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

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Well, that banishing is inconvenient.
We'd have to take a minute after this all is done to locate the bull and plane shift back here.

We cant just summon that beef of 23HD :/
 
Nightmares and Artifice ​

Thirteenth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

As the sky fills with magic and death, Rina's frozen veil sweeping through the tents of lesser officers and common soldiers alike while Lya's conjured winds are turns towards the temple, you wish into being a challenge to ring in the ears of all those below: "Servants of Tiamat, the Bitch Queen has lead you to ruin in her hatred and greed. Surrender or die. This will be your only warning."

Perhaps the most transparent lie you have ever told, you have no intention to spare any of those who marched under the banners of the Golden Company simply because they had surrendered first, but you know without a doubt the pride of Tiamat is wounded as surely as the walls of the temple shake with the fury of the storm its wards cannot unmake. You watch with pride as Nettles, puts her newfound arcane talents to good use, tendrils of black shadow stuff tearing at the necromancer's tent, you watch as the dead beasts meet the drakes in the sky, ethereal claw against rotted maws and bone spurs sharp as daggers.

The last of the Fireflies burst into flame killing one of the drakes outright, though rather than plummeting into the ground below the dragon-kin gives one last defiant screech and explodes into a corona of poisoned light. You can almost taste the colors at the back of your throat, intoxicating and deadly. It rips wards and blessings from anyone close by, though thankfully the black knights had been able to pin it away from any of your companions.

  1. 3x Riders (Killed)
  2. 1 Drake (Killed)
  3. 3 Drakes (wounded and teleported away)

The feeling of satisfaction fades in an instant as shadows manifest against the glaring light, sinuous and sharp edged all at once, creatures you had seen but once before in a dream... or better to say a nightmare. Tiamat's Dreamlands guards pour into the world of form like tar spilling though cracks in the world, but they do not announce their arrival with a road of draconic ire, instead one word emerges from two hissing throats: "Die." Two Erinyes fall from the sky their hearts burst from the terror of the magic, two others recoil as phantom wounds appear upon their flesh.

  1. 8x Necro-Harpies
  2. 4x Black knights
  3. 7x Spitter Swarms
  4. 25x Firefly (Self Destruct)
  5. 2x Erinyes (Dead)
  6. 2 Erynyes (Lightly Wounded)

What does it say for the men of the Golden Company that they take heart at these twin horrors who wield terror as a sword? You wonder for a moment caught in time. What does it say of you that you feel rage and sorrow both at the death of devils? You would restore them to life as you had vowed, of course, but you know the shame they feel in their failing will not be so easily healed.

One of the mages atop the two remaining elephants casts a desperate banishing spell, hurling the brass bull across the spheres back to the Eternal Furnace with a flash of angry flames and a fading bellow. The elephant collapses under him, crushing the most damaged of the black knights under its weight, only to have its throat sliced by his fellow with the chilling precision of a perfectly crafted weapon. The last mage vanishes in a ripple of twisted space, elephant and all, just as the adamantine fists are about to choke him into submission. An impressive leap. The Harbringer takes flight again, looking for its next target, eyes of wildfire drawn to the temple, the damage done to it of little importance before the mission it had been set to do.

  1. 1x Elephant (Dead)
  2. 1x Mage and Elephant (Fled)

  1. 1x Black Brute (Dead)
  2. 1x Hadhayosh (Banished)

Taking so fearsome an opponent as the Hadhayosh from the field must seem like an even greater victory for the defenders, particularly if they think it dead rather rather than merely banished. The Wyverns come screaming in, sleek steel and cunning sorcery bound together carrying a payload that does not need to fly through the air, but simply translocating onto the remaining drakes, the ones that had not engaged, that were still weaving patterns in the air...

Six die, magic spilling madly out of control like wounds across the heavens, their riders never stood a chance of surviving, though you note that unlike the one that head perished in the midst of its deadly swan song, these drakes do not fade away to pure magic but crash down to earth as creatures of flesh and blood. Had it been the surprise? you wonder. Do they have to call to Tiamat in the moment of their death to avenge their enemies? It sounds like something that would appeal to Her vanity.

  1. 6 Drakes
  2. 6 Riders

What do you do next?

