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

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[X] Goldfish

Fuck, I'd come to suggest changes to the vote, only to arrive right as it was closed. Ah well.

EDIT : To clarify, none of our security measures block Lifesight. Lifesight lets undead see the "light" emitted by living flesh : making us invisible simply makes our body harder to pinpoint, but doesn't hide the "light" we emit. It's the same sort of logic that makes invisible torches still be useable by people who can't see invisible stuff : the torch is invisible, the light it emits isn't.
To sneak around undead with Lifesight, you should wear robes and clothing that hides your skin, or constantly stay behind some sort of cover that stops light (like a stone wall).
 
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TalonofAnathrax said:
[X] Goldfish

Fuck, I'd come to suggest changes to the vote, only to arrive right as it was closed. Ah well.

EDIT : To clarify, none of our security measures block Lifesight. Lifesight lets undead see the "light" emitted by living flesh : making us invisible simply makes our body harder to pinpoint, but doesn't hide the "light" we emit. It's the same sort of logic that makes invisible torches still be useable by people who can't see invisible stuff : the torch is invisible, the light it emits isn't.
To sneak around undead with Lifesight, you should wear robes and clothing that hides your skin, or constantly stay behind some sort of cover that stops light (like a stone wall).
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Since they are staying out of true sight radius anyway the traces should be out of lifesight radius from the ground, if I understand how the feat works right.
 
DragonParadox said:
Since they are staying out of true sight radius anyway the traces should be out of lifesight radius from the ground, if I understand how the feat works right.
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One of the reasons I used the Shadow-Traces is because they aren't alive at all, just shadow material from the Plane of Shadow animated by Teana's magic. They should be inert to Lifesense.
 
TalonofAnathrax said:
[X] Goldfish

Fuck, I'd come to suggest changes to the vote, only to arrive right as it was closed. Ah well.

EDIT : To clarify, none of our security measures block Lifesight. Lifesight lets undead see the "light" emitted by living flesh : making us invisible simply makes our body harder to pinpoint, but doesn't hide the "light" we emit. It's the same sort of logic that makes invisible torches still be useable by people who can't see invisible stuff : the torch is invisible, the light it emits isn't.
To sneak around undead with Lifesight, you should wear robes and clothing that hides your skin, or constantly stay behind some sort of cover that stops light (like a stone wall).
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Click to shrink...
I'd argue that Greater Hide from Undead should also counter it, as it counters
Even extraordinary or supernatural sensory capabilities, such as blindsense, blindsight, scent, and tremorsense, cannot detect or locate warded creatures.
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, but that is kinda moot by shadow trace not being alive in the first place as argued above :/
 
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Adhoc vote count started by Goldfish on Jul 12, 2020 at 5:22 PM, finished with 48 posts and 16 votes.
  • [X] Perform a series of divinations, using Divination and Augury spells augmented by Dragonbone Divinations Sticks and the Hallucinogenic Smoke spell for maximum effect, to determine the likely response should we approach Mardosh directly as a prospective ally, accompanied as we are by a diplomat from Sathar.
    -[X] Unless the predicted outcome is generally positive, we will first carefully scout the city from the air before approaching. Viserys will place a Superior Invisibility spell on each of Teana's three Shadow-Trace duplicates using spell scrolls and Greater Hide from Undead using Wild Arcana (DC 27 Will save to bypass). Tyene will cast Wind Walk on them.
    --[X] One of the Shadow-Traces will be Imbued with Ears of the City and Divine Insight spells by Dany, and an Air of Nobility spell will be cast on it by Teana. Before its Superior Invisibility spell can elapse, it will attempt to find a location within the city to hunker down and activate its Ears of the City spell, along with Divine Insight to further boost its Diplomacy check, on the off chance that some of the Undead inhabitants are interacting with one another enough to make the spell useful.
    --[X] Obscured by the Superior Invisibility and Greater Hide from Undead spells, and capable of flying at up to 60 mph thanks to Wind Walk, the three Shadow-Traces will overfly the city while carefully maintaining enough altitude to avoid being spotted by watchers blessed with True Seeing (120 feet). They will remain in mental contact with Teana, relaying anything of interest which they see and accepting instructions from us through her.
    ---[X] We will be primarily seeking out unusual concentrations of Undead and important locations which might be centers of government, to use the term loosely, temples, etc.
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Part MMMDLXXIX: Dreams of the Grave
  • Threadmarks
    • In Dreams of Death ​

    Fourth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

    The bones are cast and the flames of prophecy lit under the trees, the smoke carefully banished before it could rise above them so that any sharp eyed watchers upon the towers of Mardosh cannot see it. The answers it gave you were not what you may have wished for, but more in the vein of what you had been expecting. "If we went before the city gates openly we would be ignored at first, then if we insisted attacked in force on the grounds of..." Dany grimaces as she glances towards Eskil. "'Foul undead besmirching the Warding Woods'."

