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

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Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jan 4, 2021 at 6:17 AM, finished with 92 posts and 22 votes.
  • [X] Use the above outlined buffing scheme and have everyone Telepathically brainstorm a way to tap into the power gathered by the Illithid for their "Drowned God" persona.
    -[X] Minimum Goal: Introduce a weakness that prevents the Doom of Wyk by harmlessly discharging all power invested into the ritual into the Ley lines.
    -[X] Lesser Goal: Discharge it in a way that the power becomes available for us by the Ferryman and / or the Old Gods.
    -[X] Regular Goal: Introduce a backdoor in their construct so that you can take the power of the ritual for yourself, storing it in some fashion to be later used to empower the Stillborn God of the Imperium.
    -[X] Power Goal: Make the backdoor big enough that you can not only grab the ritual power, but as much other power, knowledge, souls or whatever else you can get.
    -[X] S-Rank Goal: Wrest control of the whole construct from the Illithid to use it as you see fit.
    -[X] God-Tier Goal: Also urinate into the Elder Brains brine pool while you are at it.
Click to expand...
 
We either fail hard, or succeed gloriously with a set-up like this.
No middle ground :V
 
Artemis1992 said:
To be fair, we might just come to the conclusion that there is no safe way of doing the glorious options during our brainstorming and settle for a more moderate goal.
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To succeed here at all is kinda an unexpectedly good success, let's be real.
We're stuck in a mess of malleable timeline-stuff, with some elite Squids on our tail and quite likely to be attacked right after/while we try doing something with the runes, and/or they try the Infinite Dragonflight (WoW stuff) shit and send more forces in the moment after we leave to change whatever we do...

And that's assumign we even find any way to affect the runes.
Chances are we won't b/c of some failed checks, and have to go back to our time and do the boring option use Old Gods to hold the island together.

So yeah, we either win or lose with this shit.
There's degrees of 'win', sure, but no real middle option, considering our main goal is 'hold Wyk together', at least IC.
 
Let's face it, even IC, Viserys is fully capable of forming secondary and tertiary goals which ooze "topple them from their thrones, tear down their temples and destroy their will to resist".

Contemplating the next godlike entity he is going to stab in the kidneys is rote for him, by this point.
 
Quest said:
I wonder if it's a trap then. 🤔

"Just when he'll be trying to shank the god... we'll shank him instead!":mob:
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Viserys is also a consummate paranoiac... because we are paranoiacs.

He will also expect a double bluff, and thus plan for a triple bluff, because what if the bluff's bluff is the bluff?

And he will make sure the plan for the triple bluff will still work even if there was no trick. Because that's just being thorough.
 
Winning Vote
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jan 4, 2021 at 6:17 AM, finished with 92 posts and 22 votes.
  • [X] Use the above outlined buffing scheme and have everyone Telepathically brainstorm a way to tap into the power gathered by the Illithid for their "Drowned God" persona.
    -[X] Minimum Goal: Introduce a weakness that prevents the Doom of Wyk by harmlessly discharging all power invested into the ritual into the Ley lines.
    -[X] Lesser Goal: Discharge it in a way that the power becomes available for us by the Ferryman and / or the Old Gods.
    -[X] Regular Goal: Introduce a backdoor in their construct so that you can take the power of the ritual for yourself, storing it in some fashion to be later used to empower the Stillborn God of the Imperium.
    -[X] Power Goal: Make the backdoor big enough that you can not only grab the ritual power, but as much other power, knowledge, souls or whatever else you can get.
    -[X] S-Rank Goal: Wrest control of the whole construct from the Illithid to use it as you see fit.
    -[X] God-Tier Goal: Also urinate into the Elder Brains brine pool while you are at it.
Click to expand...
 
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Interlude CMLXXVII: The Threefold Key
  • Threadmarks
    • The Threefold Key ​

    Twentieth Day of the Fourth Month 294 AC

    The air comes alive with the magic of insight and foresight, with the giddy joy of discovery conjured forth by arcane arts. In cups of stone was shared the wine of prophecy, drunk with a toast to hopeful days. Strange to be drinking at a time like this, and stranger still for any revelry to touch a place accursed as this under the sight of hateful eyes.

