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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
- Location
- Germany
Wait, that's a very pro-Hell version of the events?
Do we want to make Old Red look like the saviour of Heaven's remnants in this case?
I mean, we could just as easily blame him for working with the Void before betraying them and securing Heaven for himself.
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
The problem is that it is easily provable that Hell has instated a political sea change in Heaven's Shore where they keep the rest of the native population from being destroyed by investing a non-insignificant amount of resources into it (perhaps as a bit of a White Elephant at the end of the day, but still looked after good enough to maintain that state of affairs for thousands upon thousands of years).
It's a foregone conclusion that Hell stepped in. The choice was weighting greater anti-devil sentiment in the Curia (which we didn't want, since we're not afraid of recruit Infernals any more than we are Celestials) or making people believe they were closer to a really fucked up polity only made less fucked up because Asmodeus just wants to pull a Thanos and re-write the Universe, as opposed to completely destroying it.
... the difference is rather academic when you put it like that, since I doubt anyone but Asmodeus will survive the attempt, but still.
- Location
- Germany
Not sure about the White Elefant, it might be that Heaven's Shore produces enough souls not native to Hell but destined to go there to be a net-plus on infernal economy.
I mean, unfortunatly we know neither the population of HS nor the actual value of a CR 1 soul, so it's impossible to do the math.
Which is also contributing to my current issues with Slaver's Bay. IMO after we've been halting their progress with the intrigue-approach to Slaver's Bay for months now, it's really time for the Devils to decide what they want.
Sure, a silent takeover with a fully compliant local rulership would have been the best case, but that's not happening.
So depending on the value of three/four cities and a bunch of smaller towns they should have decided by now to either withdraw and end the drain on their ressources that our little shadow-war causes, or take over by force.
Particularly as I know that the Devil in charge is not very patient for an immortal and won't go endlessly "sunken cost" on the intrigue-approach.
So far things have been deferred due to DP wanting to focus on Westeros, but I'd say it's time for action.
Crake
I AM THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING
- Location
- USA
Well he did say things were about to reach a boiling point, with a time frame of "you had to rush Westeros specifically 'cause y'all called it on how badly every faction you picked a fight with so far wanted your jock REAL bad but were rushing their own projects to beat you to the punch, and subsequently failed".
I'm not sure if that's another of those Doylist/Watsonian things the thread is rife with, but I think the players have invested more than enough time, effort, and mental and emotional energy to claim that, if or no other reason than they never believed Viserys would actually succeed in getting all those disparate polities, recalcitrant lords, infernals, celestials and other Outsiders we recruited over the years to cooperate, much less be able to get a bunch of Gods with differing domains to cooperate so readily. And that's why they are all behind schedule in dealing with us.
In the case of Hell, I think it is specifically more of a case of the Devils left in charge, first by Mammon, and then by Asmodeus, are busy playing "cover my ass" because funnily enough, we weren't supposed to actually do any number of the things we did nor respond so intelligently / anticipate our strategic needs so accurately. Because the most ready explanation for the lack of coherency from the agents in control of Infernal operations over in Slaver's Bay and elsewhere, is simply that someone is covering their ass and trying to put together a half-way decent response with limited resources (because calling upon more resources would be suspicious).
Of course, this not being Mammon, the above supposition was probably only correct while his Westerosi operations were still in gear, and not valid in the case of whatever the hell Asmodeus' triggermen are up to, if only by narrative need to ensure that both of them are reasonably competent and haven't made any real mistakes thus far, which of course is incredibly annoying for a variety of other reasons, least of all the resources we threw at the problem failing to even at least identify what obstacles there were to preventing Hell from entrenching itself.
The obvious answer is that by the time we intervened they pretty much already had full control and we were basically playing damage control. It's not that our interference had no effect, it simply caused Hell to become twice as cautious because they don't know how we're actually going to react to an obvert play.
I mean, Tiamat went for overt. Big stompy scary monster. That didn't work. Big stompy monster has consistently failed to work. But playing things subtle has consistently worked out for the guys in Slaver's Bay. We've had zero long-term effect on their operations. Aborted plot-lines aside (which probably would have involved escalating the stakes significantly ahead of us being able to keep our own timeline), if we're still playing high value asset chicken with them and not getting into slugging matches between their various cells out in the streets, or hunting down their leadership, or rather can't even find their leadership, there's no real point to deviating from the plan.
