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

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Azel said:
Not really comparable. Aegon was a direct enemy and this ain't a Shonen manga, so the conclusion was clear from day one.

The Court of Stars is another polity with desires that are largely opposed to that of Viserys. Compromise isn't going to happen, swaying them into subservience extraordinarily unlikely, so the tool of choice will be murder. Questers as a whole do not tolerate peers or disobedience.
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That is what I was referring to when I mentioned a pattern.
 
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Interlude DCCCXX: Shadow and Veil
  • Threadmarks
    • Shadow and Veil ​

    Twenty Second Day of the First Month 294 AC

    Ten Leagues South of Three Towers, the Reach

    Perhaps unsurprisingly it proved that the fey of the Court of Light, bright and loquacious, were not the best at keeping secrets even when they were so inclined, and when faced with interesting conversationalists bearing news from distant lands and the odd enchanted trinket many of them did not even try, explaining their places in the varying degrees of pride or resignation, depending on the mortals in whose company they ended up.

    Lya was thus quickly able to put together that the ritual the Court of Stars had laid over portions of the Reach functioned on principles at once simple and elegant. As light from a candle defused in a chamber so the mantles of the fey acting within the settlements flowed over them, anchoring them to playing their parts with skill and grace. The simplest way to unmake the ritual, much as Lya hated contemplating it, was to kill all these fey with some ceremony. It would not even be that hard to design...

    Beyond the horror of killing what must be several hundred if not a thousand fey who had in most cases not done anything wrong personally, the backlash would all flow upwards to each lord who agreed to the pact. Though she could not say for certain what their fates would be in such a case Lya was quite certain Lady Melisandre's guess was right. Death would be a great kindness in comparison. It was also possible that with the way many of the fey guests had woven their own magics into the harvest rituals brought over from the east it would probably blight the land.

    Thankfully the latter aspect also made her work a little easier in other less bloody avenues. The bond of lord and land was something the Old Gods knew well and could use when sinking their roots into the whole edifice. If enough of the lesser fey defected they could simply pinch the whole edifice from under the nose of the Court of Stars like they had the Golden Hearth from the Stormlands. Strip the narrative enforcement aspects, keep the wide ranging landwards that would allow one to detect unusual powers, like those of other Spheres or that which lay Beyond, then just hand it over to our mages and anchor it in fixed infrastructure. Rocks and runes would work.

    "Are you certain the Tree Gods would then agree to release the newly altered wards into the keeping of mortal mages?" the shadowbinder's soft voice called her from her reverie.

    "As long as sufficient sacrifice is given that part is easy," Lya waved it away, the gesture almost brushing some of the mount of papers clear off the table. "I'm trying to figure out a way to do the first one without mass fey defections. I do not think Queen Rhaella would appreciate being given a list of villages long enough to sweep the floor and told she has to convince the fey guardian in each one..."

    "Assuming deathless spirits would or even could defect simply because you talked prettily and bribed richly," the priestess interjected. Her eyes suddenly narrowed. "The mortal lords and ladies... have the dispersed fey swear to them, the bonds already exist, in most cases these hidden spirits live in their lands as mortals, so instead of weaving a new link strengthen the one that is already there."

    "You would have to teach them ritual casting, they would have to do it themselves, no delegation possible," Lya interjected dubiously.

    "They are not children to be coddled," Lady Melisandre sniffed. "These are men and women born to power and trained in its use. Let them prove their mettle in the changing world."

    "It would be very noticeable...."

    "Whatever you are speaking of, Wisdom, it can wait for later," a urgent hiss rose from the shadows in the corner that had before been empty and were not filled by one of the orphne lords. "One of the fey lords of the Veil just attempted to capture the spark-bright dragon, likely to question him about our activities. I was able to rescue her in time..." Ignoring Dirtiz's stuttering he continued. "They are aware of us and likely plan to confront or block us. I suggest we withdraw or at least allow the two of us to do so. The presence of shadow fey could well be seen as... provocative."

    What does Lya do?

    [] Withdraw the whole group for now, she has a solution if not quite a perfect one yet

    [] Allow the orphne fey to leave and continue with her studies

    [] Confront the fey of the Violet Veil

    [] Write in

    OOC: Your gamble mostly paid off, though not quite perfectly.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • DragonParadox said:
    Beyond the horror of killing what must be several hundred if not a thousand fey who had in most cases not done anything wrong personally
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    I don't think we have enough assassins for this. Morality and consequences aside.

