Pieces of Eden

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

This is a crossover started by Liangnui in the aftermath of a marathon run of Assassin's Creed II and a much longer time spent rereading the Forgotten Realms books by R. A. Salvatore. And then, an idea sprang to mind.

This is the result.

As a result of his attempt to destroy the Piece of Eden at the end of Assassin's Creed I, Altair's world takes a turn for the weird when the item rips a hole in space-time in order to defend itself. More specifically, it punches a hole through reality to the world that time forgot--Abeir-Toril, the Forgotten Realms campaign setting, right after the the reappearance of Crenishinobon and Artemis Entreri. Altair gets dragged along for the ride. Oddly, the artifact seems to be as much at home in Toril as on Earth, and attracts a lot more trouble for our intrepid Assassin, who just wants to find a way home.

The journey begins in Calimport, with an oddly familiar priest and his "dog" and it only gets weirder from there.

Tropes used in Pieces of Eden include:
  • Audience Surrogate: Altair, to both halves of the crossover to some degree--those more familiar with Assassin's Creed I will probably need the exposition he gets, but those familiar with the Realms and not his game get to learn about it through his internal monologues.
  • Batman Gambit: Keras on Immersa.
  • Call a Smeerp a Rabbit: Ash is very obviously not a dog, but everyone insists on referring to him as one, apparently for lack of any other descriptor. Altair is the only one that finds this odd.
  • Character Filibuster: Oceanus's argument with Yinochek.
  • Crossover
  • Curb Stomp Battle: Oceanus, Ash, and Altair vs. Wererats. Riyaz vs. Local Wildlife. Altair, Oceanus, Ash, and Riyaz vs. The Elves. Raaze and Rime vs. Oceanus and Riyaz. Sinya vs. anyone.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Seems to be the case with pretty much all of the other cast members.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Altair, often.
  • Dude Looks Like a Lady: Oceanus. Altair is tactful enough not to mention it.
  • Establishing Character Moment: The first time Raaze and Rime appear by name, they destroy a tavern in Skullport on a whim in order to prove that they are, in fact, Eviler Than Thou.
  • Evasive Fight Thread Episode: Altair vs. Entreri. Who would win? Not that they ever find out...
  • Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods: Nahuatl, the kraken who attacks during the time the main characters spend on a ship and is promptly fired for it.
  • Foreshadowing: It's less obvious for people who haven't already read the notes for Silver Scales, but most of the characters who are involved in the background scheming don't seem to be even marginally friendly. They're not.
  • Freudian Trio: The three (at the moment) principle characters.
  • Hero-Killer: Raaze and Rime.
  • In Medias Res: How Altair's story begins.
  • Mr. Exposition: Oceanus. He dislikes being forced into this role.
  • Original Character: Oceanus, Zahara, Yttress, Riyaz...pretty much every single character Altair has run into was a creation of the author's.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Well, this is a Dungeons & Dragons setting. More to the point, one hybrid of two dragon subspecies is introduced. By that point, Altair is not much more startled than usual.
    • Additionally, nearly every cast member Altair and Maria have met, barring one or two, are dragons in disguise.
  • Random Encounters: When you get down to it, this is what most fights in the story boil down to unless the enemy combatants are given names.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Altair and his group have been skipping a few rungs in the ladder--they run into Yttress, and epic-level opponent with a rough CR of 27, before Raaze and Rime, who each have a CR of roughly 16-19. Thankfully, Yttress doesn't give enough of a damn about them to kill them.
  • The Stations of the Canon: Given that this story takes place around the time that the world is briefly reintroduced to Crenishinobon, the characters notice at least some of the events of that book. They even meet up with Jarlaxle and Entreri at Spirit Soaring after a fashion. And oddly enough, Oceanus confronts Yinochek on ideological rather than emotional grounds, as Entreri would later do during his an Jarlaxle's Sellswords trilogy.
    • Butterfly of Doom: Somehow, Zahara's interference in Calimport will make things worse.
  • Those Two Bad Guys: Raaze and Rime.
  • Trapped in Another World: Altair, followed shortly thereafter by Maria, Malik, and a whole host of random Templars.
    • Another Dimension: Fitting with Faerun's designation as the principle locale of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting.
    • Magical Land: Well, relative to Earth.
  • Walking the Earth: They're not actually that far from where the Neverwinter Nights game takes place, but since this is Faerun and their destination is some five hundred miles away, the story ends up reading a little like a tour guide to the Forgotten Realms setting.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The Apple seems to be trying to invoke it on Altair.
  • Worf Had the Flu: Why Altair and Entreri's fight ended up being pretty one-sided. Altair had been fighting for, essentially, a week straight before it. It didn't help that Oceanus's advice was incredibly flawed.
  • You All Meet in An Inn: Averted--none of the characters have been met in a real public meeting place. Oceanus was encountered in a charity hospital, Riyaz in his master's home, and Zahara on the docks. For Maria, Lumina and Serran were met on a random hillside and Alena greeted her at her home.
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