Lord of the Crossing Game Thread (Turn IV)

[Garlan Gunter]

RAYNARD



‘How is he this fine morn?’ Raynard enquired equably of Luceon, his dear brother of the Most Devout.

‘Rarely better, it seems,’ Luceon replied with a distinct dolefulness that made Raynard choke back mirth. Really, for one who hoped to wear the High Septon’s crown, Luceon needed to learn to act with a great deall more skill.

Yet Raynard – whose solid mercantile birth was insignificant beside the Frey’s teeming connections – had grasped the chance, once offered, to ease the Frey’s ascent. A Frey High Septon struck him as a splendid notion, especially one in his debt. All too many men went queerly, unknowably holy when they donned that fabled crown. But you could always count on a Frey remaining a Frey – and what he wanted would stay reliably the same. Advancement, enrichment, power, family, always family. What a relief Raynard knew it would be when he knew for sure all His High Holiness’s motives.

‘He will succumb, sooner or later,’ the wiry septon now soothed the weaselly one. ‘Later is probably better just now. You are readier, but not entirely ready.’

‘Well’, Luceon grunted inchoately, delaying the subject for the present. ‘That isn’t the only question on my mind.’

‘Whose vote are we to look for next?’

‘Not a vote.’

Raynard gave their surroundings a roguish glance. ‘The Street of Sighs? Is that entirely wise, given your hopes?’

‘Not a vote, and not a whore. A brother.’ Luceon spat. ‘Half-brother in blood. In kindliness, well, we shall see…’

***

What ensued was a game that foxed even the experienced Raynard. The two Freys, merchant and septon, maintained exquisite politeness. Raynard felt weirdly at home in these lodgings, so garish, so temporary, so vulgar, and in Symond’s agreeable company; he might have been back in Duskendale with his father and his uncles for moments at a time. He knew men like this, better than Luceon did. But then again…he did not know Freys, and still what he saw confused him. Elegantly the Freys dallied about one another, without ever conceding what one wanted of the other.

‘Oh, I was just inspecting him,’ Luceon explained rather later than felt to Raynard entirely comfortable. ‘As to the future, well, we shall see.’

Once Tarbert’s vote seemed dined into firm subjection, Raynard was feeling close to exhaustion, but Luceon had other, undimmed, surprisingly dusty appetites. He had been seeing all too much of Grand Maester Pycelle lately, Raynard feared, and all masters were pedantic, godless meddlers, that one especially. Yet he was now committed too far to question the Frey Septon’s sometimes maddening mysteriousness, and so they found themselves in the Royal Library again; most like the one place in the Seven Kingdoms where one was safest from King Robert.

‘Rykker…Risley…aha, here we are, Royce,’ Luceon was murmuring, not for the first or last time. It was surely the most peculiar of all his eccentricities. Lately he had been near as fixated upon the lineage of House Royce as the votes of the Most Devout, or even the health of His High Holiness. It was a downright odd choice of subject matter for a septon’s treatise, even a historical one. Did the Royces even keep the Seven? Raynard was uncertain. And Luceon had never before struck him as a scholar.

Then he heard the rasp of the Most Devout Luceon’s intake of breath, and beheld even in the dimness the wild gleam in his associate’s eye as he raised a scrap of parchment aloft.

[Garlan Gunter]

Summer, third month of 295 AC



‘Too long have the men of our House let this mad puppy of our litter run wild. I mean to see him offered fair terms, but crushed should he refuse to meet them.’

With the increasing infamy of Aegon Bloodborn apparently House Frey’s most pressing external concern, Ser Jared Frey petitioned his new ruling Lady Annara Frey for full authority to treat with his nephew and for further reinforcement. At first Lady Frey, keen to bring about a cheap solution with little loss of life, granted Ser Jared his first request but not the second. But her equally new-minted Steward, Ser Tytos Frey – Jared’s son and heir – convinced Ser Hosteen Frey, reputed to be the fiercest Frey of all, to volunteer in commanding a new and well-equipped contingent; and Lady Frey reluctantly released them to hurry to the assistance of the beleaguered Ser Cleos Frey at Hag’s Mire.

‘I think we begin to understand each other, Betharios. But have a care to watch the trails of those outlandish skirts of yours. Not so many of the ladies of this House are of my mind.’

