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

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I have a question, does the poison need to be fresh?

That is to say does the Drow that made it have to be alive in order for our mystery spy to have acquired it?

There's been weirder loot before (hell we've Looted actual goddamn drow even) so someone finding a vial of the stuff, especially an assassin who knows what it can do, can't be that much of a stretch can it?
 
BronzeTongue said:
It'd be really weird for the bloodstone emperor to be doing this kind of stuff across the word from his area of control. He'd be better served by using his resources in Yi-Ti than here. Even if he was doing something like this, the Velaryons are a weird target. They're important, but not critical, and have good defenses. If he wanted to set us back he could use the same or fewer resources killing other important people.

If our mystery opponent's goal was just to distract or harm us then they could have really screwed up our schedule by killing Robert, for example. I think that the BE would probably be canny enough to do that, or stage some sort of false flag attack to kick off the war, before he'd go for something like this.

I thinks it's reasonable to assume that this person has some sort of stake in Westeros specifically that stopped them from doing something more drastic.
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I doubt the Bloodstone Emperor or his minions are involved to any significant degree. Probably just inadvertently facilitated the various exchanges which allowed the poison to be brewed and sold to the assassin, since the BE maintains at least one large extraplanar trade city in the Shadowlands (the same one Varys used to purchase some of his goodies). That city could be the main "surface world" outlet for Drow goods and services, and vice versa.
Tomcost said:
Don't you wanna ask the drow first? It doesn't hurt to do so
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We can ask, though I don't see how they can help given their temporal refugee status.

EDIT: Updated my vote to find out what, if anything, the Drow brothers may know.
 
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Evaunit02mark1 said:
I have a question, does the poison need to be fresh?

That is to say does the Drow that made it have to be alive in order for our mystery spy to have acquired it?

There's been weirder loot before (hell we've Looted actual goddamn drow even) so someone finding a vial of the stuff, especially an assassin who knows what it can do, can't be that much of a stretch can it?
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Normally yes it has to be quite fresh, but preservation enchantments exist and are quite easy to make. Finding a enchanted vial filled with the stuff would not be that much more uncommon than finding such a vial to begin with.
 
DragonParadox said:
Normally yes it has to be quite fresh, but preservation enchantments exist and are quite easy to make. Finding a enchanted vial filled with the stuff would not be that much more uncommon than finding such a vial to begin with.
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Great, we can narrow the list down from "living drow" to "any idiot crazy enough to loot a drow's house", and yes I am well aware that we are on the top of that list.
 
Evaunit02mark1 said:
Great, we can narrow the list down from "living drow" to "any idiot crazy enough to loot a drow's house", and yes I am well aware that we are on the top of that list.
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If it works consistently and its stupid, it's not crazy, but may still be stupid.

Anyway, @Goldfish, what's clear to me now is that whoever Cersei employed makes use of tradeways which we are familiar with, the Shadowlands in all likelihood, or possibly a more local source, an underdark economic center which few people on the surface are familiar with.

This... honestly doesn't answer many questions. I had guessed 'fiend', but nonetheless it seems like there has to be a certain tolerance for stupidity and folly for anyone this competent to work with Cersei. Actually, they seem so competent that I think they would have refused to work for her under any circumstance, unless the plan was specifically to use her involvement to force our hand.

We really need to catch this fucker.
 
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[X] Yes, it would allow you to leave in a few days time without leaving the keep considerably weakened if no solution has been found until then
-[X] Before Tyene returns to her mission in Slaver's Bay, ask her to speak with Morwyn and Tuin when she next sees them. The Drow assassins might be able to offer some insight into the poison, if they are familiar with it. Potential shelf life of the poison is of particular interest.
 
Crake said:
If it works consistently and its stupid, it's not crazy, but may still be stupid.

Anyway, @Goldfish, what's clear to me now is that whoever Cersei employed makes use of tradeways which we are familiar with, the Shadowlands in all likelihood, or possibly a more local source, an underdark economic center which few people on the surface are familiar with.

