A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover
- Thread starter DragonParadox
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- a song of ice and fire a sword without a hilt d&d 3.5 dungeons & dragons 100% high octane dragon fuel ave corvidae battle action dragon diplomacy best sister bureaucromancy delicious soul-stuff dragon dreams come true dragon ta'veren greatest uncle hubris is a coward's word in defiance of gods and men mammon's folly mutually assured mage's disjunction qm murderhobo top tier coatl
In fairness to them, if it wasn't for our loophole in the pact primeval they'd be absolutely right to worry about that. Considering how little they likely know about the way all this works, it's entirely possible they don't have the context to be aware it's possible to loophole devils away from Hell's direct service.
Even if they do have that context, they may find the idea that we actually pulled that off too ludicrous to consider with the information they have at hand.
We're just getting less and less subtle these days aren't we? Is our next vessel going to be named Morning Star and be captained by Lucy the Fury or something?
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
@Crake, @Azel, I've added 9 more Valyrian Steel PfE banners to the crafting schedule. That will bring us up to 18 of them when completed.
I've also added Gemstone Table anchors for another 10 Legions. In addition to the 8 sets we already have, that will be enough for all current Legions, plus three more to be formed in the future.
EDIT: Also included 9 suits of Composite Armor and 9 suits of Warden Armor.
I've also added Gemstone Table anchors for another 10 Legions. In addition to the 8 sets we already have, that will be enough for all current Legions, plus three more to be formed in the future.
EDIT: Also included 9 suits of Composite Armor and 9 suits of Warden Armor.
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Hence my hesitancy to charge anyone with filicide without first getting a more complete set of facts. If this had happened within Imperial territories then I'd say assume malice absent an affirmative defense, but despite our declarations, Westeros isn't really ours until we've actually secured control of the seven kingdoms.
egoo
Totally Not Creating Problems Where None Existed
- Location
- Russia
I mean, at some point we had a discussion and came to agree that we feel "meh." about the issue?
Hiding out hellish, abyssal, or eldritch minions is not worth the hassle of the minor PR.
The bottom line is, it's not fair to them, and as time goes we get only more of them.
It's not too unlikely that most of the non-aligned lords have learned of our minions one way or another, and used that as yet another justification to themselves to not turn to us before now.
SD is rather free and open, for all that actual spies and enemy agents would likely be caught, the semi-neutral surveillance like the sorcerer in the interlude isn't likely to get in trouble unless they make trouble or try snooping around where they shouldn't.
But The Many aren't a secret. And most people with enough Knowledge would know them as Illithid larvae, if weird.
Erynies are employed in many places, and hidden rarely, if ever.
Legion Devils were openly (and we can assume they still are) training Legion soldiers.
We have a number of Asuras, who are arguably worse than Devils, and they aren't hidden whatsoever, though very few in number.
We have plenty of minions and subjects in the open for idjits to point and scream "EVIL!!!!11!!" at
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And once the status quo in the Imperium becomes common knowledge then claiming to be misinformed about the nature of our relationship with devils sworn to Imperial service stops being an excuse. But as things currently stand, that is not the case for the vast majority of Westeros.
- Location
- Germany
We actually switched to slightly less lyrical names. In order of completion:We're just getting less and less subtle these days aren't we? Is our next vessel going to be named Morning Star and be captained by Lucy the Fury or something?
IMV Moonchaser - Moonchaser, later refitted to Type-A
IMV Dawnstar - Moonchaser Type-A
IMV Duskrunner - Moonchaser Type-A
IMV Dauntless - Dauntless-Class
IMV Gladius - Gladius-Class
IMV Spatha - Gladius-Class
IMV Illustrious - Illustrious-Class - 5th Month
IMV Paramerion - Gladius-Class - 6th Month
IMV Makhaira - Gladius-Class - 6th Month
IMV Valiant - Dauntless-Class - 7th Month
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- Location
- Germany
@Interregnum, your arguments don't make all that much sense to me. If he really believed us to be Baators pawns and panicked, then he could have done many different things. He could have tried to flee. He could have stalled for time to let his family flee. He could have tried to bargain with us. Heck, he could have tried some valiant last stand, dragging the Septon to the battlements to pray really hard at the Dawnstar.
But instead, he took poison. Poison that he needed to procure somewhere, or which he had ordered his maester to make. Poison that he consciously decided to aquire days or weeks ago. This is not a panic reaction. This was a deliberate and prepared act and this deliberation and preparation could have instead gone towards hiding his family from us or doing a million other things that did not involve poisoning himself, his wife and his children.
Which is why I want him tried for kinslaying.
But instead, he took poison. Poison that he needed to procure somewhere, or which he had ordered his maester to make. Poison that he consciously decided to aquire days or weeks ago. This is not a panic reaction. This was a deliberate and prepared act and this deliberation and preparation could have instead gone towards hiding his family from us or doing a million other things that did not involve poisoning himself, his wife and his children.
Which is why I want him tried for kinslaying.
Fleeing when an army is literally surrounding the castle is a tall order. If you fear torture and damnation, getting caught while fleeing is not an option. Already having a poison on hand isn't really out of place if the castle was well stocked. There are any number of compounds with medical uses that could double as poison if taken in high doses. Stalling for time isn't a possibility because we deliberately put them on a clock. Notice that the poisoning apparently happened shortly after the warning shot.
Depending on what he knew or believed at the time, Lord Tranth could have been in a position where suicide potentially spared those living in the castle from being put to the sword, while also sparing his family from a fate worse than death.
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- Location
- Canada (eh)
[X] Azel
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
His castle isn't surrounded by an army, though. It's just got the Dawnstar hovering nearby.
