A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
-
- Tags
- 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
Awesome!A Learning Experience
Nineteenth Day of the Ninth Month 293 AC
There were no cheering crowds to hear, no banners waving bright to see, but in the skies above Sorcerer's Deep, so high that most standing upon the ground would see no more than specks against the sun there flew for the first time in full order of battle the Knights of the Griffon. No line of horsemen this beholden to rutted paths and the wits of common beasts, their mounts where nimbler than sparrows in the air and as clever as a man. Cleverer than some, Mychel Redfort thought a touch uncharitably as he glanced towards Ser Herman Flowers. The man had taken to the air like a duck to water, by far the most skilled in daring dives and and impossible turns, but he'd taken that to mean that he aught to be giving advice to the 'less fortunate' of his peers. It's not like each of them could not ask Ser Royce, or better yet just ask their Griffons as the Companion had suggested.
"Alright now that's enough pattern flying," called the Lord Commander of the fledgling order. "Flying patterns is all well and good when you are trying to encircle empty air, now let's see what happens when the air can hit back." He paused a moment, likely speaking to the girl Vee as he had done throughout the day's exercises, having her conjure stronger and stronger spirits for them to fight, from those little bigger than an eagle to full fledged griffons or even winged tigers. What did he mean about the air hitting back? Mychel wondered.
The question was not long unanswered, a thing of smoke and mist, woven into the silhouette of what might have been a man in the same ways the shapes children found in the clouds might floated upwards towards them, becoming more and more indistinct as it climbed. Was it gone or...
"Bullshit!" one of the knights a few wingspans below Mychel cursed, soon followed by half a dozen other rather knightly curses as he realized what the challenge would be.
The thing was utterly ruthless in trying to break up their formation, impossible to hit with a lance because it never stood still long enough bur anyone to take aim. It was practically toying with them, leaving thin cuts jut deep enough to sting or else plucking wing-feathers. The griffons were getting a few swipes in with beak and clack, but that counted for nothing. If the griffons do most of the work you are dead weight, Ser Royce had told them bluntly on more than one occasion. So instead of throwing himself into the fray the young Redfort took on some high to get some perspective. If only they had a wizard to see the thing, or hold it in place, or maybe they could...
"Use the wind!" Mychel shouted. "All together drive it down!"
Perhaps unsurprisingly it was the Graceford bastard who got the idea first and called it down in a way that made sense to the others amid the chaotic melee. Together the knights blasted the spirit down and down again, cycling in and out to give their mounts time to recover the wind-born magic in their feathers, once it was pinned against the side of a hill they finally pierced it with lances then climbed to hear what Ser Royce had to say.
"Quick thinking, good tactic," was the verdict, though accompanied by the somewhat less cheering. "That was the wrong enemy to use it against though. Something large and cumbersome in the air that would be too strong to fight head on, that's when you should try to mob is like that."
"Then what were we supposed to do?" Mychel asked somewhat sullenly.
"All other things being equal, run," the companion shrugged. "It was a summoned spirit, it's time was brief and it was lower than all of you."
For a moment there was no answer save for the voice of the wind, the same thought going though many minds but none wishing to speak it.
Ser Royce only shook his head. "I will not say that it is never dishonorable to flee battle, but that is so for a reason. It is a false knight who abandons his comrades when they might be saved, or who leaves a foe to strike down those we aught to protect, but ask yourselves who would this spirit have harmed if you had all scattered?"
"We were treating it as though it was really here?" Ser Harry Rivers called,ever quick on his feet.
Alas that did not work as well as it might. "Did it occur to anyone to run?"
No one could truthfully say yes and so again silence reigned.
"The point was not just about running mind," Ser Royce continued. "Given the advantages of a griffon in the air we might see some use from false retreats and archery like the Dothraki use."
Once the word 'Dothraki' would have raised an uproar, but the lesson had been well crafted,leaving everyone considering the worth of the tactic on its own merits not on those of its inventors. Mychel at least was willing to try and hi suspected at a few of the other squires would too.
OOC: Waymar is inventing an entirely new combat doctrine on the fly, fortunately he has some advice from skilled military professionals as well as the griffons themselves to rely on.
