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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:
"To free a slave first make them your own?" Zathir hisses, as frustrated as you had ever heard him. "If the unbinding comes from a master then masters they shall seek until the end of days, a tithe the poison made part of their souls. No, this place should be broken utterly and the very stone of the mountain brought down to upon it and sealed for all time."
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I am so impressed at how thorough the desecration was.

Zathir doesn't even want his old shrine anymore, he just wants it obliterated? Holy hell.
 
Well the interesting thing is that Tywin technically has a connection to every slave he has made right? Yssian staff time? Remove curse backed by divine power?
 
DragonParadox said:
In Tangled Coils ​

First Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC

"I wanted to see you," you reply after a moment's thought. No sense trying to strike deals with the young man right now when you do not even know what deals you can strike. At least there is no hate in his mismatched gaze, wariness yes, but he would have to be mad not to be wary under present circumstances. "For obvious reasons, I wanted to ensure I had the main line of House Lannisters in custody."

"Pardon the lip, Your Majesty," he replies, struggling to hang on to his insouciant smile. "But I can think of a lot of obvious reasons, and some of them would make an ill-hearing for me."

Well, you cannot give him the answer he might hope for, but neither does more fear and uncertainty serve your interests. "We will speak later," you press. Then in a softer tone add, "I pride myself in hearing people out before I make a decision in any matter."

"Where do I put him?" Garin asks mentally, an edge of amusement to his words. He is not used to seeing you defer meetings when the person is right in front of you.

"Let him choose his room, wherever he feels comfortable, just make sure he is properly guarded," you reply in like manner.

It is only hours latter that you are told that he had chosen to take his father's chambers... and started rearranging the furniture with the aid of his guards. You might have taken the news worse had it not been for the fact that his first order of business been taking down a portrait of his father and having it hung in a cupboard behind the jams and strings of sausages. Your next few hours are spent with more urgent matters than trying to guess the thoughts of the heir of House Lannister.

***​

Strange echoes pass through the chamber without sound, and light fills it without source or kindling, dancing upon strange geometric patterns in the walls. One might have called it ore, but for the fact that the milky rust-red substance marbled with milky-white substance does not match any metal you know of or could even recall from all the dreams of dragonkind. Even to lay a hand upon it fills you with a faint sense of revulsion as though you had touched a block of rotting meat. In the center lies the altar, if altar you can name it, a thing of stone yes, or so it must have once been, but now it sits caged among gears and pulleys until you could not even see the craft of it.

The mechanisms continue upward towards the keep proper and down to the very gate that leads into the Formian hive. Though the wheels are not running and the gears are not turning, it reminds you of nothing so much as a vast mill. "Well, we have the people who made this monstrosity, or some of them at least. Does anyone know how we might take this thing apart without risking the lives and sanity of those bound to it?" You look around the room between your sister, Lya, and Melisandre and Benerro speaking for their god, Breath Taker for his, and Zathir whose mournful gaze says more of the purpose of this place than the unease you feel could ever do. Nirah had refused the invitation, claiming no skill in the workings of consecrations, and Bloodraven had chosen to advise from the shadows, as is his wont, rather than reveal his current form as the Last Greenseer.

"Fire purifies, but it is a harsh tool," Melisandre offers after a moment. "I think we would be best served taking the reigns and then freeing those who were bound, be it by blood or by vow."

"To free a slave but first make them your own?" Zathir hisses, as frustrated as you had ever heard him. "If the unbinding comes from a master then masters they shall seek until the end of days, a tithe of poison made part of their souls. No, this place should be broken utterly and the very stone of the mountain brought down upon it, then sealed for all time."

"I understand the sentiment, holy one," Lya begins, her tone making it clear that she does not agree. "But I think we would be risking too much to simply break the lever and hope the mechanism will fall out well for those ensnared."

"Many things bound in life are loosened in death," Breath Taker interjects. "Sacrifice the man who helped forge these chains upon the stone and those who are bound by it shall be freed utterly."

"How...?" Dany starts, asking quick questions in the tongue of the Deeps. It soon transpires that this too would have a price, beyond even not having the use of Tywin Lannister for his trial, for every Golden Shield will know the pain of his death and as for his own kin, they are likely to endure soul tearing agony beyond what mortal flesh can ever breed.

