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

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Deliste said:
You've said this a few times, I really think you misunderstand the Efreeti, PoF and assholes of this level in general. Negative fucks would be given by all except those who enjoy the fact they are hunting sophonts.
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The Efreeti don't give a fuck, the PoF as a whole however will in the long run, because now the Whales are valued trading partners, they are turning a profit trading goods or services for gems with, which mean the Efreeti Whalers aren't hunting beasts they are hunting valuable traders, and why that's cutting into peoples incomes, because a dead Whale produce no gems, and then there's the principle of the matter, if the Efreeti will plunder the Whales instead of trading with them, why would you assume they wouldn't just steal your stuff at the first opportunity?

The Efreeti are Lawful evil, they are selling themselves as evil you can trust to keep to deals, sponsoring bandits, that are plundering their trade partners other trade partners openly, hurts that.

It's not a question of morality it's a question of precedent, and mass sponsoring bandits in a plane they trade in is shitting where you eat, because it makes people dislike you in the long run, and that makes them less inclined to trade with you.
 
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Sep 12, 2018 at 3:39 AM, finished with 226143 posts and 16 votes.
  • [X] Plan Preparing the Grand Finale
    -[X] Make a deal with Yrten:
    --[X] They can use our port as a friendly one and trade there as long as they follow the local laws. We request first buy rights for anything impressive they bring, especially military hardware. In exchange, they agree to not trade in any other ports that are not controlled by us or our allies. We are either at war or soon to be at war with everyone else.
    --[X] She can access our library and learn any spell we have in scroll form on condition that she herself offers us a scroll of a spell we don't have or a lore book we don't have whenever she does this. She should be able to get extraplanar books easily enough, you see.
    --[X] They'll give us intel about the situation on the Plane of Fire, especially good targets or targets to avoid.
    --[X] Whenever they find something good enough, they can call us for support. The split of the plunder will be decided on a case by case basis.
    --[X] Ask them to look for other pirates and settlements inclined to make deals with us. If the getting looks good, we would be interested in supporting their efforts monetarily.
    -[X] Plan for the remaining days:
    --[X] Let Yrten gather intel about the garrisons near the Salamander tribes.
    --[X] The party meanwhile destroys some whalers.
    --[X] On the last day, go over the information and pick a garrison to destroy.
    [X] Raid Whalers
    [X] Hire Yrten to spend a day looking for targets for you to hit, while you meanwhile go hunting whalers wherever he says is best.
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A_Somebody said:
Oh shit. I forgot the whole "Fenrir exists and has totally already broken free" flavor
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Fenrir is an angry god not an evil god, considering the flavor text I doubt it was Fenrir, he's actually a pretty nice being, unless you are a Norse god, and that's because they decided chaining him up forever was a good idea, just because he had grown way too big, he even let them try, thinking demonstrating his strength by breaking chains was a fun game, it's only when they had to be assholes, and got an unbreakable thin as a single strand chain that he demanded Tyr's hand in his mouth, thinking that with Tyr's hand at risk they wouldn't betray him, which they of course did anyway, so I don't think Fenrir is evil, he's probably a Neutral god that hate the Norse.

Then there's the fact that it's a titanic chains link, Fenrirs chain was thin as string and looked twice as fragile, so a titanic chain is unlikely to be it.
 
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tarrangar said:
The Efreeti don't give a fuck, the PoF as a whole however will in the long run, because now the Whales are valued trading partners, they are turning a profit trading goods or services for gems with, which mean the Efreeti Whalers aren't hunting beasts they are hunting valuable traders, and why that's cutting into peoples incomes, because a dead Whale produce no gems, and then there's the principle of the matter, if the Efreeti will plunder the Whales instead of trading with them, why would you assume they wouldn't just steal your stuff at the first opportunity?

The Efreeti are Lawful evil, they are selling themselves as evil you can trust to keep to deals, sponsoring bandits, that are plundering their trade partners other trade partners openly, hurts that.

It's not a question of morality it's a question of precedent, and mass sponsoring bandits in a plane they trade in is shitting where you eat, because it makes people dislike you in the long run, and that makes them less inclined to trade with you.
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I knew what you meant, but the Efreeti are already bad partners, people are already forced into deals they don't want to take.

