Remove ads

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

Reader mode
Goldfish said:
That's one I would like to see from Bahro's POV. He's tall enough that he should be able to get a good view of the entire battlefield, and I bet he has an interesting inner monologue.

[X] Crake
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The "old foe" sounds like there is a story behind Namaaru and her opponent, one we would only get from the PoV of either her or a Sarnori officer, not from some uninvolved reinforcement from us.
 
DragonParadox said:
BTW did the format of the battle work out? There were a lot of moving parts and I'm not sure how well it all fit together into the narrative.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Just an unfortunate bit that you can't fit in some of the more wide-ranging effects some of our previous command decisions are having on the battlefield, so you almost isolated it to the cavalry battle on the left flank even though there's a lot going on across the battlefield at every phase. Realistically you can't do much about that, but you could have at least given a note in the Phase Results at the bottom stating what kind of effect it had on that side of the battle.

Then again it is early, so that could also be entirely intentional and we just haven't observed any real effect from either our wards around the infantry, or the bombardment from our air force.
 
DragonParadox said:
BTW did the format of the battle work out? There were a lot of moving parts and I'm not sure how well it all fit together into the narrative.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I thought it flowed well, and Benerro's POV was good for showing a middle view of the battle, for lack of a better term; not on the ground like Waymar in the previous chapter but also not high above it like Moonsong in the Moonchaser.

Speaking of, a Moonsong POV chapter would be cool, too.
 
I just can't wait for us to go to the centre and fight our way through with multiple high quality units.

[X] Goldfish
 
Last edited:
Crake said:
Just an unfortunate bit that you can't fit in some of the more wide-ranging effects some of our previous command decisions are having on the battlefield, so you almost isolated it to the cavalry battle on the left flank even though there's a lot going on across the battlefield at every phase. Realistically you can't do much about that, but you could have at least given a note in the Phase Results at the bottom stating what kind of effect it had on that side of the battle.

Then again it is early, so that could also be entirely intentional and we just haven't observed any real effect from either our wards around the infantry, or the bombardment from our air force.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Thanks for the analyses.

I'll keep in mind to show the air and battlefield effects more.

Goldfish said:
I thought it flowed well, and Benerro's POV was good for showing a middle view of the battle, for lack of a better term; not on the ground like Waymar in the previous chapter but also not high above it like Moonsong in the Moonchaser.

Speaking of, a Moonsong POV chapter would be cool, too.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

I think I can fit one in yeah.
 
They charged as light horse towards an enemy that could not break, the mad lads. Bet this Erinyes is both humbled and now thinks them utterly suicidal - going to such lengths for saving her.

[X] Crake
 
So in the interest of making the next battle update more coherent. I\m thinking about presenting it like this:
  1. Present armies
  2. Long range phase (magic siege weapons and air assets)
  3. Medium range faze (line archers and more range limited magic)
  4. Melee (armies come into contact)
What do you guys think?
 
Looks solid. If you have the range ability to bombard the enemy with artillery and magic, I don't see why you can't use it.
 
DragonParadox said:
So in the interest of making the next battle update more coherent. I\m thinking about presenting it like this:
  1. Present armies
  2. Long range phase (magic siege weapons and air assets)
  3. Medium range faze (line archers and more range limited magic)
  4. Melee (armies come into contact)
What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Makes sense.
 
[X] To the left hand where the Queen of Sathar faces an old foe

The best part about dragons, we are able to get a Total War General view. That is one hell of a boon in war.
 
Last edited:
Remove ads
Interlude DCCCLIV: Battle of the Dead Fields, Part Two
  • Threadmarks
    • Battle of the Dead Fields, Part Two​

    Nineteenth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

    Familiar sounds echoed back as though from a great distance. Wind and rain, hollow thunder and the sounds of marching feet, bone and funerary shrouds through dead grass. She Who Brings Bountiful Peace looked out over the field of her subjects, and the strange allies she had found, with a cold considering eye. She had been given the name in hope by a father who thought the birth of an heir would unite the realm once more, she had earned it in battle against a cousin who would rather wade in the blood of high and low born alike rather than surrender the crown that was never his.

