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

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Crake said:
their narrow focus, spinning, lashing, ducking and jabbing from riposte to parry,
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Slashing?

Crake said:
"From where dost thou hail?" The rebel inquired casually during their next lock of blades, excitement and interest dancing in his eyes, speaking in a faintly archaic manner in High Valyrian, only the faintest trace of an accent to his conversational words.

"The Empire," Beren replied as the two separated, neither yet to gain the other man's measure.
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:p

I liked that quite nicely, thank you Crake.
 
I dislike ruling that a magical construct doesn't count as a spell target, @Goldfish. That theoretically means that we could cast spells like Shapechange or Body Outside Body and have them apply to a dozen tattoo Constructs, who suddenly become a valid combat threat !

Edit: or simply Bite of the Werebear and shadow form.
 
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Part MMDCCX: At Midnight's Passing
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    • At Midnight's Passing ​

    Twenty-Eight Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC

    You leave Sunspear with the taste of Dornish Red still on your lips, though thoughts of politics are swift to fade from your thoughts... mortal politics at least. There is still the matter of the fey lord Lya had bound. His blood could feed the elder heart tree, but there might yet be better use for him. The fey are not fiends to be banished, nor are they all monsters to be slain, but they can be changed, they can be made to dwell in peace with mortals, not as master and servant but hand in hand as those fey already sworn to you do. An easy thing to say, but hard to sell to one as proud as Crimson Lotus who was lord since the Days of Dawn.

    A shroud of magic you weave about yourself of will and wishcraft spun, a thousand thousand whispers speaking in your ear, each one distinct, each heavy with the wisdom of wyrms long past, drops in the ocean of lore. So do you step upon a darkened stage of the prison to play out a part written in the moment.

    His face is saturnine, proud even in defeat, no smudge of dirt upon his crimson cloak, the chains upon his wrists seeming absurdly mismatched with his gilded finery. Eyes dark as smoldering coals meet yours, yet not a word is spoken.

    In the stiflingly silence the guards shift uneasily. They are all brave of course, chosen from among the legionnaires with the most experience with the odd and uncanny, but ultimately they like the chains are only here to play the briefest part. You ask them to leave and so they do, though not without worried looks. The officer in charge looks like he is about to object to you putting yourself in danger. Ser Richard would likely buy that man a drink.

    You motion towards the chains... they fall with a rattle, offering freedom within the boundaries given. True they are wrought of stone and steel, but still the stage is set.

    "Do you know why you are here, my lord?" you ask, only the thinnest veneer of politeness over the question.

    "Because I was defeated," he replies, the word like bitter poison on his lips. "Because I did not wrap the mortals in silk and goose down, because I allowed them to be burned when they reached their heads towards the fire."

    Slowly you take a list from your cloak and begin reading "Red Raevon, One-Ear Orvin, Poxed Paxton, Jonella the Younger..." One by one you read all three-and-twenty names of the mortals compelled into servitude. "Dealing with Baator is part of the reason you are here, the other part is enslaving mortals."

    "They could have taken their chances with the hounds," the fey lord shrugged, though there is nervousness behind his polished facade, likely fearing being bound and compelled. "I used no whips and set no chains..."

    "What else would you call it then, if not slavery? They were made to swear oaths they never wanted, forced upon them by capricious fate and no fault of their own. Forever bound to the whims of another, no say in their own path, their wants and needs an afterthought at best. This may seem strange to you, but this is what we call slavery."

    "And what care would I for mortal words, whose tongues change from one year to the next, like the chattering of squirrels in the woods?" He scoffs, amused, or at least feigning it. "You come here draped in power as the Lord of the Orange, bright in haze and phantasm, and call yourself mortal. If thou art mortal then I am a sprite."

    "Odd that you should mention sprites..." you trail off, pondering how best to set the hook. "There is one among my vassals, a threshold sprite once of the shadow court, the victor in the mage duel, far-traveler known on many shores, soon to be a lady in her own right. Tell me true, why did you step upon the crumbling precipice?"

    "For power, that I might ascent the shining steps to greatness, that I might be more than nursemaid to the schemes of the queen. As mortals walked into the flame so I have gathered the ashes, for much can grow upon such soil." Eyes flare like fire while the cloak as blood flows around his shoulders, the rage one constrained but whose nature that binds a thousand times tighter than chains of iron ever could. He would be the rebel who casts off the chains of oppression boldly stepping forth, but that is not a path easily found among the tales of faerie. Those greater than he guard it well.

    And so you speak of trails. In words clear and stark as steel you warn that he will be judged for this, either by you or by those he sought to betray, his fate is set. But, you add he need not only suffer punishment. A chance you offer, a lifeline like a silvered thread in the dark: "For seven years, thou will serve. Thou will swear then be freed of all oaths, to join whatever court you please or none at all as is your wish."

    "A wanderer upon the lonely paths, Wyldfae thou wouldst make of me." The words are spoken more thoughtfully than with resentment as though the moment's pride and greater purpose war within him.