    "Alright, so could you explain this to me?" The words were both familiar and strange in Lya's thoughts. Her interests were eclectic enough that she had question jewelers and painters, architects and sculptors, but she was unaccustomed to asking such a thing about the principles of magic. When she had some gap in her understanding she would usually reach for a book or twelve. There were no books here, only the flesh-smith, the once maester. "I mean, I know the theory of getting things unstuck in time, but only for a short time." With a glance at Viserys she added to all present, "I think you can manage twenty four seconds when you push yourself, right?"

    A thoughtful nod and a looks of frustration to match her own met her, but Wisdom Qyburn did not look disheartened. "It must seem to a frog that the bird flying overhead can jump very far indeed for it knows not what wings are nor can it feel the wind against its moist skin. The paradigm is different. The aboleth do not accept the notion of linear time."

    "So we're dealing with the place we can't really see, forces we can only guess at folding moments together and so the magic we seek to undo can exist 'then' and 'now' but not at all the times between..."     Lya was aware she sounded a touch petulant as she threw herself on one of the shaped stone benches Viserys had thoughtfully crafted. "No offense, but it's like you're adding two plus two and getting 'salmon'."

    "Well, then is it best to learn how to cut the salmon open?"     It was hard to tell on the betentacled face, but she thought there was something like a grandfatherly smile there. "I am not expert on runes, but it is my understanding that one of the fundamental qualities of that magic is that it is longer lasting then other forms of arcane script... Might not the mechanism be similar?"

    "Fuck..." The word slipped out aloud, though she doubted any hidden listeners would gain much from that most ubiquitous of profanities. It all fit together like clockwork now, albeit a very daunting clock. Making one great rune working that would bind the Ironborn to their dread god in such a way as would break them if they surrendered their faith made all her attempts at runecraft look akin to simple sentences besides a masterful essay. Of course, you didn't have to be a poet with a quill to blot out a few lines.

    It took them what felt like hours in that timeless place to come up with even the measuring instruments that would give them a clue as to the task before, and hours more were spent arguing about the specific forms and functions, of what was a ward against the Deep Ones and what was their meddling taking root.

    The battle above was well and truly done by the time the four of them had formulated anything like a plan, or more accurately three plans.

    Firstly they could simply find and kill the chronomancer responsible in the depths of the Sunset Sea, blot out the runes in its own blood and let his body be lost to wind and tide. That would require them to hunt down a dangerous foe in silence and in secret, but as Ser Richard reminded them killing was relatively straightforward.

    Secondly, if they could persuade at least one of the ancient Ironborn who had made the contract that the 'true' Drowned God was Aife's patron and the day of his reckoning would come at some far distant time, then perhaps the power could be bridged to serve Ferryman. Of course the trouble would be that they would need to find a way to hide then traitor's mind from the searching thoughts of his new masters, a false front that could stand up to at least passing scrutiny of skilled mind-twisters.

    Most difficult of all would be to tap the power for the use of Empire's stillborn god. Such an empty vessel could not grasp the stolen power over the gulf of ages, but if they could perhaps kill and replace some of the Salt and Rock Kings and work their own ritual under the enemy's nose it might be possible for the destructive power of the curse be 'inherited' by the Empire rather than discharged. After all the Last Kingsmoot would arguably transfer the loyalty of the Iron Islands from the Drowned God to the Imperium.

    Three paths stand before you, which do you choose?

    [] The Path of Blood: Find the one of the architects if the Oathtaking after the deed has been done, kill it and in its blood unbalance his work such as the power is lost along the threads of time

    [] The Path of Apostasy: Persuade one the the Salt and Rock Kings to keep the Merling King in his heart and keep that knowledge safe from any mind reading of the enemy's

    [] The Path of Inheritance: Try to partake in the Oathtaking and alter it under the eyes of its makers

    OOC: There is a lot of arcane technicality around here, hope it does not drag, especially with the update pace slowing down.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • The second option is soooo easy to counter by the Illithids, so no go on that.

    Hmm, I suggest either the first or the third.
     
    The second option could be why the Ferryman doesn't remember this!

    But yeah, I'd pick the first or third one. The first is much safer (both for us and for our stillborn God) and the third is the kind of crazy "hubris is a coward's word" plan I expect from this quest.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    [] The Path of Apostasy: Persuade one the the Rock Kings to keep the Merling King in his heart and keep that knowledge safe from any mind reading of the enemy's
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    About zero chance of that happening. Especially not when we mysteriously just go home suddenly and give them ample reason to be suspicious of what we did. You can't drive a battletank through your enemies courtyard and expect him not to notice the suspiciously landmine shaped things that are left on the ground after you leave.