    He was here, Namaaru sensed, even beyond the choking malice of the Lost Smith. She had guessed as much when the Dragon King had told her that strange and tortured beasts marched with the enemy. Nimkuzu had always been skilled in artifice, fascinated with blurring the line between what was forged and what was living. He had studied with the Flesh Smiths of Valyria in his youth and some claimed that it was whence his evil sprang from, but Namaaru had never held with that. A man's deeds were his own for good and for ill as were the secret desires of his heart. Circumstance may shape the bounds in which one's life was wrought, but a living soul was not a river to flow always in the same banks.

    Nor even a dead soul. The queen laughed softly at the thought, looking about her self. Her driver, Izuiuma, was too accustomed to the way her mind wondered before battle too ask what had begotten the mirth, but the cold stranger from over the Sunset Sea looked at her curiously from where she stood besides the chariot.

    The two mage lords who had been assigned to her flank would have never made so obvious an expression of interest, but Namaaru found she appreciated the girl Rina more for it and she was curious herself how someone so innocent to the ways to seeking power had gained so much, and of such a dark sort.

    "Even in death choices do not end," the Queen of Sathar explained.

    "For some, for the fortunate ones," the dark haired sorceress said, though her gaze seemed to say something very different from the words. A darkness was upon her that had naught to do with the shadows of this place and of this hour.

    "Or for those very unfortunate, yes?" the queen asked. Beneath her ivory mask withered lips twitched into something like a knowing a smile. "Not all who march or ride under the shadow of the enemy knowingly do so willingly."

    "Yes..." the girl sighed. "We can't exactly take surrenders of the fallen, can we? Not unless..." She trailed off, obviously unwilling to even say the whole thought aloud.

    "Setting someone in chains of their very soul is twisted 'mercy' indeed. That is not expected of you. I ask only that you heal and bolster my hosts as you can."

    "I shall not leave your side, your majesty," the young sorceress replied relieved. Namaaru could taste the night wind around her and she had no doubt that the girl could keep up with even her chariot, but there was another matter that needed to be addressed.

    Long ago she had learned that not all hearts had the courage to face greater foes, though they might be unwavering before lesser ones. Handing her a brass far-eye worked with old magics the queen replied: "Look there in the heart of the storm and see he whom I must face again. Know that I will not think less of you nor have poor words for your king if you should choose another path."

    "What... what the hells is that?" Rina asks in shock, the device still to her eye. "It looks like some kind of great tiger... no are those quills on its back, and six legs?"

    "I know not what it is called in your tongue, but as Sathar recalls the legend from the days before Huzhor Amai. It was called Bandersnatch, a beast of a kindred thought vanished from the earth until one who would claim the throne of Sathar found one and bound it with deep and perilous magics. Most sorcery cannot touch it and in strength alone it is a match for all but the oldest dragons. What it has been made in death I know not, but I have slain it once and I shall do so again."

    "Graveborne," the girl half-whispered in some cold jagged tongue Namaaru did not speak but understood just the same through borrowed magic. "Why do you think he's here, I mean..." she flushed in embarrassment.

    "Likely for the same reason I am, a dying plea of desperate souls, to the heroes of old, Nimkuzu was a hero of sorts, but only in skill and ambition, not justice, temperance or any of the qualities that separate us from beasts," the queen replied absently. "You killed his greater pets in your raid. I have no doubt that his guard holds many other horrors and his army filled with like-minded sorcerers. He never did fight dragons though..." The ivory mask turned upwards as she beheld the great beast her ally had left to protect the skies over this flank. It had surely earned its fearsome name in the Sunset lands and this day it would surely earn them again.

    How does Namaaru attack at extreme range?

    [] Commit the dragons and the heralds only

    [] Send in everyone that can attack at long range, including fight capable mages

    [] Write in

    OOC: Hope this does not feel like too much exposition all at once.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • DragonParadox said:
    "I know not what it is called in your tongue, but as Sathar recalls the legend from the days before Huzhor Amai it was called Bandersnatch, a beast of a kindred thought vanished from the earth until one who would claim the throne of Sathar found one and bound it with deep and perilous magics. Most sorcery cannot touch it and in strength alone it is a match for all but the oldest dragons. What it has been made in death I know not, but I have slain it once and I shall do so again."
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Ooh. CR 20. @DragonParadox, I hope Queen Namaru lets us take part of it for a trophy.
     
    Oh wow, I think she might want to focus a lot of artillery on that thing.

