Remove ads

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

Reader mode
Remove ads
Part MMMDXCI: On Cursed Ground
  • Threadmarks
    • On Cursed Ground ​

    Seventh Day of the Second Month 294 AC

    A deal is struck once more, a second note more muted than the first, but ringing no less true. As you leave the city Tyene wonders aloud where you would even find agents who would be able to walk freely among the dead of Mardosh and jests that Wyla's magic may be put to use sooner than you think, but ultimately there is a much simpler solution at hand, shadow spies. They are subtle enough not to break the facade most of the city lives under by accident and clever enough to find enemy agents abroad while being neither alive nor dead themselves, and thus hopefully more resilient to Powers holding some dominion over the Veil.

    Back along the line of the Sarne you ride across the paths of air, a deathly cavalcade such as you imagine would inspire frightful tales to any below who beheld it by light of sun or moon, were there any of the living still aboard in the Great Grass Sea. Eyeless faces look up from weed choked fields in only faint understanding of what crosses the face of the moon.

    So the journey goes back towards the south, towards Kasath with its temples and it caravans, its people murdered as much by their own fellows as the Dothraki. You have no hope of forging even a tentative alliance there, but perhaps some can be found who have kept their sanity in the shadow of the towering monstrosity Eskil descried.

    Before you are more than half way back however Waymar points at a flash of crimson flame on the plains below you. "Look! I think there are living people down there, fighting! We have to..." the words cut off.

    The scene below you is not one of living people valiantly holding out on the wide plains somehow years after the fall of Vaes Dothrak. Instead, what looks like hundreds of the hungry dead, eyes burning crimson and forms emaciated by their gnawing curse, are clashing with what looks like a embattled company of chariots under the banner of Gornath. What they are even doing this far east you could not say, but it is clear their foes are winning, staging a dark almost mocking reflection of the fall of Sarnor.

    Riders on accursed steeds, half caked with blood and grave dust, flashing fangs as sharp as their masters, whose wheels twist around the heavier chariots. Skeletal steeds do not tire, but they have to contend with the simple mass of vehicle and rider where the dead Dothraki flow through the grass like the wind. They are not using bows as they did in life you realize, but heavy javelins meant to shatter bone and fling the Sarnori wholly out of the saddle.

    The leader of the riders calls out in a harsh, but still clear voice: "We will kill you rats, kill you true for the blood you spilled! Kill you forever and gnaw your bones!" On his shoulder is perched what you had at first thought was some manner of unliving bird until you see the horribly small, but undeniably human head upon it. An infatis. Craster did not alas have a monopoly on that breed of undead and you can well imagine the atrocity that raised the Dothraki from the poisoned earth to fight their slayers in turn.

    Eskil's guards look torn, some of them might be inclined to aid their fellow Sarnori whereas these were the very same warriors who picked over the spoils of their city like vultures.

    By contrast your companions look as pale and horrified at the scene of senseless butchery below as you feel, and in their gazes you read the same question ringing through your mind. Can any of them ever rest?

    What do you do?

    [] Intervene
    -[] Aid the chariots from Gornath, you could use knowledge of the city of the Rat King, perhaps even eyes there
    -[] Aid the dead Dothraki, you would know how many others shared their fate and where they might congregate
    -[] Try to stop the fight altogether, to bring some sanity back and end this cycle of murder

    [] Fly on there is little you can do here

    [] Write in

    OOC: And here is our friend random encounter, not something personally dangerous this time around, but a matter worth a vote.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • [x]Kill both sides since they're equally abominable.

    I'm just dropping this since it's not a listed option, but some people might want to go for this.
     
    @DragonParadox, what's our progress on the Daemon?
    Did we get the true name outta Reaper's corpse? Did our Companions manage to establish a connection to force-summon it via Yss' Curse-Staff?
     
    So, dead Dothraki fighting dead Sarnori?
    DragonParadox said:
    Gornath, remembered as the City of Rats by the Dothraki, certainly seems to live up to that foul name in death, though not as one might imagine. Something about the city's death, to treachery and starvation, seems to have bound the hungering dead into a sort of swarm of many eyes under the dominion of the Rat King whose gaze we only narrowly avoided during the destruction of the Golden Company's Citadel. Given the powers of the Rat King seem most concerned with preventing him from ever being surprised and betrayed as he was in life, and the many rotting eyes looking out from between the crumbling edifices, stealth seems unlikely to grant one advantage no matter how skillful one might be in twisting shadow into a glamour.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    And of Sarnath there seems to be nothing but completely maddened dead, ruled by the Rat King who we're here to kill.

    It's a good thing we briefed our Sarnori allies we're here to kill the things in Gornath and Sarnath.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    The attempt will need a laboratory, a library and a few days worth for a proper attempt. It can't be done safely in the field not for a Daemon that strong.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    And this is progressing automatically now that it's been voted on, @DragonParadox?

    Also, regarding the scene in front of us:
    1. Could we dominate the Sarnori undead to give us intel on the Rat King?
    2. Are there any magic items that stand out?
     
    :facepalm:
    Dead people killed in an avenged genocide return to avenge their genocide in turn.

