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

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Interlude CMXI: What Lurks Bellow
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    • What Lurks Bellow ​

    Eighteenth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

    If someone had told Garin Drekelis that he would be plumbing the depths of a Flesh Forge infested by the Far Realm on the word of Zherys of Volantis he would have likely called them mad. The the erstwhile High Speaker of the Mysterium was the kind of man to send his potential rivals into a deathtrap with a polite smile and a cup of tea for the road. But much to Garin's surprise there had been no new annotations, no 'just remembered' accounts to add when he had thrown in with Viserys in full. The offer had been sincere from the start and he had always been expecting them to, if not triumph, at least survive the experience.

    Somehow the thought was not as comforting as it could have been as he, Xor and Lashare passed unseen through the narrow cobbled streets looking for the entrance that had been there over twenty years ago. The young Braavosi knew too well how quickly Flesh Forges could change once they had woken, and that was without being driven mad and spitting out life-sucking nightmare infants. Hopefully this hidden way was hidden still.

    They found the green door Zherys' instructions had mentioned easily enough, it had once belonged to one of the most skilled and prolific smiths in all Qohor, now the paint was flaking and a heavy lock and chain barred the way. A sign that the hosts knew there was an entrance here, or simply a mark that the previous owner had been an enemy of the regime, his property sealed?

    Beyond there was only darkness and dust, half a year's worth if Garin was any judge, but from the empty shelves and forlorn hooks upon the wall of the smithy he guessed that either the former owner had time to pack up his most prized belongings before leaving or he had not left willingly. If this city were in the thrall of fiends he would guess the latter far more likely than the former, but he recalled Xor's words all too well. The priests were mad and the One they prayed to may not even acknowledge their existence. He did not even want to contemplate what it must be like for any seers seeking answers hidden from mortal sight.

    "Count six bricks left from the corner of the pantry door and three up," Xor's reminder of their instructions of passage interrupted his thoughts.

    "We can translocate past it, no reason to give anything that might feel tremors in the earth a warning," Garin was aware that the Flesh Forge in Gogossos did have such protections, delicate fungal filaments threaded through the soil and stone roots burrowing through the bedrock to give warnings of any unexpected burrowing.

    Of course, if they had been that careful how could they have missed a back way? Garin shook off the thought. There was no way to tell unless they tried. "I'll go first," he said to the others.

    Shadow here and Shadow there.. all were one. In less than the span of a breath Garin was past the hidden trap door and into the empty space beyond.

    For the first time since he had woken in that bed in Wind House four years ago Garin Drekelis would have preferred not to see in the dark.

    The thing before him was too horrifying to name, a creature of oily black pustules and pink glistening flesh, a circular maw ringed in needle-sharp teeth expanding and contracting to show a second insectoid mandible, silted cats eyes looking through drooping folds of flesh and worst of all perfectly formed human arms reaching out blindly among writhing tentacles almost as if in supplication. Garin wanted to believe this was some alien horror that had taken on the superficial form of humanity, but the pulse of its blood called out to him. This had once been a man, or several of them.


    Thankfully it did not seem to be able to see him wrapped in glamors as he was, but some instinct warned him to wait and watch, however little his eyes might wish to linger upon the thing. A moment later the air pulsed, with a silent scream and spark of pain shivered across Garin's temples. The arcane veil he wore gave way like withered leaves in an autumn gale. Garin did not move a muscle, still as death. The walls here were not stone but warped dark glass glass, sharp and easily broken, he realized.

    It still could not see him.

    Why did it use the spell then? He wondered as much to himself as to Xor whom he could steel feel at the back of his mind. A moment mater another pulse answered him, like the beat of a heart, this time aiming to strip away all enchantments, though not near as powerful for its lack of focus.

    As the horror moved away the High Inquisitor estimated the... being's watchfulness. He had no doubt that he could get past it on mundane skills alone, but he was not certain if his companions could say the same.

    The Reborn One pulses Eradicate Invisibility and Dispel Psionics alternatively at three seconds intervals, filling the entire 30 ft diameter corridor. Due to the constrained nature of the tunnel and the layer of glass on everything one cannot take a reflex save against the first power without sound giving one away.

    What does Garin do?

    [] Go on alone

    [] Try to get the others through with him

    [] Turn back, it's not worth the risk

    [] Write in

    OOC: If Garin did not have an inhuman hide skill he would not be confident he could get past this thing on the basis of that alone, but he does.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Some kinda anti-Far Realmer watchdog? That is honestly kind of reassuring in a weird way.

    Could Garin go ahead and then teleport friends with him after he finds a safe place?

    That dispel ability would be super good if we can make more of it!
     
