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

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Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Sep 21, 2019 at 11:31 AM, finished with 49 posts and 10 votes.
  • [X] "There are dozens of second and third sons by now who dabble in matters the commons would mutter over, and more for fear of the unknown than fear of what they've gotten into."
    -[X] "Noble scions of Great Houses who's sons and daughters practice sorcery. We live in the South, aye, but what mutters of the South could effect Denys if he was sent, say, North, where they care little for baseless superstition, only what's practical and real? Wyman Manderly is a man of the Seven, a Lord from an honorable lineage, and he shelters mages in good standing himself."
    -[X] "The Lannisters don't offer us anything, just a threat we must grin and bear with, only must we? The Targaryen grows stronger in the east and he doesn't particularly fear the slander Tywin Lannister has been slinging far and wide as could be heard, and even if we did not raise the Dragon Banner when the time comes, if they have Denys in their hands by then they'll force us to raise ours for Lions."
    -[X] "Don't make us spill blood for the unworthy, and keeping Denys in Castamere will have that result one way or another. Call him back, or foster him somewhere that won't kill him for swords and gold and suspicion of what he might do."
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Part MMMLXXIII: The Weight of Oaths
  • Threadmarks
    • The Weight of Oaths ​

    Thirtieth Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC

    Though you had briefly contemplated conjuring some other cause for young Denys to return to his father's keep, you dismiss the notion almost as soon as it occurs. Too many wheels you need to keep spinning, too many knives to keep in the air, particularly as you only have Edric's confidence. You only hope that confidence holds through what you are about to suggest he say...

    Shock and dismay play along the the ethereal thread, as you had feared. "It will only be for a short time, but there is only so much I can do from where I stand," you add.

    "There are dozens of second and third sons by now who dabble in matters the commons would mutter over, and more for fear of the unknown than fear of what they've gotten into," the boy finally says, greatly daring, or so he must seem to his father. "Noble scions of Great Houses whose sons and daughters practice sorcery. We live in the south, aye, but what mutters of the south could affect Denys if he was sent, say, to the North where they care little for baseless superstition, only what's practical and real? Wyman Manderly is a man of the Seven, a lord from an honorable lineage, and he shelters mages in good standing himself."

    "Manderly?" Lord Mallery seems almost too surprised to truly disapprove. "What do you know about Manderly?"

    "What Maester Hernal taught me, their banner, their words, their history," Edric replies glibly, though to his father the blush upon his cheeks likely seems sincere. "And... well, I thought maybe Denys could learn there. I never heard told that he had a lump of gold for a heart."

    "I'd ask who's been telling you rumors of the North of all places, but they have been doing good work whoever they are," the lord answered gruffly. "It's not a bad thought, out of sight out of mind..." Noticing the look of pain in his son's eyes he curses. "Damn me for a fool, I shouldn't have said it like that."

    "No, it's alright... we are going to have to figure this out together," Edric replies, shifting to sit a little closer to his father on the fallen log. This time you feel his genuine shame at holding secret counsel with you, even as his expression shows no mark of it. "You know the Lannisters offer us nothing save a threat and think we must grin and bear it, but must we? The Targaryen grows stronger in the east, and he doesn't particularly fear the slander Tywin Lannister has been slinging far and wide as could be heard. If the Lannisters have Denys when the Dragon sails west then they could force us to fight them on their behalf, but what if..."

    "What if what, we betray our oaths to the King and hope the fire passes us by?" Lord Mallery is obviously struggling against anger. "Son, it's good to be clever, but a poor thing to be sly. Simon Toyne was sly and see where that landed him? If you move where the wind blows you should not be surprised to see that those sworn in fealty and alliance to you do the same. Oaths mean something, not just before the gods but before men. I knelt before Robert Baratheon after I crossed swords with his Stormlanders at the Trident and I took him for my King. If I should turn by back on that before the first blade is draw then men will say 'there goes a man whose word is worth as much as the spring wind' and then shall never be made to think different."

    Pausing for a moment he looks his son up and down perhaps to check and see that he is attentive. "Even if another war should come and I would then keep my oaths they would think me a fool who did not weigh the odds well, not made honorable again."

