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

[DragonParadox]

Winning vote.

Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Oct 25, 2020 at 3:02 PM, finished with 60 posts and 9 votes.

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  9 people have voted

  -[X] Part 3 - The Great Summoning: Summon as many Fiends as you possibly can to fuel the ritual.
  --[X] In preparation for accelerated Summoning, Viserys will create a series of ten temporary Demiplanes, one per day leading up to his and Lya's efforts. Each will be intended for one day of use before being Dispelled in order to prevent planar instability. With guidance from Lya and his own deep understanding of planar mechanics, Viserys will determine the best Plane other than the Material Plane to serve as a link for the Demiplanes, the plane from which the initial spell will be cast.
  ---[X] The Demiplanes will be created using Create Greater Demiplane.
  ----[X] Each Demiplane will be warded using a Forbiddance spell which encompasses the entire space, except for one small area that will be used for entry and exit, and the Summoning Circle itself. The entry/exit point will be blocked by a large stone block which we can move in and out of place as needed. The walls of each Demiplane will be coated in a thin sheet of transmuted lead for additional anti-Divination purposes, and the Mage's Private Sanctum and Lost Passage spells will be placed on the day of the Summoning.
  ----[X] The Summoning Circle will feature an inverted Magic Circle Against Evil along with a Hallow spell linked to a Dimensional Anchor effect to allow Summoning but to prevent the circle from being used as an entry or exit point from the Demiplane using dimensional travel magic or abilities.
  -----[X] The Summoning Circle will feature a Hardened Steel vat which will be used to contain an Advanced Stone Pudding identical to the one being used in the Snare this month.
  ----[X] Another Hallow spell linked to a Resist Energy (Acid) spell will protect everyone, our Summoned and Petrified Brimoraks included, from incidental Acid damage from the Stone Pudding.
  ----[X] A Shrink Item Chamber identical to the advanced model being used in the Snare will be shrink all of the Petrified Brimoraks for easy storage and transport.
  ---[X] As detailed here, once Summoning begins, Lya and Viserys should be able to Summon 394 Brimoraks per day per Demiplane, totaling 2,364 HD.
  ---[X] Companions and additional guards who will help oversee the Summoning will be determined later in the month when the process actually begins.
  ----[x] Summoners: Viserys, Lya (1st Body)
  ----[x] Guards: Dany, Richard, Vee (Free Action), Zherys, Waymar (Free Action), Malarys, Tyene (Free Action), Adamantine Golem (Monk 1)

  • egoo
  • Goldfish
  • silvanknight
  • BronzeTongue
  • Othan763
  • CandyCoatedChaos
  • Duesal
  • Andy0915
  • Ace of Scarabs

 

[DragonParadox]

An Unwilling Host ​

Fourteenth Day of the Third Month 294 AC

Days when you are out of contact, save for magic, are far from uncommon, days when that magic has to belong to a companion or other equally trusted source because you are moving in secret only slightly less so. The knowledge that you would be aiding in the ritual that many of the Scholarum's most experienced sorcerers are already enacting is greeted with surprise and perhaps a touch of bemusement. As Lya points out giggling faintly, "Vanishing down the research hole is something they expect from me, not you."

"The 'research hole', is that what they are calling it these days?" Tyene asks archly. "I'd say it takes both of you to do that."

Bharo looks on in confusion while Waymar rolls his eyes, though he can't quite stop his lips from twitching up into a smile. "I think there is another hole we have to be worrying about." His voice grew more serious as he spoke, "I mean, there's no reason why you should be getting anything besides the lesser demons you are calling unless it's those parasites, but where are we keeping the demons once they are turned to stone and shrunk? You are talking about thousands of them, that's..."

"An army," Malarys finishes plainly. "In a sense an army that shall deal the fatal blow to the Court of Stars however unwittingly, but still a potential weakness while we are gathering more and more demonic statuettes."

"Not as much danger as all that," Lya shifts in her seat. "It's one of the reasons we are turning them to stone instead of putting them in bottles, besides being much more efficient in terms of magic utilized."

