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A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover
- Thread starter DragonParadox
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- a song of ice and fire a sword without a hilt d&d 3.5 dungeons & dragons 100% high octane dragon fuel ave corvidae battle action dragon diplomacy best sister bureaucromancy delicious soul-stuff dragon dreams come true dragon ta'veren greatest uncle hubris is a coward's word in defiance of gods and men mammon's folly mutually assured mage's disjunction qm murderhobo top tier coatl
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I'm not sure about Talon, but I'm very curious about those "special circumstances" you mentioned which allowed Kathy to radically alter the flow of time, even in an extremely limited area.Hey @TalonofAnathrax I see you've been quiet about Kathy being able to break reality the way it looks she can. No comments to be had?
Deific blessing?
Proximity to an unstable ley line nexus?
The Bermuda Triangle?
Being coterminous with an incredibly screwed up part of the NeverNever?
Divine heritage?
Etc.
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Part MMDCXLIV: The Weight of Chains
The Weight of Chains
Twentieth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC
Shifting your hand slightly you make a seemingly careless gesture, brushing aside dust that is not there—a sign of the old Braavosi thieves' cant of which you can only recall only a handful, though you had taught them to all your closest friends and allies for times when mind-speaking is not possible, or as in this case you had simply not thought it needed to forge such a link: 'Don't retaliate'. Dany shifts uncomfortably while Leto looks on in amused interest beneath her cold facade.
"I see. So that's why you call yourself the Hound. You've decided that being a beast on Tywin's leash like him would be better than being powerless." You do not raise your voice, there is no need, the words are as honed as dragonglass and meant to cut like a surgeon's scalpel.
Clegane's armored fist comes whistling through the air... only to smack harmlessly into your arm. It's a good thing you had been braced for it, else you might have tumbled to the ground from the sheer weight of steel, flesh, and rage behind it. "Wrath and fear make for poor blades, Sandor, but they make fine chains to bind us with. Should you ever tire of them, you know where to find me. Until then, I wish you the best of luck in the tourney and beyond," you say calmly.
"What the fuck do you know of what I've lived though, Your Grace?" The title is more a curse than a deluge of profanity would have been, one long gathered. One meant for another who bore that title, you suspect.
"I lost a brother to Robert's hammer, a goodsister raped by Gregor then slain together with my niece and nephew, and my mother dead in childbed, her strength barely enough to save my sister after all the horror that came before. Do not mistake patience for forgiveness, Hound. The Lannisters always pay their debts after all, and the crows won't mind them either," you answer calmly, already moving towards the door.
"What about your father?" the Hound calls after you.
You stop in the door turn, pondering whether you should answer that question, whether he would understand or simply continue to see in you the shadow of Tywin Lannister and Cersei Baratheon. "I did not mention my father because he was a monster much in love with fire, and the world is a better place with him out of it."
"That's it? Don't you..."
"Yes, I hate him." you interrupt. "Do you know what else I hate, Hound? I hate that his court let him perform all his murders to the last, until the realm was ripped apart by war and then left to tumble to the feet of a drunken whoremonger who seems to barely give a damn about it."
Silence stretches taunt like razor wire across the room. You can practically see the urge to keep fighting behind his dark eyes, to tell you that you are just the same as Robert and all the world is nothing but a playground for monsters, but there is something else there, behind the rage and the fear. To call it hope would be akin to calling an acorn an oak tree, but it is there just the same, the bare beginnings of doubt.
"Here," he tries to shove the sword back at you. "Wouldn't be fair to take this now, loan or not."
"Are you that considerate to everyone you try to punch?" Dany asks sweetly.
The Hound looks at her, still with an edge of bewilderment. "No, just when I do it with no warning."
This you realize is the honor of Sandor Clegane, for all he would curse you for using the word. Though he could not keep himself from acting in anger like his brother, he wishes to make some restitution for the deed. For the first time since his first outburst you smile. "I meant every word I said—you deserve a better weapon to compete with, and I think you shall earn a finer one still when all this is done." The unspoken offer is clear for all to hear and this time he is calm enough to hear it.
His next words surprise you: "The wit..." he glances at Leto's frown. "The woman with wings said something to me when we fought. She said a Hound cannot break a mountain, or something like that. Was that..." he falls silent as though unable to bring himself to ask the question in full.
"It was true prophecy," Dany answers him regardless. "You should not read too much into it, though. Prophecy can be proven false, fate undone. To change yourself chasing its twisting verses is... madness." From the melancholy in the last word you guess that she too thinks of Rhaegar, led to his death and the sundering of a realm by such hopes.
