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

Twenty Eighth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

In the end, the decision is an easy one to make. Creatures of shadow the swamp fey might be, but they were not of the cold or the sky. Where the wilds of the land met the wide sea in brackish channels, there you would find them. Rina can do better and in time you have no doubt she will. "The spirits of the swamp may find whatever lord or lady they please to swear their oaths to the crown," you tell Thoros, leaving the priest looking a touch relieved. Why would he...?

Oh, you realize he had been concerned you might ask him to get involved in the politics of the shadow fey and find someone in particular. You can see how that sort of tangle would make navigating the passages of the Feywild seem child's play by comparison. Instead, you send him off to his well deserved rest with your congratulations for the job he and his companions of the hour had done so far.

Alas that Lorath and its sphere were not as easily dealt with. While Morosh and the hinterlands seems to be developing well, every report from Lorath proper seems plagued with misfortune and strife.


Two full inquisitors, including the proposed commissar for the province of Lorath Bay, perished during the investigation of the demonic cult, though thankfully not beyond the power of magic to summon back. Far worse is what had happened to one of the more promising battle mages detached to the city, a certain Symon of Valysar. Some manner of fiend who could slip into the bodies of men had wormed its way into the wizard's confidences, dripping promises into his ear like poison. The Lord of the Final Incantation has much to offer those who wield the arcane arts, after all. If it had not been for the valor and loyalty of the other mages involved, the seeds of ruin may well have been sown within the Scholarum.

What worth a soul when Wisdom Lya twists and shapes them to her will as she pleases? What care have I of dealing with demons when their like already walk the streets of Sorcerer's Deep? Such notes could be deciphered within the bloodied pages of the mage's journal, and like answers gleaned from his cold dead lips once his treachery was unveiled. By then his soul had long since fled to whatever 'reward' his master had in store for him.

Although you might have preferred a prisoner who could be more thoroughly interrogated, you cannot fault the inquisitors prioritizing keeping the secret of Symon's treachery over capturing him alive. It would have been a rather poor introduction to the Imperium for the people of Lorath to have one of the mages sent in to deal with the cult publicly embrace it instead. Especially given that Abraxas had not paid him in false coin for his soul...

Lost 1 Level Five Wizard

Still, it had been dealt with in the end, though the fiend that started it all was beyond the power of the House of Mirrors, or indeed any divination to find. It had balked at facing a Myrkdreki power against power even as its newest convert perished and more of its older ones were rooted out. According to Garin's report on the matter, Lorath did not require your attention nor that of your Companions, though you should perhaps assign a few more experienced agents there just to be certain.

The last question in the report which had fallen to you, simply because it would require a Companion to cast the necessary spells, was if you should attempt to raise the other five sorcerers who had fallen in battle against Symon's madness by the most perfect means available or allow death to claim some of their memories and skills instead.


How do you raise the mages?

[] Raise dead (Cost 1000 IM Each)

[] True Resurrection (5000 IM Each)

[] Write in

OOC: The rolls here were bad enough that I simulated some of the action in more detail. Thankfully, Abraxas' luck broke when it came to the crucial recruitment rolls. Not yet edited