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

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Goldfish said:
I've been convinced since we learned that the Deep Ones are composed of multiple types of horrific Aberrations that they are far from being a tightly aligned power. Aboleths would no more subordinate themselves to Illithids and their Elder Brain masters than the Elder Brains would to the Aboleths. Same probably goes for the Neogi, and whatever other monstrosities fall under the Deep One umbrella.

If my assumptions are correct, the Deep Ones are more likely a loose alliance, one rife with factional disputes, infighting, and jockeying for position and resources.

For our purposes, that means there are possibly faults within the Deep One hierarchy we can possibly exploit. Unfortunately, it also means there could be one of more factions who would happily provoke us to go to war with them, since the faction most likely to suffer in that exchange would be the Illithids.
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Aren't they also in the middle of an extensive refugee crisis? From what I recall from the plane of water trip, at lot of their people fleeing that plane are coming here. That does mean reinforcements, but also lots of logistical issues that will heighten infighting.

If we're particularly lucky the various factions might even be playing games with resettlement policies to try and swing local demographics in favor of their group. That's the kind of thing that'd make the whole problem worse in the near and long term, and even component people can easily fail to resolve if the factions are close enough to each other in strength.
 
[X] Goldfish
//
Could be the Deep Ones just wait until we are thoroughly committed before they strike.
 
Vote closed. Let's see about getting back on track shall we?
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Apr 8, 2020 at 4:43 AM, finished with 42 posts and 12 votes.
  • [X] Gathering Intel
    -[X] Speak to Lord Humphrey's daughter
    --[X] In addition to asking her to provide a full account of her final encounter with her friend, ask to be shown the location where they last met, and where his body was found. Viserys will use Wild Arcana to duplicate Hindsight spells at each location to learn what he can, while Lya will attempt to use Speak with Dead on his remains, if they are available, to learn more of what is happening.
    -[X] Bring Dany here and investigate the Dreamlands if further information is needed.
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Part MMMCDXXXV: With Iron Thread
  • Threadmarks
    • With Iron Thread​

    Twenty-Seventh Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

    Myrella Hewett is a woman worn by sorrows and a grief she dares not show, lest it further harm her standing in her father's eyes. She seems relieved to be able to speak to you about what happened and show you where it had taken place. "The cliffs are safer than they seem from out here, just there... one of the best hidden spots on the whole island. I've been coming here since... since..."

    "It's alright, you do no have to come any further," you reply gently. "We will handle things here." You nod towards the grizzled armsman who had escorted the lady here to give her account and show you the place of her final doomed meeting with her lover. Thankfully the man looks more worried over her state of mind than disproving of the circumstances, though there is something of that there. She will not be faced with the same impossible 'choice' as Rina, but her life would not be easy you know.

    The place where Uther had collapsed dead and already rotting is close enough to the edge of the cliffs that you suspect he, or whatever was compelling him, wished for the body to tumble over, lost to the waves. Into the halls of the Drowned God.

    Observing the scene through eyes of stone's and wind's memory reveals one more detail Myrella had not caught. The man had been reaching under his shirt for something, an amulet most likely. Had he been dedicated to that accursed god? you wonder, recalling the ritual in Volmark. There too the illithid worked to dedicate men to the Drowned God, but those had been children where Lord Hewett claims the missing people had been from all ages and all walks of life.

    ***​

    Thus you turn your gaze to the skull of the ill-fortuned Uther himself, kept in the Oakenshield Castle treasury for the lord recognized its value for uncovering the truth too. There you ask the question none living could now answer. "What did your dreams whisper? What did you seek beyond the sea?"

    The voice of the dead answers surprisingly loud in the dark and narrow chamber. "The Drowned God, the Chained God, he must be free."

    "Free from what?" you ask urgently, thinking back to the cabal in the Iron Islands. Was it the same gathering of rebels working against the ancient intellect that drove their kin?