Basically I see the Efreeti as already shitting where they eat and abusing their might to keep things running, what's a bit more shit when the inhabitants of PoF will see the hunting of Fire Whales as lesser crimes than those already visited upon their glorious and storied people, who cares about some dumb fish when the Salamander tribes are not given their due respect.
 
Deliste said:
I knew what you meant, but the Efreeti are already bad partners, people are already forced into deals they don't want to take.

Basically I see the Efreeti as already shitting where they eat and abusing their might to keep things running, what's a bit more shit when the inhabitants of PoF will see the hunting of Fire Whales as lesser crimes than those already visited upon their glorious and storied people, who cares about some dumb fish when the Salamander tribes are not given their due respect.
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It's not going to change everything of course, but it will be yet another grievance against the Efreeti, which make the hatred that more united, the Efreeti aren't suddenly going to lose their hold on the Plane of Fire over this alone, but it will make them that bit less secure, as a bit more anger is added.

Because yes the Efreeti are already hated only held in check by fear, adding more hatred however mean they need more fear to counter it, because if the Plane of Fire's hatred of the Efreeti becomes stronger than it's fear, then that's when rebellions will happen.

Then there's the business deals they will lose, both in traders who now snub buying Fire Whale gems from them, because they would rather trade with the Pods than the Efreeti, and in traders who decide they don't want to trade with bandits if they can help it, and so find alternative buyers for their goods, and don't buy from the Efreeti, it's not going to be huge, but the Efreeti will lose some business.
 
One thing to keep in mind: every merchantmen we sink or capture will be one less merchantmen Brassman can turn into a man'o'war. He's likely to conscript his own civilian ships and strap some armament on them if the war starts to turn badly for him... so not only are we striking the Efreeti economy by taking out the whalers, but also chipping away at the Sultan's future military strength.

On another sidenote, I'm really giddy for the conference, starting to approach Tyrosh levels now.

I wonder what Brune and Velaryon will think, watching Viserys turn up after half a year and looking mentally older by a decade, wielding the Conqueror's Crown and Dark Sister, as well as a cloak of molten gold.

Their jaws will freaking de attach themselves when we bring them to the conference as our loyal vassals.
 
Azel said:
To expand upon this, we have a few strategic goals for the conference and especially in regards to the Shaitan.

At first, let's look at the deal we got. We were supposed to keep our allegiance to the Shaitan hidden and strike at the Sultan in flashy fashion as to draw attention to his weakness. The questions here is: Why?

The Shaitan are in open war with the Brazen Throne, so they loose absolutely nothing from having it known that they hire mercenaries to strike at the Plane of Fire. If they wanted just someone to attack the Sultan, there is no point in hiding their involvement. If they wanted a deniable asset, they would have sent us somewhere were deniability would matter. This mission isn't about the Shaitan, the Sultan or the war, but about us.

We had prior dealings with the Efreeti, so as far as they know, we might be a plant or just someone who would turn his cloak if the offer is good enough. If we humiliate the Sultan without it being obvious that it was done on their orders though, they gain blackmail material on us. If we ever betrayed them, they could reveal our involvement in these defeats to incite the Sultan to kill us.

This is no concern any longer. We openly attacked and destroyed a military convoy of the Sultan. This wasn't an act of regular piracy, but straight up war. And snatching the Coatl? The Sultan will never forgive us that particular act. Not before the heat death of the universe.

So we now picked a corner, regardless of our dealings with the Shaitan. They can trust us to not betray them to their enemies, because they are now also our enemies and nothing in the whole wide planes could ever change that again. Efreeti are vengeful bastards, the Sultan far more then anyone else, and we gave him ample reason to grind us down to Living Brass the first chance he gets.


As for the conference, the main goal is to present us as someone worth having treaties with. Not a peer power, we could never hope to sell that to planar empires at this point, but as an up and comer that already can affect the game to a meaningful degree and will become a peer sooner or later. Thus we become someone worth allying with.

To do this, we need to convince them two things:

1) Economic Relevance
We need to show them that we are a valuable trade partner and can produce and consume enough goods to affect their own economy to a noticeable degree. By scoring this point, we show them that open trade with us would benefit them financially and gain them a new source of supplies for their war effort.

