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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:
Great omake @Tomcost. That was really sweet, but you managed to keep Azema in character by not having her be too nice. I like the 'board of keys' and the over-enthusiastic Bulabar too.
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That was the idea. Having the threat of the world's greatest pest be an incentive to make Azema do Glyra's work, but in turn make her reflect about her own actions, and her own misconceptions.
 
Ysilla is probably only telling her real identity to close friends like the other wards.

But even assuming she's keeping it under the lid well enough, someone suspicious enough could easily divine the truth.

The Royces are basically going to be assumed to be Targ loyalists just due to the fact that their son is a monster-slaying badass who helped Viserys grow strong. Plenty of suspicious people to go around.
 
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Interlude DXV: Steel Voice
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    • Steel Voice ​

    Ninth Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC

    The Herald of the Dragon King was not alive as other beings might have been—it knew neither thirst nor hunger, it did not sleep and so it did not dream its own dreams. Less even than the False Ravens that scouted for the fleet could it be called its own being, for the fire it is making was born of its maker's breath, and its words would it carry into the wide world, caring as little for the perils of the storm as for any other danger. Yet that did not make it unreasoning, some blind mechanism, ticking along a predictable path. Alien as its thought-patterns might have been to most, they were supple as fine spring steel.

    Storm unnatural, shore steep, inlet close... too close? Possible weather manipulation. Accessing lorewell.

    Too many low odds positive results struck. Chance of ambush impossible to calculate, guard against present danger as a priority. Lesser ships to be sent off.

    New Data: call only dryad can hear originating from an overgrown ship, storm slackens, odds of ambush. Increase to watchfulness levels. General communications protocols engaged.

    When the voice of the messenger echoed through the sky it was clear and sharp even against the roaring of the wind, carrying an echo of its lord's prescient skill: "Hail, traveler upon the storm-wreaked sea. Why do you call, and whence do you sail from?" Thrice it called so, once in the tongue of the Western lands, once as the Dragonlords spoke of old, and at the last in the tongue of Dragons who are eternal, yet none received an answer.

    Lack of sentience unlikely, hostility, possible, linguistic barrier possible.

    So thwarted in its purpose the Herald made a wide arcing turn to land upon the deck of the Hunter's Moon, carefully calculating its landing so its weight would push against the swaying of the deck not with it.

    Fey communications protocols engaged.

    It took three times as long as any other subsidiary of the skill. The construct felt an abstract sort of frustration at the fact, though it did not blame its maker. Miscommunication with the fey could lead to far worse inefficiencies. "Captain Moonsong, I find myself in need of thine aid to speak to the unknown ship, lest we stumble blindly into battle knowing not the name of the foe. "

    "Why of course, Ser Tin Dragon. Why did you not say so earlier?" the Fey Lady said, unrolling a scroll of tongues with a flourish and beginning to read off the twisting words of spellcraft.

    The name sparked anger from the draconic pride anchored deep in the construct's fiery heart, but a momentary weighing of the odds revealed that to say anything of the sort would only make it more likely that Captain Moonsong would continue using it. Thus it remained silent until the spell had temporarily bonded to its arcane mechanisms, then it swept again into the sky.

    General communications protocols engaged.

    "Hail, traveler upon the storm-wreaked sea. Why do you call, and whence do you sail from?" it called out again in all tongues and none.

    For a moment it seemed no reply would be forthcoming again, making hostility all but guaranteed, then a groaning voice of wood splintering in a gale replied. "Who art thou to ask, neither spirit nor flesh?"

    Analyses revealed the last word to be spoken with clear hostility, yet the communication itself was encouraging. The Herald felt relief at finally being able to refine its threat paradigm beyond crude generalities. "I am the voice of he who sent this fleet upon this journey, I am the instrument of the Dragon King. Should thou hold any quarrel with them then I shall answer, in peace or in war," the construct proclaimed even as it circled within range of its fiery breath, should it be needed to protect the flagship.

    "Are you enslaved as She is?" The strange voice called again, sounding almost uncertain. As it drew closer the Herald noticed a gleam of white among the vines and branches... then another and another. The unknown ship's decks were not deserted after all, but manned by creatures analogous to the Leshy, though larger and likely stronger, matching no known being on a swift study.


    Though the skulls nested among the vines seemed bestial, the Herald's far-seeing eyes caught sight of scraps of rotting fabric among the algae.

    Intuitive leap...

    "None of us are enslaved. Our lord considers slavery to be a foolish and abhorrent practice, both of which are shown by the manner in which you gained your freedom. Know that we bear you no ill will and would learn more of you if you would speak in peace."

    For a long while after there was silence as the two ships of the fleet cautiously circled the unknown, just in reach of their launchers. The construct suspected the Presence was seeking confirmation of the flagship's dryad.

    "I have been deceived!" the Unknown shouted in a great voice that almost drowned out the storm. "Ware thieves and killers from below! Ware the Strangling Water in the bilges!"

