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

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Ya'll disappoining DP with how little interaction there is, @everyone.

If ya really want to skip the city of glass, just say so.
But not casting votes is not moving us in any direction.

We have 17(!) users reading at the moment, and only 8 votes cast.
Ya lurkers should really come out of the woods more often, if you like this story and want it to live.
 
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Interlude DCXIV: A Shade's Tale
  • Threadmarks
    • A Shade's Tale ​

    Second Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

    Two women sat by the fire in the shadow of the Howling Hills, where once it was said Gharak Squint-Eye, a great champion of the Zhorse Riders, slew the last of the Stone Giants of yore. Few of the Jogos Nhai ventured out from the plains these days, leaving brigands, exiles and worse to scramble and fight among the graveyard of the elder folk. Yet the two travelers did not seem troubled as the smell of freshly cooked antelope meat wafted on the night air for man or beast to smell, nor had they seemed to place any watch against danger, though one might catch the shadows dancing strangely out of the corner of the eye. A bow flickered in hands that held in truth parchment and stylus, or great black wings stretching out for a moment behind the dark-haired warrior.

    "I wish those things would stop pulling at our shadows like that," Aradia sighed, looking up from her letter. "It's not like they can't just stand still. That's the entire point of spies that can meld with shadows, after all, or so Naria assured me."

    "You have never had the ill fortune to work with an imp, have you?" Mereth's voice was wry rather then dismissive. "Trust me, a bit of play when no one is looking is infinitely preferable to the sorts of 'brilliant' plans the little pests come up with if given half a chance."

    Whether in repose to her words or simply driven by the same boredom that had them sending the shadows dancing, a thin black mist rose from the darkness beyond the camp, two sparks of sickly yellow gleaming within. The figure the shadows resolved into might have charitably been called a dog, or perhaps the wavering charcoal depiction of one wrought by an artist with only a vague description to work with. Cautiously, the shadow creature approached the fury and tried to bump its head against her hand, though of course its misty substance passed through armor, flesh and bone, leaving only a small chill in its wake.

    Far from pulling her hand away, the Fallen looked at the shade approvingly. "See, they are actually trying to be helpful."

    "Maybe you should throw it a stick to fetch," Aradia suggested, amused.

    "Don't be ridiculous," Mereth snorted, something of her usual bite returning to he words. "It would no more be able to interact with a stick than it could with any other material object."

    "Maybe we can have them hunt rabbits tomorrow," the incarnate suggested idly, eyes drifting back to the letter to Ser Balon, hand moving in quick and certain lines as she drew up a suggestion for a simple watchtower, the sort of thing that would help project the influence of his fief into the higher peaks. Nothing could really tame the mountains. Believing they could had been the mistake his folk had made for so long in their western fastnesses, but a careful hand and a keen eye could ensure no great foe mustered there, and if you had welcoming crafts and rich fields in the lowlands to offer them then many a mountain man would abandon the frigid heights. This was more Beryl's area to advise in, but Aradia did not mind lending a hand. It was more than a fair trade for all the times the Marcher lord's dry wit had made her smile at some escapade of the eager young knights that had followed him.

    "More than rabbits out-about," the shadow spy's silent words drew the incarnate's attention away from the letter once more.

    "Wolves?" she asked, reaching for her bow in case some ill-fortuned beast should try to make a meal of them. A few arrows whistling past their snouts should see them off without killing something they couldn't eat.

    "Bigger," came the silent reply, still struggling for words.

    "A bear, then?" Mereth prompted, her unerring golden gaze piercing the dark of night as easily as the world under the midday sun.

    "Bigger..." The shade paused a long moment, then with the child-like glee of finally finding the right words, it added. "Hills walk."

    OOC: So I was thinking about how to make the Umbral Spies. I could have just made them something creepy, like a half-eaten were-creature dragging itself along the ground, but there is really no reason why Lya would make that, so playful shadow hounds it is, though ones with a great deal of patience when they are actually on the job.
     
    Last edited:
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    • DragonParadox said:
    A Shade's Tale​

    Second Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

    Two women sat by the fire in the shadow of the Howling Hills, where once it was said Gharak Squint-Eye, a great champion of the Zhorse Riders, slew the last of the stone giants of yore. Few of the Jogos Nhai ventured out from the plains these days, leaving brigands, exiles, and worse to scramble and fight among the graveyard of the elder folk. Yet the two travelers did not seem troubled as the smell of freshly cooked antelope meat wafted on the night air for man or beast to smell, nor had they seemed to place any watch against danger, though one might catch the shadows dance strangely out of the corner of the eye. A bow flickered in hands that held in truth parchment and stilus, or great black wings stretching out for a moment behind the dark haired warrior.

