Remove ads

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

Reader mode
No one:

Literally not a single being on this plane of existence:

Nor anywhere else in the Inner or Outer Planes:



Even the Gods themselves:



A couple of Elder Evils: *mildly impressed*






Viserys: "I'd like to see you fuckers get through THESE!"
 
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Mar 1, 2020 at 2:02 PM, finished with 37 posts and 10 votes.
Click to expand...
 
Remove ads
Part MMMCCCLXIX: Fortune in Dark Planes
  • Threadmarks
    • Fortune in Dark Planes ​

    Sixteenth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

    The sky is grey and grey the winding path beneath your feet, but Tor's steps never waver. He does not seem to see the dried grass underfoot, the trees bend and blacked like old crones grasping towards you with withered hands. Perhaps this is all commonplace to him, the nightmare his only world for so many ages of the world. Little wonder that he and all his kindred would be so desperate to escape it. How much of the evil that the rakshasa do is driven by malice and the will of their dark sovereign, and how much by the desire to see even the merest splash of color, even if it is the crimson of blood?

    "The ruins..." Lya interjects as a broken tower rises and falls through the ever-present haze.

    Tyene follows her gaze, recognizing Rhoynar work, but your guide shakes his head in annoyance, his usually charming manner fraying. "It is not real, not here."

    "A glamour?" Lya asks intrigued. "Who could have made such a thing?"

    "Not a glamour, or at least not entirely, and no one had to make it," Teana replies, her tone shifting into what you know as lecturing, at least in part to reassure herself with the familiarity. "This realm has its own peculiarities, like the play of light and shadow in the Endless Ocean, like the straight paths in the Dimwell Delving which no pick has touched. Think of this sphere like a sea shading light to dark, from the bright shallows near where the world under the sun almost touches, to the fathomless depths. You can look forward or backward, right or left and you are on the same iteration, but look 'up' or 'down' and you can see other aspects of the plane. Ruins are common but not the only things you will find, forests that have long since burned to the ground, seas that have been dried up, stars that have gone out, if you are lucky enough to see them. Shadows are greedy things."

    "Oh, of course, its all layers," Lya shakes her head. "I was thinking of them as more discrete, like floors on a house, but this is more like mirrors stacked atop each other, only the reflection can be truth and truth can be reflection. That tower is not real enough to touch or even to stand up to scrutiny up close here, but if we really looked for its deepest meaning, the truest version of itself we could find more."

    "All truths are born of lies," Tor says with the air of someone quoting a commonplace saying.

    "And all lies reflect the truth in some manner," you Dany points out unexpectedly. "Even the most deceptive dreams, even the most horrid nightmares teach us something true."

    Tor looks at your sister as though he is not quite sure what to make of her. In the end he just nods. It is after all a fair simile for the nature of the plane.

    Time seems to passes almost unfelt as the vista around you grows darker, great rends of inky black snake through the sky, though only pale reflections of the true emptiness you have seen amidst the wreck of Heaven.

    "Is that it?" Ser Richard points to a cluster of structures on the horizon, having predictably kept his eyes on the earth.

    "Yes," the word is almost a hiss as Tor closes his eyes to recall the image he had seen in the temple. He motions to what looks like a timeworn caravanserai, half of it collapsed under its own weight while the other half sags as though it is considering whether to follow suite, surrounded on all sides by a low stone wall worn down to something of more akin to a fence. The trees along the path leading to the gate are not lifeless, but the faint rustling of waxen leaves does not inspire confidence as to who or what may be watching from behind them.

    Just as you are considering the rather troublesome prospect of disguises you see three figures emerging from inside. Even at a distance you can see the color in their cheeks, the glint in their eyes that recalls the sun.

    The priests are mighty and no doubt feared across many lands for their works in Tiamat's service and Blackheart once the captain of an army that could have broken kingdoms. Alone and on the path like this they are just one more loose end to tie up. Time twists, spells fly and before any of them can so much as utter a spell you count three more prisoners to take home with you. None of the denizens of this place any the wiser.

    Part of you wants to linger, to explore, and by the look in Lya's eye you are not the only one, but you have many other calls upon your time. Ser Richard breathes a not so subtle sigh of relief as you turn back to the world of life and light.

    What do you do next?

    [] Write in

    OOC: You rolled 90 on the d100 for encounter so no complications. Since a pair of eleventh level clerics are not much of a threat to you guys right now I decided against showing a blow by blow battle.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • So, we still need to deal with the wyrmlings, that grown up red dragon, and the Cheesemonger... and that would be it?
     
