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

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So what did we actually get out of Grafton? He promised he'd investigate beyond "it was wildlings", but does he have an actual change f discovering that it was devils and then doing something useful to us?
Of course helping a friendly lv13 PC is useful in and of itself, but still.
 
TalonofAnathrax said:
So what did we actually get out of Grafton? He promised he'd investigate beyond "it was wildlings", but does he have an actual change f discovering that it was devils and then doing something useful to us?
Of course helping a friendly lv13 PC is useful in and of itself, but still.
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We roped Dalla into helping him and Kyra placed the evidence we want him to find. Everything points straight to Corbray.
 
Vote count.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Oct 31, 2018 at 9:59 AM, finished with 242321 posts and 8 votes.
  • [X] Start studying the Bey's halls in preparation to carry out an attack of your own
    -[X] Give Garin a Mind Blank ring(his PfE Ring was scheduled to be enchanted to be Slotless early this month for this purpose) and lend one to Glyra. No one involved in planning this operation, or who will be participating in the assault, will be unprotected by Mind Blank in order to prevent enemy Divinations from warning them.
    -[X] Viserys Blood Wishes a Commune spell in order to learn as much about the Bey's personal security and schedule as possible, as well as any potential vulnerabilities we might exploit. He uses an additional Commune if necessary.
    -[X] Garin and Glyra carefully scout out as much of the Bazaar's criminal underworld as they can without becoming involved in it, but not with the goal of soliciting their aid. Rather, we need to gather information and learn how to best implicate them in the Bey's assassination.
    -[X] Once a plan is formulated, Viserys and selected Companions will prepare to perform the assassination. Specialized spell loadouts will be used and gear will be distributed as necessary.
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Winning Vote:

[] Start studying the Bey's halls in preparation to carry out an attack of your own
-[] Give Garin a Mind Blank ring(his PfE Ring was scheduled to be enchanted to be Slotless early this month for this purpose) and lend one to Glyra. No one involved in planning this operation, or who will be participating in the assault, will be unprotected by Mind Blank in order to prevent enemy Divinations from warning them.
-[] Viserys Blood Wishes a Commune spell in order to learn as much about the Bey's personal security and schedule as possible, as well as any potential vulnerabilities we might exploit. He uses an additional Commune if necessary.
-[] Garin and Glyra carefully scout out as much of the Bazaar's criminal underworld as they can without becoming involved in it, but not with the goal of soliciting their aid. Rather, we need to gather information and learn how to best implicate them in the Bey's assassination.
-[] Once a plan is formulated, Viserys and selected Companions will prepare to perform the assassination. Specialized spell loadouts will be used and gear will be distributed as necessary.
 
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Part MMCDVII: Omens of Blood and Bone
  • Threadmarks
    • Omens of Blood and Bone​

    Fourteenth Day of the Sixth Month 293 AC

    It had sounded so simple in principle: find out more about how the underbelly of the Bazaar works so that you may cloak your actions in the guise of simple opportunism of the sort that is rife under the walls of the City of Brass. Alas the first couple of days in the Bazaar leave all three of you scrambling for answers, and in more than one instance having to make yourself scarce before any of the gang leaders can guess who is interested in their comings and goings.

    Even warded as the three of your are against foresight and farsight, you begin to suspect something had guessed your presence and was working against you. Yet questions whispered into the sands and air show no malice save the greed and suspicion which hangs over the city of tents like a miasma. It was simple mischance that set Glyra against what you later learned was one of the most paranoid thief-masters among the tents and ill timing to have Garin follow a lead to a water merchant who proved to be a scholar of undeath. Thankfully both of them were able to lay false trails in their wake, though of course Glyra was far more gleeful about it than Garin...

    "So then I stole the key to the stables and slipped it into the Urg'z' bag, but once his boss tried to beat him I cursed him right proper so it looked like a poisoning too. They won't be wondering about where one urchin who was asking strange questions was in that mess..."

    You sigh, the dusty air bitter upon the tongue: "While I certainly do not begrudge you your entertainment, that is not what we are here for. Do you think you can go back or should we strike that gang off the list?"

    "It'll be weeks until they finish lapping up all the blood, get rid of 'em," the little gremlin shrugs. "Don't need to anyway since I got this." So saying she pulls an elongated Salamander's skull from her bag, a few ragged strips of meat still clinging to it.

    "Stealing skulls is what you count as subtle?" Garin asks, clearly frustrated. For your part, however, you choose to wait for the full tale.

    "They boiled the rest of him in brine and cursed oils to make sure he didn't come back."

