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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:
Tangling Threads ​

Twenty Ninth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

Trying to conduct intrigues by the auspices of Bronze Yohn Royce is more likely to end in disaster than success, especially the kind of intrigue you hope to work in the Vale. Of all the Seven kingdoms, you hope the Vale of Arryn could be reduced to disarray for there is no Lord Paramount willing to deal with you nor even a claimant of an ancient line for you to instate. A land fillled with stiff-necked knights and even more stubborn tribesmen whom you have sworn to integrate in spite of age old grudges. The Vale needs to crack...

Fortunately, there is a flaw at the very heart of the whole edifice, one that barely needs a gentle tap to shatter. "Lord Bloodraven," you reach out over the constant mental hum barely noticed in the back of your mind, like a song you heard in a dream.

It takes a few moments for him to refocus some part of his attention to the conversation. "Your Grace."

The plan you lay before him is simple, almost too simple. You would not advise most lords and ladies to do anything as abrupt and desperate as inviting the dissenting bannermen to their seat to arrest them. Lysa Arryn nee Tully has never had the opportunity to reign before and is likely to be feeling desperate given the stakes.

Hopefully, she will take Varys' news about assassins to heart. Otherwise you might have to stage a failed infiltration and the fewer fingers you have to put on this particular scale the better.

"Lysa was not the most forethoughtful of her siblings, even as a girl," Bloodraven assures you. "Given what she lived through between Baelish's manipulations and her father's idiocy in trying to correct them, I doubt she will act from wisdom in this instance."

"Dare I ask?"

You stare at your desk for a long moment after he had finished recounting the tale he had drawn from an unknowing Littlefinger by magic in these past months. He tells you of Lysa's infatuation with Littlefinger, his with Catelyn, and the ill-fortuned pregnancy that had arisen when youthful obsession boiled over into darker deeds.

There is no surprise about Baelish's folly, and perhaps only a bit more at the fact that Lysa took advantage of his drugged state. But you had imagined Hoster Tully to have more sense, if not heart, than to force moon tea upon his daughter so late in her term. That could have killed her as easily as the babe, and it had obviously harmed her for the rest of her life.

And for what? An infant would have only been slightly harder to hide than a miscarriage, he could have sent it away to be raised in obscurity. He could have given it to Littlefinger and told him that his life depended on never letting the secret pass his lips. Instead, he had a daughter who hated him, and likely herself, clinging to a man who would tear the whole world down for greed and spite if he could.

All things told, you are glad Littlefinger will not live to see another month pass.

What next?

[] Write in

OOC: Not very substantive unfortunately. I think we are actually done with the month and I could not do a turn plan at this hour. Not yet edited.
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Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.
 
Duesal said:
Rumors next, tomorrow? One of them could be about Sarnor being pacified by us. Ser Richard had a pretty spectacular performance there in front of the entire first Legion.
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DragonParadox said:
Sure I can do rumors.
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A couple rumor posts would be great, DP. One from our POV, and maybe one from an outside or opposing power, Yi-Ti or King's Landing? Or from the POV of our new Undead Sarnori allies who are just now getting wider exposure to the world beyond the plains of Sarnor?
 
Goldfish said:
A couple rumor posts would be great, DP. One from our POV, and maybe one from an outside or opposing power, Yi-Ti or King's Landing? Or from the POV of our new Undead Sarnori allies who are just now getting wider exposure to the world beyond the plains of Sarnor?
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@DragonParadox, we definitely need a dedicated set of rumors focusing on each kingdom in Westeros given the upcoming Conquest.
 
@DragonParadox You know, this may be the first time one of our Companions is directly named in a rumor post. Viserys tends to drown everything out when it bends in that direction, and even his mentions are usually indirect.
 
Crake said:
@DragonParadox You know, this may be the first time one of our Companions is directly named in a rumor post. Viserys tends to drown everything out when it bends in that direction, and even his mentions are usually indirect.
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I kinda hope Richard gets a cult following. How funny would it be if some misguided Westerosi folks start believing that he is the Warrior's Chosen?
 