    "How much blood is enough, father?" the boy asks in a whisper, almost as though he does not want you to hear. "How many lives must be lost in a war the king cannot win? When I was learning about the North Maester Hernal asked me who was the wiser, King Torrhen or King Mern. It seemed clear enough to me, there are still Starks in Winterfell, but no Gardeners in Highgarden nor elsewhere."

    For a long moment there is silence, you can feel the strain in Edric's thoughts coiled like a Myrish spring, while Lord Mallery is as still as a statue. Finally he speaks: "Hernal didn't actually ask you that question, did he?"

    "Er... no, but I thought it would make a good point." This time the blush upon the boy's cheeks is wholly unintended.

    "Good, that would be a dangerous thing to get out," the lord sighs while looking out to the east. "I'll send a raven west to ask that Denys be returned at once... and a trusted man east to see what sort of man Viserys Targaryen is..."

    "You can show yourself now," Edric calls excitedly in your thoughts. "That way father won't have to send Denys north." Listening to him argue with his father you had almost forgotten how young he is.

    "That would reveal rather more than we aught," you reply gently. Still, perhaps it might be worth a 'coincidental' visit today at the keep to push things along faster. You are after all quite intrigued by the prospect of meeting a priest of Mother Earth.

    What do you do next?

    [] Visit Mallery keep to try to gain fealty
    -[] Write in

    [] Move on to one of the other Houses
    -[] Write in which

    OOC: The kid not only had a nat 20, but he did not have a single roll lower than a 16. I have to admit I was really tempted to cut off sooner so 'speak of the Devil and he appears' would be an option, but it's just so bad practically that I could not justify doing it.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • DragonParadox said:
    "How much blood is enough, father?" the boy asks in a whisper, almost as though he does not want you to hear. "How many lives must be lost in a war the King cannot win? When I was learning about the North Maester Hernal asked me who was the wiser, King Torrhen or King Mern. It seemed clear enough to me, there are still Starks in Winterfell, but no Gardeners in Highgarden nor elsewhere."
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    This reminded me of our good old friend and dictator, Azel. Nicely done. I like this guy.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    "You can show yourself now," Edric calls excitedly in your thoughts. "That way father won't have to send Denys north." Listening to him argue with his father you had almost forgotten how young he is.
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    Yah, no.

    It's kinda hard to look trustworthy when you look like you have your hand up the heir's backside like a muppet.

    Time's better spent elsewhere, let the situation here cool a bit.
     
    Well, I think we just put the kid on a path of a Diplomancer, what with showing like that, and exposure to over-the-top layered social buffs :V

    I don't think that dealing with this guy directly would be a great idea.
    Not now.
    Too much of a coincidence, that.

    We can easily divine who said trusted man is, and ensure he gets good info... And stays safe, we aren't the only ones who can Divine stuff.

    And the Cleric-boy...
    I say, have Dany dream-visit him next month if we can't wait to make a contact.
     
    Send a letter through an "agent", really ourselves, and arrange a meeting at a time and place of Lord Lothar's choosing. It will seem a huge coincidence but less so than if we show up out of the blue.
     
    That went very well. This guy still has a lot to learn, we certainly should not appear now. If an agent is being sent and we know about it, it'll be trivial to intercept and expedite their mission.
     
    [] Appear in a flash of Thunder. "WHO HAS SUMMONED ME!? I BRING A NEW ECONOMIC SYSTEM FOR CRAFTMEN AND ARTISTS, I SHALL TEAR DOWN THE HUTS OF MUD AND BUILD THEM UP AGAIN IN HARD STONE I... Ah it's you Lord Mallery, what's up?"

    DP had the right idea
    Edit: and damn, that kid living up to his buffs, he really should awaken as a beguiler.
     
    Crake said:
    Send a letter through an "agent", really ourselves, and arrange a meeting at a time and place of Lord Lothar's choosing. It will seem a huge coincidence but less so than if we show up out of the blue.
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    He is already planning to send someone to our island, just let things progress naturally. If anything we should talk to Manderly.
     
    Okay as a finisher for this I say we do two things.
    1. we divine on the kid to see if he has a geas on him. Knowing is better than not knowing and it is information we can use later.
    2. Next month we send Dany to talk to him. Convince him of a few things. Maybe prepare him to have an escape if he doesn't have a geas and if the Mallery path doesn't work.
    3. Maybe set up a divination chain and some spies in the area to see if any of the other powers move towards him. If we are being oppurtunistic then chances are others are too.
     
