Remove ads

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

Reader mode
DragonParadox said:
I think I can manage a small informational post to leave you guys something to discuss overnight. What would you guys rather see of the following?
  1. A full god write up for Syrax
  2. A lecture on rune magic
  3. A location of interest in Valyria
  4. Historical info on the Marid Emirates
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Option 3, please?
 
A location of interest would be amazing, heck if it is possible we could take the moon chaser with a lot of bags of holding and loot the place to the bedrock.
 
Remove ads
The Great Library of Oros
  • Informational
    • The Great Library of Oros ​

    There are few in the later days of Valyria who yet recalled that there had once been a greater breed of dragons than those who flew through the skies between the Fourteen Fires, ones possessed of sorcery and inhuman cunning, ones with a lust for power and gold. Fewer still would have known that some of those Elder Wyrms treasured not glittering gold, but a treasure much more precious by far. The greatest of these was Orocalys the Wise who boasted that his collection bespoke of 'all under heaven'.

    Like all the Great Dragons who sired the Freehold he too was cast down by his children, Meraxes and Syrax, who together shattered his thrall armies and broke his wards. Though a wyrm cornered in his lair could have wrought terrible ruin with his dying breath, Orocalys agreed to surrender himself to the rebels and to his own death at the last on the condition that his collection would be preserved and added to in the ages to come and that his name would be remembered, and so it was that Oros alone of all the great cities that bloomed after the Wyrmfall bore the name of one of the Masters. Scholars and sorcerers, sages and spirits, all added to the Great Library as one was to bring a tithe of lore to be allowed past the silvered gates.

    In time the precise identity of he who had laid the seeds of the great trove of lore was lost, but by the memories of gods and the works of their priests Orocalys's own name was recalled and honored among the bustling streets surrounding the library like spokes on a wheel. Whispers in the darker quarters away from the ears of the inquisitors of Balerion spoke of a stranger history, of a great demon by that name chained beneath the earth at the heart of the complex, and some that there were who worked strange and secret rituals to he whom they called the Maker and Master of Oros.

    The Keepers of the Seven Seals, guardians and custodians of the library, scoffed at such a notion. The only thing at the heart of the library was the vault, holding only the texts deemed most vital and precious, it had been constructed and warded to last 'even onto the ending of the world'. Perhaps its builders considered it mere hyperbole, but then their world ended in fire they could not master and in the heart of the the Vault, in the heart of Oros...

    An old heart beat again to the ears of dying gods.

    Fair Oros was a port in the days of old, drawing visitors not only from Valyria and her colonies but from as far a field as Yin and Asshai, but now much of the city has collapsed into the waters of the Smoking Sea including all public entrances to the library, leaving the would-be explorer the choice of carving their war through the cursed stone or taking the narrow secret paths of those who would enter the vaults, untroubled by the masses of petitioners. Unfortunately these paths were designed for secrecy and not convenience, and in the days since the Doom all manner of mutated arcane horrors have come to nest here.

    Worse still they seem to be acting with a purpose.

    OOC: Having the former goddess of prophecy and magic telling you where to loot leads to more detailed reports than you might otherwise have.
     
    Last edited:
  • Informational
    • DragonParadox said:
    The Great Library of Oros
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I want it

    I want it so much!

    DragonParadox said:
    Unfortunately these paths were designed for secrecy and not convenience and in the days since the doom all manner of mutated arcane horrors have come to nest here.

    Worse still they seem to be acting with a purpose.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Anyone else think that's something we should look into?... for reasons totally unrelated to my desire for loot of course.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    The Great Library of Oros ​

    There were few in the later days of Valyria who yet recalled that there had once been a greater breed of dragons than those who flew through the skies between the Fourteen Fires, ones possessed of sorcery and inhuman cunning, ones with a lust for power and gold. Fewer still would have known that some of those Elder Wyrms treasured not glittering gold, but a treasure much more precious by far. The greatest of these was Orocalys the Wise, who boasted that his collection bespoke of 'all under heaven'.

    Like all the Great Dragons who sired the Freehold, he too was cast down, his children Meraxes and Syrax together shattered his thrall armies and broke his wards. Though a wyrm cornered in his lair could have wrought terrible ruin with his dying breath, Orocalys agreed to surrender himself to the rebels and to his own death at the last, on the condition that his collection would be preserved and added to in the ages to come, and that his name would be remembered and so it was that Oros alone of all the great cities that bloomed after the Wyrmfall bore the name of one of the Masters. Scholars and sorcerers, sages and spirits, all added to the Great Library, as one was required to bring a tithe of lore to be allowed beyond the silvered gates.

    In time the precise identity of he who had laid the seeds of the great trove of lore was lost, but by the memories of gods and the works of their priests, Orocalys's own name was recalled and honored among the bustling streets surrounding the library like spokes on a wheel. Whispers in the darker quarters, away from the ears of the inquisitors of Balerion, spoke of a stranger history, of a great demon by that name chained beneath the earth at the heart of the complex, and some there were who worked strange and secret rituals to he whom they called the Maker and Master of Oros.

