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

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Viserys: "Okay, so she probably doesn't think much of Bards."

...

Viserys, also: "Okay, she doesn't think much of bards, except when they're me. I'm never going to live this down."

Dany: "It's going in my own private chronicles."
 
[X] Yes, more eyes would always be useful.

[X] Try to learn more about Ser Dregaire as Buttercup. You are in the peculiar situation where you have multiple Fey under your employ at present but none that would exactly be "respectable" to serve as an envoy to such as the local fey, or else their secretive purpose puts them at odds with that role, or who's nature makes them difficult to separate from their main body. You could use more local contacts.
 
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Makes me ask the question if we could use a few simulacrums of ourself embodying our different disguises.
 
DragonParadox said:
A Surfeit of Charm ​

Twenty Fourth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

You had expected to struggle to charm Adara Ashford, playing the wandering bard with no name or kin. However, you find yourself faced with the opposite problem. After a few cups of wine and a few songs, the lady is very charmed indeed, if coy looks and flirtatious compliments are to be believed. Thankfully, Lord Ashford seems to take his mother's interest in Buttercup in good cheer, though that may have something to do with Dany, still playing your young pupil, doing a poor job hiding her amusement at the sight. Ser Richard, ever loyal, manages to keep an expression as solemn as he had meeting the Sealord for the first time or Syrax in the ruins of Lyceos, though you know the knight well enough to expect a jest or two in private in the days to come.

At least you get your questions answered in good time, even the ones the lady would have perhaps otherwise avoided recounting at a feast. "They have no shame at all, you know," she tsks, taking a fortifying gulp of wine. "I supose it makes sense, seeing as they live in the woods with the beasts, but that doesn't mean decent folk should encourage them doing things their way. They are pretty enough, I suppose, the ones that look like people at least, but that's no reason to..." had your hearing been less keen, you probably wouldn't have caught the words 'rutting like beasts'.

You gather that it had fallen to some rather earthy fey to forge the pact with Lord Ashford, dryads perhaps, or some kin of theirs. Whether that came down to the young lord's own proclivities or the nature of the Green Wardens, you cannot say for certain. Still, given the plans for Maergery to wed the slumbering king, you suspect there must be some level of ritual significance to the act of joining mortal man and fey spirit in so intimate an embrace. You also learn where in the woods near Ashford the ritual had been enacted. The Mother's Glade... Does it have something to do with the Earth Mother's worship in times long past, you wonder, and make a note to ask young Denys Mallory if the goddess he serves has any insights into the matter.

As to Lady Ashford herself, once you had persuaded her that Buttercup is only as much of a friend to the fey as any other he might meet upon the road in good cheer, and your companions pledged no loyalty to the Court of Stars, she seems much more at ease with how attentive her son is to Rina. Truth be told, you doubt anything will come of it. The young lord is drawn by mystery and magic, not any deeper yearning, and Rina seems to be enjoying the moment, fleeting as it is, for its kinship with her own youthful dreams.

"A pity your Ser Geralt has no interest in taking oaths to a lord," the lady interrupts your musings. "Whatever ballads might tell, the world needs knights rooted to lands and subjects more than wanderers without a home. Are you certain..."

"I have known Ser Geralt through good times and ill, for years now. I can say with confidence that it is not yet time for him to catch root," you lie smoothly.

She sighs. "Then I suppose this is time to say goodbye to all of you. I confess I shall miss your songs also, good bard."

You glance down the table. Dany had heard that one, too. Of course she had. Still, if you are ever going to recruit the lady to keep an eye on rumors of fey workings, now would be the time. She would certainly be open to correspondence.

Do you try to recruit Lady Ashford to keep an eye on the agents of the Court of Stars?

[] Yes, more eyes would always be useful

[] No, better not to risk so easily noticed a connection

OOC: Hopefully this strikes a good balance between the lighthearted tone of the arc and underlying concerns. The social rolls were certainly entertaining to me. Not yet edited.
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Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.
 
[X] Crake

All this playing nice is making me antsy, when do we burn the Court of Stars down to the bedrock again?

Or has the plan changed since then? I swear I can never keep up with my memos...
 
DragonParadox said:
You gather that it had fallen to some rather earthy fey to forge the pact with Lord Ashford, dryads perhaps or some kin of theirs. Whether that came down to the young lord's own proclivities or the nature of the Green Wardens you cannot say for certain.
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@DragonParadox, so Lord Ashford might end up with some half-fey bastards floating around?
MTB said:
Makes me ask the question if we could use a few simulacrums of ourself embodying our different disguises.
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Rovos said:
are you implying a permanent buttercup roaming around being veserys in a second body couse i'm all for it
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Just saw this. No Simulacrums for any Companion.

They're only half as strong as the original, and worse, they have a body part of the original inside.

This was how we murdered Varys -- we killed his Simulacrum and we took the piece of skin inside, and we used that as a focus to bypass his mind blank and curse him.

It's an unacceptable security breach to have pieces of our bodies loose like that.
 