    @DragonParadox, anything from Lya's secondary body on GC/Tiamat's hidey-holes, contingencies, or more agents?
    Anything on the surviving drakes/riders, if any?

    Otherwise, dealing with the Shadow Fortress becomes a bit of a priority.

    [] Move in to destroy the Shadow Fortress, before the hulk is reclaimed by the vengeful Undead of Sarnor
    -[] Repeated Mythic Shadows of Doom, Earthquake and maybe some frost-spells from Rina wouldn't go amiss.
     
    Last edited:
    welp now all we reallu need is the asset collection of some of their hideouts and the 3 reds and we will have all of the GC wrapped up
     
    egoo said:
    @DragonParadox, anything from Lya's secondary body on GC/Tiamat hidey-holes, contigencies, or more agents?
    Anything on the surviving drakes/riders, if any?

    Otherwise, dealing with the Shadow Fortress becomes a bit of a priority.

    [] Move in to end the Shadow Fortress, before the hulk is reclaimed by the vengeful Undead of Sarnor
    -[] Repeated Mythic Shadows of Doom, Earthquake and maybe some frost-spells from Rina wouldn't go amiss.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    1. The Shadow fortress has already been dealt with in the last update
    2. Nothing urgent from Lya skimming the book
     
    Tomcost said:
    There was a young adult Red dragon wtih PC levels I think?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    no she was one of the wyrmlings who decided that she wanted to learn magic so stayed with the GC but was missing during the battle

    EDIT never mind she is stated as very young not wyrmling, which is weird
     
    Last edited:
    egoo said:
    @DragonParadox, anything from Lya's secondary body on GC/Tiamat's hidey-holes, contingencies, or more agents?
    Anything on the surviving drakes/riders, if any?

    Otherwise, dealing with the Shadow Fortress becomes a bit of a priority.

    [] Move in to destroy the Shadow Fortress, before the hulk is reclaimed by the vengeful Undead of Sarnor
    -[] Repeated Mythic Shadows of Doom, Earthquake and maybe some frost-spells from Rina wouldn't go amiss.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    That's a little loud isn't it? Are we ready to deal with the bloodstone emperor looking back in our direction?

    Also, is there any use we could get out of the building materials, or is it just regular stone?

    Stopping at the bedrock is for quitters, and we could build some nice sewers out of that fortress at the very least.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Fortune in Dark Planes ​

    Sixteenth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

    The sky is grey, and grey the winding path beneath your feet, but Tor's steps never waver. He does not seem to see the dried grass underfoot, the trees bent and blackened like old crones grasping towards you with withered hands. Perhaps this is all commonplace to him, the nightmare his only world for so many ages of the world. Little wonder that he and all his kindred would be so desperate to escape it. How much of the evil of the rakshasa is driven by malice and the will of their dark sovereign, and how much by the desire to see even the merest splash of color, even if it is the crimson of blood?

    "The ruins..." Lya interjects as a broken tower rises and falls though the ever-present haze.

    Tyene follows her gaze, recognizing Rhoynar work, but your guide shakes his head in annoyance, his usually charming manner fraying. "It is not real, not here."

    "A glamor?" Lya asks, intrigued. "Who could have made such a thing."

    "Not a glamor, or at least not entirely, and no one had to make it," Teana replies, her tone shifting into what you imagine she sounds like when lecturing Scholarum initiates, at least in part to reassure herself with the familiarity. "This realm has its own peculiarities, like the play of light and shadow in the Endless Ocean, like the straight paths in the Dimwell Delving which no pick has touched. Think of this sphere like a sea shading light to dark, from the bright shallows near where the world under the sun almost touches, to the fathomless depths. You can look forward or backward, right or left, and you are on the same iteration, but look 'up' or 'down' and you can see other aspects of the plane, ruins are common but not the only things you will find, forests that have long since burned to the ground, seas that have been dried up, even stars that have ceased to shine, if you are lucky enough to see them. Shadows are greedy things."

    "Oh, of course, its all layers," Lya shakes her head. "I was thinking of them as more discrete, like floors on a house, but this is more like mirrors stacked atop each other, only the reflection can be truth and truth can be reflection. That tower is not real enough to touch or even to stand up to scrutiny up close here, but if we really looked for its deepest meaning, the truest version of itself we could find more."

    "All truths are born of lies," Tor says with the air of someone quoting a commonplace saying.

