vermin. And I will cleanse corruption so that the people might finally know peace. What more does any man need to know?"
    -[X] If he insists on the truth, bare a smile that does not reach your eyes: "Very well." Baelor Hightower has a host of advantages over any other Lord you could let the veil behind your acts and motivations fall before, the best mixture of competence and sanity as much as comprehension of the changes to the world that truly matter with the ability to keep in mind the limitations of the Lords of Westeros as much as their highest virtues. Let him be the test case.
    -[X] Full disclosure. He asked for it. "House Tyrell had sought to bargain for the safeguarding of what they have gained from three centuries of prosperity not wholly their own, the abeyance of legitimate claims of their loyal vassals in exchange for the support of those who had originally guaranteed it, and for all of the rampant scheming and politicking I have seen here in the Reach as much as anywhere else in Westeros, before I took an open hand in matters at the least, most would have followed them to war or the peace table if they had simply paid heed to their needs and obligations. They did not. They did not in the Usurper's War, and refused to see bitter fruit be plucked from the outcome, the loss of influence or further decline. They did not when the Fair Folk came and threw their Kingdom into chaos. When the stakes rose with the awakening of magic, their caution was not raised to match the potential threat. They did not make the sacrifices required to ensure peace for those bound unto them in turn. Instead their ambition was merely fed like master to faithful hunting hound by hand, bloated like a fat tick, until it can only and inevitably burst. They sold out the Reach to deathless Fey, and I do not mean they merely jumped deeply into bed with them, but surrendered all agency or control of their lives and banner men in full."
    --[X] Leave nothing out. The seeking of the Crown of Flowers, to raise an even more powerful Fey Lord above himself for retaining even the merest scrap of influence over the Reach, even as the Court of Stars as a whole hopes to shape the Kingdom into a woven tapestry of narrative and figment, turning men into barely thinking puppets and they into the architects of Fate itself. No choices matter. Virtues are as worthwhile as sins, for there to be a story there must always be a virtuous man to oppose the dastard and the villain. There is no light of reason. There is no hope of peace. Only cyclical beginnings and endings. Neither time, nor armies or even dragons would have a hope of changing any of that before all who now live in the Reach would have long since faded away into the tales they so love, hollow fragments of Fey glory.
    ---[X] House Tyrell had only managed to be better than some men of influence in Westeros by virtue of damning millions to a type of purgatory instead of Hell. For all their wealth and power, when left to their games unsupervised, that is the best that can be said. All supporting details necessary are provided, the involvement of the Florents, of Devils who were left to do as they pleased by uncaring Fey masters, and the temerity of House Tyrell to dither over marriage prospects under the very roof that held host to agents of the Master of Minauros, who had cleaned out their coffers for all intents and purposes and who now at this very moment owe you a million and more Marks, and a Raven with interest to boot.
    -[X] You don't even give him much time to digest any of this, not really, forging onward: "Even while this occurs, the servants of the Seven such as Lucan have proven to either be enormously ignorant, or extremely malicious, neither detail of which is flattering its own right. But outright damning when it would lead to the torch and the sword raised against their fellow man, for all the myriad threats and however much they counter and maneuver against each other and circle like sharks, that when fear and blood reigns, they have already won."
    --[X] You tell him of Mammon, who you have already mentioned, and the threats you have eliminated in short order because there was no one else who could. Full stop. No one saw it. All who could have raised their hands act as Lucan do, and spread strife and fear which serves the Lord of the Third well.
    ---[X] You speak of the Deep Ones, who he knows well, but more than he could possibly know, the dozens of fortresses and strongholds beyond the reach of the Lords of Westeros, two of which you have shattered and not without cost, and a war you have stopped from pursuing because you were then a Prince of a Thousand Enemies and one more could bide their time. Time which is indeed running out. Lost ruins where fleshcraft that would make ancient Valyrians run screaming in terror. Of making mages prisoners in their own body while hallowing it out and letting something else in.
    ----[X] You speak on, of the march of Winter, how all this and more that Lucan would incite as he howls for bloody crusade and pogrom against those with which the stability and security of the realm is contingent, of how even if these many foes did not triumph before the fall of Dusk, inevitably Night would come, and he would have doomed them all. This isn't possibility. This isn't chance. This isn't misfortune. This is inevitable. Winter is Coming.
    -[X] Enjoy another, stiffer drink pulled from your cloak, and amiably talk about pedestrian things, of how House Lannister and the High Septon sharing around gold and favors like venereal diseases to Most Devout and Septons 'fairly' bought, of how a man can be so damnably prideful to grasp for more than he already holds while screaming at the mages he makes literal slaves of to fight harder and ward away the horrors who hound him, or else waste time girding his host with weapons to use against not these things howling in the night, but against Dragons who care more for scouring the world of them. Then smile pleasantly and say: "Was that sufficient, my Lord?"
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Crake said:
Edit: If you write up a series of questions though, I will tack it on in the case that he takes Safe Option A instead of Lucky Option B.
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Thank you!

[] Questions
-[] What can he tell us in detail about the various disasters that have plagued Oldtown since magic's awakenings? This is asking for a brief chronological history of the disasters and how each one was resolved.
--[] In particular what can he tell us of what he knows about the Deep Ones' incursions?
---[] What kinds have been spotted?
---[] Does he know who leads various branches?
---[] Does he have knowledge of where various fortresses are located?
---[] What active plots is he aware of?
-[] Aside from the Lantern Bearers and the heroes on Greyshield, are there any other notables in the Reach who have shown the strength to stand against the dark?
-[] Regarding the Court of Stars, what fey princes is he aware of he operate within his territory, and what is their disposition? (alongside basic questions on loot, deeds, known pacts, etc.)
-[] What can he tell us about the Underdark entrance under the Hightower?
--[] What creatures lurk there? How strong are they?
--[] What threat of invasion is there?
 
