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

Trek · Dec 8, 2019

[X] Receive reports on the Genie War, including the performance of the wyverns

Deliste · Dec 9, 2019

Crake said:
TBF those examples of "how to survive in the middle of bumfuck nowhere" are for when you have no supplies and can't even improvise a crude filtration method.

As in, "Do this if you want to survive a plane crash/a buffalo stampede kills your entire tour group and you have to hump it across a thousand miles of wilderness".

To actually be fair, his nonsense is over the top even then, he drinks piss for hydration when he's walking through snow...

DragonParadox · Dec 9, 2019

So to be a bit clearer on the Royce front when I am not half asleep. The series of events that lead to the Royce failed conversion were thus:

The last Royce King of Mountain and Vale dies to Artys Aryn
The dead King's widdow accepts the Seven in her own name and that of her young son. Though by doing so she likely saves House Royce she is quite unpopular at Runestone for the choice
As the boy grows up Aryn kings, die and are replaced with startling speed. First one son then another comes to the throne before the crown finally settles on the brow of King Roland I, grandson of Artys.
By the time of the latter's ruinous spending to make the Erye,at the urging of his wife Teora Hunter who was from a First Men family, the Royces had recovered much of their strenght in the lands Artys had allowed them to keep, not enough to mount a successful rebelion (or at least that was Lord Royce's call) but certainly enough that the open secret that he visited a godswood and not a sept was not chalanged by anyone.

Deliste · Dec 9, 2019

[X] Takesis

tarrangar · Dec 9, 2019

egoo said:
The sad thing being, the horse is genuinely more reasonable than significant statistic of the Dothraki :/

Damning with faint praise Egoo, most normal horses are more reasonable than the average Dothraki.

Miriam · Dec 9, 2019

tarrangar said:
Damning with faint praise Egoo, most normal horses are more reasonable than the average Dothraki.

Most horses don't consider a wedding with less than three murders boring. Most horses don't have weddings, for that matter. Unless Viserys has made some kind of draconic and/or tentacled super-intelligent horse now. That might have weddings.

Angelazreal1 · Dec 9, 2019

Zioneer said:
Most horses don't consider a wedding with less than three murders boring. Most horses don't have weddings, for that matter. Unless Viserys has made some kind of draconic and/or tentacled super-intelligent horse now. That might have weddings.

They are registered at Bed Bath and Beyond

Jack vile Ripper · Dec 9, 2019

Angelazreal1 said:
They are registered at Bed Bath and Beyond

*throws arm up in the air*

Draconic libido ladies and gentlemen, they transcend even time and franchise.

*cries of exasperation*

DragonParadox · Dec 9, 2019

Vote closed.

Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Dec 9, 2019 at 5:20 AM, finished with 220 posts and 16 votes.

11 people have voted
[X] Receive reports on the Genie War, including the performance of the wyverns
- egoo
- Duesal
- Goldfish
- Shador
- Artemis1992
- Miriam
- MTB
- enigma1995
- Trek
- Othan763
- T_of_A
5 people have voted
[X] Recieve the report on what happened to Hardhome and what was causing Bloodraven's birds to malfunction.

DragonParadox · Dec 9, 2019

As the Spheres Turn

Twenty Fifth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

Morning arrives, as it often does when you are not out and about in the world with an armful of parchment, though this is not like any stack of parchment that has ever crossed your desk. "You could say that about many things," Varys hisses sleepily in your ear. "Much do you study that was lost, more that is new."

She has a point, of course, but this is not a report on any of your arcane creations of metal or stone, of relic or ritual. This is a report of the War of the Three Spheres, or the War of the Genies as it has begun to be known in the Deep as more and more merchants arrive from the Opaline Vault and Armun Kelisk. Thankfully you have quite a bit more context as to the battlegrounds and the forces in play than rumor tells of.