We achieve this by showing off our industries in SD (which are not impressive by planar standards yet, but we can flat out tell them that we could scale them up considerably, if there was a market for the goods) and inviting our various allies and future vassals, thus showing that we have the size and the population to be important.

2) Military Relevance
They are currently at war and even if they were not, we need to score major points here. Both to show them that we can offer valuable support to their cause, but also to banish any ideas that we are some easily conquered colony waiting for a new owner. We are not nearly powerful enough to make them feel threatened, but we can show them that we can field meaningful forces capable of affecting the course of their war and, should they attack us, that they will have to bleed for every meter of land they wish to take.

To do this, we show off the captures ships (3 Efreeti war-ships and one highly guarded treasure ship from Dis), our new cloak (made from 100% Archduke) and attacking a military installation of the Efreeti during this trip. This neatly shows that our peak strike power is well within the region were we can do considerable damage to planar armies.


So, yeah. This whole trip? The loot is nice, but what matters the most is the lines in the sand we've drawn. And they paint a nice picture for anyone looking for allies.
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In other words, we're circa 1900s era Meiji Japan trying to convince the British that we're the new cool kids in Asia and that we are worth their time to be treated like a second rate peer and not a handy place on the map to paint pink, blue, or gods forbid, grey.

'Look Britian Senpai! We haz lots of population and rising literacy! A couple of state of the art railways too! You dont see much of that in South East Asia huh?'

'What do you mean not a colonial power?!'

*jumps around with Korea in both hands*

'Look! Perfectly serviceable! We know how to oppress people for steel and coal! We could even buy a battleship or two from you guys in a few years, start small, yes?'

'Excellent':drevil::drevil::drevil:

British: :Do_O:wtf::o
 
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bigbow said:
One thing to keep in mind: every merchantmen we sink or capture will be one less merchantmen Brassman can turn into a man'o'war. He's likely to conscript his own civilian ships and strap some armament on them if the war starts to turn badly for him... so not only are we striking the Efreeti economy by taking out the whalers, but also chipping away at the Sultan's future military strength.
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Frankly, I would focus on other things for our next attacks.

Strike ports and lay waste to them.
Raid and collapse mines.
Go after forges and manufacturies.

Not only do they have a lot of valuable in those places, but we are draining the Sultans ressources four times over.

1. Loss of looted materials and products.
2. No production / use during rebuilding, which will cost ressources.
3. Brain drain as skilled artisans and personal is freed from slavery or outright killed during the attacks.
4. Redeployment of troops to defend the hone-front means less troops to fight the Shaitan.

All in all a great outcome for us.
 
Azel said:
Frankly, I would focus on other things for our next attacks.

Strike ports and lay waste to them.
Raid and collapse mines.
Go after forges and manufacturies.

Not only do they have a lot of valuable in those places, but we are draining the Sultans ressources four times over.

1. Loss of looted materials and products.
2. No production / use during rebuilding, which will cost ressources.
3. Brain drain as skilled artisans and personal is freed from slavery or outright killed during the attacks.
4. Redeployment of troops to defend the hone-front means less troops to fight the Shaitan.

All in all a great outcome for us.
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Shadow of the Doom is a great spell in this regard. Not for the damage it can cause to our enemies, if they avoid petrification, or the frightening visual effects, but for the ability to transmute absolutely incredible amounts of otherwise useable stone into volcanic soil.

The only useful real estate on the Plane of Fire is solid stone, else the heat and molten metals and stone will just wash away any permanent structure.

A single Shadow of the Doom can spoil an entire port facility, not just damaging the structures, but also permanently rendering their very foundation unuseable in the future.

EDIT: One tactic I've already touched on, in my theoretical plans to destroy Casterly Rock, would be to use Shadow of the Doom to transform a large area into volcanic soil, then use one or more high level Control Winds spells to just blow away the entire transmuted area.
 
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Goldfish said:
Shadow of the Doom is a great spell in this regard. Not for the damage it can cause to our enemies, if they avoid petrification, or the frightening visual effects, but for the ability to transmute absolutely incredible amounts of otherwise useable stone into volcanic soil.

The only useful real estate on the Plane of Fire is solid Stone, else the heat and molten metals and stone will just wash away any permanent structure.