I'm not sure if that's another of those Doylist/Watsonian things the thread is rife with, but I think the players have invested more than enough time, effort, and mental and emotional energy to claim that, if or no other reason than they never believed Viserys would actually succeed in getting all those disparate polities, recalcitrant lords, infernals, celestials and other Outsiders we recruited over the years to cooperate, much less be able to get a bunch of Gods with differing domains to cooperate so readily. And that's why they are all behind schedule in dealing with us.
In the case of Hell, I think it is specifically more of a case of the Devils left in charge, first by Mammon, and then by Asmodeus, are busy playing "cover my ass" because funnily enough, we weren't supposed to actually do any number of the things we did nor respond so intelligently / anticipate our strategic needs so accurately. Because the most ready explanation for the lack of coherency from the agents in control of Infernal operations over in Slaver's Bay and elsewhere, is simply that someone is covering their ass and trying to put together a half-way decent response with limited resources (because calling upon more resources would be suspicious).
Of course, this not being Mammon, the above supposition was probably only correct while his Westerosi operations were still in gear, and not valid in the case of whatever the hell Asmodeus' triggermen are up to, if only by narrative need to ensure that both of them are reasonably competent and haven't made any real mistakes thus far, which of course is incredibly annoying for a variety of other reasons, least of all the resources we threw at the problem failing to even at least identify what obstacles there were to preventing Hell from entrenching itself.
The obvious answer is that by the time we intervened they pretty much already had full control and we were basically playing damage control. It's not that our interference had no effect, it simply caused Hell to become twice as cautious because they don't know how we're actually going to react to an obvert play.
I mean, Tiamat went for overt. Big stompy scary monster. That didn't work. Big stompy monster has consistently failed to work. But playing things subtle has consistently worked out for the guys in Slaver's Bay. We've had zero long-term effect on their operations. Aborted plot-lines aside (which probably would have involved escalating the stakes significantly ahead of us being able to keep our own timeline), if we're still playing high value asset chicken with them and not getting into slugging matches between their various cells out in the streets, or hunting down their leadership, or rather can't even find their leadership, there's no real point to deviating from the plan.
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- Location
- Germany
A large part of the issue in regards to Heaven's Shore and Slavers Bay is that all the plots there were written by me and DP is not terribly good at keeping my shemes going, to the point where I flat out asked him to drop them all.
So, most likely, neither Heaven's Shore nor Slavers Bay even have a coherent goal or strategy right now and thus fall back into the overall milling around that our enemies do.
So, most likely, neither Heaven's Shore nor Slavers Bay even have a coherent goal or strategy right now and thus fall back into the overall milling around that our enemies do.
- Location
- Germany
Well, that's fine for Heaven's Shore, simply because it's a policy that has existed for many millenia and it would not be strange at all, IC or OOC if it just stayed stable and didn't interact with us activly for another millenium. It has a commander noted for not being particularly ambitious as Devils go and indeed activly surpressing efforts to change the situation.
SB is a very different case, it's not settled or stable, it is a currently an unresolved drain on Asmodeus ressources (propably a small one, but still) and it is in a situation that simply can't remain as it is for long, because sooner or later well just conquer or destroy the cities unless the Devils put a worthwile deterrence there.
Simply put, Heaven can afford to mill on, Slaver's Bay absolutly can't.
- Location
- Germany
Having an overall reason for why Heaven's Shore is the way it is would be rather helpful to doing something with it though.
As for Slaver's Bay, yeah. That has been dragging on with no clear reason or purpose for far too long. At this point it would be better to just make it a cookie-cutter "devils invade!" plot and wrap that up since I don't foresee it going anywhere interesting anymore. It's just a report source.
- Location
- Germany
It would, but I don't see much interest in "doing something with it".
Most people seem to want to focus on the enemies that are a clear and obvious threat to us, not military adventures in the Upper Planes.
Interlude in beta.
- Location
- Germany
That was said from an authorial perspective.
A lot of things are going nowhere or meandering all over the place since most of the events in the quest are fully isolated from each other and only retroactively tied together, often awkwardly.