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    [X] "Lord Edric, I shall be in touch. Just remain strong and stand by your father just as you have done today. You do not need magic like your brother to look after your kin."
    -[X] Depending on response, in parting: "May fortune favor you in the face of whatever is to come."
    -[X] Leave some Raven constructs to watch over the area and the Keep, nothing too obvious, just watching the movements and if possible reporting to Inquisition agents in King's Landing's outskirts.
    --[X] Move along to the other Houses.
     
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    Yeah, alright.

    [] You may have arranged for Denys Mallery to be moved away from direct infuence of Lannisters, but that doesn't ensure his safety... Nor his usefulness.
    -[] Have Divinations run targeting him - ensuring his safety wherever his father decides to send him.
    -[] It might be a good idea to visit him as the cleric of the Earth Mother in person (be it reality or but a dream) - in the light of the deal you set up with the Storm God, he is your best chance at reaching his patron... And, perhaps, ensuring that her blessings spread far and wide.

    Sounds fine for next month's MA, @everyone?
     
    DragonParadox said:
    OOC: The kid not only had a nat 20, but he did not have a single roll lower than a 16. I have to admit I was really tempted to cut off sooner so 'speak of the devil and he appears' would be an option, but it's just so bad practically that I could not justify doing it.
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    Admit it : you realized that our odds of going "lol, let's do it!" were shockingly high for a playerbase meant to be handling a master of social-fu, and decided not to burden us with the temptation.
    :p
     
    One Autumn Leaf said:
    Okay as a finisher for this I say we do two things.
    1. we divine on the kid to see if he has a geas on him. Knowing is better than not knowing and it is information we can use later.
    2. Next month we send Dany to talk to him. Convince him of a few things. Maybe prepare him to have an escape if he doesn't have a geas and if the Mallery path doesn't work.
    3. Maybe set up a divination chain and some spies in the area to see if any of the other powers move towards him. If we are being oppurtunistic then chances are others are too.
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    1. We know for sure the guy hasn't been geassed, it was in our initial battery of divinations.
    2. We'll probably let them wheel in themselves, and they're not out of the woods with the Lannisters yet so nothing too premature.
    3. I'll have some Ravens in the area watching movements, but nothing too obvious.
     
    Crake said:
    1. We know for sure the guy hasn't been geassed, it was in our initial battery of divinations.
    2. We'll probably let them wheel in themselves, and they're not out of the woods with the Lannisters yet so nothing too premature.
    3. I'll have some Ravens in the area watching movements, but nothing too obvious.
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    1.We did? I thought we just looked for where he was. Okay in that case if is good.
    2. Okay that is fair. let's put that under desperate plan B
    3. That will more than suffice for me.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    The Weight of Oaths ​

    Thirtieth Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC

    Although you had briefly contemplated conjuring some other cause for young Denys to return to his father's keep, you dismiss the notion almost as soon as it occurs. Too many wheels you need to keep spinning, too many knives to keep in the air, particularly as you only have Edric's confidence. You only hope that confidence holds through what you are about to suggest he say...

    Shock and dismay play along the the ethereal thread, as you had feared. "It will only be for a short time, but there is only so much I can do from where I stand," you add.

    "There are dozens of second and third sons by now who dabble in matters the commons would mutter over, and more for fear of the unknown than fear of what they've gotten into," the boy finally says, greatly daring, or so he must seem to his father. "Noble scions of Great Houses who's sons and daughters practice sorcery. We live in the south, aye, but what mutters of the south could effect Denys if he was sent, say, to the North where they care little for baseless superstition, only what's practical and real? Wyman Manderly is a man of the Seven, a lord from an honorable lineage, and he shelters mages in good standing himself."

    "Manderly?" Lord Mallery seems almost too surprised to truly disapprove. "What do you know about Menderly?"

    "What Maester Hernal taught me, their banner, their words, their history," Edric replies glibly, though to his father the blush upon his cheeks likely seems sincere. "And... well, I thought maybe Denys could learn there. I never heard told that he had a lump of gold for a heart."