A single Shadow of the Doom can spoil an entire port facility, not just damaging the structures, but also permanently rendering their very foundation unuseable in the future.
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Shadow of the Doom is also incredible to make fertile soil from nothing. This will be incredible for our efforts to settle the mountains or whatever: use SoTD, then use Gust of Wind a few times to clear away the ash, then use Plant Growth. By next year there should be enough vegetation to properly anchor all the new fertile soil and help it stay that way.
And then the land is good for another few centuries, unless it's horribly mismanaged.
 
Goldfish said:
Shadow of the Doom is a great spell in this regard. Not for the damage it can cause to our enemies, if they avoid petrification, or the frightening visual effects, but for the ability to transmute absolutely incredible amounts of otherwise useable stone into volcanic soil.

The only useful real estate on the Plane of Fire is solid Stone, else the heat and molten metals and stone will just wash away any permanent structure.

A single Shadow of the Doom can spoil an entire port facility, not just damaging the structures, but also permanently rendering their very foundation unuseable in the future.

EDIT: One tactic I've already touched in, in my theoretical plans to destroy Casterly Rock, would be to use Shadow of the Doom to transform a large area into volcanic soil, then use one or more high level Control Winds spells to just blow away the entire transmuted area.
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It's also a great method to destroy mines. They will have to dig away all of that soil before they can even begin to stabilise it again.
 
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Part MMCCLXXXIX: Memories of Fire
  • Threadmarks
    • Memories of Fire ​

    Eighth Day of the Fifth Month 293 AC

    The agreement is swiftly struck, cautious on both sides but also hopeful in the manner of would-be trade partners circling unexpected profits, even if some of those profits at least come in the form of dead foes. Corpses are valuable twice over, the macabre thought flashes through your mind.

    "So that's it then, lore exchange like for like, protection for right of first offer on anything special we might fish up, 'especially weapons'?" Yrten looks over the contract with a familiar avaricious gleam in his eye. He knows all too well the difference in worth between a weapon bought to simply use and one meant to be taken apart for study, not that you begrudge him his greed. It serves to drive men in so much more congenial a manner than fear could ever be said to.

    Thus you burn your name and the three-headed dragon of your house into the contract with a flourish.

    "I wonder what the harbormaster will think when the Golden Wind finds its way to port?" Dany faux-whispers.

    "It'll be worth three more beers at the Hearth," Tyene replies in like manner. Seeing the curious looks thrown her way she adds: "It's the only place he can drink as much as he does and still get up sober to do his job the next day."

    One more reason why it pays to appropriate fey-haunted inns you suppose.

    ***​

    While Yrten and Siduri look into the tribe most ripe for rebellion, the six of you climb once more onto the back of a relieved and cheerful Baella: "I'm glad none of you got hurt tangling with devils," she breathes.

    Alas for Waymar his instinctive honesty compels him to explain that he had gotten hurt, though he had long since been healed, a revelation that leads Baella fussing about diabolic poisons and curses, making use of her own odd mental powers to assure herself that the Valeman had not come to any harm. Thus you discover that while she can perceive most poisons easily enough, curses are far more elusive of her eye.

    Once she has assured herself of Waymar's wellness, Baella recounts the harrowing tale of having rescued a raft full of prisoners someone had wished to make suffer cruelly by infecting half of them with an unnatural hunger for flesh that would in time twist them into undead mockeries. "I found some other flotsam and went to trade for real food at one of the ports, but at first no one wanted to even talk to me. 'What does a whale have to trade', they said," her voice echoes mournfully through your minds. "Most only care to cut us apart for gems..."

    The wheels of familiar mercantile calculus began to turn in the back of your mind. "Could other whales do as you did, gather salvage for trade? Trading would go a long way to dissuade the whalers of their foul craft as the various ports would have a vested interest in keeping the pods alive for long-term gain."

    "Besides the gems we hold within us, any flotsam we find is a pittance,"     Baella sighs. "The only reason I was finally able to make my trade unmolested was because I seemed too large and strong in magic to fight. At least I did manage to save that raft full of people... all of them."

    For a moment there is silence within and without, the hopeful resolve in your friend's voice unable to fully overcome the tragedy of her people.

    "Is it like blood?" Tyene asks slowly. "Men can loose some blood and not perish, though they need to eat more to make up for what was lost. Mayhap there is a manner in which some of the gems could be safely donated not just for trade, but to pay sellswords for protection."