How many Griffon Knights are there?
Also, I really hope they aren't focusing on using lances as weapons. They should primarily be mounted aerial archery supplemented by Alchemical munitions.
I'll put a Launcher for each of them on next months's crafting schedule, too.
- Location
- Germany
Calm your Griffons. Most of these people are not terribly good shots with bows, let alone launchers, and they still need some tempering before they can be expected to adapt to the changes in warfare.
Let them keep their lances for now. They will need some time to learn other things.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I imagine the Griffins converse among themselves in Auran, disparaging their riders for using pointy sticks like ground dwellers.
As long as they're properly trained before going into a real fight, I don't mind.
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
lockingbane
If you're crazy and you know it clap your hands!
- Location
- Waxahachie tx
Good to see the griffon knoghts are developing well and waymar is doing well in his role as a teacher.
Dark Sister (Future)
egoo
Totally Not Creating Problems Where None Existed
- Location
- Russia
...yeah, I think I'm done with it now.
"Once a almost plain looking blade forged from dragonsteel, this ancestral blade of House Targaryen was remade by the flames of the Dragon King, it's magics rewoven by the Smith of Souls and blessed by gods of death. The slender blade is shaped in the Valyrian fashion and only a few blood red rubies adorn it's hilt. Only the runes inlaid into the blade in the white bone of fiends and monsters hint at it's true might. Though light and swift, it lays heavy in the hand and many who saw it drawn claim to have felt a deep dread settle into their bones, knowing in their very souls that this blade would cut deeper then mere flesh."
Proposed upgrade: here
I fucked around with the colors that seemed best fitting, and Frostmourne was a big part of inspiration, so colors very much don't match the desctiprion.
Still, I think it looks good enough as is.
The guard... was me trying to relay the fact we are crunching Reaper's Scythe to make this upgrade.
Like a semi-natural bone-like growth from the blade itself?
Something like that.
Proposed upgrade: here
I fucked around with the colors that seemed best fitting, and Frostmourne was a big part of inspiration, so colors very much don't match the desctiprion.
Still, I think it looks good enough as is.
The guard... was me trying to relay the fact we are crunching Reaper's Scythe to make this upgrade.
Like a semi-natural bone-like growth from the blade itself?
Something like that.
- Location
- United States
This is correct. You need a smoky dark grey sort of color with patterns similar to Damascus Steel.
That said, very nice picture, @egoo.
The blade in the picture is the color of normal steel, it just has incandescent blue runes on top.
- Location
- United States
In this case the original artist is the one who messed up the color. @egoo took a canonized picture and modified it, but that original picture should have had a much darker blade. I don't think the artist knew what Valyrian Steel was supposed to look like.
egoo
Totally Not Creating Problems Where None Existed
- Location
- Russia
Eh, I worked with what I had once I googled for "Dark Sister".
I'm not good enough to change the color of the entire blade without fucking it up.
Even slight changes to geometry that are there took me hours to do :/
EDIT: Duesal'd
- Location
- Castle
Do please tell me we had that Deva feather was in our cloak. 
Viserys: And for my next trick I'll pull a celestial from my cloak!
Viserys: And for my next trick I'll pull a celestial from my cloak!
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
That IS LESS LEWD THAN I AM COMFORTABLE WITH! (jk)
*Misses the lewd*
Also, betas? Who we got doing that? I know Duesal had to take a break because his lecturer hated him, but who else is being amazing for us?
@Massgamer, I thought everyone knew. Both he and @Duesal have been great about helping out with the thread ever since the days I would just post post directly and correcting what the thread spotted.
- Location
- Germany
Winning Vote
[X] Oathkeeper Upgrade (Currently: +3 Enhancement, +1Searing Flame, w/+1 additional Enhancement bonus due to Valyrian Steel special nature)
-[X] Enhancement Bonus: Increases to +5
--[X] Special Ability: +1 Magebane (This stacks with the wielder's Magebane effect, if any, and applies to any magic-wielding creature, whether their power is Arcane or Divine in nature.)
--[X] Special Ability: +2 Wounding (Victims suffer 1 point of Constitution damage when struck by Oathkeeper. This is not multiplied on a Critical Hit, nor does it affect creatures immune to Critical Hits.)
