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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 curious, since a lot of Faceless broke off from main order do we have a list of their numbers and levels? Anyone as strong as Grandmaster against us?

[X] Crake
 
[X] Crake

Think we could find the killer's home using a binary search and commune? Pick two points, like the castle and the center of the nearest town, then ask how far away the target's home is in intervals. Do that for both points and we get a circle around both where it could be, and the places where they intersect are our possible locations.

Commune only requires that the question be answerable with yes or no, so we shouldn't need more detail about who or what killed him. If we want to cover all of our bases we could even ask after then home of the primary organizer of his death to avoid catching the cutout any possible schemer got to do the deed.
 
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Canon Omake: Oozing With Charisma
  • Threadmarks
    • Oozing With Charisma
    ​
    Twenty-Sixth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC
    <<<Previous Next>>>

    Denys wasn't particularly attached to that crystal decanter, anyway. Darkstar leaned over his shoulder, a look of pure fascination, mixed with not a little disgust writ over his fine-boned face. "Is that alive?" The puddle of ooze wasn't congealing on the alchemist's workbench, it was achieving resonance with the crimson-colored crystal currently emitting a high pitched hum and suspended by a clever contraption of mithril and adamantine, multiple overgrowth spikes distending and receding in response to the reacting chemicals.

    "Trick of the eye," Denys deflected, even as the Dornish knight yanked him away from the shifting prism of spikes currently puncturing several holes through the tin of reagents haphazardly left out in the open. "A really tricky eye," he continued, carefully backing away even further. The two items almost seemed to merge before half a human head spontaneously began to form from a mixture of bloody vitae and a horrifyingly mesmerizing array of crystal latticework. "Never mind, kill it with fire."

    Gerold, eyes wide in terror, yanked the lever at the exit of the reinforced dwelling Denys had housed his borderline-forbidden experiments in, fey-craft sprayers pumping literal gallons of alchemist's fire into the room. They slammed the barred door, further reinforced with cold-rolled steel, shut behind them. The Dornishman rounded on his friend. "Explain. Now!"

    "...magic?" Denys offered. A horrifying whistle--no, screaming, came from within the squat building.

    Gerold backed up another dozen feet, his hand like a vice around the arm of the perpetually entranced alchemist, who was absently scribbling another several lines down on their pile of clipboard mounted notes. The knight fixed the man with a glare, soon as he was sure they weren't about to get impaled by the results of the researcher's 'professional curiosity', jabbing a finger into their chest. "No more wild magic experiments."

    "No more wild magic experiments," Denys agreed absently, a loud groan and several secondary explosions signaling the tanks in the hut going off. The roof collapsed inwardly. "...silver lining, we don't have to move everything out, now." He smiled wanly, patting his satchel.

    Gerold took that to mean the madman was finally finished, else he wouldn't have risked his final experiment upon that which neither of them truly comprehended. So brazenly, too. "It's finished then?"

    "Yes," Denys tested the word uncertainly, "Yes!" He said more certain after Gerold's unimpressed glance. "Quite finished. Now we just have to present our findings to the King."

    "Our?" Gerold said, dumbfounded.

    "Well Mercy can hardly claim credit, helping me ward off curious fey and calming and reassuring townsfolk with their dashing good looks." Denys said lightly, "It would ruin her angelic image to truck with us daredevils." For a wonder Gerold couldn't comprehend how the man kept a straight face through it all. It was like a huge weight had shifted from the Crownlander's shoulders, watching the catalyzed essence of a month's work go up in smoke and only content because he had definitively extracted all of value from it before burning it down behind him, like a man clearing the slate and getting a fresh start.

    "Arisen like a phoenix from ashes," Gerold said in exasperation. "Let's go back to the Keep and report to the Lord one last time."

    Denys looked over his shoulder as they began to walk away, a thoughtful pursing of his lips leading the man to pause and wonder. Gerold halted, having had the same thought.

    "It's probably a good idea to make sure it's dead." Both men hadn't thought of that beforehand.

    "Aye," Gerold replied, so very reluctantly, as they turned around to deal with the flames.