    However, while you can't do that...
    DragonParadox said:
    [] The Path of Inheritance: Try to partake in the Oathtaking and alter it under the eyes of its makers
    Click to expand...
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    ... you can certainly drive that tank into the throne room and dare him to do something about it.

    And it's been ages since we had a house sized energy field for breakfast.

    [X] The Path of Inheritance: Try to partake in the Oathtaking and alter it under the eyes of its makers
     
    [X] The Path of Inheritance: Try to partake in the Oathtaking and alter it under the eyes of its makers

    Let's do this.
     
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    Azel said:
    And it's been ages since we had a house sized energy field for breakfast.
    Click to expand...
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    Evil Overlord Rule #22:

    "No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head."

    Buuuuuuuut, it did NOT say that we couldn't force others to do it for us...
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Most difficult of all would be to tap the power for the use of empire's stillborn god. Such an empty vessel could not grasp the stolen power over the gulf of ages but if they could perhaps kill and replace some of the Rock Kings and work their own ritual under the enemy's nose it might be possible for the destructive power of the curse be 'inherited' by the Empire rather than discharged. After all the Last Kingsmoot would arguably transfer the loyalty of the Iron Islands from the Drowned God to the Imperium.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Mind you that I have to contest something here. We are working outside of linear time, so the Stillborn God is both an ephemeral idea, an empty vessel, the manifested believe into the greatest nation ever built, the lynchpin of an entire pantheon, the receptacle of memories and thoughts of millennia of history, and the last ember of fading glories from a great past. It's all this and more at some point in time in at least some branches of the timeline.

    The Illithid will not have to fight what is, but what might be. So it's basically throwing the metaphysical weight of Viserys, the Companions, the Imperium and everything connected to it against whatever eelface got.
     
    Jack vile Ripper said:
    Evil Overlord Rule #22:

    "No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head."

    Buuuuuuuut, it did NOT say that we couldn't force others to do it for us...
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Space and time are intertwined, so it's difficult to say how big our head or the energy field is. And really, Viserys is a Mythic character, so the size of his ego is more important then that of his physical body.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    The Threefold Key ​

    Twentieth Day of the Fourth Month 294 AC

    The air comes alive with the magic of insight and foresight, with the giddy joy of discovery conjured forth by arcane arts. In cups of stone was shared the wine of prophecy, drunk with a toast to hopeful days. Strange to be drinking at a time like this, and stranger still for any revelry to touch a place accursed as this under the sight of hateful eyes.

    "Alright, so could you explain this to me?" The words were both familiar and strange in Lya's thoughts. Her interests were eclectic enough that she had questioned jewelers and painters, architects and sculptors, but she was unaccustomed to asking such a thing about the principles of magic. When she had some gap in her understanding, Lya would usually reach for a book or twelve. There were no books here, only the flesh smith, the once maester. "I mean I know the theory of getting things unstuck in time, but only for a short span." With a glance at Viserys, she added to all present, "I think you can manage thirty seconds when you push yourself, right?"

    A thoughtful nod and a looks of frustration to match her own met her, but Wisdom Qyburn did not looks disheartened. "It must seem to a frog that the bird flying overhead can jump very far indeed, for it knows not what wings are nor can it feel the wind against its moist skin. The paradigm is different. The aboleth do not accept the notion of linear time."

    "So we're dealing with the place we can't really see and forces and we can only guess at that are folding moments together, so that the magic we seek to undo can exist 'then' and 'now' but not at all the times between..."     Lya was aware she sounded a touch petulant as she threw herself on one of the shaped stone benches Viserys had thoughtfully crafted. "No offense, but it's like you're adding two plus two and getting 'salmon'."

    "Well then, it is best to learn how to cut the salmon open?" It was hard to tell on the betentacled face, but she thought there was something like a grandfatherly smile there. "I am no expert on runes, but it is my understanding that one of the fundamental qualities of that magic is that it is longer lasting then other forms of arcane script... Might not the mechanism be similar?"

    "Fuck..." The word slipped out aloud, though she doubted any hidden listeners would gain much from that most ubiquitous of profanities. It all fit together like clockwork now, albeit a very daunting clock. Making one great rune working that would bind the Ironborn to their dread god in such a way as would break them if they surrendered that faith made all her attempts at runecraft look akin to simple sentences besides a masterful essay. Of course, you didn't have to be a poet with a quill to blot out a few lines.