--[X] Special Ability: +3 Bodyfeeder (On a successful Critical Hit, Oathkeeper grants Temp HP to its wielder equal to the damage inflicted, lasting up to 10 minutes.)
-[X] Special Powers:
--[X] Bolstered Life (3/Day): Oathkeeper can cast False Life (1d10+10 Temp HP) or Cure Moderate Wounds (2d8+10 HP) on its wielder as a Free Action. Upon killing a living creature with at least 5 HD, Oathkeeper can instead cast an Empowered Maximized False Life (30 Temp HP) or Empowered Maximized Cure Moderate Wounds (39 HP) on its wielder. This effect is cast at 10th level, but cannot be Dispelled and functions within an Antimagic Field.
--[X] Mage Bane (3/Day): On striking a creature which possesses spells or spell-like abilities, Oathkeeper can steal one use of an unused spell or spell-like ability of 4th level or lower (DC 20 Will save negates). Oathkeeper can then cast the stolen magic either on the wielder or release it as part of an attack as if it were a Spell Storing weapon. Caster Level and saving throw DC for the stolen spell are the same as if the spell was cast by the individual it was stolen from.
-[X] Oathkeeper becomes a +5 Searing Flame Wounding Magebane Bodyfeeder Great Sword, an Intelligent Minor Artifact capable of functioning within an Antimagic Field.
[X] Oathkeeper Upgrade (Currently: +3 Enhancement, +1Searing Flame, w/+1 additional Enhancement bonus due to Valyrian Steel special nature)
-[X] Enhancement Bonus: Increases to +5
--[X] Special Ability: +1 Magebane (This stacks with the wielder's Magebane effect, if any, and applies to any magic-wielding creature, whether their power is Arcane or Divine in nature.)
--[X] Special Ability: +2 Wounding (Victims suffer 1 point of Constitution damage when struck by Oathkeeper. This is not multiplied on a Critical Hit, nor does it affect creatures immune to Critical Hits.)
--[X] Special Ability: +3 Bodyfeeder (On a successful Critical Hit, Oathkeeper grants Temp HP to its wielder equal to the damage inflicted, lasting up to 10 minutes.)
-[X] Special Powers:
--[X] Bolstered Life (3/Day): Oathkeeper can cast False Life (1d10+10 Temp HP) or Cure Moderate Wounds (2d8+10 HP) on its wielder as a Free Action. Upon killing a living creature with at least 5 HD, Oathkeeper can instead cast an Empowered Maximized False Life (30 Temp HP) or Empowered Maximized Cure Moderate Wounds (39 HP) on its wielder. This effect is cast at 10th level, but cannot be Dispelled and functions within an Antimagic Field.
--[X] Mage Bane (3/Day): On striking a creature which possesses spells or spell-like abilities, Oathkeeper can steal one use of an unused spell or spell-like ability of 4th level or lower (DC 20 Will save negates). Oathkeeper can then cast the stolen magic either on the wielder or release it as part of an attack as if it were a Spell Storing weapon. Caster Level and saving throw DC for the stolen spell are the same as if the spell was cast by the individual it was stolen from.
-[X] Oathkeeper becomes a +5 Searing Flame Wounding Magebane Bodyfeeder Great Sword, an Intelligent Minor Artifact capable of functioning within an Antimagic Field.
Last edited:
Part MMDCCCLXVIII: The Tales of Angels
- Location
- Germany
The Tales of Angels
Twentieth Day of the Ninth Month 293 AC
Most of your companions depart after this, Ser Richard going to try and familiarize himself with Oathkeeper's changes on short notice, while others go to clear their schedules for the journey laying ahead. So for now it is beside the now two fallen angels, you sister, and your future wife that walk with you into the bowels of the Scholarum. Rarely were the summoning diagrams in the deeper chambers used, the safety of the Snare being far more important for your usual fare of called creatures than the convenience of being close at hand, but the one you want to call upon will need no shackles and bindings. Ever since seeing the great sculpture wrought from magic you had erected to show the truth of the spheres for all to see, a question gnawed at you and while Lya begins the ritual, you break the pensive silence. "Why did we not know earlier? The truth is out there and I see no reason why the Shaitan and the Djinn would conspire to keep it."
