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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:
Forging Transitive Eternities ​

First Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC

"There are no easy answers, but I would say that Lady Melisandre's is the best of a bad lot. If we simply break the altar, what surety is there that we do not likewise break the minds of all the enslaved mages?" You turn to Breath Taker. "If it is not madness but death that we risk, then how shall we justify inflicting such pain upon those unwillingly bound?"

"What weight the pain for a moment besides the memories of those chains pressing down evermore upon them?" Zathir's tail lashes at the ground in agitation. "Look at what they have done... look at it," his voice breaks, the dissonance in his beautiful tones a dreadful thing to hear. "They have made learning an instrument of binding and of blinding. How can I consent to that, to using it even for a moment? To allow that to perpetuate... what would I even be then? "

"You would be one who cares deeply about those who cannot now properly care for themselves," Dany points out, walking over to pat his scaled side. "You would be one who helps give them the tools to win back their freedom, even if it should not be done wholly in the moment."

"The Scholarum made a study these past months about the means of removing lingering mental harm from long term bindings," you interject. "I will not deny that this runs far deeper, but I will pledge here and now to do all that I can that any who might suffer thus will get all the help they need to use those tools of which Dany spoke."

"I could not leave such a task unto others..."

"Then do not." You shake your head, and softly add, "As worthwhile as all your contributions have been, I would not expect you to work in the furtherance of the realm when marks of this desecration yet endure. My own agents will be no less diligent in the task for having more hands in the task, bur rather grateful for the aid."

"This will not break the blood curse," Lya says suddenly from where she has been trying to observe the wheels that bind and contain the plinth. "That runs too deep, rooted in a magic we cannot see..."

"Of course we can." The Red Priestess conjures a small ball of flame as she speaks and points it towards the wall of the cavern where shadows of her and Benerro had stretched out. "Do you not see us there? Could you not guess what shadow alone does not show?"

"I do not have eyes that see the soul with that sort of clarity," Lya replies. "It's not like sight at all, more like piecing together a melody from echoes once you know the shape of the cave you are in."

"The Lord of Light does. See the truth in His Light," the priestess answers, the crackle of flames behind her words.

The shadows twist, the shadows dance, and in the patterns a serpent dances, not in joy for this is not a joyful time, and not in victory for there is not true triumph that can be drawn from this stony field, but simply in determination that this should not long endure, a twisted work twisted in turn. Two gods who stand as far apart as any in the Imperium converse and come to an uneasy understanding.

No blood shall be spilled, no lives shall be snuffed out, this much the Winged Serpent insists upon, and so it is the work and craft of your foes that must be given up for the freedom of those bespelled. Instead an offering must be made of those things most precious to the artist or the craftsman, arcane materials, that which can be wrought into a thing of beauty yes, but also a chain reforged.

Lost 7 lbs of Horacalcum, 77 lbs of Singing Steel, and 777 lbs of Adamantine

Amid the sounds of crashing gears, amid the sounds of snapping chords, the metal of twisted time flows together with that of celestial songs, and last of all into a whirlpool of bubbling adamantine that only the mightiest mortal forges can hope to forge. The devices burn one by one, and with a final scream of molten metal meeting stone, the altar crumbles.

"It is done," Zathir says, hanging his head low in exhaustion, or at least that is what you hope it is, rather than shame.

What next?

[] Try to gain control of the Golden Shields through their normal communication protocols

[] Continue on with nailing down the rest of the Westerlands

[] Write in

OOC: I thought about leaving the sacrifices up to you guys but those votes never get much engagement so I just pressed on so you would have a better overnight vote.
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Made a few additional edits to the chapter, DP.
 
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This is a point where we could use the Lannisters we have got to solve this with less bloodshed than usual I guess.

We have Tyrion as the heir and he seems very willing to do what he can not to piss us off further, so a message from him to all the Westerland lords to stand down should be easily doable.
Lanna as the commander of the Shields could also help and it would be a first test if she is at all willing to work for us, without letting her out of sight or taking the metaphorical sword from her throat.
 
Fair thee well, sweet Horacalcum, we never got to work with ye, but know that your sacrifice will not be forgotten. :cry:

[X] Azel
 
Artemis1992 said:
No, she buys her own materials for that.
We definitly did not agree to give all the materials, Sathar is not a poor nation.
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I'm not sure where she buys them?

The only source we got as much as a whiff of even looking into it, is the Opaline Vault's own reserved supply line that they only agreed to hand to us due to diplomatic ties.
And at an abysmal rate at that.

She'd still have to go through us as her best bet, and I would say we can handwave us having bought more from Vailt over the, what, a year IC since we got the first batch?

We never went back to buy more on-screen, but with our IC hoarding tendencies, and an unlimited budget, that's downright weird.
 
The Trial of Tywin Lannister

@DragonParadox if we convince Zathir to act as a witness, do you think Tywin Lannister might become a curse word for sure? :V

[X] Try to gain control of the Golden Shields through their normal communication protocols
-[X] Also send out messages to the lords of the Westerlands using Tywins communication channels.
 
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Eh... I wouldn't mind if she needs a few more months or even a year or two. I've got some long term proposals that might make it more convenient if she remains undead.
 
F0lkL0re said:
Please say yes DP we really need to hammer home to that lot the gravity of what they did.

[X] Azel
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Would it really have that much of an impact? Most people will just be hearing about this second or third hand, and the Westerosi are monotheistic (ish). That opinion will change in the future, but at the moment most people who hear about it aren't going to react more strongly than they would for say a powerful azata.
 
we can can use this as an opportunity, we can set up a dedicated facility for the study and treatment of metal illnesses , arcane bindings and enchantments as we will need a dedicated facility to hold all those victims of Tywin's enslavement as it will be responsible for treating hundreds of former golden shield mages as well as almost every single noble lord of the Westerlands along with possibly their heirs . We'll call it Zathir Sanitarium .

we'll put it in Lys as the beauty of the sights and calm environment will be good for the patients , this will also specialize the city's mages towards the enchantment school of magic which the Lysny seem already predisposed towards as the endeavor will likely co-opt their magical faculties for an extended period of time , also the Sanitarium will hold a respectably sized temple dedicated to Zathir which combined with the god in question's literal presence will likely see a great deal of growth to Zathir's base of worshipers doubly so since he is a patron of the arts and the people of Lys are culturally predisposed towards the fine arts themselves .

And the the best part all those Westerlands nobles who will be spending a great deal of time in the presence of the avatar of a god personally working himself to the bone to nurse them back to the picture of mental health would most certainly see them gain quite a few revelations of the religious kind , returning to their lands to spread the good word of the Best Coatl furthering growing his base of worshipers , there is also the fact that a good deal those Westerosi lords are of the martial persuasion having been raised since boyhood to be feudal knights with a great deal of emphasis on oaths , honor and duty so we might even see the first paladins of Zathir come into being
 
BronzeTongue said:
Would it really have that much of an impact? Most people will just be hearing about this second or third hand, and the Westerosi are monotheistic (ish).
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we will place serpent mirrors in every single village , town , castle and city on the continent and make the trial date a holiday just to be sure everyone sees it and we will record the whole thing and run it back to back for a week just to be extra sure
 
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