    "The Drowned God, the Chained God, he must be free," the skull repeats to your frustration. But then unbidden it adds nine words, threaded together as the echoes of bones rarely are. "The liar undone, the thief on fate's wheel broken."

    The more you hear the more likely it seems to you that you are dealing with the same plot, or a similar one at the very least. Alas, that is the last thing of note you can wring from dry bones. All other answers are repetitive, obscure to the point of being little more than babbling, or too disjointed to make sense of.

    You turn to Dany standing silently at your side. "Do you feel like trying to listen into this call, or song?"

    She answers with a grin sharp as it is daring. "Well, I already faced a Goddess not so long ago and she was neither drowned nor chained... unfortunately."

    Lya nods in turn. "Worth a try at least. If that does not work we can scry for some of the other missing people and ask them about this call."

    By contrast Ser Richard's expression makes it clear that he could very well do without Dany and yourself daring the Dreamlands against unknown foes, but he keeps his peace and joins hands.

    A reaching and a holding... upwards and outwards.

    ***​

    Elsewhere Elsewhen

    The room you are all in is unsurprisingly mostly the same on this side of the veil, mayhap the gold gleams more brightly in the corners and dark stains that may be blood mark the edges of a few chests to mark perhaps spoils taken in war, but it is the skull which had been on the table between you that changes the most. Where before it had been pale bone, no different from any other, here its echo seems to be made of gleaming salt crystals threaded through with iron veins, upon its dome a wreath of withered flowers.

    "Oh..." Dany breathes. "Iron blood."

    In a flash you understand what she had a moment before. The Ironborn had been coming here as reavers for time out of mind, before the coming of the Andals, before even the Reach was one, but that does not mean they only came here to pay the Iron Price as some of the more foolish lords of those bleak islands believe. They came in peace too, to trade, perhaps for a few even to settle, their kin living on on Oakenshield's shores. You would wager the missing townsmen are all of Ironborn descent, or close enough to have heard the call.

    "But did they go willingly?" Lya muses.

    "Since when did the squids care about willing?" Ser Richard scoffs. Oathkeeper is already in his hand, wary of attack.

    "A willing bond is stronger and I can think of promises and blandishments that would draw even so many away from hearth and home," you interject.

    What do you do next?

    [] Continue exploring the Dreamlands, looking for clues of the call that had snared so many

    [] Scry some of those missing in the flesh

    [] Write in

    OOC: Some pretty high wisdom rolls this time around.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Well, this explains why they're wiping their atrophied asses with the remains of our threadbare treaty at any rate.

    The Squidheads wouldn't worship a god if you paid them, but they'd definitely use one if they could.

    We do nothing, they get a god and make a shiny new weapon out of it. We go in, they get to go "what an unexpected treachery, and by that I mean completely expected" and kick of their initial strike, which we all know they already have primed and ready and aimed at our scaly ass.

    We do nothing, they win, we attack, they win more.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    It's posibile this is not the main Deep One Polity at all, an in fact done in defiance of them as the hints at Volmark keep showed.
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    Fair enough. They'd still use the hell out of it though and at this point it honestly feels like all they're waiting for is an excuse to try and kill us openly rather that use subterfuge and proxies.

    If we attack these clowns the circus will come to town.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    With Iron Thread​

    Twenty-Seventh Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

    Myrella Oakshield is a woman worn by sorrows and a grief she dares not show, lest it further harm her standing in her father's eyes. She seems relieved to be able to speak to you about what happened and show you where it had taken place. "The cliffs are safer than they seem from out here. Right there... one of the best hidden spots on the whole island. I've been coming here since... since..."

    "It's alright, you do no have to come any further," you reply gently. "We will handle things from here." You nod towards the grizzled armsman who had lead the lady here to give her account and show you the place of her final doomed meeting with her lover. Thankfully, the man looks more worried over her state of mind than disapproving of the circumstances, though there is something of that there, too. She will not be faced with the same impossible 'choice' as Rina, but her life would not be easy, you know.

