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

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TalonofAnathrax said:
Wait a minute. Can someone explain Tiamat's first spoken line? Jon Connington had been useful to himself, and so she healed him?
Weird.

Incidentally @DragonParadox, is she taking a pile of actions in one turn? If so, that's pretty cool and very appropriate for a boss monster. Is it one per head, or what?
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She has three standard actions and two swift every round. Five full-round actions seemed excessive even facing a full part with and army of support
 
lockingbane said:
Hmmmm..... Maybe make our own offer? Bring him back with no strings.... beyond his own surrender. Garruntee he will be treated with all the honors of a noble captured in battle but he must surrender.

Better than fighting and potentially dying as well and forever ensuring he STAYS dead....
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This goes back to not wasting time in combat. The Avatar of Tiamat is not going to sit idly if Viserys makes that kind of offer, and this is not the kind of fight where we can afford any kind of distraction.
DragonParadox said:
She has three standard actions and two swift every round. Five full-round actions seemed excessive even facing a full part with and army of support
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Do we see any gear on her? What about buffs?
 
DragonParadox said:
I can't really cast any judgement on stuff like this as the GM but it does bear remembering that this is a kind who personally sacrificed countless enemy combatants in the service of Tiamat. Also he is doing his best to murder the PCs right back.
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You could argue this kid doesn't know any better, and Tiamat is just manipulating a vulnerable child. But, yeah I'll abstain from saying more, since I'm not really an active participant of this quest.
 
ImprovLoser said:
You could argue this kid doesn't know any better, and Tiamat is just manipulating a vulnerable child. But, yeah I'll abstain from saying more, since I'm not really an active participant of this quest.
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Mate, the discussion is what is moving this entire quest.

Just because one doesn't post often doesn't mean in the fuckest that they shouldn't express their mind on the matter.
 
just a question would a capture stomach/sack/pouch be something we could build into our fleshcrafted creation becouse that might be usefull to have
 
ImprovLoser said:
You could argue this kid doesn't know any better, and Tiamat is just manipulating a vulnerable child. But, yeah I'll abstain from saying more, since I'm not really an active participant of this quest.
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Indeed one could argue that and without full knowledge of how he came to be in this position it's impossible to completely disprove, but generally speaking the amount of power and knowledge that would come with Aegon's magic skill makes that a difficult argument. It's akin to arguing that Dany has no capacity for moral judgement when the reason she defied Tiamat (when she was years younger than Aegon is now) was concern over feeding her the lives and souls of innocents.
 
ImprovLoser said:
You could argue this kid doesn't know any better, and Tiamat is just manipulating a vulnerable child. But, yeah I'll abstain from saying more, since I'm not really an active participant of this quest.
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This is all true, but it doesn't invalidate the reasons we're fighting him. He's very powerful and actively trying to kill us, and Tiamat is right behind him. Pulling our punches at this stage would spell disaster, since f!Aegon won't be pulling his. It also doesn't invalidate that he is Tiamat's Champion, and we know full well the sorts of things he's been up to.
Rovos said:
just a question would a capture stomach/sack/pouch be something we could build into our fleshcrafted creation becouse that might be usefull to have
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Yeah, that's something that we could have. IIRC Deliste had that for one of his anti-Illithid construct ideas, where he'd send a construct out to nab a Mind Flayer and drag it back to us for interrogation and sacrifice.
 
ImprovLoser said:
I know I'm just a lurker, but I really feel bad for Aegon you guys are murdering kid. This is all kinds of fucked.
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Dude.... You DO realize that

1. This is a Different age. This is a time of knights and nobles. You cannot rightly judge a time period with modern morals.

2. This "Kid" is not ONLY a mass murderer who feeds souls to dragons and kills thousands of innocents and fuels his wards with the blood of children he has killed but ALSO feeds their SOULS TO TIAMAT.

3. If we DON'T kill him he is going to kill us and all of our freinds. It isnt pretty but it is one kid vs several thousand people.

Duesal said:
This goes back to not wasting time in combat. The Avatar of Tiamat is not going to sit idly if Viserys makes that kind of offer, and this is not the kind of fight where we can afford any kind of distraction
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Fair enough

ImprovLoser said:
You could argue this kid doesn't know any better, and Tiamat is just manipulating a vulnerable child. But, yeah I'll abstain from saying more, since I'm not really an active participant of this quest.
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At this point you seem to be white knighting. Situation is bad but right now we are doing the best of several bad options.