[] Call in the Moonchaser

[] Call in Herald of Yss and his company

[] Call in Malarys, Amrelath and Company

[] Challenge the two dragons yourself

[] Write in

OOC: Here we are, it took a while to roll, not to mention get those dragons' spell-lists and stats done, but it was fun. Not yet edited.
Here's an edited version of the chapter, @DragonParadox.
 
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@DragonParadox, mind you that the Brutes are not about precision, but more about "hacking through an entire elephant in one swing". Hence ludicrously oversized axes called "butcher's axes" by the system.

Also, that sentence is really garbled:

DragonParadox said:
The elephant collapses under his crushing the most damaged of the black knights under its weight only to have its throat sliced by his fellow with the chilling precision of a perfectly crafted weapon.
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Are these expected losses? It kind of looks like they pulled the wool over our eyes and hid any meaningful targets from our initial assault. Sure we killed a large number of scrub mercenaries, but it seems like the value lost on our side is greater than it was for the GC.

So far it seems like the only thing Tiamat has lost that she gives a damn about are the drakes, and those clearly aren't that important to her or she wouldn't let the help use them as mounts.
 
Azel said:
@DragonParadox, mind you that the Brutes are not about precision, but more about "hacking through an entire elephant in one swing". Hence ludicrously oversized axes called "butcher's axes" by the system.

Also, that sentence is really garbled:
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I fixed the sentence in my edit, though left wording intact. Nothing says a Huge-sized Undead murderbot can't be precise with its Butcher's Axe.
 
This is great, @DragonParadox. I bet Tiamat is getting so pissed off.

Don't worry, y'all, the Hadhayosh can just hop back to Planetos using the Plane Shift charm we assigned his group.
 
Artemis1992 said:
Did you remember to use the special willsave relevant to Dismissal and Banishment?

The Bull would have gotten the difference between his HD and the scroll's Caster Level as bonus on his save.
Which is likely quite immense.
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The scroll was actually quite high level. In most cases there is no point in making a scroll at higher than minimum level, but just like with any other magic item it can be done and given the mechanics of banishing things that is one of those cases.
 
BronzeTongue said:
Are these expected losses? It kind of looks like they pulled the wool over our eyes and hid any meaningful targets from our initial assault. Sure we killed a large number of scrub mercenaries, but it seems like the value lost on our side is greater than it was for the GC.

So far it seems like the only thing Tiamat has lost that she gives a damn about are the drakes, and those clearly aren't that important to her or she wouldn't let the help use them as mounts.
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They are. The undead were always meant to die in place of more valuable troops.

So far we only lost two Erinyes and temporarily misplaced the Hadoyosh. Even the Brute was worth less then 5,000 IM, with our total losses of undead being... maybe 20,000 IM? Those a rounding errors on the monthly crafting budgets.
 
BronzeTongue said:
Are these expected losses? It kind of looks like they pulled the wool over our eyes and hid any meaningful targets from our initial assault. Sure we killed a large number of scrub mercenaries, but it seems like the value lost on our side is greater than it was for the GC.

So far it seems like the only thing Tiamat has lost that she gives a damn about are the drakes, and those clearly aren't that important to her or she wouldn't let the help use them as mounts.
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Yes, the Undead were expected casualties, and were in fact being used to absorb damage from traps, wards, and other hidden surprises, as well as provide a buffer from the special abilities we suspected the Drakes and Elephant mages to have at their disposal.

It's a good thing, too, because the GC isn't toothless. And the more we see of the Drakes, the more apparent it is becoming that they are much more dangerous than originally assumed. Teleportation, 240 ft range Prismatic breath weapons, area effect Dispels on death, etc.

The fight has been going on for seconds at this point. I'm very happy how much damage we've already done. All of the elephants are out of play and at least half the Drakes, and better yet, the two Nightmare Dragons have come out of hiding.
 
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@Azel, I think it's time to crush Golden Company morale just a bit. The Hadhayosh is no longer on the field, so now might be the perfect opportunity to bust out a Zoidberg Nekro-Kraken. :evil:
 
DragonParadox said:
Tiamat's Dreamlands guards pour into the world of form like tar spilling though cracks in the world, but they do not announce their arrival with a road of draconic ire, instead one word emerges from two hissing throats: "Die." Two Erinyes fall from the sky their hearts burst from the terror of the magic, two others recoil as phantom wounds appear upon their flesh.
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Failing two willsaves on a 4th level spell?

