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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:
It's how I have been running this quest for years. I don't think it would make sense to change it now out of the blue.
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That's not entirely true though, DP. Haven't you allowed automatic passes for Ritual magic when we were planning things for Heart Tree growing and Erinyes freeing?

I actually thought how you did it was that if we had high enough skills to meet the DC we automatically passed the check, but if we didn't meet the DC before the roll it would be up to chance.

Than again, maybe we we had to roll Knowledge (Nature) or something for this one.
 
Crake said:
That's not entirely true though, DP. Haven't you allowed automatic passes for Ritual magic when we were planning things for Heart Tree growing and Erinyes freeing?

I actually thought how you did it was that if we had high enough skills to meet the DC we automatically passed the check, but if we didn't meet the DC before the roll it would be up to chance.

Than again, maybe we we had to roll Knowledge (Nature) or something for this one.
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Well yeah, it was knowledge nature. Anyway, vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jan 23, 2019 at 2:29 PM, finished with 268777 posts and 11 votes.
  • [X] Put Asha in charge of this operation. You will just offer advice and render support for the remainder of the group.
    -[X] If things go south, do away with any pretense and kill all the things with a Shadow of the Doom, making sure not to hit your own people by carefully selecting the affected area.
    -[X] Likewise, ensure that they all survive this.
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Where did people get the idea that this was about critfailing skill checks?
I read DP's words as "You rolled a 1 and thus don't know what they are (because we didn't beat the DC), and this hasn't changed because this is still considered the same encounter and thus don't get another roll."
 
TalonofAnathrax said:
Where did people get the idea that this was about critfailing skill checks?
I read DP's words as "You rolled a 1 and thus don't know what they are (because we didn't beat the DC), and this hasn't changed because this is still considered the same encounter and thus don't get another roll."
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We're not used to critfailing skill checks.

Knowledge bonuses did away with a lot of the questions that wouldn't already have answers rarer than sin in regular D&D.

Around here it's assumed that we'll know most everything west of the Bone Mountains automatically, though. Only really failed a few recollection type rolls in recent memory that weren't considered beyond the ken of the Dragon Dream or our lore bonuses (which makes sense, since other than venturing to other planes, all of our lore comes from fallen Freehold and Westerosi legend and antiquity, barring a scattered few examples from the Far East).
 
DragonParadox said:
Small Heroes​

Tenth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC

There is some advantage to be had in this gathering, you reason between sips of cold spicy tea meant to keep guests awake deep into the night. Your future investors certainly look likely enough. You wait quietly until the singer has ran through his latest piece before calling for attention. Most of the Myrish magisters look at you with trepidation while Lady Phassen maintains an air of distant curiosity behind her pearl-studded fan.

"First, let me assure you my lords and ladies that though current circumstances may be unpleasant, it is in these days that the deeds of great opportunities are sown." You are half tempted to motion beyond the windows of the newly acquired townhouse overlooking the smaller of the city's godswoods and the bustling harbor beyond, but you refrain from such an obvious show.

"We realize this, Excellence. The rituals your mages are spreading are helping to balance out the workers who are abandoning the fields, and those of us who implement them quickly are at an advantage over more recalcitrant landowners," the eldest of the delegation, a tall grey-haired man with a curling beard and a gold-tipped staff, replies. Flattery and reminder of their loyalty all at once, clever. Does he have any sons who might join the administration? you wonder.

Leaving off the reminder of the advantages of loyalty, you move on to the reminder of your points, that Golden Fields was named for the place it was to help develop, not any affinity with grain. Indeed, to aid in the recolonization of the former Rhoynar lands you hope to grow cash crops. "Consider if you will how quickly men flock to a newly discovered vein of gold or silver. Even with sorcery I cannot conjure such, but I can see to it that other wealth is grown directly from the soil of those long fallow fields."

Thoughtful nods all around greet your words. They will not be facing the prospect of direct royal competition... In fact, you suspect some of them must be pondering exporting grain to these new colonies.

