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

[T_of_A]

Is this a story I can read somewhere? Or is it just a dirty teasing what-if?

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https://forums.spacebattles.com/thr...eplaced-with-octavian-from-rome.375197/reader

It died before delivering on those cool quotes though. It's long and often satisfying, but he doesn't conquer Essos and bring civilisation to all :'(

And honestly @Crake the best quote is :

"People called Westeros, they go, the house"

Graffiti seen scrawled on a wall in Volantis in 315AL. The perpetrator being caught on the scene claimed that it actually said "Westerosi go home" and was creatively sentenced to both the lash and grammar lessons in the Common Tongue.

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Just for the reference.
But the most apt for Viserys is:

"Every so often the thought flashes through my mind that my nephew's main motivation isn't actually dreams of world conquest but because he simply can't abide the notion of any town not having an aqueduct, public baths and a decent sewer system. The legions may think they're fighting for the glory of Westeros but in reality they're crusading for the noble cause of better plumbing for all."

The Wit and Wisdom of Tyrion Lannister - 325 AL

 

[Duesal]

I'm sharing this here, because it's amazing.
These are quotes from a setting where Joffrey is replaced by a massively competent administrator/plotter. But they fit Viserys so well, especially the last few ones!

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Oh wow, blast from the past. I remember compiling that list.

 

[Goldfish]

Sorry @Crake, this is one piece of info that I wasn't keeping track of. I did try a while ago because we do technically keep track of it on the front page, but the rate of growth was just too random and frequent for me, so I more or less gave up on that aspect. You're better off asking @Azel or @DragonParadox there.

Anyway... my top priorities for this turn. @Goldfish, sorry to bug you, but you are making the traditional schedule on Excel and I'm not really getting the new system, so...

1. Opaline Vault -- I have scrolls to purchase there. Very important scrolls. And we need to get paid for getting rid of the Bey. And pick up crafting materials and make more commissions. And hire more crafters instead of commissioning weaker magic items.
2. Resurrect Sheepstealer -- according to DP it's going to take a full day to make arrangements on where to hide Sheepstealer, and Dalla apparently needs to talk to us in person as well.
3. Orb of Dragonkind (Red) -- send a strike team of PCs warded under Mind Blank to get that orb, Viserys can be summoned if they need help on a difficult fight. This is simply far too dangerous to us to leave outside our direct control.
4. Guardian Nagas -- Summon and sacrifice the Marilith before the 26th of this month otherwise we lose the chance to get our Guardian Nagas forever.
5. Lys & Myr -- These two are obvious and long-awaited.
6. The spider aberrations -- I was hoping to set aside some time to get them uncursed so we can get two more PCs out of the bargain. It should be doable this turn if I'm not mistaken.

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I'm just going to try to make a basic one with Viserys and Companions, once we get everything settled. There has to be some sort of structure, after all.

I'll add these to the preliminary list.

 

[egoo]

one piece of info that I wasn't keeping track of

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Who are you and what you did to our beloved magpie?!
*angry magpie-like sounds*

4. Guardian Nagas -- Summon and sacrifice the Marilith before the 26th of this month otherwise we lose the chance to get our Guardian Nagas forever.

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@Goldfish, @Duesal, note, that this

[] A Call into the Ether: You mat call otherworldly beings as servants, allies, or sources of information. With a better understanding of the tower's wards, the process will not be near as time-consuming. With the Scholarum likely to expand enormously you will likely need new teachers to keep up with the flow of students even with Velen pledging himself and some of his fellows to the task.
-[] Assigned: Viserys, Lya (NOTE: @Duesal, what do we want to summon here? Enemies, allies, Heart Tree fodder, etc. You've got a list, I'm sure)

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can probably be done as a Minor action throughout the month, with but a single day singled out (mostly for DP's and narrative's sake) for some "special" summons, i.e. summoning Marlith, Harvester Devil and Tyroshi daemons, and everything else getting background-abstracted.