"Indeed, the Formless is a marvel, the sort of marvel that would likely have kept the Freeholder Lords awake at night," the mage-priest replies with a much colder smile of his own at the thought of how much you had surpassed the Freehold of old, not necessarily in knowledge and power, but in the willingness and ability to use both. "Yet one cannot help but note that if a means of mass petrification exists within our grasp than the reverse might be within the grasp of our foes. I agree with Ser Waymar. If I wished to disrupt the calling and sacrifice, manifesting in the middle of a prepared killing field in front of the most skilled conjurors is not how I would go about it..."

"A certain Archduke aside," Tyene interjects, just loud enough to raise a chuckle from around the room.

"Yes, well we cannot count on the enemy being overconfident," the mage lord continues "The fact that summonings by lesser sorcerers have not drawn any unusual attention is I think a relatively strong indication that nothing is willing and able to interfere with the process."

"Which aligns with most theories about trans-planar calling," Lya interjects thoughtfully. "It takes time and a great many invitations tethered to weaken the veil between planes meaningfully and risk encountering that which the conjuror did not invite, and the demiplanes are effectively blank slates in that regard."

"So that leaves the ritual itself, under the eyes of the gods as much as ours, and the storage," you summarize. For a moment you just think of wrapping them in your cloak, but you are not entirely sure what swallowing an army of demons will do to devil forged instrument of greed, or for that matter what keeping the possibly sentient crown besides all the other sacrifices might do.

Where do you store the thousands of demons you intend to call?

[] In your cloak is fine, the crown has shown only the most rudimentary signs of free will

[] In a guarded demiplane
-[] Write in any guards assigned

[] In a god-proofed room on the prime material plane
-[] Write in any guards assigned

[] Write in

OOC: Taking onboard what you guys said during the last summoning fiasco, here are the potential weaknesses Viserys and company see in the act of summoning so many fiends. Also included are some IC suggestions for what to do about them.

 

[Duesal]

Demiplane seems like the safest bet here.

 

[Crake]

Hey we have a lot of Portable holes sitting around, actually, don't we? Why not fit them into there?

 

[egoo]

Demiplane seems like the safest bet here.

Click to shrink...

A Demiplane could be Planeshifted into though, iirc?
And there's no better beacon than thousands of captured Demons to do that, methinks :/

The latest batch of RAs actually got us something tailored to make that sort of thing harder, but alas, 30+ Progress can't be done on the spot :/

 

[Crake]

I mention the holes as an option because wasn't the plan to shrink each statue in the lead up to the ritual, to minimize their space-taking, and reapply the effect on each one as time runs out for them up until the ritual date?

 

[Goldfish]

An Unwilling Host ​

Fourteenth Day of the Third Month 294 AC

Days when you are out of contact, save for magic, are far from uncommon. Days when that magic has to belong to a companion or other equally trusted source because you are moving in secret only slightly less so. The knowledge that you would be aiding in the ritual many of the Scholarum's most experienced sorcerers are already enacting is greeted with surprise and perhaps a touch of bemusement. As Lya points out, giggling faintly, "Vanishing down the research hole is something they expect from me not you."

"The research hole, is that what they are calling it these days?" Tyene asks archly. "I'd say it takes both of you to do that."

Bharro looks on in confusion while Waymar rolls his eyes, though he can't quite stop his lips from twitching up into a smile. "I think there is another hole we have to be worrying about." His voice grew more serious as he spoke. "I mean there's no reason why you should be getting anything besides the lesser demons you are calling unless it's those parasites, but where are we keeping the demons once they are turned to stone and shrunk. You are talking about thousands of them that's..."

"An army," Malarys finishes plainly. "In a sense the army that shall deal the fatal blow to the Court of Stars, however unwittingly, but still a potential weakness while we are gathering more and more demonic statuettes."

"Not as much danger as all that," Lya shifts in her seat. "It's one of the reasons we are turning them to stone instead of putting them in bottles, besides being much more efficient in terms of magic utilized."