Time to push a little further. "With grain requiring less labor and less land for increased yield, now might be the time to diversify your holdings," you add, briefly wondering how an equivalent number of Westerosi lords would react, then realizing with a start that you cannot even say 'diversify' without awkward circumlocution in the language of your birth. "The new company will of course be looking for fields within currently settled lands also. Smaller or less productive fields that would make for poor wheat baskets might be ideal for tea or other luxuries. Thus I invite you all to participate in Golden Fields, use land that is no longer worth seeding with ordinary crops to buy shares in my new company and thereby we may all prosper."

A little heavy-handed as speeches go, but you would not want the magisters who dealt with trepidation by drinking more than was prudent to miss your meaning: by allowing them to stake a claim to some of Golden Fields' profits you render it utterly useless as a weapon aimed against them, not to mention giving them the honor of having a stake in a royal company.

The air at the gathering lightens considerably after your proclamation, with scores of magisters coming forward to buy shares in the following days.

How much of Golden Fields Shares do you sell?

[] Write in (maximum available offer equivalent to 120,000 IM)

***​

Twelfth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC

Over the next couple days you deal with matters of the festival, and particularly the upcoming, tourney from making sure the alms are distributed fairly to personally shaping large steel molds into scores of figurines that will be handed out as children's toys and mementos of the days of revelry. Enlisting your younger wards in the task of deciding just what these diminutive figures will represent yields a bevy of excited suggestions, most of which you are more than happy to take, though you do draw the line at explicit models of fiends. Not only are they almost certain to be misinterpreted, but someone might get entirely the wrong idea from them.

Lost 100,000 IM (Alms and other preparations)

As the Circle of Battle is expanded to make room not only for the city's growing population but also the visitors that are flocking to the island, the usual amusements of Sorcerer Deep shift to brief demonstrations of sorcerous power or sky dancing from eager griffons... and one foolish former legionnaire who tried to use a darkenbeast for the task. Though the beasts might be obedient, they are decidedly not nimble. Thankfully you had been out at the time and managed to catch both beast and rider with a spell before they could crash into the crowd. Though the would-be showman would be discharged from the Legion under a cloud of dishonor, at least he still has his life.

Something about seeing you work magic in earnest seems to have struck a chord with Kyla and Ysilla, however, for when you return to the task of steel shaping on the next day the girls ask a question you had been both dreading and, to be honest, expecting.

"You, Dany, and the others got strong by fighting monsters, right?" Ysilla asks carefully.

"Broadly, yes, the more you reach for magic, the more desperate the need, the stronger it is when called," you answer cautiously. "However, while that may be true for me, you two actually have to learn like Lya did and indeed still does. Your power is knowledge above all else."

You expect a comment about it being unfair and prepare a joke in reply, but that is not the answer you get.

"We want to help," Kyla says seriously. "Really truly help I mean, not just sit around waiting to grow up. With all the things out there there might not be a world for us to grow up into if everyone does not do all we can to keep is afloat."

What do you reply?

[] Write in

OOC: This has been brewing for some time. Both girls have a rather strong sense of duty and both look up to Dany.
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By the way DP, chronologically, I believe you meant to set the dates shown here to the Ninth and Tenth Day, respectively.

Edit: Nothing to do with the fact that I could work these events into my next omake whatsoever, no sir. :V

Edit dos: Actually now I'm not sure, other than the fact that one day reads 12, and the ones coming after read 10 and 11.
 
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DragonParadox said:
OOC: The reason Viserys still did not recognize the things is because he rolled a nat 1 on his knowledge check when Wyla first described them and you only get one of those per creature in any given encounter.
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I am not much a fan of this, it makes characters seem static in the face of new information. In a regular game I guess it makes sense to stop people spam rolling but nobody is going to waste an update voting on "identify it again, again, again."

@Azel
Consider making one of the senior mages be in charge instead of Asha, they need the experience far more and it will do a lot for their social inferiority complex to direct "princes" in this action.

[X] Azel
 
Deliste said:
Consider making one of the senior mages be in charge instead of Asha, they need the experience far more and it will do a lot for their social inferiority complex to direct "princes" in this action.
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On the one hand, not a bad idea, on the other, couldn't Asha use the experience in command since she usually works under Moonsong?
Edit: you saw nothing.
 
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Sqweaktoy said:
On the one hand, not a bad idea, on the other, couldn't Asha use the experience in command since she usually works under Moonsong?
[X] Azel
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She will naturally be given a multitude of opportunities due to her heritage and by the same already has a level of experience, they also need it much more immediately because they are expected to take leadership responsibilities on a highly independent voyage within the month.