Which path do you choose:

[] The way of Fire
-[] Write in argument for Zathir

[] The way of Cleansing

[] The way of Death

[] Write in

OOC: To be honest Nirah is not here because the scene is already crowded enough for my taste, we do not need another magical snake talking magic.
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Made a few minor edits to the chapter, DP.
 
I'm not particularly bothered by letting the Golden Shields experience the pain of Tywin's death, since we don't actually have to make it a painful experience, but the "soul tearing agony" being inflicted on his kin is worrisome. That kind of shit can have consequences, mentally, physically, and metaphysically.

@DragonParadox, how much would we be able to mitigate that aspect of sacrificing Tywin? For example, if his kin just happened to be statues at the time from a Flesh to Stone spell, would they still suffer that pain?
 
Goldfish said:
@DragonParadox, how much would we be able to mitigate that aspect of sacrificing Tywin? For example, if his kin just happened to be statues at the time from a Flesh to Stone spell, would they still suffer that pain?
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Tywin's kin include a fuck ton of Lannisters and I mean every single one. They will all feel it. We can't petrify all of them
 
@DragonParadox I don't understand everything.
[] The way of Fire - That means we're reassigning Tywin Lannister's slaves and then freeing them. Does this include both mages and relatives?

[] The way of Cleansing - I didn't understand what the procedure was at all. Got it, that means we're just destroying the altar.

[] The way of Death - Will the agony extend to all Lannisters, including the children? What a chance that some may not survive this exposure?
 
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Goldfish said:
I'm not particularly bothered by letting the Golden Shields experience the pain of Tywin's death, since we don't actually have to make it a painful experience, but the "soul tearing agony" being inflicted on his kin is worrisome. That kind of shit can have consequences, mentally, physically, and metaphysically.

@DragonParadox, how much would we be able to mitigate that aspect of sacrificing Tywin? For example, if his kin just happened to be statues at the time from a Flesh to Stone spell, would they still suffer that pain?
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The old gods have a hefty amount of power over dreams, maybe we could pay them to shelter the other Lannisters? If it's only pain and not material harm then being in a divine grade dream-illusion forcing you to feel something else might be a good enough block.
 
DragonParadox said:
we do not need another magical snake talking magic.
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DP: "I'm tired of all these magic flinging snakes on this mortal filled plane!"


Jokes aside, what does it mean to seek a master for the rest of their lives? Because that could mean anything from a lack of personal ambition to attempting to literally sign themselves back into slavery. The former isn't really that huge of a problem, the Realm is already full of people who won't ever amount to anything more than a 9 to 5 job. The latter is concerning from a security standpoint. Easy marks for devils and other sinister forces, etc.
 
[X] Plan of Fire
-[X] Of all the options, this is the least bad. If we just break the altar, there is no telling if the binding will actually break or if it just might drive all bound insane. Likewise, would it truly be better to cause the people bound unwillingly such pain? There risk seems vastly too high for the Golden Shields, let alone for those Lannister who have not been party to Tywins madness.

I'm not seeing Zathir being all that happy to see half the Lannisters dead for no reason except being related to Tywin and make no mistake that this is a very real chance, especially for the young, old and infirm.
 
Duesal said:
I am so impressed at how thorough the desecration was.

Zathir doesn't even want his old shrine anymore, he just wants it obliterated? Holy hell.
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You can say many things about Tywin Lannister, but the motherfucker does not do things by half.

I'd hold him in admiration if I wasn't filled with a visceral loathing disgust.
 
Azel said:
[X] Plan of Fire
-[X] Of all the options, this is the least bad. If we just break the altar, there is no telling if the binding will actually break or if it just might drive all bound insane. Likewise, would it truly be better to cause the people bound unwillingly such pain? There risk seems vastly too high for the Golden Shields, let alone for those Lannister who have not been party to Tywins madness.

I'm not seeing Zathir being all that happy to see half the Lannisters dead for no reason except being related to Tywin and make no mistake that this is a very real chance, especially for the young, old and infirm.
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THis part is worrying me a bit:
DragonParadox said:
"If the unbinding comes from a master then masters they shall seek until the end of days, a tithe the poison made part of their souls.
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Giving all these mages (in the future our mages) a weakness to Compulsion and similar things seems like a very bad idea in the long term.
Or even in the mid-term, since our next foes will be Devils and Deep Ones, both masters of such tricks.
 
[X] Azel

I like the Snek as much as the next person, and dislike Lannistets equally as much, but we gotta be Lawful about this.
 