Lady Frey and Symond Frey’s foreign wife, Betharios of Braavos, had never comported themselves to one another with particular warmth, and this tenseness at first seemed to continue. But the pair also enjoyed a couple of quiet, private exchanges, during which Lady Frey appeared to have extended a measure of protection against animosity and suspicion elsewhere in the family. By now Lady Frey’s own position was strengthened by the arrival at the Twins of several Crownlander knights: the lady’s kinsmen Sers Godry and Gilbert Farring, the diminutive Ser Lucos Chyttering, heir to his minor house, the noted jouster Ser Balman Byrch with his wife Falyse of wealthy House Stokeworth, Lord Renfred Rykker of Duskendale, Ser Elwood Harte, Ser Perkin Follard and Ser Dontos Hollard.

‘I, Annara of House Frey, Lady Regnant of the Crossing by royal decree, permit Edwyn of House Frey to take the black in penitence for his capital crime against his brother. He is to be dispatched on the kingsroad north through the Neck ere nightfall.’

Lady Frey next consulted with Ser Stevron, still himself heir to the Crossing for all his lately tarnished honour and her own predecessor acting as lord of the Twins. At first Ser Stevron appeared to stand somewhat by his older grandson and against the younger for all Lady Frey’s and the family in general’s outrage, advocating that Black Walder take the black indeed while Edwyn’s more cerebral talents should be offered to the Faith or the Citadel. Lady Frey saw the wisdom of Edwyn becoming a master, especially given the Citadel’s current displeasure with House Frey, but saw so reason why he could not put his training at the disposal of the Wall. Black Walder she considered innocent of any formal crime, but did not hinder Ser Stevron from deciding matters of inheritance among his own descendants; though she did briefly defend the rights of Edwyn’s daughter, Small Walda.

At the subsequent trial the testimony of the Steward Ser Tytos was once again crucial. He notably and to general surprise absolved Ser Stevron of any blame, but instead argued for the malign influences of the drunkard Ser Ryman, his sister Maegelle Vance, now Crakehall, and his sister-in-law Deana Hardyng. With Ser Ryman away in the North, Maegelle gone to the West and Walton Frey, Deana’s husband, sent on the hunt for the miscreant Ser Harlan Hunter, Deana became the scapegoat for fresh Vale unpopularity, but in view of her daughter Fair Walda’s approaching wedding Lady Frey dismissed any charge against her for the present. In the meantime Edwyn was convicted and sent north under guard, and Black Walder, still recovering from his wound, formally disinherited, with Petyr Pimple confirmed as Ryman’s heir over Small Walda – the ailing Lord Frey himself having apparently still managed to quash Lady Frey’s objection.

‘A raven from White Harbor, Ser Stevron. It would appear your son and heir has surpassed himself again.’

Word from Ser Ryman Frey’s wedding at the New Castle, White Harbor, to the Lady Jessamyn Manderly indicates that the Manderlys are not wildly impressed by their new relation, who wobbled in the saddle at the small joust thrown in his honour, slept through several courses of the wedding banquet, snored over the high harp and thrice attempted to initiate the bedding with the wrong Manderly maiden – and a couple of matrons at that. Still, Ser Ryman’s children by his new wife could gain the Twins if anything happens to Petyr Pimple, so the Manderlys remain coldly content with the new accord for now. But Ser Ryman is set to return to a weakened position, twice disgraced by his northern conduct and Ser Tytos’s denunciation of him at Edwyn’s trial…

‘Many a raven from various Riverlords, the West, the Citadel, even the Iron Isles…queer tales from as far afield as Storm’s End and the frogeaters…it seems Ser Jared and his son have been busy indeed, and not just with the Bloodborn or the Plowman’s Bastard, at that…’

After a veritable flurry of diplomatic approaches in all but every direction a betrothal has been announced between the Steward’s daughter, Ser Jared’s granddaughter Zia Frey, and the Knight of Grey Garden on the Iron Isles, Ser Harras Harlaw. Ser Harras enjoys an honourable repute as a knight and a devotee of the Seven, unusually among his dour folk, but those Riverlords who recall his close friendship with Rodrik Greyjoy, the rebel Prince of Pyke slain by Lord Jason Mallister, may yet murmur against the match. Ser Jared himself has it seems hawked his own hand about fairly freely, with Lady Whent refusing him in some dudgeon, Lord Vance of Wayfarer’s Rest dangled in suspense, Lord Howland Reed and Ser Cortnay Penrose offering silence and courteous refusal respectively and, most intriguingly, Asha Greyjoy, a possible heiress to all the Iron Isles, saying neither yes nor no.

At the same time Ser Tytos, almost certainly acting on his father’s advice or orders, refused the Citadel’s offer to divert Maester Theomore to the Twins and persuaded the Archmaesters to send a certain Erreck, of obscure lineage but famed skill, instead.

