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

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Duesal said:
In the end the hunt went off without a hitch. The Lizard King never showed up, and Igama and his men were easily able to spear a hapless Painted Lizard as Aelyx drove it towards them with sorcerous flame all while keeping himself hidden.
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Great omake, but this doesn't make much sense. Invisibility breaks whenever you use Elemental Darts, so this would deplete his spell slots in 3 seconds flat :D

May I suggest having the "sorcerous flame" link point to Flaming Sphere, which lasts a while, is very good for herding animals, and doesn't break Invisibility. Of course it allows Ref to avoid the damage, but presumably whatever they were hunting had weak Ref (or perhaps he's spending his feats on increasing his spell DCs).
 
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TalonofAnathrax said:
Great omake, but this doesn't make much sense. Invisibility breaks whenever you use Elemental Darts, so this would deplete his spell slots in 3 seconds flat :D

May I suggest having the "sorcerous flame" link point to Flaming Sphere, which lasts a while, is very good for herding animals, and doesn't break Invisibility. Of course it allows Ref to avoid the damage, but presumably whatever they were hunting had weak Ref (or perhaps he's spending his feats on increasing his spell DCs).

EDIT : By the way, did you stat him? Could we?
I want to give him Mindsight so bad... It's pretty much mandatory for a Pseudodragon, IMO. It's also amazing, and could explain how he manages to survive in the savage jungles alone.
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Thanks, changing the spell.

And yeah, he's been statted. @Goldfish was kind enough to help me out with the initial charactersheet.

EDIT: It should please you that Aelyx does indeed have Mindsight. ;)
 
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Interlude DII: A Curious Meeting
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    • A Curious Meeting ​

    First Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC

    If there was one thing every student of the Scholarum in Sorcerer's Deep learned almost from the hour they arrived it was that the tower was more than just hidden from the world, more than just guarded from invasion—it was truly somewhere else, filled with unexpected whispers and sudden silences. One could take three steps from the door of a busy classroom and find oneself in silence so absolute as to swear it had been there since the world's beginning, or walk alone down a narrow flight of stairs only to hear muffled footsteps above rising from empty air.

    The instructors were quick to assure new students that there shouldn't be anything truly dangerous left there after being searched from top to bottom by the King and his Companions, but they always added a warning to be wary of the unexpected just in case. 'Good training for later,' Mistress Teana would call it, adding that far more mages had perished from a surfeit of boldness than caution.

    Thus when Joran of Dragonstone, initiate of the First Circle, passed by a stretch of empty corridor on his way to lunch as he had done hundreds of times before only to hear muffled knocks coming from within the stone, his first instinct was to move well away and only then to observe it with the second sight.

    There was definitely an aura there, but faint and sort of smudged so that he could not tell the color and by it the kind of sorcery. "Hello? Is anyone there?" he called out, feeling more than a little silly. What was he even expecting, a student stuck in a wall? A stray demon left over from the Listener's time politely introducing himself?

    As the boy seriously pondered going out to find a teacher, fate seemed to take a hand to push him towards the wall, quite literally. Someone pushed him down the corridor with a startled huff and the sound of books clattering all over the floor.

    "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking..." the fat dark haired-boy stuttered.

    That one was some kind of noble, Joran faintly remembered. No sense making enemies, dragonrider or no. "That's alright, I shouldn't have just been standing here in the middle of the corridor. I'm Joran, Joran of Dragonstone by the way..."

    "Samwell Tarly," the other boy replied at once, looking unsure if he should extend a hand or gather up the books and scrolls that were now scattered across the floor.

    "Is that wall there glowing magic or did I just have a piece of moldy cheese for breakfast?" the young dragonrider asked with a smile to show he really did not resent the intrusion. Truth be told he was rather glad to have someone else with him. Another pair of eyes was always helpful in seeing through illusion and trickery.

    There was a moment of whispered spell-craft then the answer came. "Mhm... conjuration magic. Did you do anything to it?" Samwell cut himself off. "I'm not blaming you or anything, it's just that things don't just happen in magic. There's always a reason, a proximal cause."

    "No, just walking by when suddenly..." The words were interrupted by the sound of ghostly knocking from within or behind the stone. "That happened," Joran finished.

    "Interesting coincidence." Eyes gleaming with more interest than was perhaps altogether prudent, the Reacher boy said in High Valyrian: "Knock three times and stop if you can understand us."

    For a long moment it seemed like there would be no answer, then three knocks followed in quick succession.

