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

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Part MDCCLXXXVII: Death's Grasp
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    • Death's Grasp ​

    Eighteenth Day of the First Month 293 AC

    "Does it get any easier?" you ask Malarys as the last judgement is passed, the last man sent to his death to add fresh blood onto the defiled ground of Sallosh. Having sent Lya ahead to prepare the Shadow Tower for travel and Dany to speak to Amrelath, your time in the ruined city had grown just that much darker, with more than the ephemeral shades that gather with the coming of dusk.

    "I have found that leaning on proper jurisprudence helps a great deal," he replies, not truly addressing the heart of your disquiet, whether unable or unwilling to do so you cannot guess.

    You sigh, offering a tired smile nonetheless. The former advocate had been a treasure in keeping the trials running smoothly, examining witnesses in a sensible and swift manner.

    Outside the remaining sellswords carried heavy crates and chests of equipment and plunder without much complaint under Ser Richard's steely gaze and occasional curt orders. The knight made no secret of that fact that he would have preferred that you be considerably less merciful to hired killers in the service of traitors, but still he does his duty well for all that.

    You wonder with cold satisfaction what Tiamat must think to see one of her heralds, green scales glittering the the fading sunlight, unceremoniously carted off like a hunter's trophy for the carving while the three battle-forged servitors march obediently besides the column of men.

    Gained 3780 Gold in antiquities

    Gained 3 Iron Golems (2 archers 1 warrior)

    Gained 1 Abishai corpse

    Waymar falls in beside you, his thoughts obviously far from yours, and asks softly: "It seems an ill done thing to take from the dead who have done us no harm and merely protect what is theirs from the depredation of... looters."

    "I will not hide behind technicalities, my friend. I will not name it 'salvage' or the spoils of victory. Instead I will only ask you: do you think the dead find solace in their wretched existence, whether we return their treasures or not?"

    "I..." his answer breaks off as a cold wind howls through the ruined street and a long shadow stretches down it. Where the path ahead had been empty a moment ago now a skeletal figure garbed in tattered robes stands, its laeft hand open towards you, as though to bid you to halt. Around its neck hangs a heavy golden chain adorned with a sapphire-studded starburst.

    "That is no minor apparition," Malayrs' voice whispers in your ear upon a spell-wrought wind. "The mark is that of a Loremaster of the Guiding Star." Then he calls out ahead in the tongue of Sarnor of old. Like a thousand hushed whispers piled one atop the other into a hissing screech comes the reply.

    "It, or rather they wish to know by what right we would take from the dead and heap further torment upon the already damned." The mage lord's voice is perfectly level, offering no judgement of his own in the matter.

    What do you reply?

    [] Write in

    OOC: That was an interesting set of rolls from the undead is all I'll say.
     
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    • I am genuinely shocked.

    Ask them what they want with it then. Seeing as hell or high water you will be sending them off soon.

    Edit: Recompense for sending them on? Using it to fufil some last wishes?

    What's this like from a legal perspective. Can undead own property? Even non sentient ones?

    What's the legal precedent for taking all of someone's stuff and then sending them to the afterlife.

    Also, we should take the time to congratulate this ghost on his choice of approach.
     
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    [X] "We take from the dead not by right, but by necessity. Our enemy, a dark goddess of greed and madness, and the mortals who serve her, now know of Sallosh's existence, and the wealth hidden here.
    -[X] "Surely the Loremaster was aware of their presence as they stripped the city bare, defiling graves and holy sites left undisturbed for centuries? Did he detect the efforts of the enemy Cleric, who wished to rouse the dead, to use them as weapons against the living?"
    -[X] "We do not steal from the dead to enrich ourselves, but to deny this wealth to an enemy of all humanity, and so that we can in turn use that wealth against the Bitch Queen and her pawns."
     
    spiritualatheist said:
    Should we return the stuff?
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    The dragon in me wants to say no.

    The wizard in me wants to know what the fuck they would use it for and if we couldn't just find a magical means to ease their suffering instead of leaving perfectly good loot to rot in the ground.

    It's not like they'd be any happier if we left it here, hell the ghost fucking said as much when it showed up.

    What's the point of putting a small band-aid on a severed limb?
     
    Oh man. Heh. Hate to say it fish but, "if I don't somebody else will steal it" probably won't hold up in ghost court.

    Anyway, last thought before bed.

    Edit:
    Eh I lost it. Oh well. Night guys.

    Do tell him we are exorcising this place anyway. Likely violently.
     
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    [X] Viserys said it best: You can't claim these as the spoils of conquest, for these are no living men to tithe from. Nor can they be called salvage from an empty shell of a city when the restless dead are so easily startled and incensed by such disturbances. This is theft, just from that of a different perspective.
    -[X] Acquire Tongues to speak with: "What would you have me do? Leave them here to be reacquired, by hook or crook, perhaps by my enemies, or that of mankind who I have surely, for now, driven from Sallosh-That-Was? Perhaps you will fight tooth and nail to prevent that, but still men serving as pawns of She of Many Colors and None will come again. This is a rising age of magic, and the ruins of Sarnor provide adequate target for temptation in the hearts of men besides that."
    -[X] "Let us not take them as mere spoils, one of a hundred victories left unsung; It is said that a remnant of the Tall Men yet endures despite the depredations of the Dothraki Horse Lords. Indeed--I have come upon some of these wandering forlorn exiles in their time of need, protecting them from similar ilk. They seemed hopeful for what great deeds could be committed in these times despite the horrors of the past. Would you wish to haunt these sad ruins for another age, when it is one of such possible renewal? Or might you be laid to rest... perhaps for your people's living legacy to once again inhabit these hallowed walls once more?"
    -[X] "Even if you would deny fervent hope, the living do not. Sarnor's sundered lands should not languish forever a tomb of the wakeful dead."