For all his political prospects, Ser Jared has not neglected the campaign upon which his fortunes truly seem to depend, ordering a rapid march north to help relieve Ser Cleos. Unluckily it seems his movements have been revealed in some detail to a second outlaw leader, the Plowman’s Bastard. This Rivers knight apparently risked concluding a pledge to the exiled Viserys III Targaryen that led to his reinforcement by hardened soldiery among Targaryen loyalists and Essosi sellswords – by the same token dismissing an attempt to recruit him to the Golden Company overseas, despite the more cautious Bloodborn’s tardy advice that he should welcome it. The Bastard’s force, thus strengthened and equipped, raided Ser Jared’s baggage train in an inconclusive skirmish that nonetheless slowed the Frey’s march, keeping him delayed at the Red Fork.

‘Most ill news from Ser Cleos, …and yet it is most unlooked for good news that he remains alive to send anything at all.’

Aegon Bloodborn’s assault on Hag’s Mire was swift but unexpectedly unsuccessful, for Ser Cleos despite his tiny force had succeeded in putting the Nayland men into a state of readiness in the defence of their village, and the outlaws were soon, apparently conclusively repulsed. As a Frey triumph appeared to be sealed by the arrival of Ser Hosteen and his well-appointed men, Bloodborn retrieved spectacular success from dismal embarrassment by luring the ferocious, but hardly cunning Frey knight into a clearing enclosed by walls of flammable pitch. Bloodborn himself dared to act as bait and was wounded by Hosteen, but almost the entire reinforcement from the Twins perished in flame and smoke, with only Hosteen and a handful knights hacking their way out north to croak of their failure back at the Twins.

Ser Cleos thus unexpectedly still holds Hag’s Mire, while Bloodborn’s reputation hangs in the balance – having failed to make good his threats to the villagers of Hag’s Mire, but succeeded in routing and destroying one full Frey party. A few of his men are thought to have deserted, one leader among them, while a second is the only outlaw so far to have accepted Ser Jared’s ultimatum and surrendered himself, agreeing to take the black.

‘Well, it makes a change from all this gloomy business with outlaws, I’ll grant you that, and it was a pretty compliment to count my kinsmen of the Crownlands among Fair Walda’s defenders…but was it wise to spend quite so much?’

When Ser Stevron’s intention to entertain Fair Walda’s two suitors, Ser Garth Hightower and Ser Hobber Redwyne, at the Twins became generally known talk of a tourney started to spread at once, and when it was confirmed, the rivulet of visitors to the Twins became a tide. From Seagard came the Reachmen, the two prospective husbands themselves – on remarkably friendly terms in the chivalrous manner of their kin – along with many other famous lords, heirs, and knights – Lord Arthur Ambrose, Ser Parmen Crane, Sers Warryn and Bertram Beesbury, Lord Branston Cuy, Ser Imry Florent, Ser Jon Fossaway, Sers Alyn and Hyle Hunt, Lord Mathis Rowan, Ser Garlan Tyrell, and, accompanying the suitors, Ser Garth’s brethren Sers Baelor ‘Brightsmile’, Gunthor and Humfrey Hightower, Ser Hobber’s sire Lord Paxter Redwyne, his twin Sers Horas Redwyne, and his cousin Ser Desmond Redwyne.

At the same time from Saltpans came an unexpectedly large and chivalrous band of Stormlands knights, apparently urged on by the Frey marital relations Lord Casper and Sers Gladden and Jon Wylde, Ser Rolland Storm, Bastard of Nightsong, and Ser Donnel Swann. With them came Ser Brus Buckler, Ser ‘Red’ Ronnet Connington, Ser Beric Dondarrion, Ser Sebastian Errol, Sers Alyn and Andrew Estermont, the King’s own kin, Silveraxe Fell, Ser Gerald Gower, Ser Narbert Grandison, Ser Richard Horpe, Ser Guyard Morrigen, and Ser Robin Peasebury.

