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
- Location
- United States
So for the one year anniversary do we want to hold another tournament? It's been what two months since the last one?
egoo
Totally Not Creating Problems Where None Existed
- Location
- Russia
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
That's a really ambitious turn to run, at least in terms of how much depth and stuff goes into making a satisfying one. I think we'll be waiting awhile on the next one.
But we can throw a big party and have it still be a major thing.
We are THE Party Dragon.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Four months, I think.
For the one year anniversary, I think we might want to go simple rather than elaborate. It could be the first Imperial holiday, one where people are traditionally off from work and school, where everyone enjoys their friends, family, and freedom.
We can make a nice speech on the MirrorVision, broadcast across the Imperium, one honoring the new heroes of the realm, and give a "State of the Realm" sort of message.
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
I'll try to work something along the lines of this into my vote, preceding the Big Speech. It'll have an announcement about the holiday (arranged in advance, unfortunately it's not really feasible to mandate a institutionalized holiday tradition on such short notice and with much of our realm not very urban or service-based, but we can give non-military personnel employed by the Government the time off as thanks for their service), then a comprehensive "State of the Realm" break-down explaining what's going on and what's been accomplished.
Then the speech drops, then we have an outro.
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[X] Crake
Interlude DCXCII: Counsel of the Winds
Counsel of the Winds
First Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC
In the dying light of day, an old man rode through the high paths of the Thunder Mountains atop a humble donkey. Stones tumbled and broke down the steep mountainside, but he seemed to pay them no mind. One might think him a pilgrim come to visit the shrines delved in the the blue-grey granite beloved of the heavens, were it not for the jade green doves that came down from the heights as though to converse with him with squawks and chirps.
"Ah, Dandelion," the old man proclaimed to the donkey who did not look either particularly delicate nor sweet-smelling. "The Middle Way teaches that it is for the old to teach the young patience, but who is to teach the old patience when they are as headlong as youths to their first market day?"
The donkey did not seem interested in answering, but the birds did stop coming after a little while.
The old man found the stables carved into the living stone and unerringly, through in spite of the many young monks who wished to take his reigns, stabled his mount with his own hands. He passed through the lower passages, some so tight that even his short slight and frame could not fit past easily, though strangely his walking stick seemed to vanish in one of those passages and never return to his hands. Not that he seemed to need it, he moved with a sprightly spring of a man five decades younger than he seemed.
In truth it was closer to eight since Chen Fun Li had been in the noontime of his life, one hundred and sixteen years since he had been born to a family of humble rice farmers not thirty leagues from this very spot, where he had studied the ways of the high winds, the breath of the world at its purest filling him in quiet contemplation.
The old master passed through halls of gold, amber and jade where wealthy patrons had wrought great gifts onto the House of Light, thinking to earn the favor of the kami, or the favor of those the kami blessed for some deed or counsel, but his only fleeting thought for all the riches around him was that the jade would likely be better served in other places in these dark and perilous times.
To the very top of the mountain he ascended, where the shrines were simpler things carved from the stone of the mountains worn smooth by countless kneeling monks who came here to meditate during clear skies or storms, some said since the days of the Topaz Emperor before the Darkening of the World. A storm was surely coming, unlike what any of the masters gathered atop the highest platform had ever seen before. Long foreseen it had been, for the memories of the Golden Empire were as enduring as bright gold itself, but still there was worry and fear here among the Beloved of the Sky. Li could feel it in the air, in the ripples of the unseen kami come to listen to the news he had brought, for all they could hear him as easily in Yin as here.
"Are the rumors true then, have the great flame dragons returned to flesh?" Xui Jin, Master of the Sapphire Chords, asked again the question he had bid the birds to carry.
"Why did you ask a question to which you know the answer?" Li replied, speaking only with curiosity and letting his frustration at the younger shugenja fly on the wind. "Was not a young dragon of that breed slain in the caves of Ze Yan when it caught to lair there? Do we not have news from our sisters in flame of the army that marches on Trader Town?"
"That was a young beast, only a few years out of the shell, but this message regarding The Many Colored Horror that came from the throne is far more terrible than what we had thought we face," Cho Ning, Keeper of the Incense and the second eldest after Li among the gathering.
"How can we trust the word of one who has brought Blood Dragons back into the world, who has begotten yet more creatures of blood and suffering?" Jin asked and others whispered in agreement, fear slumbering into disbelief. "His envoys merely wish it to present a worse darkness than that their master has invoked."
"Darkness? Evil?" Li asked calmly. "Have you met one of these creatures in flesh, in dream or in vision?"
The other shugenja was forced to admit that he had not and for a moment the wind had the bitter tang of anger and wounded pride freed into it.