The Hound's shoulders slump. "So I'm fucked whichever way I go, then." So soft are the words even you barely hear them, you doubt he even realizes he spoke them aloud.
Leto's sigh is more akin to a hiss between her teeth: "There are many paths before you, Clegane, but if you close your eyes and refuse to see them you will only be dragged along by your chains. You know as well as I do who is at the other end."
"The Old Lion I heard the first time," he rumbles, a spark of anger returning to his gaze.
"No, not him, not ultimately," the Fallen speaks softly, but in her words is borne the bitter wisdom of aeons in darkness.
The greave he had been holding throughout falls to the ground with a clank. "I don't see any bloody paths..."
You cannot say to which of you he is speaking, if the words are even meant for all of you and not just despairing proclamation, like ashes once the fire of rage is spent.
What do you do?
[] Take you leave
-[] Write in next action
[] Speak to the Hound
-[] Write in
OOC: Well that was interesting. I was not really expecting Sandor to make the DC 15 Wis check to notice the absence of Aerys from the people Viserys lost. To an extent his guess that it is because Viserys hated Aerys was just him projecting but it was a good call just the same and it led to some interesting realizations. The admission has moved Viserys slightly out of the shadow of authority figures as the Hound is used to seeing them, so now he has that cognitive dissonance to deal with on top of Leto delivering some diabolic insight, with probably the kindest intentions she has had in centuries.
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- Location
- France
It looks good - I just dislike adding in Pathfinder stuff. It tends to be more high-powered than 3.5, especially for spellcasters and especially at lower levels (barring Alter self cheese, that existed in 3.5 already). I'm already unhappy about the spells and Bloodwish, let alone full-on PrCs!
Still, it's a good choice. Power-wise, it doesn't seem too insane, and Leila is a background character anyway.
Yes, I am aware that my position is not entirely rational. I'm sticking to it though, and prefer 3.5 alternatives like Maester or staying single-classed. More single-classed PCs!
Hey @TalonofAnathrax I see you've been quiet about Kathy being able to break reality the way it looks she can. No comments to be had?
- I've been staying out of the thread since I promised an Omake the other evening and didn't deliver. I wanted to return with an Omake or not at all, but instead got sucked back in by Leila leveling! Yay! I made her previous level-up, after all. I'm super proud of my Omake concept, but I'm struggling with writing. I cut away 4k words that night, for example, and 2k the next day. I'm now down to 700 words and feel pissed. Trying for a specific writing style, and it's horrible. Whatever, I've not given up yet! I'm sustained by the fact that several people have asked for something of the sort a while ago and others have expressed interest, and I intend to deliver before superior writers like you get around to it.
- IRL stuff is exhausting for me right now. I've had little time to connect in the past few days.
- Upon reading Kathy's introduction, I wanted nothing more than to kidnap her (Viserys has temporal stasis effects + Time Stop!) for further study and/or mind-control. I know that the story won't go that way and that the thread would prefer to Diplomance her, so I shut up. Diplomancing isn't a bad outcome either after all, it's just inconvenient with Harry around. But we could have helped her after studying her... And Viserys apparently does urgently need a counter to opponents that can time-travel! D&D does have "Teleport through Time", but it's a pain to cast and doesn't defend you against paradoxes very well. Planar shenanigans could help, but they're all unavailable right now! [Paranoïa skyrockets]
- Kathy's power-level is absurd. Not even the Denarians seem able to manage that, and they're powered by Hell! I'm expecting some serious bullshit going on here. At first I assumed she was using blood magic and then going back before the sacrifice happened, but that doesn't seem usable mid-battle.
- I'm also unhappy with several aspects of this festival that everyone else seems to love (everything related to Sandor and/or our prize fanmade NPCs, basically - as well as the lack of a sense of scale in the events! Why are all the brackets we see hinted at about canon characters?), and I don't want to be a killjoy for those who do like this. Whatever. To each their own parts of the quest, I don't want to argue with people over this self-indulgent fun. I'm having my own making NPCs, after all! Disguise-based combos and assassins capable of killing Viserys, here I come! [Seriously though, I've made a thing that can slaughter Viserys pretty much at-will and out of nowhere. I've powered it down a little to make it fun to fight and because it stank of terrible saltsplosions (it had no Trap the Soul! We could have been Raised!) and because DP would probably never have run it as-is]
- And again, IRL bullshit means that I've already spent too much time here for this evening.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Something to be clear on here, is that whilst the next section is going to be a Dresden PoV, the one after that will be a Viserys one. Between those two, I should be able to cover most of the relevant special circumstance involved.
The Sandman
So Zetta Slowpoke
- Location
- Wherever I am, which isn't where I'm not
I say we introduce him to Richard, as the person in our retinue who knows best how to fight monsters when you yourself are just a man.