From the Riverlands came several local nobles, knights and warriors to defend the prowess of the Trident, some friends, bannermen or kin to the Twins, others putting aside any rifts they might entertain with House Frey for a more glorious cause. Here were numbered Ser Andrey Charlton, Ser Quincy Cox, Lord Lymond Goodbrook, Ser Donnel Haigh, Patrek Mallister, Ser Raymond Nayland, Ser Marq Piper, Ser Tristan Ryger, Ser Karyl Vance of Wayfarer’s Rest, Sers Ronald and Hugo Vance of Atranta, and Lord Lucias Vypren. And despite many absences House Frey boasted a formidable defensive array: the promising squire Steffon ‘the Sweet’ Frey, Ser Aenys Frey, Ser Tytos Frey the Steward, Ser Arwood Frey, Ser Theo Frey, Sers Danwell and Raymund Frey, Sers Jammos and Whalen Frey, Sers Perwyn and Benfrey Frey, Ser Walder Rivers, Ser Aemon Rivers, Ser Martyn Rivers, and Ryger Rivers.

It was decided that the Rivermen and the Crownlanders should face the Stormlanders and the Reachmen over each pursuit, bowmanship, melee, racing and jousing, in each case to be followed by a clash between the suitors themselves.

In the initial match of the archers, both suitors performed well, and among their party of the Stormlands and the Reach Silveraxe Fell also shot strong and far, but the defenders far outstripped them, in particular the Rivermen and House Frey above all - with Ser Tytos Frey the Steward himself proving the best shot of all, and Steffon the Sweet, Ser Theo Frey, Ser Danwell Frey, Sers Jammos and Whalen Frey, Ser Benfrey Frey, Ser Aemon and Ryger Rivers, and Ser Tristan Ryger all impressing the crowds. Between the suitors, Greysteel narrowly beat Ser Hobber to the bull’s eye.

In the greater hurly-burly of the melee, the defenders achieved a still more crushing success, with Ser Walder Rivers the last knight standing. Among the guests Ser Rolland Storm was considered the best scrimmager and swordsman, with much consequent jesting about bastard-bravery and strength. Other attackers of note included Red Ronnet, Silveraxe, and Greysteel himself, but they could not hold the fury and the cunning shown by the Crownlanders Ser Balman Byrch and Godfry Farring, and many more of the Rivermen – Steffon the Sweet, Ser Tytos, Ser Danwell, Ser Aemon and Ser Marq Piper. Greysteel this time easily disarmed Ser Hobber and chivalrously refused to harm him.

The race was the least aggressive and so for many least gripping of the entertainments, but the Rivermen kept their dominance, with Lord Lucias Vypren taking the lead; the fastest among the attackers were Greysteel himself, Silveraxe and Storm. Steffon the Sweet continued his excellent promise, along with Sers Danwell, Whalen and Aemon, and Ryger Rivers; beyond House Frey Lord Lymond Goodbrook, Ser Donnel Haigh and Ser Tristan Ryger were considered most fleet. As everyone by now expected, Greysteel easily beat Ser Hobber.

It was only at last in the concluding joust, mostly conducted by torchlight, that the guests of the Reach and Stormlands showed their true quality, with Ser Guyard Morrigen emerging from a bristling field to crown Fair Walda Queen of Love and Beauty. The best defending jousters were Ser Balman and Ser Godry of the Crownlands, Steffon the Sweet, Ser Danwell, Ser Whalen, Ser Perwyn, Ser Aemon and Ser Tristan Ryger, but these proved no match for the flower of the south, Storm, Red Ronnet, Lord Rowan, Ser Garlan Tyrell, and Greysteel himself. In the final contest between the two suitors of the Reach, Greysteel unhorsed Ser Hobber so hard he broke his arm, perhaps making a parting conclusive point for all their previous comradeship.

The tourney concluded with the marriage of Fair Walda Frey to Ser Garth Hightower amid great celebration. House Redwyne was a little irked but not near so much as House Hightower was delighted, and Ser Stevron in particular was praised for his generosity as host, especially by the victorious Rivermen and Crownlanders. Few cared much at the slightly troubling news that the wounded and disinherited Ser Walder Frey had fled in the night upon his brother’s stolen horse, taking his sword but no armour with him.

‘Walton’s report…most interesting…most troubling...what tidings from the capital, sers? What news of Symond?’

In the absence of his knightly elder brother Ser Ryman at White Harbor, Walton Frey, Ser Stevron’s least military but most senior remaining adult descendant, was deputed to pursue, find and capture the fugitive Valeknight Ser Harlan Hunter, a dangerous man now widely assumed to be Lame Lothar’s murderer. Ser Stevron, who had been suspected himself of involvement, began to recoup his reputation by encouraging his Tully allies to return home, pausing his business negotiations with the Vale, conspicuously fasting and praying, and quickly sending Walton on the hunt – though Ser Tytos sneered that a real knight would have been preferable.

