I did 1 full month as a test. Still two more to go rolls and all. I'll cover it in the morning don't worry.
A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover
- Thread starter DragonParadox
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- a song of ice and fire a sword without a hilt d&d 3.5 dungeons & dragons 100% high octane dragon fuel ave corvidae battle action dragon diplomacy best sister bureaucromancy delicious soul-stuff dragon dreams come true dragon ta'veren greatest uncle hubris is a coward's word in defiance of gods and men mammon's folly mutually assured mage's disjunction qm murderhobo top tier coatl
I did 1 full month as a test. Still two more to go rolls and all. I'll cover it in the morning don't worry.
- Location
- France
Ah, I see. You're doing multiple months of catch-up !
Yeah, my new system is designed to work month per month.
Winning vote
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Part MMCMXVI: Perils of a New Age
Perils of a New Age
Fifth Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC
"I could but speculate with nothing more than rumor, hearsay, and now a single note," you say, motioning to the parchment in the lord's hand. "It could be a curse broken, a deal made, or a boon granted... All are possible, and each presents its own conundrum. Who laid such a powerful curse to begin with, and who was able to break it? Who made the deal, and what was the cost? Or who granted the boon, and how was such a reward earned?" You shake your head as though to physically dismiss such idle thoughts. "There is a great deal to investigate here, my lord, before any reasonable conclusion can be reached, and that must be done carefully."
"Still a better concern to have than Devils hiding in old ruins and peering out through the eyes of men," Varys hisses in a rare moment of interjecting in matters of 'mortal posturing' that she finds otherwise uninteresting.
"So you have dealt with all those things?" The question sounds uncomfortable, though not out of any trepidation, but rather discomfort with knowing so little of his foe, you suspect.
"We have pulled the thread until the whole spindle's worth came unwound," you confirm. "Unfortunately that does not guarantee there are no more, for Devils love nothing more than secrets and are skilled indeed in their use from long ages of plotting."
"As if courts weren't bad enough," the Lord of Runestone mutters softly enough that you suspect he had not meant for you to hear.
While the Imperium certainly needs courtiers, by whatever name they are called, as much as any state worth the name, you certainly would not begrudge a dislike of such games in one of your dukes-to-be. You take a sip of wine, giving the lord time to gather his thoughts and the questions he would doubtlessly wish to ask.
The remainder of the day is spent on matters of a more arcane nature, doing your best to explain the blandishments and strategies of the Baatezu in a way that does not require any previous lore of Hell. Something that might be worth printing as much or more than pamphlets against Tywin Lannister, and not just about Devils.
When every question had been answered as much as time allowed, Bronze Yohn sighs, the lines of his face seemingly growing deeper in the flickering lantern light, though his expression was still one of resolve, the mind behind those steel-grey eyes turning over every option. "I find myself less worried about subtle threats and subversion than I might otherwise have been, Your Grace. With Waymar and Lady Tyene," a faint smile lightens his features, "visiting as often as they do, such deception would likely be caught quickly, but I worry about less subtle threats, the works of desperate men, or I suppose desperate Devils."
"The walls of Runestone will guard you against such as they as they have guarded your line for many an age," you say, laying a hand against the stone beside you. You can feel the hum of arcane power beneath the stone, like warmth radiating from an oven. Were you not invited it would be far less gentle.
"For which I am enormously grateful, but we cannot all stay here like badgers driven to ground," Bronze Yohn points out. "If it had been something worse than thugs striking at Andar in that inn..." He seems to come to some decision he had been working his way towards. "Given all that I have heard tonight, I wish to ask you for any guardians that you can spare for my family, Your Grace, the sort with eyes which can see through glamour and veils."
The irony is that you can indeed spare them. Just a few days ago you had assigned such guards to every major vassal in your service. There is only one issue—the guards are also Devils, Furies to be precise.
What do you reply?