[] Throughout the month, resolve the issue of enemy agents on your territories.
-[] On a daily basis reserve a single use of Mythic power for Viserys and single spell slot of 8th level for lya in order to cast one Greater Planar Binding each every day of the month
--[] Capture summoned entities, either by using Irony on those it would be more likely to work, or regular spellslots and methods as necessary.
-[] Take special care to target those beings whose True Names we know and whom we know or at least suspect in acting as spies and/or agents on Plane Material first.
--[] Do so in a way that will not arouse much suspicion from any given group until we are about to be done with it, stopping summoning for some time if necessary, or switching to summoning beings from another faction
--[] These include but do not limit to: Rakshasa that ran away after Maharaja's death, the rest of Daemons from Tyrosh (names known through questioned leaders of the cult), Uniila's entourage (names known through redintg through Uniila-book), Harvester devil that eluded us, demons from Mantarys (know due to Listener's Skull), Marilith that attacked the temple of Syrax, Devils summoned by Tiamat and her croonies (skulls of devils and questioned clerics),
-[] For additional sources of Outsider names refer to Duesal's List of skulls.

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DP-approved. Efficient. Sacrifice-gathering.
All-around great plan, pls lets do this.

 

[Duesal]

I'm just going to try to make a basic one with Viserys and Companions, once we get everything settled. There has to be some sort of structure, after all.

I'll add these to the preliminary list.

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Of course, just tossing my own two cents out there beforehand.

By the way, can we have Lya hurry up and learn Greater Planar Binding at the beginning of the month?

 

[Taut_Templar]

@egoo, I've been harping in about Qohor for two fucking turns and at every occasion I've been stopped with the words "this takes priority." I cannot fucking get why nobody has any interest in it, besides the fact that it's had no immediate screen time, we have an endless array of shit to do, and it's 'far away', as utterly nonsensical as the last bit is since we have Saath and Volantis.

In any case, I was promised that Qohor would take priority this turn in return for not throwing a shit fit over the Bey taking precedence without even a vote.

 

[egoo]

@egoo, I've been harping in about Qohor for two fucking turns and at every occasion I've been stopped with the words "this takes priority." I cannot fucking get why nobody has any interest in it, besides the fact that it's had no visible screen and is 'far away', as utterly nonsensical as the last bit is since we have Saath and Volantis.

In any case, I was promised that Qohor would take priority this turn in return for not throwing a shit fit over the Bey taking precedence without even a vote.

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...I honestly have no answer for you except "because it does".
Us taking over Myr and Lys was in-planning for many months, be it IRL or in-quest, and no changes from plan are acceptable, simply because it is so important for us moving forward.

We have Dothraki, spies, Legions and PC's at the ready for this.

And our main spies, the people to whom we can trust such a sensitive mission as this or going to Qohor...
Are Garin and Glyra.
We don't want to half-ass either action, because doing so can blow said action up, and we'll face even worse situation with it.

I, for one, want to have a go at Tiamat
She's gathering power, followers, armies, making schemes and has a fucking castle on on plane of shadow.
But she is "unimportant" right now, and, all my agenda and grievances aside - that is objectively true. She's on the other side of the continent.

We have more pressing concerns closer to home right now, even if ill argue taking her forces out before moving to Westeros.

Harping doesn't help here, really.
You have my condolences, and please don't take this in any way but an honest (if really sleepy) attempt at telling "why".

 

[T_of_A]

@egoo, I've been harping in about Qohor for two fucking turns and at every occasion I've been stopped with the words "this takes priority." I cannot fucking get why nobody has any interest in it, besides the fact that it's had no immediate screen time, we have an endless array of shit to do, and it's 'far away', as utterly nonsensical as the last bit is since we have Saath and Volantis.

In any case, I was promised that Qohor would take priority this turn in return for not throwing a shit fit over the Bey taking precedence without even a vote.

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Who cares about that city? It's in the asshole of the world, anyway.

 

[egoo]

Who cares about that city? It's in the asshole of the world, anyway.

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*cough* a single fleshforge of loot aside, let everything else burn *cough*

 

[Taut_Templar]

...I honestly have no answer for you except "because it does".
Us taking over Myr and Lys was in-planning for many months, be it IRL or in-quest, and no changes from plan are acceptable, simply because it is so important for us moving forward.

We have Dothraki, spies, Legions and PC's at the ready for this.

And our main spies, the people to whom we can trust such a sensitive mission as this or going to Qohor...
Are Garin and Glyra.
We don't want to half-ass either action, because doing so can blow said action up, and we'll face even worse situation with it.