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    Also if anyone wonders why this is a break point, there are legitimately things in the forge that could kill Garin or worse, especially if he goes alone. I usually like to have these sort of things inferred from the text, but you guys have had a pretty easy time of it so far so I thought I would make it clear.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    there are legitimately things in the forge that could kill Garin or worse, especially if he goes alone.
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    What point to bring along a party that is significantly lower in level and ability, then?

    One that isn't suited for stealth either?

    [X] Turn back, it's not worth the risk
     
    Massgamer said:
    Some kinda anti-Far Realmer watchdog? That is honestly kind of reassuring in a weird way.

    Could Garin go ahead and then teleport friends with him after he finds a safe place?

    That dispel ability would be super good if we can make more of it!
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    The quest is operating under full Psionics - Magic transparency, so the thing is basically just blasting Invisibility Purge and Dispel magic every turn. Which is something we could make in the forges too, if we had a base creature with those spells as At Will SLAs.

    Part of the reason I'm so eager to take over the Qohor forge is that it definitely should give us the Eldritch Template, which gives rules for adding arbitrary SLAs to something.
     
    [X] Go on alone

    Maybe crazy, but I trust Garin's ability and really want to learn what is happening before we send in high end party to really clear place out and claim it.
     
    What Lurks Bellow ​

    Eighteenth Day of the Second Month 294 AC

    If someone had told Garin Drekelis that he would be plumbing the depths of a Flesh Forge infested by the Far Realm on the word of Zherys of Volantis, he would have likely called them mad. The erstwhile High Speaker of the Mysterium was the kind of man to send his potential rivals into a deathtrap with a polite smile and a cup of tea for the road. But much to Garin's surprise, there had been no new annotations, no 'just remembered' accounts to add when he had thrown in with Viserys in full. The offer had been sincere from the start and he had always been expecting them to, if not triumph, at least survive the experience.

    Somehow the thought was not as comforting as it could have been as he, Xor, and Lashare passed unseen through the narrow cobbled streets looking for the entrance that had been there over twenty years ago. The young Braavosi knew all too well how quickly Flesh Forges could change once they had woken, and that was without being driven mad and spitting out life-sucking nightmare infants. Hopefully, this hidden way was hidden still.

    They found the green door Zherys' instructions had mentioned easily enough. It had once belonged to one of the most skilled and prolific smiths in all Qohor, but now the paint was flaking and a heavy lock and chain barred the way. A sign that the hosts knew there was an entrance here, or simply a mark that the previous owner had been an enemy of the regime, his property sealed?

    Beyond the entrance, there was only darkness and dust. Half a year's worth if Garin was any judge, but from the empty shelves and forlorn hooks upon the wall of the smithy, he guessed that either the former owner had time to pack up his most prized belongings before leaving or he had not left willingly. If this city were in the thrall of fiends, he would guess the latter far more likely than the former, but he recalled Xor's words all too well. The priests were mad and the One they prayed to may not even acknowledge their existence. He did not even want to contemplate what it must be like for any seers seeking answers hidden from mortal sight.

    "Count six bricks left from the corner of the pantry door and three up," Xor's reminder of their instructions of passage interrupted his thoughts.

    "We can translocate past it. No reason to give anything that might feel tremors in the earth a warning," Garin was aware that the Flesh Forge in Gogossos did have such protections, delicate fungal filaments threaded through the soil and stone roots burrowing through the bedrock to give warnings of any unexpected burrowing.

    Of course, if they had been that careful how could they have missed a back way? Garin shook off the thought. There was no way to tell unless they tried. "I'll go first," he said to the others.

    Shadow here and Shadow there.. all were one. In less than the span of a breath Garin was past the hidden trap door and into the empty space beyond.

    For the first time since he had woken in that bed in Wind House four years ago, Garin Drekelis would have preferred not to see in the dark.

    The thing before him was too horrifying to name, a creature of oily black pustules and pink glistening flesh, a circular maw ringed in needle-sharp teeth expanding and contracting to show a second insectoid mandible, slitted cat's eyes looking through drooping folds of flesh, and worst of all, perfectly formed human arms reaching out blindly among writhing tentacles almost as if in supplication. Garin wanted to believe this was some alien horror that had taken on the superficial form of humanity, but the pulse of its blood called out to him. This had once been a man, or several of them.


    Thankfully, it did not seem to be able to see him wrapped in glamors as he was, but some instinct warned him to wait and watch, however little his eyes might wish to linger upon the thing. A moment later, the air pulsed with a silent scream and spark of pain shivered across Garin's temples. The arcane veil he wore gave way like withered leaves in an autumn gale. Garin did not move a muscle, still as death. The walls here were not stone but warped dark glass, sharp and easily broken, he realized.

