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

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...Alright, I cannot hold myself back any longer, I want to do something productive, so I must start planning.
@Crake, @DragonParadox, @Goldfish.

From what we've seen so far - the attack on Golden Company next month would be just a "one-off" action for everyone involved, yes?
Counting as a "free" action for those otherwise doing a full-month action, like Research, and such?

The idea being, of course,
1) Simultaneously culling out and/or capturing the spy-ring in Yi-Ti (getting rapport with Azure Emps as a side bonus) ...although we don't yet know if our people succeeded in identifying the targets there.
2) Destroying their main force (apparently in 3 separate camps somewhat nearby each-other? We don't know their numbers still, but we can probably quadruple the mages/priests from info we got off Varys to be sure) via excessive application of Moonchaser, Wyverns, Adamantine Golem, Hadhayosh, Vee's bullshit summoning, and... 24 Erynies we have free from bodyguard duty, I think? Also Mindblanked Amrelath, all combat-ready Dragonriders, and those Glass Golems we have. And the Harbringer.
3) Storming the Shadow Fortress (which we sent some people to find us a reliable entrance in, but had no news so far. Whoops?) with a bunch of Companions and killing all that moves. If something doesn't move - moving it and then killing it.

...yes, there is a massive number of unknowns. So what, Imma plan! :V
 
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Interlude DCLII: Emerald Blades and Bloody Trails
  • Threadmarks
    • Emerald Blades and Bloody Trails ​

    Ninth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

    Dojo of the Blue Crane, Jiang Province, Yi Ti

    It had all started so promisingly,     Nuri thought as she hung still and silent in the air above the chaotic melee that filled the dojo of the Blue Crane, doing her best not to draw the eye of either her supposed oni 'allies', nor the investigators in jade robes, the Emerald Magistrate she had learned they were called, the eyes and the blades of the Emperors of Yi Ti in matters arcane. Though they had lost much with the passing of ages and the waning of magic they had never forgotten the core of their power, the flowing art of flesh and steel that made of feet and knees, heads and elbows as much of a threat as the short curved swords they bore. Kodachi, the sword of honor, they called it and it was with honor they bore it against against the Fallen Kami. A pity I'm supposed to be on their side.

    It had not been easy to persuade the Huwa-no-Oni that he was to take her 'initiation' not against the men of Yi Ti, whose blood she could not shed without diplomatic incident, but against the Black Cult of the Lord of the Shadowlands. Day by day she had stoked the fiend's greed for profane tests it could amass from such a theft, until at last he agreed to wave the usual taking of first blood, a child stolen in the night from the villages, or worse yet taken as a profane offering for rich harvests or good fortune. Fallen and bound to bodies of flesh though they were the oni still held dominion over the elements and they might give great boons still for those willing to pay the price. Such a supplicant had Nuri pretended to be, a shugenja of flame lead astray by passion into darkness, one who disdained the dark rites of bloodletting not from compassion but pride.

    "Only a single life you ask of me?" she had asked the oni and the dark spirit had laughed and sent on her way.

    The perfect mission... if only someone within the Cult of the Devouring Dragon had not seen fit to inform the authorities, that they might launch a raid just as Nuri and the Oni working with her were making their final approach. Curdled pride and maddened ambition, it was a wonder the servants of Tiamat could manage to pierce so far into the heart of the empire with such warped blades. Enough power, Nuri supposed, could make up for a absence of wit. She could not fight the magisters without causing a diplomatic incident or the oni without losing her cover entirely. Under other circumstances she might have thought to wet her swords against the fools who served the Bloodstone Emperor, but having been caught unaware by two foes the cultists were dying messily even without her help

    Perhaps if she timed it right she might be able to at least slip into the chamber of records and snatch some papers before the magisters finished their bloody work...

    ***​

    Twelfth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

    House of Master Coryn , Yin, Yi Ti

    "So our friend the the oni commander has no notion of who might have scuttled his plans by getting the authorities involved," Azema mused, claws tapping on the ornate teak and ivory table. "Perhaps it is worth going at things from the other end..."

    "And openly admit to knowing about a dojo tainted by the Shadowlands?" Tyene interjected. "That would bring too many uncomfortable questions and of all the skills of a courtier the Son of Heaven's eunuchs are most adept at wielding such weapons. No, we must continue investigating on our own. What did you find in their records?"

