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

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Interlude DCLXXV: In the Footsteps of the Damned
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    • In the Footsteps of the Damned ​

    Seventeenth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

    In the Shadow of Sarnor

    The being called Tor flitted through the pools of darkness that lay at the feet of shattered idols. Once he would have taken pleasure at the sight, the futility of man reaching for transcendence without while refusing the true glory within which they counted sin and anathema. But now was not the place nor the hour. There was a task that needed doing and the dead arrayed against them legion. It felt... nerve-racking, such a mortal expression that none would think to use in the court of the Lord of Blood where it would be all too likely might draw the pathways of one's mind upon the rack, but the spirit thought it oddly charming.

    "Now," he waved on his companions, the man of brass and the one of veiled flame. "Careful of the slab there, it tips," he added. When Tor moved his step was as light as a specter's, but he had learned to stop at points that might be perilous for others to traverse and by his presence measure them.

    "To what god was this temple raised," the red woman asked, her voice trailing a thousand echoes.

    "Hashu-et, goddess of love and of war, passion and peace," Anu replied, surprised. "She does not have anything to do with my magic anchoring the maze. I knew very little of gods before coming to Sorcerer's Deep. Not that I am an expert in it now..." the attempt at levity crumbled before the sepulchral silence.

    "The stones remember her," Melisandre replied, running her hands across the sundered balustrade. "They remember them, men and women, old and young, living flesh sharing some of its warmth with the stone where now only dead bone treads. Many died here, huddled together in the hope of salvation that did not come, reaped by the blades of the Dothraki, the last of the survivors carried off in chains. The living would learn to envy the dead in time..."

    Tor paused in askance, from anyone else he might have suspected mortal sentimentality, but the priestess did not seem so inclined, not towards heathen servants of a dead god surely.

    "The priestess of the Abomination, she suggested this place as an anchor point?" the sorceress continued.

    "Yes..." Anu trailed off. "It had something to do with those who perished here?"

    "Those who perished and perhaps the descendants of those who lived." With surprising strength she pushed open a stone door to reveal a defiled altar, all too familiar stains upon it. "Fresh sacrifices are enacted here, hoping to secure the anchors against any purely arcane meddling."

    "They know we are here?" Tor struggled to maintain the facade of nonchalance.

    "No," the priestess shook her head. "It would be easier to hunt us down if they could track us, but they are taking precautions against something like our foray. If it had been delayed even one or two more moonturns we might have found it far more difficult..."

    From outside the screech of rusted wheels echoed down the long corridors, almost too low to hear. For a moment Tor considered not mentioning it, they could simply move on to the next anchor rather than risking a potential skirmish, but he too was curious about his companions' strengths as much as his foes.

    "Well then, it seems we will have a chance to see just who is meddling with your work, Master Anu. The Dragon King did say that the more of the enemy leadership we know well enough to scry the better."

    And so they did, fading each behind veils of their own making, the better to spy upon the foe.

    OOC: No sneaky Sarnori this time around, they rolled mediocre on how well prepared/paranoid they would be.
     
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    • DragonParadox said:
    In the Footsteps of the Damned ​

    Seventeenth Day of the Eleventh Month 293 AC

    In the Shadow of Sarnor

    The being called Tor flitted though the pools of darkness that lay at the feet of shattered idols. Once he would have taken pleasure at the sight, the futility of man reaching for transcendence without while refusing the true glory within, which they counted sin and anathema. But now was not the place nor the hour. There was a task that needed doing and the dead arrayed against them were legion. It felt... nerve-racking. Such a mortal expression that, a metaphor none would think to use in the court of the Lord of Blood, where it would be all too likely he might draw the pathways of one's mind upon the rack, but the spirit thought it oddly charming.

    "Now," he waved on his companions, the man of brass and the one of veiled flame. "Careful of the slab there, it tips," he added. When Tor moved his step was as light as a specter's, but he had learned to stop at points that might be perilous for others to traverse and by his presence measure them.

    "To what god was this temple raised," the red woman asked her voice trailing a thousand echoes.

    "Hashu-et, goddess of love and of war, passion and peace," Anu replied, surprised. "She does not have anything to do with my magic anchoring the maze. I knew very little of gods before coming to Sorcerer's Deep. Not that I am an expert on the subject now..." the attempt at levity crumbled before the sepulchral silence.

    "The stones remember her," Melisandre replied, running her hands across the sundered balustrade. "They remember them, men and women, old and young, living flesh sharing some of its warmth with the stone where now only dead bone treads. Many died here, huddled together in the hope of salvation that did not come, their lives reaped by the blades of the Dothraki, the last of the survivors carried off in chains. The living would learn to envy the dead in time..."

    Tor paused in askance, from anyone else he might have suspected mortal sentimentality, but the priestess did not seem so inclined, not towards heathen servants of a dead god surely.

    "The priestess of the Abomination, she suggested this place as an anchor point?" the sorceress continued.

