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

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LonelyWolf999 said:
Really? When? What does it mean?
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Here.
DragonParadox said:
Like and unlike how he had appeared you in a dream he is: enthroned upon a tangled weirwood roots, his garments black and rotting upon a withered frame almost as white as the wood around it, save a blotch upon his neck and face, the one he had borne since birth. You know from the Maester's lessons that it was said to have given the last of the Great Bastards the name he was so feared by, but your mother claimed it was only a veil over their fear of him.

Yet strangest and most uncanny were the eyes, not pale lilac as you had seen them, as a clue to his nature perhaps or some remnant of vanity. The left is an empty socket with a root growing through it, the right blood-red and staring. "Hail Viserys, Third of his name, Dragon Reborn. Hail Daenerys Stormborn and Traitor Priestess of the Wyrm Mother, and to you also Ser Lonmouth who bear with honor arms of ancient dread."
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Viserys is touched by destiny, so it could mean multiple things.

It could be a reference to how he was resurrected, it could be how he was destined to ascend to True Dragonhood, etc. There are a number of possibilities since the Old Gods could have easily seen the future thanks to their Time Domain.

EDIT: As for people calling us that en mass?
DragonParadox said:
"I have born witness as the Dragon Reborn came to Tyrosh, as his soldiers marched through the streets and saw his will made manifest. They did not bear torches to set ablaze the houses of the masters, but to bring light and warmth to the hearts of those bereft of these gifts. For his message is not one of wrath and death, but of hope and mercy. I bore witness as he gathered the wicked and as he chastised those for whom hope yet remained, and only those who had willingly turned their hearts to cold and darkness did he not show mercy."
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We deliberately gave ourselves the title while posing as Vraithe of Lys, and this was during a speech to thousands, so the only reasonable assumption was that the title spread like wildfire.
 
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Winning Vote

[] Plan Poking Stuff
-[] Amulets: Keep them and poke them next month with Lyas Soul Drum to learn about their occupants and if they have died recently enough to revive them.
-[] Sallosh: Poke the undead about the following things:
--[X What are their current goals?
--[] What can they tell us about the undead outside the city?
--[] Do they know something how we could help out the colony?
--[] Would they object to us stationing a sizable force in Sallosh to fortify the place and defend it?
-[] Sallosh: Assuming that the undead are not wholly against the notion, station a large contingent of soldiers to defend this strategic location.
--[] Pull the 3rd Infantry Company, the Scout Company and the Lancer Company from the 1st Column of the 2nd Legion.
--[] Add 500 Tolosi Slingers.
--[] Take the 64 launchers that were earmarked for the new Siege Company.
--[] The whole force will be branded as the Salloshi Expedition Force and will be under the command of Vargor Alexi. They will assist and defend the city to the best of their ability, starting with helping to build a huge, beautiful wall.
-[] Sallosh: Further aid and sign-up bonuses.
--[] Vargor Alexi gets a Valyrian Steel longsword.
--[] They get a budget for further supplies of 10,000 IM, to be dropped off together with the military units. This can include whole ships, who Viserys will Teleport over.
 
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Part MMDXLVII: Shades and Memories
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    • Shades and Memories ​

    Twenty-Ninth Day of the Seventh Month 293 AC

    As you leave the realms reclaimed by the living, mostly near the water's edge, you come to realize that the silence of the dead city had not vanished entirely into the din of new life, but instead it had drawn back into the shadows, trickled down through the gaps in the stone to pool and gather where the bones of the dead still lie thick. Vargor's folk have not yet buried all those who met their end in that long ago plague, for the burial rituals of the Tall Men are quite complex and, as Maelor puts it: "Folk are less inclined to cheat the dead their due when they know for a fact that they're watching."

    They are certainly watching now; whispers in the corners, shapes seen out of the corner of your eye, flashes of heat and cold like eddies in some vast unseen sea. Would that all the images were like those long-dead maegi who confronted you on your first journey to the city following the trail of Tiamat's servants. Alas that there are darker things to see in the deeper places of Sallosh.

