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

Twenty Eight Day of the First Month 294 AC

In the end you decide against a public commendation, calling instead for a column in the Times praising the efforts of the Lyseni administration, the architect of the healthcare plan in particular, on top of a generous payment in coin to express more material consideration. That should hopefully encourage more of your clerks to try to take that sort of initiative to promote their interests rather than the sort which would see them draw the ire of the Lawmen.

Lost 2,000 IM

Looking further east into traditionally Volantine lands, you find in many ways much the same as in the Disputed Lands, progress is continuing apace with another three notable reports. The first from Volon Sar, indicating the province is fully covered by the royal messenger service allowing people from all walks of life to more easily keep in touch with kith and kin, and merchants to conduct long range business safely. In neighboring Volon Therys there is still a bit more progress yet to be done, but road surveyors did come across a deposit of fine marble while preparing the ground for one of the more remote posts. Though the land belongs to one of the local potentates, the man is more than happy to share his good fortune with the state by contracting pech miners and bulabar engineers at a premium. More fine marble will also be welcome in Volantis, of that you are certain.

Gain 3,500 IM from fey commissions on marble quarry

Last though certainly not least is Valysar, where twice before you had been impressed in the initiative of the local potentates and now you find yourself impressed yet again, though under grimmer circumstances. An unexpected landslide had cost the lives of several workers looking to connect a key pass between the hills with the wider realm. The loss of trained engineers and even one of the project administrators looked like it would delay the project another month, but several of the local magisters united their efforts to get the wheels of the bureaucracy turning just a little quicker, having an engineer flown in from Volantis on the back of a legion Darkenbeast to get the project completed just in time, though not quite on budget. The fact that the magisters who helped salvage the project all earend large contracts with the royal postal service does not escape your notice, but as long as they do not profit unduly from the conection you see no harm in it

Lost 1,000 IM (project over budget)



After lunch you are surprised but not displeased to hear the familiar triple knock Zherys uses with the same precision he brings to his magic resound outside your solar door. "Excellence, I received your message yesterday." A touch more wearily, you add, "Is there anything you did not feel you could trust to a brazier?"

"Nothing of the sort, more an unexpected boon after studying Efreeti writtings young Maelor delivered..." he pauses a moment. "The boy needs a House name. It's absurd for someone of his breeding and position to share his name with ten thousand urchins the realm over."

You forbear from reminding him that Maelor used to be one of those urchins and simply nod, acknowledging the point. Even Yrael has something recognizable as a House name, even if it did evolve from a title he was given in Mantarys. "The steel...?"

"Is for lack of a better word...hungry. It seems specifically designed to consume small, almost insignificant quantities of ambient magic. Insignificant under present circumstances that is," The mage lord pauses ever so slightly for effect, in a way you recognize not least from your own presentation of some new piece of lore or secret. "I suspect the present composition of Valyrian Steel is not what the first forgings of it were, rather it is designed to draw power into itself in a wasteland of waning magic, such as one might find ten years ago. It is not for nothing that Valyrian Steel endured when so many other works of sorcery failed."

"But now that there is more than enough magic in the world, the steel 'exhales' as much magic as it takes in only slightly transmuted by its nature," you guess. "What about the metals?"

"From its quenching in fiend's blood, dragonsteel retains a prideful and jealous nature. It will not bear the touch of lesser metals and so burns them away, even gold and adamant," Zherys replies, his appreciation for the works of the Feeehold more guarded than it once was, but still sincere in this matter. "If you could enhance the property with magic, one might obtain a weapon particularly adept at sundering armor, or a siege engine to tear down say... great walls of brass." A cold smile crosses his face at the obvious irony.

"Does it actually consume mass though, and convert it to magic?" you probe, having perhaps less militant applications in mind.

"No, it grinds the metal to an impossibility fine powder shed to the winds. Barring poor safety precautions, it is not dangerous to inhale," he replies, obviously thinking of the accident mentioned in yesterday's message

Secrets by Devils' Blood Wrought: New Research Options Available

After a moment's silence, he adds, "There is one other thing I wished to ask you, Your Grace. A question that is probably best to ask in person." At your nod, he continues, "I have been considering sending a few agents to Qohor to discover just what state the city and its priesthood is in. Nothing too disruptive, just making use of the presence of the Red Priests there to get some answers about what the fools are meddling in."

Do you allow the Mysterium expedition?

[] Yes, if Zherys feels he has the resources there is no reason to deny him
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[] No, best not risk poking the hornets' nest until you are ready

OOC: And here we are, Zherys has bean getting more worried about Qohor for months, given his past experiences with the priesthood there so he is asking for permission to send some of his senior people over. Not yet edited.