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

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DragonParadox said:
Thanks, that is much clearer, though there is no need to use brain spider, it's unlikely in the extreme that random bandits can lie to Viserys.
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That was included by sheer force of habit. The plan leaves it up to Viserys' judgement as to whether or not to use it, though. If he is convinced without it, then that's fine with me.
 
Duesal said:
This was why I initially wanted to preemptively vote on what to do with them. Petty bandits are simply not worth update space. We're probably going to waste the entire day here.
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I don't mind these little detours a bit. The previous chapter with Lilly was a nice snapshot of commoner opinions from a PoV very far removed from our normal perspective.

It was good for Viserys to learn that even his father can be held in high regard, despite his madness and evil. Perceptions are malleable and don't always make sense to everyone in a similar manner.

EDIT: Also, handling the situation quickly and efficiently buys us more Stannis Points. We can spend them later to help convince him to follow Stormy. :p
 
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Duesal said:
This was why I initially wanted to preemptively vote on what to do with them. Petty bandits are simply not worth update space. We're probably going to waste the entire day here.
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I believe there would have been a decision point anyway because we voted to gather information, the little girl herself was enough for that simply as a character piece that had to have an end.
 
Goldfish said:
I don't mind these little detours a bit. The previous chapter with Lilly was a nice snapshot of commoner opinions from a PoV very far removed from our normal perspective.

It was good for Viserys to learn that even his father can be held in high regard, despite his madness and evil. Perceptions are malleable and don't always make sense to everyone in a similar manner.
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You might not mind, but I do. This is something that could have been delegated, and we'll be spending 3-4 updates just to decide what to do with a handful of bandits. That's more than a full day IRL. There is such a thing as wasting our time, and this is it.
Deliste said:
I believe there would have been a decision point anyway because we voted to gather information, the little girl herself was enough for that simply as a character piece that had to have an end.
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Then it's something we should have delegated from the beginning instead of deciding we absolutely had to do it ourselves.
 
Duesal said:
Then it's something we should have delegated from the beginning instead of deciding we absolutely had to do it ourselves.
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That I don't disagree with, I was very happy to let an Erinyes handle it, I argued as much however I sleep and Australia gets first dawn.

I did quite like the piece now that we got it though, I appreciate seeing the "less serious" parts of the world from Viserys' perspective.
 
Duesal said:
You might not mind, but I do. This is something that could have been delegated, and we'll be spending 3-4 updates just to decide what to do with a handful of bandits. That's more than a full day IRL. There is such a thing as wasting our time, and this is it.
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*sigh*

Like I said in the author's note I had fun witting this, but the reaction is perfectly understandable. I'll wrap it up in the next update though so we don't have to spent a day IRL on this.
 
DragonParadox said:
OOC: I'm feeling somewhat conflicted about this update. It was fun to write, but I recognize that it might be too much fluff for information you guys had already guessed. Hopefully it's enjoyable though.
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I'd like to put in that these little segments are some of my favorite parts of the quest, DP. You pull off world-building and characterization really well in these brief little snippets, and I don't mind at all that it slows down the pacing a little.
 
DragonParadox said:
I'm going to need a few more votes to wrap this up so we can hopefully get two more proper updates today.
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You could do an interlude for Valaena's journey's aftermath, or for Shapeshifter's bodies?
We have people doing things in AK anyway, so it would but make sense to group them up with the results on buying bodies.
egoo said:
[] Look into what Armun Kelisk has as an analogue to Opaline Vault's Spire of Wisdom.
-[] Ideally, a deal has to be set up if such an establishment exists, that will mirror that with Spire of Wisdom - but targeting the knowledge we don't already have from there, using our limited supply of commonplace Plane of Balance-lore and Scholarum materials efficienty for this exchange.
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egoo said:
[] Make an inquiry on what establishments are responsible for teaching mages in Opaline Vault and Armun Kelisk.
-[] Take a cursory look in how the systems operate, keeping an eye for anything Scholarum can effectively copy and implement (how students are awakened to magic, ingenious use of common spells/rituals in teaching, effective methods, etc.)
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egoo said:
You could do an interlude for Valaena's journey's aftermath, or for Shapeshifter's bodies?
We have people doing things in AK anyway, so it would but make sense to group them up with the results on buying bodies.
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The shape-shifter bodies are one line in an update while the Valaena update has the opposite problem, I'd like to include them inthe interlude with the next leg of the journey.
 
Is there something I need to change about my plan, ya'll? It's pretty straight forward, and DP has already said we'll be wrapping this side trip up in the next update, so there shouldn't be any worries about dragging things out unnecessarily.
 
I would also like to say that while I understand that some may want to prioritize progressing larger issues, I also very much enjoyed the last chapter.

Regarding your plan @Goldfish. You seem to largely assume that these are mostly decent folk driven to banditry by misfortune who have taken up the Dragon's Banner out of a nostalgic sense of loyalty towards the Targaryens and as a way of justifying their crimes. However, from what Lily has told us and taking into account that she's a little girl who's grown up amidst these people and is therefor likely to fully buy into whatever justifications they tell themselves, they might also be a band of unrepentant murderers and torturers. Do we really just want to invite these people into SD? Maybe include the option to take them prisoner and deliver them to Stannis if our investigation finds that Lily's Portrayal of them is overly benevolent?
 
UmeII said:
I would also like to say that while I understand that some may want to prioritize progressing larger issues, I also very much enjoyed the last chapter.

