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

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MTB said:
Minotaurs are a hard sell, but we didn't literally produce them. There could be ... independent souls among them.
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No. Everyone else thinks that we did produce them or summon them, melding men and demons together. Remember?

And if we're making a miracle of the OGs happen anyway (the healing of that old dude), a few blessed servants won't hurt either.
 
Minotaurs are very much a Viserys-only thing in this setting. They are literally only found among our banner. We have the sole claim to their allegiance. And this is widespread information. Unless we want to immediately declare to everyone that we're in the Iron Islands, minotaurs are a bad idea.

To make a comparison, Minotaurs are even more of a Viserys thing than growing weirwoods.
 
One thing I'm wondering about is if we need to start prepping for the Lys invasion next month? Cus for Tyrosh we managed to get around divination by not knowing what we were doing until it was time to attack, are we bothering with prep like that this time or just going for it when the time comes, regardless of people being warned in advance.
 
LonelyWolf999 said:
Stories like that are traded by superstitious peasants and ignorant nobles. I highly doubt any player of worth gives two ounces of credence to the wild rumors which circulate.
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I disagree. We routinely produce new abominations against nature, and Minotaurs really were produced by a sorcerer. They have zero evidence that we didn't do it.

EDIT: Competent people presented with bad information reach bad conclusions. And Viserys' adventures are crazy anyway...
 
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Destrark said:
One thing I'm wondering about is if we need to start prepping for the Lys invasion next month? Cus for Tyrosh we managed to get around divination by not knowing what we were doing until it was time to attack, are we bothering with prep like that this time or just going for it when the time comes, regardless of people being warned in advance.
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No need, Mindblank is a hell of a drug.
 
Destrark said:
One thing I'm wondering about is if we need to start prepping for the Lys invasion next month? Cus for Tyrosh we managed to get around divination by not knowing what we were doing until it was time to attack, are we bothering with prep like that this time or just going for it when the time comes, regardless of people being warned in advance.
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We are waiting for Lys to launch an attack as our little puppet was instructed to do, thinking he has enough mage support to pull it off.

Rhango and the 1st Legion are already in position to destroy them.
 
Winning vote

[] Visit the Sparr to restore his youth with the aid of the Old Gods and fill his heirs head with ideas about the glory he could win by running away to the Dragon King and reaving for him just like the Greyjoys.
-[] Also advise Harlaw that you sadly can't take care of the Drowned Men. Some dastardly mercenary could sway those not knowing what they serve to the cause of his master and start a purge among the willing Illithid thralls, which would be horrible and he really should look out for that not happening.
 
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Part MMCDXXVI: Unexpected Affinity
  • Threadmarks
    • Unexpected Affinity ​

    Twenty-Second Day of the Sixth Month 293 AC

    A clock somewhere on the Reader's clustered desk sounds midnight with a soft metallic chime, but unlike all the other times it must have struck the twelfth hour it signals far more than the end of a day. An age of the ironborn has ended, sealed in ancient lore and the clink of coin. Three iron-banded chests laden with gold dragons and silver stags now lie in the corner of the room, no mere king's ransom but a kingdom's. Never has the gold price been paid more richly.

    Lost 1,000,000 Gold (Ironborn loan)

    "If you have need of more relics and objects of power with which to drive back the Deep Ones, you will always find such in Sorcerer's Deep, whether they be forged by my own mages or carried from beyond," you tell the regent as you rise from your seat.

    "The offer is accepted in the same spirit it was made, Your Grace. However, before I can accept it behooves me to live up to the name my fellows have given me and study whatever texts may exist on this menace to learn their strengths and weaknesses beyond what a few hours discussion can give." He offers a wary but sincere smile. "It is all too easy to waste coin even when one is buying only what is clear as day under the sun, but to venture into the realm of sorcery will require even more careful study."

    "I'm certain you will manage it if anyone can," your mother offers encouragingly. There is an almost nervous edge to the words, though you cannot guess why.

    Nodding along with the sentiment you add: "Remember, while I may not be able to raise swords to your defense at the moment, there is nothing to say sellswords cannot serve to put willing thralls to the sword and turn the unknowing from their path."

    "I have never known a sellsword with a silver tongue... but in this age of wonders who is to know what lies around the corner." Cunning flashes in his eyes, and for just a moment you can well imagine this calm scholarly man on the deck of a longship ghosting by starlight towards the the shore of some ill-defended land.

    Just as you are about to leave your mother surprises you by turning towards the regent of the Iron Isles and warning again: "Remember, the throne is accursed. Don't sit on it, not even to make a point..." She sounds genuinely worried, and in a more personal manner than you might have expected.

    Admiration... worry... the pieces fall in place in a manner that both makes sense and seems utterly strange. It seems your mother has taken something of a liking to the quiet thoughtful lord of House Harlaw.

    As the three of you walk back out onto the swaying rope bridge you try to get some distance from the odd revelation and the more you do the more it begins to make sense. Rodrik Harlaw is trying to wring sense and sanity from a culture haunted by madness, and he is thoughtful and careful in his judgements. If she was to take some sort of moment's liking to any lord it would be to one such as this. Any sign that she is beginning to step out of the shadow your father had cast upon her life can only be counted good, you decide.

    ***​

    "What did you find?" you ask the others as soon as you reach the fish market where you had agreed to meet. The noisome stink of some of the alleyways keeps eavesdroppers away just as effectively as you had thought, though you suspect it will take more than petty magic to get it out of your clothes.

    "The squids are getting smarter about dealing with people, but that doesn't mean they are smart," Tyene explains. "None of the peddlers even knew what they had, only that a 'holy man' handed it to them to 'spread the power of the Drowned God in these dark times'." She snorts. "Most of them used to be smugglers. I figure they are going to be used for something else later, or they would have been."

    Your friends had managed to track three such peddlers to their homes, and they had gotten the name of the Drowned Man without any of their quarries being any wiser.

    "We were but humble seekers of holy relics..." Bronn finishes, veiling his features behind the guise of a scarred ironborn to emphasize the point.

    "I hope that alone will not get them killed," Xor sighs as you write down a brief note to Rodrik giving all the bilestone peddlers' name and addresses.

    "The regent is a reasonable man," you assure him, satisfied that the words are true.

    ***​

    On steeds of shadow riding high above the pale light of torch and lantern, the six of you head to Great Wyk on what is to be your last task in the islands, at least for now. However, before the shore of that largest and supposedly second most prosperous of the Iron Isles can even be seen on the horizon, an unexpected voice reaches you.

    "Maelor figured out how to move the Toad," Dany speaks in your mind. "Should it be sacrificed it in the Temple of the Sea or used it to help with the ironborn?"

    Rushed though the message may be by the limitations of the spell, it is no less insightful for it. To sacrifice an idol of the Deep Ones in order to raise a weirwood here in the Iron Isles where their power runs strongest would send a mighty message, though perhaps too loud of a one.

    What do you do?

    [] Sacrifice the Toad Stone on Great Wyk to seal Lord Sparr's allegiance to the Old Gods and grow the first weirwood to be seen in the Isles in an age

    [] Keep the idol sealed in lead for now, you can find a use for it later

    [] Continue with the plan to have it sacrificed to the Merling King

    [] Write in

    OOC: Since Maelor just finished his action today this felt like an organic way to tie the narrative together.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Sacrificing it at all is already risky, but doing it in the Iron Islands to grow a weirwood may as well be a declaration of our intent to rekindle the war on the spot.

    [X] Continue with the plan to have it sacrificed to the Merling King
     
    [X] Continue with the plan to have it sacrificed to the Merling King
     
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