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

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Part MMMCDXXVIII: Stepping in Tandem
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    • Stepping in Tandem​

    Twenty-Sixth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

    "Don't wear red...?" It is not the first time you have been surprised by an answer born of your own foresight, but it is the first time you have been legitimately bemused. "What could the color of my cloak have to do with meeting Lord Tybalt?" Personally you are rather fond of red accents in your illusory garb. It sets off softer, more muted colors nicely and if used carefully can distract witnesses from recalling more pertinent details about one's appearance. Ideally even glamoured you can pass through a town and not be recalled for more than a few days.

    "Never mind colors. What could my presence possibly do to offend him?" Lya asks annoyed. "It can't be because of the magic, you haven't precisely been subtle with yours. Hells, the Reach is full of magic these days..."

    "It's because you're a woman most likely," Ser Richard says, setting his tankard of bear down on the splintered table. He had assured you it tastes better than this place looks at least, not that it's saying much. The Grouse and Gander had likely seen its heyday back when the Greens and Blacks were fighting overhead.

    "Oh..." you trail off in understanding. "That is remarkably stupid." You had already killed one lord today, but you remind yourself idiocy alone is no reason to kill someone. Turning to Lya you explain. "The Dornish have a reputation, deserved of course, for seeing more women in power. The sly Dornishwoman plotting behind her ineffectual husband's back is something of a staple of a particular sort of ballad common in the Reach."

    "Still not seeing what that has to do with me," Lya's eyes narrow the way they do when faced with a stubborn riddle to unravel... or an enemy who will soon not be counted among the living.

    "You've got the coloring for it, underneath all the magic I mean," Ser Richard adds. "Maybe he'd think you are some Dornish lord's bastard, maybe he just won't think at all and just do what his gut tells him."

    "Guts are usually best used for processing food," Lya says tightly, seamlessly slipping into High Valyrian. "Though given what I have been hearing perhaps the good Lord Tybalt thinks with something further down the digestive tract."

    "Something full of shit, aye," you laugh. "Well, he will just have to deal with you just the same, you will either be his queen soon or he will not have a lordship to trouble himself with."

    Lya briefly contemplates the prospect before inclining her head thoughtfully. "What if I dressed differently? Well, change the glamour to look like I'm dressed differently, more like they do here in the Reach?"

    "You don't have to..." you begin.

    "I want to," she cuts in firmly. "You are the one who said ruling is a lot like mummery. What's mummery without costumes?" Though she smiles on the last question Lya's words are still thoughtful. "It costs me practically nothing and would help ensure a pledge of fealty from a lord of some import."

    "What did I ever do to deserve you?" you ask ruefully.

    "Well, you started out by walking into a temple under a glamour to deliver a ransom note..." she begins teasingly.

    "Don't remind me, drives a man to drink it does," Ser Richard said, draining his tankard to illustrate point.

    ***​

    So it is that two hours later that the three of you find yourselves ushered into the solar of Lord Tybalt Blackbar by a somewhat nervous footman. The letter you sent had been met with a cautious assent as you had known it would. By contrast the smile upon the face of the man who greets you is almost blinding. The Lord of Bandallon is well into the sixth decade, though hair and beard turned grey with age do little to hide the lines of a face that must have been much admired in his youth. A vain man too, you have little doubt, and one with no tolerance for whatever humiliation he endured.


    "Your Grace, Ser knight," he bows to you and nods towards Ser Richard before turning to Lya with a question in his eyes. "My lady...?"

    "Lya of Braavos," she replies with a courtesy that owes far more to sorcery than experience. "I have no kin to claim me so I would claim my work instead."

    "Ah... I heard," from the sounds of it Lord Blackbar had not quite believed what he had heard. "Wisdom Lya is it?"

    "Yes, if you wish to be formal," she shrugs, the gesture more calculated than she is wont to use, sorcery still humming in the air. "I would not think ill of you, my lord, for not having wholly mastered the formalities of a realm a thousand leagues away." The words are delivered with a smile graciously meant to keep the lord from taking offense, all the while placing him subtly in her debt. "There are far more pressing needs upon us all in these trying times." And ended on an implicit compliment, excellent.