    "That sounds... like it might work. I'd be willing to try,"     your friend replies excitedly.

    "A worthy cause to look into to be sure, and one in which we will give what aid we can," you promise. "For now, however, let us approach the matter of whalers in a more direct manner..."

    "What share of the spoils do you desire, milady?" Waymar asks and an ash-grey film of otherworldly seaweed begins to cover the surface of the Sea of Fire, smothering its flames. This then was the Grey Expanse Yrten spoke of, where Fire Whales congregated to feed on the shoals Dart Fish.

    "I..." she hesitates. "I have little use for wealth, but it would make my heart glad that some part of what we gain here be put towards the protections of the local pods. I am not certain how much my aid will be worth, though."

    What share do you set aside for Baella?

    [] Write in

    How do you attack the whalers?

    [] Call for their surrender before strafing the ships with searing fire

    [] Use Rina's ice magic as a terror tactic

    [] Chain baleful polymorph spells

    [] Write in

    OOC: Here's the jewel harvesting idea. There's no emergency to implement it of course, but Baella is really game to try.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • TalonofAnathrax said:
    Shadow of the Doom is also incredible to make fertile soil from nothing. This will be incredible for our efforts to settle the mountains or whatever: use SoTD, then use Gust of Wind a few times to clear away the ash, then use Plant Growth. By next year there should be enough vegetation to properly anchor all the new fertile soil and help it stay that way.
    And then the land is good for another few centuries, unless it's horribly mismanaged.
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    And with a little time, sculpting. Take that mount Rushmore!
     
    Azel said:
    It's also a great method to destroy mines. They will have to dig away all of that soil before they can even begin to stabilise it again.
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    I had a different idea for the mines. We could close up a huge portion of the mines in just a few seconds using the Titans Tools, then transmute the entire area to fused basalt, which is extremely difficult to cut through for mining. Not only would the mine be sealed, but it would take dedicated effort, along with possible magical assistance, to reopen it in any sort of reasonable time frame. If the area around the mines, the support infrastructure, has been destroyed or transmuted to useless soil, the mine could be abandoned entirely.
     
    [X] Chain baleful polymorph spells

    Because we must return to our turtle-mastering ways!
    And because if they start to prepare countermeasures against us by buying beads of newt prevention for their main hitters, then we can switch to some other tactic. But it probably won't work the other way around.
     
    Canon Omake: Citizens of the Stepstones: Bren, the Old Pirate
  • Threadmarks
    • Citizens of the Stepstones: Bren, the Old Pirate
    ​
    There was an old saying that 'there are successful pirates and old pirates, but never old successful pirates.' While not entirely true very few pirates or raiders who enjoyed great success in life lived to a ripe old age, either due to being hunted down, killed during a raid from their body slowing them down, or backstabbed by youngsters seeking to get ahead. The smart ones gathered what loot they could live off of and retire as soon as they notice themselves slowing down.

    Bren was one of those rare few, but sadly for him he whored, drank, and gambled away most of his savings before he died.

    Determined not to die in the gutter like a dog he used his experience and strong bastard son to start up a moderately successful gang in Torturer's Deep which kept himself comfortable for years, though as stated before getting old dulled his wits and instincts a bit so found himself making more mistakes as time went on. In a way when the crazy Damphair showed up it helped delay a violent death as most of the smarter gangs banded together to not get wiped out like most of the dumber ones did when they tried to push the magic user bastard out. They payed lip service, basic loyalty, and did what they could to stay the hell away from his mad shit as much as possible.

    His luck held up when the Dragon Boss showed up and he, like many others, were quite willing to offer their services for a stay of execution after he murdered Damphair by feeding him and his lot to a tree of all things.

    Now... now Bren could say he was finally enjoying the settled life and was determined not to fuck it up the second time around wasting his coin... mostly at least. Doesn't matter how old he got, no red blooded man ever got over enjoying the company of a good whore from time to time along with some drink. With the magical healing going about he could even spend the rest of his days in relatively good health, though being old was something not even magic could stop.