"Indeed, the Formless is a marvel, the sort of marvel that would likely have kept the Lords Freeholder awake at night," the mage-priest replies with a much colder smile of his own at the thought of how much you had surpassed the Freehold of old, not necessarily in knowledge and power, but in the willingness and ability to use both. "Yet one cannot help but note that if a means of mass petrification exists within our grasp, then the reverse might be within the grasp of our foes. I agree with Ser Waymar, if I wished to disrupt the calling and sacrifice, manifesting in the middle of a prepared killing field in front of the most skilled conjurors is not how I would go about it..."

"A certain Archduke aside," Tyene interjects, just loud enough to raise a chuckle from around the room.

"Yes, well we cannot count on the enemy being overconfident," the mage lord continues. "The fact that summonings by lesser sorcerers have not drawn any unusual attention is, I think, a relatively strong indication that nothing is willing and able to interfere with the process."

"Which aligns with most theories about trans-planar calling," Lya interjects thoughtfully. "It takes time and a great many invitations tethered to weaken the veil between planes meaningfully and risk encountering that which the conjuror did not invite, and the demiplanes are effectively blank slates in that regard."

"So that leaves the ritual itself, under the eyes of the gods as much as ours, and the storage," you summarize. For a moment you just think of wrapping them in your cloak, but you are not entirely sure what swallowing an army of demons will to to devil-forged instrument of greed, or for that matter what keeping the possibly sentient crown besides all the other sacrifices might do.

Where do you store the thousands of demons you intend to call?

[] In your cloak is fine, the crown has shown only the most rudimentary signs of free will

[] In a guarded demiplane
-[] Write in any guards assigned

[] In a god-proofed room on the prime material plane
-[] Write in any guards assigned

[] Write in

OOC: Taking onboard what you guys said during the last summoning fiasco, here are the potential weaknesses Viserys and company see in the act of summoning so many fiends. Also included are some IC suggestions for what do do about them. Not yet edited.

Click to shrink...

Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

 

[Azel]

The easiest additional security measure would be to cast each statue into lead by using a Shape Metal item like the one we use in the production of the AG-Vessels hulls. That way, you need to first unshrink the statue, then free the Brimorak and finally unpetrify him. That all takes additional actions and can't be easily pararellized since they are all individual items in regards to effects.

On top of that? Guards. All of them. I didn't assign enough assets to level a country or two on this for nothing.

 

[Goldfish]

Hey we have a lot of Portable holes sitting around, actually, don't we? Why not fit them into there?

Click to shrink...

That was the plan for them when I was first roughing out the Summoning. All of the Petrified Brimoraks would be stuck in the Shrink Item chamber before being stored in a Portable Hole on site so that the Herald overseeing the Shrinking could make sure to refresh the spells when necessary. We have a couple available Portable Holes, one for the Snare group and one for Viserys'.

I guess I left that part off the final draft.

 

[Crake]

The easiest additional security measure would be to cast each statue into lead by using a Shape Metal item like the one we use in the production of the AG-Vessels hulls. That way, you need to first unshrink the statue, then free the Brimorak and finally unpetrify him. That all takes additional actions and can't be easily pararellized since they are all individual items in regards to effects.

On top of that? Guards. All of them. I didn't assign enough assets to level a country or two on this for nothing.

Click to shrink...

I would prefer "or two", TBQH.

 

[Goldfish]

[X] Summoned Brimoraks will be subjected to the Shrink Item Chamber operated by a Herald at each Summoning site, then stored in a Portable Hole, guarded by that Herald and the additional forces already present.
-[X] As an additional layer of obfuscation, each shrunken Brimorak statue will be dipped in a lead before going into storage.

 

[egoo]

I didn't assign enough assets to level a country or two on this for nothing.

Click to shrink...