[X] A whole new kind of class.
-[X] Put the senior mages in charge of this operation. You will just offer advice and render support for the remainder of the group.
-[X] If things go south, do away with any pretense and kill all the things with a Shadow of the Doom, making sure not to hit your own people by carefully selecting the affected area.
-[X] Likewise, ensure that they all survive this.
Adhoc vote count started by Deliste on Jan 23, 2019 at 4:53 PM, finished with 268789 posts and 12 votes.
  • [X] Put Asha in charge of this operation. You will just offer advice and render support for the remainder of the group.
    -[X] If things go south, do away with any pretense and kill all the things with a Shadow of the Doom, making sure not to hit your own people by carefully selecting the affected area.
    -[X] Likewise, ensure that they all survive this.
    [X] A whole new kind of class.
    -[X] Put the senior mages in charge of this operation. You will just offer advice and render support for the remainder of the group.
    -[X] If things go south, do away with any pretense and kill all the things with a Shadow of the Doom, making sure not to hit your own people by carefully selecting the affected area.
    -[X] Likewise, ensure that they all survive this.
Click to expand...
 
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DragonParadox said:
It's how I have been running this quest for years. I don't think it would make sense to change it now out of the blue.
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We've Changed so much else about the quest, I don't see how this would be exempt.
zxzx24 said:
It nice to let your PCS fail sometimes.
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If you want to have your PCs fail, put them up against actual, CR appropriate opponents rather than making them incompetent by Fiat. Michael Phelps should not forget how to swim every few minutes in a stressful situation. It's a bad rule.
 
spiritualatheist said:
We've Changed so much else about the quest, I don't see how this would be exempt.

If you want to have your PCs fail, put them up against actual, CR appropriate opponents rather than making them incompetent by Fiat. Michael Phelps should not forget how to swim every few minutes in a stressful situation. It's a bad rule.
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This would be more compelling if Viserys not recognizing the gribblies was a central facet of the last updates.

As it stands Viserys' strengths, knowledge of magic and also of monsters or otherworldly horrors, allowed him to locate the nest and pointedly decide to take a backseat to the action, all in a lazy afternoon.

Doesn't scream 'random bout of incompetence' to me.
 
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Part MMDLXXIV: By Axe Arrow and Flame
  • Threadmarks
    • By Axe, Arrow, and Flame ​

    Twelfth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC

    You turn to Asha and ask if she would like to be in charge, a foregone conclusion if ever there had been one. Asha Greyjoy is nothing if not willing to face challenges from the front while calling out orders to those under her command. "Does that mean I'm in charge of you too?" she asks archly. "'Cause if I am I'm just going to sit back here while you roast the damn things."

    "Sensible of course, but not precisely the point of this outing," you reply matching her tone. You pause before adding in a more serious manner. "I will see to it that no one is gravely harmed of life or limb and if you have any questions as you make your plan I am here to advise you."

    "The 'life or limb' part would be a lot more reassuring if I didn't know for a fact that you can grow back arms," Theon interjects.

    The trio of Scholarum mages, one a grizzled Summer Islander, the second a dragonseed around her thirtieth year, and the third an Essosi man in vibrant green scholar's robes do not seem to know precisely what to make of the banter. They do not have long to stew in confusion however as Asha quickly draws all attention to her, questioning each of them in turn as to their magic, their weaponscraft, and surprisingly their preferences with regards to the plan. You would not have imagined someone as strong-willed as her being so willing to take suggestions. Or perhaps it is not so surprising after all. The crew chooses the captain on an Ironborn longship after all.

    After being delivered near the nest of monsters Asha summons forth the diminutive storm spirit usually bound to one of her axes, she has one of the mages veil it in a glamour so that it may freely scout the foe... and deliver a handful of 'gifts' into the ragged leaf and bud nests among the stone, vials of alchemist's fire blackened with soot so that they would not glimmer and draw the monsters' attention.

    Lost 3 vials of Alchemist's Fire

    "Theon, get some oil and rags, I want as many arrows in the air as you can manage aimed at the nests. I want them pissed, scorched, and looking for something to kill..." Asha continued

    "That being us," the younger Greyjoy interjects. His excited tone is in marked contrast to his words.

