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

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egoo said:
Hey, @Goldfish.
Remember how you said that we won't be able to ensure taht Adamantine Mine will stay closed if we go and wreck it now?

Well, I just had an idea how we can, possibly manage that, and make a huge distraction for Efreeti in the process.
Bear with me...

Step 1: We go and fish out the Char-serpent out of lava.
If it shows itself reasonable enough, and willing to co-operate...

Step 2: Feed it to bursting with Devils.
How much Devils? Approximately 500 HD we'll have left in Larder after this month's sacrifice.

Step 3: We have it reproduce, and pump out as many horrible abominations of everything Good and Divine as it can.
We also have it bound, by Oath (to Yss and Jazzirian, maybe?), that after the war with Efreeti is over, it and it's "children" will enter our Emperium as subjects, with all benifits and responsibilities.

Step 4: We go and wreck the mine. Flood the place with lava. And release the Char-serpents inside to make the nest there.
We'll, of course, take the mine back after the Efreeti are dealt with.

The end result?
Mine is overtaken by a bunch of high-CR monsters that can perfectly orient in lava-flooded caverns.
The territory around the Mine becomes incredibly dangerous for Efreeti to sail through.
We get to set some forces there too, probably.

And the best part is, we can even probably sustain them as citizens of Emperium.
Mammon-machine would be decent enough in pumping out Devil-essense they seem to enjoy so much (as well as Efreeti, from DP's descriptions), methinks.
And later?
They would be just wonderful to use against Devils.
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You have become Munchkin, Destroyer of Every-damn-thing.
 
Winning Vote
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jun 28, 2019 at 11:42 AM, finished with 74 posts and 11 votes.
  • [X] Travel to the Plane of Earth to deal with your business there
    -[X] Retroactively place a standing order for 12 Glass Golems per month to be produced by the Glassmakers Guild of Myr. Cost: 118,404 IM per month.
    [X] Meet with Stannis Baratheon. With the bargain you've struck with Storm God, he may yet play a part larger than being but a mere Lord...
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Part MMCMXXI: The Treasure of Guarded Vaults
  • Threadmarks
    • The Treasure of Guarded Vaults​

    Seventh Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC

    Your visit to the Opaline Vault the next day is a far quieter thing than the journey to the great Skyhold of the Djinn. With Lya and Vee busy at their studies, Dany and Ser Richard in the Crownlands seeking ancient treasure, and Waymar, Tyene, and Garin already set off to the east even while Maelor and Malarys are busy dealing with the markets of a far less kindly city, you find yourself faced with the somewhat unaccustomed prospect of spending the entire day alone. Granted Ser Richard had made you promise to at least take Leto with you when you set out into the wilder tunnels in search of Darleth the Delver and 'She Who Brings Enlightenment', but you find unexpected company long before that—Xor bobbing along in his true form just as you are preparing to set off to the deep forges of the Shaitan.

    "Ah, excellent. I was afraid you had gone already," Xor calls out, his eye-stalks flickering cheerfully. "I had thought to do some shopping of my own while I still have the chance—histories, plays, perhaps I will even branch out into performing some Shaitan songs. What do you think?"

    Given that Xor is in the middle of an investigation into the Cult of Zhagreus while also being instrumental to the expanding far-seen plays, you very much doubt he is looking for more things to fill his time, but that makes you appreciate his company all the more.

    ***​

    Xor's appearance has the gift of briefly startling master smith Aegir, but as soon as your friend starts asking questions while peering in five directions at once the Azer snorts in his beard, grumbling something about having seen 'singers of every stripe now' and quickly goes through the formalities of your deal. Twenty pounds of Valyrian Steel for the same quantity in Shackle-Steel. With the arcane mechanism fueled by the corpse of Mammon's Aspect in place the deal is even better for you than it was last month, though from the spark in the smith's eye as he takes the smoky grey ingots he does not feel in the least bit cheated either.

    Lost 20 lb. of Valyrian Steel

    Gained 20 lb. of Thinaun

    In truth he is in such good cheer that he gives you a hint as to where you might find one of the other rare metals you are keeping an eye out for, Living Iron harvested from the trunks of great trees of the lightless depths that feed upon rich veins of ore, even as they grant the metal a sort of immortality. In the trunks of the largest of these strange gleaming giants the life runs so strong that even after the tree has been cut down the material still heals itself overtime and even tries to cannibalize metal weapons that strike it. Better still it even has the virtue of being both cheap and relatively plentiful as enterprising merchants have long since given up wild harvesting for creating plantations where veins of ore are directed as mortal farmers might a stream to water their crops.

    How much Living Iron do you buy?

    [] Write in (Cost 100 IM/lbs; 2,500 lbs available)

    ***​

    As you climb towards the upper wards of the city, your new purchases safely stowed in the folds of your cloak, Xor notes: "In its own way this Living Iron seems as alike to Dragonsteel as the Thinaum we bought previously, for where the latter binds souls this consumes base metals."