    They really should have thought about that.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Not super relevant right now, but I was just looking through the wondrous items list and found something useful that I don't want to risk forgetting between now and whenever it's relevant again. Construct Channel Brick is a CL 7 item that lets anyone with the channel energy class feature use it to heal constructs and objects. That's way stronger than mending, way cheaper than memory of function, and doesn't have usage limits beyond the channel of the PC holding it.

    That makes it a good fit for emergency and field repairs for our various construct vessels. For the war forged it's worth considering the value of having each one carry a brick just so regular clerics can do something for them.
    Edit: dropped comma
     
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    @Crake, I was under the impression that Denys wished to achieve Immortality and resurrecting his father.

    Instead I got... this. What was he doing? Crafting a Homunculi?
     
    Massgamer said:
    @DragonParadox curious, since a lot of Faceless broke off from main order do we have a list of their numbers and levels? Anyone as strong as Grandmaster against us?

    [X] Crake
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    It was a roughly even distribution so yes you guys can assume one or two as strong as the grandmaster has gone rogue. They are not as far as you know specifically against you, just doing what Faceless have always done, being a death cult for hire.
     
    Vote closed.
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Apr 4, 2020 at 5:25 AM, finished with 28 posts and 14 votes.
    • [X] Send basic divinations toward both the 'late' Lord Luthor, if that indeed he be, and toward his son Lord Elwood and also the Poacher.
      -[X] {1 Elwood Chain
      --[X] 1.1 Did Elwood intentionally use the corpse of the dead poacher as part of a cover-up related to his father's apparent death or disappearance?
      ---[X] 1.2 If so then was it because his father to his knowledge remains alive but out of reach or dead in a way that would could not be made known?
      ----[X] 1.3 Does Lord Elwood truly hate sorcery, or is that just a credible story to excuse keeping mages or the magical from poking about his lands digging for clues?
      -----[X] 1.4 Does Lord Elwood have a motive for becoming Lord over his father in an immediate sense?
      ------[X] 1.5 Does Lord Elwood have enemies? Continue this line of inquiry until they are narrowed down based on likelihood of related cause and effect.
      -[X] {2 Luthor Chain
      --[X] 2.1 Was Lord Luthor attacked in the woods?
      ---[X] 2.2 If so, what was he attacked by? Narrowing it down so as not to bog up the chain, Viserys guesses some sort of were-creature, or some kind of darkfey (narrowing down further using our vast lore based on cursory clues provided by divinations). Will reevaluate this point of inquiry based on other findings.
      ----[X] 2.3 Anyone have any motives for targeting Lord Luthor?
      ------[X] 2.4 Does/did Lord Luthor have enemies? Continue this line of inquiry until they are narrowed down based on likelihood of related cause and effect.
      -------[X] 2.5 Is his wife aware of his whereabouts or fate? Repeat inquiry with any other living direct family.
      -[X] {3 Poacher Chain
      --[X] 3.1 Is the Poacher unrelated to this chain of events and just a convenient part of a cover-up? Based on awareness or connection to this, investigate further.
      -[X] Make note of any inquiry which runs into wards, as it will dramatically change your investigation's focus. Evaluate for more lines of inquiry after you have received your first set of answers.
    Click to expand...
     
    BronzeTongue said:
    Not super relevant right now, but I was just looking through the wondrous items list and found something useful that I don't want to risk forgetting between now and whenever it's relevant again. Construct Channel Brick is a CL 7 item that lets anyone with the channel energy class feature use it to heal constructs and objects. That's way stronger than mending, way cheaper than memory of function, and doesn't have usage limits beyond the channel of the PC holding it.

    That makes it a good fit for emergency and field repairs for our various construct vessels. For the war forged it's worth considering the value of having each one carry a brick just so regular clerics can do something for them.
    Edit: dropped comma
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    The Channel Energy class feature is one of the big differences between D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder, replacing 3.5's Turn/Rebuke Undead feature entirely. Unfortunately, that means it doesn't exist in the ASWAH setting.

    Channel Energy is another significant PF improvement Paizo made over 3.5, IMO. Decent AOE healing (or damage) is nice and generally much more useful than using Turn/Rebuke (ignoring the whole Divine Metamagic thing), but it's also really customizable once you start adding certain feats into the mix.
     