    DragonParadox said:
    "Whatever you are speaking of wisdom it can wait for later," a urgent hiss rose from the shadows in the corner that had before been empty and were not filled by one of the Orphne lords. "One of the fey lords of the Veil just attempted to capture the spark-bright dragon, likely to question him about our activities. I was able to rescue her in time..." Ignoring Dirriz's stuttering he continued. "They are aware of us and likely to confront or block us. I suggest we withdraw or at least allow the two of us to do so. the presence of Shadow Fey could well be seen as... provocative."
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    Oh hey look a wild opportunity.
     
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    [X] Confront the fey of the Violet Veil

    We did not get all these people here for academic research.
    We did not understaff our Slaver's Bay action to the point of not even trying to hit the major devils, only so we would stay down here too.
    If worst comes to worst, Viserys and even more reinforcements are in the general area.
     
    Yes, convert the middleman. You should never trust a Fey to do nothing for long periods of time. It's in their nature to be whimsical and this grand of a betrayal would play to their nature's perfectly.
     
    zxzx24 said:
    I don't think we have enough assassins for this. Morality and consequences aside.
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    Middling Fey don't get Mindblank, mostly not even Nondetection.

    First we need a lot of spywork to identify most of the fey.
    Then we put our people in the house of mirrors and our serious mages on full scry-and-die duties it would be a logistic challenge, but not an impossible one.
    Assume an Erinyes can murder any CR 3-8 Fey quickly and efficiently, assume that serious reinforcements will only have to be called in in maybe one in twenty kills, and I think we could perform over 200 fast-teleport murders per day?
     
    Giving local lords this much power over defense infrastructure sounds not like a good idea.

    I'd rather strip the wards entirely and re-anchor them to the Imperial Pseudo-Deity, which would blend perfectly.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Shadow and Veil ​

    Twenty Second Day of the First Month 294 AC

    Ten Leagues South of Three Towers, the Reach

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, it proved that the fey of the Court of Light, bright and loquacious, were not the best at keeping secrets even when they were so inclined, and when faced with interesting conversationalists bearing news from distant lands and the odd enchanted trinket, many of them did not even try, explaining their places in Court with the varying degrees of pride or resignation, depending on the mortals in whose company they ended up.

    Lya was thus quickly able to put together that the ritual the Court of Stars had laid over portions of the Reach functioned on principles at once simple and elegant. As light from a candle defused in a chamber, so to did the mantles of the fey acting within the settlements flow over them, anchoring them to playing their parts with skill and grace. The simplest way to unmake the ritual, much as Lya hated contemplating it, was to kill all these fey with some ceremony. It would not even be that hard to design...

    Beyond the horror of killing what must be several hundred if not a thousand fey who had in most cases not done anything wrong personally, the backlash would all flow upwards to each lord who agreed to the pact. Though she could not say for certain what their fates would be in such a case, Lya was quite certain Lady Melisandre's guess was right. Death would be a great kindness in comparison. It was also possible that with the way many of the fey guests had woven their own magics into the harvest rituals brought over from the east, it would probably also blight the land.

    Thankfully, the latter aspect also made her work a little easier in other less bloody avenues. The bond of lord and land was something the old gods knew well and could use when sinking their roots into the whole edifice. if enough of the lesser fey defected, they could simply pinch the whole edifice from under the nose of the Court of Stars like they had the Golden Hearth from the Stormlands. Strip the narrative enforcement aspects, keep the wide ranging landwards that would allow one to detect unusual powers, like those of other Spheres or that which lay Beyond, then just hand it over to our mages and anchor it in fixed infrastructure. Rocks and runes would work.

    "Are you certain the Tree Gods would then agree to release the newly altered wards into the keeping of mortal mages?" the shadow-binder's soft voice called her from her reverie.

    "As long as sufficient sacrifice is given, that part is easy," Lya waved it away, the gesture almost brushing some of the mound of papers clear off the table. "I'm trying to figure out a way to do the first one without mass fey defections. I do not think Queen Rhaella would appreciate being given a list of villages long enough to sweep the floor and told she has to convince the fey guardian in each one..."

    "Assuming deathless spirits would or even could defect simply because you talked prettily and bribed richly," the priestess interjected. Her eyes suddenly narrowed. "The mortal lords and ladies... have the dispersed fey swear to them, the bonds already exist, in most cases these hidden spirits live in their lands as mortals, instead of weaving a new link strengthen the one that is already there."

    "You would have to teach them ritual casting, they would have to do it themselves, no delegation posibile," Lya interjected dubiously.

    "They are not children to be coddled," Lady Melisandre sniffed. "These are men and women born to power and trained in its use. Let them prove their mettle in the changing world."

