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

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I'm hyped for a Winterfell interlude!

[It's so weird to say this, considering my previous statements about Starkwank and North-focus in the thread...]
 
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Interlude DCXXXIX: At Second Glance
  • Threadmarks
    • At Second Glance ​

    Twentieth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

    The light but insistent knock on his door started Ser Halys Wavestrider from his reading. Even after so long a time in the service of first Lord Manderly then Lord Stark he had not truly become accustomed to being summoned without warning to a lord's call. A captain was master of his ship and in port he was the one more often than not to seek his patron. Perhaps if he had been another sort of retainer, a sword upon the battlements, an architect to strengthen them or a singer to liven up the feasts he would have learned to fit more securely into the way things were done by now, but he was none of those things, but a wizard. Few were those who tread his threshold unbidden and none without good cause.

    "Lord Stark to see you, Ser Halys," the fresh-faced maid said, voice trembling slightly as though she was afraid he would turn her into a toad on the spot. Maybe he had overdone the mysterious mage persona a tad.

    "And would you be happening to know what Lord Stark might want with me, so I don't stand stand around gormless as an ox at a stranger's gate?" the sorcerer asked with his most charming smile.

    "Well... there's visitors you see, Sothorns most of 'em, but there's a Skag singer with 'em if you can believe it." She said the word 'Skag' the way you would talk about a dancing bear in a circus. Hope no one was stupid enough to take that tone near him or there'd be a devil of a time to dealing with the Skagosi's wounded pride... The thought cut off as he remembered where he had heard of a Skagosi singer in the south last. A long way south and a little east it was.

    Halys did some door knocking of his own then. "Jon, you might hear or see something interesting if you follow along," he called to the boy who immediately dropped the old spine-cracked atlas he was reading to do just that. They had an understanding, the wizard-knight and his curious apprentice, the boy would not run off chasing visions of adventure into the woods or any other youthful folly and in exchange Halys would make sure he had some excitement from time to time, even the sort his father might not entirely approve of. A bastard couldn't make much of a way in life following every rule set out before them after all.

    ***​

    Jon's first thought on seeing the travelers was disappointment they did not look properly interesting, oh sure the knight had a fearsome look about him, one of the two women a merry spark to her eyes, and that man with straw-yellow hair who looked like a merchant gave an infectious smile, but there was nothing magical about them. He was a little put off with Ser Halys for getting his hopes up, but kept the scowl off his face. He had probably just been wrong about what sort of meeting this would be. After all, he knew full well that wizards weren't all knowing though they might know somethings in ways other people couldn't. Then he noticed Lord Stark's own displeased look... and a moment later right under Jon's gaze, his witchsight still showing not a flicker of magic on anyone but the merchant, dropped their glamours.

    The knight was dressed in shinning grey-black steel like Ice's blade... like the dreams... Valyrian steel. Who? Everywhere Jon looked there was more magic to be seen. The woman he had noticed before had eyes literally sparking with some inner light. What had looked like a plain crossbow was some sort of rune-carved weapon with no bowstring and a strange round groove down the middle.

    Ser Halys didn't hesitate for more than a blink of an eye. "My lord," he bowed, turning to the man dressed in the manner of Skagos who was closest to Lord Stark he added. "Dannar Crowl, I presume?"

    "Why yes, good to know you've heard the horn calls aright," the singer replied, falling back on a saying Jon had never heard before, though he could guess the gist of it.

    "You blow it softly as often as you do loudly," came the reply, and this time Jon was well and truly lost not that he had much time to ponder it given his... uncle's words.

    "Don't you have somewhere better to be?"

    "The boy is studying, my lord," Jon's tutor interjected, leaving to boy feeling quite guilty for any uncharitable thoughts he may have had a few moments ago.

    "Studying what?" Lord Stark didn't sound like he was going to be swayed this time.

    "How not to trust the simplest of all divinations to see through a well made glamour, for a beginning." the knight replied, his tone oddly serious.

    Lord Stark gave a small sigh, then slowly nodded.

    Jon listened to the account of the trouble in Barrowtown even more eagerly than he did Dany's accounts of her adventures. Unlike those dream-shrouded stories this time he could actually help, even if it was only looking through books and parchments for mentions of the Barrow Kings and the First King before them.