The Ashen Cysts remain a bloody quagmire with the shaitan not quite able to tighten the noose or incite rebellion among the 'Pale Ones', leaving only the slow grinding advance of dozens of 'Xorn-Spirals' to eat away at the efreeti fortresses one by one. You find yourself momentarily sidetracked by a drawing of the device made by someone with an eye for detail, though without any technical insights into their making. The great stone-boring ships share the ability of its shaitan crew to pass through stone without disturbing it, though given the spiked maw that serves as their prow they had been named after the voracious xorn. Hopefully they won't eat any of the efreeti treasures those forts may hold unlike their namesakes.

News from the River of Tears, the main pathway of the accursed trade that binds the City of Brass with the wealth and armaments of Hell, make for a poorer reading. Perhaps in reaction to their failed expedition of Valyria the Brazen Throne had redoubled its efforts to root out djinn raiders, destroying over a dozen Storm-Ships outright and slaying most of their crew, though a few unfortunates were also enslaved.

The only ray of light from that front is that the wyverns had served in an exemplary manner, their swift launchers and payloads of alchemical bombs helping to turn the tide in any battle they were involved in, though not without a few frightful moments. It seems the illusionists of the Brazen Throne had eventually caught on that the ones flying the swift ships of ruin were mortal and not as hardened in will as many of the warriors of the Inner Spheres. On two separate occasions skillfully woven figments had almost caused wyvern pilots to bomb their own allies. In spite of this the reports from the djinn admiralty were wholly positive, with a note that they would assign more mages capable of casting mind melds to any future joint raids.

The seeds of rebellion you have sown in the Sea of Fire seem to be catching surprisingly on, however. Whether through some slip of the eye of the Great Sultan or the covert actions of shaitan or djinn agents many of the Salamander Realms that had remained loyal to the Brazen Throne erupt in fresh rebellion, not enough to make any of them defect, but sufficient to deal the local efreeti commander, Bey Hakim Three Eyes, a stinging defeat while the Princedoms in rebellion continue to rally into what is increasingly more than an alliance of convenience. Where before the Battle at Ember Sound they had been fighting to throw off the yoke of efreeti rule, now they fight for plunder.

Moving on you discover that Div's Delight endures in its age old stalemate, though there have been more shaitan losses than usual. You suspect the urgency in wishing to capture that damned place has to do with the revaluation of the efreeti willingness to create divs in their war, but so far there is no intelligence report on that front.

Of more immediate interest is the war of raids and feints that swirls between the Skyholds and the Brazen Throne. Djinn captains appear to be doing the most damage in a series of lightning quick opportunistic raids mostly focused on freeing and rescuing slaves, but efreeti captains under the command of the Dervish Lord Kharabi have focused on targets of immediate military use, particularly when it comes to trade in materiel between the two allied empires.

Clashes in the Veil of Brimstone continue inconclusively with both sides withdrawing their heavy ships for deployment elsewhere.

What do you do next?

[] Return to the Riverlands to speak to the Ghost of the High Heart

[] Speak with the Red Priests of Volantis and commune with the Red God himself to ask for aid against Tiamat

[] Set up a meeting with either a powerful enough servant or manifestation of Weeping Lady of Lys' power to ask for aid against Tiamat

[] Have a personal meeting with the Chosen of Smith

[] Receive the report on what happened to Hardhome and what was causing Bloodraven's birds to malfunction

[] Write in

OOC: I thought about doing a report again but that just felt too impersonal, I wanted to get some reactions from Viserys in too.

Jack vile Ripper · Dec 9, 2019

*wince*

Those are not some good news.

Goldfish · Dec 9, 2019

DragonParadox said:
As the Spheres Turn

Twenty Fourth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

Morning arrives, as it often does when you are not out and about in the world with an armful of parchment, though this is not like any stack of parchment that has ever crossed your desk. "You could say that about many things," Varys hisses sleepily in your ear. "Much do you study that was lost, and more that is new."

