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

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Crake said:
No time for it.

And regardless, you are missing the forest for the trees. The Sons of the Harpy (the local "native" slaver faction) aren't competent enough to pose a threat. If propped up or even having their power shored up, we could still dismantle it.

In contrast, leaving Baator free to act will mean they will advance their agenda in ways we cannot predict, control or maybe even recover from.

Chances are Asmodeus gets his way and succeeds in one or more aspects of his plans regardless of what we do, since even our very actions are accounted for with failure set up to turn into success by the very nature of that failure.
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As mentioned. I will be exercising my shutting up muscles. Thank you for your answers though. It was enlightening.
 
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on May 29, 2020 at 4:12 PM, finished with 63 posts and 11 votes.
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Interlude DCCCXII: Crimson Shadows
  • Threadmarks
    • Crimson Shadows ​

    Twentieth Day of the First Month 294 AC

    As weeks wore on from the bloody conclusion of the Feast of Wrath, ended with enough blood to satisfy a Dothraki wedding, the folk of Meereen high and low began to whisper of a new terror stalking the streets and alleyways, even the gardens and pyramids of the mighty. Some named it a conspiracy, others divine retribution, but none could deny that death and ruin came with the setting sun. Some deeds were counted murders of rage and passion, the head of House Zhak discovered strangled in his own bed, his body slaves nowhere to be found, others simply vanished to be found days later floating face down in the brown waters of the Skahazadhan.

    The killings culminated with the death of Grizit zo Rhazdar after the magnate turned his house into a fortress, going nowhere without his guard of Unsullied, not even to relieve himself so the rumors said. Yet he was found dead in a locked room having apparently taken his own life by poison before 'the Shadow' could take it. The Great Masters grew even more reclusive then, making only so many appearances as to infirm rumors of their deaths, though tales persisted that several of them had in fact been killed and replaced with fiends wearing glamours, or in the more ghoulish telling their own flayed skins as masks. The patriarchs of House Dhazak and Galare had to publicly bleed before the masses in their seats at the Pit to infirm these rumors and even then they persisted.

    Worse yet, and giving ever more credence to the ones proclaiming divine ire, several fires wracked the already half empty docks, burning everything from spices to naval supplies to fine linens fit for making tokars for the most wealthy and highborn As though to add madness onto ruin a series of bloody duels erupted between men who had until that moment seemed allies, sharing bread and even bonds of kinship.

    When members of House Loraq and Dhazak met under the right of ancient parley beneath the arch of the city's main gate to settle the aftermath of one of these killings the entire edifice was brought down upon their heads, almost slaying all under its weight. Though the most senior members of the delegations escaped through some sorcery of their House mages.

    The storm of rumors only grew. Some said the mages ruled a brace of the city's eldest Houses in all but name, others claimed the killers were the Sons of the Harpy preparing the triumphal return of their patron by laying down a path of their enemies' bones, but whatever culprit one ascribed the recent deaths to it was clear fear stalked the Great Masters of Meereen. The boldest bet-takers began to quietly lay odds for this or that master making it through the moonturn.

    Through it all the Shadow passed unseen by night, unknown by day save for his companions. Garin Drekelis was quite surprised when he took up the perch for observing his latest victim, only to find a small clay tablet with an address scratched upon it below a stylized image of a harpy and a number, three.

    Divinations showed that these were indeed the Sons of the Harpy and that they were interested in talking, though the fact that they had managed to find his perch rather than being found in turn showed an unexpected degree of competence.

    Who goes to meet the Sons of the Harpy and under what guise?

    [] Write in

    OOC: I hope summarizing like this works here and does not feel jarring.
     
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    • I'm not exactly sure what have we gotten out of killing these all-around average mortals, but I do hope that we slowed down at least some plans of Asmy's with that.
    Chances are, though, he'll use the terror to his advantage nonetheless, but what can one do.
    Just gotta hope it's not the "best case scenario" of his.
     
    egoo said:
    I'm not exactly sure what have we gotten out of killing these mortals, but I do hope that we slowed down some plans of Asmy's with that.
    Chances are, though, he'll use the terror to his advantage nonetheless, but what can one do.
    Just gotta hope it's not the "best case scenario" of his.
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    It causes distruption. If anything it will make his agents be more exposed.