    "I wish those things would stop pulling at our shadows like that," Aradia sighed, looking up from her letter. "It's not like they can't just stand still. That's the entire point of spies that can meld with shadow, after all, or so Naria assured me."

    "You have never had the ill fortune to work with an imp have you?" Mereth's voice was wry rather then dismissive. "Trust me, a bit of play when no one is looking is infinitely preferable to the sorts of 'brilliant' plans the little pests come up with if given half a chance."

    Whether in repose to her words or simply driven by the same boredom that had them sending the shadows dancing, a thin black mist rose from the darkness beyond the camp, two sparks of sickly yellow gleaming within. The figure the shadows resolved into might have charitably been called a dog, or perhaps the wavering charcoal depiction of one wrought by an artist with only a vague description to work with. Cautiously, the shadow creature approached the fury and tried to bump its head against her hand, though of course its misty substance passed through armor, flesh, and bone, leaving only a small chill in its wake.

    Far from pulling her hand away, the Fallen looked at the shade approvingly. "See, they are actually trying to be helpful."

    "Maybe you should throw it a stick to fetch," Aradia suggested, amused.

    "Don't be ridiculous," Mereth snorted, something of her usual bite returning to he words. "It would no more be able to interact with a stick than it could with any other material object."

    "Maybe we can have them hunt rabbits tomorrow," the incarnate suggested idly, eyes drifting back to the letter to Ser Balon, hand moving in quick and certain lines as she drew up a suggestion for a simple watchtower, the sort of thing that would help project the influence of his fief into the higher peaks. Nothing could really tame mountains. Believing they could had been the mistake his folk had made for so long in their western fastnesses, but a careful hand and a keen eye could ensure no great foe mustered there, and if you had welcoming crofts and rich fields in the lowlands to offer them, then many a mountain man would abandon the frigid heights. This was more Beryl's area to advise in, but Aradia did not mind lending a hand. It was more than a fair trade for all the times the marcher lord's dry wit had made her smile at some escapade of the eager young knights that had followed him.

    "More than rabbits out-about," the shadow spy's silent words drew the incarnate's attention away from the letter once more.

    "Wolves?" she asked, reaching for her bow in case some ill-fortuned beast should try to make a meal of them. A few arrows whistling past their snouts should see them off without killing something they couldn't eat.

    "Bigger," came the silent reply, still struggling for words.

    "A bear then?" Mereth prompted, her unerring golden gaze piercing the the dark of night as easily as the world under the midday sun.

    "Bigger..." The shade paused a long moment, then with the child-like glee of finally finding the right words, it added. "Hills walk."

    OOC: So I was thinking about how to make the Umbral Spies. I could have just made them something creepy, like a half-eaten were-creature dragging itself along the ground, but there is really no reason why Lya would make that, so playful shadow hounds it is, though ones with a great deal of patience when they are actually on the job. Not yet edited.
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    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

    Here they are, @Deliste. The Umbral Spies finally enter the quest.

    I'm a big fan of the Umbral Doggy Spies, DP. :)
     
    One Autumn Leaf said:
    Wait so how does that work in ASOIAF exactly? I mean the Ordening is a thing in 3.5 right? So is that still a thing? If so do the Giants pray to their Giant dad in the heavens? Or to the Old Gods?
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    There isn't a single deity worshiped by Giants, IIRC. Different varieties of Giant tend to have a patron deity based on their elemental affinities.
     
    egoo said:
    Ya'll disappoining DP with how little interaction there is, @everyone.

    If ya really want to skip the city of glass, just say so.
    But not casting votes is not moving us in any direction.

    We have 17(!) users reading at the moment, and only 8 votes cast.
    Ya lurkers should really come out of the woods more often, if you like this story and want it to live.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...


    [X] Goldfish


    I'm enjoying the city at least, I just don't have a good idea of how the budget will influence Viserys' future finances and our long term goals. Makes me kind of hesitant to vote.


    On a related note, are we going to have a chance to collect plants to feed to the forge while we're here? Stuff like blood algae* and and Nahre Lotus (from this list) could be useful.