If we left him be he would gather power until he is strong enough to attack us and kill those under our protection.

We cant exactly sit him down for diplomacy due to the people he has surrounded himself with as well as the nigh constant indoctrination making actually getting through to him borderline impossible

That leaves taking him out militarily.

Also dont forget if he dies we could probably revive him if needed. Then we could try diplomacy in a safe area if you really want to.
 
Duesal said:
Yeah, that's something that we could have. IIRC Deliste had that for one of his anti-Illithid construct ideas, where he'd send a construct out to nab a Mind Flayer and drag it back to us for interrogation and sacrifice.
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hmmm i like it, helps with interrogation and gather sacrifice fodder/prisoners. might want to look into it later
 
lockingbane said:
1. This is a Different age. This is a time of knights and nobles. You cannot rightly judge a time period with modern morals.

2. This "Kid" is not ONLY a mass murderer who feeds souls to dragons and kills thousands of innocents and fuels his wards with the blood of children he has killed but ALSO feeds their SOULS TO TIAMAT.
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This is hilariously stupid. Right after saying that we can't use modern morals, you immediately use modern morals (the King killing enemy prisoners and criminals is wrong).
According to the morals of the setting, his actions are somewhat justifiable. That's part of why the GC accepts it! It fits under "the King chooses the punishment for criminals", which is normal in-setting. He's just an inventive executioner - and he's very pious, which is great for a King!
Obviously many people would find him too cruel (and therefore evil) but not everyone seems to agree.

Oh, and obviously I utterly disagree with the idea that basic morality is chronologically determined. This isn't the thread to debate it, but I didn't want to respond to this without making that clear. We'll have to agree to disagree, I guess.
 
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Duesal said:
A kid who has murdered gods know how many innocents at this point, who is Tiamat's foremost champion, who is doing his level best to kill us right back. Pulling our punches in such a high-level fight against easily the most well-equipped enemies we've ever encountered will end in our friends being murdered.
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I'm with Duesal on this one. I'll feel bad about it, gods above and all the devils in hell I'll feel bad about it, but the blade is dropping down regardless.

Another sin to lie at our feet perhaps, but another curse upon the capricious and disgusting nature of the Bitch Queen for certain.
 
DragonParadox said:
By Brightest Flames ​

Thirteenth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

"You have been useful to me, Jon Connington," the blue head wreathed in electricity utters the words clear as lightning writ upon the darkened sky, even through the curse the man so addressed had cast upon you. Even as Clegane's sword descends upon his head the old knight is filled with a new surge of life, flesh stitching itself together in lightning patterns across his body. You wonder if Ashara hears the obvious implication, that she has not been useful enough to save in her accursed state. Does she understand now, in the end, how she has damned herself?

"No!" Dany calls out, motioning with her thrice forged seal to unravel the magic, but here in Her place of power in the presence of Her Champion, not even Dany's defiance is enough to undo the Dark Goddess' will.

Tiamat is laughing, her voice like thunder across the field of war, caring nothing for Soallae diving besides Ashara to take her away to her death.

"I call forth the guardian of the orb, the Worm, bane of magic, titan's chain," you intone the words to summon the Worm in your mind. The thing should burst from the earth in a few heartbeats.

Never one to leave a task half done, Sandor simply shifts his weight and strikes Connington thrice around the back and shoulders, spellsteel scraping against spellsteel. The nearness of death thankfully seems to have tempered the old knight's vicious attacks enough that his next blow slides harmlessly across your cloak.

Ser Richard, by contrast, is emboldened into a rush of impossible speed by the sight of looming danger, one that does not slow in the slightest as he reaches Aegon. Oathkeeper rises and falls, deadly as it has ever been, ringing against metal, tearing flesh and cracking bone. A moment later a black-armored arm torn off at the shoulder slides across the temple stones. So small... a part of you notes with the beginnings of pity, but you remember the other bodies in the room, the sacrifices slain for no reason than to appease his patron's thirst for blood.

Although her voice shakes ever so slightly in trepidation, Teana attempts to repeat the curse afflicting Ashara, this time upon the flesh-smith, but he proves more resistant to the call of bewitching shadows. Yet as he flings a curse at you, Lya counters it with a single syllable and in return binds him into a familiar amber prison.