    "It is hardly your fault for recounting it, I take no offense at truths, even ones that may yet be," Eskil replied as he landed gently on the forest floor, his fragile bones barely disturbing mushrooms and dead wood that had gathered here over the years since the fall of Mardosh. Whoever or whatever ruled the city now did not seem concerned with the clearing roads beyond its gates.

    Time to find out just what is going on behind those gates then, you resolve.

    Three times the shadows twist by Teana's will and each time a reflection of her steps out into the light. Around each you weave a glamour to hide them from sight and a ward of mind and purpose to turn away the attentions of all but the strongest of the dead besides. Though the echoes of Teana's power cannot weave their own magic they can made use of borrowed power to hear any rumors on the wind, if indeed the strange gathering of lost souls can be counted a city.

    Now all that is left to do is wait and watch while the shadows fly off into the distance on their appointed task.

    ***​

    Teana blinks bemused. "There are rumors in Mardosh among the dead who move as though they are alive; buying and selling in empty markets, setting down to eat before ruined tables, and sleeping in beds long since fallen to ash and dust. I recognize some of it from accounts of the Century of Blood, the drying up of river trade, droughts and poor harvests, even tales of battles between the western cities along the Narrow Sea. Hells, I can even pick up the names of Dothraki khals who were driving across the plains then."

    "So they are just reliving the days before the city's fall then?" Dany asked saddened but not surprised.

    "No... not quite," the shadow weaver replied. "The city defended itself against several khalasars for years before falling at last to Khal Haro, but the rumors in this Mardosh say that Khal Haro fell to the armies of Mazor Alexi, which did actually happen but only after the fall of Mardosh, and in this telling of the tale there is no encirclement by the other khalasars against the High King and no fall of Sarnor at all."

    "You say the citizens behave as though they were alive, well then surely a living city would have some of them walk out the gates for every manner of reasons," you ask thoughtfully.

    Teana shakes her head. "They don't, their eyes slide off the gates as though they were not there, in fact..." she trails off, likely considering some distant sight. "It is as though the gates are warded by the same spell as my shadows to slip from the eyes of the dead."

    "Are they congregating anywhere?" Tyene asks. "Any obvious linchpins for the spell?"

    "They are congregating, but neither more nor less than you would expect the citizens of any place this size to do; temples, markets, public squares, and other places."

    "What if we played along with the delusion, like we did with the caravan in Valyria, so that they might let some answers slip," Dany offers.

    "The soldiers might see us and they are not living in a dream," Ser Richard warns. "It wouldn't be the ghosts trying to drive us off."

    "Sure, but there aren't soldiers everywhere," Dany counters at once. "There is no reason for them to be in some quarters and a city is a large place."

    What do you do next?

    [] Try to infiltrate the city further
    -[] With glamoured shadow traces
    -[] In the flesh

    [] Try to break the spell on the gate

    [] Leave Mardosh for now

    [] Write in

    OOC: Good call on ears of the city, that saved a lot of time in this instance.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • The soldiers are hiding their failure, and for that matter their deaths, from the civilians out of shame. Going this far to cover up your shit is pretty insane so I suspect peaceful resolution may not be at hand.

    Only way I can think of to do it would be to infiltrate the city, reveal the deception to the civilians and have them confront the soldiers with the truth.
     
    So continue with the shadow traces? I'm loath to leave this alone as whatever is doing this could turn on us but it's still an option and I don't want to commit to approaching in the flesh until we've got a better idea of how things work here, plus breaking the gate spell is probably a bad idea as we don't know everything the spell is doing.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Dreams of the Grave​

    Third Day of the Second Month 294 AC

    The bones are cast and the flames of prophecy lit under the trees, the smoke carefully banished before it could rise above them so that any sharp-eyed watchers upon the towers of Mardosh cannot see it. The answers it gave you were not what you may have wished for but more in the vein of what you had been expecting. "If we went before the city gates openly, we would be ignored at first. Then if we insisted, we would have been attacked in force on the grounds of..." Dany grimaces as she glances towards Eskil. "Foul undead besmirching the Warding Woods."

    "It is hardly your fault for recounting it. I take no offense at truths, even ones that may yet be," Eskil replied as he landed gently on the forest floor, his fragile bones barely disturbing mushrooms and deadwood that had gathered here over the years since the fall of Mardosh. Whoever or whatever ruled the city now did not seem concerned with clearing roads beyond its gates.