    The worst are the children, giggles and nursery rhymes turning to soft pitiful sobs or screams of despair, then back as though whatever tattered remnant of a spirit was passing through had forgotten itself and would then be doomed to pass through the horror of their own last days again and again, not aware enough to think and understand, but present enough to feel. Even Ser Richard is disturbed by the horror you are witnessing though his expression barely wavers, his eyes moving through the broken corridors and dilapidated halls with the same thoughtfulness he has ever shown.

    "They aren't even angry at us, and that just makes it worse, you know?" Maelor instinctively draws his cloak closer as he speaks.

    "I do," you nod. "Malice can be met with courage and strength of arms, but there is nothing here save sorrow. Given enough time I fear it can prove as infectious as the plagues that earned this city the name by which the Dothraki called it."

    "But it's getting better at least. The Saathi have come back here to build a city of their people for the first time in a dozen generations..." It is not often that Maelor feels the need to lighten the air, but it is clear this cold sepulchral world made all the darker by the shafts of sunlight piercing from above is enough to dampen even his spirits.

    "For those who remember enough of themselves to depart in peace, yes," you reply. "I fear many do not."

    At last you reach the broken temple where you had last fought Anu, and there amid the fading marks of your battle you see again the tall skeletal figure wrapped in robes like a rotting shroud.

    "As I have pledged six months past so it was done," you begin speaking High Valyrian with ponderous formality, the better to jar a broken memory if necessary. A bitter farce it would be if you were forced to fight at this late a time.

    "So you have," the words are fragile and soft as rotting leaves. "Our thanks upon you, our blessings also for whatever worth the blessings of the dead and damned may have."

    Thus do you ask them of their purpose, having presumed that they would depart upon seeing their descendants reclaiming the city, though you do not share the conjuncture. The answer you receive in exchange does not make pleasant hearing: "We protect our kin from those who have forgotten all bonds of kinship, those who would turn on all that lives in a jealous rage. Without us nightmares would poison their sleep and misfortune would haunt their every waking moment."

    "There are other threats also, beyond the walls," you remind them obliquely. "I would send soldiers sworn to me to guard this city and mend its walls against all who would attack it."

    For a long moment the long dead maegi is silent, pondering your words, or perhaps communing with his fellows. Finally he speaks: "It would be more difficult to guard many who are not of our blood, but we see the need and sense the peril."

    "What peril do you sense? What's out there?" Maelor interjects, wholly unconcerned under the wraith's chill gaze, now that he had a face to confront.

    "Warlords, little Shadow-born," comes the answer, tinged with the faintest shadow of disdain. "We are scholars and do not desire the weight of crowns nor the dubious comfort of thrones, but those who gather in Sarnath under the Empty Throne remember ruling and so they desire to return to what they once were. Even now bare bones rake barren fields and withered trees are shaken for fruit long rotten on the vine. They wish to knot together the threads of past and future as though our deaths had never been."

    "Empty Throne?" you prompt, abandoning formality once it becomes clear that those you speak to care little for it.

    "The seat of House Alexi yet lies empty, and so the High Lords seek to raise him who last held it. They seek his bones upon the field of crows yet find them not. Perhaps if he who was born of that line would come before them they would relent..."

    Vargor is many things including brave and a reasonably skilled administrator, but no more of House Alexi than are you. The thought is bitter for the knowledge that the dead scholars could counsel him thus and he would all unknowing walk to his death.

    How do you reply?

    [] Explain that Vargor is not of the heritage he claims, the scholars of Sallosh seem to care little for such things save where they hope it might bring peace

    [] Remain silent on the matter, best not to risk an unpredictable reaction

    [] Write in

    OOC: You can of course ask more questions too, the undead here are about as amenable as undead get.
     
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    • The undead didn't actually ask for a Sarnori king at all. They only wanted their people. I don't see a reason the undead of Sallosh would be angry that he's not actually an Alexi.
     
    So while we warn Vargor what do we do about the High Lords trying to raise the last King? Do we ask them to stop, continue what? I'm pretty sure we want to absorb this territory so them having a legitimate King besides Vargor who has agreed to be our vassal would be a problem. Especially an undead ruler seeing as they have trouble with changing their minds and opinions.
     
