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

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DragonParadox said:
Vote closed.

I had to get monsters and encounters in order.
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Now that the vote is closed, I'll update the turn schedule to reflect the changes we have decided on.

EDIT: @Everyone Not much is disrupted so far, even Lya is just losing one day of research. If Volantis doesn't end up taking three days, we can make everything up easily. For now I have Sothoryos Redux slated for just a single day, but everyone on the mission has days available if necessary.
 
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Considering that Zherys is... Zherys and for Brenno's sake we're splitting the party, I very much would like telepathic bond cast this time. We can cast it on cl (16) people for a duration of 160 minutes.

Does Viserys have potions of lesser restoration still?
 
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Part MMCCIII: Setting the Board
  • Threadmarks
    • Setting the Board ​

    Eighteenth Day of the Fourth Month 293 AC

    This day you make no attempt to cater to the demands of courtesy by making use of doors to enter Zherys' presence. Rather you arrive upon a sorcerous wind at the agreed upon hour to find the Volantine mage pouring a map of the city in unexpected company: one of Benerro's clockwork servitors is standing in the corner of the room, its eyes alight with watchful flame.

    "A messenger," Zherys explains with a careless wave. "The Flame Keeper does not trust me in the company of his flesh-and-blood supporters, much less the 'blessed spirits of his god'." The mage's smile takes on an edge of cynical amusement. "I imagine he does not wish to risk having me bind them to my beck and call."

    Lya politely ignores the matter. "How does it commune with its masters?" she asks instead.

    "The minor elemental spirit that makes up its motive force can serve as a scrying focus, one uniquely suited to the flame magics of R'hllor. Actually replying through it is a considerably more clumsy process as the animating enchantments were never meant for such a task. but it can get across agreement or denial well enough to know when to make use of more precise but costly methods."

    "You probably would have done better with some sort of mirror magic," Dany interjects.

    "Alas that neither of us nor our subordinates holds any particular skill in that regard," the High Speaker replies, the implication clear in his tone. Neither would admit such a skill to the other even if they possessed it. It would be too valuable for spying on one another.

    Garin sighs, the sound too soft for most to hear and you can hardly blame him. These are the people you are supposed to execute a coup with...

    "What's the situation?" you ask, motioning to the annotated maps of Volantis: one showing the Old City, the second the new and the third what looks to be the aqueduct and sewage system. Warriors of the Banners, the Fiery Hand, the Unsullied and what looks like sellswords are laid out upon it like pieces of a child's game, for all the blood split shall be all too real this day. Star symbols of Mysterium mages and sorcerer priests are laid out beside what look to the the manses of known conspirators as well as reservoirs, granaries... and the sealed manse where Ymeri's fires still burn. There and only there Zherys' mages and those of the Lord of Light stand side by side.

    Thankfully the plan shows nothing of excessive Volantine complexity. The archon will be escorted by a honor guard of the Banners of Renown over the Long Bridge to Marquelo's Square. There he is to address the gathered notables and their household guards on the matter of the Rhoynar conquests. During the speech, at a suitably dramatic moment Zherys assumes, the archon is to command the gathered Unsullied to fall upon the freedmen officers, signaling the beginning of the Elephants' planned purge. Unfortunately being merchants, moneylenders, and landowners, none of the notable conspirators care to expose themselves to the ensuring battle, so they shall have to be arrested or killed in their manses behind whatever protections they and their demonic 'allies' have established.

    "What about the archon, then?" Ser Richard asks. "Does he have more guts than the rest of them or just less sense."

    "He fondly imagines the former, but the latter is far more likely," Zherys replies. "He has been promised an escape by sorcery should he be in danger of death. I would lay good stakes on the rest of the conspirators preferring a dead martyr to a living hero, however. After all, a dead man's shoes would need filling."

    "Is there any planned great ritual for the day, to take advantage of the bloodshed?" you ask, thinking back to the tactics such lunatics as would pact with demons have used against you in the past.