[] Assign Erinyes to Runestone
-[] Write in explanation
[] Assign some other guardian
-[] Write in
[] Argue that the worst of the danger is past and any guardian in your service would do more harm than good
[] Write in
OOC: Just to be clear, Yohn is not asking for more firepower, it's the talk of illusion and possession that has him worried and requesting lookouts.
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- Location
- United States
@DragonParadox, do Waymar and Tyene judge Lord Royce ready for a walk through the trophy room and an explanation of what our defeat of Mammon's Aspect entails?
The trophy room would not help that much, you do not need to impress him. Waymar certainly hopes his father could deal with that truth since it would make his family safer and Tyene is mildly optimistic about the matter, but there are not certainties here.
- Location
- United States
It wasn't to impress him so much as to show ironclad proof that we now have our own loophole in the Pact Primeval.
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
There are several components to this fear that need to be unwound before he would become fully accepting of the idea, without it just turning into bitter despair, since our manner of countering that despair being "we're just going to build a new Heaven that actually works this time" is just another can of worms. We just got these people to accept the idea that we'd be around for as long as some Houses have existed. One step at a time.
Keep in mind what you would be showing him would be an impressive stuffed monster, he does not have the context for what that avatar means from any other source than you guys and in that case you might as well use words all the way.
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
@DragonParadox At this point, common lore of Devils is that they are honorable in their own manner and do not break their word since their strength is in contracts, and another common link of relatability is that they were once Angels who had turned from their path. Thus they can turn again.
Would Yohn take us at our word if we said we'd spent a good deal of time untwisting some knots in our enemy's agents and broke all ties to Hell? How we did it by slaying an Aspect of a Lord of Hell is just icing on the cake, since our credentials are basically just confirmed by the fact that if we can kill someone who rules a slice off an infinite nightmare dimension to sunder pacts more ancient than either of our Houses, saying "you don't know what you're doing" rings kinda hollow, doesn't it?
Would Yohn take us at our word if we said we'd spent a good deal of time untwisting some knots in our enemy's agents and broke all ties to Hell? How we did it by slaying an Aspect of a Lord of Hell is just icing on the cake, since our credentials are basically just confirmed by the fact that if we can kill someone who rules a slice off an infinite nightmare dimension to sunder pacts more ancient than either of our Houses, saying "you don't know what you're doing" rings kinda hollow, doesn't it?
- Location
- United States
Having Waymar and Tyene back us up on everything will probably go a long way to helping.
That's a good direction to take in Viserys' opinion IC, he has made both the above elements of devil lore clear to Yohn and he has likely had them confirmed from other sources.
- Location
- florida
This is one reason I wanted to out more time and effort into integrating fiends.
So much better for PR.
- Location
- France
Hey @DragonParadox, does Viserys know if Beguilers exist? You know, the tiny PC race of cats with constant True Seeing?
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
[X] Bring Yohn in on at least part of the things we have been doing to counter Mammon's works on our Plane, while withholding the key fact that Heaven is broken. Until such a time that we have made tangible progress in plugging the outflow of souls leaving the realm only to be lost on twisting paths with no hope of salvation, revealing the latter portion does nothing but make what we say ring a bit hollow, and while Yohn's faith in us has been steadfast and touching, you are no god and have no wish to be given patronage like one, having one place hopes that you will right all wrongs or correct all ills is tantamount to claiming the mantle for yourself.
-[X] If amenable to the notion introduce him to a few Erinyes who you will assign to Runestone on rotation to secure them against illusions, glamours and veils. We slew an Aspect of the Lord of Third, a deed his own son played a pivotal part in, and in return we have not just convinced a few devils to contract with us, but sundered all pacts that bound them but ones they took on anew in service to us.
-[X] If amenable to the notion introduce him to a few Erinyes who you will assign to Runestone on rotation to secure them against illusions, glamours and veils. We slew an Aspect of the Lord of Third, a deed his own son played a pivotal part in, and in return we have not just convinced a few devils to contract with us, but sundered all pacts that bound them but ones they took on anew in service to us.