    OOC: Another two-part interlude since this felt like a good transition to show how Jon and Halys are getting along.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • DragonParadox said:
    Devils whose true names were drawn from the mind of the Efreeti Malik

    2 Handmaiden Devils - Belial Lord of the Fourth

    1 Judgement Devil - Asmodeous Lord of the Ninth

    9 Sire Devils
    3 - Baalzebul Lord of the Seventh
    3 - Mephistopheles Lord of the Eight
    3 - Mammon Lord of the Third

    33 Accomplice Devils
    15 - Mephistopheles Lord of the Eight
    18 - Asmodeous Lord of the Ninth
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    That... is a fairly wild selection for Fiends that apparently have been sent there to support Efreeti actions.

    @everyone, ya'll okay continuing questioning/summoning routine as-is for them?
    We can make a slight dint in the numbers set in City of Brass and possibly get some workable information - or just forego everyone but Mammon and Asmodeus - possibly making it harder on us/our allies because Devils will just send firces unconnected to Lords of Ninth and Third there.

    I don't care either way personally, but these guys are a mixed bunch of those we have already been summoning, and those we tried best not to touch.
     
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    DragonParadox said:
    At Second Glance ​

    Twentieth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

    The light but insistent knock on his door started Ser Halys Wavestrider from his reading. Even after so long a time in the service of first Lord Manderly then Lord Stark he had not truly become accustomed to being summoned without warning to a lord's call. A captain was master of his ship and in port he was the one more often than not to seek his patron. Perhaps if he had been another sort of retainer, a sword upon the battlements, an architect to strengthen them or a singer to liven up the feasts he would have learned to fit more securely into the way things were done by now, but he was none of those things, but a wizard. Few were those who tread his threshold unbidden and none without good cause.

    "Lord Stark to see you, Ser Halys," the fresh-faced maid said, voice trembling slightly as though she was afraid he would turn her into a toad on the spot. Maybe he had overdone the mysterious mage persona a tad.

    "And would you be happening to know what Lord Stark might want with me, so I don't stand stand around gormless as an ox at a stranger's gate?" the sorcerer asked with his most charming smile.

    "Well... there's visitors you see, Sothorns most of 'em, but there's a Skag singer with 'em if you can believe it." She said the word 'Skag' the way you would talk about a dancing bear in a circus. Hope no one was stupid enough to take that tone near him or there'd be a devil of a time to dealing with the Skagosi's wounded pride... The thought cut off as he remembered where he had heard of a Skagosi singer in the south last. A long way south and a little east it was.

    Halys did some door knocking of his own then. "Jon, you might hear or see something interesting if you follow along," he called to the boy who immediately dropped the old spine-cracked atlas he was reading to do just that. They had an understanding, the wizard-knight and his curious apprentice, the boy would not run off chasing visions of adventure into the woods or any other youthful folly and in exchange Halys would make sure he had some excitement from time to time, even the sort his father might not entirely approve of. A bastard couldn't make much of a way in life following every rule set out before them after all.

    ***​

    Jon's first thought on seeing the travelers was disappointment they did not look properly interesting, oh sure the knight had a fearsome look about him, one of the two women a merry spark to her eyes, and that man with straw-yellow hair who looked like a merchant gave an infectious smile, but there was nothing magical about them. He was a little put off with Ser Halys for getting his hopes up, but kept the scowl off his face. He had probably just been wrong about what sort of meeting this would be. After all, he knew full well that wizards weren't all knowing though they might know somethings in ways other people couldn't. Then he noticed Lord Stark's own displeased look... and a moment later right under Jon's gaze, his witchsight still showing not a flicker of magic on anyone but the merchant, dropped their glamours.

    The knight was dressed in shinning grey-black steel like Ice's blade... like the dreams... Valyrian steel. Who? Everywhere Jon looked there was more magic to be seen. The woman he had noticed before had eyes literally sparking with some inner light. What had looked like a plain crossbow was some sort of rune-carved weapon with no bowstring and a strange round groove down the middle.

    Ser Halys didn't hesitate for more than a blink of an eye. "My lord," he bowed, turning to the man dressed in the manner of Skagos who was closest to Lord Stark he added. "Dannar Crowl, I presume?"

    "Why yes, good to know you've heard the horn calls aright," the singer replied, falling back on a saying Jon had never heard before, though he could guess the gist of it.

    "You blow it softly as often as you do loudly," came the reply, and this time Jon was well and truly lost not that he had much time to ponder it given his... uncle's words.

    "Don't you have somewhere better to be?"

    "The boy is studying, my lord," Jon's tutor interjected, leaving to boy feeling quite guilty for any uncharitable thoughts he may have had a few moments ago.

    "Studying what?" Lord Stark didn't sound like he was going to be swayed this time.

    "How not to trust the simplest of all divinations to see through a well made glamour, for a beginning." the knight replied, his tone oddly serious.