    The fact that she had been speaking High Valyrian throughout, the tongue of scholarship in Westeros, which you happen to know Lord Tybalt speaks fluently as well, doubtlessly made for an unusual impression.

    "Indeed, trying times, strange times like a whirlwind on a clear day," he shakes before his head turning to you. "Between the Tyrells plotting with the fey and Doran bloody Martell gathering an army of wizards right under the nose of that fool in King's Landing it'll be a wonder if there won't be war in these lands within the year, mark my words."

    The remark is a test of some sort, though of what you cannot say for certain. How far you would defend Prince Doran, how quickly you would ponce on the comment about the Usurper? Perhaps even your thoughts on the Tyrells and their fey bargains.

    What do you reply?

    [] Write in

    OOC: Some good rolls from Lya overall, mostly by cheating as only a mythic archmage can.
     
    Last edited:
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    • Goldfish said:
    Just found a very interesting spell, @Azel. It's almost like giving a creature the Metal-Clad (Lead) template.

    @DragonParadox, this spell is 2nd level. What level would a version need to be to actually give a temporary version of Metal-Clad (Lead) template?
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    I feel it may be a touch unbalanced to reduce a template to the effects of a readily available spell, so I would say 6th level, out of reach of the vast majority of casters.
     
    Stepping in Tandem​

    Twenty-Sixth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

    "Don't wear red...?" It is not the first time you have been surprised by an answer born of your own foresight, but it is the first time you have been legitimately bemused. "What could the color of my cloak have to do with meeting Lord Tybalt?" Personally, you are rather fond of red accents in your illusory garb. It sets off softer, more muted colors nicely and if used carefully can distract witnesses from recalling more pertinent details about one's appearance. Ideally, even glamored you can pass through a town and not be recalled for more than a few days.

    "Never mind colors. What could my presence possibility do to offend him?" Lya asks annoyed. "It can't be because of the magic, you haven't precisely been subtle with yours. Hells, the Reach is full of magic these days..."

    "It's most likely because you're a woman," Ser Richard says, setting his tankard of beer down on the splintered table. He had assured you it tastes better than this place looks at least, not that it's saying much. The Grouse and Gander had likely seen its heyday back when the Greens and Blacks were fighting overhead.

    "Oh..." you trail off in understanding. "That is remarkably stupid." You had already killed one lord today, but you remind yourself idiocy alone is no reason to kill someone. Turning to Lya, you explain. "The Dornish have a reputation, deserved of course, for seeing more women in power. The sly Dornishwoman plotting behind her ineffectual husband's back is something of a staple of a particular sort of ballad common in the Reach."

    "Still not seeing what that has to do with me," Lya's eyes narrow the way they do when faced with a stubborn riddle to unravel... or an enemy who will soon not be counted among the living.

    "You've got the coloring for it, underneath all the magic I mean," Ser Richard adds. "Maybe he'd think you are some Dornish lord's bastard, maybe he just won't think at all, and just do what his gut tells him."

    "Guts are usually best used for processing food," Lya says tightly, seamlessly slipping into High Valyrian. "Though given what I have been hearing, perhaps the good lord Tybalt thinks with something further down the digestive tract."

    "Something full of shit, aye," you laugh. "Well he will just have to deal with you just the same. You will either be his queen soon, or he will not have a lordship to trouble himself with."

    Lya briefly contemplates the prospect before inclining her head thoughtfully. "What if I dressed differently? Well change the glamor to look like I'm dressed differently, more like they do here in the Reach?"

    "You don't have to..." you begin.

    "I want to," she cuts in firmly. "You are the one who said ruling is a lot like mummery. What's mummery without costumes?" Though she smiles on the last question, Lya's words are still thoughtful. "It costs me practically nothing and would help ensure a pledge of fealty from a lord of some import."

    "What did I ever do to deserve you?" you ask ruefully.

    "Well you started out by walking into a temple under a glamor to deliver a ransom note..." she begins teasingly.