Winning Vote
Interlude MLXX: Grim Tidings Given
Grim Tidings Given
Twenty Second Day of the Fifth Month 294 AC
Eddard Stark had not slept well the night before, and it was not due to the soft heat of the southern island, the strange sea tang slipping through the window nor even the lightening of his joints of aches he had not even known he had in the strange magic of this place. Wyman had come to see him near midnight, face pale and wan, his voice uneasy and uncertain which was most unlike the cheerful lord of White Harbor.
'Ned, I'm not sure what the Imperator is going to be telling us on the morrow but I have a guess and I have hoped... that is I thought... Keep your faith in the Gods Ned, Old or New it does not matter. Just keep in mind that nothing has changed since the two of us were born, not since our grandsires grandsires were born down through the long ages...'
'Wyman, you are not a septon nor a flower servant of the Green, coming to my door with news of faith and gods. What is this about?' Ned had asked, worried and uncertain at his turn.
'My lord Eddard, for such I still see you no matter what lines upon a map say, I do not think you would believe me if I did tell you, nor that I could give you enough proof to be trusted this night. Just keep my words in mind if you have ever valued my counsel. There is hope, even in the darkest night there is light...'
And with those strange words he had left in haste as though afraid of what else he might say. Enough trouble to have to adapt to a court so unlike that of the Red Keep, a court that would have far more of an impact on the North than that which had come before, but to have one of the few lords he had come to see as a rock in the storm show up at his door unbidden with strange riddles on his lips had left him tossing and turning until he had to rise him the bed lest he ruin Cat's rest also.
Morning had brought no relief from the strange doings. Arya, who one usually had to chase down like a stray kitten for such things, had walked up to him in the grey light and hugged him without a word. The Old Gods had chosen her, he recalled the words of the man he had sworn to serve spoken seemingly so long ago in Winterfell, on that black day that had unveiled to Ned the darkness of old in the heart of his own home. What more could be waiting for him? What more could be worse?
By the time he entered the chamber Ned had a mad urge to just get up and shout: 'Get it over with already!' Brandon would have done it he knew and for just a moment a he sunk into the soft seat. The lord of Winterfell allowed himself to daydream of what it would have been like to be as brave as Brandon. He would have loved to see the changing of the world, Ned knew, and he would not have been troubled about the loss of bannermen nor land. Ned could almost hear him. 'By the gods you have less of other people's troubles on your shoulders and you are complaining for it...'
Yet as he listened to the somber tones of Viserys Targaryen in his high black seat a foreboding came over Eddard as though some foreseeing of old blood had for a moment stirred in him.
"Alas, the Spheres are not as they are here shown but they are sundered of old, even as our ancestors struggled to hold back the Long Night." The words fell like a hammer upon the anvil, but not with a clang, instead with deathly silence. "Of these grim matters I know less than some who have sought refuge and new purpose in the Imperium. I call then on the Lady of Skane who has seen some flash of the first blow to recount the fate of Elysium, such as she is able."
She walked in fire, but her fire was dimmed, like the embers of a hearth that had been left overnight untended and now sputtered chocked with ash. "Night beyond all Darkness came to the golden fields and we could not guard against it, and that which was free and fair was sundered into a thousand shards and much that was wonder has been lost forevermore for none now live to recall it, songs fell silent and souls slid into the yawning maw of oblivion. That which in the lands of Skagos is left Nameless for fear that they might draw its eye is not merely the cold of winter, but much more, it is hate of all life and warmth, for all fire and light, and if left unchecked it will consume us all. In the time of the Sundering of the Spheres it almost did and the scars of it are still with us now, and I fear they shall ever be with us. No wide straight road is there for the souls that love freedom and the dance of silver stars."
Slowly, as though it pained her to speak the words aloud, the picture started to emerge from metaphor and simile. The wages of kindness and charity of heart in this world was were not bliss, they were not even safety, but being lost in the cold mists of 'Limbo' or snatched up by horrors that would enslave one more thoroughly than any mortal could hope to do so. Eddard could not believe it, he did not want to believe it and not from some grand and lordly cause. Father, Brandon... no... no...
"What..." It was only when he got up that he realized he was the first to speak of all the shocked hall and that he had not actually requested to speak as was the procedure. "What happens to the souls that are lost, can they be called back? Can they be rescued?" He had already lost Rob, to be told he might have lost all his kin and all the friends he had ever made in like way and simply never known it was too much to bear, almost too much to even speak of.
