Remove ads

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

Reader mode
This is what happens when you carve up your domains and worship up between 7 deities. You argue about how things should get done up top, and by the time you've acted, your mortal actors have already screwed the fuckin' pooch while that smarmy scaly-ass bastard and the feathery Big Brother have lit everything you care about on fire, then put out the fire and made themselves look good while doing it.
 
Remove ads
Interlude CCCXIV: Beasts of the Air
  • Threadmarks
    • Beasts of the Air ​

    Twenty-Seventh Day of the Fifth Month 293 AC

    The young woman who was no mortal being for all she recalled living for almost two decades as one moved with swift certainty across the lightless corridors of what had once been the Flesh Forge of Lys, where the artificers of old had wrought their flesh-engines, their exquisite companions, and where they had failed so terribly. Naria called the Loreseeker was distantly aware that some would have counted those arts disturbing, unwholesome, and immoral, but all this weighed very lightly upon her mind, for had she not been born of naught but her progenitor's will, her need, her desire to craft in soul and flesh both? No, her disdain for those elder flesh smiths was of a far more pragmatic sort: How could they have held the very tools of the gods in their hands and treated them as an infant's toys?

    Diana, her youngest sister, was wont to tease her, stating that she would one day understand the rush of desire, the passions that knew not reason or sense. Perhaps that was so, Naria thought, but by all the timeless pillars of the world, she would not let such a thing blind her to her great work.

    A small knotted hand tugged at her robes, making the incarnate spirit realize that she had passed the turn-off point in her determined stride. She smiled, hardly blind to the irony of becoming literally lost in her drive not to lose her way in the abstract. "Thank you, Taevar," she addressed the mushroom spirit kindly. It was still a little odd to call her assistants by the names of old Valyria, but she certainly did not mind. Certainly beings as foreign to corporeal existence as these might have come upon far more questionable quirks than taking on 'proper Lyseni names.'

    ***​

    The tanks were filled to the brim with murky liquid, a potent broth of arcane solvents drawn from many a source, from dragon-kin's humors to salts harvested in the realms of ever-burning flame... but the creatures within them were far more mundane, or at least they had been. What had once been nothing more than hardy mountain goats, chosen for their resilience, had become much more. Not dragons of course, for dragons were magic made flesh, begotten of primal dreams. But they had borrowed at least some measure of a dragon's form: long leathery bat-like wings anchored deep in chests still alight with the fires of their birth, long gnashing teeth sharp as steel, and barbed tails.


    True the process had not been an unmitigated success, the attempt to include a poisoned stinger had led to massive blood poisoning and loss of the specimens, and the less said of trying to make the creatures breathe fire the better, but they could serve as arcane foci. More importantly they could be made in large numbers, even away from the Fungus Forge, so long as the mage were in the possession of a small amount of beast blood. In that Naria felt proudest, for she had in a matter of weeks transcended the folly of the ancients. These would not be pets or curiosities snarling in a cage for some bored maegi, they would be the wings of the Legion, and they would spread over the world entire, Naria knew with a certainty greater than prophecy.

    OOC: Well Naria succeeded in her research, no bonuses but then those were unlikely.
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Azel said:
    Ah... it seems the playing field is well prepared...

    Need to take care of some RL stuff first. Need a bit for votecrafting.

    @DragonParadox, would a Heal suffice for his shoulder or would we need a Regenerate?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Heal is enough.

    Duesal said:
    @DragonParadox, can we just research sonic breathweapons that we got from the Kongamato and give that to the Darkenbeasts?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    You can certainly try

    Vote Closed.
    Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Oct 7, 2018 at 4:00 PM, finished with 313 posts and 24 votes.
    • [X] Plan The Truth, From A Certain Perspective
      -[X] Greet him politely and thank him for granting you an audience. Play the nervous low-born and lay on a light Valeman accent.
      -[X] Tell him that you have heard about the ambush on him and that you know that it was a trap for both sides. An attempt to enrage him into lashing out and causing senseless slaughter against his neighbors.
      -[X] Give him some of the Mammon coins, tell him that they are tainted Devil work, and that you found them among the possessions of those responsible for the attack.
      -[X] Ask him for mercy for those he took prisoner, or at least to not lash out at the clans, who were deceived into this act.
      -[X] When he asks why you care about the clansfolk, make a half-assed evasion before caving in and spilling the beans.
      -[X] Admit that you were in their villages and have seen how they live. Trying to survive in the barren mountains, for these inhospitable ranges are the only place where they are not hunted down like animals. You will not try to defend their actions, but you can't find it in your heart to damn them for what desperation has driven them to. They wish nothing more then to survive the next winter and their greatest fear are knights and zealots, coming to destroy with sword and fire what little they have.
      -[X] "The Maiden calls for mercy upon all, but these people were never shown any. Instead we reward those who are said to do the Fathers and the Warriors work by slaying them wherever they are found. And now, in these dark days, vile things walk among us, their hearts forged from hatred and their will bent only on ruin. The true enemy walks among us unseen, fanning the flames of senseless hatred and the Seven watch silently as we tear each other apart."
      -[X] Play contrite for blurting out the last part, then humbly ask again that Grafton promises not to strike at the Hill Folk or, if he brought them up, the Royces. You know more and can help him to find the true culprits, but you can't in good conscience tell him more without knowing that you bring no ruin to those undeserving of it.
      [x] Warn Lord Royce of the brewing trouble, the man is competent in games of court, though he dislikes playing them.
    Click to expand...
     