    Crake said:
    Oozing With Charisma
    ​
    Twenty-Sixth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC
    <<<Previous

    Denys wasn't particularly attached to that crystal decanter, anyway. Darkstar leaned over his shoulder, a look of pure fascination, mixed with not a little disgust writ over his fine-boned face. "Is that alive?" The puddle of ooze wasn't congealing on the alchemist's workbench, it was achieving resonance with the crimson-colored crystal currently emitting a high pitched hum and suspended by a clever contraption of mithril and adamantine, multiple overgrowth spikes distending and receding in response to the reacting chemicals.

    "Trick of the eye," Denys deflected, even as the Dornish knight yanked him away from the shifting prism of spikes currently puncturing several holes through the tin of reagents haphazardly left out in the open. "A really tricky eye," he continued, carefully backing away even further. The two items almost seemed to merge before half a human head spontaneously began to form from a mixture of bloody vitae and a horrifyingly mesmerizing array of crystal latticework. "Never mind, kill it with fire."

    Gerold, eyes wide in terror, yanked the lever at the exit of the reinforced dwelling Denys had housed his borderline-forbidden experiments in, fey-craft sprayers pumping literal gallons of alchemist's fire into the room. They slammed the barred door, further reinforced with cold-rolled steel, shut behind them. The Dornishman rounded on his friend. "Explain. Now!"

    "...magic?" Denys offered. A horrifying whistle--no, screaming, came from within the squat building.

    Gerold backed up another dozen feet, his hand like a vice around the arm of the perpetually entranced alchemist, who was absently scribbling another several lines down on their pile of clipboard mounted notes. The knight fixed the man with a glare, soon as he was sure they weren't about to get impaled by the results of the researcher's 'professional curiosity', jabbing a finger into their chest. "No more wild magic experiments."

    "No more wild magic experiments," Denys agreed absently, a loud groan and several secondary explosions signaling the tanks in the hut going off. The roof collapsed inwardly. "...silver lining, we don't have to move everything out, now." He smiled wanly, patting his satchel.

    Gerold took that to mean the madman was finally finished, else he wouldn't have risked his final experiment upon that which neither of them truly comprehended. So brazenly, too. "It's finished then?"

    "Yes," Denys tested the word uncertainly, "Yes!" He said more certain after Gerold's unimpressed glance. "Quite finished. Now we just have to present our findings to the King."

    "Our?" Gerold said, dumbfounded.

    "Well Mercy can hardly claim credit, helping me ward off curious fey and calming and reassuring townsfolk with their dashing good looks." Denys said lightly, "It would ruin her angelic image to truck with us daredevils." For a wonder Gerold couldn't comprehend how the man kept a straight face through it all. It was like a huge weight had shifted from the Crownlander's shoulders, watching the catalyzed essence of a month's work go up in smoke and only content because he had definitively extracted all of value from it before burning it down behind him, like a man clearing the slate and getting a fresh start.

    "Arisen like a phoenix from ashes," Gerold said in exasperation. "Let's go back to the Keep and report to the Lord one last time."

    Denys looked over his shoulder as they began to walk away, a thoughtful pursing of his lips leading the man to pause and wonder. Gerold halted, having had the same thought.

    "It's probably a good idea to make sure it's dead." Both men hadn't thought of that beforehand.

    "Aye," Gerold replied, so very reluctantly, as they turned around to deal with the flames.

    They really should have thought about that.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Nice to see that our mad scientists are still conscientious about preventing the accidental creation and release of monsters. :p

    /looking at you, Owlbear creator...
     
