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A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover
- Thread starter DragonParadox
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- a song of ice and fire a sword without a hilt d&d 3.5 dungeons & dragons 100% high octane dragon fuel ave corvidae battle action dragon diplomacy best sister bureaucromancy delicious soul-stuff dragon dreams come true dragon ta'veren greatest uncle hubris is a coward's word in defiance of gods and men mammon's folly mutually assured mage's disjunction qm murderhobo top tier coatl
Part MMMCXLVIII: The Eye of Madness
The Eye of Madness
Eighteenth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC
Time enough to deal with servitors and failed experiments when the dragon is slain, you reason, pressing on ever deeper into the poisoned maze, though keeping an eye on the beasts just the same. Soon the light of broken specters fades though the waters are no less bitter as you cross through halls of ever more alien geometry, dizzying in form and unknowable in purpose. Had they been carved so by some folly or madness of Faerex, or does some malign influence reach out bluntly from her lair, reshaping the currents and the ever-growing currents to fit pattern of the dreaming dark?
"It looks like an eye..." Lya says faintly as you enter a circular chamber. At first you take the description to be merely an idle one. Then you see the delicate cracks, like veins through which a sulfurous sludge flows right under the crystalline 'skin', to the way the room is ever so slightly compacted as a real eye would be, the enormous lens so thin as to be almost invisible yet as tall as Relath is long.
It does not take your mind long to catch up with the arcane possibilities of such a room. "Fuck, a scrying...!"
Yet you had not quite spoken soon enough. Four wiggling tendrils of crimson light lash out at Dany from the floor. Half of them are deflected by arcane light or True Silver's shine, but the others find their mark, one upon her neck and the other upon her wrist as she moves to draw her focus. Where the red light touches it seems to barely draw blood, but wither and discolor the flesh. Instinctively, you swim beside her to shield her from any other blows to come.
Dany takes 2 Damage
Dany takes 3 Constitution damage
A voice rings out in your mind, soft and painful all at once, like a silk thread tightening around your throat: "I remember you, whelp. So kind of you to bring me new subjects to experiment upon by the Grand Design."
"Faerex," Relath hisses in contempt. "I see now how 'wise' you were in dealing with the treasure you stole. Were you always planning this madness, or were you overcome by inspiration?"
No answer comes, at least not in words, hidden portals open in the chamber like the lipless mouths of some great beast, and through them flow more of the fish-folk you have seen before. Most wielding strange and jagged weapons, mechanical claws and barbed hooks, though their eyes are not bright with the blood madness of the shark-men, but rather they form up in disciplined shoals, each a score strong ready to launch themselves upon you.
Three distinguish themselves among the throng, sorcerers bearing staffs of the same pale perilous crystal as the walls topped with a bloated winged and worm-like figures. To your surprise their chats are not in the thought twisting language of the Far Realm, but in the tongue of Wyrms spoken as prayer and incantation.
"Call forth the Worm. Worm Devours. The Eye and the Mouth... the Gullet that swallows All," they invoke and at first you think that they had mistaken their master's very nature in a most unseemly way to say Worm rather than Wyrm, but then you see it, a vast abomination of distended quivering flesh coiled above the chamber with it's maw filled with eldritch fire, but more than any mere beast. A thing of malice and unquenchable will, such as even the dreams of dragons cannot tell of. Only a handful of shaitan accounts describe the horror of the Mind Worm that can not only strike from afar but pull its victims into its stomach through any mirrored surface if it gets a firm enough grip. So close and yet so far... Who knows how great an explosion shattering the ceiling would cause.
"So what do you think of my servants, cousins?" Faerex taunts. "Are they not grand beyond telling? Worry not, once I have you alive or dead I will teach you the proper words of praise. So many words..." That even this thought melts into formless wanderings does not say much for the Brine Dragon's sanity, but alas you have found time and again that madness does not preclude one from being dangerous indeed.
What do you do?
[] Write in battle plan
OOC: No Brine Dragon yet, but Viserys suspects she will show up if the battle seems to be going poorly. Whatever else she may have become draconic pride is a hard thing to resist.
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- Location
- United States
She's either a Brainstealer Dragon or she's somehow unlocked Psionics for herself via Deep Ones relics.
- Location
- ?????????
So before we go anywhere I want the Mindworm captured, not killed. Because it has this thing.