    Though Nuri did not have her maker's perfect recall she nonetheless possessed a accurate memory and magic had translated the ancient ideograms the cultists used as easily as the more modern syllabic writing. Most of it had been worthless, false holy books to mime piety, accounts of the cult's history that accounted to little more than indoctrination for new arrivals, but their ledgers had provided a hint as to who might have known enough of the cult's activities to both warn the oni lord to begin with and summon the Emerald Magistrate spoiling the attack, Jingyi Liam, adjutant to Colonel Bu Jia Jin, exiled prince and the man upon whom the Golden Company spies had lavished such gifts upon, and the largest financial backer of the tainted Dojo.

    "It looks like the Spider was not the only one who fancied he could juggle dark powers to his whim," Tyene said darkly. "Time to pay another visit to the prince's little 'court' I think."

    OOC: This is going to be a multi-part action again, Yi Ti is complicated. Also I realize that is a Japanese sword name, if not one of the more common ones. I'm trying to branch out a little from just making Fantasy China like the way Westeros is not precisely a 1 for 1 mirror of any single RL country.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • @Goldfish My only bit or bob to add to this would be to divine the chances that the heir will accept the resurrection offer from the other side like we did with the dragons. Because if chances are really fucking shitty, bringing fourth Rhaella might actually have a worse effect than a more positive one intended.

    If they're horseshit bad, we will probably have to reevaluate things. I know there's not an especially good reason for a man cut down in his prime, sole heir to a noble line, with no heirs to take up the name after him, to refuse it unless he was so utterly pious that he cared more about what the Gods think than anything else, but that's good information to have ahead of time.
     
    Crake said:
    @Goldfish My only bit or bob to add to this would be to divine the chances that the heir will accept the resurrection offer from the other side like we did with the dragons. Because if chances are really fucking shitty, bringing fourth Rhaella might actually have a worse effect than a more positive one intended.

    If they're horseshit bad, we will probably have to reevaluate things. I know there's not an especially good reason for a man cut down in his prime, sole heir to a noble line, with no heirs to take up the name after him, to refuse it unless he was so utterly pious that he cared more about what the Gods think than anything else, but that's good information to have ahead of time.
    Click to expand...
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    Good point. Plan updated.

    [X] Accept the solicitor's offer
    -[X] Perform a Divination to determine if Lord Keath's son will be likely to accept being Resurrected. If the answer is favorable, proceed as follows:
    --[X] When Rhaella arrives with Rina, Ser Kennos, and the Umbral Stalker, we will seek to meet with Lord Keath and present him with a solution to lack of an heir through simply casting a Resurrection spell on his remains. Rhaella will serve as living proof that Resurrection magics are not only effective, even for those who have been dead much longer than Keath's son, but that we have them at our disposal.
    --[X] Viserys and Rhaella will, of course, go into this meeting with the full assortment of social engineering magics active.
    -[X] If the Keath heir is not likely to accept Resurrection, we will instead seek to meet with Ashwin Keath and allow him to air his grievances. We will decide on how to proceed based on what we learn directly from Lord Keath.
    --[X] Viserys will go into this meeting with the full assortment of social engineering magics active.
     
    [X] Goldfish

    There's not really a whole lot else we can do. If the Heir is refusing on the grounds of piety, then he probably got taken in by the Seven and I am against rescuing idiots from their cavalcade of fuckups AKA "cheap rendition of the Actual Seven Heavens" on general principle. Anyone that stupid is more than happy to stay there. Read: Jon Arryn.

    If he's refusing on the grounds that we're Viserys Targaryen who had the habit of stirring up "rowdy brigands causing trouble in the Riverlands" that's slightly less stupid but still a sign of monumental hubris because how the fuck were we to know? Unless you take it from the Lannisters and suppose we're behind all things like this, as it happens we have never deliberately set bandits of all things on any path. And we only took advantage of the Lads because they were actually behaving like real guerrillas for the most part. Even the BWB were running around the Riverlands more concerned with their 'next take' from the Lannisters or patsies than actually accomplishing any objective.

    Finally if he's not actually refusing but got spooled up by something like Saenena's kids or got collared up in Heaven's Shore... actually that's good information to know. I would risk a regular encounter or bit of intrigue to gain eternal loyalty from a noble house. We've taken bigger risks for less.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Emerald Blades and Bloody Trails ​

    Ninth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

    Dojo of the Blue Crane, Jiang Province Yi Ti

    It had all started so promisingly,     Nuri thought as she hung still and silent in the air above the chaotic melee that filled the dojo of the Blue Crane, doing her best not to draw the eye of either her supposed oni 'allies', nor the investigators in jade robes, Emerald Magister she had learned they were called, the eyes and the blades of the Emperors of Yi Ti in matters arcane. Although they had lost much with the passing of ages and the waning of magic, they had never forgotten the core of their art, the flowing art of flesh and steel that made of feet and knees, heads and elbows, as much of a threat as the short curved swords they bore. Kodachi, the sword of honor, they called it, and it was with honor they bore it against against the Fallen Kami. A pity I'm supposed to be on their side.

