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

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I imagine the tree just screams Age and Blood Sacrifice to every supernatural being who would lay their eyes on it. Like how old is that tree?
 
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Interlude DCCXLVI: Of the Broken Realms
  • Threadmarks
    • Of the Sundered Realms​

    Eighteenth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

    This information has been delivered by dead drop in the Opaline Vault. The original text is in Infernal with all signs pointing towards being scribed by a baatezu hand. Dead drop locations and authorizations given directly from the High Inquisitor. Contents to be kept secret from all save those aware of the truth of the Sundering.

    Hallowed Souls: The number and boldness of destructive cults in Heaven's Shore seems to be on the rise, their influence felt in several small riots, though damages have been minimal so far and order was quickly established. It seems likely that order will be strengthened through punitive patrols and deep investigation by the garrison within the next two to three weeks. The cults appear to be rooted in Abaddon, but there might be deeper rot in their innermost circles. A map of likely targets has been annexed should one wish to avoid the sweeps or take advantage of it.

    More Precious than Gold: A notable book auction is taking place among the Stacks in Heaven's Shore following the suicide of a notable collector of rare tomes. Volumes on necromancy, daemonic lore and arcanology are rumored to be among those offered for purchase if one is willing and able to negotiate entrance for outside agents. Agents of Mammon have been reported as interested in the event, though by less than reliable sources, possibly hiding the interest of some other Archduke, or some lesser power spreading false tales in order to make the competition wary.

    Lord of Flesh and Shackles: Ships supposedly hailing from the Realm of Balance have been witnessed in the Poisoned Seas of Nirvana. Reports are conflicting as to the actual composition of the crews and the ships are expertly enchanted, though not in a distinct enough manner to guess at their origins. Mortal officers have been spoken of in several notable ports among the Deep Ones, daemons and local free ports. By all accounts this new band of raiders has shown the opportunism common of their breed, though they have proven cleverer in choosing their targets than most.

    A Gilded Dream: The Orchard of Tranquility, one of the largest of the realms in Elysium, is attempting to secure shaitan military aid after talks with the djinn yielded a trade pact and a permission to recruit mercenaries among the skyholds. It is unlikely that the Peerless Empire will prove anymore willing to be distracted from its own battles, but they might prove willing to match the pact signed in Armun Kelisk. A list of grade goods is likely to flow more readily as a result of the agreement should it come to pass has been included. One should be advised than trading in Elysium is a inherently high risk venture.

    OOC: Really short for now, but I wanted to keep it to just the upper planes and what the cabal devil could deliver from there. There are more Heaven's Shore rumors since that is where your source is based.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Canon Omake: A Little Piece of Paradise
  • Threadmarks
    • A Little Piece of Paradise​

    He lazily swirled his cup, watching the wine slosh back and forth and clinging to the gold and jewels. Back when he was a boy, he often wondered why people made cups that were so heavy that you could barely lift them, just because they were shiny. A wooden cup worked quite fine and was much more practical. Maybe being absurdly shiny kind of served a purpose when you were making a chalice for a temple, like the one where he got this one, but it still was rather silly, all things considered. People liked gold and jewels, because they had value. And they had value, because people liked them. So he liked them somewhat, but only in so far as that he could buy things he would otherwise have to take by force with them. Other than that? Wood was a lot more practical. And cheaper.

    "Did you ever drink wine?" The creature before him was taken aback by the question, its tentacles shifting in what he had learned to gauge as either rage or amusement. Mostly the former, since the Ulitharid was most certainly not happy at being interrupted. Especially when it was so obvious that he hadn't been listening in the first place.

    The mouth of the slave standing between them opened, the hollow voice rasping out a few more syllables against their will. It amused him rather greatly how annoyed the squid was at this arrangement, just because he refused to let the thing speak directly to his mind. The indignity of having to make sounds for talking made it even easier to irritate. "I have not. I do not share the weakness of meat-spawn to require such inferior sustenance and neither do I desire to imbibe substances that will rot my brain." The emancipated man swayed slightly while he spoke, a mindless puppet like him not really good at keeping his balance on a ship in rough sea, especially while the one controlling it was distracted by how much he hated the situation.