    The place where Uther had collapsed, dead and already rotting, is close enough to the edge of the cliffs that you suspect he, or whatever was compelling him, wished for the body to tumble over, lost to the waves. Into the halls of the Drowned God.

    Observing the scene through eyes of stone and wind's memory reveals one more detail Myrella had not caught. The man had been reaching under his shirt for something, an amulet most like. Had he been dedicated to that accursed god? you wonder, recalling the ritual in Volmark. There too the ilithid worked to dedicate men to the Drowned God, but those had been children where Lord Oakshield claims the missing had been from all ages and all walks of life.

    ***​

    Thus you turn your gaze to the skull of the ill-fortuned Uther himself, kept in the Oakshield treasury for the lord recognized its potential value for uncovering the truth. There you ask the questions none living could now answer. "What did your dreams whisper? What did you seek beyond the sea?"

    The voice of the dead answers surprisingly loud in the dark and narrow chamber. "The Drowned God, the Chained God, he must be free."

    "Free from what?" you ask urgently, thinking back to the cabal in the Iron Islands. Was it the same gathering of rebels working against the ancient intellect that drove their kin?

    "The Drowned God, the Chained God, he must be free," the skull repeats to your frustration. But then unbidden it adds nine words, threaded together as the echoes of bones rarely are. "The liar undone, the thief on fate's wheel broken."

    The more you hear, the more likely it seems to you that you are dealing with the same plot or a similar one at the very least. Alas, that is the last thing of note you can wring from dry bones. All other answers are repetitive, obscure to the point of being little more than babbling, or too disjointed to make sense of

    You turn to Dany standing silently at your side. "Do you feel like trying to listen to this call, or song?"

    She answers with a grin sharp as it is daring. "Well, I already faced a Goddess not so long ago, and she was neither drowned nor chained... unfortunately."

    Lya nods in turn. "Worth a try at least. If that does not work, we can scry some of the other missing people and ask them about this call."

    By contrast, Ser Richard's expression makes it clear that he could very well do without Dany and yourself daring the Dreamlands against unknown foes, but he keeps his peace and joins hands.

    A reaching and a holding... upwards and outwards.

    ***​

    Elsewhere Elsewhen

    Unsurprisingly, the room you are all in is mostly the same on this side of the veil, mayhap the gold gleams more brightly in the corners and dark stains that may be blood mark the edges of a few chests to perhaps indicate spoils taken in war, but it is the skull which had been on the table between you that changes the most. Where before it had been pale bone, no different from any other, here its echo seems to me made of gleaming salt crystals threaded through with iron veins, upon its dome a wreath of withered flowers.

    "Oh..." Dany breathes. "Iron blood."

    In a flash you understand what she had a moment before. The Ironborn had been coming here as reavers from time out of mind, before the coming of the Andals, before even the Reach was one, but that does not mean they only came here to pay the Iron Price as some of the more foolish lords of those break islands believe. They came in peace too, to trade, perhaps for a few even to settle, their kin living on Oakshield's shores. You would wager the missing townsmen are all of Ironborn descent close enough to have heard the call.

    "But did they go willingly?" Lya muses.

    "Since when did the squids care about willing?" Ser Richard scoffs. Oathkeeper is already in his hand, wary of attack.

    "A willing bond is stronger and I can think of promises and blandishments that would draw even so many away from hearth and home," you interject.

    What do you do next?

    [] Continue exploring the dreamlands looking for clues of the call that had snared so many

    [] Scry some of those missing in the flesh

    [] Write in

    OOC: Some pretty high wisdom rolls this time around. Not yet edited.
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    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.
     
    Hmm. When will it be time to resurrect the rebel Deep Ones we already killed?

    If they want to hijack a god, we can sponsor them...
     
    I'm thinking the Drowned God is an Aboleth of great power, possibly even one that has undergone apotheosis to become a deity. How the Drowned God was bound, and by who, is a bigger mystery, though. Was it another faction of the Deep Ones? Another power?

    [X] Continue exploring the Dreamlands, looking for clues of the call that had snared so many
     
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