Walton took a couple of dozen Frey crossbowmen and headed straight for the Bucket, said to be Hunter’s last lurking place. Some said he had extracted information from his own good-sister, the missing knight’s cousin Janyce Hunter. He certainly interrogated every man, woman or child found at the Bucket, a group of crannogmen who turned out upon closer inspection to be Braavosi of short stature and cunning skill in disguise. Under close questioning one of these led the crossbowmen to a concealed cellar where Hunter was found munching on a chop and quaffing ale, apparently convinced of his entire safety. A second Braavosi let out Betharios’ name after several smacks about her face. Hunter has so far confessed only to agreeing to make sure a particular cask of wine, not in fact from the fabled vines of Longbow Hall but from court, made it to Lame Lothar’s cup.

Little has lately been heard of Symond Frey, who has not reported on his activities in the capital to the Twins, but certain rumourmongers suggest he has been approaching not just his brother the Most Devout Luceon but Lord Petyr Baelish, the Master of Coin…

***

[Garlan Gunter]

Ser Stevron Frey, Heir to the Crossing

Favour: 6 (has regained some personal credit with Lord and Lady Frey but rumours still swirling about control over own family)

Resources: Substantial (Manderly dowry overshadowed by huge expenditure on tourney)

Influence: 7, 8 in the Riverlands (Tourney has made particular friends at the Twins and among the Riverlords)

Standing: 7 (swift action to repair reputation beginning to pay off)

Turn III Crises:

Your once spotless repute was badly tarnished by your half-brother’s poisoning and your grandsons’ affray, but you have recently recovered much ground. Your despatch of your son Walton succeeded beyond your hopes in clearing you of blame for Lothar’s end, even if at the price of apparently fingering your half-brother Symond for the deed, previously an ally of sorts.

Your speedy and successful pursuit of Ser Harlan Hunter by necessity broke off your negotiations through him with the Vale Houses. Do you wish to pick them up again through some other intermediary?

Your son and heir, Ser Ryman, has arrived by sea at Saltpans with his Manderly bride, but faces deep disgrace after his disgusting conduct at his northern wedding and the accusations of Ser Tytos Frey. Will you stand up for your heir or let him bear the brunt of blame that might otherwise have stuck to you? Some urge you to disinherit him as you did his two elder sons, but that would certainly mean the end of your new Manderly alliance.

Two of the women of your family, your daughter Maegelle Vance, now Crakehall, and your good-daughter Deana Hardyng, were also accused by Ser Tytos of responsibility for Black Walder’s humbling. Do you wish to defend their reputations? Maegelle and her husband are far away now, while Deana previously enjoyed Lady Frey’s protection on account of her daughter Fair Walda’s wedding, and is now bolstered by her husband Walton’s recent success. Nonetheless Lady Frey now demands that Deana account for her actions. How will you respond?

Walton enquires what you would have him do with the captive Ser Harlan. Lothar’s kin the Blackwood Freys are eager to have him put more strictly to the question, while your good-daughter his cousin Janyce Hunter entreats his release. Ser Harlan himself demands trial by combat, though no one need yet know as much for sure. What will you decide or permit?

Edwyn has been sent with a dozen guardsmen to the Wall on the kingroad, and will shortly pass through the territory of the crannogmen. Is it worth contacting House Reed to guarantee his safe passage?

Black Walder on a fine stolen destrier of his brother’s, but armed only with his sword, remains missing. The deed of his disinheritance has been drawn up but he has not signed it yet nor sworn any vow. Will you try and track down your errant, and still wounded grandson?

Fair Walda writes contentedly enough from Oldtown. How can she and your new Hightower allies best be put to use?

Do you intend to intervene in the ongoing struggle between Ser Jared and Aegon Bloodborn, or to enquire further into Symond’s possible guilt in the matter of Lame Lothar?

Your lord father shows a few small signs of recovery, but Lady Annara remains regent of the Crossing. Will you continue to show her loyalty, especially as a large number of Crownlands and Stormlands knights remain at the Twins, or work to undermine her in some way?

What is to be done about Edwyn’s daughter Small Walda, and how will you further encourage Petyr Pimple to be worthy of the Crossing?

By far your most promising descendant would appear to be Steffon the Sweet, who though but fifteen distinguished himself in every part of the recent tourney. Does he deserve knighthood? Have his father Walton and he even earnt the right to displace Ryman and Petyr as your foremost heirs? Such a drastic decision would please the Valemen, but outrage the Manderlys and the Stormlanders.