    "Not quite, little brother..."

    ***​

    Three flame-tipped arrows arch out from hiding each trailing a long line of smoke, three of the monsters' nests are set alight, the alchemical concoction setting the creatures alight from below as though they had been doused in oil. A cacophony of screeches rises up in response, promising a torturous death... yet they see nothing, for a mage had been holding his hand on Theon's shoulder as he shot and the moment his veil tore another was woven in its place.

    Confused, the monsters look further afield, down the steep side of the hill where it seems that a dozen Naathi bowmen had gathered to shoot at them.... all shadow and trickery, a ruse from the simplest spells spun. A cleverer foe would have known the arrows' path does not match, but these monsters know only enough to associate men with bows and bows with arrows.

    Eight of the monsters, including those that had been scorched, dive towards the seeming while the others remain in the air like some manner of macabre audience to the slaughter to come. As these bolder horrors come to the lower points in their arc, claws extended, the little elemental fulfills his final task, hurling a vial of arcane smoke into the chest of one of the creatures before darting away.

    Lost 1 Sleep Smoke dose

    Three thumps of beasts falling from a controlled dive to a boneless fall announce the end of the ruse and the beginning of the battle proper. Twin spears of light fly out from the mages still in hiding killing two of the main flock, while Theon shoots an arrow with whispered spells in its loosing... one arrow becomes four, pinning the largest of the monsters through both eyes.

    As the monsters descend Asha seems to dance among the chaos, decapitating one with the axe in her left while cutting off the wing of another with the one in her right, seemingly caring not at all for the cut on her cheek or another on her shoulder.

    The mages are not so so nimble, unable to ward off the grasping claws... and that would usually have been the end of them, pushing you into acting, save for the fact that all of them were covered in conjured oil. All three of them escape if not unharmed than at last ready and able to weave more spells. Another pair falls as the healer struggles to keep up with the wounds of his fellows.

    Meanwhile Theon, protected by his painted lizard with all the ferocity of its kind, keeps two arrows in the air at any one time and rarely indeed does he miss, even when close enough to smell the rancid meat on the monsters' breath. Another pair of horrors falls and the heart goes out of the monsters. It seems they do not have the stomach to fight anything stronger than a child for long.

    You put an end to the battle by forcing the remaining monsters into enchanted slumber. You certainly have no qualms about sacrificing these.

    Gained 14 Flying Chupacabra Corpses (4HD CR3)

    Gained 9 Flying Chupacabra Prisoners (4HD CR3)

    "So?" Asha asks, wiping sweat and blood from her eyes. "How did we do, Your Grace? Are we worth sending off to the other end of the world looking for trouble?"

    "I am not sending you to look for trouble, but allies and trade," you say mock-sternly. Allowing a smile to spread onto your face you add: "Trouble will find you all on its own."

    "I think you should take a look at this..." Theon interjects with unexpected seriousness. He is standing by the largest of the copses, perhaps considering if he should take its admittedly hideous head. It is not the head however that catches your eyes but what lies around the neck... a collar of rawhide and bone spikes.

    "These were someone's bloody pets?" Asha asks incensed.

    "Hunting hounds most likely and only that one..." you reply absentmindedly. "This is not the last time Naath has seen of monsters from the south," Though there is no sorcery to the proclamation it weighs heavily upon your mind just the same.

    What do you do next?

    [] Write in

    OOC: Sorry this was so late. There was a lot of rolling involved.
     
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    • DragonParadox said:
    "That would make a decent rug," Asha says idly as the creature passes, leaving you feeling oddly melancholy. As slow and unwary of men as these creatures are they would likely be hunted to death by enough determined fur traders.
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    So will we have someone use some basic divination to decide how many fur traders per area, and how many furs they can take per season?
     
    [X] Take an hour to cast Touch of History on the collar and expend a point of Mythic power on it, thus boosting your CL to 21. Thus you can see what the creature was up to for last 21 days and hopefully find our where it came from and who might have been it's owner.
    -[X] If that time-frame is too short, wait for a free day to try again, using that day for casting.

    Did I ever mention how much I love that spell?
     
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