...Mhm, just for clarity:
These people

----[X] Guards:
-----[X] Inside the Snare: Mereth, 8x Erinyes, 4x Heralds, 8x Glass Golems, 4x Vigilant Briars, 4x Blood Clot Molds, 4x Black Brutes, 2x Greater Blood Clot Molds, 2x Black Champions, 1x Adult Mind Dragon, 5x Watchmoles
-----[X] Outside the Snare: Balerion, 8x Fiery Dragonbeasts, 24x Erinyes, 6x Heralds, 12x Glass Golems, 16x Vigilant Briars, 6x Blood Clot Molds, 6x Black Brutes, 5x Watchmoles

Click to shrink...

Are all around our "the one near SD, where a bunch of mages uses items to summon"-Snare.

All the "One used per day, summoning done by Viserys and Lya"-Snares have is this:

----[] Guards: Dany, Richard, Vee (Free Action), Zherys, Waymar (Free Action), Malarys, Tyene (Free Action), Adamantine Golem (Monk 1)

Click to shrink...

Or do you do mean we store all the petrified Demons there near SD?

 

[T_of_A]

On top of that? Guards. All of them. I didn't assign enough assets to level a country or two on this for nothing.

Click to shrink...

How public are we being about this? There's a difference between "our mass demon-summoning is only known to ourselves and our trained mages who're used to the idea" and "a few thousand Legionnaires know that we're mass demon-summoning".

It's also harder to keep the "we slay demons and their summoners!" line with the troops after doing that. A shame: it was a simple, straightforward cause that everyone can agree with and that was easy to bring up in pre-battle speeches :/

 

[Azel]

@Crake

Regular guards:

-----[X] Inside the Snare: Mereth, 8x Erinyes, 4x Heralds, 8x Glass Golems, 4x Vigilant Briars, 4x Blood Clot Molds, 4x Black Brutes, 2x Greater Blood Clot Molds, 2x Black Champions, 1x Adult Mind Dragon, 5x Watchmoles
-----[X] Outside the Snare: Balerion, 8x Fiery Dragonbeasts, 24x Erinyes, 6x Heralds, 12x Glass Golems, 16x Vigilant Briars, 6x Blood Clot Molds, 6x Black Brutes, 5x Watchmoles

Click to shrink...

Ritual preparation team that will be pretty much squatting on top of the sacrifices most of the time:

----[] Riz'Neth, Soft Strider, Nirah, the Champion of Yss (CR 20), Aife, Herald of the Ferryman (CR 22)

Click to shrink...

Summoning guards:

----[] Summoners: Viserys, Lya (1st Body)
----[] Guards: Dany, Richard, Vee (Free Action), Zherys, Waymar (Free Action), Malarys, Tyene (Free Action), Adamantine Golem (Monk 1)

Click to shrink...

I'm not saying we are invincible, but I am saying that a Balor popping in might end up with Balerion and two divine super-snakes giving each other the stink eye over who gets the juiciest pieces.

 

[DragonParadox]

[X] Summoned Brimoraks will be subjected to the Shrink Item Chamber operated by a Herald at each Summoning site, then stored in a Portable Hole, guarded by that Herald and the additional forces already present.
-[X] As an additional layer of obfuscation, each shrunken Brimorak statue will be dipped in a lead before going into storage.

Click to shrink...

Shrinking is taking place, but I would like a vote on where you are storing them.

 

[Crake]

@Azel @DragonParadox You really wanna bully the Bad Guys when they come in and search for the Portable Holes?

Stick hundreds of Lead-clad undead in one area, and then put the rolled-up holes inside the compartment of one of them.

How do you search for it? The God can leverage its power directly to determine "it's inside that lead clad undead"... but they all look identical, and they all switch positions routinely.

You can't. You cannot do that thing, is how. Except by opening up each and every undead. Store bombs inside of some of them. Your minions become drastically less enthusiastic about searching through them.

 

[egoo]

@Azel @DragonParadox You really wanna bully the Bad Guys when they come in and search for the Portable Holes?

Stick hundreds of Lead-clad undead in one area, and then put the rolled-up holes inside the compartment of one of them.

How do you search for it? The God can leverage its power directly to determine "it's inside that lead clad undead"... but they all look identical, and they all switch positions routinely.