    Nahre LotusWater Lilly native to the Elemental Plane of Water that draws water from its home plane at a rate of 50 gallons per day. Plant sells for 10000 gp, seedling sells for 500 gp, vial containing a dead plants (which functions as a splash weapon against plant creatures) sells for 200 gp. See article for information on how to cultivate on the material plane
    Dragon 357 p. 54


    Specifically to give the weirwoods access to the plane of water innately (For magic super weapons purposes).

    * if we cross it with memory moss, we could make something that forces anyone grappled by it to forget things as they happen.Can't mind blast people if you can't remember what the hell is going on. :V

    Goldfish said:
    Hill or Stone Giants would be my guess, since the chapter referred to them earlier as having been present in the area in the distant past.
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    Do giants hate dragons here, or is that just a forgotten realms thing?
     
    BronzeTongue said:
    [X] Goldfish


    I'm enjoying the city at least, I just don't have a good idea of how the budget will influence Viserys' future finances and our long term goals. Makes me kind of hesitant to vote.


    On a related note, are we going to have a chance to collect plants to feed to the forge while we're here? Stuff like blood algae* and and Nahre Lotus (from this list) could be useful.


    Nahre LotusWater Lilly native to the Elemental Plane of Water that draws water from its home plane at a rate of 50 gallons per day. Plant sells for 10000 gp, seedling sells for 500 gp, vial containing a dead plants (which functions as a splash weapon against plant creatures) sells for 200 gp. See article for information on how to cultivate on the material plane
    Dragon 357 p. 54



    Specifically to give the weirwoods access to the plane of water innately (For magic super weapons purposes).

    * if we cross it with memory moss, we could make something that forces anyone grappled by it to forget things as they happen.Can't mind blast people if you can't remember what the hell is going on. :V



    Do giants hate dragons here, or is that just a forgotten realms thing?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Everyone learns to hate dragons. They were dicks.
     
    BronzeTongue said:
    [X] Goldfish


    I'm enjoying the city at least, I just don't have a good idea of how the budget will influence Viserys' future finances and our long term goals. Makes me kind of hesitant to vote.


    On a related note, are we going to have a chance to collect plants to feed to the forge while we're here? Stuff like blood algae* and and Nahre Lotus (from this list) could be useful.


    Nahre LotusWater Lilly native to the Elemental Plane of Water that draws water from its home plane at a rate of 50 gallons per day. Plant sells for 10000 gp, seedling sells for 500 gp, vial containing a dead plants (which functions as a splash weapon against plant creatures) sells for 200 gp. See article for information on how to cultivate on the material plane
    Dragon 357 p. 54

    Specifically to give the weirwoods access to the plane of water innately (For magic super weapons purposes).

    * if we cross it with memory moss, we could make something that forces anyone grappled by it to forget things as they happen.Can't mind blast people if you can't remember what the hell is going on. :V

    Do giants hate dragons here, or is that just a forgotten realms thing?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    We are vastly wealthy. Around the 100+ million IM range for our current currency reserve, IIRC. Spending money now is the whole point of all our efforts to acquire the stuff in the first place.

    I don't recall anything about Giants having issues with Dragons in any setting. The ones we've interacted with so far didn't seem especially hateful towards us in particular.
     
    Abhishek M said:
    Except Silvers, Silvers are bros. Cloud Fort building bros.
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    Ehhh, in a morally grey setting where people, even generally decent, rational and well-intentioned people, have to do bad things to scrape by, Metallic dragons can be even greater pains in the asses. A Chromatic will let itself be driven off once it has what it wants or you can pay murderhobos to put it down.

    A Metallic will ensure you are having a bad time on a low level constantly through exerting influence, wealth and naked force, if you even slightly manage to rankle at its sensibilities. They are like busy-bodies, compared to Chromatics who even when they're inclined to conquer are mostly hands-off on what mortals do when not offering tribute, simply because they don't view anything "mayflies" have to offer as worth thinking about.
     
    Inserted tally
    Adhoc vote count started by egoo on Oct 20, 2019 at 12:08 PM, finished with 84 posts and 15 votes.
    Click to expand...
     
    We ready to talk about what we're going to flesh forge? Template suggestions, chassis, whatever?

    Currently what we lack either via allies or existing assets are aquatic Middle-Tier CR combatants, aquatic mage-support, aquatic leviathan killers, and scouts.

    We have light cavalry and line infantry via the Tritons, heavy cavalry and skirmishers via mercenaries, and high CR psionic champions and middle-high CR psionic support in general via the Gith.

    And of course we have PCs well and truly covered, so if the Deep Ones have equivalent hero units we probably more than achieve parity there.
     
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