It's Mereth who answers in a sullen tone with a question of her own. "How many know about the conquests of the Andals?" For a moment you look at her quizzically before realizing where she is going. "To those living outside the Garden, this is ancient history. Empires rose and fell, just to have another repeat the cycle on its ashes, and all in a fraction of the time since the Breaking. And not a history many wish to dwell on at that. Geniekind preferred to retreat into their planes afterwards away from the Blood War, something they wanted no part in after they saw the devastation that it wrought."
"So to them, it was an unpleasant thing that everyone except maybe a child would already know, like that death awaits at the end of life." You shake your head at the thought, weary of the weight it adds to your burdened mind. Like children you had been indeed, knowing not what the world held outside your home, and no on could bear to tell the truth. But there was someone who guided you away from folly that could have bred on this ignorance. Suddenly Yss' fury at the 'faith' of Trios made so much more sense. The old snake's fairness showing itself again, even if he never shared his reasons.
Lights are shining in the room by now, reminiscent of the solemn flicker of candles lit upon a grave. If it was a quirk of the Deva's nature shining through the heralding of his coming or if merely your thoughts were stuck in a somber rut you can not say, but you pay the display no mind. Many more dark thoughts will come before the depths of this are fully explored. For now, though, you return to more familiar matters. "But not all of Geniekind did stay out of it. The Brazen Throne has dealings with Baator after all." A warm face, literally at that, shoves itself before your mind's eye. "Bloom was a prisoner of the Efreeti, so I take it they took sides in the conflict?"
The Fury shrugs with both her shoulders and her wings at that, throwing a quick glance at Yrael who just shakes his head. "I can't tell you what her story is, but the Brazen Throne's leanings to Baator are a recent thing. It caused quite a stir in Dis when the current Sultan began sending envoys to the Archduke's, courts and rumor is he once spoke with Asmodeus himself." Your first reflex is to ask to elaborate, but you still your tongue when the futility of such a command sinks in. Why should a lowly Erinyes know the thoughts and machinations ranking around the Thrones of Hell? "What I can tell you is that the Marid began to wander the Outer Planes once more after a few millennia had passed, but those are mostly a few traders and nothing of great substance."
Before you could delve deeper on the matter, though, the lights of ritual snuffs out. He comes without fanfare, heralded by naught but his own name, he comes shrouded in shadows, but bearing the guiding light. Solemn was the gaze that looked upon you all, but not defeated as you had half-feared. Whatever journeys the Deva had taken since last you saw him had not torn him from his ancient duties, whatever sights he had beheld, there is resolve in his gaze. A soft sigh passes pale lips as he sees Yrael, but he makes no comment, instead turning to you. "What need have you of my aid, Dragonlord?"
A curt nod you give in greeting, all too aware of the great importance of the duty you have torn him from. "I wish to speak with you about your duty." The moment the words leave your lips, his visage becomes guarded, not out of hostility, but with the same sorrow that you saw in an Archon not so long ago in his solar. His lips part, but before he can deflect, you press on. "I know what has become of Heaven, and I need to know about it's sundering and the state of other spheres. I also know that such matters pain your kind greatly, but there are few who would give me the answers I seek without artifice or hidden motives."
For a moment the Deva lowers his head and for a heartbeat you fear to see a repeat of Yrael's fall. The notion is silly you quickly realize, only a unpleasant reminder of your own nerves. "Speak then what you wish to know, and I shall answer to my best knowledge. Know, however, that I slumbered through many eons, so not all I can tell I have witnessed with my own eyes." His gaze is resolute as he faces you again, and that alone is enough to answer the unspoken first question you had pondered. The tidings will indeed be grim.
"You have guided souls lost in the astral currents." He nods in confirmation in the brief moment you take to steel yourself. "What is the state of the other Outer Realms?"