Aegon, formerly of House Frey, outlaw leader known as the Bloodborn

Favour: 0 (still disinherited)

Resources: Scant (increasingly in need of fresh black rent)

Influence: 9 (still ruthless and able)

Standing: 2 (a little less feared since Ser Cleos’s resistance and a few desertions)

Turn III Crises:

Your Lannister coz Cleos has suddenly and unexpectedly broken your hitherto unchallenged reign of terror in the wilds of the Riverlands. Your notoriety and your resources alike demand that he suffer severe and rapid consequences for this rash defiance, ere you lose more men to desertion, surrender, or even starvation.

On the other hand, your strategic position has if anything improved. Ser Hosteen’s thorough defeat has most like left Lady Annara even less willing to send further strength from the Twins to stop you, while Ser Jared’s party, less well equipped if a little larger than the warband under Hosteen you destroyed, now stands at the Red Fork apparently trapped between your men and the resurgent Ser Tristan Rivers.

You are still inclined in the long term to seek your fortune across the Narrow Sea, so Rivers’s rejection of the Golden Company’s plan comes as a blow; do you wish to try and make contact with the recruiter to come to a new accord?

For all Lady Frey’s caution, her vulnerable position, the royal decree, and Ser Stevron’s tourney have all led to a large number of restive, vainglorious, headstrong nobles and knights visiting the Twins, many of whom would love to gain glory by hunting you. There is also a suggestion that Ser Jared might have interested the pirate Asha of House Greyjoy in that same quest. How will you preserve yourself from these threats?

There is a rumour abroad that your younger half-uncle Symond Frey, now in the capital, might have been the true killer of Lame Lothar – with whom you were never yourself on bad terms – and it certainly seems he has responsible for the now quashed enterprise at the Bucket; interestingly, Rivers has hold of some son of his. Furthermore, Black Walder, wounded and disinherited (if unofficially as yet), is said to be riding abroad alone. How will you approach these relatives, who begin to rival your reputation as the least respectable Frey?

Will you take up your full brother Rhaegar’s insistent attempts to communicate with you, and how will you gain a fresh source of black rent or other gold and supplies?


Ser Jared Frey

Favour: 6 (advice led to Ser Hosteen’s despatch and defeat)

Resources: Adequate (Ser Tytos maintaining relative honesty as Steward; Septon Luceon’s resources still Substantial)

Influence: 7 (8 in matters concerning the Faith or, due to recent diplomacy, the Ironmen)

Standing: 8 (held firm against Ser Tristan Rivers, ultimatum led to some desertions, but not yet tested in major battle)

Turn III Crises:

Your position is potentially perilous, with outlaws both to your rear and ahead, the Bloodborn band having a definite advantage in numbers and the Rivers band possessing some decent arms. Since Ser Hosteen’s defeat you are badly in need of new reinforcements. Will you urge Lady Frey to try again, reach out to some of her guests, try and call in any of your new friends or build yet newer ties?

Ser Cleos still stands in desperate need of rescue at Hag’s Mire, but your own plight is in some ways as serious. How important is saving your insubordinate Lannister nephew to your general designs?

Somehow, the Plowman’s Bastard seems to have possessed intimate knowledge of your position and likely itinerary. You are inclined to suspect the hand of the ‘vanished’ Alesander Frey, especially with rumours emerging of his parents’ plots, but Lord Tully himself writes sternly warning you in unambiguous terms against the Targaryen sympathies of your good-son and second-in-command, Ser Garse Goodbrook. Is there any chance Tully might be correct after all?

Lord Vance writes testily demanding that you accept betrothal to his grand-daughter Rhialta now or never at all. Is it to be yea or nay? He will allow you to pass his land at the Mummer’s Ford on payment of a toll in any case, but his troops might provide useful assistance.

Maester Erreck has arrived at the Twins and Ser Tytos describes him as far more use than Brennett ever was. Have you any researches to enquire of him?

Septon Luceon writes in high excitement revealing that he has everything necessary to reward you as you deserve, should he become High Septon; though apparently the current incumbent, like your father, appears to be rallying somewhat.

What of your former ally, the missing, wounded and all-but-disinherited Black Walder? And how should you consolidate the fall of Ser Stevron’s house, or counter the schemes of the apparently murderous Symond?

You still bear no superior warrant, and must pass through the lands of House Blackwood – who it should be noted keep the Old Gods and would ignore any instruction from the Faith – and House Mallister. Paying tolls to them all will be accursed expensive; is there any other resort?