    It still could not see him.

    Why did it use the spell then? He wondered as much to himself as to Xor whom he could steel feel at the back of his mind. A moment later another pulse answered him, like the beat of a heart, this time aiming to strip away all enchantments, though not near as powerful for its lack of focus.

    As the horror moved away, the High Inquisitor estimated the...being's watchfulness. He had no doubt that he could get past it on mundane skills alone, but he was not certain if his companions could say the same.

    The Reborn One pulses Eradicate Invisibility and Dispel Psionics alternatively at three seconds intervals, filling the entire 30 ft diameter corridor. Due to the constrained nature of the tunnel and the layer of glass on everything, one cannot take a reflex save against the first power without sound giving one away.

    What does Garin do?

    [] Go on alone

    [] Try to get the others through with him

    [] Turn back, it's not worth the risk

    [] Write in

    OOC: If Garin did not have an inhuman hide skill he would not be confident he could get past this thing on the basis of that alone, but he does.
    Here's an edited version of the chapter, @DragonParadox.
     
    [X] Turn back, it's not worth the risk

    We've learned what we can of Qohor for now. Let's table things about the goat and glomp some faries for to cleanse the palate. At least they look pleasing enough roasted.
     
    Garin is really, really good, but that only takes you so far when you are on ground this alien, with such esoteric enemies. Just coming this far, he's learned enough to inform us that we need to come back here with a full party. Perhaps the Qyburnthillid, too.

    [X] Turn back, it's not worth the risk
     
    Massgamer said:
    [X] Go on alone

    Maybe crazy, but I trust Garin's ability and really want to learn what is happening before we send in high end party to really clear place out and claim it.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Thing is, we can't just grab this place alone, without grabbing the rest of Qohor, for any manner of use.

    That kiiiinda puts "take the forge" on timetable of 3-4 months from now at the very least, and in that amount of time all the stuff Garin could see would be invalidated.

    Hell, Qohor straight up isn't worth bothering with if not for the Forge here.

    By the time what we've seen can become a legitimate problem for the Empire at large, we'll have enough space-worthy vessels to orbitally defenestrate even an Eldritch incursion by Goatie here.
     
    TalonofAnathrax said:
    Saving hundreds of thousands of innocent lives from the quite literal insane abomination overlord?
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    At this point I don't think that many people in the city are left to be saved. The Cult of the Black Goat has been the dominant religion for centuries, and they've had access to a Flesh Forge this entire time. Qohor is done for. Which I'm pretty pissed about. I wanted this city.

    If you're talking about saving the Imperium from the things in Qohor, then yes, 100% agreed.
     
    TalonofAnathrax said:
    Saving hundreds of thousands of innocent lives from the quite literal insane abomination overlord?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    As Duesal well puts it, Qohor is pretty much unsalvageable.

    Unless we go full LE and start methodical and merciless purges of population to handle the cult/religion/memetic contaminations they have there and keep them all under watch and purges for years and years afterwards.
    ...and even then that's just the most basic step of 'salvaging' the city, without going in how we have to handle the corrupted Feywild, the forests in general, the armies they will build/summon in the meanwhile....

    Slavers' Bay is more of a target and possibility to save the locals of than Qohor right now.
    And that place has Asmodeus doing shit in it.

    Way I see it, without the Forge to grab, we should just bomb the place to the ground.
    The setting will understand and most people we work with won't argue too hard IC, no one wants Eldritch Shit of Qohor's magnitude anywhere on Material Plane.
     
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    egoo said:
    As Duesal well pits it, Qohor is pretty much unsalvageable.

    Unless we go full LE and start methodical and merciless purges of population to handle the cult/religion/memetic contaminations they have there and keep them all under watch and purges for years and years afterwards.
    ...and even then that's just the most basic step of 'salvaging' the city, without going in how we have to handle the corrupted Feywild, the forests in general, the armies they will build/summon in the meanwhile....

    Slavers' Bay is more of a target and possibility to save the locals of than Qohor right now.
    And that place has Asmodeus doing shit in it.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    At least Asmodeus just wants souls for hell. The Black Goat is something else.
     
    If we can control the city sufficiently to "save" people there (which will basically boil down to killing only half of everyone and hoping all the bad people were in the dead half or we will have to do it again), then we control it sufficiently to take the forge.

    If we can't do that, the solution is to firebomb the place and killing everyone to make sure. That's what Exterminatus means. Cutting off the infected limb before the infection spreads. Not to posture about taking radical steps and then pussyfooting around the moment someone who isn't an obvious bad guy gets hurt in the process.
     
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