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

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One Autumn Leaf said:
The Blood magic probably didn't help. Especially considering the Valyrian trauma they had. Also I think I figured out how they beat the Old Gods.
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Oh please do tell while I doubt it would come into effect now, mostly because the Old Gods are probably keeping an eye on everything the Seven are doing, but it would be good to keep an eye on anything like that. Also I can't help but wonder how the Old Gods are being effect by all these new converts. While it isn't a lot. The fact that there are new Wierwood groves in Essos for the first time in recorded history, not to mention the fact that we planted one on another plane of existence. If the Seven found out about this they would probably be foaming at the mouth.
 
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Interlude DXLXIX: Marcher's Path
  • Threadmarks
    • Marcher's Path​

    Twenty-Second Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC

    The sound of iron hammers fixing stone into place filled the dusty air accompanied by rhythmic huffs of exertion as the men worked through the hot southern afternoon. They had a break through the worst of the midday heat, but they were still all too glad to lay down their tools at the sight of the plume of dust that heralded an approaching rider.

    Still, the legionaries among them reached for their weapons. The newly built strong-point of Crow's Ridge was far from the borders of the newly claimed province of Draconys... but it was still Draconys. Though the worst of the magic-twisted beasts that stalked out of the wastelands may not be clever enough to make it this far twisted fey and crazed brigands driven mad by whispers of power were not uncommon in these parts. The rest of the world may just be remembering magic but for the people of the eastern marches it had never truly left, familiar as it was perilous.

    Thankfully, the banner in the distance soon showed itself to be the white swan on red of House Swann of Draconys. True, in most places the sight of the lord of the land riding through might have caused more than a pang of worry to any simple laborers and masons, no matter how diligently they went about their task, but these were legion men and builders hired on the King's coin. They were helpful and polite, of course, no reason to antagonize a highborn warrior, but they showed their work with pride unshadowed by any fear.

    ***​

    As it so happened Ser Balon Swann approved not only of the tone in which he was greeted, reminding him as it did of solid Marcher spirit, but also of the presence of the black armored soldiers. His own armsmen were still green as spring grass, or at best more practiced in trapping and hunting than in enforcing peace and warding off brigands or worse. The best that could be said for his household at the moment was that he had managed to hire on three dozen Dothraki who liked how he sat on a horse almost as much as they liked his silver, and he had only had to hang a handful of them for falling back on old habits, which from their reputation and the sort of tales they told when they thought their lord wasn't listening was a minor miracle.

    Establish Guard Posts (Draconys) Complete (24/4)

    "Did you find anything of note on patrol, lieutenant?" the knight asked the officer in command of the small detachment, speaking slowly as he had grown accustomed to doing to make himself understood with his still basic grasp of Low Valyrian.

    "Nary a glimpse of buried treasure or friendly nymphs to whisk a man away to their garden of delights, more's the pity," the man replied in jest. Thankfully, Balon understood that perfectly with the aid of the talisman he had bought before he left Sorcerer's Deep. More than once he wished his funds could have stretched to afford the stronger kinds that worked for listening and speaking, but he had better places to put his tourney winnings. 'Always plow gold back into the land when you can and you shall reap a rich harvest', his lord father always said, and surely in few places was it as true as in these still poor and lonely lands.

    "Do doubt those nymphs are waiting right around the corner," the knight replied dryly. "In the meantime though did you find anything I could use?"

    "Aye, there's a limestone deposit about three leagues south of here," the officer pointed first to the horizon, then to his map.

    "Good man," Balon congratulated him. "There's a cask of ale in it for all of you when you next pass my keep." he added as he motioned to his party to ride to the potential quarry site. This was not rich land, not yet, but it was his to care for and pass on to his sons and they would find it rich.

    OOC: Not the most exciting interlude in the world, but it should at least give an idea of how things are working out in Draconys.
     