    @DragonParadox, did we get any actual Baatezu?
     
    Tomcost said:
    It causes distruption.
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    Or does it?

    Maybe it was his plan all along?
    Knowing we'd scramble around to try and break some active pacts by killing the participants, only to allow his agents to sink their claws deeper?

    OR it is all a plan to turn yet more people to worship of the Lady of the Spear!
    The masses are afraid of the unknown? Disguised Devils + decent PR = great masses flocking to worship.

    Ooooor the Sons of Harpies are Asmy's patsies too!

     
    egoo said:
    Ooooor the Sons of Harpies are Asmy's patsies too!
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    Now, if this is true... then why hasn't he taken over completely?

    See, if anything, this disorganizes everything. The less prominent people out there, the less beacons of order he can summon his followers too, thus making our whole operation easier.

    At that point we cna simply go and murder the remaining ones
     
    Tomcost said:
    then why hasn't he taken over completely?
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    To make us run around!

    I mean, c'mon,
    "setting up a fake "resistance" group with just enough firepower to attract the attention of foreign powers to invest in (and consequently feeling safer and not moving in en-force), while keeping the group underpowered enough to not cause real damage"
    seems like some 9-dimensional-Vostroyan-chess-strip-poker-roulette-...-shit Asmy would go for :V
     
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    egoo said:
    To make us run around!

    I mean, c'mon,
    "setting up a fake "resistance" group with just enough firepower to attract the attention of foreign powers to invest in (and consequently feeding safer and not moving in en-force), while keeping the group underpowered enough to not cause real damage"
    seems like some 9-dimensional-Vostroyan-chess-strip-poker-roulette-...-shit Asmy would go for :V
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    Or, he can use the spare power to actually weaken us?

    I mean, the idea is nice, but inefficient. if Asmy really wanted to murder us we would be besieged constantly by Pit Fiend hit-squads
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Crimson Shadows ​

    Twentieth Day of the First Month 294 AC

    As weeks wore on from the bloody conclusion of the Feast of Wrath, ended with enough blood to satisfy a Dothraki wedding, the folk of Meereen, high and low born, began to whisper of a new terror stalking the streets and alleyways, even the gardens and pyramids of the mighty. Some named it conspiracy, others divine retribution, but none could deny that death and ruin came with the setting sun. Some deeds were counted murders of rage and passion, the head of House Zhak discovered strangled in his own bed, his body slaves nowhere to be found, others simply vanished to be found days later floating face down in the brown waters of the Skahazadhan.

    The killings culminated with the death of Grizit zo Rhazdar after the magnate turned his house into a fortress going nowhere without his guard of Unsullied, not even to relieve himself, so the rumors said. Yet he was found dead in a locked room having apparently taken his own life by poison before 'the Shadow' could take it. The Great Masters grew even more reclusive then, making only so many appearances as to counter rumors of their deaths, though tales persisted that several of them had in fact been killed and replaced with fiends wearing glamors, or in the more ghoulish telling their own flayed skins as masks. The patriarchs of House Dhazak and Galare had to publicly bleed before the masses in their seats at the Pit to infirm these rumors and even then they persisted.

    Worse yet, and giving ever more credence to the ones proclaiming divine ire, several fires wracked the already half empty docks, burning everything from spices to naval supplies to fine linens fit for making tokars for the most wealthy and highborn. As though to add madness onto ruin, a series of bloody duels erupted between men who had until that moment seemed allies, sharing bread and even bonds of kinship.

    When members of House Loraq and Dhazak met under the right of ancient parlay beneath the arch of the city's main gate to settle the aftermath of one of these killings, the entire edifice was brought down upon their heads, almost slaying all under its weight. Only the most senior members of the delegations escaped through some sorcery of their house mages.

    The storm of rumors only grew. Some said the mages ruled a brace of the city's eldest houses in all but name, others claimed the killers were the Sons of the Harpy preparing the triumphal return of their patron by laying down a path of their enemies' bones, but whatever culprit one ascribed the recent deaths to, it was clear that fear stalked the Great Masters of Meereen. The boldest bet-takers began to quietly lay odds for this or that master making it through the moonturn.