    Last edited:
    DragonParadox said:
    Beasts of the Air ​

    Twenty-Seventh Day of the Fifth Month 293 AC

    The young woman who was no mortal being for all she recalled living for almost two decades as one moved with swift certainty across the lightless corridors of what had once been the Flesh Forge of Lys, where the artificers of old had wrought their flesh-engines, their exquisite companions, where they had failed so terribly. Naria called the Loreseeker was distantly aware that some would have counted those arts disturbing, unwholesome, and immoral, but all this weighed very lightly upon her mind, for had she not bene born of naught but her progenitor's will, her need, her desire to craft in soul and flesh both? No, her disdain for those elder flesh smiths was of a far more pragmatic sort: How could they have held the very tools of the gods in their hands and treated them as an infant's toys?

    Diana, her youngest sister, was wont to tease her, stating that she would one day understand the rush of desire, the passions that knew not reason or sense. Perhaps that was so, Naria thought, but by all the timeless pillars of the world, she would not let such a thing blind her to her great work.

    A small knotted hand tugged at her robes, making the incarnate spirit realize that she had passed the turn-off point in her determined stride. She smiled, hardly blind to the irony of becoming literally lost in her drive not to lose her way in the abstract. "Thank you, Taevar," she addressed the mushroom spirit kindly. It was still a little odd to call her assistants by the names of old Valyria, but she certainly did not mind. Certainly beings as foreign to corporeal existence as these might have come upon far more questionable quirks than taking on 'proper Lysene names.'

    ***​

    The tanks were filled to the brim with murky liquid, a potent broth of arcane solvents drawn from many a source, from dragon-kin's humors to salts harvested in the realms of ever-burning flame... but the creature within them were far more mundane, or at least they had been. What had once been nothing more than hardy mountain goats, chosen for their resilience, had become much more. Not dragons of course, for dragons were magic made flesh, begotten of primal dreams. But they had borrowed at least some measure of a dragon's form: long leathery bat-like wings anchored deep in chests still alight with the fires of their birth, long gnashing teeth sharp as steel, and barbed tails.


    True the process had not been an unmitigated success, the attempt to include a poisoned stinger had led to massive blood poisoning and loss of the specimens, and the less said of trying to make the creatures breathe fire the better, but they could serve as arcane foci. More importantly they could be made in large numbers, even away from the Fungus Forge, so long as the mage were in the possession of a small amount of beast blood. In that Naria felt proudest, for she had in a matter of weeks transcended the folly of the ancients. These would not be pets or curiosities snarling in a cage for some bored maegi, they would be the wings of the Legion, and they would spread over the world entire, Naria knew with a certainty greater than prophecy.

    OOC: Well Naria succeeded in her research, no bonuses but then those were unlikely.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    These are Plant-based Darkenbeasts, right? Can you tell us which template ended up being applied to the regular Darkenbeasts to plantify them?
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Nice. Not exactly a pretty thing like a Pern Fire-lizard, but then again we weren't looking for pretty pets. What we wanted was weapons and these fuckers look ready to brawl out of the goddamn womb.

    Edit: Did some google-fu, will these guys evaporate in sunlight too or is the transformation permanent? Also can they breed naturally or are they all sterile like a mule?
     
    Last edited:
    Evaunit02mark1 said:
    Nice. Not exactly a pretty thing like a Pern Fire-lizard, but then again we weren't looking for pretty pets. What we wanted was weapons and these fuckers look ready to brawl out of the goddamn womb.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    One dozen stationed at the Fungus Forge, and a full hundred roosting in the Tree of the Dawn Age. :evil: I dare our enemies to try to attack it.
     