"Immersion Awareness (Ex): A mind worm immersed in water is not subject to critical hits and cannot be flanked.
Constitution Drain (Ex): Living creatures hit by a probe worm's attack take 1d4 points of Constitution drain."
I want it. Both of them I want.
"Immersion Awareness (Ex): A mind worm immersed in water is not subject to critical hits and cannot be flanked.
Constitution Drain (Ex): Living creatures hit by a probe worm's attack take 1d4 points of Constitution drain."
I want it. Both of them I want.
- Location
- United States
Seconded. A Mind Worm is a hell of a find.
Miracle a sacramental Seal or an Amber Sarchogus? Or just try and turtle or petrify it.
- Location
- Germany
Why do you think so?
There are many arcane means of Telepathy. She could have cast a spell, or dipped a level in Mindbender.
It's equally likely that she's just gone crazy without becoming a different species or learning psionics.
- Location
- United States
The Brainstealer Dragon is a guess on my part due to the excessive Deep Ones experimentation. I also hope we're seeing our first Brainstealer Dragon, that would be amazing. A level dip in Mindbender would be comparatively boring in this scenario.
- Location
- Germany
We have to target it first.
It seems to be on the other side of a wall of crystals that explode if broken?
It's currently behind a wall of transparent crystal. You guys do not have line of efffect for spells to it unless you shatter the ceiling.
That and the fact that in setting Mental Abbilities seem to be pretty much absent from most species except after extensive Deep One alteration.
- Location
- Germany
The thing is, a Brainstealer Dragon is not a dragon.
It's an Illithid in an unusual body.
So far her behavior and our people's reaction to it gave no hint that she isn't a true dragon and expected to behave like one. Why would she even stay here alone and craft her own off-brand fishmen if she were a squidbrain?
It's very likely she has somehow gone insane, maybe even physically mutated (or altered herself) and maybe she managed to unlock psionic, that would certainly be nice for our research.
But her being an actual Brainstealer Dragon seems very unlikely.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
The Eye of Madness
Eighteenth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC
Time enough to deal with servitors and failed experiments when the dragon is slain, you reason, pressing on ever deeper into the poisoned maze, while keeping an eye on the beasts just the same. Soon the light of broken specters fades, though the waters are no less bitter as you cross though halls of ever more alien geometry, dizzying in form unknowable and purpose. Had they been carved so by some folly or madness of Faerex, or does malign influence reach out bluntly from her lair, reshaping the currents and the ever-growing currents to fit a pattern of the dreaming dark?
"It looks like an eye..." Lya says faintly as you enter a circular chamber. At first you take the description to be merely an idle on, but then you see the miniscule cracks, like delicate veins through which a sulfurous sludge flows beneath the crystalline 'skin', the way the room is ever so slightly compacted as a real eye would be, the enormous lens so thin as to be almost invisible yet as tall as Relath is long.
It does not take your mind long to catch up with the arcane possibilities of such a room. "Fuck, a scrying...!"
Yet you had not quite spoken soon enough. Four wiggling tendrils of crimson light last out at Dany from the floor. Half of them are deflected by arcane light or true silver's shine, but the others find their mark, one upon her neck and the other upon her wrist, as she moves to draw her focus. Where the red light touches, it seems to barely draw blood, but instead withera and discolors the flesh. Instinctively, you swim beside Dany to shield her from any other blows to come.
Dany takes 2 Damage
Dany takes 3 Constitution damage
A voice rings out in your mind, soft and painful all at once, like a silk thread tightening around your throat: "I remember you, welp. So kind of you to bring me new subjects to experiment upon my the Grand Design."
"Faerex," Relath hisses in contempt. "I see now how wise you were in dealing with the treasure you stole. Were you always planning this madness, or were you overcome by inspiration?"
No answer comes, at least not in words. Hidden portals open in the chamber, like the lipless mouths of some great beast, and through them flow more of the fish-folk you had seen previously. Most wield strange and jagged weapons, mechanical claws and barbed hooks, though their eyes are not bright with the blood madness of the shark-men. Instead they form up in disciplined shoals, each a score strong, ready to launch themselves upon you.
Three distinguish themselves among the throng, sorcerers bearing staffs of the same pale perilous crystal as the wall, each topped with a bloated winged and worm-like figure. To your surprise, their chants are not in the thought twisting language of the Far Realm, but in the tongue of dragons spoken as prayer and incantation.