Artemis1992 said:
THis part is worrying me a bit:

Giving all these mages (in the future our mages) a weakness to Compulsion and such things seems like a very bad idea in the long term.
Or even in the mid-term, since our next foes will be Devils and Deep Ones, both masters of such tricks.
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They can have a master though. Us. Just encourage them to become Clerics of Viserys and their urge is fulfilled. This is vastly better than driving most of them insane or killing a bunch by having them experience what it's like when a death god tears out your soul and munches on it.

I'd prefer a cleaner version of this, but both other options are supremely unappealing.
 
Azel said:
[X] Plan of Fire
-[X] Of all the options, this is the least bad. If we just break the altar, there is no telling if the binding will actually break or if it just might drive all bound insane. Likewise, would it truly be better to cause the people bound unwillingly such pain? There risk seems vastly too high for the Golden Shields, let alone for those Lannister who have not been party to Tywins madness.

I'm not seeing Zathir being all that happy to see half the Lannisters dead for no reason except being related to Tywin and make no mistake that this is a very real chance, especially for the young, old and infirm.
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If might be easier for him to swallow if we ask him to take over their rehab. If anyone is qualified to help people get over this sort of trauma and/or magical soul scarring then it's him and his priests.

We can easily afford the material support for whatever psychological care he feels is required, and it's excellent contrast to draw for the public when we reveal what Tywin was up to.
 
@DragonParadox

If we look at it less from the divine side, and more from the arcane, Tywin and the Altar are connected to all these Geases.
Could we use them as a vessel to spread out a Disjunction effect through all the affected, breaking the magic directly?

And if we could what would be the likely consequences of such an attempt?
 
BronzeTongue said:
If might be easier for him to swallow if we ask him to take over their rehab. If anyone is qualified to help people get over this sort of trauma and/or magical soul scarring then it's him and his priests.

We can easily afford the material support for whatever psychological care he feels is required, and it's excellent contrast to draw for the public when we reveal what Tywin was up to.
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Hm...

@DragonParadox, could we fix the damage with psychic chirurgy? Maybe Zathir instructing Qyburn on how to do it? We also have some off-screened Preceptor Archons who could help.
 
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Goldfish said:
@DragonParadox, how much would we be able to mitigate that aspect of sacrificing Tywin? For example, if his kin just happened to be statues at the time from a Flesh to Stone spell, would they still suffer that pain?
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Not at all, at least not in good time


Artemis1992 said:
@DragonParadox

If we look at it less from the divine side, and more from the arcane, Tywin and the Altar are connected to all these Geases.
Could we use them as a vessel to spread out a Disjunction effect through all the affected, breaking the magic directly?

And if we could what would be the likely consequences of such an attempt?
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Not strong enough, no.

Azel said:
Hm...

@DragonParadox, could we fix the damage with psychic chirurgy? Maybe Zathir instructing Qyburn on how to do it? We also have some off-screened Preceptor Archons who could help.
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Yes, but that would be significant administrative and magical effort.
 
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[X] A complex liberation plan.
-[X] Ask Zathir if he can come up with a ritual to destroy the altar that will free the enslaved and be safe for them.
--[X] If he has ideas, we can attract various resources, and even undertake to persuade the heir of Tywin if it helps.
-[X] If Zathir cannot guarantee safety or release, we use the Fire Plan.
--[X] To tell Zathir that we have a chance to teach the enslaved to live free always remains, but returning to the life of the dead can be difficult.
--[X] Promise him that the Golden Shields will be screened by your Preceptron Archons to assess the damage, if such exists, and that you will invest resources into researching ways to fix the lingering corruption. You have seen more then enough examples where the ability to remove such conditioning would have been useful.
--[X] Discuss with Melisandre how we can improve the ritual, and what is needed for it in general. We can attract various resources, and even undertake to persuade the heir of Tywin if it helps.
 
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Azel said:
@DragonParadox, could we fix the damage with psychic chirurgy?
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* Somewhere far, a psychologist shaggy doggo cries out in pain on the very notion *

Meme'ing aside, do we care enough to bother spending time and effort on restructuring their brains that way?
 
Could we just use way of fire, have them come here, then free them one by one?
 
Can we send a new order through the connection using Tywin? Some like "Come to Casterly Rock?".

Edit: The idea would need us to make a Remove Curse At Will item and have them come and get it removed
 
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