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    • Duesal said:
    What, cutting down every weirwood they saw? Calling down angels to slaughter Children of the Forest druids and rangers? Weaponized Miracles?
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    A combination of the three but the main reason I think was that they had gone through more combat than the First Men at the time. They were refugees fleeing from a bloodthirsty empire of High level mages. Basically Merlin on a War Path. This conflict, while ousting the Andals, strengthened the survivors who were blessed with magic or found spell books of unfortunate Dragonlords or just spontaneous magic because Sorcerers. So when they fled west they hit the First Men.

    Now yes the First Men probably saw combat but there is a difference between lowly mages casting Fireball at each other and a high mage fucking a group of people up with a Meteor Swarm and TimeStop. Also many of the strong mages of the Old Gods had either gone into the Green Dream to pass on or had just become isolated from everyone else. Considering the races we are talking about this is very likely. There is the Children who are few in number, have low birth rates and are generally isolated and the Giants who are much the same. Sure they live longer but they don't really form large communities. And Humans, bless their souls, don't live that long compared to their counterparts.

    So what happens when a nation playing with low level magic gets exposed to a nation coming from High level combat. You get a massacre. Now from what I understand the First Men gave as good as they got. The Hammer of Justice slaughtered 99 Andal Warlords on the same battle. But a few exception champions probably weren't enough to outweigh the many.

    Edit: Correction. The Hammer of Justice fought 99 battles and was killed by seven Andal Warlords.
     
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    One Autumn Leaf said:
    A combination of the three but the main reason I think was that they had gone through more combat than the First Men at the time. They were refugees fleeing from a bloodthirsty empire of High level mages. Basically Merlin on a War Path. This conflict, while ousting the Andals, strengthened the survivors who were blessed with magic or found spell books of unfortunate Dragonlords or just spontaneous magic because Sorcerers. So when they fled west they hit the First Men.

    Now yes the First Men probably saw combat but there is a difference between lowly mages casting Fireball at each other and a high mage fucking a group of people up with a Meteor Swarm and TimeStop. Also many of the strong mages of the Old Gods had either gone into the Green Dream to pass on or had just become isolated from everyone else. Considering the races we are talking about this is very likely. There is the Children who are few in number, have low birth rates and are generally isolated and the Giants who are much the same. Sure they live longer but they don't really form large communities. And Humans, bless their souls, don't live that long compared to their counterparts.

    So what happens when a nation playing with low level magic gets exposed to a nation coming from High level combat. You get a massacre. Now from what I understand the First Men gave as good as they got. The Hammer of the Waters slaughter 99 Andal Warlords on the same battle. But a few exception champions probably weren't enough to outweigh the many.
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    That's a very, very good point. The Andals would have had a lot more combat experience when they fled Essos.
     
    Inserted tally
    Adhoc vote count started by egoo on Aug 29, 2019 at 5:42 PM, finished with 83 posts and 8 votes.
    • [X] Speak more with Danelle or Brandon
      -[X] Ask about Deep Ones or other dangers of the western coast, anything new on that front?
      -[X] (Assuming she wears her Mind Blank) Explain that you have found some allies who hate the Illithids longer then we even knew of them, and you are slowly preparing for a serious attack on the Squids major holdings on this Plane. You can use any powerful caster's help, even if you might have differences in many other areas.
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    DragonParadox said:
    Marcher's Path​

    Twenty-Second Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC

    The sound of iron hammers fixing stone into place filled the dusty air was accompanied by rhythmic huffs of exertion as the men worked through the hot southern afternoon. They had a break through the worst of the midday heat, but they were still all too glad to lay down their tools at the sight of the plume of dust that heralded an approaching rider.

    Still the legionaries among them reached for their weapons. The newly built strong-point of Crow's Ridge was far from the borders of the newly claimed province of Draconys... but it was still Draconys. Alhough the worst of the magic-twisted beasts that stalked out of the wastelands may not be clever enough to make it this far, twisted fey and brigands driven by mad whispers of power were not uncommon in these parts. The rest of the world may just be remembering magic, but for the people of the eastern marches it had never left, familiar as it was perilous.