    "And all lies reflect the truth in some manner," you Dany points out unexpectedly. "Even the most deceptive dreams, even the most horrid nightmares, teach us something true."

    Tor looks at your sister as though he is not quite sure what to make of her. In the end he just nods. It is after all a fair simile for the nature of the plane.

    Time seems to passes almost unnoticed as the vista around you grows darker, great rends of inky black snake through the sky, though only pale reflections of the true emptiness you have seen amidst the wreck of heaven. "Is that it?" Ser Richard points to a cluster of structures on the horizon, having predictably kept his eyes on the earth.

    "Yes," the word is almost a hiss as Tor closes his eyes to recall the image he had seen in the temple. He motions to what looks to a timeworn caravanserai, half of it collapsed under its own weight while the other half sags as though it is considering whether to follow suite, surrounded on all sides by a low stone wall worn down to something more akin to a fence. The trees along the path leading to the gate are not lifeless, but the faint rustling of waxen leaves does not inspire confidence as to who or what may be watching from behind them.

    Just as you are considering the rather troublesome prospect of disguises, you see three figures emerging from inside. Even at a distance you can see the color in their cheeks, the glint in their eyes that recalls the sun.

    The priests are mighty and no doubt feared across many lands for their works in Timat's service, and Blackheart was once the captain of an army that could have broken kingdoms. Alone on the path like this, they are just one more loose end to tie up. Time twists, spells fly, and before any of them can so much as utter a spell you count three more prisoners to take home with you., none of the denizens of this place any the wiser.

    Part of you wants to linger, to explore, and by the look in Lya's eyes, you are not the only one, but you have many other calls upon your time. Ser Richard breathes a not so subtle sigh of relief as you turn back to the world of life and light.

    What do you do next?

    [] Write in

    OOC: You rolled 90 on the d100 for encounter so no complications. Since a pair of eleventh level clerics are not much of a threat to you guys right now I decided against showing a blow by blow battle. Not yet edited.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    The Shadow fortress has already been dealt with in the last update
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Buh-
    Wha-
    Imma actually have to read the update now?! :o


    I dunno, let's undress the Red Rolly then, his loot had yet to be shown, and he was claimed Richard-grade by DP.

    [X] Deal with the final member of the Aegon's inner circle. Have Red Rolly broken out of the block of Amber within the Snare (to ensure he won't run away), stripped of all items, and detained in bottle/amber again afterwards.
    [X] Take some time to place Rest Eternal on bodies of Jon Connington and Ashara Dayne (DC 34 to Resurrect, can't break the curse without access to the body).
    [X] Prepare to scry on the last remaining Red Dragon brought into this world by Tiamat - use the power within the Well of Souls as a foci to target her.
    -[X] She'll be given one chance to surrender to us, forswear Tiamat and live under our law - with sufficient benefits appropriate to that.
    --[X] If she does not, the power granted by Tiamat will have to be harvested in short order. The Ferrymen may as well take it for cleansing the armor of Tiamat's Champion.
     
    Last edited:
    BronzeTongue said:
    That's a little loud isn't it? Are we ready to deal with the bloodstone emperor looking back in our direction?

    Also, is there any use we could get out of the building materials, or is it just regular stone?

    Stopping at the bedrock is for quitters, and we could build some nice sewers out of that fortress at the very least.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    It was confirmed in an earlier chapter that the fortress was constructed from what sounded to be something like curdled negative emotions. If it didn't simply dissolve into a miasma of badness upon destruction, I really don't want to use any salvaged rubble from what remains.
     
    Last edited:
    [X]egoo

    that feels good. when this is done all that is missing is the shadow dragon who we will need to kill later
     
    Actually, shall we place Rest Eternal on all of the Clerics/Wizards that got killed in action?
    We can certainly do that, and it denies Tiamat even the most minor assets.

    Which is admittedly just petty, but I'd like to fuck with her on all the levels :V
     
    Goldfish said:
    It was confirmed in an earlier chapter that the fortress was constructed from what sounded to be something like curdled negative emotions. If it didn't simply dissolve into a miasma of badness upon destruction, I really don't want to use any salvaged rubble from what remains.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Yeah, originally, before we discovered the undead Sarnori would constantly be attacking it, it was a good potential Inquisition/Orphne base. But after finding out that it would be under perpetual siege and that it was made from curdled spite we were always better off destroying the entire thing.

    @DragonParadox, so the f!Aegon book didn't reveal any secret passages or hidden treasures in the fortress?
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top