    However he couldn't complain, he left his son the gang and they have been doing well for themselves. The Dragon Boss might not tolerate daylight killings in the Deep compared to how it was before but as long as you didn't publicly challenge the law you were mostly good. Besides, these days it was safer and easier to depart men from their coin the natural way: gambling dens, loans, acceptable bits of smuggling, that sort of thing that didn't need as much killing to get the job done and only a little leg breaking. Dead men couldn't pay their dues after all and the healing made it sure those crippled would be back on their feet in no time to pay back what they owned.

    His son might be the product some a night with some whore he didn't remember the name or face of but he loved him all the same, he learned well from his old man and payed him respect for his firm guiding hand. Bren also admitted he enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren since after such a long life of taking life it was nice to know he helped make some instead.

    Damn, guess this was what happened when you got old. You get overly touchy feely.

    Bren spent most his days going out in his little fishing boat and spending hours on end sailing around and catching whatever his line caught. Not so much for the money but he did sell what he didn't eat at fish market, it was to keep him from growing moss and he liked doing it. Especially since that feathered snake showed up he didn't have to worry about bad weather messing with his fishing or drowning him no more.

    Sometimes some young pukes or pushy foreigners tried to give him trouble, but just cause he was old doesn't mean he was defenseless. Not to mention whenever his son heard about it he would sick his boys on them to teach them about the pecking order. In the Deep the legal and criminal element were usually two sides of the same coin who respected the power between each other, and both sides hated when outside elements tried to wreck that profitable balance. Hells forbid you screw up enough to warrant the Boss's people sent after you, or worse, the Boss himself.

    Along with his fishing Bren found himself going to the snake temple, the god trees, and Merling King temple to offer some tribute and prays. When you get old enough to seriously ponder your death you tend to want to hedge your bets when it happened. Especially since the Boss tells you demons, devils, and all matter of nasty stuff were real things. Bren figured he done enough bad stuff to get sent to all kinds of hells but believed the Boss when he said they got no power over your soul as long as you got someone looking after you, kinda like a gang leader who looked after their people.

    In a way Bren saw it as paying rent in advance and all he had to do was not fuck up on any of their rules which were common sense to most people in his mind.

    Also it helped out when you get minor visions of future or blessings to show that gods do do shit rather than being words spouted out from priests. It was a fair deal really and he understood why Braavos was so keen on fair trade, made things so much easier and less headache inducing.

    Still, he had another decade in him at least and maybe more as long as he wasn't a moron. He was going to enjoy the peace while he had it with his fishing and telling tall tales to his grandkids who had that innocent admiring look in their eyes he once thought as annoying.

    Guess old Bren 'The Mace' could let himself rust with a smile without much in the way of regrets now.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • MTB said:
    And with a little time, sculpting. Take that mount Rushmore!
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    We have Titan's tools for that.

    Goldfish said:
    I had a different idea for the mines. We could close up a huge portion of the mines in just a few seconds using the Titans Tools, then transmute the entire area to fused basalt, which is extremely difficult to cut through for mining. Not only would the mine be sealed, but it would take dedicated effort, along with possible magical assistance, to reopen it in any sort of reasonable time frame. If the area around the mines, the support infrastructure, has been destroyed or transmuted to useless soil, the mine could be abandoned entirely.
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    I honestly preferred your "dig a giant crater with SoTD + Control Winds" idea. Horrible ecological disaster, but far more permanent. And on this Plane the enemy will have magic and the resources mined are likely valuable enough to make this worth it. So let's just entirely destroy the Stone they mine and build on!
     
    Massgamer said:
    Citizens of the Stepstones: Bren, the Old Pirate
    ​
    There was an old saying that 'there are successful pirates and old pirates, but never old successful pirates.' While not entirely true very few pirates or raiders who enjoyed great success in life lived to a ripe old age, either due to being hunted down, killed during a raid from their body slowing them down, or backstabbed by youngsters seeking to get ahead. The smart ones gathered what loot they could live off of and retire as soon as they notice themselves slowing down.

    Bren was one of those rare few, but sadly for him he whored, drank, and gambled away most of his savings before he died.

    Determined not to die in the gutter like a dog he used his experience and strong bastard son to start up a moderately successful gang in Torturer's Deep which kept himself comfortable for years, though as stated before getting old dulled his wits and instincts a bit so found himself making more mistakes as time went on. In a way when the crazy Dhampir showed up it helped delay a violent death as most of the smarter gangs banded together to not get wiped out like most of the dumber ones did when they tried to push the magic user bastard out. They payed lip service, basic loyalty, and did what they could to stay the hell away from his mad shit as much as possible.

