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

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Hm, if he signed a pact to 'keep the other side's secrets', that could be interesting ...
 
MTB said:
Hm, if he signed a pact to 'keep the other side's secrets', that could be interesting ...
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I think that if he is trying to play the two off each other then pacts would be far too restricting to apply. Varys and spymasters in general are most effective when free to do as they do. So a pact may be out of the picture here. At least pacts that are restrictive anyway. I think after this we will need to research an item that can sever or at least subvert pacts.
 
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So the options so far are

  • Capture alive and rip the secrets out of his head. Potentially sacrifice him later to the appropriate god as a fuck you to Mammon and Tiamat
  • Kill and steal skull, rip secrets from skull and then stash remains as curse focus in the case of reincarnation by Tiamat or Mammon
  • Get another Scribe's Binding spell somehow and then literally read him like an open book.
The question of course being where are we going to find another scroll of that nature in the short amount of time we're going to be here. From the look of things I doubt we're leaving this place without at the very least a corpse.

(Also a cat but mainly the corpse)
 
I don't think we'll get him, unless somehow having him ambered and moved into our cloak will have him covered from Instant Noodle and Bitch Gramma's sight/influence to the point of negotiating precautions Uniila itself had.

I don't think it will.

But there is also meta reasoning: simply asking questions will take us several days of updates at the very least.

And we still have a bunch of those to Bloodraven and Yss this month.
Ex~po~si~ti~on~
:V
 
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egoo said:
I don't think we'll get him, unless somehow having him ambered and moved into our cloak will have him covered from Instant Noodle and Bitch Gramma's sight/influence.
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It would considering that the cloak is an artifact level object and tend to be their own class of bullshit. Divinity won't affect much there. From there we may need to create a runecraft room with effects to do what the cloak did. That or cast him unto a book and be done with it.
 
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Part MMDLXXXIII: Old Cats and New Tricks
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    • Old Cats and New Tricks ​

    Thirteenth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC

    Though the imp dangles an enticingly simple solution to finding and capturing Varys, you distrust it. A master of whisperers who could survive a bloody usurpation would know better than to make his whereabouts known to every underling, and any conjuror worth the name would know better than to trust an imp. Any hint of your presence could easily see your foe scurrying for some bolthole where you cannot follow, and given his history of mysterious comings and goings it would cost him little of his power and influence at court.

    Thus your mother, along with Nuri and Waymar for protection, will follow the thread that might lead to Varys's tailor while you, Dany, and Vee will head back into the Red Keep seeking secrets, dragon bones, and one very special cat.

    "What d'you want me an' Aradia doing?" Maelor asks.

    "Find the master of coin or at least his usual haunts, I have a proposition for him," you answer grimly.

    "The same sort you had for Aedon?" the boy laughs.

    Though you offer a smile and a nod in return you also caution him: "Remember that this not some puffed up Lyseni peacock who thinks he can best dragons with an army or trusts the first mage to come to his door with flattering counsel."

    "'Course," Maelor agrees easily. For all his nearly militant distaste for formality, the boy is very good about taking advice that makes sense to him.

    Boy,     you scoff inwardly at the thought. He is of age with you when you found your power. Perhaps you should consider giving him some semi-permanent responsibilities. He has certainly proven he can stay the course even on tasks he might not find exciting. "Play coy about who wishes to meet Baelish, but drop hints of considerable wealth if you need to entice him," you add in parting.

    Entering the Red Keep proves even simpler the second time than the first. Mia and Anya already have enough contacts in the city to tell you when the next cart filled with supplies would pass through the gates. Under the cover of the strongest glamour you know, the three of you slip in among the sacks of beets under a heavy tarp to ward away the mid-morning rain.

    "I'm not liking beets anymore for their company,"     Dany grumbles in your mind over the spell-wrought link.

    "We all have to make sacrifices for secrecy," you reply in like manner. Sometimes the simplest solutions are best. Not even sight as sharp as a Fury's could pierce through the heavy cloth to find you. Once the cart stops out of sight of any guards at the eastern gate the three of you simply roll out and between the servants taking stock of the contents of the cart, though Dany and Vee have a less bruising time of it being smaller and quicker on their feet.