    "Two, unfortunately," Zherys announces with disgust. "It's quite astonishing the scope of magic one can reach for if one actively means to sow chaos. The first serves the purpose of tainting the main reservoir of the new city with an arcane poison. The mortal conspirators believe it will make the citizens docile and prevent any flare-ups of magic among the slaves during the fighting. In truth it is a concoction of distilled nightmares that would drive any who partake of it into fits of violent madness and excess, not only adding to the destruction, but weakening the minds of tens perhaps hundreds of thousands to demonic influence..."

    For all the horrors you have seen and heard of your stomach still clenches at the sheer scale of the disaster Zherys is describing. Dany is far less quiet in her disdain, letting loose a trio of brief but virulent insults, though she at least does not do so in the tongue of Hell lest the demons should have some way to listen in on words spoken in their own black utterances. "How certain are you of this?"

    "As much as one can be," the Volantine mage replies. "Their plans have not been guessed merely by divination, but also a handful of discrete questionings of lesser fiends. As is the habit of their kind they eavesdropped to discover far more than their masters, both true and false, could guess at." He goes on to explain that the one saving grace of this plot is that only demons and a handful of their mortal dupes would be present at the reservoir, allowing for a quick and quiet elimination of the threat. The last thing any city needs is rumors about poisoned water.

    The second ritual will unfortunately be far more public, an attack by an 'enraged slave mob' on the temple of Meraxes, bent on defiling the holy ground to summon more demons forth which would then swiftly vanish into smoke and flame to aid the conspiracy elsewhere. The attackers will be a mix of rural retainers from the hinterlands and some of the more fanatical demon cultists, some of whom may already be possessed or otherwise tainted.

    Several barracks and known Tiger manses will also be attacked, but with those dwelling within forewarned most have either departed or are ready to put up a stiff defense. Those magisters who Zherys deemed could not be trusted with the knowledge of the coup will be evacuated during the attack itself 'as circumstances permit'. You get the distinct impression the High Speaker would not be adverse to a few martyrs of his own.

    What do you do next?

    [] Ask questions
    -[] Write in

    [] Offer suggestions for the final plan
    -[] Write in

    [] Write in

    OOC: Remember, you promised the Red Priests you would have a representative in every action in which they participate.
     
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    • BeepSmile said:
    Considering that Zherys is... Zherys and for Brenno's sake we're splitting the party, I very much would like telepathic bond cast this time. We can cast it on cl (16) people for a duration of 160 minutes.

    Does Viserys have potions of lesser restoration still?
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    He should still have several of those potions, though they've never been shown on Viserys' character sheet.

    Restoring the Charisma damage isn't the issue, though, it's the use of a 7th level spell before we go into a situation that might get extremely complicated. Also, at Viserys' current level, he can only include himself plus five others in the spell. It's one per three caster levels.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    The first serves the purpose of tainting the main reservoir of the new city with an arcane poison. The mortal conspirators believe it will make the citizens docile and prevent any flare-ups of magic among the slaves during the fighting. In truth it is a concoction of distilled nightmares that that would drive any who partake of it into fits of violent madness and excess, not only adding to the destruction but weakening the minds of tens perhaps hundreds of thousands to demonic influence....
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    :facepalm:

    DragonParadox said:
    Dany is far less quiet in her disdain letting loose a trio of brief but virulent insults, though she at least does so in the tongue of Hell least the demons should have some way to listen in on words spoken in their own black utterances.
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    I have a few choice insults of my own for this.
     
    MTB said:
    It's a good plan for a demon?
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    It is, but what about the magisters?

    Did they pick Gullible Stupid as their alignment to take levels in Unchained Moron?

    Did the Illithid pass through and left the empty snack-wrappers running around for shits and giggles?

    Why are these people allowed out of their houses without wearing a helmet?

    Did we keep the recipt so that we can swap them for properly functioning people?
     