    A handful of quick spells confirm that Glyra had cleaned up after herself properly. From a certain point of view the minor upheaval she had prompted was helpful. After all, it would be odd if the assassination of the Bey of Beggars were not heralded in blood.

    "Alright then, let us see what our friend here has to offer...."

    Thankfully Glyra's macabre treasure holds more answers than one might reasonably assume of one who was little more than a glorified snatch-satchel selling crumbs of knowledge at street corners. The same suspicion that nearly saw him trail Glyra had pushed him to collect a great many secrets large and small. The pieces fall in place...

    The Mendicants are indeed lead by a Djinn lord, an exile who was once 'mercifully' blinded by the Sultan upon the Brazen Throne. Strangely enough the maiming seems to have filled him with not only a boundless thirst for vengeance, but also power beyond what most of his kindred hold. Thus theirs is the perfect banner to fly while killing the Bey. Wind, lightning, and fate-spinning, all these would be marks of the Mendicants finally moving out of the shadows to kill the Sultan's Fool. By the same token there are some things a fellow genie would not take from among the collections buried beneath the Office of Taxation.

    A quartet of Efreeti smugglers is said have been languishing there for millennia, their crimes not grave enough to have their souls reforged into seals, yet none of their kin being willing to pay for their release. Slaying them would of course leave their fates in doubt, claiming them would point to some clever mortal conjurer, but the freedom-loving Djinn might well find a way to release them, perhaps with a warning for whoever will be sent to claim the Bey's position.

    Further, your own careful forays into taverns, smoke-tents, and gambling dens in conjunction with peering into the realms of dreams for answers revealed your quarry's habits and his foibles. Two days out of every five he remains ensconced in the depths of the Office of Taxation, counting his coins and perhaps plotting his return to the City of Brass. However, on the third he is known to visit the boudoir of a famed or better said infamous courtesan...

    "She's got demon blood?" Garin interjects. "That sounds ripe for treachery for some sort."

    "Perhaps," you allow. "Truthfully I am more interested in his deeds on the fourth and fifth day. Sitting in judgement over those that are to be scourged or sold into slavery provides a chance to incite a riot, which is how one of every three lords of the Bazaar ended their days. Robbing the office in the aftermath would seem to be little more than an act of opportunism."

    "What about the last day, then?" Glyra questions, curious as ever.

    "No one I've spoken to knows, which means more than simple vices, or even ordinary plotting. It would not be the first time the Sultan's Fool plotted against his master."

    What do you do next?

    [] Try to find out more information about the Bey
    -[] Speak to the courtesan
    -[] Try to infiltrate or otherwise interrogate the Fire Giant guards
    -[] Speak to the servants about the layout of the Office of Taxation
    -[] Follow your quarry on his mysterious outing

    [] Try to find out more about the Mendicants
    -[] The identity and skills of their most talented mages
    -[] The name of their leader

    [] Launch the attack
    -[] Write in

    OOC: This mission started on a really bad note for you with back to back nat 1s from Glyra and Garin, though Garin was able to extract himself out of the mess with no trouble and Glyra... was Glyra. The dice seem to love her when she is sowing chaos.
     
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    • DragonParadox said:
    A quartet of Efreeti smugglers is said have been languishing there for millennia, their crimes not grave enough to have their souls reforged into seals, yet none of their kin being willing to pay for their release. Slaying them would of course leave their fates in doubt, claiming them would point to some clever mortal conjurer, but the freedom-loving Djinn might well find a way to release them, perhaps with a warning for whoever will be sent to claim the Bey's position.
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    Damn. Freeing them is way too risky. There needs to be zero suspicion of outside forces for the Shaitan plan of placing a mole in the Bey's position to work.

    @DragonParadox, can I add the skull to the skull collection?
     
    Tomcost said:
    And to think that we once thought that paying 3000 IM for Glyra turning good was far too much.
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    Do you believe Evil or Neutral Glyra would have been worse here?

    So if we want to go for the straight attack, acting like a Djinn would, with all the lightning and people-freeing that implies. Good to know.


    Crazy idea:
    We disguise as a Blue Dragon (using magic for disguise and Bloodwishing this: Breath Weapon Substitution – Spell – D&D Tools to improve the image) and come to reclaim our kin, the little Wyrmling in his table.
    That we also kill everyone and steal everything is just natural for a dragon.

    @DragonParadox
    Combined with our own fake persona on the PoF and maybe an appearance of Relath at a chosen time and location, could we decieve the Brazen Throne into thinking dragons in general are returning/awakening and that's the root of his problems lately, rather than one particular dragon being responsible for all of it?
     
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