Symond Frey

Favour: 5 (At least your wife Betharios and quite likely you yourself are exposed as the true backers of the Bucket, and implicated in concealing Harlan Hunter and poisoning Lame Lothar)

Resources: Adequate (business and credit have taken a turn for the worse)

Influence: 8 (the Bucket’s closure has cost you some of your best Braavosi mummers)

Standing: 6 (your audiences with Septon Luceon and Lord Baelish have done you good in the city)

Turn III Crises:

Betharios writes to you in consternation following Walton Frey’s raid on the Bucket. Should she make good her escape before she is arrested or stand firm, plead innocence and defend herself? Are events already soaring too quickly for you to control?

Both Septon Luceon and Lord Baelish have been courteous enough, though once the news out of the Twins emerges the Frey Most Devout Septon will mayhaps not remain as much. Lord Baelish offers protection and employment in exchange for a more permanent agreement…even allegiance. Is this your last chance in the circumstances for a secure patron?

You are still a Lannister kinsman by marriage, but the Queen and her House have offered only bare and empty courtesy so far. Should you make a more substantial bid for their aid and amity?

Alyx diligently sends news, but is it time for her to see and do a little more in her pious new life?

Alesander writes a first-hand account of a skirmish with his Uncle Jared’s men and consorting with open partisans of the dragon. Has his path, as Betharios insists, now become too dangerous to continue upon, and ought he to report back to his uncle – if he even can escape his current host - with dearly won information to aid the family repute? Or might there be those even within House Frey, let alone the wider Riverlands and outlaws, who tread the same unnerving direction?

Bradamar reports that Tendyris has agreed grudgingly to your cautious and partial support, only for the bottom to fall out of the poppy price for the time being, while your moderate dabbling in forced labour only yields modest results. In truth it remains only Tendyris’s slave empire that yields spectacular returns, mighty enough to make the merchant prince one of the greatest in the Free City, and determined to run for Sealord – yet crucially vulnerable should the truth of his business be known. With ever higher stakes, Bradamar’s fate too becomes more delicate. Is it time for him to slip to his mother’s kin, or even join you back home in the capital?

Finally your new Western subjects, or tenants, seem entertained enough by the Braavosi mummers sent to represent you, but currently not exactly awed into paying their rents on time.

***

[Garlan Gunter]

Men under arms



Ser Jared Frey, 280 foot, 45 household knights, ill equipped by Edwyn’s arrangement, crossing the Red Fork near Stone Hedge.

Accompanying Ser Jared - Ser Garse Goodbrook, 5 Goodbrook knights, a dozen men-at-arms, adequately armed.

Aegon Bloodborn, outlaw following over five hundred strong, patchily equipped, encamped outside Hag's Mire, village south of the Twins.

Ser Ryman Frey, Walton Frey, a dozen knights, a dozen crossbowmen, scouting around the Twins.

Ser Desmond Grell, 12 well-armed Tully armsmen, north of the Red Fork, nearing Riverrun.

Ser Cleos Frey, 20 very well-armed Lannister soldiers, at Hag's Mire.

Ser Tristan Rivers, outlaw following around four hundred strong, some decent equipment and experienced warriors and mercenaries, just south of Stone Hedge.

Asha Greyjoy, thirty well armed Ironborn raiders, south of Seagard.

Ser Harras Harlaw, a dozen well armed retainers, south of Seagard.

Ser Rolland Storm and other tourney knights with their attendants, sixty mounted knights and squires, setting out south from the Twins.

Ser Clifford Swann with two hundred men-at-arms, adequately armed, landed at Saltpans.

Edwyn Frey under guard of a dozen Frey soldiers, in the Neck.

***

Also - Black Walder, well mounted with sword but no armour, somewhere.

[Garlan Gunter]

IRONHAND



Ser Jacelyn had awaited the glorified merchant far more than long enough when the man’s sinewy form and sly face folded itself at last through the shadows of the quiet, discreet establishment off the Street of Sighs.

‘Commander. I heard tell of you as a man of the utmost honour and probity not long after my late arrival in the capital,’ Symond Frey began with smoothness aplenty, beyond the point indeed of oiliness.

‘Most have heard of me only for this,’ the Bywater knight demurred in a tone of neutral indifference, laying his dully glinting hand upon the board of elm between them.

‘A laudable…impairment. I hear you lost your…birth…hand in battle with the Ironmen, those cursed thieves with whom my brother Jared has lately, foolishly chosen to ally himself,’ Symond proceeded. The Ironhand cut him short with a rap.