    "Not just base metals if the merchant is to be believed, it can consume all metals save adamantine, though given how slow the process is I would not stake my life upon it happening in mid-battle," you reply thoughtfully. There are many uses you can think of for such a metal, and none of them involve common arms and armor. Replacing key parts of a skyship's internals that would otherwise require extensive maintenance, slow magically inert means of breaching metal doors and walls covertly...

    You do not have much time speculate upon the uses of Living Iron, for another much larger trade deal is in the works—selling off a five-hundred tons of adamantine to House Adjar in exchange for Glassteel Scepters. It is quite gratifying to know you can make a transaction of significant import with such as Lady Zanira. You may still be a very long way off from matching the wealth and power of the Peerless Empire, but at least you are getting there at a rate the Shaitan find noteworthy.

    Lost 1,000,000 lbs. of Adamantine

    Gained 68,000,000 Glassteel Scepters

    Once the deal is finalized you head for the offices of Astral Currents where you are pleased to see the reports you had asked already laid out, and not just in regards to dragons.

    "It seems there is no singular institution for training Shaitan mages," Xor says as he separates one report into quarters and starts reading it four pages at a time. "It seems as though the only institution of learning founded by the empire that deals with mages of comparable skill to the Scholarum is the Academy of War—they produce battle-mages, diviners, and engineers for the Shaitan. The custodians of the Tower of Wisdom on the other hand have little educational experience, but have shown some interest in an exchange of lore." Your friend pauses the summary to advise: "It might be best to start small when it comes to an exchange of lore. Spirits of stone are more cautious than headlong."

    Shaitan Academy of War interested in Student Exchange (will require an action next turn).

    What rare lore exchange do you propose to the Tower of Wisdom?

    [] Write-in (Single exchange for a beginning)

    OOC: I can't really give you guys a list of the topics of research covered by an eons-old high magic empire, so instead I'm going to give a write-in. Try to avoid things like necromancy and flesh-forging, though, they do not really fit the environment and culture of the Peerless Empire. Also I hope Xor works here, it's been a while since he has been involved in the main plot.
     
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    • I would say they likely do have some study of necromancy. Earth is usually associated with necromancy to a degree.

    Darkness, grave dirt, decay, fossilization, life to the lifeless, motion to the unmoving, and course... Memory and the past. The Earth's memory is long and detailed. Peeling away lost information is a valuable skill.

    Though that's just my opinion really. These are more like "geomancy that touches upon necromancy" than the proper school.
     
    zxzx24 said:
    I would say they likely do have some study of necromancy. Earth is usually associated with necromancy to a degree.

    Darkness, grave dirt, decay, fossilization, life to the lifeless, motion to the unmoving, and course... Memory and the past. The Earth's memory is long and detailed. Peeling away lost information is a valuable skill.

    Though that's just my opinion really. These are more like "geomancy that touches upon necromancy" than the proper school.
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    That is a fair point, let's call it the inflection point of divination and necromancy
     
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    Would warforged get slow regeneration from living metal?
    And how much would we need for a Dauntless-type ship?
    Can it be alloyed with adamantine?
    Tomcost said:
    We would need to feed them raw metal ores.

    Not worth it
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    If Planetos is similar to Earth, there's a lot of iron around.
     
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    Hmmm....Living Iron Saplings....Mix with Purified Living Brass...absorbing metals to grow and shards of broken souls to bear Metal Fruit...Living Soul Metal Trees? What's an ally of Iron and Brass?

    Pop one in a Living Bronze Smelter with the Merling Kings sympathetic magic going and see a new World Tree Bloom?

    Earth, Air and Fire. The Plane would make a suitable metaphysical foundry.
     
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    Ah, Xor, you're the best floating eyeball monstrosity I know!

    /hug Xor

    Can't write a plan at the moment. Too busy getting stuff in order here at work so I can take off next week without worrying something will explode in my absence.

    [X] Duesal

    @Duesal All the Living Iron, please, plus as many saplings as they will sell us?
     
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    DragonParadox said:
    What rare lore exchange do you propose to the Tower of Wisdom?

    [] Write in (Single exchange for a beginning)
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    That's about this, yes?
    [] Set up an exchange of lore between Shaitan's Spire of Wisdom and Sorcerer's Deep's Scholarum.
    -[] Have Scholarum students accompanied by an Erynie and a Pen Dragon visit the spire, with commonplace knowledge and lore of Plane of Balance (but not present on Planes) carefully chosen by Lya, Teana, or Naria to afford best rate of exchange for just as commonplace Planar/Arcane lore.
    --[] The students are to be throughly taught the ways to behave and act throughout the trip, so as to not cause an accident.
    -[] Scholarum-grade lore/books are to be exchanged under much more care, ideally being done by an Arcanum or a Companion. Exchange rate of such materials is, of course, to be set for more important and specific knowledge - basises for new Scholarum courses, forays into unresearched branches of magic, rare ritual spells and exotic magical techniques.
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    They aren't interested in setting constant trickle of lore-exchange from the get-go, and want us doing something separate first, yes?
     
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