What do you do?
[] Let Bloom answer
[] Reply yourself
-[] Point out that the gods guard the souls of those who were faithful to them
[] Write in
OOC: Well here is the first part. I did not include the food since it did not register much to Eddard, weary and worried as he was, but the next PoV will make more of Heroes' Feast.
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MagnificentMind
To Live is to Suffer
[X] Let Bloom answer
-[X] If it proves necessary (i.e. people begin to show signs of hysteria, shouting, screaming, etc.), Viserys will interrupt and point out that the gods still guard the souls of those who were faithful to them.
Is this an acceptable write in @DragonParadox?
-[X] If it proves necessary (i.e. people begin to show signs of hysteria, shouting, screaming, etc.), Viserys will interrupt and point out that the gods still guard the souls of those who were faithful to them.
Is this an acceptable write in @DragonParadox?
You can assume that if actual hysteria happens Viserys will naturally try to calm down things. He is not going to stand by and watch a riot.
- Location
- Goose Land
Based on the other things in there this should be
- 3,000 IM in Trade Goods (House Brune of Dyre Den) -> 100% (Base) +150% (Trade in Goods) + 64% (Harbinger Bargaining) -2% (Prestige) = 306% -> 9,480 IM
Now back to catching up.
ContemplateLife
Philosopher Thesaurus
- Location
- Canada
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hey guys, could someone point me in the direction of where the story of the shattering of the spheres is located. A cursory examination of the Informational thread marks doesn't present a convenient agglomeration of all we know of that time.
Jack vile Ripper
The swellest guy in Creation.
- Location
- Indonesia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Can't say this would help but...
A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover
Regrets Twentieth Day of the Ninth Month 293 AC As you wait in the solar, the silence is almost oppressive. It is not the first time that you have to wait for Yrael to finish his duties before meeting with you, but never before had you to wait this long. At least not since he swore to you...
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
This is our first trip to Hellven. Hope that would help you on your journey.
- Location
- Philippines
The Hellven visit would count, but we had a first inkling about it when we first visited Lys, on one of the hidden text of the Red Priests referencing Fallen Nirvana and Shattered Elysium.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Made some additional edits to the chapter, DP.
Poor Ned, even little Arya knew he wasn't going to take the news well.
Arya did not really know, but she knew her father would be going to do something hard. That is the advantage of being linked to a precognitive hive mind in your dreams, though it is still a matter of some debate if that actually helped or if it just made him more unnerved.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Among other things Bloom has going for her in this situation, her innate nature as an Azata and her role as a witness, she also has very high skill bonuses in the relevant areas that should let her handle this well; Knowledge (Planes) +25, Perform (Oratory) +30, Sense Motive +28. And that's assuming she's not been given any additional buffs to further improve her testimony.
She knows the answer and will share it with the Curia, and she'll most likely do it in as comforting a manner as she can. That said, Viserys can perhaps help things along in the background if people start to lose their shit too badly.
[X] Let Bloom answer
-[X] Viserys will use Wild Arcana to cast a Spread of Contentment spell upon the Curia as a Standard Action if it appears the Curia is having too much difficulty accepting the information to behave rationally, or worse, begins to panic.
She knows the answer and will share it with the Curia, and she'll most likely do it in as comforting a manner as she can. That said, Viserys can perhaps help things along in the background if people start to lose their shit too badly.
[X] Let Bloom answer
-[X] Viserys will use Wild Arcana to cast a Spread of Contentment spell upon the Curia as a Standard Action if it appears the Curia is having too much difficulty accepting the information to behave rationally, or worse, begins to panic.
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Jack vile Ripper
The swellest guy in Creation.
- Location
- Indonesia
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Query: Viserys is able to cast the Spell silently and will not reveal any overt display of casting, right? I know that he's the Leader of his Hegemon, but it will seem rude (no matter how much the circumstances necessitates it) if he cast a spell at them without their consent.
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Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
He can, but I'm not sure if this is the best situation to hide the action. I was actually thinking about updating my vote slightly to have Viserys loudly demand for the Curia to "Be calm!" as he casts the spell, should it prove necessary for him to do so.
What do ya'll think? Yes, it's a Compulsion spell that some might not be happy about being exposed to, but it's in no way mind control and it would be accompanied by with a verbal command given by the Imperator.