    Telling them would be a risk, but they might be able to help us find an actual descendant, if someone exists at all.
     
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    Dracikral said:
    So while we warn Vargor what do we do about the High Lords trying to raise the last King? Do we ask them to stop, continue what? I'm pretty sure we want to absorb this territory so them having a legitimate King besides Vargor who has agreed to be our vassal would be a problem. Especially an undead ruler seeing as they have trouble with changing their minds and opinions.
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    Blood for the blood god! Skulls for the skull throne! :V

    But more seriously, we have point-blank testimony that these undead are not friendly. They need to be removed.
     
    Hmm considering the capitalization of the "Empty Throne" I'm wondering if it is an actual throne similar to the Iron Throne in Kings Landing. If so can we find it and destroy it? I imagine there's probably some sympathetic magic that ties the line of Alexi to it, and by destroying that conduit we could probably mitigate some of the problems that might arise if the Warlords of Sarnath find the remains of the last King.
     
    Trying to find the heir of the Alexi might have been tempting, but these undead are so unfriendly that they're even dangerous to their own ethnicity.
    DragonParadox said:
    "We protect our kin from those who have forgotten all bonds of kinship, those who would turn on all that lives in a jealous rage. Without us nightmares would poison their sleep and misfortune would haunt their every waking moment."
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    Definitely not reasonable like the Salloshi undead.

    And then this:
    DragonParadox said:
    "The seat of House Alexi yet lies empty, and so the High Lords seek to rise him who last held it. They seek his bones upon the Field of Crows yet find them not. Perhaps if he who was born of that line would come before them they would relent..."
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    The threat of a rather massive kingdom of hostile undead would only relent, not fully stop or go away or move on, and even then only a chance of them relenting. In the unlikely event that finding the heir of House Alexi succeeds, and we manage to make it into Sarnath and prove the blood claim to the Empty Throne... that does nothing to truly end the threat. The undead are still there in massive numbers, quite literally poisoning the plane with their existence. Best to simply prepare for the bad scenario in front of us.
     
    Well I'm not sure how the weirwood sacrifice works for the Undead, but I'm pretty sure the Fungus Forge could use the ashes of the soon to be re-dead Undead of Sarnor
     
    One Autumn Leaf said:
    You can sacrifice un-dead to a heart tree. They even get a bonus to said sacrifices
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    Even Better :D

    As with our attack on Lys I feel that massive armies of low tier enemies are really helpful for beefing up our own forces/ increasing the Larder.

    EDIT: Though we'll probably have to put any potential army incursion into Sarnath on the backburner for now, seeing as we still have quite a bit of territory to cover that isn't ours at the moment.
     
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    Duesal said:
    Trying to find the heir of the Alexi might have been tempting, but these undead are so unfriendly that they're even dangerous to their own ethnicity.
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    Those are two different threats. Of the dead of Sallosh there are two different kind, those sentient and with rational goals and those who just hate and are jealous of the living since that is basically all they have left. there are also more undead (some of which are sentient) beyond Sallosh, with other goals.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Those are two different threats. Of the dead of Sallosh there are two different kind, those sentient and with rational goals and those who just hate and are jealous of the living since that is basically all they have left. there are also more undead (some of which are sentient) beyond Sallosh, with other goals.
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    Oh, that's a relief. We actually have other options, then.

    By the way, @DragonParadox, the Salloshi originally just asked us to bring us their people to resettle their city. There was absolutely no request for any heir to House Alexi. In Viserys' professional opinion, why does he deem the revelation that Vargor is in fact not an Alexi as he believes to be a risky proposition? At the end of the day it would still be status quo for the Salloshi, they don't care about crowns or thrones.
     
    I think it's worth the trouble of tracking down the king...

    Or reincarnating Vargor into a Sarnori.

    He has shown a willingness to make sacrifices for his people.

    Also, regardless of their feelings on the matter he is their people's leader, he cares for them and is admired in turn. The reminder that "the ways of the living should not be the ways of the dead" is a pretty clear cut and logical move.

    Alternatively we get him hitched, have him impregnate someone, and then point out his son as the one true heir.

    What? To crazy to work?
     
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