    Euron Greyjoy on the other hand enjoyed all of it greatly. A good wind in the Silence's sail, a decent wine in his cup and the Farspawn before him stewing in his own impotent fury. The only shame was that they all were just so interchangeable, like a bunch of nails cast in the same mold. It was still great entertainment to see them deal with a human who neither feared them and whom they couldn't just kill for his disrespect either, even though it was a bit same-ish after a while.

    Coming here had been a great choice. He had raided stuffy merchants, raped the daughters of magisters and sold slaves to the Ghiscari. That grew boring rather fast, even though it brought him a decent amount of gold to toss at a few useful things for himself. He had been in Valyria and Yi-Ti, even venturing up the Ash River to see what all the talk about Stygai was about. Those voyages were certainly entertaining, but the novelty wore off rather fast, too. And there was a certain lack of wine and woman in those places, making any longer stay rather pointless once the cargo hold was full.

    He slowly and deliberately stretched out his arm, letting the rather shapely angel whose name he had never bothered to learn refill it before he toasted to the Ulitharid. "To rotting brains, then." Then he downed the whole cup in one go, making sure to have some of it spill and run down his face, before throwing the cup over his shoulder.​

    The creature bristled at the display, motioning its puppet to speak again. "Quit your theatrics, mercenary. You were supposed to tear down the outpost and not--" Before it could resume the inconsequential and quite tiring rant, though, Euron rose from his seat and simply held the puppet's mouth shut.

    "Now, listen. You paid me for, and I quote you there, to 'make sure that the Githyanki won't make use of it again', and did I not provide that service promptly?" He took a short pause to wipe the wine from his face, his other hand still clamping the puppet's mouth shut against the increasingly agitated attempts of the Ulitharid to get a word in edgewise. "I mean, I could have just killed and enslaved everyone in there, looted everything useful and then set the rest on fire, but what would guarantee that they wouldn't just rebuild the place? Huh?" With a flourish he turned to the other captains in his fleet who so far had quietly enjoyed the show, but now the assortment of Ironbon, Fiends, Immortals, Aberrations and whatever else they were made amused tones of agreement. "See? My people agree that this was the best way to go about fulfilling your contract."

    Then he let go of the puppets mouth, instead sauntering back to his throne while behind him even the mindless husk managed to get some anger into it's rasping voice. "You sold the outpost to the servants of the Pale Maiden!"

    "Yes. I did." As the silence stretched, he shrugged once and motioned for the winged girl at his side that she should fetch his cup. "If you didn't want me to do that, you maybe should have been more specific when hiring me rather then wasting all our time by rattling off all the reason why I should be honored that you are even talking to me." Then he let his voice sink an octave, for the first time deviating from his jovialness. "And speaking of contracts, you still owe us half the payment."

    A tense silence followed, the squid clearly not wanting to pay up while the other captains were very quickly losing their patience. Yet in the end, a dull thud sounded as a enchanted bag was dropped at Euron's feet. Immediately one of the servants grabbed it and began counting out the contents, while the rasping voice of the puppet sounded again. "Half in Adamantine, half in souls. Our kind honors its bargains, scoundrel."

    At this, Euron feigned shock and clutched at his heart like the worst actor of the cheapest troupe. "You wound me with your cutting words, you truly are. I take it we won't enjoy your patronage again?" No answer came, just the furious swirling of tentacles, followed by purple haze settling on the squid a moment before it disappeared in thin air. It had even left its mouthpiece behind in the hurry to get away, the nigh dead man having collapsed immediately without a mind to keep him upright.

    "I will take this as a no, then." Laughter rippled through the assembled mercenaries on the Silence's deck, and with that the court was adjourned for the day, leaving the servants to count out everyone's part of the pay and Euron to inspect his. Three little gemstones, two sapphires and an emerald, were put in his hand. They were slightly warm to the touch, and while his right eye saw only an especially pretty gem, his other could gaze much deeper then that, the eye-patch not hindering it's sight. These souls were quite expensive, all things considered, but unlike other jewels, these ones held true value. Raw power, ripe for taking for everyone who knew how. And if there was one thing he had learned from all the books he had pillaged, then how to do that.