    Inserted tally
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Apr 4, 2020 at 5:25 AM, finished with 28 posts and 14 votes.
    • [X] Send basic divinations toward both the 'late' Lord Luthor, if that indeed he be, and toward his son Lord Elwood and also the Poacher.
      -[X] {1 Elwood Chain
      --[X] 1.1 Did Elwood intentionally use the corpse of the dead poacher as part of a cover-up related to his father's apparent death or disappearance?
      ---[X] 1.2 If so then was it because his father to his knowledge remains alive but out of reach or dead in a way that would could not be made known?
      ----[X] 1.3 Does Lord Elwood truly hate sorcery, or is that just a credible story to excuse keeping mages or the magical from poking about his lands digging for clues?
      -----[X] 1.4 Does Lord Elwood have a motive for becoming Lord over his father in an immediate sense?
      ------[X] 1.5 Does Lord Elwood have enemies? Continue this line of inquiry until they are narrowed down based on likelihood of related cause and effect.
      -[X] {2 Luthor Chain
      --[X] 2.1 Was Lord Luthor attacked in the woods?
      ---[X] 2.2 If so, what was he attacked by? Narrowing it down so as not to bog up the chain, Viserys guesses some sort of were-creature, or some kind of darkfey (narrowing down further using our vast lore based on cursory clues provided by divinations). Will reevaluate this point of inquiry based on other findings.
      ----[X] 2.3 Anyone have any motives for targeting Lord Luthor?
      ------[X] 2.4 Does/did Lord Luthor have enemies? Continue this line of inquiry until they are narrowed down based on likelihood of related cause and effect.
      -------[X] 2.5 Is his wife aware of his whereabouts or fate? Repeat inquiry with any other living direct family.
      -[X] {3 Poacher Chain
      --[X] 3.1 Is the Poacher unrelated to this chain of events and just a convenient part of a cover-up? Based on awareness or connection to this, investigate further.
      -[X] Make note of any inquiry which runs into wards, as it will dramatically change your investigation's focus. Evaluate for more lines of inquiry after you have received your first set of answers.
    Click to expand...
     
    Part MMMCDXXV: By Threefold Treachery
  • Threadmarks
    • By Threefold Treachery ​

    Twenty-Sixth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

    Dark are these woods and tangled their paths, but not so dark nor yet so tangled that the Dream cannot reveal the truth. Young Lord Elwood is free of any treachery and knows nothing of the false bones resting in his family's crypt. He truly believes that his father was overcome by some monstrous beast while hunting and slain with a prayer to the Warrior on his lips. The truth, as found in dreams and in the minds of armsmen toward which those dream-wrought questions directed you, is far different. In the days before his untimely death, Lord Luthor Meadows heard told of a great boar with a pelt of silver. Being a vain man and desiring that trophy for his own he set out at once on a hunt surrounded only by lowborn attendants that none might claim his prize.

    Lost 100 XP (Commune Cost)

    Alas for him his prize proved to be no mere beast but a mortal man touched by the spirits of the wild and the power of the moon that he might take on a beast's shape when it suited him, his magic waxing and waning with the moon. As most smallfolk given such a power Old Jon had turned to poaching in the lord's woods, content in the knowledge that none would suspect him or his kin. Yet Lord Luthor and his hunters found him and tracked him back to his home. In the battle that followed three of the armsmen died along with Old Jon's family and Lord Luthor himself was cut by one of the boar-man's tusks, the magic of the change coming upon him at once under the light of the full moon.

    Though you are no stranger to ruins old or new, there is something especially melancholy about the ransacked hut at the edge of the woods, the door creaking on a broken hinge.

    "Magic or no, they never stood a chance," Lya sighs, taking her hand off one of the splinters of a bloodstained table that had borne witness to the killing.

    The men who had worked this slaughter had returned not to the new Lord Meadows, a boy of thirteen, but to his mother, the Lady Iraene, and she in turn commanded them to find and slay the now 'monstrous' Lord Luther so that her son could reign in peace. Partly from fear, partly from lingering loyalty, the armsmen did not seek either silver boar out, but instead slew another poacher, boiled the flesh from his bones and presented them to the lady as her late husband's, claiming that magic had made all the flesh melt away.

    So the lady is now content, the boy lord mourns his father's supposed heroic death while in the woods two silver boars roam with blood in their eyes, for vengeance or the weight of a blessing turned curse in the passing of it.

    What do you do next?

    [] Try to find Lord Luthor and help him regain his mind

    [] Try to find Old Jon, the man was innocent of all wrongdoing save poaching to feed his family

    [] Confront Lady Iraene with the truth of what happened
    -[] Write in

    [] Speak to Lord Elwood
    -[] Write in

    [] Write in

    OOC: And here we are, a lycanthrope as you guys guessed, though with a much more complex cover-up going on than just the young lord knowingly usurping his father.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Just noticed, and read the omake, great work @Crake. I loved the 'kill it with fire' line and Ser Gerold playing the straight man. Really he's lucky he only had Denys to deal with and not say Qyburn.

