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

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DragonParadox said:
Stillborn Sanctity ​

Fourteenth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

The four of you race across the town on wings of wind and spellcraft, hardly needing to consult further. The dead you can deal with, specters can be banished, hungry dead slain by sword and fire, but the hand of a goddess is not lightly turned aside. You remember the fear, the moment your soul had almost been torn from you. She is not here, not overtly, only ghosts and madmen. You cannot take the chance.

Thankfully, the temple is empty of worshipers this late. It is sunset that is holy to the Mother of Dragons and the sun is long past over the horizon, soon to arrive again over the ridge of the world, in fact. Light descends much sooner upon the temple of the Old Mother, its stilts and its idols. Fire such as ended Valyria descends over wood and soaked with blood and tears. Wards flicker against the onslaught, spells uttered in secret and in silence, spells shouted to the frightened faithful. All for naught, her temple burns.

As the green flames illuminate the town Lya, Waymar, Vee, and Malarys manifest into being, hanging in midair just as you do. The former priest of Balerion gives the scene before him a cold smile. For a moment you are concerned he is about to make a comment about the temple's obviously Rhoynar asthetic. Instead, he just notes, "Better Hell than what fools think will be paradise."

Yet the battle is not won, amid the smoke and ruin the figure you had glimpsed inside the temple rises, her face distorted with rage and loss, swindled faith filling her like a thousand thousand flaring embers. The smoke coils into tendrils grasping around Tyene's throat. "Traitor!" she howls as much in pain as rage.

Tyene takes 16 Damage

Words of fire and ruin are on your lips to burn away the spirit just as Waymar conjures lightning in his hand, just as Oathkeeper is drawn, but Malarys is swifter. He speaks not a spell of banishment but one of binding, brandishing a spellsteed dagger set with rubies bright as drops of blood. As the spirit is drawn inexorably into the blade, she gives one last dreadful wail. A shard of enchanted steel snaps off the edge... and would have struck Waymar clean through the hand had you not spun warding wings to guard him.

"Not like that would have hurt me much," the young knight laughs.

"It would have struck your finger, your ring finger," Lya motions to the circle of rune forged metal that keeps him safe from foresight and compulsion. "She had already suppressed the power of your amulet. That almost possessed you."

"How the hell...?" Waymar bites back a curse reflexively.

"If you pretend to be a god from long enough, the lie becomes a little true," you reply, thinking back to the moment your own spell took root in the temple below. You had felt something on the very edge of awareness, but hardly clear enough to bring the power of your ring to bear and counter the magic. Glancing at the dagger shivering with the rage of the imprisoned spirit, you add, "Nowhere near true enough for Yss though."

What do you do next?

[] Hunt down more of the Risen Nine
-[] Write in

[] Attempt to gain control of the Town
-[] Write in

[] Write in

OOC: Really short unfortunately but given how chaotic things are right you guys aught to be setting the priorities. Not yet edited.
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Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.
 
[X] Move to extricate your 'prize' in Spotted Tom, as a bundle of ashes or an ambulatory carcass, it makes little difference. If Maelys survives, you know he will come to you himself. It is Silvertongue you must deal with.
-[X] You will keep Liomond nearby. If there is some contingency accounting for his betrayal, he has the best chance of surviving it with Lya and you nearby to deal with it.
 
Let's go hunting.

Malarys has already earned MVM (Most Valuable Minion) today for capturing the Old Mother. Let's see if he can take control of one of the Nine, too?