Goldfish said:
I think our plans are relaying the same message, if in different manners. Yours seems to say a bit more than necessary, however, in multiple places. Mentioning Mammon, for example, is just gratuitous info dumping on him.

Thanks for writing it up, though. If I didn't already have a plan I'm happy with, I wouldn't have any issue voting for your version.

The color coding is much appreciated, too!
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Duesal said:
Thank you!

[] Questions
-[] What can he tell us in detail about the various disasters that have plagued Oldtown since magic's awakenings? This is asking for a brief chronological history of the disasters and how each one was resolved.
--[] In particular what can he tell us of what he knows about the Deep Ones' incursions?
---[] What kinds have been spotted?
---[] Does he know who leads various branches?
---[] Does he have knowledge of where various fortresses are located?
---[] What active plots is he aware of?
-[] Aside from the Lantern Bearers and the heroes on Greyshield, are there any other notables in the Reach who have shown the strength to stand against the dark?
-[] Regarding the Court of Stars, what fey princes is he aware of he operate within his territory, and what is their disposition? (alongside basic questions on loot, deeds, known pacts, etc.)
-[] What can he tell us about the Underdark entrance under the Hightower?
--[] What creatures lurk there? How strong are they?
--[] What threat of invasion is there?
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1) Removed the bit focusing on Mammon after the minor mention he gets in the Tyrell block, which I'm leaving because it is important for highlighting their tremendous folly, and because merely saying "yeah a Devil was involved there" won't do much more than make him prod it with divinations, and I think so long as we avoid mentioning the admittedly nitty gritty details we had to go through (like nuking the Alchemist's Guild) to deal with him, we're kosher.

2) Added the questions for if he plays it safe.
 
Duesal said:
Thank you!

[] Questions
-[] What can he tell us in detail about the various disasters that have plagued Oldtown since magic's awakenings? This is asking for a brief chronological history of the disasters and how each one was resolved.
--[] In particular what can he tell us of what he knows about the Deep Ones' incursions?
---[] What kinds have been spotted?
---[] Does he know who leads various branches?
---[] Does he have knowledge of where various fortresses are located?
---[] What active plots is he aware of?
-[] Aside from the Lantern Bearers and the heroes on Greyshield, are there any other notables in the Reach who have shown the strength to stand against the dark?
-[] Regarding the Court of Stars, what fey princes is he aware of he operate within his territory, and what is their disposition? (alongside basic questions on loot, deeds, known pacts, etc.)
-[] What can he tell us about the Underdark entrance under the Hightower?
--[] What creatures lurk there? How strong are they?
--[] What threat of invasion is there?
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Added to my plan, too. Thanks for compiling them.
 
@Goldfish You know, I will admit this much, if you were more vitriolic against House Tyrell, I would have voted for you instead.

In fact I still might... my position is very open to bribery. :V
 
Crake said:
@Goldfish You know, I will admit this much, if you were more vitriolic against House Tyrell, I would have voted for you instead.

In fact I still might... my position is very open to bribery. :V
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How's this?
--[] "Most Devout Septon Kyle is a tool of the Tyrells. It is his goal to convince the Conclave that it is acceptable for Fey to wed humans as part of a ploy to allow a marriage between a Fey King and Margery Tyrell. I could care less about who the girl marries as part of Mace's desperate scrabbling for legitimacy through intermarriage with royalty, except..." Go on to explain what we have learned of the Reach Fey and their intentions to turn the breadbasket of Westeros into a literal Faerie Tale, sans free will. "The situation is only made worse when you discover the Tyrells are not blind to the machinations of the Court of Stars yet continue to deal with them, expecting to turn the situation to their advantage, possibly at the expense of all who live within the Reach."
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Goldfish said:
How's this?
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FuryRoad.gif

Come on, my man! At least find a way to work in the fact that at the same time, barely even hiding the fact that the know what the Fey are doing, they are trying to marry their ten year old daughter to any King who walks in front of them, even a Dragon who literally owns the keep they live in.
 
Crake said:
FuryRoad.gif

Come on, my man! At least find a way to work in the fact that at the same time, barely even hiding the fact that the know what the Fey are doing, they are trying to marry their ten year old daughter to any King who walks in front of them, even a Dragon who literally owns the keep they live in.
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I thought I was already saying that? o_O

In Viserys-speak, of course.
 
Crake said:
You paint them as too reasonable.

Which is to say self interested, conniving morons.

They're worse than that! :mad:
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Sorry, dude. I don't think I can accommodate the level of vitriol you need to satisfy your Tyrell hateboner while keeping to the reasonable tone I intended for my plan.
 
@Goldfish, can you add these? I forgot them in the initial burst of questions.

-[] Ask about the Lanternbearers
--[] Ask for more details on their general makeup, their numbers, the strength of their members (what class they have), what equipment they have, etc.
--[] Ask what aid the Lanternbearers would like. Hypothetical for the moment since you need to determine what you can spare, but the organization does good work, and the Deep Ones are enemies to all.
 
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