She has a point of course, but this is not a report on any of your arcane creations of metal or stone, of relic or ritual. This is a report on the War of the Three Spheres, or the War of the Genies as it begins to be known in the Deep, as more and more factors and merchants from the Opaline Vault and Armun Kelisk use the Terminus to travel her for business and pleasure. Thankfully, you have quite a bit more context as to the battle grounds and the forces in play than rumor tells of.

The Ashen Cysts remain a bloody quagmire with the Shaitan not quite able to tighten the noose or incite rebellion among the 'Pale Ones', leaving only the slow grinding advance of dozens of 'Xorn-Spirals' to eat away at the Efreeti fortresses one by one. You find yourself momentarily sidetracked by a drawing of the device made by someone with an eye for detail, though without any technical insights into their making. The great stone-boring ships share the ability of its Shaitan crew to pass though stone without disturbing it, though given the spiked maw that serves as their prow, they had been named after the voracious Xorn. Hopefully they won't eat any of the Efreeti treasures those forts may hold, unlike their namesakes.

News from the River of Tears, the main pathway of accursed trade that binds the City of Brass into the wealth and armaments of Hell, make for a poorer reading. Perhaps in reaction to their failed expedition to Valyria, the Brazen throne had redoubled its efforts to root out Djinn raiders, in the process destroying over a dozen Storm-Ships outright and slaying most of their crew, though a few unfortunates were also enslaved.
The only ray of light from that front is that the Wyverns had served in an exemplary manner, their swift launchers and payloads of alchemical bombs helping to turn the tide in any battle they were involved in, though not without a few frightful moments. It seems the illusionists of the Brazen Throne had eventually caught on that the ones flying the swift ships of ruin were mortal and not as hardened in will as many of the warriors of the inner spheres. On two separate occasions, skillfully woven figments had almost caused Wyvern pilots to bomb their own allies. In spite of this, the reports from the Djinn admiralty were wholly positive, with a note that they would assign more mages capable of casting mind melds to any future joint raids.

The seeds of rebellion you have sown in the sea of fire seem to be catching surprising root. Whether through some slip of the eye of the Great Sultan or the covert actions of Shaitan or Djinn agents, many of the Salamander Realms that had remained loyal to the Brazen throne have now erupted in fresh rebellion. It is not yet enough to make any of them defect, but sufficient to deal the local Efreeti Commander, Bey Hakim Three-Eyes, a stinging defeat while those Princedoms in full rebellion continue to rally into what is increasingly more than an alliance of convenience. Where before the Battle at Ember Sound they had been fighting to throw off the yoke of Efreeti rule, now they fight for plunder.

Moving on, you discover that Div's Delight endures in its age old stalemate, though there have been more Shaitan losses than usual. You suspect the urgency in wishing to capture that damned place has to do with the revelation of Efreeti willingness to create Divs in their war, but so far there is no intelligence report on that front.

Of more immediate interest is the war of raids and feints that swirls between the Skyholds and the Brazen throne. Djinn captains appear to be doing the most damage in a series of lightning quick opportunistic raids mostly focused on freeing and rescuing slaves, but Efreeti captains under the command of the Dervish Lord Kharabi have focused on targets of immediate military use, particularly where it comes to trade in materiel between the two allied empires.

Clashes in the Veil of Brimstone continue inconclusively, with both sides withdrawing their heavy ships for deployment elsewhere.

What do you do next?

[] Return to the Riverlands to speak to the Ghost of the High Heart

[] Speak with the Red Priests of Volantis and commune with the Red God himself to ask for aid against Tiamat

[] Set up a meeting with either a powerful enough servant or manifestation of Weeping Lady of Lys' power to ask for aid against Tiamat

[] Have a personal meeting with the Chosen of Smith

[] Receive the report on what happened to Hardhome and what was causing Bloodraven's birds to malfunction.

[] Write in

OOC: I thought about doing a report again but that just felt too impersonal, I wanted to get some reactions from Viserys in too. Not yet edited.

Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

Goldfish · Dec 9, 2019