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

Twenty Fifth Day of the First Month 294 AC

The final bargain is amiably struck. Thus you find yourself more than one and half million marks poorer, yet still feeling fortunate for the bargain made. As far as you can tell no one in Heaven's Shore knows who Mikael Abdul-Hassan might be, nor are they unduly curious as to the matter, you have only had to cast a battle spell in earnest once and the authorities actually rewarded you for it... some of them at least. You make a mental note to avoid the Blessed Guard or any others who might be in the service of the puppet Lord of Heaven while in this guise. The copy of the book he had risked so much to obtain slips into the depths of your cloak, where only the gaze of a god has any hope of peering into.


Somewhere far away from the broken skies and the dead light of Heaven's ruin the sun is only just sinking beyond the horizon. You have a bit more time to look for other odd beings and uncommon bargains. Perhaps the slave market to see if there are any you might buy and free, offering them a chance of a new life, or if not that the sickened celestial smith who hid his malady behind a glamour. Your magics have grown to their pinnacle since last you trod upon the alleyways of the Court of Travelers. Before you can decide upon either, go this way or that, you spy a familiar face outside a winesink filled with revelry at once melodious and frantic. A face you had not expected to see here of all places, so much so that you invoke a spell of true-sight to ensure your eyes to not deceive you by some hidden design...

No, that is indeed Garantos of Elysium, first bright spirit you had ever met among the canals of Braavos long before you knew the true shape of the Spheres or the tragedy of the Sundering. This is certainly not what you would have imagined when thinking of a meeting in Heaven with the otherworldly bravo when he had been banished back from whence he came in the final confrontation with Lileath. Then again, had you been asked the same question a few months back your answer would have bleaker. To be hurled into the chaos of sundered Elysium unbidden by demonic magic might well have been his doom.

Yet here he was, looking none the worse for wear save the fine coat of grey dust on his bottle green doublet, the Braavosi styling looking odd indeed to your eyes, though to most passersby it must seem little more than azata whim.

"...by all that is still good in the world you cannot mean that they will grind you up like gristle between their gears?" His voice on the other hand had little of the easy charm you had heard in Braavos, instead it earnest and pained just below the surface.

Glancing carefully at his companion you are surprised to see a warrior of clear infernal blood, a spear slung over his shoulder, a warding amulet in another.


"Why did the fool take that off here of all places," Ser Richard grouses silently, though he too seems to have been struck by the sight of the azata you had met those many years ago.

Listening in on the conversation for a few more moments reveals that the warrior, Uruiz, means to join the legions of Bel as a mercenary, and one of the requirements for such is a brief interrogation using magic to root out any spies. Garantos' opinion about the wisdom, or lack thereof, of this course of action are almost as strong as Ser Richard's, though he gets it across in more diplomatic language than the knight shares in your thoughts

"The demons have been breaking against the bulwark of Hell from time out of mind and they will continue to do so for ages more to come, whether or not you join them. They will hardly know or care for your presence. You will be a rounding error in some devil's ledger."

"So my life, my choices, mean nothing, singing a different tune that usual aren't you," the warrior snaps, anger and frustration bubbling in his tone.

"No, this... this means nothing, choice is precious, but not all choices are equal," Garantos tries again, though you can hear the desperation in his voice just as you see the resolve in the others' dark gaze.

He will not be swayed... unless you intervene.

What do you do?

[] Interject as Mikael Abdul-Hassan seeking skilled mercenaries

[] Telepathically introduce yourself to Garantos and offer to help

[] Write in

OOC: This is off a random encounter table I've had since you first came to Heaven's Shore.