    "Yes..." Anu trailed off. "It had something to do with those who perished here?"

    "Those who perished and perhaps the descendants of those who lived." With surprising strength, she pushed open a stone door to reveal a defiled altar, all too familiar stains upon it. "Fresh sacrifices are being enacted here, hoping to secure the anchors against any purely arcane meddling."

    "They know we are here?" Tor struggled to maintain the facade of nonchalance.

    "No," the priestess shook her head. "It would be easier to hunt us down if they could track us, but they are taking precautions against something like our foray. If it had been delayed even one or two more moonturns, we might have found it far more difficult..."

    From outside the screech of rusted wheels echoed down the long corridors almost too low to hear. For a moment Tor considered not mentioning it, they could simply move on to the next anchor rather than risking a potential skirmish, but he too was curious, about his companions' strengths as much as his foes.

    "Well then, it seems we will have a chance to see just who is meddling with your work, master Anu. The Dragon king did say that the more of the enemy leadership we know well enough to scry the better."

    And so they did, fading each behind veils of their own making, the better to spy upon the foe.

    OOC: No sneaky Sarnori this time around, they rolled mediocre on how well prepared/paranoid they would be. Not yet edited.
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    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

    I wish we had sent a beefy melee type along with them.
     
    Jack vile Ripper said:
    Hmm, interesting. The etymology and wording is kinda similar to the Mesopotamian or Ancient Egyptian...

    @DragonParadox, of what Ancient Civilization do you based Sarnor as? I wish to learn more of these dead lands.
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    I using Sumer as the template of ancient Sarnor and then going on from there to imagine how the loose culturtal union of Sumarian city states might have banded together as a sort of federation in the the absence of the strong empires that took over the region in actual history starting with the Assyrians. So it's basically an alternative development path iron age Mesopotamia.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    I using Sumer as the template of ancient Sarnor and then going on from there to imagine how the loose culturtal union of Sumarian city states might have banded together as a sort of federation in the the absence of the strong empires that took over the region in actual history starting with the Assyrians. So it's basically an alternative development path iron age Mesopotamia.
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    *slaps thigh*

    Called it! It's Mesopotamia.

    Hmm, interesting land that you used as refrence there DP. Not many Sumerian history survived to the modern day. And even lesser are properly translated.

    It's exciting really, seeing all of these ancient civilizations. Loved it! My inner history geek is now gushing!!!
     
    [X] Goldfish

    Ive been wondering. Stormwrack has Acquatic enchantment that you can add to weapons for +1 that removes penalties for using them underwater. Would that be cost effective for undersea weapons?

    Aquatic: Weapons with this enhancement have a silvery-blue tinge, similar in sheen to the scales of certain fish. The wielder is treated as though he were under the effects of a freedom of movement spell for the purpose of using this weapon while underwater; it negates the penalties that would otherwise apply from using the weapon underwater.
    Moderate abjuration; CL 5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armors, freedom of movement; Price +1 bonus.
     
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    Abhishek M said:
    Ive been wondering. Stormwrack has Acquatic enchantment that you can add to weapons for +1 that removes penalties for using them underwater. Would that be cost effective for undersea weapons?
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    Not really, IMO. There are certain classes of weapon which don't have that penalty, IIRC, and a Freedom of Movement spell has the same effect.

    A +1 weapon with the Aquatic enchantment would cost 800 IM, too, which could add up very quickly.
     
    Inserted tally
    Adhoc vote count started by Goldfish on Dec 21, 2019 at 1:48 PM, finished with 53 posts and 11 votes.
    • [X] Focus on what you came here to do, a way to get into court and warn the Orange Emperor
      -[X] Find out from Ning what she believes would be necessary for her to be legitimately allowed back into her brother's court without subterfuge, and how long she expects that to take.
      -[X] Is there anything we can do to facilitate her return, given our status as an unknown factor with no association with Pol Qo or his court? Our influence in this area is understandably lacking, but our financial and magical resources are vast.
      -[X] If doing so isn't feasible in the short term, does she see any other less obvious paths to her brother's ear? Mention the possibility of simply bribing our way into his presence and ask her the likelihood of this not only being successful, but her brother actually heeding our warnings.
    Click to expand...
     
    Goldfish said:
    Not really, IMO. There are certain classes of weapon which don't have that penalty, IIRC, and a Freedom of Movement spell has the same effect.

    A +1 weapon with the Aquatic enchantment would cost 800 IM, too, which could add up very quickly.
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    Yeah it says the user is under Freedom of Effect for the purposes of using the weapon underwater.

    Say what do you guys think of a Freedom of Movement Communal banner as a backburner research project? Like a nice to have when we get around to it eventually.
     
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    Abhishek M said:
    [X] Goldfish

    Ive been wondering. Stormwrack has Acquatic enchantment that you can add to weapons for +1 that removes penalties for using them underwater. Would that be cost effective for undersea weapons?