    "Don't remind me, drives a man to drink it does," Ser Richard said draining his tankard to illustrate the point.

    ***​

    So it is that two hours later the three of you find yourselves ushered into the solar of Lord Tybalt Blackbar by a somewhat nervous footman. The letter you sent had been met with a cautious assent, as you had known it would. By contrast, the smile upon the face of the man who greets you is almost blinding. The Lord of Bandallon is well into the sixth decade, though hair and beard turned silver with age do little to hide the lines of a face that must have been much admired in his youth. A vain man, too, you have little doubt, and one with no tolerance for whatever humiliation he endured.


    "Your Grace, Ser knight," he bows to you and nods towards ser Richard before turning to Lya with a question in his eyes. "My lady...?"

    "Lya of Braavos," she replies with a courtesy that owes far more to sorcery and experience. "I have no kin to claim me, so I would claim my work instead."

    "Ah... I heard," from the sounds of it Lord Blackbar had not quite believed what he had heard. "Wisdom Lya, is it?"

    "Yes, if you wish to be formal," she shrugs, the gesture more calculated than she is wont to use, sorcery still humming in the air. "I would not think ill of you my lord for not having wholly mastered the formalities of a realm a thousand leagues away." The words are delivered with a gracious smile meant to keep the lord from taking offense, all the while placing him subtly in her debt. "There are far more pressing needs upon all us all in these trying times." And ended on an implicit compliment, excellent.

    The fact that she had been speaking High Valyrian throughout, the tongue of scholarship in Westeros, which you happen to know Lord Tybalt speaks fluently as well, doubtless made for an unusual impression.

    "Indeed, trying times, strange times like a whirlwind on a clear day," he shakes his head turning to you. "Between the Tyrells plotting with the fey and Doran bloody Martel gathering an army of wizards right under the nose of that fool in King's Landing, it'll be a wonder if there won't be war in these lands within the year mark my words."

    The remark is a test of some sort, though of what you cannot say for certain. How far you would defend Prince Doran, how quickly you would pounce on the comment about the Usurper? Perhaps even your thoughts on the Tyrells and their fey bargains.

    What do you reply?

    [] Write in

    OOC: Some good rolls from Lya overall, mostly by cheating as only a mythic archmage can. Not yet edited.
    Here's an edited version of the chapter, @DragonParadox.
    Ser Richard says, setting his tankard of bear down on the splintered table
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    Typo, or is the secret to Richard's success his habit of drinking distilled bear? :p
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Between the Tyrells plotting with the fey and Doran bloody Martel gathering an army of wizards right under the nose of that fool in King's Landing it'll be a wonder if there won't be war in these lands within the year mark my words."
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    "There won't be a war, just the sound of a score thousand legion boots marching through Westeros, a steady rythm my dragons will dance to as they soar to the sky. You would would be amused about how many have secretly switched sides, my lord."
     
    DragonParadox said:
    "Indeed, trying times, strange times like a whirlwind on a clear day," he shakes before his head turning to you. "Between the Tyrells plotting with the fey and Doran bloody Martell gathering an army of wizards right under the nose of that fool in King's Landing it'll be a wonder if there won't be war in these lands within the year, mark my words."
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    If you want to call it that.
    I'd rather think of it as a vacation for my legion between fighting my real foes.
     
    Not sure what to comment on the whole war thing, but I think a good reversal of his prejudices would be to act derisive of Robert's own failures to gather a magical army. It nearly sidesteps the concerns about the Dornish, making what they do only basic common sense that most other lords are, in fact, already doing, and isn't too aggressive against Robert despite marginalizing him as a threat. Theoretically it could even be a subtle point that war wouldn't matter much, since Robert doesn't have any means of fighting on the new fields of warfare.
     
    Tomcost said:
    "There won't be a war, just the sound of a score thousand legion boots marching through Westeros, a steady rythm my dragons will dance to as they soar to the sky. You would would be amused about how many have secretly switched sides, my lord."
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    We might be a little too confident here, we've flipped a lot of lords, which would be great if they actually mattered on a military level, but our enemies aren't going to gather up a posse to sword and board us.