He pauses at this question, which is so short and unassuming and yet carries more weight then any speech you ever gave. His gaze flickers to Mereth for a moment, then settles back on you. "Of the Lower Planes, I can tell you nothing for I have avoided them. No soul needs guidance to find these realms on their own. Of Limbo I know little either, for the churning chaos of that realm has never bore the signs of change or history. As for the Upper Planes..."
Yrael takes a step forward as if to reach out to him, but the Angel just raises a hand to ward him off before speaking on. "Nirvana is no more. Those few cities who are left standing turned to fortresses and the fields and hills around them to battlefields locked in eternal struggle. Its oceans are now the realm of the creatures known as Illithid, spewing forth foulness every day. Daemons have claimed most land, gates to Abaddon drowning the realm in an endless tide while other Far Spawn have hollowed out the mountains to build blasphemous monuments within."
To hear it spoken instead of seeing it lessens the blow and after staring at the broken Heavens. It should have been easy to digest, yet it isn't. Another place of beauty and tranquility despoiled, the last pockets of light within a faint consolidation in the face of what was lost. And as if a damn had broke, the Deva speaks on, the tale rushing from his lips like bile. "Of Elysium, only chaos is left. The realms shattering was the beginning of it all, and now its shards splinter ever further, falling into Limbo while the corruption of the Abyss flows in. Some shards are mere grains of dust, others the size of kingdoms and in those some light endures, though it dims with every hour, crumbling like everything in this sphere. Some try to rebuild, to anchor what they can, but the works of eons is sometimes shattered in mere moments by the chaos of war raging through this plane." There is sorrow aplenty in his words, but still hope stubbornly lingers when he speaks of these efforts. Strained to his breaking point the Deva might be, but so far he has not given up.
It is Lya who speaks the next question, he own distress plain to see to you. "What about the Inevitables? Should they not try to mend these breaches and close the gates?" You remember the texts that spoke of these beings, constructs forged from perfect order to be the grease that keeps the spheres turning in their proper paths. Allies maybe in the tasks to come, but then again, they should have done something already if they were still around.
And as the Deva shakes his head, you know their fate. It is Mereth though who elaborates. "Axis yet turns, but it has been lessened. While the city is not beholden to Baator, there are ties of trade and the occasional alliance of need in the Blood War, as Axis has been left without its old defenders. The Crucible lies cold and broken since before the war, and I think no one knows who did the deed. The Inevitables tried to save Elysium when it began to sunder, but they all disappeared and the rifts kept widening. They were already gone when the war started in earnest."
"Not quite." Stirred from his thoughts, Yrael interjects, "I've spoke with some who claimed to have seen them march along the enemy hosts during the Fall of Heaven. Twisted they were and filled with fell purpose, though what it was I can not even guess." A searching look falls on Mereth, though for what you can't say. "If you know nothing of them, then it might have not been in Baator's service. Or they all perished in the carnage."
You watch the byplay a moment longer, though neither of the three Outsiders seems to know more to share on this, so you file it away as one more mystery to unravel at a later point, opting to ask the question that both greatly drives you and yet is almost assured to be of no use. "So who was it then that broke the Upper Planes? It seems no one can say what befell Elysium, but who began the attacks on Nirvana and Heaven?"
The look of the Deva turns first forlorn, then dreadful. Whatever he saw or heard must have shaken him greatly. "They say it was darkness blacker than the starless night and a void in which nothing might exist given shape and form to wage war upon all that is." You feel a chill go down your spine. A half-forgotten, no, half-repressed memory of a vista maddening in its emptiness and the gaze of deathless things that dwelt therein. "Daemons followed in its wake, but for once the hosts of Abaddon were the lesser horror on the field. And thus Nirvana was torn apart in war and would have perished to the onslaught if they had not disappeared one day, the Daemons and Far Spawn beginning to war over the lost paradise as if it was carrion."
You reel at the implication and feel a coldness seeping into you bones at the thought of the things beyond the Wall being connected to this devastation. Meanwhile Yrael picks up the tale. "While the war was still being fought in Nirvana, the hosts of Heaven began to march to aid our brethren. It was not enough to turn the tide and when war reached our home, there was not enough left to defend ourselves. The Legions of Hell broke down the gates, these dark creatures and swarms of Daemons following in their wake." A deep sigh escapes his lips. "It is ill comfort to know that I should count myself lucky to not have been there to defend my home, lest I would have perished with all the others."
