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

Twentieth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

Alinor looks up from her desk with a familiar smile as she waves you into a seat, as she always does. It is only after sitting down that you notice the sheets in front of her are not parchment but Yi Tish rice paper. "Ah, a new tool by which to impose your iron will upon the Empire," you proclaim grandly.

She gives you a long suffering look just shy of rolling her eyes at you. "I hope no one was actually listening to that or it might just start a rumor more frustrating than the one where I'm supposedly sleeping with you."

"Varys says there isn't any mind near enough to listen in," you counter after a moment of communing with your familiar. "Did the expedition secure the secret of its making, as they had hoped?"

"Yes, just last week. Diana said the more mercantile interests at court are looking upon our bookkeeping with some favor, by which I suppose she means they don't consider us unredeemable barbarians," she replies dryly. Braavosi pride may not be as prickly and particular as the Volantene, but it is no less sharp in the end. "It's not actually made of rice, you know, but from the bark of a sort of mullbery tree. The leshies have secured seeds."

"Excellent," you nod, smiling at the pleasant thought of greater administrative efficiency. Even the smallest improvement counts if it is replicated a hundred-thousand times over and this is not a small thing. Still, not all of Alinor's work is quite so mundane. There are not many you would trust with the task of smoothly integrating baatezu into the mechanisms of the realm. "How have the newly called been adjusting to their duties and freedoms?"

"One little flying one, a gaav, were disruptive of a religious ceremony three days ago. The priest was preaching against the ever present dangers of sin and the horrors of Hell. The devil took it upon himself to point out that Hell was considerably less dull then the man's notion of virtue. Since this was in a village in Andalos, where they barely know what a low mage is, the result was predictably violent. The Legion commander who finally restored order was not best pleased, but he was able to do it without killing anyone at least."

You sigh, though you cannot say you are surprised. Loyal does not mean entirely sensible, or for that matter respectful of mortals. It is hardly illegal to heckle in public, after all. Hopefully, the erinyes in whose service the host devil had been placed in would curb its sharp tongue in the future.

"Otherwise they have all been doing good work, even the one assigned to Mantarys, though he does tend to get into spirited philosophical debates apparently." Alinor masks a giggle at the notion of a devil serving angels under a worldly kingship.


"Could you look over the commission for this month from the Opaline Vault and Armun Kelisk?" she asks after a moment. "The Astral Currents representative asked for a confirmation of the order before he agreed to the deal on the more expensive items. I think the poor man might be nervous over spending so much all at once. He has just been promoted, his predecessor moved to the diplomatic corps."


You look over the list carefully before proclaiming it all in order, not that you can blame a newly promoted company man for requesting verification for a sum that outweighs the entire pre-conquest treasury of Tyrosh. "I will see you tonight at Garin's home?"

"I'm not certain. I have more work than I anticipated..." she begins.

"One early night will not hurt," you interrupt firmly. "It''s hardly every day a man celebrates being unexpectedly freed of an unspecified divine oath."

"Ah, so if it were more of a predictable freeing from a god's oath, that would be ordinary?" she jests with a shake of the head. "I'll be there. Between you and Selyse, I would no doubt never hear the end of it otherwise."

What do you do next?

[] Receive a report (Interlude series)
-[] City of Brass Intelligence
-[] Plane of Earth Investigation
-[] Yi Ti Expedition
-[] Write in

[] Head out to deal with the Houses of the Reach

[] Perform a minor action
-[] Write in

[] Write in

OOC: Viserys is past doing his own shopping, but this gave me a chance to have a update with Alinor for the first time in quite a while.