I, for one, want to have a go at Tiamat
She's gathering power, followers, armies, making schemes and has a fucking castle on on plane of shadow.
But she is "unimportant" right now, and. All my agenda and grievances aside - that objectively true.
We have more pressing concerns closer to home right now, even if ill argue taking her forces out before moving to Westeros.

Harping doesn't help here, really.
You have my condolences, and please don't take this in any way but an honest (if really sleepy) attempt at telling "why".

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The problem is that you're reserving our two most potent agents for the role of essentially sitting in the two cities and making sure nothing goes wrong. We have other people and PCs already doing that.

Okay, I'm done repeating the same arguments - how about this, since it's what you seem to care about. Qohor is a perfect opportunity for the Golden Company/Tiamat. It's a major, wealthy, and powerful Free City in chaos. It has a flesh forge and undoubtly other arcane treasures. It's geographically positioned so that they could actually hold it. It'd give FAegon some actual legitimacy and power beyond the mercenaries, cheesemongers and monsters.

Or some other threat could be taking advantage of it. Fiends, almost certainly. We don't know. So let's send our PCs to finally get some goddamn intel, instead of having them sit around to make double sure our plans go off without a hitch.

 

[Duesal]

In any case, I was promised that Qohor would take priority this turn in return for not throwing a shit fit over the Bey taking precedence without even a vote.

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We did vote on it, the vote was when we accepted the job to assassinate the Bey at all. That was a time-sensitive mission that was massively important to the quest for IC reasons, not exactly something we were inclined to turn down. Everything except the raid of Old Valyria was pretty much swallowed up as a result. Unfortunate, sure, but stuff happens. We can't ignore opportunities like that.

@egoo, I've been harping in about Qohor for two fucking turns and at every occasion I've been stopped with the words "this takes priority." I cannot fucking get why nobody has any interest in it, besides the fact that it's had no immediate screen time, we have an endless array of shit to do, and it's 'far away', as utterly nonsensical as the last bit is since we have Saath and Volantis.

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We'll probably be able to fit in a single day somewhere in there for Viserys, maybe more with other more stealthy PCs to do reconnaissance beforehand.

As to why people don't seem to care? It's because we're being serious when we say there are other more important things going on. The upcoming conquest of Lys and Myr has been planned for months both IC and OOC. It was supposed to happen last month, but the Lyseni magister we're manipulating wasn't cooperating, so it had to be delayed. I can promise you right now that all our actions this turn are going to be revolving around the conquest, and after that's settled it's just going to be a game of what we're able to fill in after the fact.

For the record I do hope we manage to set aside a day for Qohor. I'm not betting on it, though. Everything is set aside when it comes time to conquer.

Or some other threat could be taking advantage of it. Fiends, almost certainly. We don't know. So let's send our PCs to finally get some goddamn intel, instead of having them sit around to make double sure our plans go off without a hitch.

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This is a bit disingenuous. We always have our PCs working, they never just sit around doing nothing.

But to go into the argument you presented:

Okay, I'm done repeating the same arguments - how about this, since it's what you seem to care about. Qohor is a perfect opportunity for the Golden Company/Tiamat. It's a major, wealthy, and powerful Free City in chaos. It has a flesh forge and undoubtly other arcane treasures. It's geographically positioned so that they could actually hold it. It'd give FAegon some actual legitimacy and power beyond the mercenaries, cheesemongers and monsters.

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1. Bluntly, FAegon is not a threat. The only thing stopping us from getting him is the fact that we don't know where he is. Even if he got Qohor that wouldn't be nearly enough to save him. You're also overestimating by what's all accounts still a child. Not even a "I'm basically a wyrmling" child like Dany, but an actual kid.

2. Fiends are in every city. Qohor wouldn't exactly be unique.

 

[Taut_Templar]

Who cares about that city? It's in the asshole of the world, anyway.

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What the fuck are you talking about? I've been hearing you shittalk Qohor every time I bring it up, and I've never seen you list a reason besides "it sucks" and "The Black Goat!"

 

[Taut_Templar]

We'll probably be able to fit in a single day somewhere in there for Viserys, maybe more with other more stealthy PCs to do reconnaissance beforehand.

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That's ... that's all I want. Once we have some actual information, I can either have my concerns aliviated or will get a leg to stand on. Just some intel gathering and a smidgon of the King's time. We can also use the fact that we forged VS as a way to recruit smiths, I'm sure our guy has some friends he'd like to rescue.