    His luck held up when the Dragon Boss showed up and he, like many others, was quite to offer their services for a stay of execution after he murdered Dhampir by feeding him and his lot to a tree of all things.

    Now... now Bren could say he was finally enjoying the settled life and was determined not to fuck it up the second time around wasting his coin... mostly at least. Doesn't matter how old he got, no red blooded man ever got over enjoying the company of a good whore from time to time along with some drink. With the magical healing going about he could even spend the rest of his days in relatively good health, though being old was something not even magic could stop.

    However he couldn't complain, he left his son the gang and they have been doing well for themselves. The Dragon Boss might not tolerate daylight killings in the Deep compared to how it was before but as long as you didn't publicly challenge the law you were mostly good. Besides, these days it was safer and easier to depart men from their coin the natural way: gambling dens, loans, acceptable bits of smuggling, that sort of thing that didn't need as much killing to get the job done and only a little leg breaking. Dead men couldn't pay their dues after all and the healing made it sure those crippled would be back on their feet in no time to pay back what they owned.

    His son might be the product some a night with some whore he didn't remember the name or face of but he loved him all the same, he learned well from his old man and payed him respect for his firm guiding hand. Bren also admitted he enjoyed spending time with his grandchildren since after such a long life of taking life it was nice to know he helped make some instead.

    Damn, guess this was what happened when you got old. You get overly touchy feely.

    Bren spent most his days going out in his little fishing boat and spending hours on end sailing around and catching whatever his line caught. Not so much for the money but he did sell what he didn't eat at fish market, it was to keep him from growing moss and he liked doing it. Especially since that feathered snake showed up he didn't have to worry about bad weather messing with his fishing or drowning him no more.

    Sometimes some young pukes or pushy foreigners tried to give him trouble, but just cause he was old doesn't mean he was defenseless. Not to mention whenever his son heard about it he would sick his boys on them to teach them about the pecking order. In the Deep the legal and criminal element were usually two sides of the same coin who respected the power between each other, and both sides hated when outside elements tried to wreck that profitable balance. Hells forbid you screw up enough to warrant the Boss's people sent after you, or worse, the Boss himself.

    Along with his fishing Bren found himself going to the snake temple, the god trees, and Merling King temple to offer some tribute and prays. When you get old enough to seriously ponder your death you tend to want to hedge your bets when it happened. Especially since the Boss tells you demons, devils, and all matter of nasty stuff were real things. Bren figured he done enough bad stuff to get sent to all kinds of hells but believed the Boss when he said they got no power over your soul as long as you got someone looking after you, kinda like a gang leader who looked after their people.

    In a way Bren saw it as paying rent in advance and all he had to do was not fuck up on any of their rules which were common sense to most people in his mind.

    Also it helped out when you get minor visions of future or blessings to show that gods do do shit rather than being words spouted out from priests. It was a fair deal really and he understood why Braavos was so keen on fair trade, made things so much easier and less headache inducing.

    Still, he had another decade in him at least and maybe more as long as he wasn't a moron. He was going to enjoy the peace while he had it with his fishing and telling tall tales to his grandkids who had that innocent admiring look in their eyes he once thought as annoying.

    Guess old Bren 'The Mace' could let himself rust with a smile without much in the way of regrets now.
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    Great Omake!
    But it's Damphair and not Dhampir. A Dhampir is a type of semi-undead thing. Damphair was the weirdo we impaled on a Heart Tree.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    What share do you set aside for Baella?

    [] Write in
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    Hmm, how about this?

    [] Split any treasure captured 2/5ths towards Baella and 3/5ths for us, though promise Baella our assistance in finding sellswords willing to protect the various fire whale pods as long as she can communicate with their kin that they are payed to help them
    -[] Ask if she would be alright with us capturing the ships since we can either use them ourselves or sell them to Opaline Throne

    [] Chain baleful polymorph spells
    -[] For those not immediately turned to turtles or fight back allow the Greater Fire Elementals the revenge they have been thirsting for but ask they avoid damaging the ships if possible
     
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