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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 MMMCDLXXXV: A Mighty Moot
A Mighty Moot
Tenth Day of the First Month 294 AC
As you approach the Fist you see more and more giants, not only sentries against danger who give you wary looks and shout questions at your guide in thundering voices, but also ones tending to their herds, milking mammoths, bringing dear back to the cookfires in braces as a man might bring birds, even a few salting and frying meat over the flames. The further in you go the less the gathering looks like a temporary camp of wanderers and more like a shepherd's village grown impossibly large.
The impression is only further strengthened when you reach the base of the hill and find it fortified with enormous palisade, ancient trees that seemed to have been ripped out from their roots rather than cut down and lashed together. At first it seems rather pointless because there is no door to bar your way. A choke point yes, but not enough to justify all the work that went into this, not when the slopes of the hill itself made for much better footing to rain down rocks and blows of heavy giant clubs. Then you cross through... and feel the ward-line in your bones. Deep as the foundations of the earth.
If you had meant harm to those gathered here there would have been consequences, you could not say what sort for there is no mark to study, no rune to decipher, but something more than freshly uprooted logs would have barred your path, something old. You glance at Rina and receive a small nod, she had felt it too, though oddly enough not Lya, Dany, Vee, Waymar or Tyene, not even Xor, though in his case he might have been too busy chatting with his new friend to notice.
As your shadow-steed half climbs, half floats over the steep side of the hill you look around you with eyes sharpened by sorcery. The land itself glows softly green and gold almost too faint to notice, like summer sunlight on leaves, almost like the blessings of the Old Gods, but there is no Heart Tree here of that you are certain.
Abruptly you feel a lurch in your stomach, like a missed step going down a familiar flight of stairs, like the phantom pain of a tooth long since pulled... then nothing.
"I think the giants woke something when they came here, old bargains bought to life," Vee says. "My magic feels stronger here, like a fire that has just that little bit more fuel."
"So do I," Rina says from your other side, to your surprise.
Before you can say more on the matter you reach the summit, the old circle of stone. Xor, playing herald, introduces you: "Behold Viserys, Magnar of Magnars in the Lands of Ever-Summer in whose lands dwell in peace the Thenns and the last of the Squirrel Folk of elder days!"
Squirrel Folk? You suppose it is not that much worse than Children of the Forest, but still an odd beast to compare the solemn Singers with regardless, no matter their shared preference for trees.
"Behold he who is Friend to the Green and sworn foe of the Cold Ones of the Deep North!" Xor calls out again. By now there is not a pair of eyes looking somewhere else than at your company. There are over two dozen giants present, standing on wide flat stones, the elders of their kindred to judge by their greying fur.
"Behold one who would be a friend of giants and comes bearing gifts!" your friend calls out a third time in the tradition of the First Men that the Thenns at least still kept.
The eldest of the giants steps forth, twelve feet tall, his grey fur streaked with white. When he speaks it is with more practice than Nar Og and also more confidence: "I am Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg, strongest here, show these gifts and share."
It is clear he is not expecting you to have anything in your saddle bags to share among so many giants. Seeing weapons and chain, barrels and crates appear from thin air he first steps back at the sign of sorcery, then carefully prods one with his club, to check if it is solid and not figment you suspect. Then his lips spread out into a smile, to reveal surprisingly white wide flat teeth. "Is good gift! Great gift! You can speak to moot!" he pauses a moment, looking back at his fellows. "After drink!"
"After drink and feast!" you correct. As Lya draws stone tables from the ground you conjure a feast fit for heroes for them to enjoy.
During he feast Xor sings many songs, some of life in the south where the sun shines and the days are long and golden, but some of battle against the dark, none better received than the death of the ancient wight lord in the Frostfells, a foe even giants' strength would balk at facing head on.
"You sing good songs, give good mead like springtime," Mag Mar says softly, or at least as close to soft as his rumbling voice can get, not that there is any threat of being overheard. Some of the younger giants with their heads full of mead had decided to show off their skill at log tossing. "Why you bring gifts of weapons, need strength to fight south?" From the tone as well as tales you heard from Styr you guess it is a common practice of the Free Folk.
On the one hand a familiar reasoning would probably make it easier for them to accept your offer, on the other you doubt all or even most giants are best suited for the Legion. No matter how strong most folk would rather live their lives in peace away from blood and death.
What do you reply?
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OOC: Sorry this took so long guys, I got distracted with a discussion in another quest.
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- Location
- United States
@DragonParadox, a hint of grander times and deeper magics? This feels like something straight up got erased, to the extent that it wormed its way into Viserys' ancestral memory. And that's a goddamn feat in of itself.
ryuan
From Zero to Hero!
It was made with either Epic Spellcasting, which was retgonned from existence, or 10th level spells, which was also retgonned from existence.
- Location
- France
You know, in most stories this would be the moment in which our tiny human protagonist feels a little nervous, surrounded by savage giants who don't seem to like outsiders much and who could squish him and his friends without much trouble.
In Viserys quest, this is an occasion to examine some wards and let Xor show off!
In Viserys quest, this is an occasion to examine some wards and let Xor show off!
- Location
- Texas
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Azel
It was certainly a bizarre feeling to Viserys, not like anything he had ever experienced.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg needs to check his mammoth for signs of Others influence. It looks pissed, and suspiciously blue-eyed.
More hints of previous Ages of Magic, this time maybe even something before the Age of Dawn.
I want to examine the Fist and the surrounding area much more closely before we leave.
- Location
- United States
@DragonParadox, what does Viserys remember of the bygone war between Dragons and Giants?
Yeah, we're definitely examining the wards before we leave.Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg needs to check his mammoth for signs of Others influence. It looks pissed, and suspiciously blue-eyed.
More hints of previous Ages of Magic, this time maybe even something before the Age of Dawn.
I want to examine the Fist and the surrounding area much more closely before we leave.
*rolls*
Well the giants didn't die... and he remembers storm and cloud giants being abroad in the world, cloud castles and all. These were beings the dragons respected.
- Location
- United States
Right, I remember wanting to loot a Cloud Castle.
Those would be an excellent base for the Griffin Knight Order or the Imperial Dragonlords or even just the airforce.
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- United States
They're nomadic, IIRC. They should prioritize good grazing land for their mammoths more than whatever lands they happen to be on.
- Location
- florida
Also we should buy a mammoth for the flesh forge. Not as a weapon neccessarily but as a really dope herd animal.
I am also hoping they dont have some kind of cultural or magical hangup about this territory. Buuut... well.
- Location
- United States
The Old Gods have forgotten a lot. They even forgot about the Void until we showed them Heaven.
The Seven must have killed just enough Weirwoods to deeply damage them.