    Now those are some cool beasts! Next up PR paintjob and anti-Undead / Evil upgrades!

    Naria, Book-Archon, and Glyra is all that is needed for Radiance, Positive, and Celestial template!
    • Would an Arcanum, Book-Archon, and Glyra(?) be able to unlock celestial / Positive / Radiance, template to the Forge?
    DragonParadox said:
    • Yes, they would make pretty good progress too.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Next, combine PoF outing with Wayfinding pummice isles and samples of:
    • Ash Willow Dark red tree native to the elemental plane of fire that can grow to 120 ft tall. It thrives of heat, often growing from pools of lava. They continuously rain ash around them, producing 1 lb per day per 10 ft of its height. It extends runner roots that spawn 1d3 new tree each month. They create areas of calm, slow-bunring forests within the volatile plane. Dragon 347 p. 48
    We will need those for Fire!Dryads and Fire!Weirwoods. Also they'd be neat to introduce to uninhabitable volcanic craters in Planetos.

    Apparently any one of our dragonlords (except Rhaella?) could manage the Draconic template in 6 days.
     
    Last edited:
    Fehu said:
    Ash Willow Dark red tree native to the elemental plane of fire that can grow to 120 ft tall. It thrives of heat, often growing from pools of lava. They continuously rain ash around them, producing 1 lb per day per 10 ft of its height. It extends runner roots that spawn 1d3 new tree each month. They create areas of calm, slow-bunring forests within the volatile plane. Dragon 347 p. 48
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Well damn. I guess we have our next target. We will sacrifice a forest of these to the Fungus Forge. The Tree of the Dawn Age is absolutely going to be fireproof.
     
    Duesal said:
    I really hope we get to fight Lucan soon. He'd be one hell of a sacrifice, certainly enough to get us something special.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Any particular reason we want to kill the guy other than "worships the assholes?"

    Not that I want to save him or anything but I'm wondering if turning him from the faith is a more insulting thing to the Seven than killing him outright. The main goal is to humiliate the fuckers right not total extermination, or am I remembering that wrong?
     
    Evaunit02mark1 said:
    Any particular reason we want to kill the guy other than "worships the assholes?"

    Not that I want to save him or anything but I'm wondering if turning him from the faith is a more insulting thing to the Seven than killing him outright. The main goal is to humiliate the fuckers right not total extermination, or am I remembering that wrong?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    It's mainly him in particular. His divine mission is to murder us and undo all our work in making magic widespread. Even other clerics & paladins of the Seven I don't have as much of a problem with.

    He's the kind of zealot who would exterminate the Children and burn every Heart Tree he sees.
     
    Duesal said:
    He's the kind of zealot who would exterminate the Children and burn every Heart Tree he sees.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Fair enough, we'll chuck him in the soup when the time comes.

    There's a thought.

    When the Day of Blood ritual goes down can we just dump a load of rendered sacrifices on the tree or do we have to do it by hand? Cause if we can just blend these fuckers and dump the resulting mess on it then that would save a lot of time.
     
    Evaunit02mark1 said:
    Fair enough, we'll chuck him in the soup when the time comes.

    There's a thought.

    When the Day of Blood ritual goes down can we just dump a load of rendered sacrifices on the tree or do we have to do it by hand? Cause if we can just blend these fuckers and dump the resulting mess on it then that would save a lot of time.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    I mean, we've had our friends help out in sacrifices before. The Old Gods only care that they get the sacrifices, they don't care how it gets fed to them. If we wanted to do a Wall of Blades or something we could.

    That said it could kind of ruin the atmosphere of such a momentous occasion if we just dump everything into a shredder.

    Personally I would not mind setting aside an entire day for this, just to do the ceremony as intended, and then explore all aspects of the tree.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    I'm going to have to go over that tomorrow since at a glance all plant themed templates increase CR a lot. I'm looking for something in the 0-1 range not -2-3.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Swap their HD wish Plant ones, keep Darkvision, perhaps give +1 DEX and +2 CON due them not having the frailties of living creatures. Perhaps some NA as they aren't proficient with armour.
     
    Last edited:
    TotallyNotEvil said:
    Swap their HD wish Plant ones, keep Darkvision, perhaps give +1 DEX and +2 CON due them not having the frailties of living creatures. Perhaps some NA as they aren't proficient with armour.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Removing the need for feeding would be nice, too. Simplifies logistics a great deal.

    One theme that is consistent across a lot of plant templates is a reduction in Dexterity, but a significantly enhanced Constitution.
     
    Reader mode
    You must login or register to reply here.
    Remove ads
    Back
    Top