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

Tenth Day of the First Month 294 AC

"There's the hill ahead. I knew we could make it by evening." Waymar motions towards the steep rocky hill ahead of you, rising like a fist in truth over the dark green of the Haunted Forest. He had been the one to argue the most for just riding north past the Wall instead of forging blood passage to the nearest Godswood.


Truth be told, you could see his point. Any Free Folk left out here wouldn't have any wards to protect them like in Thennhold, only whatever protection summer itself would give them. Given the escape of the Thenns and Winter's defeat, first in the ruined fortress and then in the sky, it would hardly surprise you for Them to mark whichever tree you made use of in your passage and strike at both it and whatever clans tended to its grove.

Vee had pointed out that you had no real way to defend all of the Godswoods or the lingering bands in the Far North. Whether the Enemy decided to start its trail of ruin in your wake or not, it would come out the same in the end. They might even lose more than they gain if they act for spite. But for all that, you noticed she had not argued very hard against getting on the shadow steed. Inevitable or not, no one had wanted to risk drawing a veil of death after you. After all, even some of the stragglers might decide to come south before Winter comes in full.

"This place is old," Rina's voice is soft, her gaze briefly distant like one trying to recall a half-forgotten melody. "Not alive, like the wards of Thennhold... or the Wall." She does not try to hide a shiver.

Passing through the Wall had been hard for her, its bindings and enchantments had recognized her as being untainted by the darkness at the heart of the deepest north, but she had been able to feel the presence of the enchantments, 'like an avalanche hanging over my head' she had called it. On the way back you would be traveling around Eastwatch, even if it does add three hours to the journey, you decide. It had been worth it to try once just to see how the ancient spells would take to Rina in case she needs to be present in its defense at some later time, but there is no sense in having her go through that twice again today.

Hopefully it would be today, or in a few days at the latest. The giants had been arguing whether to go south or not for months, long enough that Mance Rayder had decided to take his own band to Hardhome alone rather than wait for the giants to make up their minds.

"I'm not seeing any magic on the walls," Lya muses, eyes fixed on the jagged crown of grey stone atop the hill. "At least not from here. If the runes are decayed, I might be able to..."

"You won't find any runes there, this place is older," Rina replies, to your surprise. "The Fist of the First Men they call it, but it would be like calling the Mountains of the Moon 'the Andal Peaks'. This has been a gathering place since long before men came over the water. The Children sang here and the Giants spilled oath-blood over the stones, and older still deathless spirits, bright and dark." She stops abruptly, as though waking from a daze. After a moment, she adds apologetically, "That is all I can recall."

"Bright and dark..." you repeat thoughtfully. "I think this may have been a place where Winter and Summer once met in peace."

"Just as long as we aren't calling the bastards to parley now," Ser Richard grumbles.

Rina gives a small giggle at the words seeming to surprise herself. "No, I don't think that would work very well, let's just keep to the giants."

"What sort of offering should we bring to their gathering?" Xor asks, faint notes hanging in the air around him, as though his unseen cohort of petty servitors were humming along with some unspoken thought. "Song and tale, gold and silver, or more practical gifts?"

"Definitely the latter," Tyene interjects. "I spoke to Mance Rayder about it, and once he stopped laughing at the notion, he said the giants were as likely as the mammoths they rode to appreciate fine silks and gems. Some of that is his own biases talking, though. They definitely traded for more than the bare necessities in the old days. Even the Night's Watch had records of it, but it's clear these giants have been living very stark and poor lives over the last centuries. Last of their kind and fighting with their wildiling neighbors far more often than trading. Still, if you are going to include something that does not have an immediate practical application, it should probably be perfume. They use smell not sight as their primary sense."

What gifts do you bring to the giant moot and how to you greet them?

[] Write in

OOC: And we are finally here. Some great knowledge rolls from Rina too. Not yet edited.