While Dany, who bore the discussion in stoic silence so far, moves to comfort Yrael, you look back to Mereth in silent question. She shakes her had shortly and gathers herself for a heartbeat. "No, I was not there either. I fought in Dis to keep back the Demons swarming through the upper layers of Baator. We were ill-prepared for Asmodeus declaring war upon Heaven and suffered for it. Those I know who were part of the legions marching there told of the same things. No one knew what they were for they kept to themselves and nobody was willing to approach them, save the Archdukes and Asmodeus himself. When Heaven broke, they disappeared, and the Lord of the Ninth betrayed the Daemons in the same heartbeat."
She nods once towards Yrael for him to pick up here, but he waves her off and so the Fury continues. "One legion was left behind to guard Heaven's Shore and remains there to this day, while the rest returned to clean Baator from the forces of the Abyss. A few I spoke to think that these things of darkness all perished to create the rift you saw in the sky and that they wanted it to consume far more than Heaven but failed to achieve their goal. There are some of them in the devastated parts of Heaven, though none can say if they are leftovers from war or if they have come later."
You just shake your head and tiredly rub your eyes. For each question answered a new one comes and each one seems to be more dreadful then the one before. What is all you have achieved in comparison to these titanic struggles and what was lost in them? In the lull, Dany speaks up for the first time, addressing the Deva. "You said earlier that no souls need guidance to reach the Lower Planes. What..." And here she struggles, the question clear to all and yet nothing spoken easily. "What has become of the path of souls in all of this?"
At this the Deva dips his head in a gesture that is equal parts sorrow and shame at a duty and a burden far too great for him to carry on his shoulders. "The scales are titled. Those seeking the Upper Planes are getting lost in the Astral Plane, only a trickle of them reaching their destination. Most of them are drawn to darker places, consumed by the creatures hiding between worlds, or captured and sold on nightmarish markets. My duty it is to guide as many as I can to the pockets of light that yet remain or to bring them to places where their gods can find them and take into their realms."
His posture straightens again before his eyes sweep over the room, addressing both Lya, Dany, and you. "I will tell you what I told all mortals asking me these question. Keep to your gods. No matter if they are virtuous or wicked, kind or cruel, their realms are the only true havens left for souls now. For in the Outer Spheres, you will find neither mercy or salvation."
What now?
[] Ask more questions:
-[] Write-In
[] Return to Heaven:
-[] Write-In whom to take and what to do.
[] Do something entirely different:
-[] Write-In
AN: Giving you a chance here to ask further questions or refine your plans for returning to Heaven in light of new information.
Last edited:
- Location
- United States
So. What's left of Nirvana is now utterly infested with Far Spawn and Daemons, with a few Fortress Cities still holding out but slowly losing.
Elysium is basically just gone and steadily being ripped even further to shreds by Limbo and the Abyss (it's a good thing we have the Dawn Fruit).
We saw what was in Heaven and it's that same emptiness that the Others are linked to.
There is way too much to deal with. I'm beginning to wonder if we should have just bitten the bullet and figured out how to shield Xor while putting Cerulean Sign on the Tree of the Dawn Age.
Elysium is basically just gone and steadily being ripped even further to shreds by Limbo and the Abyss (it's a good thing we have the Dawn Fruit).
We saw what was in Heaven and it's that same emptiness that the Others are linked to.
There is way too much to deal with. I'm beginning to wonder if we should have just bitten the bullet and figured out how to shield Xor while putting Cerulean Sign on the Tree of the Dawn Age.
egoo
Totally Not Creating Problems Where None Existed
- Location
- Russia
And just like that, we enter Grimderp.
The Multiverse is fucked, Others ate it.
For real though, I can't even bring myself to care anymore.
We aren't winning this, so whatever.
We'll carve out our empire and make sure it lives on, and fuck everyone else.
The Multiverse is fucked, Others ate it.
For real though, I can't even bring myself to care anymore.
We aren't winning this, so whatever.
We'll carve out our empire and make sure it lives on, and fuck everyone else.