 

[egoo]

What the fuck are you talking about? I've been hearing you shittalk Qohor every time I bring it up, and I've never seen you list a reason besides "it sucks" and "The Black Goat!"

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Cool down your flames, I'm 95% sure they are joking.

So let's send our PCs to finally get some goddamn intel, instead of having them sit around to make double sure our plans go off without a hitch.

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And I'm sort to say that, but I won't budge on this.
We don't know shit about what is happening in most of the cities on Essos.

My paranoia is always raging about the shitfest around the corner. So this is but one more.

And true, Tiamat has chances of taking it.
But, well, if she succeeds...
Then I'll be fully justified in talking everyone's ears off all this time!


And then we'll burn down the city ourselves, fuck the consequences and FAegon's mental health.

Like Duesal, I don't mind us trying to fit it in, but neither do I expect is to succeed at that.

EXIR: ninja'ed.

 

[Goldfish]

@egoo, I've been harping in about Qohor for two fucking turns and at every occasion I've been stopped with the words "this takes priority." I cannot fucking get why nobody has any interest in it, besides the fact that it's had no immediate screen time, we have an endless array of shit to do, and it's 'far away', as utterly nonsensical as the last bit is since we have Saath and Volantis.

In any case, I was promised that Qohor would take priority this turn in return for not throwing a shit fit over the Bey taking precedence without even a vote.

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I really think we will be able to do a full several day scouting visit to Qohor this turn. Viserys might not spend much time there, but we've got plenty of people who are competent and powerful who should be able to get shot done.

 

[Duesal]

What the fuck are you talking about? I've been hearing you shittalk Qohor every time I bring it up, and I've never seen you list a reason besides "it sucks" and "The Black Goat!"

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That's ... that's all I want. Once we have some actual information, I can either have my concerns aliviated or will get a leg to stand on. Just some intel gathering and a smidgon of the King's time.

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A bit of honest advice, dude -- losing your cool over this isn't going to help convince people to vote for your action. In fact it's liable to do the exact opposite.

I've found that luring people with loot instead tends to work rather well. Everyone's got an inner magpie.

Qohor has:
1. Black Goat sacrifices (I hope. The new druid things better not have gotten rid of them)
2. Qohorik smiths (they're less useful now that we've got their secrets... but still not useless)
3. Valyrian Steel, lots and lots of it

Seriously, when we conquer Qohor, I want all that Valyrian Steel. Or at least most of it.

 

[A_Somebody]

@Goldfish do we have time to do some judicial reform/prison creation? I do think it's time we had something between "fines" and "death" as consequences and to get over the whole "making people do things they don't want to do IS AUTOMATICALLY SLAVERY," thing. Like yes, the US prison system is glorified plantations in a lot of places, but community service or "working off your debt to society," isn't inherently a bad thing!

 

[Goldfish]

@Goldfish do we have time to do some judicial reform/prison creation? I do think it's time we had something between "fines" and "death" as consequences and to get over the whole "making people do things they don't want to do IS AUTOMATICALLY SLAVERY," thing. Like yes, the US prison system is glorified plantations in a lot of places, but community service or "working off your debt to society," isn't inherently a bad thing!

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Added it as another placeholder in my big list of potential actions for DP to look at.

 

[Azel]

@Goldfish, don't forget that we will need Lya to build the Plane-Shift Train Station. She is the only one that can do it as only she has learned how to build the focuses needed to keep the wagons on track.

Then we can transport bulk cargo and passengers between SD and the Xorn outpost / Opaline Vault off-screen, meaning we can open the Opaline Vault branch of ACSEC. This also means we can buy magic items, recruit enchanters and do all the other stuff there off-screen through ACSEC.

 

[Azel]

@DragonParadox

1. You missed 56,000 IM income from our various manufacturing plants (bunched up in Stepstones Manufacturing).
2. You took out the ACSEC and SSE income formulas from the front-page. The new system has no provisions for those companies though, and my intent was to run them as before.