*rolls*
They did at one point at least. Particularly fortunate Rhoynar diviners would have them as familiars
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Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
This is another option @Everyone, it's not perfect but it would actually be good for giving them more control, and we could work on this whole "devil integration" thing in a more organized, less slap-dash manner. We can convince Lords one at a time but that isn't smooth integration at all, and does nothing for the commons.
Good night guys, see you tomorrow with more politics and intrigue
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
I don't really want to make a rule to just do that with every Lord because again there's little point other than just creating a conspiracy out of it, but I would like to do it with our most trusted and personally close vassals.
We can tackle integration later, I'm thinking it will take a bit of theater to get there though you realize? A lot of fake events with enough resources thrown into it to make it better-than-real. Fabrication, basically.
I'm not keen on the only truth our friends knowing being false truth.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
[X] Crake
@Crake, I would limit them to a single Erinyes guard, along with a couple Greater False Ravens. We can give them a single-use Plane Shift charm and Sending Stone, too.
If there is trouble their guard cannot handle, they can immediately Plane Shift to Armun Kelisk, then use the Sending Stone to contact us.
We already have 13 of them assigned to VIP guard duty, there with the Yi-Ti expedition fleet, three in the City of Brass, and more which will be assigned to other tasks this month.
@zxzx24, we can craft them Earrings of Arcane Acuity, but there aren't any in stock at the moment.
@Crake, I would limit them to a single Erinyes guard, along with a couple Greater False Ravens. We can give them a single-use Plane Shift charm and Sending Stone, too.
If there is trouble their guard cannot handle, they can immediately Plane Shift to Armun Kelisk, then use the Sending Stone to contact us.
We already have 13 of them assigned to VIP guard duty, there with the Yi-Ti expedition fleet, three in the City of Brass, and more which will be assigned to other tasks this month.
@zxzx24, we can craft them Earrings of Arcane Acuity, but there aren't any in stock at the moment.
egoo
Totally Not Creating Problems Where None Existed
- Location
- Russia
@everyone, I'm going to include summoning the following beings among the "non-asshole Outsiders" we do in the background.
I asked DP, and apparently, at this point Viserys' Knowledge: Planes doesn't even need rolling to know if something exists
Any problems with these?
I'm off to sleep now.
Damn be Blizzard for finally putting out decent-ish content just when I got free enough to participate.
I asked DP, and apparently, at this point Viserys' Knowledge: Planes doesn't even need rolling to know if something exists
Any problems with these?
Moondogs are puppos, but aside from that all-encompassing arguement, they can be awesome scouts and assistance to Legion, Inquisition, etc. And their "Lick" ablility is bullshit good for House of Healing.
Zhyen are cheap as hell, and, while not greatly useful, would at least make the final summoning-numbers look a bit more varied than "X Archons and ALL the Phoenixes"
Leninji seem really good agents to me. Would they actually take service under us? Probably 50/50. Still, they are clearly superhuman, and that's worth much enough.
Aphodites, again, cheap and more viaried summoning. But also some use for SD's engeneering background, same as Bulabar give it much push.
Mansaputra I'd like to get as a teacher in one of Scholarums. Yes, wasteful a use for an Outsider, but the only one I found yet with decent CL and Diplo (to count as a teacher), without being either a CN asshole, or a Devil.
Zhyen are cheap as hell, and, while not greatly useful, would at least make the final summoning-numbers look a bit more varied than "X Archons and ALL the Phoenixes"
Leninji seem really good agents to me. Would they actually take service under us? Probably 50/50. Still, they are clearly superhuman, and that's worth much enough.
Aphodites, again, cheap and more viaried summoning. But also some use for SD's engeneering background, same as Bulabar give it much push.
Mansaputra I'd like to get as a teacher in one of Scholarums. Yes, wasteful a use for an Outsider, but the only one I found yet with decent CL and Diplo (to count as a teacher), without being either a CN asshole, or a Devil.
I'm off to sleep now.
Damn be Blizzard for finally putting out decent-ish content just when I got free enough to participate.