    Thankfully, the banner in the distance soon showed itself to be the White Swan on Red of House Swann of Draconys. True, in most places the sight of the lord of the land riding through might have caused more than a pang of worry to any simple laborers and masons, no matter how diligently they went about their task, but these were Legion men and builders hired on the king's coin. They were helpful and polite, of course, no reason to antagonize a highborn warrior, but they showed their work with pride unshadowed by any fear.

    ***​

    As it so happened, Ser Balon approved not only of the tone in which he was greeted, reminding it as it did of solid marcher spirit, but also of the presence of the black armored soldiers. His own armsmen were still green as spring grass, or at best more practiced in trapping and hunting than in holding and enforcing peace, and warding off brigands or worse. The best that could be said for his Household at the moment was that he had managed to hire on three dozen Dothraki who liked how he sat on a horse almost as much as they liked his silver. He had only had to hang a handful of them for falling back on old habits which, from their reputation and the sort of tales they told when they thought the lord wasn't looking, was a minor miracle.

    Establish Guard Posts in Draconys Complete (24/4)

    "Did you find anything of note on patrol, lieutenant?" the knight asked the officer in command of the small detachment, speaking slowly as he had grown accustomed to doing to make himself understood with his still basic grasp of Low Valyrian.

    "Nary a glimpse of buried treasure or friendly nymphs to whisk a man away to their garden of delights, more's the pity," the man replied in jest. Thankfully, Balon understood that perfectly with the aid of the talisman he had bought before he left Sorcerer's Deep. More than once he wished his funds could have stretched to afford the stronger kind that worked for listening and speaking, but he had better places to put his tourney winnings. Always plow gold back into the land when you can and you shall reap a rich harvest, his lord father always said, and surely in few places was it as true as in these still poor and lonely lands.

    "No doubt those nymphs are waiting right around the corner," the knight replied dryly. "In the meantime though did you find anything I could use?"

    "Aye, there's a limestone deposit about three leagues south of here," the officer pointed first to the horizon, then to his map.

    "Good man," Balon congratulated him. "There's a cask of ale in it for all of you when you next pass my keep," he added as he motioned to his party to ride to the potential quarry site. This was not rich land, not yet, but it was his to care for and pass on to his sons, and they would find it rich.

    OOC: Not the most exciting interlude in the world, but it should at least give an idea of how things are working out in Draconys. Not yet edited.
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    Made some edits to the chapter, DP.

    Really nice to see Balon Swann settling into his new role.
     
    TalonofAnathrax said:
    They're also utterly unnecessary. Can we please not chase every single random shiny? We already have better flying mounts! Let's let some local handle this or something!
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    Eh, it's not like it a huge investment in our time or resources. The Pegasi fill a good niche as far as flyign mounts go, too. Impressive looking, like our Griffins, but no smarter than an animal, so they can be used more like our Giant Fungal Darkenbeasts, which are scary looking and thus bad for PR.

    I don't mind going to the effort to get them.
     
    TalonofAnathrax said:
    They're also utterly unnecessary. Can we please not chase every single random shiny? We already have better flying mounts! Let's let some local handle this or something!
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    No, I've wanted to go after them for months. Right now we have several days of waiting before the Azure Emperor has an audience with us, and Vee is conveniently free, and DP has finally declared this a minor action with the spells we have access to. I'm very much against putting this aside for some arbitrary reason of not "chasing every single random shiny" in spite of the fact that this only helps us.
     
    Duesal said:
    No, I've wanted to go after them for months. Right now we have several days of waiting before the Azure Emperor has an audience with us, and Vee is conveniently free, and DP has finally declared this a minor action with the spells we have access to. I'm very much against putting this aside for some arbitrary reason of not "chasing every single random shiny" in spite of the fact that this only helps us.
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    I don't think that it's worth the OOC time, basically.
    Ah well. Best case, I suppose that we'll get a nice and fluffy update out of it.
     