Ummmm can I make a suggestion DragonParadox? To the entire thread.... Maybe we could not kill Baelish just yet...... His hold over Lysa Arryn is useful right now. We could use that to manipulate Lysa through manipulating Baelish and then through that influence the Starks through their common Tully connection. And then when Ned Stark goes to Court in King's landing we influence him to denounce Joffrey as illegitimate and incest (maybe through Jon Arryn's secret notes). When Baelish organizes Ned's downfall by handing him those notes is our opportunity to turn Ned Stark. This is based off of the Game of Thrones show. IT is just an option I want to bring up before Baelish is dead and we could spend several years wringing the last bit of use out of him.
Littlefinger is a great deniable and useful proxy in the Seven Kingdoms.
A multi part, multi prong likely convoluted and requiring a year or several to bring to fruition.
Basic outline that I just thought of
1. Forge Jon Arryn's secret notes containing just enough to convince Ned Stark of things like the incest
2. Have Ned Stark go to King's Landing as the King's Hand
3. Have Baelish pass along those secret notes.
4. Kill off or make Cersei or other Lannisters kill off Robert Baratheon
5. Ned challenges Joffrey's right to the throne
6. Whatever this quest's version of War of five crowns is breaks out.
7. We save Ned's life. We now have an in to negotiate with Ned and recruit him and compelling reasons to make the North swear to us.....

This is basically Baelish's plan in the TV show only subverted and utilized by us to..... turn Ned Stark from the Baratheon-Lannisters to us......

Someone please tell me if this is possible.... Please the countdown to Baelish's death has started.
I can think of no better use for him than line to hold the hook that holds the bait to reel in Ned Stark.
 
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Baelish's utility is nil. We're invading in two months, and want the Vale set to boil over next month. He doesn't even need to be alive to do that. He can be impersonated, and his cover doesn't have to hold, because we're privy to information that allows us to use his likeness against a keystone actor in that situation without long-term consequence (because we won't allow enough time to pass for there to be any long term consequence).
 
Crazyone47 said:
Ummmm can I make a suggestion DragonParadox? To the entire thread.... Maybe we could not kill Baelish just yet...... His hold over Lysa Arryn is useful right now. We could use that to manipulate Lysa through manipulating Baelish and then through that influence the Starks through their common Tully connection. And then when Ned Stark goes to Court in King's landing we influence him to denounce Joffrey as illegitimate and incest (maybe through Jon Arryn's secret notes). When Baelish organizes Ned's downfall by handing him those notes is our opportunity to turn Ned Stark. This is based off of the Game of Thrones show. IT is just an option I want to bring up before Baelish is dead and we could spend several years wringing the last bit of use out of him.
Littlefinger is a great deniable and useful proxy in the Seven Kingdoms.
A multi part, multi prong likely convoluted and requiring a year or several to bring to fruition.
Basic outline that I just thought of
1. Forge Jon Arryn's secret notes containing just enough to convince Ned Stark of things like the incest
2. Have Ned Stark go to King's Landing as the King's Hand
3. Have Baelish pass along those secret notes.
4. Kill off or make Cersei or other Lannisters kill off Robert Baratheon
5. Ned challenges Joffrey's right to the throne
6. Whatever this quest's version of War of five crowns is breaks out.
7. We save Ned's life. We now have an in to negotiate with Ned and recruit him and compelling reasons to make the North swear to us.....

This is basically Baelish's plan in the TV show only subverted and utilized by us to..... turn Ned Stark from the Baratheon-Lannisters to us......

Someone please tell me if this is possible.... Please the countdown to Baelish's death has started.
I can think of no better use for him than line to hold the hook that holds the bait to reel in Ned Stark.
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This is a plan that could have been implemented in a different world, but not the one we've influenced into being over the past several years.

We'll be invading very soon and a great deal of groundwork has already been done across Westeros to make the transition as simple and bloodless as possible. It should all be over with before Ned even gets word that King's Landing has fallen.
 
I was also toying with the idea to use Baelish to stir more trouble in the Vale, but ultimately he is a horrible asset. Too clever to easily manipulate him, to ambitious to satisfy him with bribes and too arrogant to be reliable. Thanks to Lysa having mental issues and being completely isolated, she is easily pliable anyway. Getting her to lash out at the people coming after her and her son is like trying to convince a dog to eat a steak. So adding Littlefinger to the mix does not meaningfully increase the efficiency of our manipulations, while adding a ton of unnecessary variables.

Maybe we can use his face to do some slight adjustments to the situation next month in the time between Bloodraven killing him and his disappearance being noted. But he as a person is just an obnoxious uncertainty in our plans at this point.
 
ryuan said:
*Sad Brienne noises*

Honestly, it's a shame we basically forgot about her. I remember the hype about potentially meeting her in the past.
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We already did the Dragon Santa act towards her once and I highly doubt the rest of the Chosen will be pleased if we continue to do so, especially since it's obvious our intentions aren't 100% selfless. She also has 4 Cleric teammates powerful enough to acquire Mind Blank and a 5th teammate who is a crafter, she will be fine.
 
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