    The Keepers of the Seven Seals, guardians and custodians of the library, scoffed at such a notion. The only thing at the heart of the library was the vault. Holding only the texts deemed most vital and precious, it had been constructed and warded to last 'even unto the ending of the world'. Perhaps its builders considered it mere hyperbole, but then their world ended in fire they could not master, and in the heart of the the Vault in the heart of Oros...

    An old heart beat again to the ears of dying gods.

    Fair Oros was a port in the days of old, drawing visitors not only from Valyria and her colonies but from as far a field as Yin and Asshai, but now much of the city has collapsed into the waters of the Smoking Sea, including all public entrances to the library, leaving the would be explorer the choice of carving their war through the cursed stone, or taking the narrow secret paths of those who would enter the vaults untroubled by the masses of petitioners. Unfortunately, these paths were designed for secrecy and not convenience, and in the days since the Doom all manner of mutated arcane horrors have come to nest here.

    Worse still, they seem to be acting with a purpose.

    OOC: Having the former goddess of prophecy and magic telling you where to loot leads to more detailed reports than you might otherwise have. Not yet edited.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

    Very cool infopost! This will be going on the itinerary for sure.
     
    Duesal said:
    It's fine, we'll have ways to bring her back. We just need her temporarily dead.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    The worst part is really having to track down and shank every other Valyrian god, some of whom will likely prove to be:
    a) Assholes we wouldn't want to rezz back at all;
    b) Assholes who wouldn't want to risk dying even temporarily, no matter how good our word is.

    Rezzing them back is the easy part, we have either the remaining juice in our Well of Eternity (to jump-start them if nothing else; their Legend would play really well with it), or copious amounts of Daemon-sacrifices, who are easy and cheap to acquire in thousands of HD.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Whispers in the darker quarters away from the ears of the inquisitors of Balerion spoke of a stranger history, of a great demon by that name chained beneath the earth at the heart of the complex, and some that there were who worked strange and secret rituals to he whom they called the Maker and Master of Oros.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Now this is possibly the best prize of all. I can't wait to see this.
     
    SIGH why do the always use them as power reactors.

    They always come back! Why weren't the Valyrians more genre-savvy?!

    Like us?!

    We're not paranoid! That's why we're going to barge into a Prince's cell on a gut feeling! 😒
     
    Vote closed.
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jul 16, 2020 at 4:22 AM, finished with 57 posts and 16 votes.
    Click to expand...
     
    Remove ads
    Part MMMDLXXXVII: Peace of Mind
  • Threadmarks
    • Peace of Mind ​

    Sixth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

    It does not take you more than a few moments to decide. If Dany is wrong and you visit the prince again for naught than you are not taking a risk any worse than you already did. If she is right and you do nothing than you might return to Mardosh to find it embroiled in a civil war where its people will be the ultimate losers no matter the outcome. Better to risk acting then not acting.

    That rather simple decision is soon complicated by the arrival of the Lord Protector's herald who has very specific notions about what it means to move 'with all due haste' as his lord bid, and his own place in this expedition. After a while even Eskil's calm and insightful commentary falls into frosty silence as the eight of you walk back through the wraith haunted streets of the City of Soldiers.

    You glance meaningfully towards Tyene. "Why do I have to deal with it?" the mental eye-roll practically audible in the thought.

    "Because Ser Richard might decide to use Oathkeeper and doing it myself would only enhance the notion of his own importance," you reply not without sympathy. "Someone does have to watch over-proud fools, be they dead or alive."

    "I would not be tempted,"     Ser Richard says. "My place is at your side, Your Grace."

    "I can just stay in the magic bag, three's enough air in there for the trip,"     Dany hastens to add.

    This too you consider, though only a moment. It would cost more power to allow the knight to accompany you, but he can play the silent guard well enough.

    ***​

    You slip away from the party, citing a desire to to gather arcane reagents before doubling back to Mardosh, and once more return to the Tower of the First Watch. You know a bit more of the part you should be playing now but the guards seem more suspicious of your presence, the shadows darker at your passage... a familiar chill upon the air. Dany's guess had not been wrong. You take the steps as quickly as you dare, the clank of Ser Richard's armored boots beside you.

    The door is ajar... a hooded figure taller than any mortal man looms above Zadin, half-glimpsed phantasms swirling around it. You cannot see their face, but the young prince surely can as broken sobs tear from his lips, shattered fragments of words you cannot guess at, but the thing surely can. It has not seen you yet.

    As you gather your will and sorcery the hooded head suddenly snaps upwards and in the depths of its hood you see a dreadful sickly light that does not illuminate aught but itself, a purpose that devours, a weight no living soul can bear. Death that is Ruin is close kin to Death that is Unmaking, the words of the Grandmaster of the Faceless Men ring in your mind. Before you was a daemon fallen beyond even the festering depths of Abaddon, bonded to a spirit of death that has never known life... in the midst of a city of the restless dead.

    Secrecy is as dead as Sarnor, now only battle remains.

    How do you face the twin-souled abomination?

    [] Write in

    OOC: I know you technically have to be alive to be a daemon host, but this seemed the best way to model an elder daemon fallen to the void and joined to its service.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top