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Need a few more votes, y'all.
Adhoc vote count started by Goldfish on Mar 31, 2020 at 10:48 AM, finished with 19 posts and 6 votes.
  • [X] Yes, more eyes would always be useful.
    [X] Try to learn more about Ser Dregaire as Buttercup. You are in the peculiar situation where you have multiple Fey under your employ at present but none that would exactly be "respectable" to serve as an envoy to such as the local fey, or else their secretive purpose puts them at odds with that role, or who's nature makes them difficult to separate from their main body. You could use more local contacts.
    [X] egoo
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Not a lot of votes, but then it's also not the most engaging question.

Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Mar 31, 2020 at 10:55 AM, finished with 23 posts and 8 votes.
  • [X] Yes, more eyes would always be useful.
    [X] Try to learn more about Ser Dregaire as Buttercup. You are in the peculiar situation where you have multiple Fey under your employ at present but none that would exactly be "respectable" to serve as an envoy to such as the local fey, or else their secretive purpose puts them at odds with that role, or who's nature makes them difficult to separate from their main body. You could use more local contacts.
    [X] egoo
Click to expand...
 
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Part MMMCDXXVI: Beneath Scented Boughs
  • Threadmarks
    • Beneath Scented Boughs ​

    Twenty Fourth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

    Beginning a correspondence with the lady would not be overly difficult given her current view of Buttercup, doing so in a way that would not burn your bridges with Lord Ashford proves more complicated. After subtly questioning Lady Adara to discover which of the powers and principalities of Westeros and beyond she is most sympathetic to you settle upon explaining that you 'do certain favors' for the Citadel and that they are concerned about growing fey influence. Would it be too much trouble for the lady to keep an eye and ear out for such matters and deliver letters of that nature to certain hiding places in town?

    The answer is thankfully no, though paired with a curiosity about who would be collecting said messages and if you would be reading them personally. You try not to think too much about her obvious disappointment when you answer no. Lya will doubtlessly find this as entertaining as Dany does, and the less said about what would happen when Glyra learns of how you had recruited your newest agent the better.

    Still, with the matter settled and the feast soon concluded you head out into the keep's walled gardens. A rarity among Westerosi keeps outside Highgarden, Ashford's garden had been a godswood once you suspect from the layout of the weather-worn stones. However, weirwoods and their pine sentinels had long since given way to peach, apple and fireplum all in flower, reaching their fragrant boughs over rose bushes, mock orange and night blooming lily. Here fey spirits and mortal lords and ladies drift among the hedges speaking softly, faint laughter echoing around the corner.

    This is an echo of the world the Court of Stars wishes to build, you realize, though only one side. Not the smallfolk bound to the land to the ends of their days, to be freed only at the whim of some lord or lady rather than their own efforts, not the merchants looked at with suspicion as agents of change and foreign powers.

    With Ser Richard at your side, you suspect as much to avoid the curious attentions of gossamer-garbed fey as to protect you, you set off in search of Ser Dregaire.

    Though the knight did not seek you out it is clear from the way his deep brown eyes light up at the sight of Ser Richard that he too is curious about the knight who had won the melee and joust one after another, overcoming even some of his own kin with sword and lance in hand.

    "Fair evening to you bold, Ser Geralt, most puissant Buttercup," he greets you with a nod of his antlered head. "What brings you into my company when so many others seek you out?"

    "I have always found it wiser, Ser, to seek out my own company rather than having it chosen for me," you answer smoothly.

    "A strange habit for a bard whose craft is best fulfilled by drawing many to heed word and song," the fey knight replies, though he motions to the bench opposite to his freely.

    "There is difference I have found between one's audience and those one counts near enough to call 'company'." You pause, lowering your tone just enough to mark a significant conversation without making an attempt at true secrecy. Too many eyes and ears about skilled in sorcery to do that here, and to be seen casting those veils would raise more questions than what you wish to say in any case. "I have found myself well pleased with my audience here at Ashford, but now I would seek out intriguing company..."

    It is only after the words had passed your lips that you realize they might be seen as flirtatious in a certain light. Hopefully they would not be... once was enough tonight.

    "Oh, pray tell fair bard, what do you know of the company of fey?" the knight prompts intrigued.

    "More than most. I have in my employ several fey, though they would for one reason or another make poor envoys with the spirits of Ashford forest and the Reach. Some are too secretive, others less respectable by most standards..."

    "Gremlins?" Ser Dregaire interrupts and gives a knowing laugh when you nod surprised. "You had the look about you, skilled though you are in showing the face you prefer to the world, I've lived besides gremlins long enough to recognize those blessed and cursed with their company."

    Well isn't that an odd tangle. Most gremlins are darkfey, of the shadow courts, or the wildfae who answer to no court or lord. Who does the fey knight pledge to that he would know them that well? "I could use more local contacts such as you, Ser."

    "'Contacts', the word is a slippery as a fresh-caught trout," the knight replies carefully. "Just what are you asking and what are you offering good... singer?"

    What do you reply?

    [] Try to hire him outright, you have the full resources of a realm as your disposal, and a treasure trove of magic bound among the folds of your cloak
    -[] Write in offer

    [] Try to question him about the shape of fey politics locally, particularly with regard to the ritual land bindings
    -[] Write in offer

    [] Write in

    OOC: Some more context of what this place actually looks like, with all the action and revelations recently I feel like we've had very little description going on.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Try to hire him outright, you have the full resources of a realm as your disposal, and a treasure trove of magic bound among the folds of your cloak


    I love his pictures too much not to recruit him.
     
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