    The Herald weighed the odds of this being a ploy to hide further hostility from the Unknown and found them low. It dove upon the deck of the flagship far more abruptly than it had before, the fire within it singing in joy at battle to come.

    OOC: So this was supposed to be combat on two fronts between the Tree Ship and the assassins sneaking into the ships, but then the Herald rolled a nat 20 and I felt I had to do this from its perspective to give you guys a better perspective on how it thinks.
     
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    • Damnit. I was really hoping for us to manage to at least avoid fighting this other ship.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Quite probably, though they may be using a third party to preserve the truce
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    Well, that third party is unlucky. @DragonParadox, I hope this is plenty of XP for everyone. :D
    lockingbane said:
    Damnit. I was really hoping for us to manage to at least avoid fighting this other ship.
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    We did avoid fighting it. It apparently thought we had enslaved the Queen Rhaella instead of her being a willing vassal. Once the Herald pointed out that the Grand Expedition Fleet had no slaves, the Tree Ship promptly warned everyone about the ambush.
     
    Aww. A combat on two fronts sounded cool.
    Ah well, here's hoping whatever assassin can infiltrate a ship in the middle of the sea is also cool.
     
    The fleet has quite a few defenders, some of them fairly powerful, too.

    And it can always call for help.
    -[X] Yi-Ti Expedition:
    --[X] Participants:
    ---[X] The Hunters Moon and crew (Moonsong, Theon, Asha)
    ---[X] The Queen Rhaella and crew (Diana, Lothos, various Leshy, six Advanced Druid Seaweed Leshy, Little Valyrians, etc)
    ---[X] Valeana and Dawnfyre
    ---[X] 2x Large Galleon, 6x Medium Galleon, 6x Small Galleon
    ---[X] 16x Advanced Druid Creature Lotus Leshy // with our new production run, I want one of them on every ship for buffs
    ---[X] 3x Erinyes
    ---[X] 6x Verdant Wolf
    ---[X] 6x Giant Fungal Darkenbeast
    ---[X] 12x Minotaur Fighter, organised in two squads
    ---[X] a few Bulabar and human shipwrights for repairs on the way, aided by the Leshies Shape Wood spells
    ---[X] 1x Herald
    ---[X] 2x set of Elemental Wyrmlings
    ---[X] 48x Lesser False Ravens for comprehensive scouting (We have several hundred now) // 3 per ship
    ---[X] 16x Greater False Ravens for scouting, spying, and coordinating Lesser Ravens // 1 per ship
    ---[X] 1x 5th level Wizard
    ---[X] 1x 4th level Wizard
    ---[X] 1x 5th level Archivist
    ---[X] 1x 4th level Archivist
    ---[X] 1x 5th level Sorcerer
    ---[X] ask Yrael if he has some Archons who want to come along, especially Codex Archons or maybe a few fighters
    ---[X] Breath Taker and Blight's Bane will be invited to join
    ---[X] at least 32x Triton warriors
    ---[X] as many traders as the Tritons want to send with the expedition
    ---[X] 2x Colossal Advanced Fungal Manta Rays
    ---[X] 2x Whispering Brazier // if we deal with Devils, better have backup communication
    ---[X] 16x Inquisition members to keep a lookout for Devils
    ---[X] 32x unofficial Inquisition members that will secretly monitor the fleet for infiltration
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    EDIT: There are also eight Braavosi ships and five from Dorne. They all surely have marines on them, too.
     
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    Capture the assassin and interrogating the shit out of him would be the preferred outcome...I want to see who they are using here and who sent them.

    Edit: Also the fleet is capable of taking out a small country. I forgot how powerful it was. It could have taken on Vahar and won that fight.
     
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    Goldfish said:
    The fleet has quite a few defenders, some of them fairly powerful, too.

    And it can always call for help.

    EDIT: There are also eight Braavosi ships and five from Dorne. They All surely have marines on them, too.
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    I have faith that they'll be fine, I'm just rooting for nice XP for everyone. Maybe a few choice prisoners as well.
     
    This was great! I really liked how it showed their minds to be alien and yet also be actual minds, instead of just really smart drones. This is what they were always supposed to be: the King's Voice.

    The Heralds have a whopping +30 Diplo score, with a Nat 20 on top this was very well deserved.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    You guys never asked IC, since it might have been seen as insensitive.
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    I doubt it would have been seen as insensitive, whatever he lost was lost successfully helping an evil being find redemption, that's not a mark of sorrow to an Archon, that's a mark of pride(or at least the closest equivalent to pride, an Archon will let themselves feel.)

    But yeah I will buy we haven't asked, although I will assume whatever he lost is either inconsequential or has been recovered, as I don't think an Archon would withhold knowledge of any weaknesses, from those they're working with, so at minimum if there's still any problem, I expect him to tell Brienne.
     
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