    It took them what felt like hours in that timeless place to come up with even the measuring instruments that would give them a clue as to the task ahead. And hours more were spent arguing about the specific form and function, of what was a ward against the Deep Ones and what was their meddling taking root.

    The battle above was well and truly done by the time the four of them had formulated anything like a plan, or more accurately three plans.

    Firstly, they could simply find and kill the chronomancer responsible in the depths of the Sunset Sea, blot out the runes in its own blood and let his body be lost to wind and tide. That would require them to hunt down a dangerous foe in silence and in secret, but as Ser Richard reminded them, killing was relatively straightforward. Secondly, if they could persuade at least one of the ancient Ironborn who had made the contract that the 'true' Drowned God was Aife's patron and the day of his reckoning would come at some far distant time, then perhaps the power could be made to serve the Ferryman. Of course, the trouble would be that they would need to find a way to hide the traitor's mind from the searching thoughts of his new masters, a false front that could stand up to at least passing scrutiny of skilled mind-twisters.

    Most difficult of all would be to tap the power for the use of empire's stillborn god. Such an empty vessel could not grasp the stolen power over the gulf of ages, but if they could perhaps kill and replace some of the Rock Kings and work their own ritual under the enemy's nose it might be possible for the destructive power of the curse to be 'inherited' by the Empire rather than discharged. After all, the Last Kingsmoot would arguably transfer the loyalty of the Iron Islands from the Drowned God to the Imperium.

    Three paths stand before you, which do you choose?

    [] The Path of Blood: Find the one of the architects of the Oathtaking after the deed has been done, kill it and in its blood unbalance his work such as the power is lost along the threads of time

    [] The Path of Apostasy: Persuade one the the Rock Kings to keep the Merling King in his heart and keep that knowledge safe from any mind reading of the enemy's

    [] The Path of Inheritance: Try to partake in the Oathtaking and alter it under the eyes of its makers

    OOC: There is a lot of arcane technicality around here, hope it does not drag, especially with the update peace slowing down. Not yet edited.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.
     
    [X] The Path of Inheritance: Try to partake in the Oathtaking and alter it under the eyes of its makers
    Jack vile Ripper said:
    Evil Overlord Rule #22:

    "No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head."

    Buuuuuuuut, it did NOT say that we couldn't force others to do it for us...
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Just grow to dragon size. You wouldn't believe how big their heads can get.
     
    [X] The Path of Inheritance: Try to partake in the Oathtaking and alter it under the eyes of its makers
     
    Azel said:
    Mind you that I have to contest something here. We are working outside of linear time, so the Stillborn God is both an ephemeral idea, an empty vessel, the manifested believe into the greatest nation ever built, the lynchpin of an entire pantheon, the receptacle of memories and thoughts of millennia of history, and the last ember of fading glories from a great past. It's all this and more at some point in time in at least some branches of the timeline.

    The Illithid will not have to fight what is, but what might be. So it's basically throwing the metaphysical weight of Viserys, the Companions, the Imperium and everything connected to it against whatever eelface got.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    The issue is not so much what it is or could be, bet that it lacks the will to take things. It's like the difference between a rope and a ball. If you toss it a ball it will grasp that ball with all its strength like a planetary body's gravity and likely you are not getting it back. But if you toss in a rope in its general vicinity, the way you would if you created worshipers in the past, it does not have the will to reach out and take it. It takes a lot more precision to grant something to the Imperial God.
     
    Hah! Fuck it. Y'all convinced me.

    [X] The Path of Inheritance: Try to partake in the Oathtaking and alter it under the eyes of its makers
     
    [X] The Path of Blood: Find the one of the architects if the Oathtaking after the deed has been done, kill it and in its blood unbalance his work such as the power is lost along the threads of time

    @Azel The trouble with the last option is not so much that altering the ritual would be hard, or that our unborn god would not be able to take the energy field, but more that we have to play with their ritual right under the nose of the enemy's full power and attention.

    So if we make the smallest slip in acting like a good little ancient Ironborn, then we'll propably have to fight the chronomancer/chronomancers and the Elder Brain plus anything squiddy vaguely nearby at once, which sounds like too much even for Viserys.
     
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