    It had not been easy to persuade the Huwa-no-Oni that she was to take her 'initiation' not against the men of Yi Ti, whose blood she could not shed without diplomatic incident, but against the Black Cult of the Lord of the Shadowlands. Day by day, she had stoked the fiend's greed for profane tests it could amass from such a theft, until at last he agreed to wave the usual taking of first blood, a child stolen in the night from the villages, or worse yet, taken as a profane offering for rich harvests or good fortune. Fallen and bound to bodies of flesh though they were, the oni still held dominion over the elements and they might give great boons for those willing to pay the price. Such a supplicant had Nuri pretended to be, a shugenja of flame lead astray by passion into darkness, one who disdained the dark rites of bloodletting not from compassion but pride. "Only a single life you ask of me?" she had asked the oni, and the dark spirit had laughed and sent her on her way.

    The perfect mission... if only someone within the Cult of the Devouring Dragon had not seen fit to inform the authorities, that they might launch a raid just as Nuri and the Oni working with her were making their final approach. Curdled pride and maddened ambition, it was a wonder the servants of Tiamat could manage to pierce so far into the heart of the Empire with such warped blades. Enough power Nuri supposed could make up for an absence of wit. She could not fight the magisters without causing a diplomatic incident or the oni without losing her cover entirely. Under other circumstances she might have thought to wet her swords against the fools who served the Bloodstone Emperor, but having been caught unaware by two foes, the cultists were dying messily even without her help

    Perhaps if she timed it right she might be able to at least slip into the chamber of records and snatch some papers before the magistrates finished their bloody work...

    ***​

    Twelfth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

    House of Master Coryn, Yin, Yi Ti

    "So our friend the the oni commander has no notion of who might have scuttled his plans by getting the authorities involved," Azema mused, claws tapping on the ornate teak and ivory table. "Perhaps it is worth going at things from the other end..."

    "And openly admit to knowing about a dojo tainted by the Shadowlands?" Tyene interjected. "That would beg too many uncomfortable questions, and of all the skills of a courtier, the Son of Heaven's eunuchs are most adept at wielding such weapons. No, we must continue investigating on our own. What did you find in their records?"

    Although Nuri did not have her maker's perfect recall, she nonetheless possessed an accurate memory and magic had translated the ancient ideograms the cultists used as easily as the more modern syllabic writing. Most of it had been worthless, false holy books to mime piety and accounts of the cult's history that appeared to be little more than indoctrination for new arrivals, but their ledgers had provided a hint as to who might have known enough of the cult's activities to both warn the oni lord to begin with and summon the Emerald magisters spoiling the attack. Jingyi Liam, adjutant to Colonel Bu Jia Jin, exiled prince, and the man whom the Golden Company spies had lavished such gifts upon. He was also the largest financial backer of the tainted Dojo.

    "It looks like the Spider was not the only one who fancied he could juggle dark powers to his whim," Tyene said darkly. "Time to pay another visit to the prince's little 'court', I think."

    OOC: This is going to be a multi-part action again. Yi Ti is complicated. Also I realize that kodachi is a Japanese sword name, if not one of the more common ones. I'm trying to branch out a little from just making Fantasy China like the way Westeros is not precisely a 1 for 1 mirror of any single RL country. Not yet edited.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

    Yay, another multi-part Yi-Ti interlude arc! :D
     
    [X] Goldfish

    Though honestly if he ends up rejecting all deals and basically swears enmity against Viserys, he'll just be another foe to fight. We aren't going to win the Iron Throne completely without a fight, after all. Just with a comically easy fight if all goes well.
     
    Zioneer said:
    [X] Goldfish

    Though honestly if he ends up rejecting all deals and basically swears enmity against Viserys, he'll just be another foe to fight. We aren't going to win the Iron Throne completely without a fight, after all. Just with a comically easy fight if all goes well.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    This is just the kind of fight that you don't offer mercy or clemency over, not out of any malice, but simply because courting a blood feud because you felt sympathy for them is just asking whoever rules here to undermine us subtly for centuries at best, or actively become fiend bait.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    I realize that is a Japanese sword name, if not one of the more common ones. I'm trying to branch out a little from just making Fantasy China like the way Westeros is not precisely a 1 for 1 mirror of any single RL country. Not yet edited.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    I think that's a laudable goal. You could basically make it into a China that has melded in a more stratified fashion than Imperial China. For an interesting variation, picture an amicable rather than acrimonious relationship between Japan and Korea, and make the end result into the north of Yi Ti.