    More civilization is always a good thing. And this is an alternative to the really tired "revenge scheme" plotlines. I'm not interested in fighting Dothraki for undead Sarnori. Too much collateral involved.
     
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    Did't we find Sarnori descendants being attacked by Birdbrain? We could move those ones to this city so thwt they get to rebuild
     
    Edited it a little bit to mention we helped out some of them. It was a good ask.
     
    Saath is the one Sarnori/Tall Men city left, I think.

    http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Saath

    The people of Saath still call themselves Tagaez Fen, or Tall Men, after the Sarnori of old. The city has managed to survive with the support of Ib and Lorath.[2]
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    The small port of Saath, with its white walls, is the last surviving remnant of the Kingdom of Sarnor, as the other Sarnori cities, including its sister city Sarys, were destroyed by the Dothraki during the Century of Blood.[2] The people of Saath often trade with the Lorathi colony of Morosh.[3]
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    So... Goldfish's "You aren't using them" and my "Offer hope like a merciful poison" aren't selling, huh?

    Anyone have alternatives?
     
    [] Because this world, and all of its treasures, horrors, and trials belong to the living.
    -[] You and your people died a long time ago.
    -[] The the indiscriminate rage, and boundless hunger of the unquiet dead is quite well known.

    heres a start. still working on it. Wanted to say this for a while.
     
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    [X] Crake

    Truth be told, I want to work with them. This was(and sorta somewhat is) the City of Scholars, they value knowledge as much as or more than we do.
     
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    [X] What need have you of treasures? Move on or stay, no gold or jewels will help you in neither.

    I don't see why they even want treasures, not like they can buy anything for it.
    Undead are really worse than dragons in that regard, hoarding valuable with literally no point.
     
    [X] Because this world, and all of its treasures, horrors, and trials belong to the living.
    -[X] You and your people died a long time ago.
    -[X] The indiscriminate rage, and boundless hunger of the unquiet dead is quite well known. The damage one wraith can do in a populated city should send shivers down any mortal spine.
    -[X] Truthfully I was not certain the dead dwelling here would be sane or present enough to care.
    -[X] If they were I was planning on sending them on to the next life. With words, blessings, or flames.
    -[X] The forces of darkness will not let you lie when they could bend you, or take advantage of what your presence creates.

    Heres the updated. Do or do not.

    Maybe an interlude @DragonParadox ? This seems like it might be slow going.
     
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    Tomcost said:
    They want to not be disturbed. Removing your bed while you are still sleeping is bound to get you annoyed.
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    Then they should have moved on to the point where disturbance of their material remains doesn't matter anymore.

    These undead seem like they are not proactive at all, even most of the Sarnori are hunting Dothraki and might actually let go and move on once they have taken enough vengance.
    But the tomb-dwellers annoy me to no end, because they accomplish nothing and in the end it's their inevitable fate that someone with the power to destroy them or lay them to rest cleans up the house.
    Might as well go without making trouble, end-result is the same.
     
    Fat chance of that. The long term plans we've got involve colonization on the lands past the Rhoyne going eastward to the Bone mountains. That kind of necessitates running into Sarnor first, and the undead ridden cities in them.

    We were always bound to have to clear them out no matter what. Demarcating perfectly good cities for undead to sleep in and occasionally be roused from by stupid tomb raiders isn't a good idea.
     
    This seems like an occasion for some level-up interludes (maybe for baby adventurers, or even our NPC spellcasters growing their powers in the Shadow Tower): the thread seems slow today...
     
    [X] Crake

    I want allies. The living dead are a great speedbump for the Tiamat empowered Jhogos Nhay and remaining Dothraki.
     
    Artemis1992 said:
    Then they should have moved on to the point where disturbance of their material remains doesn't matter anymore.

    These undead seem like they are not proactive at all, even most of the Sarnori are hunting Dothraki and might actually let go and move on once they have taken enough vengance.
    But the tomb-dwellers annoy me to no end, because they accomplish nothing and in the end it's their inevitable fate that someone with the power to destroy them or lay them to rest cleans up the house.
    Might as well go without making trouble, end-result is the same.
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    You are expecting a surprising amount of agency and rationality from the undead, specifically spontaneously arising undead.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    You are expecting a surprising amount of agency and rationality from the undead, specifically spontaneously arising undead.
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    No, I'm annoyed that they lack agency.

    Without that they are just an obstacle, as a fallen tree on a road and should be removed as such.

    If they had more agency, were more proactive I'd be in favor of negotiating and working with them, as it is I'll first check if burning their remains works.
     
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