    But this was work and he was not in the mood for work. He would have enough of that when they reached that dull marble place full of Angels and Archons looking down on him, yet needing his fleet too direly to refuse him entry. It was funny how everyone in this place thought of themselves as oh so high and mighty, yet they all danced like court jesters for him, needing the power he had gathered for himself. As Euron idly stroked the thigh of the angel beside him, he let his gaze wander over the rough sea. Others could wax poetically about how diminished Nirvana was, but to him, this truly was Paradise.


    AN: A little slice from somewhere entirely different, where other people are fulfilling their dreams.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • DragonParadox said:
    Lord of Flesh and Shackles: Ships supposedly hailing from the Realm of Balance have been witnessed in the Poisoned Seas of Nirvana. Reports are conflicting as to the actual composition of the crews and the ships are expertly enchanted, though not in a distinct enough manner to guess at their origins. Mortal officers have been been spoken of in several notable ports among Deep Ones, Daemons and local Free Ports. By all accounts this new band of raiders has shown the opportunism common of their breed, though they have proven cleverer in choosing their targets than most.
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    Euron?

    Can't think of any other mortal to have the balls and skills to be a successful pirate in Nirvana.

    Edit: That was a nice ninja.
     
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    DragonParadox said:
    Hallowed Souls: The number and boldness of destructive cults in Heaven's Shore seems to be on the rise, their influence felt in several small riots, though damages have been minimal so far and order was quickly established. It seems likely that order will be strengthened though punitive patrols and deep investigation by the garrison within the next two to three weeks. The cults appear to be rooted in Abadon, but there might be deeper rot in their innermost circles. A map of likely targets has been annexed should one wish to avoid the sweeps conflict or take advantage of it.
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    Huh. I guess that we could try solving that to curry favor with some authorities there, but not really interested. Someone might want to do some XP grinding there though.

    DragonParadox said:
    More Precious than Gold: A notable book auction is taking place among the Stacks in Heaven's Shore, following the suicide of a notable collector of rare tomes. Volumes on necromancy, Daemonic lore and arcanophagy are rumored to be among those offered for purchase. One is willing and able to negotiate entrance for outside agents. Agents of Mammon have been reported as interested in the event, though by less than reliable sources, possibility hiding the interest of some other Archduke, or some lesser power spreading false tales in order to make the competition wary
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    Option a: Buying stuff ourselves
    Option b: letting the Noodle buy it for us and then looting him again. This might be a trap to tempt us though.

    DragonParadox said:
    Lord of Flesh and Shackles: Ships supposedly hailing from the Realm of Balance have been witnessed in the Poisoned Seas of Nirvana. Reports are conflicting as to the actual composition of the crews and the ships are expertly enchanted, though not in a distinct enough manner to guess at their origins. Mortal officers have been been spoken of in several notable ports among Deep Ones, Daemons and local Free Ports. By all accounts this new band of raiders has shown the opportunism common of their breed, though they have proven cleverer in choosing their targets than most.
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    Flesh and Shackles are Kytons, though? Still, this feels way too odd. We don't know of anybody with this infraestructure in Planetos.

    DragonParadox said:
    A Gilded Dream: The Orchard of Tranquility, one of the largest of the realms in Elesuym is attempting to secure Shaitan military aid after talks with the Djinn yielded a trade pact and a permission to recruit mercenaries among the skyholds. It is unlikely that the Peerless Empire will prove anymore willing to be distracted from its own battles, but they might prove willing to match the pact signed in Armun Kelisk. A list of grade goods likely to flow more readily as a result of the agreement should it come to pass has been included. One should be advised than trading in Elysium is a inherently high risk venture.
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    We could get into this place and secure a deal for ourselves too. I see profit and allies here.
     