The sound of amber crashing against stone is lost in the roar of Tiamat's rage that something would dare to challenge Her. By the looks of it it is the Moonchaser's launchers and beetle bombs.

The crimson head spits but one word in a torrent of hate, "Die." From her jaws emerges something that seems at once ice, fire, lightning, vitriol, and poisoned gas, though you know instinctively is none of those things but rather the dark goddess' desire to destroy made manifest upon the earth.

This time Dany is ready for her, a dome of gleaming True Silver shielding all of you from the blow, though the metal blackens and weeps foul oil from thin cracks when it is struck. "This might hold for one more blow, but I would not bet on it," your sister admits with a grimace.

Only fair to show her your own fire then, you think grimly. Between thought and deed there is no word or gesture to make and so the curse upon you means nothing, as for one terrible moment you bring an echo of Valyria's doom to the shattered temple and the avatar above.

As your flame reaches across earth and sky something reaches for you, at first you think it is some sly trap of Tiamat, but no, you have felt this sort of communion before, if not with so vast a being, "Hail, dragon, know that we will add our flame to yours." the kami are waking for their ritual, though you suspect it will not be aimed at the drakes as first planned. Not with Her in the sky.

You look around the temple room, the lesser priests are all statues just as you had expected. Aegon's survival, looking not even singed, is worse news that you would have hoped for, but at least the charred body of Ser Jon Connington finally lies at your feet for all the trouble he has made for you.

"No! Jon!" Aegon seems more distraught at his death than at losing a limb. His eyes turn skywards to the literal incarnation of his goddess. "Bring him back!" It is more a demand than a prayer, though his voice shakes.

"Kill them all and I shall," the Avatar replies in tones of honeyed poison. There are a few burned patches in her scales, but she seems far indeed from defeat.

What do you do next?

[] Reply to the kami
-[] Ask them to hold off so that the magics on the field to not risk mingling in unexpected ways
-[] Ask for an explanation
-[] Thank them for their aid

[] Concentrate on your enemies, you still have the Chosen of Tiamat and her avatar to deal with
-[] Write in

[] Write in

OOC: Good idea with that Wall of Mithral, most traditional barriers would not have blocked that breath.
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Made some additional edits to the chapter, DP.

Whew, great chapter! I've got family visiting and I could barely interact with them like a normal human being because I was so eager to read this. :whistle:
 
A little confused on what Bitch Queen meant when she mentioned Jon but whatever. Most likely loyal service. Jon died thinking he failed Faegon.

Ashara was taken away from the battle field to basically die. Can only imagine what she is thinking. Regrets and/or thinking she failed.

Faegon not having a good time. Losing a arm, both his most important companions dead or dying and all the work he has done all being destroyed by his 'Uncle'. Very curious if he'll surrender without us offering it? Maybe he'll go on a long speech to Viserys asking why he is doing this to his nephew?
 
I do wonder why is Jon so assured this is Rhaegar's kid given Divination showed he is actually Illyrio's

Edit: Anyways if he tries to speech us we tell him the sword he wields shares his true name
 
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I think I have a solution to our current sensory handicap. If we cast Psychic Asylum, Viserys can retreat to his own mind to think for up to 15 minutes of mental time during which no time passes in the outside world. During that time, the duration of Mind-Affecting effects which he has been subjected to will continue to count down. Shattered Mirror Strike, which Connington used to mess with our senses, is a Mind-Affecting effect with a duration measured in rounds. It's a pretty neat way to remedy the issue, IMO.

The question is whether we want to take the time to do it.
 
The crazy demon said:
I do wonder why is Jon so assured this is Rhaegar's kid given Divination showed he is actually Illyrio's

Edit: Anyways if he tries to speech us we tell him the sword he wields shares his true name
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I mean why would he? Not a lots of reasons to far as he knows. Then Faegon gets a Mind Blank. Also got to think Faegons most loyal want to believe he is who they think he is.
 
The crazy demon said:
I do wonder why is Jon so assured this is Rhaegar's kid given Divination showed he is actually Illyrio's

Edit: Anyways if he tries to speech us we tell him the sword he wields shares his true name
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Wasn't the confirmation on that taken from Varys' memories, rather than divination? Though it may have also happened quite a while ago, when mind blanks weren't around much, in which case they probably didn't have cheap divination to spare asking questions Tiamat wouldn't want asked.

Also the above, those who do not know have no reason to look into his identity. And those who do know won't tell them on their own.
 
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