    "Why didn't we just do this like last time?" Vee asks, more curious than complaining.

    "Because last time we didn't know the master of whisperers was a diabolist in league with Tiamat. That may all but guarantee him a slow torturous end but for now it likely grants him favor and powers that we should be wary of, especially while we walk on his ground."     As you answer you feel a slight pang of loss realizing how deeply you mean them. The Red Keep with its crimson walls and doors of heavy bronze is not home and it can never be that again. Home is Dragon's Roost looking out over the colorful vistas of Sorcerer's Deep, home is flying over the islands, home is your friends even here in the fastness of your foes.

    Once you are inside Maegor's wards it is easy enough to find a little used room to scry. Dust gathers among black suites of plate like gentrified cousins of the armor the Legion wears, exiled to such corners by the Usurper's will.

    "Balerion," you whisper into the mirror, the name of a god, a dragon, and a cat, keeping in mind Rhaenys's description of her kitten.

    The mirror clears, though the cat in the mirror is certainly no kitten, no princess's favored pet with a shaggy coat, more grey than black from all the dust caught in it. One ear is mangled by some old fight, the other swept back along its head as it prowls what seems to be the keep's rookery, you suspect trying to make a meal of the rancorous inhabitants.


    "That one's a fighter," Vee echoes your thoughts. "He's gonna need a good long talking to 'fore he remembers the girl, but I figure he'll be fine with being petted and fed bowls of milk again. Cats are practical that way."

    "I don't know if I want to risk the rookery as our first stop, that's bound to be warded,"     you muse, looking at the Wayfinder's dial. "Let's wait for him to get his meal first."

    "Why don't we just ask him to come to us?"     Dany wonders aloud. "Vee, can cats understand words if we tried talking in his mind?"

    "Maybe if they're simple ones he might come. They don't say 'curious like a cat fer nothing',"     the older girl replies.

    As you wish the spell into being, you idly wonder how your foes would react if they could divine your actions at this very moment. 'The Dread Sorcerer King,' come to the Red Keep to rescue an old stray cat. "Warmth, Food, Safety," you send, then testing the limits of the spell you cast into the ether an image of the room you are in now followed by one of Rhaenys's face.

    To your surprised delight you get a sense of recognition, almost you would say of wistfulness. "I think he's coming," you announce, shaking your head at how well that worked.

    "Cats are smart, even if they don't show it the same way as dogs 'r other soci'ble beasts," Vee confirms.

    A quarter of an hour later the door creeks open and in slides the tomcat you have been looking for, but behind him you can hear the patter of soft hurried steps. Hurriedly, you hide yourself and the rest of your companions under a glamour just in time to watch a golden-haired little girl perhaps three years old chase after the cat with a determined look in her eyes and a cry of: "Kitty!" Though her red dress seems to have swept up three rooms' full of dust and spider webs, you can still see the gold thread glinting through the grey. Between the age and the Lannister colors you are certain you are looking Robert Baratheon's daughter, though from her coloring you might better call her Cersei Lannister's. Where the hells are her nurses?

    Balerion gives her a flat stare, obviously in no mood to be chased by children.

    What do you do?

    [] Write in

    OOC: I rolled the dice on whether it would be Joffrey or Myrcella chasing the cat (Tommen is still too young) and you got the nice siblings.
     
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    • A_Somebody said:
    [X] Use Varys the Psuedodragon's mindsight to see if the girl really is as alone as she seems
    --[X] use Shadow Enchantment to lull her and any followers into slumber.
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    Surely she has some sort of protection from mind-affecting stuff. Cersei dotes over her kids, and has a ton of money to throw around.
    I suggest casting Whelm, for a ton of subdual damage. Subdual damage can't kill people in 3.5 anymore.
     
    So do we want to do anything with Marcella or should we just see her off? I don't think we should try anything magical - she probably has some sort of protection and it's just an unnecessary risk. An idea would be to disguise Viserys as a servant and simply talk with her. Tell Marcella that the cat's name is Balerion and we're taking him back to his owner. Introduce ourselves as 'Corlys Waters' for the extra troll factor without giving the game away even if she tells someone about it.
     
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