    Aquatic: Weapons with this enhancement have a silvery-blue tinge, similar in sheen to the scales of certain fish. The wielder is treated as though he were under the effects of a freedom of movement spell for the purpose of using this weapon while underwater; it negates the penalties that would otherwise apply from using the weapon underwater.
    Moderate abjuration; CL 5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armors, freedom of movement; Price +1 bonus.
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    On PCs, any price is justifiable if you reach far enough, but on NPCs it's basically only justified if you do some kind of cost-saving measure to make it less than what you would pay compared to standard SRD prices for item enhancements or commiserate effects, like our PfE banners giving the most important part of the bonus to an entire army of men.
     
    Vote closed.
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Dec 21, 2019 at 2:00 PM, finished with 57 posts and 11 votes.
    • [X] Focus on what you came here to do, a way to get into court and warn the Orange Emperor
      -[X] Find out from Ning what she believes would be necessary for her to be legitimately allowed back into her brother's court without subterfuge, and how long she expects that to take.
      -[X] Is there anything we can do to facilitate her return, given our status as an unknown factor with no association with Pol Qo or his court? Our influence in this area is understandably lacking, but our financial and magical resources are vast.
      -[X] If doing so isn't feasible in the short term, does she see any other less obvious paths to her brother's ear? Mention the possibility of simply bribing our way into his presence and ask her the likelihood of this not only being successful, but her brother actually heeding our warnings.
    Click to expand...
     
    Crake said:
    On PCs, any price is justifiable if you reach far enough, but on NPCs it's basically only justified if you do some kind of cost-saving measure to make it less than what you would pay compared to standard SRD prices for item enhancements or commiserate effects, like our PfE banners giving the most important part of the bonus to an entire army of men.
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    Hmm so we could research Freedon of Movement to make say a Aquatic Freedom Banner with the underwater benefits and a Freed Binds Banner with the other benefits? Just hypothetically. Like how our PfE Banner is more of a Banner of Protection with the alignemnt based bonus part of PfE removed.

    Kinda neat and flavorful actually now that o think of it. Research portions of spells you want Communal and get a cheaper and more viable option.

    Like if we wanted just the bonus we could research a Banner Against Evil or what have you.
     
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    Also @Goldfish @DragonParadox we can ward an entire Legion with 12 banners despite there being 14 Companies per Legion, and I had a thought to fluff that (I put way too much thought into how it would look in world-building because of all the omakes I do).

    Each Company has a head standard bearer, and then the smaller sub-units of each company typically have one as well, and so on and so forth 'til you get to the smaller unit sizes (I think Cohort is the smallest with one).

    So each company will have a PfE banner except the Scouts (of which there are two companies per Legion), and that even makes the most sense since they can still share part of the warding from each of the other banners in part, and since they are the unit most likely to perform patrol, outriding and scouting actions, it's a good idea not to have part of their defenses regularly split from the main column of the army.

    @Goldfish What we should do then, so they aren't excluded from having a nifty main banner with a cool effect, is just create a banner with something that would make scouting easier/better/more effective.
     
    Crake said:
    Also @Goldfish @DragonParadox we can ward an entire Legion with 12 banners despite there being 14 Companies per Legion, and I had a thought to fluff that (I put way too much thought into how it would look in world-building because of all the omakes I do).

    Each Company has a head standard bearer, and then the smaller sub-units of each company typically have one as well, and so on and so forth 'til you get to the smaller unit sizes (I think Cohort is the smallest with one).

    So each company will have a PfE banner except the Scouts (of which there are two companies per Legion), and that even makes the most sense since they can still share part of the warding from each of the other banners in part, and since they are the unit most likely to perform patrol, outriding and scouting actions, it's a good idea not to have part of their defenses regularly split from the main column of the army.

    @Goldfish What we should do then, so they aren't excluded from having a nifty main banner with a cool effect, is just create a banner with something that would make scouting easier/better/more effective.
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    Dont webalready have some Archery boosting Banner and a commanders order touting Banner in the spreadsheet? I thought this was like the third type of magic banner the Legion would have.

    Well fourth since we ordered some Lords Banners of Victory from Vialest.
     
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    @Goldfish Secondly, we should write-up an ultra paranoid security measure list for our PfE banners. They will likely already be treated much like the Roman Legion treated theirs, symbols of their unit's honor, but on steroids since it also protects them from mind control. But that's not enough IMO. I think we should have some kind of company wagon which secures important records, smaller strategic resources (like scrolls and not really big magic items/crates of potions etc.) but also, especially, the banner.

    Then ward it to high hell, and maybe post a Construct called a "Warden" which is of a similar template to Heralds which I kind of want to keep using as more diplomatic-warrior-philosophers instead of just standard mainstays of our military. They are important in military function since they perform those duties usually on the fringe and at the edge of tooth and claw, or else we'd send our other non-construct Heralds from the Diplomatic Corps.

    But a Half-Dragon-looking type of construct could fit in smaller places and be just as lethal, depending.
     
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