    "It would be very noticeable...."

    "Whatever you are speaking of, wisdom, it can wait for later," an urgent hiss rose from the shadows in the corner that had before been empty and were now filled by one of the Orphne lords. "One of the fey lords of the Veil just attempted to capture the spark-bright dragon, likely to question him about our activities. I was able to rescue her in time..." Ignoring Dirriz's stuttering, he continued. "They are aware of us and likely to attempt to confront or block us. I suggest we withdraw or at least allow the two of us to do so. The presence of Shadow Fey could well be seen as... provocative."

    What does Lya do?

    [] Withdraw the whole group for now, she has a solution if not quite a perfect one yet

    [] Allow the Orphne fey to leave and continue with her studies

    [] Confront the fey of the Violet Veil

    [] Write in

    OOC: Your gamble mostly paid off though not quite perfectly. Not yet edited.
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    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.
     
    Azel said:
    Giving local lords this much power over defense infrastructure sounds not like a good idea.

    I'd rather strip the wards entirely and re-anchor them to the Imperial Pseudo-Deity, which would blend perfectly.
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    Keep in mind the lords could then release their new fey servants freely, the metaphysical limitation Lya is working around is that to alter a fey ritual the changes have to be 'fair' by some metric, they have to flow from old patterns to new ones.
     
    Azel said:
    Giving local lords this much power over defense infrastructure sounds not like a good idea.

    I'd rather strip the wards entirely and re-anchor them to the Imperial Pseudo-Deity, which would blend perfectly.
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    We would still need the Lords for the initial stealing-ritual, if I understand that right.
    Not my preferred solution for sure, trusting warriors and expert with big ritual-casting.

    I mean, without either mass-murder or mass-defection of Fey for the other counter-variants.

    I think breaking the pacts might be non-viable for now.
    Maybe just concentrate on actually conquering the area. Then we have a lot more room to work. We can put lords in charge who never made deals with the Fey, we can directly counteract blights or curses through rituals of our own and so on.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Keep in mind the lords could then release their new fey servants freely, the metaphysical limitation Lya is working around is that to alter a fey ritual the changes have to be 'fair' by some metric, they have to flow from old patterns to new ones.
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    Sounds still neither politically desirable, nor logistically viable.

    Rhealla going around and directly subverting Fey would be less complicated then teaching every Reacher lord ritual magic and then holding their hands while they try to convince the Fey of defecting.

    It's the same thing, just delegated from a high-diplo caster to a bunch of questionably skilled muggles.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Thankfully the latter aspect also made her work a little easier in other less bloody avenues. The bond of lord and land was something the Old Gods knew well and could use when sinking their roots into the whole edifice. If enough of the lesser fey defected they could simply pinch the whole edifice from under the nose of the Court of Stars like they had the Golden Hearth from the Stormlands. Strip the narrative enforcement aspects, keep the wide ranging landwards that would allow one to detect unusual powers, like those of other Spheres or that which lay Beyond, then just hand it over to our mages and anchor it in fixed infrastructure. Rocks and runes would work.
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    No need for a vote about our goal, eh? The rest of this updates seems to assume that this is what we will be doing, and that any debate will simply be about the particulars.
    You know your playerbase, DP ;)
     
    [X] Confront the fey of the Violet Veil

    Yeah, bottom line, we torch Reach here and now.
    ...Still a win in my books.
     
    Azel said:
    Sounds still neither politically desirable, nor logistically viable.

    Rhealla going around and directly subverting Fey would be less complicated then teaching every Reacher lord ritual magic and then holding their hands while they try to convince the Fey of defecting.

    It's the same thing, just delegated from a high-diplo caster to a bunch of questionably skilled muggles.
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    The trouble is the fey are not free agents. It would lessen them to just directly pledge to Viserys whereas it would cost them less to swear to the lords to whom they are already bound. The idea is to use the lords as middlemen making the idea more palatable to the fey, still far from perfect as the update says, but helpful.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    The trouble is the fey are not free agents. It would lessen them to just directly pledge to Viserys whereas it would cost them less to swear to the lords to whom they are already bound. The idea is to use the lords as middlemen making the idea more palatable to the fey, still far from perfect as the update says, but helpful.
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    Which also empowers the local lords, which we don't want at all. I mean, it's pretty obvious that you want us to do so, but it's running counter to every political choice we ever made.
     
    We also have that one ancient Weirwood we recovered recently (from Thenn Valley, I think), which could serve as a powerful central anchor for a Heart Tree based ward to take over control of the Fey wards blanketing the Reach.
     
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