    That said I'm not sure I believe Denys about no more wild magic experiments. ;)
     
    DragonParadox said:
    By Threefold Treachery ​

    Twenty-Sixth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

    Dark are these woods and tangled their paths, but not so dark nor yet so tangled that the Dream cannot reveal the truth. Young Lord Elwood is free of any treachery and knows nothing of the false bones resting in his family crypt. He truly believes that his father was overcome by some monstrous beast while hunting and slain with a prayer to the Warrior on his lips. The truth, as found in Dreams and in the minds of armsmen toward which those dream-wrought questions directed you, is far different. In the days before his untimely death, Luthor Meadows heard told of a great boar with a pelt of silver. Being a vain man and desiring that trophy for his own, he set out at once on a hunt, surrounded only by lowborn attendants that none might claim his prize.

    Lost 100 XP (Commune Cost)

    Alas for him, his prize proved to be no mere beast but a mortal man touched by the spirits of the wild and the power of the moon that he might take on a beast's shape when it suited him, his magic waxing and waning with the moon. As most smallfolk given such a power, Old Jon had turned to poaching in the lord's woods, content in the knowledge that none would suspect him or his kin. Yet Lord Luthor and his hunters found him and tracked him back to his kin. In the battle that followed, three of the armsmen died and Lord Luthor himself was cut by one of the boar-man's tusks, the magic of the change coming upon him at once under the light of the full moon.

    Though you are no stranger to ruins, old or new, there is something especially melancholy about the ransacked hut at the edge of the woods, the door creaking on a broken hinge.

    "Magic or no, they never stood a chance," Lya sighs, taking her hand off one of the splintered blood-stained table that had borne witness to the killing.

    The men who had worked this slaughter had returned not to the new Lord Meadows, a boy of thirteen, but to his mother, the Lady Iraene, and she in turn commanded them to find and slay the now 'monstrous' Lord Luther that her son could reign in peace. Partly from fear, partly from lingering loyalty, the armsmen did not seek either silver boar out, but instead slew another poacher boiled the flesh from his bones and presented them to the lady as her late husband's, claiming that magic had made all the flesh melt away.

    So the lady is now content, the boy lord mourns his father's supposed heroic death while in the woods, and two silver boars roam with blood in their eyes, for vengeance or the weight of a blessing turned curse in the passing of it.

    What do you do next?

    [] Try to find Lord Luthor and help him regain his mind

    [] Try to find Old Jon, the man was innocent of all wrongdoing save poaching to feed his family

    [] Confront Lady Iraene with the truth of what happened
    -[] Write in

    [] Speak to Lord Elwood
    -[] Write in

    [] Write in

    OOC: And here we are, a lycanthrope as you guys guessed, though with a much more complex cover-up going on than just the young lord knowingly usurping his father. Not yet edited.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

    Huh, I'm not sure how we should do this, y'all. I would like to find Old Jon, but his grievances may make him understandably hostile and irrational. Luthor just sounds like a tool, and the land might be better off in his son's control. Restoring him would probably be best for us, however, in gaining favor while simultaneously locking out the Fey.

    Then again, the Fey are already locked out.
     
    People are still asleep ei... Usurping the vote!

    [ :V ] Summon Alexander Harris from Xander Quest and have him challenge the Boar!
     
    [X] Try to find Old Jon, the man was innocent of all wrongdoing save poaching to feed his family
     
    [X] Try to find Old Jon, the man was innocent of all wrongdoing save poaching to feed his family

    Well, this appears to be a good old fashioned clusterfuck.

    If we find the Lord and bring him back alive that's going to be a whole new kettle of fish because his wife just straight up wrote him off as soon as she got the news.

    Not sure if she just hated the guy, has groomed her son to be a figurehead while she rules behind the throne, or just hates magic to the point where she'd rather just kill the problem rather than try and find another solution to solve it.

    Whatever the case if we walk up in there with the Lord in tow in any way shape or form someone is going to lose their shit, and not in the fun way.
     
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