    Lord Stark gave a small sigh, then slowly nodded.

    Jon listened to the account of the trouble in Barrowtown even more eagerly than he did Dany's accounts of her adventures. Unlike those dream-shrouded stories this time he could actually help, even if it was only looking through books and parchments for mentions of the Barrow Kings and the First King before them.

    OOC: Another two-part interlude since this felt like a good transition to show how Jon and Halys are getting along.
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    This is great, DP. Awesome to see that Jon has become the official court Wizard's apprentice. I wonder if Halys is aware of Helicopter-Ghost Mom?
     
    egoo said:
    That... is a fairly wild selection for Fiends that apparently have been sent there to support Efreeti actions.

    @everyone, ya'll okay continuing questioning/summoning routine as-is for them?
    We can make a slight dint in the numbers set in City of Brass and possibly get some workable information - or just forego everyone but Mammon and Asmodeus - possibly making it harder on us/our allies because Devils will just send firces unconnected to Lords of Ninth and Third there.

    I don't care either way personally, but these guys are a mixed bunch of those we have already been summoning, and those we tried best not to touch.
    Click to expand...
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    Only Mammon's.
     
    egoo said:
    Alright, Asmodeus and Mammon, coming right up...

    After Gogossos, and with him acting in Slavers Bay, we really are at war with Asmy :/

    I'll hold off summoning Devils of other Archfiends though.
    Click to expand...
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    Do not summon Asmodeus' minions. Not unless we plan on immediately moving on whatever they're in the middle of, which we currently are in for those currently in Slaver's Bay.

    I do not think I need to explain why.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Devils whose true names were drawn from the mind of the Efreeti Malik

    2 Handmaiden Devils - Belial Lord of the Fourth

    1 Judgement Devil - Asmodeous Lord of the Ninth

    9 Sire Devils
    3 - Baalzebul Lord of the Seventh
    3 - Mephistopheles Lord of the Eight
    3 - Mammon Lord of the Third

    33 Accomplice Devils
    15 - Mephistopheles Lord of the Eight
    18 - Asmodeous Lord of the Ninth
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I'm assuming nobody wants to actually recruit a Sire Devil. So how about just interrogating the Mammon and Asmodeus devils and sacrificing them all?
     
    Crake said:
    Do not summon Asmodeus' minions. Not unless we plan on immediately moving on whatever they're in the middle of, which we currently are in Slaver's Bay.

    I do not think I need to explain why.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Please do, I'm not getting your apparent worry about this.

    He's going to sabotage us at every turn from this point on - and objectively, he's only dwarfed by Void as an existential threat to us.
    Why not profit off him at least in small things, while we can?
    He'll eventually send everyone at us anyway.

    Ruining whatever schemes he has...
    Well, we won't ruin all that much in the first place - too many Devils comparative to oure summoning -
    But also it's not like we share all that many goals with a "I-plan-a-thousand-steps-ahead-of-everyone"-schemer, even if his plans revolve around, oh I dunno, killing Demons.
     
    No need to summon Asmodeus devils if you dont want to at the moment. But I'd want names and known plots for the records.

    We will be at war eventually afterall. I'd like all names possible. Besides every being with any presencd at all on the Prime probably felt Jaziryan ascending again.
     
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    egoo said:
    Please do, I'm not getting your apparent worry about this.

    He's going to sabotage us at every turn from this point on - and objectively, he's only dwarfed by Void as an existential threat to us.
    Why not profit off him at least in small things, while we can?
    He'll eventually send everyone at us anyway.

    Ruining whatever schemes he has...
    Well, we won't ruin all that much in the first place - too many Devils comparative to oure summoning -
    But also it's not like we share all that many goals with a "I-plan-a-thousand-steps-ahead-of-everyone"-schemer, even if his plans revolve around, oh I dunno, killing Demons.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Okay, because it's motherfucking Asmodeus weaver a million plots, destroyer of a billion realms, desecrator of a trillion worlds, general of a quadrillion armies.

    You don't fuck with him unless you're ready to go all in at all times. We're prepared to go that far for Slaver's Bay because that could sincerely explode into a million pieces if we don't intervene.

    Half-assing anything related to him will explode into a million pieces in our faces.
     
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    MTB said:
    I'm quite sure that Tywin would get the reference in context, and be pleased by the slur. Which would make him slightly more inclined to accept the deal.
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    People have been worried about that happening for ages. So long as Tywin feels like he's got a chance with his own mages we'll be fine, he's too proud to rely solely on others, and allying with Devils would lead to him losing his best mages for sure.
     
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