    TalonofAnathrax said:
    I don't think that it's worth the OOC time, basically.
    Ah well. Best case, I suppose that we'll get a nice and fluffy update out of it.
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    We'll have to agree to disagree. I've genuinely been gunning for this for months, and the only thing that stopped me before was DP saying it'd take Vee weeks to track them down. Thanks to our spells at hand now (namely Discern Location) it'll take less than a day to find them, and between Viserys and Vee it'll take just the one update to diplomance them and convince them to live in Sorcerer's Deep.
    Goldfish said:
    Eh, it's not like it a huge investment in our time or resources. The Pegasi fill a good niche as far as flyign mounts go, too. Impressive looking, like our Griffins, but no smarter than an animal, so they can be used more like our Giant Fungal Darkenbeasts, which are scary looking and thus bad for PR.

    I don't mind going to the effort to get them.
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    They're a bit smarter, actually. INT 10, dead average for a human, but still very smart for an animal.
     
    Duesal said:
    We'll have to agree to disagree. I've genuinely been gunning for this for months, and the only thing that stopped me before was DP saying it'd take Vee weeks to track them down. Thanks to our spells at hand now (namely Discern Location) it'll take less than a day to find them, and between Viserys and Vee it'll take just the one update to diplomance them and convince them to live in Sorcerer's Deep.

    They're a bit smarter, actually. INT 10, dead average for a human, but still very smart for an animal.
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    There goes my faulty memory again. :oops:
     
    To any fellow cubicle jockeys who read this, does disease seem to run rampant through your offices like it does mine?

    I used to think I had a decent immune system, but I obviously wasn't being exposed to enough germs.

    /unhappily fighting off another cold passed along by a co-worker
     
    Goldfish said:
    To any fellow cubicle jockeys who read this, does disease seem to run rampant through your offices like it does mine?

    I used to think I had a decent immune system, but I obviously wasn't being exposed to enough germs.

    /unhappily fighting off another cold passed along by a co-worker
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    Flu shots are mandatory where I work yearly.

    I had at least one head cold which was persistent as fuck last year, so I can't say you're wrong, and the mandatory flu shot thing just sort of reinforces the fact more than anything else. That's only required because we're Hospital affiliated and hypothetically someone could pass through the building whom is going to later be at one of our site-side teams.

    I will say this, I haven't had the flu since I started working there, even though I wanted to die just as much anyway.
     
    Fallout5368 said:
    Also I can't help but wonder how the Old Gods are being effect by all these new converts. While it isn't a lot. The fact that there are new Wierwood groves in Essos for the first time in recorded history, not to mention the fact that we planted one on another plane of existence.
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    Absolutely zero :D

    The Old Gods reject all worship and as such avoid all influence.

    Goldfish said:
    To any fellow cubicle jockeys who read this, does disease seem to run rampant through your offices like it does mine?

    I used to think I had a decent immune system, but I obviously wasn't being exposed to enough germs.

    /unhappily fighting off another cold passed along by a co-worker
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    Illness seems to be a thing with office spaces, another thing to keep in mind is that office workers commute more on average and often through public transport, that makes for a very different contagion exposure profile when each employee may have been in a confined space with upwards of 50 people.
     
    Goldfish said:
    To any fellow cubicle jockeys who read this, does disease seem to run rampant through your offices like it does mine?

    I used to think I had a decent immune system, but I obviously wasn't being exposed to enough germs.

    /unhappily fighting off another cold passed along by a co-worker
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    Could also be the difference in schedule, bad sleep patterns or even difference in diet. With so many people huddled together there's a greater chance to get something you didn't had already, and if your immune system is lower due to the reasons listed above you can catch even the most annoying stuff easily.
     
    @Artemis1992, we need to ask Danelle to never take off her Mind Blank ring after we share this information with her, and that she not share it with anyone else who is not equally warded.
     
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