"Little do we yet know of the Fire Lord of the Western Shores, but so far all his deeds are good and his dealings fair. Wait and watch we must, but not fear that is the Path Under Shadow, rather in hope, " Chen Fun Li began the words, but he was not the one who finished it. All were in harmony.
OOC: So yeah, good news, one of those mind-blanked young red dragons will not be troubling you guys any more, it fell afoul of some Yi Tish mages.
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- Location
- Germany
Did they properly sacrifice or dissect it to draw the maximum possible amount of power from Tiamat's blessing?
- Location
- France
Huh. To be honest, I expected pushback from Yi-Ti's mages (they have Dragonlore and knowledge of Valyria, they should know exactly how Evil we presumably are) and not tentative tolerance. Does this mean that Chen Fun Li has actually visited our realm? Or did he find some way to know our alignment, or to divine our likely goals?
Or maybe he just has really high Wis, did some investigating, and concluded that we probably weren't that bad. That's weirdly convenient...
Actually if he'd somehow heard of us and Divined us before we were Mind Blanked (for example after we fixed the Mantarys issue and reassured everyone who was using Divination to check up on potential massive worldwide disasters) he could know our alignment and general goals, which haven't changed that much.
Or maybe he just has really high Wis, did some investigating, and concluded that we probably weren't that bad. That's weirdly convenient...
Actually if he'd somehow heard of us and Divined us before we were Mind Blanked (for example after we fixed the Mantarys issue and reassured everyone who was using Divination to check up on potential massive worldwide disasters) he could know our alignment and general goals, which haven't changed that much.
- Location
- Germany
He could have divined in more general terms on our Empire, or send lesser spirits to look for him.
By his own words he only knows us by our deeds, not our inner thoughts.
No, they just killed it very dead, they were more worried about their shrine getting desecrated
I don't really want to comment on the motivations here since it is strictly OOC knowledge but its worth keeping in mind this is just one monastery, not all the mages in Yi Ti. Others may take a different view.
I'm pretty sure it's less that he knows us and more that so far we've come in peace and not done anything wrong that he knows of, and he does have very high Wisdom so he's not going to judge us before he knows us.
Waiting until we reveal our true colors either way is no bother to a man who is 160 years old.
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- Location
- United States
HA! One down, three to go.
Unless the Golden Company unleashed more on the world. But I will keep track anyway.
- Location
- USA
I had my first philosophy class today. Teacher was asking the real questions there. "Would you bang a robot?"
- Location
- France
Don't answer that. If you say no on principle Anu will be sad, and if you say yes when the only robot you know is Anu he'll fear having to turn down the advances of a penguin.
Meh. The true question is not if you'd bang a robot, it's whether the robot would bang you.
- Location
- United States
@DragonParadox, do we know what this "messenger of the Many Colored Horror" is? Is it a more powerful and older dragon, or something else?
Oops, that is the elusive Typo Dragon, should be message, as in the stuff you told Bu Gai that the disseminated
- Location
- United States
Good, for a moment I was worried Tiamat had broken out a more reliable asset to work in the shadows.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
It would be trivially easy for a high level Shugenja to have visited our realm, not to mention use Divination to learn more of it. I'm not going to assume that he did so, but it would be a mistake to rule it out.
Our agents have also interacted with numerous Yi-Tish people whom could in turn give information on the disposition and capabilities of our agents, should one know who to look for and what to ask.
This particular monastery seems promising, as either a potential ally or at least a neutral party.
And the lore they must have collected and preserved over the millennia. Be strong, @Duesal, we'll get a chance to look at it eventually.
Our agents have also interacted with numerous Yi-Tish people whom could in turn give information on the disposition and capabilities of our agents, should one know who to look for and what to ask.
This particular monastery seems promising, as either a potential ally or at least a neutral party.
And the lore they must have collected and preserved over the millennia. Be strong, @Duesal, we'll get a chance to look at it eventually.
- Location
- United States
I'm happy to wait. I just want the Golden Company wiped out in the meantime.It would be trivially easy for a high level Shugenja to have visited our realm, not to mention use Divination to learn more of it. I'm not going to assume that he did so, but it would be a mistake to rule it out.
Our agents have also interacted with numerous Yi-Tish people whom could in turn give information on the disposition and capabilities of our agents, should one know who to look for and what to ask.
This particular monastery seems promising, as either a potential ally or at least a neutral party.
And the lore they must have collected and preserved over the millennia. Be strong, @Duesal, we'll get a chance to look at it eventually.
- Location
- USA
Who says he'll turn me down? Penguins can be charming too you know.
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
Curiosity would compel it to give it a try... so the question is not really one of "would", but rather, "how many".
It's a game of statistics!
*doesn't really believe in game theory, just trying to be ironic*
Seriously don't keep asking different robots to bang, ok? They're better at statistics than you.