    "I'd ask who's been telling you rumors of the North of all places, but they have been doing good work whoever they are," the lord answered gruffly. "It's not a bad thought, out of sight out of mind..." Noticing the look of pain in his son's eyes, he curses. "Damn me for a fool, I shouldn't have said it like that."

    "No, it's alright... we are going to have to figure this out together," Edric replies, shifting to sit a little closer to his father on the fallen log. This time you feel his genuine shame at holding secret counsel with you, even as his expression shows no mark of it. "You know the Lannisters offer us nothing save a threat and think we must grin and bear it, but must we? The Targaryen grows stronger in the east and he doesn't particularly fear the slander Tywin Lannister has been slinging far and wide as could be heard. If the Lannisters have Denys when the Dragon sails west then they could force us to fight them on their behalf, but what if..."

    "What if what, we betray our oaths to the King and hope the fire passes us by?" Lord Mallery is obviously struggling against anger. "Son, it's good to be clever, but a poor thing to be sly. Simon Toyne was sly and see where that landed him? If you move where the wind blows you should not be surprised to see that those sworn in fealty and alliance to you do the same. Oaths mean something, not just before the gods but before men. I knelt before Robert Baratheon after I crossed swords with his Stormlanders at the Trident and I took him for my King. If I should turn by back on that before the first blade is draw then men will say 'there goes a man whose word is worth as much as the spring wind' and then shall never be made to think different."

    Pausing for a moment he looks his son up and down perhaps to check and see that he is attentive. "Even if another war should come and I keep my oaths, they would think me a fool who did not weigh the odds well, not made honorable again."

    "How much blood is enough, father?" the boy asks in a whisper, almost as though he does not want you to hear. "How many lives must be lost in a war the King cannot win? When I was learning about the North, Maester Hernal asked me who was the wiser, King Torrhen or King Mern. It seemed clear enough to me, there are still Starks in Winterfell, but no Gardeners in Highgarden nor elsewhere."

    For a long moment there is silence, you can feel the strain in Edric's thoughts coiled like a Myrish spring, while Lord Mallery is as still as a statue. Finally he speaks: "Hernal didn't actually ask you that question, did he?"

    "Er... no, but I thought it would make a good point." This time the blush upon the boy's cheeks is wholly unintended.

    "Good, that would be a dangerous thing to get out," the lord sighs while looking out to the east. "I'll send a raven west to ask that Denys be returned at once... and a trusted man east to see what sort of man Viserys Targaryen is..."

    "You can show yourself now," Edric calls excitedly in your thoughts. "That way father won't have to send Denys north." Listening to him argue with his father, you had almost forgotten how young he is.

    "That would reveal rather more than we aught," you reply gently. Still, perhaps it might be worth a 'coincidental' visit today at the keep to push things along faster. After all, you are quite intrigued by the prospect of meeting a priest of Mother Earth.

    What do you do next?

    [] Visit Mallery keep to try to gain fealty
    -[] Write in

    [] Move on to one of the other Houses
    -[] Write in which

    OOC: The kid not only had a nat 20, but he did not have a single roll lower than a 16. I have to admit I was really tempted to cut off sooner so 'speak of the devil and he appears' would be an option, but it's just so bad practically that I could not justify doing it.
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    Made a few edits to the chapter, DP.
     
    [X] Crake

    @DragonParadox, it would be kinda cool if our intervention here, along with the frankly ridiculous amount of magic we imbued him with and his own good luck, Awakened Edric as a Beguiler. Like how our first big speech at the Scholarium caused a mass awakening of Sorcerer's who would have otherwise struggled or ended up as Hedge Mages, IIRC. :whistle:

    EDIT: All part of building the Dragon King legend, you know?
     
    Goldfish said:
    [X] Crake

    @DragonParadox, it would be kinda cool if our intervention here, along with the frankly ridiculous amount of magic we imbued him with and his own good luck, Awakened Edric as a Beguiler. Like how our first big speech at the Scholarium caused a mass awakening of Sorcerer's who would have otherwise struggled or ended up as Hedge Mages, IIRC. :whistle:

    EDIT: All part of building the Dragon King legend, you know?
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    "Maaaagic!" *jazz hands*

    "Viserys that is your explanation for everything."

    "It's always the right answer."
     
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