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

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DragonParadox said:
Secrets of Bone and Blood ​

Twentieth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

Malarys had prepared for this or something akin to it at least, as any conjuror still in the possession of their souls knew baatezu were fond of poisoned gifts and a corpse no less than silver could be such. He motioned for the others to follow, the priestess following readily enough, aware he had more experience with this breed of fiend, the young knight still looking slightly unsteady on his feet and not from encountering one of the black orators of hell. If he did not have more pressing matters to occupy his mind, Malarys might have been amused, but he dismissed the notion to focus on what they must do now.

First to the the safehouse, a former inn that had seen better days on the outskirts of the city, half refurbished to give it the authentic feel of a failed business and with a great many very solid locks. He stripped the body quickly, finding no fewer than three scrying foci amid its blood soaked clothes, though the fact that none of them were particularly hard to find for him set his teeth on edge. He sorted everything into the stitch fleshed creations designed to ward off far sight, before leaving the inn for the last time...

"Can't we just translocate from inside?" the young alchemist asked hesitantly, likely from the sight of him wearing dead man's blood. People often mistook Malarys' desire to appear scrupulously neat when possible for an unwillingness to get his hands dirty when necessary.

With a thought the mage-lord vanished the blood before explaining, "The inquisition might regret the loss of assets, but it would hardly bankrupt the treasury." Turning to the priestess, he added, "No need to make the fire appear mundane, our enemy already knows it is here."

Under the power of R'hllor the Red, the old inn burned as though a full fourteen wing of dragons had spilled their wrath upon it. Reason, if any more were needed, not to underestimate Melisandre of Asshai.

Once inside the snare, Malarys set about questioning the corpse as thoroughly as his craft allowed, and in the doing began to piece together what must have happened near the Plaza of Punishment. The dead man, one Jaelar Maeteos, actually was a priest of the Watcher, an ambitious and favored servant who sought to raise himself up in the eyes of his patron by striking a blow against Hell and helping to fill the void left by the disgraced Sons of the Harpy. Was she perhaps hoping to steal away some of the Unsullied, or merely to unveil the plans of Asmodeoous and trade that to the king? the mage lord wondered

Regardless, further study revealed that even now the Cult of Meraxes was not without allies in Astapor, mostly among a small number of militarily inclined young men of middling birth, who scorned the Sons of the Harpy for their failures, slowly cultivated over the years by priests from the temple of Volantis. However, being rightly weary of spies and traitors, Jaelar had worn a glamor when meeting his local contacts, the same glamor the apostate devil had been wearing when carrying the priest's now enchanted corpse.

Perhaps it had suited the fiend's sense of irony to pass off the true priest for a devil worshiper just slain, and thereby gain the trust and corrupt the remainder of Meraxes' faithful in the city, whom it would doubtless lead into damnation. The scrying foci had never been meant to serve as a principal gambit because the devil had not intended to be separated from its prize.

What does Malarys do with the newly discovered information?

[] Go to the temple of Meraxes and request the high priest raise Jaelar. He is more likely to answer a call from a familiar mage given how he perished and there are questions to be asked of the entirety of the church

[] Raise the dead priest here and now and question him, he might have useful information and in any case it is best to know who else is operating in the shadows of Astapor
-[] Write in

[] Write in

OOC: And here we are, it was a trap, just not a trap for you guys, hence why meeting the apostate devil was on the random encounter table. Not yet edited.
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Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.
 
@DragonParadox
I read before the meeting Namaaru, Queen of the Bountiful made Bare. I must say that the city of the dead, not the bloodthirsty people of Sanor, touched me to the living, my respect.
So I just can't figure out who she is. Is she the queen of this city? Its founder or even one of the ancients Fisher-Queens from the now defunct Silver Sea?
 
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[X] Duesal

So the Devil was going to try to insert itself into the cult of Meraxes as it's victim. That's super ballsy, but if any of the baatezu could pull that off, it would be an Apostate Devil.
 
This guy is not under mindblank, and the rest of the Cult of Meraxes probably isn't.

We can't share relevant information with them
 
This still looks too good.
Look, a shiny mid-level cleric with contacts we can use against the Devils!

I say we stick with Azel's full-paranoia suite.
We raise him in the Snare under full divination-blockers, put him to sleep before he can notice his environment and then go through his mind for all the questions @Duesal is asking.
And only if that happened to our full satisfaction do we consider letting him out, or letting him do anything but sit in a bottle for the next months.
 
[X] Artemis1992

Look as DP sees our ever-escalating paranoia and goes "huh, that makes sense. Sure, Devils were planning for just that all along now"
:V
 
What to do you wanna do if he refuses to return to life?
Drop him on the temple doorstep with a ribbon and bow?
 
[X] Artemis1992

I am all for maximum over-cautious now that it's been proven that we're dealing with paradox billiards strip poker champions.
 
Artemis1992 said:
This still looks too good.
Look, a shiny mid-level cleric with contacts we can use against the Devils!

I say we stick with Azel's full-paranoia suite.
We raise him in the Snare under full divination-blockers, put him to sleep before he can notice his environment and then go through his mind for all the questions @Duesal is asking.
And only if that happened to our full satisfaction do we consider letting him out, or letting him do anything but sit in a bottle for the next months.
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Even better. I approve of the full paranoia.

[X] Do the following in the middle of the Snare under full divination blockers.
-[X] Beforehand, cast Augury to determine whether or not the priest will answer our call in the first place.
--[X] If he refuses our call, decide whether or not to approach the temple of Meraxes to resurrect him.
-[X] If he will answer the call, resurrect him and immediately make him fall asleep before he realizes where he is and root through his mind for the following:
--[X] What devils or other supernatural factions is he aware of (including Sons of the Harpy and the Cult of the Lady of Spears)?
--[X] What important assets is he aware of, like the Apostate Devil who slew him?
--[X] What active and dormant plans of the enemy is he aware of?
--[X] What locations of interest, safehouses, headquarters, etc of the enemy is he aware of and where are they?
--[X] The Unsullied are being enhanced somewhere. Where is that happening?
--[X] The names of all of his contacts, subordinates, etc.
---[X] All their operations and plans in Slaver's Bay.
--[X] Every bit of dirt he has on everyone in the region (could prove useful).
--[X] If he has any other bit of useful information, now's the time to spill.
--[X] Only if we're sure Jaelar himself isn't compromised will we wake him up. Otherwise he gets bottled.
 
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@Duesal I keep forgetting that I found a bug in Hall of Horrors I.

Duesal said:
Aspect of Tiamat (CR 10)
Third Day of the Twelfth Month 292 AC
A nightmarish vision of hatred, rage and unknowable malice. Five heads, their colors vivid and deadly, all glaring in venomous fury. The Aspect of Tiamat was faced in the ruins of Essaria where she and the Golden Company sought to claim the powers of the slumbering clerics of Balerion. The plot was discovered and Aspect and the Golden Company regiment were slain for the attempt.
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Then we fought Aspect Tiamat from Dragon Magic which is CR13
 
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