Damn, those Erinyes will commit harakiri if we bring them back.
 
Just to put into perspective our aerial casualties, here's what we started with, totaled among all ten of the Erinyes Kill Squads.
  • 20x Advanced Erynies (CR 9) each
  • 20x Advanced Plant-Imbued Sea Drake (CR 10)
  • 40x Black Knight (w/mobility upgrade for flight) each
  • 200x Necro-Harpy (CR 5) each
  • 50x Firefly (with x5 Explosive Pack payloads; explodes to inflict 10d6 damage in a 20ft radius) (CR 3) each
  • 100x Spitter Swarm (CR 3) each
  • 300x Spitter (CR 1) each
And here's what they've lost so far:
  • 39x Necro-Harpies
  • 4x Black knights
  • 25x Spitter Swarms
  • 54x Spitters
  • 50x Fireflies (Suicide Weapons)
  • 2x Erinyes (Dead)
Which reduces their numbers to:
  • 18x Advanced Erynies (CR 9) each
  • 20x Advanced Plant-Imbued Sea Drake (CR 10)
  • 36x Black Knight (w/mobility upgrade for flight) each
  • 161x Necro-Harpy (CR 5) each
  • 75x Spitter Swarm (CR 3) each
  • 246x Spitter (CR 1) each
They're holding up really well, IMO.
 
Azel said:
They are. The undead were always meant to die in place of more valuable troops.

So far we only lost two Erinyes and temporarily misplaced the Hadoyosh. Even the Brute was worth less then 5,000 IM, with our total losses of undead being... maybe 20,000 IM? Those a rounding errors on the monthly crafting budgets.
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From my point of view, the Undead are performing exactly as intended. Splendid job here.
 
[X] Plan Escalation - Continued
-[X] The Wyverns and Moonchaser will continue unleashing their Teleporting Beetle Bombs on the Golden Company's Drakes, and the Moonchaser opens fire on the Ancient Nightmare Dragons with its Magic Army spell enhanced Steam Cannons, but stops firing on them before any of our allies close to melee range with them.
-[X] Although he is unlikely to return close enough to continue participating in the battle, the Hadhayosh will use his Plane Shift charm to return to Planetos from the Elemental Plane of Fire. The Harbinger looks for an appropriate target upon which it can unleash the hidden Nekro-Kraken.
-[X] Team Vee continues Summoning and will send their remaining Herald to retrieve the bodies of the fallen Erinyes so that we may ensure they are restored without delay after the conclusion of hostilities.
-[X] Although the Ancient Nightmare Dragons are tempting targets, they are not our true prey. Allow Malarys, Amrelath and the rest of his team to handle the pair. None of our Dragons use their breath weapons against these Nightmare Dragons, in case they are also protected as the war elephants had been.
--[X] Malarys targets the Nightmare Dragons with a Chain Dispel (effective caster level of 24th w/Bead of Karma and Dispelling bonus). He uses his Ring of Spell-Battle to counter the first attempt at enemy spellcasting.
--[X] Tyene casts Assay Spell Resistance, then targets the Nightmare Dragons with a Sunburst spell using two 7th level spell slots.
--[X] Waymar casts Assay Spell Resistance, then targets one of the Nightmare Dragons with a Born of the Three Thunders modified Lightning Lance spell, directing all three lances at a single Dragon.
--[X] Rina casts Assay Spell Resistance then hits the Nightmare Dragon which Waymar did not target with her Fell Drain Sound Burst spell. She uses her Battlemagic Perception spell to counter the second enemy attempt at spellcasting.
--[X] Amrelath, the Mighty Mind Dragon, and the two Fiery Dragonbeasts move in to engage the Nightmare Dragons in melee combat. Details for a fully combat-buffed Mighty Mind Dragon's combat statistics HERE.
--[X] Nettles targets one of the Nightmare Dragons using her group's Amber Sarcophagus spell scroll, selecting whichever Dragon seems least affected by the group's opening salvo. If either of the Nightmare Dragons survive, that is. She uses a Brilliant Barrier charm to protect her group if it proves necessary.
-[X] Viserys expends an 8th level spell slot to Summon a Greater Earth Elemental (54,000 pounds) to fall upon the Temple of Tiamat from a great height.
 
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