Regarding your plan @Goldfish. You seem to largely assume that these are mostly decent folk driven to banditry by misfortune who have taken up the Dragon's Banner out of a nostalgic sense of loyalty towards the Targaryens and as a way of justifying their crimes. However, from what Lily has told us and taking into account that she's a little girl who's grown up amidst these people and is therefor likely to fully buy into whatever justifications they tell themselves, they might also be a band of unrepentant murderers and torturers. Do we really just want to invite these people into SD? Maybe include the option to take them prisoner and deliver them to Stannis if our investigation finds that Lily's Portrayal of them is overly benevolent?
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It's a matter of scale. We normally operate far above the concerns of a few hundred commoners. As much as I liked the previous chapter, I don't want to spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with them.

When we first took over Torturer's Deep and began expansion, the majority of our navy personnel were former pirates, who I guarantee you were worse than the bandits living in this forest. Since then, we've integrated former slavers, sell sword companies who were little more than well organized bandits who worked for the highest bidder, Dothraki of all things, and so on. The Imperium can easily absorb 300 commoners without even blinking, even if most of them aren't great people.

And if they don't want to cooperate, it is the height of simplicity to lead Stannis' men to each of their camps using False Ravens, where they will be killed or sent to the Wall, or where ever else he deems fit. We're by ourselves right now. Killing the entire bandit camp would be the work of seconds, but rounding them up when they scatter into the surrounding forest would be an issue, and this is only one of six camps.
 
UmeII said:
I would also like to say that while I understand that some may want to prioritize progressing larger issues, I also very much enjoyed the last chapter.

Regarding your plan @Goldfish. You seem to largely assume that these are mostly decent folk driven to banditry by misfortune who have taken up the Dragon's Banner out of a nostalgic sense of loyalty towards the Targaryens and as a way of justifying their crimes. However, from what Lily has told us and taking into account that she's a little girl who's grown up amidst these people and is therefor likely to fully buy into whatever justifications they tell themselves, they might also be a band of unrepentant murderers and torturers. Do we really just want to invite these people into SD? Maybe include the option to take them prisoner and deliver them to Stannis if our investigation finds that Lily's Portrayal of them is overly benevolent?
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In Viserys' estimation it's unlikely that they are uniformly one thing or another, it's probably a spectrum though in general it would not be much worse than the average pirate ship of which you hired a lot in the early days no questions asked. You could have these people screened of course but that does take a certain amout of time and attention from trained interrogators of which you do not have that many.

Edit: Faceless'd
 
Takesis said:
How about that Red Keep reaction to the tourney and Braavos folding/Rumour post?
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A City of Brass interlude/rumor post would be great, as would another Yi-Ti interlude, or more of the expedition fleet, maybe Qyburn just flitting about happily now that he's surrounded by intellectual equals and an unlimited research budget, a check-in with Azari (or whatever the Erinyes' name is who we recently Resurrected), etc...

I could keep going. There are a lot of really neat potential interlude choices.
 
Goldfish said:
It's a matter of scale. We normally operate far above the concerns of a few hundred commoners. As much as I liked the previous chapter, I don't want to spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with them.

When we first took over Torturer's Deep and began expansion, the majority of our navy personnel were former pirates, who I guarantee you were worse than the bandits living in this forest. Since then, we've integrated former slavers, sell sword companies who were little more than well organized bandits who worked for the highest bidder, Dothraki of all things, and so on. The Imperium can easily absorb 300 commoners without even blinking, even if most of them aren't great people.

And if they don't want to cooperate, it is the height of simplicity to lead Stannis' men to each of their camps using False Ravens, where they will be killed or sent to the Wall, or where ever else he deems fit. We're by ourselves right now. Killing the entire bandit camp would be the work of seconds, but rounding them up when they scatter into the surrounding forest would be an issue, and this is only one of six camps.
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Well you're definitely right in that we've taken in worse people before and we don't have the time to individually sreen them. I guess we take em in and if any of them are actually sadists and not just criminals out of desperation we'll deal with them (or rather have our lawmen deal with them) once they commit crimes in SD.

[X] Goldfish
 
OK, this is not the most engaging vote so... vote closed. Let's get this moving
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jul 5, 2019 at 9:10 AM, finished with 328520 posts and 4 votes.
  • [X] Accept Lilly's offer to return with her to the Dragon Claws' camp, then ask to speak with her father.
    -[X] Lilly is young and naive, so not necessarily the best source of information of the Dragon's Claws. Her father may be of more help. Pick his brain using the full weight of our social skills, along with a Brain Spider spell if we believe it warranted, in order to confirm Lilly's information and to learn anything else relevant to the situation. If possible, try to speak with others among the camp as well, especially whoever seems to be the leader.
    --[X] After further investigation, if you believe the Dragon's Claws would be willing to relocate, or at least this camp of them, drop your guise as Dywen and introduce yourself.
    ---[X] If the Dragon's Claws number merely 300 souls, or thereabouts, the simplest solution to Stannis' problem would be to arrange their relocation to the Deep or elsewhere in our realm. Those who wish to fight can join the Legion, but it is by no means required. There is ample opportunity for them to all lead peaceful and productive lives without ever again resorting to violence.
    ----[X] Those who do not wish to relocate will be left for Stannis' men to find at the direction of our False Raven scouts.
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DragonParadox said:
*sigh*

Like I said in the author's note I had fun witting this, but the reaction is perfectly understandable. I'll wrap it up in the next update though so we don't have to spent a day IRL on this.
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I disagree with Duesal, I like to have some low priority character interaction once in a while, so this kind of update is amongst my favorites.
Duesal said:
There's no deadline. It's just a simple waste of our time.
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That's your opinion not everyones, some of us like this kind of update, you already got DP to wrap it up early, don't complain about those of us who like this, at least getting a little of it.

Sorry if I'm a little snappish, but these kind of things are amongst my favorites, and they often get decided against as wastes of time.
 
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