    Great, so now I have to be careful what I say, Joran thought uncharitably, though he quickly reminded himself that the thing in the wall understanding them would have been true regardless, only now he knew it did. "Can you come out? One knock for yes, two knocks for no."

    The pause was briefer this time, followed by a single knock louder than any of the ones that had come before. Was it getting stronger or closer? Going over what manner of being it could be, Joran did not come up with many reassuring answers—ghosts and demons, creatures of the Shadow Realm. Yet if it would get out, what was to stop it from pouncing on them both once their backs were turned? Maybe they should just keep it talking until someone more experienced found them.

    Whether from having the same idea or just being particularly curious Samwell asked: "Do you want to come out, or do you just like it in there?"

    Two knocks this time, no.

    The other boy slapped one meaty hand on his forehead. "No to the first?"

    Two knocks again, no. It did want to come out. All that was missing now was the voice in the back of their heads asking for just a little blood, or maybe one little pledge.

    "Are you... er, shy about coming out where people can see you?" To Joran's surprise even as the Reacher boy asked the awkward question his hands were running through the gestures of a simple ward. So he wasn't really as trusting as he seemed. Thank the Old Gods and the New and whoever else might be listening.

    This time there was no answer. Had whatever it had been seen the ward and backed off? Then a shimmering humanoid figure about as tall as the boys with neither face nor any other distinguishing feature stepped out from the dark stone. It 'looked' directly at Joran, as much as anything without eyes could be said to look. "I can take away the memories that hurt you. You won't have to know..."

    "No, they are mine!" Twin daggers of light spilled from Joran's hand to strike the apparition, but it only flinched and kept advancing. "Get help, I'll..."

    Before the young dragonrider could even finish speaking Samwell copied his spell, the blows driving the figure off back into the wall. There was no sign of any magic left in its wake.

    "We go get a teacher?" Sam asked, sounding more frightened now then when he had cast his spell.

    "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Joran agreed.

    It took Headmistress Teana only about half an hour to find the being, some kind of petty thought-eater that rather than being a demon or creature of shadow had been spontaneously generated by so many young mages learning their craft before being drawn to Joran as the one with the most painful memories. When Sam asked what she was going to do with it, she looked him over carefully then answered briefly: "Study it."

    OOC: Since I know you guys are going to ask, the memory eater has the stats of a standard Shadow only it did 1d4 Int damage rather than 1d8 Strength. I gave it a will save to run if it was sent below half HP and it failed. Originally this was going to include Aelor, but it just worked better with Sam.
     
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    • Duesal said:
    Poor memory eater. He picked a really bad place to be formed.
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    And right at the time we are looking for anti-Illithid weapons :evil:

    So...
    Memory Moss-creatures, with Maelephant's breathweapons and brain int damage via Shadow template?
    :V
    [just listing all the magnificent stuff we can attack enemies' minds with, now]
     
    DP: "I mention a refluffed shadow, but ST damage doesn't fit a mage school, Cha isn't really good for learning, so, Int damage it is. Now, how should I call it? Memory eater sounds fitting."
    Thread: "Nice, lets weaponize the thing."
     
    Standard Int damage is also good for capture. Int goes to zero and the target is unconscious. Building a monster around Int damage sounds glorious to me.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    And here I thought you guys would be worried about your mage school spontaneously generating being that feed on thoughts. shows what I know...:V
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    I am quite worried, yes, but...

    Well, is there really anything to do about it?
    There is but one Research Action connected to Shadow Magic that we have, and it's only about expanding the place.

    Plus, I gave up on trying to deal with all the little shitshows in making.
     
    egoo said:
    I am quite worried, yes, but...

    Well, is there really anything to do about it?
    There is but one Research Action connected to Shadow Magic that we have, and it's only about expanding the place.

    Plus, I gave up on trying to deal with all the little shitshows in making.
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    To be fair it is only a CR 2 being, most students could if not handle one than at least run away. I was just surprised that the first reaction was weaponizing it
     
    DragonParadox said:
    And here I thought you guys would be worried about your mage school spontaneously generating beings that feed on thoughts. Shows what I know...:V

    You could speak to it to see if it can be recruited yes
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    Its loik so.

    Monsters spontaneously generate from nowhere all the time.

    It doesn't matter where you are, where you live, or how many security measures you take. This is DnD.

    Eventually the tarrasque is going to wake up from it's food coma and eat some unfortunate micro nation.

    It's just how things work.
     
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