Luckily, I still have the most recent informations:

Spoiler: SSE

Assets
12 Medium Galleons
6 Small Galleons
Trading Post in Lamentation

Expenses
Formula: 350 IM per ship
Current: 5,950 IM

Income
Formula: 1d20 * 250 IM per ship
Current: 18d20 * 250 IM
Average: 38,500 IM

Spoiler: ACSEC

Assets
Office in Sorcerers Deep
Office in Braavos
Office in Tyrosh
Office in Tolos
Office in Mantarys

Cargo Moved
11759 tons per month

Expenses
Formula: 375 IM per office
Current: 1875 IM per month

Income
Formula: 3 IM per ton of cargo moved
Current: 35277 IM

Regular growth: 4d10 - 10 Percent -> Average of 12%
Growth for building new offices: 20% or 1,000 tons, whichever is higher.
Bonus growth in the first 6 months:
1 - 25%
2 - 50%
3 - 75%
4 - 75%
5 - 50%
6 - 25%

3. We are also missing the raiding income and the toll income.

Spoiler: Toll

Stepstones Toll:
Use 15 galleys and 5 sloops
Maximum Ships for Toll: 20
Income Formula: 2d20 * 100 IM per Ship
Average Income: 22,000 IM

Spoiler: Raiding

Raiding Fleet [Slaver's Bay]
1 Large Galleon (Valiant),
5 Galleys, 2 Sloops
3 Mediums Galleons to Slavers Bay

Income:
1d20 per ship larger than a sloop

1: Ship in Peril (Roll 1d100 for severity)
2-14: nothing caught
15-18: Small Ship Captured: gain 1d100*150 Gold
19-20: Large Ship Captured: gain 3d100 *150 gold

Sloops and Constructs: +2 to capture rolls (does not negate natural 1s)
Triton Scouts: Roll twice for severity and take the most advantagous result

Fleet-wide Enhancements: Food and Water Purification, Three-Eyed-Raven Messengers, Triton Scouts

I can make you a cheat-sheet to streamline this stuff if you want, but I'm afraid that I don't have anything in store to abstract all of it away, as these things model very specific things.

 

[Duesal]

Ah, crap. I knew we were forgetting something. @Goldfish, when we go to the Opaline Vault, we need to buy a scroll of Gate so that we can get the Crystalized Demon Lord back to Sorcerer's Deep. It really should not be left sitting in Yrten's ship. I'm bringing this up because we need to get that sort of treasure out of harm's way sooner rather than later.

 

[egoo]

Ah, crap. I knew we were forgetting something. @Goldfish, when we go to the Opaline Vault, we need to buy a scroll of Gate so that we can get the Crystalized Demon Lord back to Sorcerer's Deep. It really should not be left sitting in Yrten's ship. I'm bringing this up because we need to get that sort of treasure out of harm's way sooner rather than later.

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...we can turn it into a Heart Tree the moment research is done.
2 weeks, I think?

Salamanders will appreciate that, for sure.
And OG's will get a fresh new plane to suck energy from.
Just a possibility of expending it, mind you.

Or better yet, we can find the undead-snek and feed it with those crystals.

 

[Duesal]

...we can turn it into a Heart Tree the moment research is done.
2 weeks, I think?

Salamanders will appreciate that, for sure.
And OG's will get a fresh new plane to suck energy from.
Just a possibility of expending it, mind you.

Or better yet, we can find the undead-snek and feed it with those crystals.

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A Heart Tree is a terrible thing to waste it on, honestly. The Old Gods will eat literally anything we give them, there's no need to use this just for a Heart Tree.

We can make something seriously cool out of these crystals. I'm not sure what, but unleash the thread munchkins and we'll work wonders.

 

[egoo]

A Heart Tree is a terrible thing to waste it on, honestly. The Old Gods will eat literally anything we give them, there's no need to use this just for a Heart Tree.

We can make something seriously cool out of these crystals. I'm not sure what, but unleash the thread munchkins and we'll work wonders.

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well, DP did say we can probably do something to Oathkeeper with it, if only through sheer energy these pieces hold and not their energy's nature being overly compatible with it...
It is basically an energy field as far as any crafting or use is concerned. Corrupted, CE energy field.

 

[Duesal]

well, DP did say we can probably do something to Oathkeeper with it, if only through sheer energy these pieces hold and not their energy's nature being overly compatible with it...
It is basically an energy field as far as any crafting or use is concerned. Corrupted, CE energy field.

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And we have friendly gods who can be paid to help harness its potential. This is far from impossible for us.