    Time to find out just what is going on behind those gates then, you resolve.

    Three times the shadows twist by Teana's will and each time a reflection of her steps out into the light. Around each you weave a glamor to hide them from sight and a ward of mind and purpose to turn away the attentions of all but the strongest of the dead besides. Though the echoes of Teana's power cannot weave her own magic, they can make use of borrowed power to hear any rumors on the wind, if indeed the strange gathering of lost souls can be counted a city.

    Now all that is left to do is wait and watch while the shadows fly off into the distance on their appointed task.

    ***​

    Teana blinks bemused. "There are rumors in Mardosh among the dead who move as though they are alive, buying and selling in empty markets, setting down to eat before ruined tables, and sleeping in beds long since fallen to ash and dust. I recognize some of it from accounts of the Century of Blood, the drying up of river trade, droughts and poor harvests, even tales of battles between the western cities along the Narrow Sea. Hells, I can even pick up the names of Dothraki Khals who were driving across the planes then."

    "So they are just reliving the days before the city's fall then?" Dany asked, saddened but not surprised.

    "No... not quite," the shadow weaver replied. "The city defended itself against several Khalasars before falling at last to Khal Haro, but the rumors in this Mardosh say that Khal Haro fell to the armies of Mazor Alexi, which did actually happen, but only after the fall of Mardosh, and in this telling of the tale there is no encirclement by the other Khalasars, no fall of Sarnor at all."

    "You say the citizens behave as though they were alive. Well then surely a living city would have some of them walk out the gates for every manner of reasons," you ask thoughtfully.

    Teana shakes her head. "They don't, their eyes slide off the gates as though they were not there, in fact..." she trails off considering some distant sight. "It is as though the gates are warded by the same spell as my shadows, to slip the eyes of the dead."

    "Are they congregating anywhere?" Tyene asks. "Any obvious linchpins for the spell."

    "They are congregating, but neither more nor less than you would expect the citizens of any place this size to do, temples markets public squares."

    "What if we played along with the delusion, like we did with the caravan in Valyria? They might let some answers slip," Dany offers.

    "The soldiers might see us and they are not living in a dream," Ser Richard warns. "It wouldn't have been the ghosts trying to drive us off."

    "Sure, but there aren't soldiers everywhere," Dany counters at once. "There is no reason for them to be in some quarters, and a city is a large place,"

    What do you do next?

    [] Try to infiltrate the city further
    -[] With glamored shadow traces
    -[] In the flesh

    [] Try to break the spell on the gate

    [] Leave Mardosh for now

    [] Write in

    OOC: Good call on ears of the city, that saved a lot of time in this instance. Not yet edited.
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    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

    Did Teana get a rough estimate of how many Undead were visible who may have been sentient? As least out on the streets?
     
    065tdsa said:
    Only way I can think of to do it would be to infiltrate the city, reveal the deception to the civilians and have them confront the soldiers with the truth.
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    That would depend on the citizens being able to perceive whats going on, we currently don't know the extent of the enchantment so revealing the deception might just get ignored or worse rather then breaking it or causing an uprising.
     
    I think we should do another quick divination to make sure we can't just meet with the lord of this place after disguising our envoy. With him as a totally living person with a heartbeat and everything we'd probably be escorted right to the palace. If that doesn't pan out then we may as well move on to pure infiltration.
     
    Let's stick with infiltration for now I'm not sure any attempts at diplomacy are going to work without a better picture of whats going on.

    Y'know I have a hunch that the cities military leadership are the ones in charge here rather then the lord.
     
    [X] Perform another series of divinations;
    -[X] Round One: Determine the likely response if we approach Mardosh with Eskil's status as an Undead thoroughly disguised, and if we present him as an emissary of Sathar.
    -[X] Round Two: As round one, but this time we determine the response we would receive if Eskil's status as an emissary of Sathar is not mentioned. If the leadership of Mardosh is indeed aware of their Undead nature, they would likely be aware of the state of things in Sathar as well. If so, they might be more willing to meet speak with us if Sathar is not mentioned at all.
    -[X] Round Three: Determine the likely outcome of the enchanted gates being Dispelled or destroyed.
    -[X] If none of these are favorable, we will instead send one of Teana's Shadow-Traces to once more inspect the city (casting Superior Invisibility with Wild Arcana this time), now Imbued with an Arcane Sight spell so that she can inspect the spells on the gates and any other magical auras that stand out, such as wards, defenses, and alarms.
     
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