    I guess we could just burn and salt the entire Grass Sea with enough time and money?
    (Salt has minor anti-Undead qualities, right?)
     
    @DragonParadox, just confirming, the Sarnori delegates in front of us are aware we have beef with the Rat King and Gornash as a whole, right? We announced it to the queen in Sathar, but we didn't get around to it in Mardosh. Can we assume the Mardoshi delegate was brought up to speed?
     
    Duesal said:
    Also, regarding the scene in front of us:
    1. Could we dominate the Sarnori undead to give us intel on the Rat King?
    2. Are there any magic items that stand out?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    1. Dany channels positive energy, she turns and destroys undead as I recall but you could use spells
    2. The Sarnori definitely have some magic, but it's hard to tell what just from looking down at a running battle
    Artemis1992 said:
    :facepalm:
    Dead people killed in an avenged genocide return to avenge their genocide in turn.

    I guess we could just burn and salt the entire Grass Sea with enough time and money?
    (Salt has minor anti-Undead qualities, right?)
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Yep, the dead killing the dead in a gruesome mockery of wars past
     
    [X] Cast Erupt while your companions defend you for the duration of the casting-time and take to the sky in the last moment to evade the resulting effect.
     
    Duesal said:
    @DragonParadox, just confirming, the Sarnori delegates in front of us are aware we have beef with the Rat King and Gornash as a whole, right? We announced it to the queen in Sathar, but we didn't get around to it in Mardosh. Can we assume the Mardoshi delegate was brought up to speed?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    They have yes

    silvanknight said:
    @DragonParadox is the Angelic Seal spell line allowed?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Yes, just be aware that 'evil' as an alignment includes a good portion of your population and quite a few of the Companions.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    On Cursed Ground ​

    Seventh Day of the Second Month 294 AC

    A deal is struck once more, a second note, more muted than the first but ringing no less true. As you leave the city, Tyene wonders aloud where you would even find agents who would be able to walk freely among the dead of Mardosh and jests that Wyla's magic may be put to use sooner than you think, but ultimately there is a much simpler solution at hand, shadow spies. They are subtle enough not to accidentally break the facade most of the city lives under by and clever enough to find enemy agents abroad, while being neither alive nor dead themselves, and thus hopefully more resilient to Powers holding some dominion over that Veil.

    Back along the line of the Sarne, you ride across the paths of air, a deathly cavalcade such as you imagine would inspire frightful tales to any below who beheld it by light of sun or moon, were there any of the living still aboard in the Great Grass Sea. Eyeless faces look up from weed-choked fields in only faint understanding of what crosses the face of the moon.

    So the journey goes back towards the south, towards Kasath with its temples and it caravans, its people murdered as much by their own fellows as the Dothraki. You have no hope of forging even a tentative alliance there, but perhaps some can be found who have kept their sanity in the shadow of the towering monstrosity Eskil described.

    Before you are more than half way back, however, Waymar points at a flash of crimson flame on the planes below you. "Look! I think there are living people down there, fighting. We have to..." the words cut off.

    The scene below you is not one of living people valiantly holding out on the wide plains somehow, years after the fall of Vaes Dothrak. Instead what looks like hundreds of the Hungry Dead, eyes burning crimson and forms emaciated by their gnawing curse, are clashing with what looks like an embattled company of chariots under the banner of Gornath. What they are even doing this far east you could not say, but it is clear their foes are winning, staging a dark almost mocking reflection of the fall of Sarnor.

    Riders on accursed steeds, half caked with blood and grave dust, flashing fangs as sharp as their masters, wheel and twist around the heavier chariots. Skeletal steeds do not tire, but they have to contend with the simple mass of vehicle and rider where the dead Dothraki flow through the grass like the wind. They are not using bows as they did in life you realize, but heavy javelins meant to shatter bone and fling the Sarnori wholly out of the saddle.

    The leader of the riders calls out in a harsh, but still clear voice, "We will kill you rats, kill you true for the blood you spilled! Kill you forever and gnaw your bones." On his shoulder is perched what you had at first thought was some manner of unliving bird until you see the horribly small, but undeniably human head upon it; Infantis. Alas, Craster did not hold a monopoly on that breed of unliving dead, and you can well imagine the atrocity that raised the Dothraki from the poisoned earth to fight their slayers in turn.

    Eskil's guards look torn, some of them might be inclined to aid their fellow Sarnori were these not the very warriors who picked over the spoils of their city like vultures.

    By contrast, your companions look as pale and horrified at the scene of senseless butchery below as you feel and in their gazes, you read the same question ringing through your mind. Can any of them ever rest?

    What do you do?

    [] Intervene
    -[] Aid the chariots from Gornath, you could use knowledge of the city of the Rat King perhaps even eyes there
    -[] Aid the dead Dothraki, you would know how many others shared their fate and where they might congregate
    -[] Try to stop the fight altogether, to bring some sanity back and end this cycle of murder

    [] Fly on there is little you can do here

    [] Write in

    OOC: And here is our friend random encounter, not something personally dangerous this time around, but a matter worth a vote. Not yet edited.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

    If we destroyed them all, how does Viserys think the representatives from Sathar and Mardosh would react, @DragonParadox.
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top