And it's dark outside, too, IIRC?
A fair point about the poison, though. That's something they could have had on hand for one reason or another, especially if it wasn't a dedicated poison but something poisonous if used inappropriately.
I'm not 100% certain in the arrangements, but not every castle and keep us going to be so elaborately built as to have secret passageways to escape in case of a siege. There might not have been any viable escape routes. Like I've said multiple times now, we need more information before deciding whether to condemn the man.
EDIT: There is also the fact that, if we really were under infernal influence, it wouldn't be unreasonable to believe that we'd have killed everyone in the keep for helping the lord and his family escape. We did announce that failing to comply with our orders was treason and the consequence of such was death, after all.
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Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Oh, I definitely agree with that. The circumstances seem damning right now, but we'll know for sure soon enough.
- Location
- Germany
I can't really think of much legitimate uses of having a few vials of poison around. Maybe if they had used milk of the poppy, but it seems unlikely to me tha the maester would have that much of it on hand.
Anyway, I feel you are far too generous here, but "trying him for kinslaying" is not the same as "finding him guilty of kinslaying" so whatever.
That seem like an unfair characterization for these guys' concerns. Sure plenty of them will probably go with "if it fails an alignment test it should die" approach at first, but any moderately well informed person would panic at seeing a Devil (or Asura) for the same reason a mouse would flip out if it saw a cat pawing at the entrance to its nest.
If they keep it up after having received reasonable evidence as to what is actually going on that's one thing, but some initial concerns (and honestly panic) is a healthy reaction to have to stuff like this. Especially if you're rocking three levels in an NPC class and some castle forged steel equipment while facing the prospect of openly operating greater fiends.
[x] Try to save everyone he can
-[x] Raise dead
-[x] Raise dead
Winning vote
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Interlude MXIX: Angels of a Broken World
Angels of a Broken World
Thirtieth Day of the Fourth Month 294 AC
Usizil was displeased at having to debark the Dawnstar and accompany the sorcerer and his clattering scroll cases into the pile of loose stone and kindling the locals dubiously considered a 'fortification'. Though her wings might be steel now and not bloodstained black, she found no pleasure in playing guardian to a nursemaid when there was battle close at hand this night. She could not, however, fault Tirael's logic that she would be the most able to gather reinforcements should there be need of them. There shouldn't be any such need, of course. There wasn't a real organized foe within two-hundred leagues of Gallowsgrey, but then again as her own powers showed, two-hundred leagues or even a thousand were easily bridged.
"We should be careful of the septon, my, er... lady. He is unlikely to understand..." said the sorcerer, Jon Girsman, she thought his name was, in his broad Reacher accent. That was likely why he had been chosen from among the mages aboard. The familiarity with the local power structures did have its limitations, however...
"I do not care about what his religion preaches about my nature, I do not care about the opinion of his ecclesiastical superiors, nor his gods most holy," Usizil cut him off mentally. "You are here to make sure the lady of the House and her daughters make a full recovery. I am here to ensure all the blood stays in your body while you are doing so."
He gulped as though the danger had not occurred to him before.
Sometimes the steel-winged Fury wondered what they taught mages in those marble halls of learning. Surely it must be more than the bare underpinnings of magic. "We are about to walk into a place where a man poisoned his entire family rather than submit to Imperial authority. It is reasonable to assume he was not alone in his sentiments and that others of like mind might be inclined to take a more violent path, fruitless as it may be in the end."
The septon, as it turned out, was not a problem, too overcome by grief and shock to question anything from his former lord being carried bodily to the Dawnstar to legionnaires taking possession of the keep with practiced ease. They, like all the contingents selected for this duty, had cut their teeth on doing the same in the halls of Essosi magisters, and if anything the lack of slaves waiting to rise up and burn the masters in their beds just made the task easier.
Usizil only got a glimpse of the process as she hastened into the keep and up the narrow steps to the solar where the deed had been done. The servants had been afraid to move any of the surviving Trants. The smell of bitter almonds hit her before she had even reached the open doorway. Cyanide, not an inventive poison, but an effective one, she would grant. Two women and one girl were slumped over a table, glasses of tainted wine dribbling onto the carpet like blood, from an impossible battle. Such a waste of lives free under the sun...
Unrolling a scroll, the mage reached out towards the elder daughter, but Usizil stopped him. "I cannot hear a heartbeat, she is gone already. The mother is fading fastest of the remaining two."
The sound of arcane chanting filled the air as the runes upon the parchment smoked with cleansing fumes. The mother had barely started stirring when the mage moved on to her last surviving child. Yet it may be too late, the soft thump of the child's heartbeat stuttered and faded. "Stay awake!" Usizil as 'loud' as her mind voice could climb in the inner world, a command such as had cut through many a bloody battlefield.
The faltering heartbeat thumped once... twice... thrice. It was enough.
As the girl opened bleary eyes, she looked at Usizil, and with the deep sight that the nearness of death sometimes gifted, saw through her false form. "Are you an angel come to save us?"
The full answer would have taken an age of the world to recount, and so she answered simply. "Yes."
Soft blue eyes blinked up at her still blind to the death and ruin her father had wrought, and then to the Fury's surprise in them kindled a spark of crimson, familiar in power, bright as the flames of Phlegethos. Sight beyond darkness for those who would dwell within it.
"What..." the ship's mage started, but a look from Usizil cut him off without a word. "Still the power, child." This would be a matter for the Headmistress of the Scholarum to solve.
OOC: This interlude was unlikely to ever exist. First I did this roll for general survival and this one for weird and magical happenings, in this case becoming a warlock from being called by from the brink of death by a devil.
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