[X] Hunt down more of the Risen Nine
-[X] Return to the site where the Nine's meeting chamber once stood, dealing with hostile Undead as the situation dictates. We will attempt to capture any of the Nine who remain intact and retrieve the remains of any that have been destroyed.
--[X] Viserys Blood Wishes True Seeing on himself, heals his Charisma damage using his Orb of Mental Renewal, casts Searing Agonizing Mass Fire Shield on everyone, then expend an 8th level spell slot to Summon a Greater Earth Elemental to clear away the structure in which the meeting chamber is located.
-[X] Malarys, Vee, and Lya will each activate their Beads of Karma to increase their caster levels by +4 for the next ten minutes.
--[X] Lya will cast True Seeing on herself, then Aura of Vitality and Life Bubble on the group. While the site is being excavated, Lya will use Wild Arcana to cast Greater Arcane Sight in order to examine Liomond for hidden contingencies or traps which he may not be aware of.
--[X] Tyene will cast Fickle Winds, Mass Aid, and Mass Conviction on the group.
--[X] Malarys will cast True Seeing, Battlemagic Perception, and Stone Body. If an opportunity presents itself and one of the Nine is found intact, before we attempt to destroy or capture them, Malarys will attempt to Rebuke (Command) them, gaining permanent control over that member of the Nine until he relinquishes it.
--[X] Vee will begin Summoning as we go, casting two Summon Monster VIII spells, each time Summong 1d3+1 Monavic Devas. She will then start casting Summon Monster VII spells, each time Summoning 1d3+1 Shield Archons. The first three Summoned groups will be sent out into the town to destroy marauding Undead and to protect any mortals which appear to be under threat.
---[X] Vee, along with her last two Summoned groups, Tyene, and Waymar will try to find out what the general population of the city is doing (looting, hiding, escaping, etc.) and deal with it as necessary. Our goal is to bring the city under control, so they'll be mainly concerned with restoring order, preventing atrocities, and generally showing the flag.
 
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[X] Viserys, Malarys, Richard and Lya will dig out and capture the Fext from the killzone and gather all corpses that can be found.
-[X] The others will try to find out what the general population is trying to do and deal with it. Goal is to take control of the city one way or another.
 
Wow, that's a lot of plans hitting at the same time.

Goldie has more buffing though, so obviously that's what we're going with.

@Goldfish, if we're going to spend time powering up like Ainz, have Lya examine Liomond for contingencies.
 
Crake said:
Wow, that's a lot of plans hitting at the same time.

Goldie has more buffing though, so obviously that's what we're going with.

@Goldfish, if we're going to spend time powering up like Ainz, have Lya examine Liomond for contingencies.
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Done.

It's hardly a full buffing, just a few useful spells, most of which affect the whole party. That's like 18 seconds, some of which is travel time.
 
[Х] Crake
[X] Goldfish
[Х] Azel
Fake Х strikes again! Mwhahaha!
 
Azel said:
[X] Viserys, Malarys, Richard and Lya will dig out and capture the Fext from the killzone and gather all corpses that can be found.
-[X] The others will try to find out what the general population is trying to do and deal with it. Goal is to take control of the city one way or another.
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Updated my plan to include this;

--[] Vee will begin Summoning as we go, casting two Summon Monster VIII spells, each time Summong 1d3+1 Monavic Devas. She will then start casting Summon Monster VII spells, each time Summoning 1d3+1 Shield Archons. The first three Summoned groups will be sent out into the town to destroy marauding Undead and to protect any mortals which appear to be under threat.
---[] Vee, along with her last two Summoned groups, Tyene, and Waymar will try to find out what the general population of the city is doing (looting, hiding, escaping, etc.) and deal with it as necessary. Our goal is to bring the city under control, so they'll be mainly concerned with restoring order, preventing atrocities, and generally showing the flag.
 
Fun Fact: Malarys is a 16th level Cleric with a +5 Charisma bonus and 6 ranks in Knowledge (Religion). That means his minimum Rebuke/Command Undead check result is going to be 7, which will allow him to control up to 15 HD in Undead (Cleric level - 1). A standard Fext has 15 HD.

So long as Spotted Tom doesn't have any class levels, he's almost guaranteed to be Malarys' new temporary minion. Malarys can still Command Spotted Tom if he has a single level, though no higher due to his control limit being capped by his level, but he'll need to roll a 3 or higher on the Rebuke/Command check. Fext's don't have Channel Resistance, which is the Pathfinder version of Turn Resistance, so that shouldn't be a concern.

/fingers crossed Spotted Tom doesn't have any class levels
 
Goldfish said:
/fingers crossed Spotted Tom doesn't have any class levels
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To be honest, I doubt he does, Spotted Tom doesn't seem like he's supposed to be special beyond being exactly as useful for his position as is required and no further. No greater ambitions than survival, and the perfect ability set to ensure that against everyone beneath him socially, with everyone above him socially able to kill him in a nanosecond if he steps out of line.

Even his backstory is otherwise unimpressive beyond his brief association with the Band of Nine. Everyone else gets a cool backstory or has some kind of reputation beyond being the guy who had bad acne.
 
I know it might press Dany's "slavery!" button, but having a Fext on call could be pretty convenient.

They can use Speak with Dead at will. That would vastly simplify the information gathering effort from Golden Company corpses.
 
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