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    DragonParadox said:
    A Gilded Dream: The Orchard of Tranquility, one of the largest of the realms in Elesuym is attempting to secure Shaitan military aid after talks with the Djinn yielded a trade pact and a permission to recruit mercenaries among the skyholds. It is unlikely that the Peerless Empire will prove anymore willing to be distracted from its own battles, but they might prove willing to match the pact signed in Armun Kelisk. A list of grade goods likely to flow more readily as a result of the agreement should it come to pass has been included. One should be advised than trading in Elysium is a inherently high risk venture.
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    We should contact them, and see if they are interested in hiring Fungus Forge mercenaries, or buying Fungus Forge war beasts.
     
    so Euron went to raid and battle and generally be a pirate in Nirvana. honestly now our problem. we ran into him once and after that never saw him again, let him have his little pirates paradise in that warzone we can deal with it if we ever need to like take over nirvana or something
     
    ..... Is it bad that I have a great desire to make a flesh forged sea monster for nirvana designed solely to spawn rapidly and hunt him down?

    Maybe add in an easy way to exterminate them to be safe but make the equivalent of owlbears in pathfinder for him.

    Something that will be freaking everywhere for him and have him have to constantly deal with them.

    Maybe something that eats ships (or at least makes holes in them?)
     
    We finally found the bastard. Can we please kill him quickly. He is a mercenary. He probably doesn't mind blank his entire clues and we can find him. Please lets kill him. Because other wise it gets relegated to later actions and they keep acquiring power that make it harder to attack and the cycle continues.
     
    Azel said:
    A Little Piece of Paradise​
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    Huh, I guess it makes sense that Euron gathered a bunch of beings of different origins to him, in canon he did have natural talent to draw freaks and fools to serve under him. The fact he takes little of overall booty likely helps loyalty as well.
    One Autumn Leaf said:
    I am just paranoid about that crazy murder hobo attacking everything we have built for the cash that he could get from it.
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    Seems like he is enjoying working in much more chaotic and unstable areas that would pay for services rather than Material Realm which is more stable in comparison.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Lord of Flesh and Shackles: Ships supposedly hailing from the Realm of Balance have been witnessed in the Poisoned Seas of Nirvana. Reports are conflicting as to the actual composition of the crews and the ships are expertly enchanted, though not in a distinct enough manner to guess at their origins. Mortal officers have been spoken of in several notable ports among the Deep Ones, daemons and local free ports. By all accounts this new band of raiders has shown the opportunism common of their breed, though they have proven cleverer in choosing their targets than most.
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    Hello, Euron.
     
    Massgamer said:
    Seems like he is enjoying working in much more chaotic and unstable areas that would pay for services rather than Material Realm which is more stable in comparison.
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    Wouldn't put it past his crazy ass to try. So now I want to make teleportation detectors at some point because after the shadow dragon incident and this fucker I am mighty paranoid.
     
    [X] Yin where your envoys have secured guarded hallowed ground

    Gotta get caught up. Been so busy with real estate stuff this afternoon that I barely noticed we had crossed the 15,000 page mark. Buying a house is scary! :confused:

    Congratulations on running an awesome quest for nearly four years now, @DragonParadox!
     
    DragonParadox said:
    More Precious than Gold: A notable book auction is taking place among the Stacks in Heaven's Shore following the suicide of a notable collector of rare tomes. Volumes on necromancy, daemonic lore and arcanology are rumored to be among those offered for purchase if one is willing and able to negotiate entrance for outside agents. Agents of Mammon have been reported as interested in the event, though by less than reliable sources, possibly hiding the interest of some other Archduke, or some lesser power spreading false tales in order to make the competition wary.
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    I want those books.
     
    It seems everyone who was practicing magic in ye olden days still alive and kicking is living their best life individually.

    I mean, except for Tor, who had to find his best death.
     
    Crake said:
    It seems everyone who was practicing magic in ye olden days still alive and kicking is living their best life individually.

    I mean, except for Tor, who had to find his best death.
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    Shadow Tor is arguably living a pretty nice life, all things considered. He's serving a much better lord, is growing steadily more powerful much more quickly than is typical for a Rakshasa, and he has been gifted a prince's ransom in enchanted gear.

    Of course, he's only...sorta Tor-ish, but that's better than being completely nonexistent.
     
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