This... honestly doesn't answer many questions. I had guessed 'fiend', but nonetheless it seems like there has to be a certain tolerance for stupidity and folly for anyone this competent to work with Cersei. Actually, they seem so competent that I think they would have refused to work for her under any circumstance, unless the plan was specifically to use her involvement to force our hand.

We really need to catch this fucker.
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What if she was stupid enough to just put out an open bounty? All it would take is browbeating one Lannister agent into serving as a middleman in a shady inn or tavern in the Opaline Vault, City of Brass, Vialesk, etc., to arrange a contract for an assassination.

The assassin might very likely have no clue who there employer is.
 
Crake said:
If it works consistently and its stupid, it's not crazy, but may still be stupid.

Anyway, @Goldfish, what's clear to me now is that whoever Cersei employed makes use of tradeways which we are familiar with, the Shadowlands in all likelihood, or possibly a more local source, an underdark economic center which few people on the surface are familiar with.

This... honestly doesn't answer many questions. I had guessed 'fiend', but nonetheless it seems like there has to be a certain tolerance for stupidity and folly for anyone this competent to work with Cersei. Actually, they seem so competent that I think they would have refused to work for her under any circumstance, unless the plan was specifically to use her involvement to force our hand.

We really need to catch this fucker.
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We might be missing the forest for the trees here.

Cersei's shortsighted in the extreme but she's not a complete idiot. She has been successfully cuckolding her husband for at least half a decade. If she can get someone like this to work for her then she has to at least be able to offer something of value to the table.

To go to these lengths to kill a noble implies that whatever she promised or whatever opportunity that would be created from this act must be a hefty thing indeed.

Land wouldn't cut it, that's just dirt and for someone or thing like this it would be useless anyway. Protection perhaps? The title of Queen gives her quite a bit of clout not to mention her Lannister connections.

If was purely monetary then they wouldn't have worked with her, or at the very least they would consider telling us about the plot for an extremely more lucrative deal.

The tales of our wealth and generosity have had to have passed through a good few channels after all.

I'm thinking this is less the Queen and more the Lannister's as a whole. Those fuckers are up to something, I feel it in my water.
 
Goldfish said:
What if she was stupid enough to just put out an open bounty? All it would take is browbeating one Lannister agent into serving as a middleman in a shady inn or tavern in the Opaline Vault, City of Brass, Vialesk, etc., to arrange a contract for an assassination.

The assassin might very likely have no clue who there employer is.
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No, if they had done that, someone would have almost certainly tried to earn a quick buck selling us the information. One consistent thread of each story about us is we are rich as fuck and not shy about spreading the wealth.
 
Evaunit02mark1 said:
We might be missing the forest for the trees here.

Cersei's shortsighted in the extreme but she's not a complete idiot. She has been successfully cuckolding her husband for at least half a decade. If she can get someone like this to work for her then she has to at least be able to offer something of value to the table.

To go to these lengths to kill a noble implies that whatever she promised or whatever opportunity that would be created from this act must be a hefty thing indeed.

Land wouldn't cut it, that's just dirt and for someone or thing like this it would be useless anyway. Protection perhaps? The title of Queen gives her quite a bit of clout not to mention her Lannister connections.

If was purely monetary then they wouldn't have worked with her, or at the very least they would consider telling us about the plot for an extremely more lucrative deal.

The tales of our wealth and generosity have had to have passed through a good few channels after all.

I'm thinking this is less the Queen and more the Lannister's as a whole. Those fuckers are up to something, I feel it in my water.
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That'd be a bad move for them unless they're certain it won't come home to roost or that they need to start the reconquest soon. Cersei might have been able to afford an assassination like this by selling people from fleabottom though. Orchestrating a transfer of prisoners from the gold cloaks to any magically bound servants working for her would even keep it relatively discreet if she uses some pretense about them having magical potential. They're already getting away with that for the gold shields after all.
 
Duesal said:
So the Drow have contact with the surface world. Lovely.
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Goldfish said:
Probably not the same Drow we found down in the bowels of Sothoryos, at least, given the separation between the two continents and the ocean dividing them. It could be an entirely different Drow polity. That's good for us (and everyone else on the surface), because Drow communities war upon one another incessantly. If there is two or more Drow nations in the Underdark of Planetos, they're probably occupied fighting among themselves.
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My bet is indirect contact.