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    DragonParadox said:
    Keep in mind these are people who started out without one skill rank in knowledge the planes. They did not know the Abyss from a hole in the ground and their information about demons mostly comes from the demons.
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    You don't need to have Knowledge: The Planes to realise that someone telling you "We will poison your water-supply, but it's totally safe and awesome for you!" is full of shit.
     
    Wow Zherys, this was a rollercoaster!
    Incompetent Zherys: Yes, infighting and distrust are tearing my city apart - but nevertheless I will let them weaken us and weaken our planning with the Red Priests!
    Vyserys: Why are we supporting you again?
    Zherys: I HAVE TURNED THEIR IMPS AGAINST THEM!!! THEIR GREATEST POWER IS MINE!!! MINE!!! MINE!!!
     
    Azel said:
    You don't need to have Knowledge: The Planes to realise that someone telling you "We will poison your water-supply, but it's totally safe and awesome for you!" is full of shit.
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    You're assuming they have appreciable social skills to match demons, and also give a damn about the main water supply - they probably have personal ones. To use a Firefly analogy, the demons have told them that they can inject the Pax into the city's water. What they haven't said is that it's a variant that turns everyone who imbies it into Reavers.
     
    Snowfire said:
    You're assuming they have appreciable social skills to match demons, and also give a damn about the main water supply - they probably have personal ones. To use a Firefly analogy, the demons have told them that they can inject the Pax into the city's water. What they haven't said is that it's a variant that turns everyone who imbies it into Reavers.
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    Still not seeing where the magisters look even remotely competent in this. They are still dosing half their city with something they have no idea about, except for the say-so of the people peddling the stuff.

    Contrast and Compare: The genies reaction to other monetary schemes.
     
    TalonofAnathrax said:
    Wow Zherys, this was a rollercoaster!
    Incompetent Zherys: Yes, infighting and distrust are tearing my city apart - but nevertheless I will let them weaken us and weaken our planning with the Red Priests!
    Vyserys: Why are we supporting you again?
    Zherys: I HAVE TURNED THEIR IMPS AGAINST THEM!!! THEIR GREATEST POWER IS MINE!!! MINE!!! MINE!!!
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    You make Zherys look doubly-incompetent.

    Imps are from Baator. The Demon equivalent are Quasits.
     
    Snowfire said:
    You're assuming they have appreciable social skills to match demons, and also give a damn about the main water supply - they probably have personal ones. To use a Firefly analogy, the demons have told them that they can inject the Pax into the city's water. What they haven't said is that it's a variant that turns everyone who imbies it into Reavers.
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    No, this is even stupider than what happened in Firefly. In Firefly everything was caused by well-meaning government officials and scientists. There aren't well-meaning scientists: these are actual monsters, born of concentrated Evil and hailing from the underworld itself.
    Firefly was unfortunate, a catastrophe born of hubris and insufficient testing.
    This is just ridiculously stupid. Clearly the magisters are vastly outmatched where it comes to Cha, Int and Wis!
     
    "He goes on to explain that the one saving grace of this plot is that only demons and a handful of their mortal dupes would be present at the reservoir allowing for a quick and quiet elimination of the threat"

    Lies, dammed lies and reassurances from Zherys :rofl:

    @DragonParadox since we are needed to handhold the fiery hand dudes, 'cuz nobody trusts Zherys, how many groups are they sending/places they are going to?
     
    Azel said:
    Still not seeing where the magisters look even remotely competent in this. They are still dosing half their city with something they have no idea about, except for the say-so of the people peddling the stuff.

    Contrast and Compare: The genies reaction to other monetary schemes.
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    I wasn't trying to call them competent. I was just highlighting the likely reasons for their incompetence. Doesn't make it better, and actually makes it worse.
     
    Azel said:
    Still not seeing where the magisters look even remotely competent in this. They are still dosing half their city with something they have no idea about, except for the say-so of the people peddling the stuff.

    Contrast and Compare: The genies reaction to other monetary schemes.
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    Sorry, force of habit.
    Anyway, considering how effective Imps have been against us vs how effective mighty monsters have been, clearly imps are the greatest weapon these assholes have!
     
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