    Through it all the shadow passed, unseen by night and unknown by day save for his companions. Garin Drekelis was quite surprised when he took up the perch for observing his latest victim, only to find a small clay tablet with an address scratched upon it below a stylized image of a harpy and a number, three.

    Divinations showed that these were indeed the Sons of the Harpy and interested in talking, though the fact that they had managed to find his perch rather than being found in turn showed an unexpected degree of competence.

    Who goes to meet the Sons of the Harpy and under what guise?

    [] Write in

    OOC: I hope summarizing like this works here and does not feel jarring. Not yet edited.
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    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

    The summarized actions over the past two weeks in Mereen came across really well. Does a great job of covering the actions of our people and the effects on the populace of the city.
     
    If I had to guess he was running with the assumption he would never be able to hold slavers bay.

    Actually holding slavers bay in any meaningful capacity was never in the cards. Viserys would rather sink it into the sea than let asmodeus get his hands on it, so what was he going to do?

    Viserys is a hammer, and slave based city states are nails. Asmodeus doesnt win by trying to out hammer someone who holds all the advantages in that contest.
     
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    DragonParadox said:
    The storm of rumors only grew. Some said the mages ruled a brace of the city's eldest houses in all but name, others claimed the killers were the Sons of the Harpy preparing the triumphal return of their patron by laying down a path of their enemies' bones but whatever culprit one ascribed the recent deaths to it was clear fear stalked the Great Masters of Meereen. The boldest bet-takers began to quietly lay odds for this or that master making it through the moonturn.
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    I find it very suspicious that not even one rumor blames the slave-freeing Dragon conquering the territories of Valyria in the west. This reeks of a trap.
     
    Teana is made for this stuff, y'all.

    [X] One of Teana's Shadow-Trace duplicates, buffed for social combat and disguised to hide her appearance behind form concealing robes and mask, will meet with the Sons of the Harpy contact.
    -[X] The duplicate will carry a hidden satchel with Fungal Stun Vials and Sleep Smoke containers primed for dispersion by an Explosive Launcher munition to detonate should she feel it necessary.
    -[X] In addition to Teana's mental link with her duplicate, Malarys will observe the meeting using his Greater Scrying spell while Tyene used the Crystal Ball.
     
    Duesal said:
    I find it very suspicious that not even one rumor blames the slave-freeing Dragon conquering the territories of Valyria in the west. This reeks of a trap. More likely, most people just haven't made a connection because this doesn't fit our normal MO.
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    I'm not sure how a lack of rumors accusing Viserys could be a trap.
    One Autumn Leaf said:
    Did we swap out the Mind-blank rings? Does Ceria have a regular one now?
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    The only ring that was compromised was Aradia's, and it was only weak to that one Belief Devil. She could have easily swapped it out with a fresh one when the group was in SD for the Belier interrogation. I wouldn't blame her for not wanting to wear that ring any longer. I'll update the Armory to reflect her getting a new ring, along with adding the Devil-linked ring.
     
    Goldfish said:
    I'm not sure how a lack of rumors accusing Viserys could be a trap.
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    It's because by all rights there should be dozens of rumors against Viserys. Viserys is both directly and indirectly responsible for all of Slaver's Bay being on the brink of total collapse and everyone knows it. He's utterly demolished the slave trade, he's uniting the old Valyrian provinces (which is rightfully terrifying to the Ghiscari), he's blocking their navies when they try to find business elsewhere, etc.

    The absence of slander against Viserys is absolutely suspicious. Everyone and their mother slanders Viserys, and yet Slaver's Bay of all places is squeaky clean?
     
    Goldfish said:
    The only ring that was compromised was Aradia's, and it was only weak to that one Belief Devil. She could have easily swapped it out with a fresh one when the group was in SD for the Belier interrogation. I wouldn't blame her for not wanting to wear that ring any longer. I'll update the Armory to reflect her getting a new ring, along with adding the Devil-linked ring.
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    So here is another thought then. What are the odds that they extracted biological material from her to use as a curse? Also Aradia and Lya are biologically the same correct?

    Edit: With the mind whammy we would have checked that correct?
     
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