For example the markets on the Plane of Shadows.
The Warlocks of Quarth or the Shadowbinder of Asshai can go there, selling Ghostgrass, the Drow from beneath Sothyros can go there, buying reagents and selling poisons and any assassin unrelated to these two groups can go there and buy the product.

There's no need to see dangers or conspiracies based on trade alone.
 
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BronzeTongue said:
That'd be a bad move for them unless they're certain it won't come home to roost or that they need to start the reconquest soon. Cersei might have been able to afford an assassination like this by selling people from fleabottom though. Orchestrating a transfer of prisoners from the gold cloaks to any magically bound servants working for her would even keep it relatively discreet if she uses some pretense about them having magical potential. They're already getting away with that for the gold shields after all.
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Yeah that sounds like her. "Who cares about a few peasants after all, we're playing a game of thrones" (the bitch). Souls are far more valuable that gold or land, and unfortunately for us if someone is coldhearted enough they're easy enough to acquire in bulk.

Artemis1992 said:
My bet is indirect contact.

For example the markets on the Plane of Shadows.
The Warlocks of Quarth or the Shadowbinder of Asshai can go there, selling Ghostgrass, the Drow from beneath Sothyros can go there, buying reagents and selling poisons and any assassin unrelated to these two groups can go there and buy the product.

There's no need to see dangers or conspiracies based on trade alone.
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Good point, we might need to get some feelers in the area if we haven't already, do a little sniffing.

Got to say @DragonParadox I love enemies like this. It's been a long time since I've had to stroke my chin and think rather than hit the "Kill everything in a 30 mile radius and loot the corpses" button.

I'm still going to hit it of course, but I have to think of where and when.
 
It wouldn't even be hard for her. If she wants to get fancy she could even run a con based on Pact Parchment , which I bet the Lannister's would use every where the moment they had access to it.
step 1) pick up some random pe from the drunk tanks after pretending they have magical potential.
step 2) sedate them with magic, take some blood, then heal them.
step 3) prepare some pact parchment with a high Valyrian contract detailing how the undersigned agrees to follow every order given by the owner of the contract.
step 4) talk the illiterate peasant into signing based on a lie or the pretense that it's some routine paperwork, or simply by bribing them to "sign on as an informant". They'd normally be freaked by the blood, but they won't know about that bit if it's mixed in ink.
step 5) inform peasant that they've just sold their soul to you, and let the enforcement magic trick them into thinking it's true.Now you can do what you want with them and they won't show any obvious marks of slavery or magical compulsion.

They don't need to understand what's written down for that, but sign it without specific coercion. This is the exact sort of stupid half clever plan that Cersei would love to use. Just enough exploiting ignorance to make her feel smart while still putting her at immense personal risk if anyone finds out what she's up to.

On a related note, can we start planning our elaborate revenge scheme soon? I have this idea involving miniature lead clad Etherroot, gravity engines, and some neat spells for fucking about with people's heads that would be fun to try. :V
 
Tomcost said:
Would Bloodraven know something about this?
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He knew that Cersei was planning to kill Monford, but not the specifics.

Personally I believe this to be no great achievement on Cersei's part, but rather that it speaks more to how busy Brynden is, combined with the fact that Cersei likely isn't acting completely alone. She's not competent enough to be a spymaster with her own web of informants and middlemen and assassins. She probably is trading favors with someone with those resources.

I.E, Cersei doesn't need to personally act except for meeting this person or corresponding through dead drops. And if the person corresponding with her is in charge of all communications, then it's reasonable to assume that Brynden learning there was an assassination plot at all, and who it was directed toward, was supposed to be very impressive.

Then again, maybe not so impressive, considering the weak link in this chain of intrigue is Cersei.
 
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I have to say I'm happy to see the update bringing out all this discussion and speculation. I feel the running of the quest narrative may have been getting a little too predictable recently.
 
Huh I wonder if there might be direct Llothian recruitment going on here. Cersei does seem to fit that "cruel crazy" matirarcal society/religion pretty well.

[X] Goldfish
 
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