"Call forth the Worm. Worm Devours. The Eye and the Mouth... the Gullet that swallows All," they invoke, and at first you think that they had mistaken their master's very nature in a most unseemly way, to say Worm rather than Wyrm. Then you see it, a vast abomination of distended quivering flesh coiled above the chamber, its maw filled with eldritch fire. More than any mere beast, but a thing of malice and unquenchable will, such as even the dreams of dragons cannot fathom. Only a handful of Shaitan accounts describe the horror of the Mind Worm that can not only strike from afar but pull its victims into its stomach though any mirrored surface if it gets a firm enough grip. So close and yet so far... Who knows how great an explosion shattering the ceiling would cause.
"So what do you think of my servants, cousins?" Faerex taunts. "Are they not grand beyond telling? Worry not once I have you, alive or dead, I will teach you the proper words of praise. So many words..." That even this thought melts into formless wanderings does not say much for the dragon's sanity, but you have found time and again that madness does not preclude one from being dangerous indeed.
What do you do?
[] Write in battle plan
OOC: No dragon yet but Viserys suspects she will show up if you if the battle seems to be going poorly. Whatever else she may have become draconic pride is a hard thing to resist. Not yet edited.
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- Location
- United States
Well, I'm more than a little disappointed if this is really the case. The Deep Ones experimentation got my hopes up for our first Brainstealer Dragon.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
@DragonParadox, what is the layout of this chamber? How large is it, how far from us are the Fishmen warriors and mages, how high is the ceiling, etc?
Well who knows if she was crazy enough she might have hatched a few Wyrms and made a couple Brainsteeler wyrmlings. Weve seen worse.
Otherwise I'm just on the lookout for the gamut of aberrant Deep One types. You think we will see an Intelect Devourer?
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I don't want to spoil too much, but I've refluffed a good many of the ilithidae, to be a bit more varied than Mind Flayer in X body.
- Location
- Germany
I think our best bet for that is further fighting the Deep Ones.
In the wars on this plane it's not unlikely they captured a Brine Dragon or two and implanted a Tadpole in them.
It's just that Brainstealers seem extremly unlikely to result from experiments by a dragon. She can easily stop parasites from taking over her brain in any scenario where she isn't a captive of adult Illithids.
Edit: Or brainstealer is refluffed and she might be one? Waiting and seeing now.
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- The chamber is a sphere with a radius of 100 ft
- The firshmen are on the opposite side of the chamber so about 200 ft away.
Weve seen two types of Illithadie already. Let's see how many more we can get samples of. Good research material for the war for Paradise.
....wait a minute. An Oblex! A Dragon Oblex! They are Spawn! Not creatures! That was the loot she stole and got eaten by!
....wait a minute. An Oblex! A Dragon Oblex! They are Spawn! Not creatures! That was the loot she stole and got eaten by!
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- Location
- France
Shit happened IRL, this will get done tomorrow (in the next 18 hours after this post, basically).
I don't want to ask you to dig through the thread (I can do that myself!) but do you happen to have bookmarked DP's posts about the Mysterium and the Volantene mages?
Edit : sorry for these delays after taking on the sheet managing. If it were urgent (month ending, etc) I could probably have done it today but as it wasn't I prioritized cooking a less barebones dinner, etc. If it really were urgent I could have forced it to fit my schedule, but it should fit in tomorrow anyway, so...
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'Night guys see you tomorrow with the battle of the poisoned labyrinth.
We may not need the worm itself; depending on how her lab is set up we might be able to claim her notes, or just use speak with the dead and use her like an audio book.
Maybe Prismatic Deluge to take out the middle chunk of the group?
Would Horrid Wilting work under water? 400 ft range, does 20d6 to all living creatures in range of the target point so long as no two are more than 60 ft apart.
Is that from any effected creature, or every effected creature? Depending on the positioning of the formations we could kill all of them at once either way, but the first wouldn't allow it if the squads are too far apart.
Maybe Prismatic Deluge to take out the middle chunk of the group?
Would Horrid Wilting work under water? 400 ft range, does 20d6 to all living creatures in range of the target point so long as no two are more than 60 ft apart.
Is that from any effected creature, or every effected creature? Depending on the positioning of the formations we could kill all of them at once either way, but the first wouldn't allow it if the squads are too far apart.