    Imperial China was and is cool, but there were equally vibrant and distinct cultures surrounding it. What if, in a parallel to Westeros, Yi Ti is the melting pot of the fantasy analogues of several Asian countries?
     
    Inserted tally
    Adhoc vote count started by Goldfish on Nov 27, 2019 at 2:23 PM, finished with 52 posts and 13 votes.
    • [X] Accept the solicitor's offer
      -[X] Perform a Divination to determine if Lord Keath's son will be likely to accept being Resurrected. If the answer is favorable, proceed as follows:
      --[X] When Rhaella arrives with Rina, Ser Kennos, and the Umbral Stalker, we will seek to meet with Lord Keath and present him with a solution to lack of an heir through simply casting a Resurrection spell on his remains. Rhaella will serve as living proof that Resurrection magics are not only effective, even for those who have been dead much longer than Keath's son, but that we have them at our disposal.
      --[X] Viserys and Rhaella will, of course, go into this meeting with the full assortment of social engineering magics active.
      -[X] If the Keath heir is not likely to accept Resurrection, we will instead seek to meet with Ashwin Keath and allow him to air his grievances. We will decide on how to proceed based on what we learn directly from Lord Keath.
      --[X] Viserys will go into this meeting with the full assortment of social engineering magics active.
    Click to expand...
     
    egoo said:
    Wait, can we do this?
    Wasn't it that plant-creatures are only from Lys, and CR15-ceiling in Gogossos?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Good question, actually. I wasn't thinking about that, just going off the list of stuff we ordered.

    I can't remember who wanted them added to the order and I didn't notice the issue at the time. Darn.

    Okay, gonna go try to find a different template that would be more appropriate to slot in there.
     
    Wait, we have to research to do cross template, even though the Old Gods are still hooked into the bigger more advanced forge? Even if they're not as hard wired in, I thought they still had some access to the facilities?

    @Goldfish If that's the case, we'll have to find alternative templates for EVERYTHING grown there this month with them.

    We added it especially for the immunity to mind affecting spells and abilities, so that's kind of a must in some form.
     
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    Vote closed.
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Nov 27, 2019 at 2:56 PM, finished with 59 posts and 13 votes.
    • [X] Goldfish
      [X] Accept the solicitor's offer
      -[X] Perform a Divination to determine if Lord Keath's son will be likely to accept being Resurrected. If the answer is favorable, proceed as follows:
      --[X] When Rhaella arrives with Rina, Ser Kennos, and the Umbral Stalker, we will seek to meet with Lord Keath and present him with a solution to lack of an heir through simply casting a Resurrection spell on his remains. Rhaella will serve as living proof that Resurrection magics are not only effective, even for those who have been dead much longer than Keath's son, but that we have them at our disposal.
      --[X] Viserys and Rhaella will, of course, go into this meeting with the full assortment of social engineering magics active.
      -[X] If the Keath heir is not likely to accept Resurrection, we will instead seek to meet with Ashwin Keath and allow him to air his grievances. We will decide on how to proceed based on what we learn directly from Lord Keath.
      --[X] Viserys will go into this meeting with the full assortment of social engineering magics active.
    Click to expand...
     
    Crake said:
    Wait, we have to research to do cross template, even though the Old Gods are still hooked into the bigger more advanced forge? Even if they're not as hard-wired in, I thought they still had some access to the facilities?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Newly-researched templates are carried over.
    Say we throw in a lead-clad creature in Gogossos' forge - the Lys' one will have it in a month from that moment too.
    It goes the other way around too.

    But plants are strictly Lys, because OGs made it so much plant-based, afaik.
    We can make non-specific servants we learned the methods of creation in Gogossos - Seekers for example - In Lys' one, because Gogossos' wasn't specialized on anything to that a degree.

    ...not that we will make Seekers any time soon because yuck.
     
    Last edited:
    Crake said:
    Wait, we have to research to do cross template, even though the Old Gods are still hooked into the bigger more advanced forge? Even if they're not as hard wired in, I thought they still had some access to the facilities?

    @Goldfish If that's the case, we'll have to find alternative templates for EVERYTHING grown there this month with them.

    We added it especially for the immunity to mind affecting spells and abilities, so that's kind of a must in some form.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Yes, the Forges were separate in their specialties right from the start. The Fungus Forge can't make purely flesh-based stuff (only plant-based stuff), and the Flesh Forge doesn't have access to plant templates. The Old Gods' "as light a touch as possible" on the Flesh Forge of Gogossos translates to them pretty much leaving the entire thing intact and unaltered.
     
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