    "There needs be no strife between mortal and deathless fey, but peace and understanding," you offer earnestly, for truth and crafted script converge. "The mortals I can reach, or for those madmen and fanatics who will not be moved remove them from the board entirely, but it is harder by far to reach the fey. Many more are there in the Court of Stars I would wager who chaff under the chains binding them, willing to take out their frustrations on mortals, or hurting them not from malice, but simple obliviousness. I ask that you bring them to my side in shadow and in secret, the lords and princes none the wiser..."

    "That would be war thou would pledge me to, a battle by stealth and trickery," he counters, suddenly seeming such surer of his footing.

    "So then I am at war with every being to whom I do not proclaim my intentions from the rooftops?" you scoff. "Tis peace not war I seek, and any blood will be on the hands of those who shed it." It is not the fey alone who live by their tale. Your own hangs like a shadow upon your every word, a feather upon the scales of fate. Sometimes a feather is enough.

    "Thou tempts sweeter than devils. oh dragon, with thy serpent's tongue, but I would have from you an oath before my own is spoken, that should I be captured you would ride a rescue, should I be slain to flesh return me as soon as you are able so long as my service endures. A bargain?"

    What do you reply?

    [] Accept, it is as much as you would to for any sworn to you

    [] Refuse, to follow such a path could well precipitate to war when you are least ready
    -[] Counter proposal

    OOC: Pretty good rolls on top of good arguments and over 100 in buffs so his request is relatively modest, but it could still be troublesome under certain circumstances, hence the vote.
     
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    • This opens up a lot of very interesting narratives for us.

    [X] Accept, it is as much as you would to for any sworn to you
     
    Goldfish said:
    It's a magical tattoo Construct that can be worn on a person's skin. In that form it probably shouldn't count as a separate entity for Teleportation purposes, IMO. If it does, it can always travel inside of Lya's Handy Haversack, since it's a Construct with no need to breath.
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    The harvester devil was unable to teleport away in Whiteharbour because it's teleport is "self only" and it had a swarm of... Things in a bag of holding, word of DP.

    So it may require a bottle use or just accepting the teleport slot cost or DP changing his mind due to "pesudo-familar bond" or some other justification (potentially involving "throw money at it")

    @DragonParadox Tattoo gaurdians and teleporting! What say you mighty DM? Can we make them not count as a being for teleport via some means or are they grand already?

    ....Goldfish, does the tattoo gaurdian pages have anything to say about item slots?

    I wonder if we can make slotless items for tattoo gaurdain!?!?

    I heard u like magic items, so I made your defence tattoo into a living mind so it could use its own magic items.

    This way ur magic item can use magic items.

    Huh. Much funnier in my head.
     
    [X] Accept, it is as much as you would to for any sworn to you
     
    As far as oaths go it's hardly unreasonable. The only way I can see him cheesing it like a cheeky bastard is intentionally picking a fight he can't win and banking on getting us involved like a gigantic attack dog.

    Which is pretty stupid considering it was our underlings (to use fae terms) that caught him in the first place and we're as above them as he is above a sprite. He can pull that trick once but after that even he knows there'd be a reckoning.

    Either way, if he plays straight or tries to be a little prick I'm sure we'll be more than ready to deal with any hypothetical treachery.

    [X] Accept, it is as much as you would to for any sworn to you
     
    DragonParadox said:
    It would require an extra teleport slot but then you are hardly short on those.
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    Which is grand if we're just talking Lya (and potentially Maelor). That really adds up if everyone gets one though. Any bypasses we can make via throwing time and or money at it?

    An in-built self only "Smokey confinement" style spell perhaps?

    Though rather an a bottle, the tattoo's "self"/anima is stored as a mundane tattoo or in a (slotless) bracelet or something"
     
    TalonofAnathrax said:
    I dislike ruling that a magical construct doesn't count as a spell target, @Goldfish. That theoretically means that we could cast spells like Shapechange or Body Outside Body and have them apply to a dozen tattoo Constructs, who suddenly become a valid combat threat !

    Edit: or simply Bite of the Werebear and shadow form.
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    I'm genuinely confused. Is there really a werebear? because so many people spell it as were creatures when it comes to where creatures. Is were a spelling error or is that genuinely what their called? Because if so they should know they are saying it wrong.
     
    BeepSmile said:
    Which is grand if we're just talking Lya (and potentially Maelor). That really adds up if everyone gets one though. Any bypasses we can make via throwing time and or money at it?

    An in-built self only "Smokey confinement" style spell perhaps?

    Though rather an a bottle, the tattoo's "self"/anima is stored as a mundane tattoo or in a (slotless) bracelet or something"
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    You would try to research something like that yes. since it would be a relatively new field of magic I'd say it needs 15 progress.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    You would try to research something like that yes. since it would be a relatively new field of magic I'd say it needs 15 progress.
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    One final question: if we make the tattoo gaurdians now/soon for Lya (and Maelor?) will you allow us to upgrade them to the shiny teleport versions when researched?

    @egoo, I humbly request you add something like "teleport-slotless tattoo gaurdians, 15 progress required" to the research list
     
    Um, seeing as is current story is "usurping authority" do we have any amendments prevent him doing this to us?

    I just don't quite get why we'd trust him? As he seems he not happy being our subordinate, and seeing e.g. Moonsong how that effects their interpretation of their oaths. Why is he worth that risk?
     
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