    We will almost certainly have to fight an army, but the real threat is going to be the wacky hijinks the goldshields, fey, chosen, deep ones, and others pull while we're distracted.

    I kind of expect the chosen to open with some McGuffins, or possibly a spite summon that ends with high level Angels/Archons pull surprise miracle assassinations. The fey will probably go for weaponizing narrativium with something like a cheesy "chosen one" plot. The deep ones will show us just how far their pod people infiltration goes, and the golden shields will probably end up as fuel for someone's blood sacrifice. If it isn't organized by the Lannisters, it'll be because Hell finally got around to coring out their souls.

    I wouldn't be surprised if at least one faction with sacrificial vectors pulled something like conquering a city of muggles out somewhere we can't see and used them to fuel huge ritual curses.The degree of bullshit we get away with has more than opened the door to stuff like "Hammer of the Waters Mark 2, Fish Face Boogaloo".
     
    BronzeTongue said:
    We might be a little too confident here, we've flipped a lot of lords, which would be great if they actually mattered on a military level, but our enemies aren't going to gather up a posse to sword and board us.

    We will almost certainly have to fight an army, but the real threat is going to be the wacky hijinks the goldshields, fey, chosen, deep ones, and others pull while we're distracted.

    I kind of expect the chosen to open with some McGuffins, or possibly a spite summon that ends with high level Angels/Archons pull surprise miracle assassinations. The fey will probably go for weaponizing narrativium with something like a cheesy "chosen one" plot. The deep ones will show us just how far their pod people infiltration goes, and the golden shields will probably end up as fuel for someone's blood sacrifice. If it isn't organized by the Lannisters, it'll be because Hell finally got around to coring out their souls.

    I wouldn't be surprised if at least one faction with sacrificial vectors pulled something like conquering a city of muggles out somewhere we can't see and used them to fuel huge ritual curses.The degree of bullshit we get away with has more than opened the door to stuff like "Hammer of the Waters Mark 2, Fish Face Boogaloo".
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    Those are things thst are going to be handled by PCs.

    If by the time of the conquest there is a battle to be fought by our armies it is going to be simply a show of our power
     
    I think it's best to completely deflect from his Dornish prejudices for now, and instead focus him on more important matters, like the Fey.

    [X] "The situation with the Fey is more dire than you may realize, my lord..."
    -[X] Go on to explain the true goal of the Court of Stars, why they seek to make pacts with the Lords of the Reach, and how we have so far stymied their efforts to bring the entire region under their control by denying them the crown of their slumbering king.
    --[X] Blackbar rebuffed the Fey, but many of his fellow lords were not so wise. Should they try to be more forceful with their next attempt, or more deceitful, he cannot expect help from the Tyrell's who are up to their eyeballs in Fey plotting, or the ineffectual buffoon in King's Landing who is content to allow Westeros to flounder rather than even attempt to guide them through the storm of magic's return. We can and will aid Blackbar, however, and those like him.
     
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    Tomcost said:
    Those are things thst are going to be handled by PCs.

    If by the time of the conquest there is a battle to be fought by our armies it is going to be simply a show of our power
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    We might be able to handle the CoS since they're localized, but the devils and the deep ones are all over the place. We might be able to distract them, but not force them to stay out of the conflict if they really want to use the opening.

    The chosen have the backing of salting gods, and despite how dumb they can be the seven have all the motive they need to cheat as hard as they can to fuck with us. That problem alone will require a free hand than we can really use pre conquest. Even if we somehow defuse the pod people, keep the devils bottled up in Slaver's Bay, avoid triggering the Other's latest trap card, and slap down the CoS we'll still have at least one faction capable of hurting us running around during the invasion.

    I think we can make the reconquest work, but assuming that it'll all be over by the time we take to the field is a mistake.
     