- Location
- florida
From a blatantly ruthless strategic perspective...
Hell is basically just a straw Asmodeus uses to suck resources out of the rest of the planes.
- Location
- Germany
I actually like Pathfinder classes more, because it often offers a large variety of small but flavorfull boni and abilities. This class being an excellent example.
Sure, if you always take the strongest it gets op really quickly.
But it also gives you incredible options for easy and flavorful costumisation of Characters, making no two alike if you don't want them to be.
- Location
- Castle
Yadda Yadda, Paths are not only to follow also to make yadda.
Points at Mythic Path and Custom PRCs
Points at Mythic Path and Custom PRCs
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I very much prefer Pathfinder classes, not simply because they are generally superior to D&D 3.5 versions, but because they all have so much flavor and options for customization. There is no need to stack PRCs on Pathfinder classes to make them viable and it's much more rare to need to do so to fit a particular character concept.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
What concept? If you're struggling, I'm more than happy to try working as a sounding board via PM. I'm told I can be reasonably good at that, and I've certainly benefited a great deal from having @Sqweaktoy to help me in that way.
- Location
- Germany
What's your angle? I'm thinking about suggesting him to talk with his fellow competitors. It would offer him some nice perspective on things, given who is left.
- Location
- Australia
Given what to Tyene?
Should have been 'given his pledge'. 'Them' is from a previous iteration of the phrase. Will fix thanks
- Location
- Australia
This isn't thread marked, careful it isn't lost.
Don't worry. It's been linked to the front page where the forms used to be.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
I get this perspective, but I don't think it's quite right, not if we want to push Sandor down the path towards legitimate growth - another word for change, but a more proper one in this case. His worldview isn't shaking, but it's shifting around him, and there's a way to put that quicksand to use. In simple terms, I want to apply a little Breaking of Chains to his current situation.
He's blind. He's blinded by his obsession with his brother, with the impotent hatred and rage that never lets him escape the fire that he was held in. But there's a crack in the blindfold now, and even if he can't quite see it, the fact that he's admitted that he can't makes it all the more potent. This is a crux point, where we can either leave and let him try to find his own way which might work, or we can give him the map he needs. We can't make him walk that, not really, but simply knowing that it is there will change things.
This isn't as simple as offering him a place, that's just a new master, new chains, as Gregor continues to stare back at him and laugh from the centre of his world. If he wins the melee, there's a way we can break that illusion, but that requires him to win it in full and on his own merits. I'd rather not bet on that, though, even though he's definitely one of the top contenders in my opinion. So we need to take other steps, or all we're doing is leaving this half done.
Sandor sees the world as broken, as himself as just an animal chained to a master that he can never escape. He sees us as another, competing master, but now we've slid sideways out of that category and that's confusing as hell. We're at once inside and outside of his mental framework, and that gives us...an option that I'd never, ever use in a proper counselling situation, but could work.
Cast your mind back to when I fought so hard to separate things as we brought Rhaella back into our world. Remember why I wanted to. Events were at once within and without her ability to understand, and so we could leaven the impossible with a dose of 'it's just a fairy tale and not my kids'. Sandor has a similar problem, just in reverse. The proper way to fix that? Well it likely doesn't matter. It would take too long, and I don't care enough to fight for it. So right now, we take the dichotomy, and we smash it together.
Either he emerges from that tempest reforged, or he breaks. We can twist the odds of the more favourable (for us) outcome pretty heavily in our favour, too.
- Location
- Germany
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
From one of the uniniated: How?
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Snow wants to shortcircuit that soulsearching - that may take some serious time - somehow.
- Location
- Germany
Yeah, I understood his intent, but not how he expects to get there.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Flagrantly abusing my understanding of psychology on fictional characters. If I gave a damn about Sandor, I'd never even admit that I could do it. Gimme a bit, this requires me to write it out in vote-format.
- Location
- Australia
[X] Inspiration for the Impossible
-[X] Take your leave
-[X] Have Leto drag him out of his dreary room, doesn't matter where, doesn't matter what.//He can't see the paths because he is stuck in his mind, what better place than SD to show the impossible, what better guise?
-[X] Viserys to tour the Bazaar. (Local Rumour post, Bazaar should be generally amazing at the time of the festival)
-[X] Take your leave
-[X] Have Leto drag him out of his dreary room, doesn't matter where, doesn't matter what.//He can't see the paths because he is stuck in his mind, what better place than SD to show the impossible, what better guise?
-[X] Viserys to tour the Bazaar. (Local Rumour post, Bazaar should be generally amazing at the time of the festival)