You can't. You cannot do that thing, is how. Except by opening up each and every undead. Store bombs inside of some of them. Your minions become drastically less enthusiastic about searching through them.

Click to shrink...

 

[ryuan]

It never gets old to throw shade at Mamon.

 

[Crake]

Throwing shade? More like building a pavilion over him.

 

[egoo]

Throwing shade? More like building a pavilion over him.

Click to shrink...

A gazebo.

 

[Azel]

@Azel @DragonParadox You really wanna bully the Bad Guys when they come in and search for the Portable Holes?

Stick hundreds of Lead-clad undead in one area, and then put the rolled-up holes inside the compartment of one of them.

How do you search for it? The God can leverage its power directly to determine "it's inside that lead clad undead"... but they all look identical, and they all switch positions routinely.

You can't. You cannot do that thing, is how. Except by opening up each and every undead. Store bombs inside of some of them. Your minions become drastically less enthusiastic about searching through them.

Click to shrink...

...



Make a giant swarm of lead-clad Firefly-type necrocrafts. Whenever a hole is filled up, cram it into one and let it fly among the swarm. The others? Filled with Holy Water and ordered to attack everyone except the Harbinger who tries to catch them or order them around.

Just let it buzz around in the Snare.

Edit: A lead-clad Firefly is 50 IM a pop, so for a measly 100,000 IM we can get 2,000 of them. Good luck finding a few portable holes in that haystack.

 

[Crake]

Erinyes / Vrock / Fey Knight: "You want us to do what?"

Archfiend / Fey Queen: "Look, yes, there are wildfire / holy water munitions stored inside each of the several thousand decoys which all look identical, and you will probably have to go through at least several hundred of them in order to locate the right one, maybe a few thousand, but it'll all be worth it aaand you're gone..."

 

[DragonParadox]

Good night guys, see you tomorrow with summoning and rituals.

 

[Crake]

Edit: A lead-clad Firefly is 50 IM a pop, so for a measly 100,000 IM we can get 2,000 of them. Good luck finding a few portable holes in that haystack.

Click to shrink...

I like this plan the most out of the other plans.

Granted it's because it is severe bullying in mechanical form. Perhaps even gratuitous bullying.

 

[egoo]

[X] Summoned Brimoraks will be subjected to the Shrink Item Chamber operated by a Herald at each Summoning site, then stored in a Portable Hole, guarded by that Herald and the additional forces already present at the main Snare (near Sorcerer's Deep)
-[X] As an additional layer of obfuscation, each shrunken Brimorak statue will be dipped in a lead before going into storage.
-[X] Have x2000 lead-clad Firefly units created (100,000 IM). Also re-assign 1,000x Spitters and 500x Spitter Swarms from "Inquisition Forces"-pool there too.
--[X] Have the Portable hole inserted into one of the swarm whenever one is filled up. All of the Fireflies are to be also filled with Holy Water and ordered to attack anyone except for the overseeing Harbinger that attempts to catch them or order them around.

-[X] Guard detail recount:
[X] Guard detail inside the Snare: Mereth, 8x Erinyes, 4x Heralds, 8x Glass Golems, 4x Vigilant Briars, 4x Blood Clot Molds, 4x Black Brutes, 2x Greater Blood Clot Molds, 2x Black Champions, 1x Adult Mind Dragon, 5x Watchmoles, 2000x Fireflies, 1000x Spitters, 500x Spitter Swarms
[X] Guard detail Units preparing the main ritual: Riz'Neth, Soft Strider, Nirah, the Champion of Yss (CR 20), Aife, Herald of the Ferryman (CR 22)
[X] Guard detail outside the Snare: Balerion, 8x Fiery Dragonbeasts, 24x Erinyes, 6x Heralds, 12x Glass Golems, 16x Vigilant Briars, 6x Blood Clot Molds, 6x Black Brutes, 5x Watchmoles

Stealing from @Goldfish, my only contribution to making stuff less reasonable is adding Flame Clove to double the damage from Wildfire.
Because why not