    Without magic she's not that great. Skilled and tough, but no match for a dragon-sized monster.
    Her greatest weapon is her army in this case. Just boost that.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Battle of the Dead Fields, Part Two​

    Nineteenth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

    Familiar sounds echoed back as though from a great distance. Wind, and rain, hollow thunder and the sounds of marching feet, bone and funerary shrouds through dead grass. She Who Brings Bountiful Peace looked out over the field of her subjects, and the strange allies she had found with a cold considering eye. She had been given the name in hope by a father who thought the birth of an heir would unite the realm once more, she had earned it in battle against a cousin who would rather wade in the blood of high and low alike rather than surrender the crown that was never his.

    He was here, Namaaru sensed, even beyond the choking malice of the Lost Smith. She had guessed as much when the dragon king had told her that strange and tortured beasts marched with the enemy. Nimkuzu had always been skilled in artifice, fascinated with blurring the line between what was forged and what was living. He had studied with the Flesh Smiths of Valyria in his youth and some claimed that it was thence that his evil sprang from, but Namaaru had never held with that. A man's deeds were his own, for good and for ill, as were the secret desires of his heart. Circumstance may shape the bounds in which one's life was wrought, but a living soul was not a river to flow always in the same banks.

    Nor even a dead soul. The queen laughed softly at the thoughts, looking about her self. Her driven Izuiuma was too accustomed to the way her mind wondered before battle to ask what had begotten the mirth, but the cold stranger from over the Sunset Sea looked at her curiously from where she stood besides the chariot.

    The two mage lords who had been assigned to her flank would have never made so obvious an expression of interest, but Namaaru found she appreciated the girl Rina more for it, and she was curious herself how someone so innocent to the ways of seeking power had gained so much and of such a dark sort.

    "Even in death choices do not end," the Queen of Sathar explained.

    "For some, for the fortunate ones," the dark haired sorceress said, though her gaze seemed to say something very different from the words. A darkness was upon her that had naught to do with the shadows of this place and of this hour.

    "Or for those very unfortunate, yes?" the queen asked. Beneath her ivory mask withered lips twitched into something like knowing a smile. "Not all who march or ride under the shadow of the enemy do so willingly."

    "Yes..." the girl sighed. "We can't exactly take surrenders of the fallen can we. Not unless..." She trailed off, obviously unwilling to even say the whole thought aloud.

    "Setting someone in chains of their very soul is twisted 'mercy' indeed. That is not expected of you. I ask only that you heal and bolster my hosts as you can."

    "I shall not leave your side, majesty," the young sorceress replied, sounding relieved. Namaaru could taste the night wind around her, and she had no doubt that the girl could keep up with even her chariot, but there was another matter that needed to be addressed.

    Long ago she had learned that not all hearts had the courage to face the greater foes, though they might be unwavering before lesser ones. Handing her a brass far-eye worked with old magics the queen replied, "Look thee there in the heart of the storm and see he whom I must face again. Know that I will not think less of you, nor have poor words for your king, if you should choose another path."

    "What... what the hells is that?" Rina said putting the device to her eye. "It looks like some kind of great tiger, no are those quills on its back, and six legs?"

    "I know not what it is called in your tongue, but as Sathar recalls the legend from the days before Huzhor Amai, it was called Bandersnatch, a beast of a kindred thought vanished from the earth until one who would claim the throne of Sathar found one and bound it with deep and perilous magics. Most sorcery cannot touch it, and in strength alone it is a match for all but the oldest dragons. What it has been made in death, I know not, but I have slain it once and I shall do so again."

    "Graveborne," the girl half-whispered is some cold jagged tongue Namaaru did not speak, but understood just the same through borrowed magic. "Why do you think he's here, I mean..." she flushed in embarrassment.

    "Likely for the same reason I am, a dying plea of desperate souls. To the heroes of old, Nimkuzu was a hero of sorts. By that I mean only skill and ambition, not justice, temperance, or any of the qualities that separate us from beasts," the queen replied absently. "You killed his greater pets in your raid. I have no doubt that his guard holds many other horrors, and his army filled with like-minded sorcerers. He never did fight dragons, though..." The ivory mask turned upwards as she beheld the great beast her ally had left to protect the skies over this flank. It had surely earned its fearsome name in the Sunset Lands, and this day it would surely earn them again.

    How does Namaaru attack at extreme range?

    [] Commit the dragons and the Heralds only

    [] Send in everyone that can attack at along range including fight capable mages

    [] Write in

    OOC: Hope this does not feel like too much exposition all at once. Not yet edited.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

    Not too much exposition at all. I'm glad you're rounding out Namaaru's character.
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top