    Goldfish said:
    [X] "The situation with the Fey is more fire than you may realize, my lord..."
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    Do you mean Dire, not Fire? Or are the Fey planning to burn a bunch of shit?
    Goldfish said:
    --[X] Blackbar rebuffed the Fey, but many of his fellow lords were not so wise. Should they try to be more forceful with their next attempt, or more deceitful, he cannot expect help from the Tyrell's who are up to their eyeballs in Fey plotting, or the ineffectual buffoon in King's Landing who is content to allow Westeros to flounder rather than even attempt to guide them through the storm of Mario's return. We can and will aid Blackbar, however, and those like him.
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    I don't remember us running across a plumber in red overalls. :D
    (Sorry if this comes off as rude, I just saw some typos that would make good jokes. I am not trying to be insulting)
     
    BronzeTongue said:
    We might be able to handle the CoS since they're localized, but the devils and the deep ones are all over the place. We might be able to distract them, but not force them to stay out of the conflict if they really want to use the opening.

    The chosen have the backing of salting gods, and despite how dumb they can be the seven have all the motive they need to cheat as hard as they can to fuck with us. That problem alone will require a free hand than we can really use pre conquest. Even if we somehow defuse the pod people, keep the devils bottled up in Slaver's Bay, avoid triggering the Other's latest trap card, and slap down the CoS we'll still have at least one faction capable of hurting us running around during the invasion.

    I think we can make the reconquest work, but assuming that it'll all be over by the time we take to the field is a mistake.
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    Yet all these things are not threats handled by the legion, but by the inquisition.

    What I meant was that if we ever get into a position where we have to fight an actual battle with an army, it is because we have done things terribly wrong. All the threats that you describe are handled in the shadows, not in the open.

    The conquest aspect of the conquest will be easy. But we will have a lot of opposition in the intrigue department.
     
    Ericwinter said:
    Do you mean Dire, not Fire? Or are the Fey planning to burn a bunch of shit?

    I don't remember us running across a plumber in red overalls. :D
    (Sorry if this comes off as rude, I just saw some typos that would make good jokes. I am not trying to be insulting)
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    Gotta love my Kindle's exceptionally bad auto-corrupt feature.

    Thanks for pointing the typos out. I'd already noticed and fixed the first one, but not the second. Why it would change magic to Mario is a mystery to me.
     
    Acolyte said:
    So, for example, how good are our normal legionnaires compared to the normal men at arms.
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    It's really no contest. Our Legions would make mincemeat of several times their number. Training them to work as a cohesive army rather than a bunch of individuals, along with equipping every single one of them to a standard that only the wealthiest knight could previously afford, means Westeros is very poorly prepared to face them in battle. And that's before counting on all of the support they will have from our aerial forces, mages, and special units.
     
    Tomcost said:
    Yet all these things are not threats handled by the legion, but by the inquisition.

    What I meant was that if we ever get into a position where we have to fight an actual battle with an army, it is because we have done things terribly wrong. All the threats that you describe are handled in the shadows, not in the open.

    The conquest aspect of the conquest will be easy. But we will have a lot of opposition in the intrigue department.
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    That's fair enough; I was more making a point about timing than the difficulty of the actual military campaign. We could still be surprised there given how many ancient magical castles they have to raid for parts or use as backstops to a campaign, but it seems unlikely.

    [X] Goldfish
     
    Need some more votes, y'all.
    Adhoc vote count started by Goldfish on Apr 5, 2020 at 10:16 AM, finished with 23 posts and 6 votes.
    • [X] "The situation with the Fey is more dire than you may realize, my lord..."
      -[X] Go on to explain the true goal of the Court of Stars, why they seek to make pacts with the Lords of the Reach, and how we have so far stymied their efforts to bring the entire region under their control by denying them the crown of their slumbering king.
      --[X] Blackbar rebuffed the Fey, but many of his fellow lords were not so wise. Should they try to be more forceful with their next attempt, or more deceitful, he cannot expect help from the Tyrell's who are up to their eyeballs in Fey plotting, or the ineffectual buffoon in King's Landing who is content to allow Westeros to flounder rather than even attempt to guide them through the storm of magic's return. We can and will aid Blackbar, however, and those like him.
      [X]
    Click to expand...
     
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