‘I’ve no interest in disagreements within your tedious, teeming family, Frey. I come with an offer of friendship.’

‘Your own? It would touch me, of course,’ Symond simpered, gesturing for a jar of scarce substantial, thin-blooded foreign wine, ‘but I fail to see what I could offer to a knight of the gallant gold cloaks at present.’

‘You aren’t of interest to my force, not yet at any rate,’ the commander cut back. ‘No. I come on another’s behalf.’

‘That of Lord Baelish? He is a personal friend, Ser Jacelyn. I need no intermediaries there.’

‘For a personal friend I gather he’s seen you but little recently,’ Bywater observed. ‘But no.’

‘You carry a message from my good-kin, the Queen’s blood?’

‘No, else I’d have already spat in your wined-down scent-piss there. House Lannister cares nothing for your foreign half-bred line.’

Symond drew in his breath sadly. ‘Harsh words, ser. I can only hope they indicate a rewarding as well as an honest suggestion.’

‘Walk with me,’ Ironhand left it simply.

There was a short pause; then Symond laid down a coin, left his jar undrunk and rose, Ser Jacelyn following near close enough to kiss him.

‘Varys,’ Symond breathed as soon as they were as near to alone as the City ever permitted. The knight seemed unsettled for the first time, but pressed on with a remorseless countenance.

‘Not my place to say. But I come from a power who asks – who instructs – you to cease further intrigues with Littlefinger, to end any hope of gaining the Queen’s ear, to stay away from court and do as he says. There’s gold enough in it, and better if you’re quiet.’

‘Varys, then,’ Symond insisted with a laugh that almost provoked the staid Ironhand to anger.

‘Jokers don’t last long in this city, Frey. What’s it to be?’

‘No.’

Jacelyn was a competent and a quick sword by now with his left hand, but he was not a hothead nor an idiot. He had expected this answer. He would return to finish that drink with Frey, they would talk it over like reasonable men, they would leave, and Frey would never cross his borrowed threshold again.

‘Seven be praised!’

Ordinary words, silly words; Ser Jacelyn was an anointed knight for honour’s sake, but hardly a man of faith. Yet it surprised him, surprised him for the last time, that their speaker was unknown to him, that they hissed right in his ear, and that they came with a knife swift and clean across his throat.

***

[Garlan Gunter]

HYLE



And so, at last, here they were – the Bloodborn brought to battle, and a fierce uncomfortable lair, Ser Hyle thought, the outlaw had chosen to bed down at. No doubt these scum of the woods and the marshes were used to such lurking-spots. For his part, Hyle did not consider himself to be so delicate in his tastes as the reputation of the knights of the Reach might suggest. He had taken hard enough roads in pursuit of outlaws, and their blood-price in rewards from local lords, before. But he was the only son of the Reach who had ridden so far on this occasion – even his brother Alyn had taken ship back to Oldtown with the rest of the groom’s party. And, judging by the grim looking copses ahead, he might well soon regret it.

It had been hard and long months of campaigning already since the wedding at the Twins. Their band of sixty odd riders under the generally accepted leadership of the hardened, if poxy Bastard of Nightsong, had endured a slow and uneventful start, obliged as they were to escort the caravan of fresh arms and armour destined for Ser Jared Frey’s forces. The news of Hag’s Mire’s fall and Ser Cleos Frey’s disappearance came as no great shock now, nor the traumatised emptiness of the village when they stopped there.

They found no sign of living outlaws on their way, not even deserters, who might, the despairing Hyle mused, at least have garnered desultory loot; only stripped corpses, splayed, hanged, headed, shot, impaled or unrecognisable; every shambles in the glades was marked somewhere with a squid, carven into bark or waving from an abandoned pennant, though never an Ironman corpse was to be found amidst such scenery.

Ser Rolland Storm had been wary enough at first that Asha Greyjoy and her hunters might be after the tourney knights’ blood, too, seeking vengeance for her father’s humiliation in the Greyjoy Rebellion six years back; so their party’s encounter with Ser Harras Harlaw’s retinue had been cautious and frosty, until word arrived by way of the new maester at the Twins that Harlaw was to be accepted into their ranks. From then on matters were cordial if not convivial on that front, and improved all the more after a successful union with Ser Jared’s hard-pressed Freys on the one hand, and Lord Swann’s reinforcements on the other. No one any more paid any mind to Lord Tully’s aloofness from sending any aid.

But not long after this triumphant conjunction, the southern outlaws, under this other bastard knight, Rivers, the open rebel for the dragons, made another move, a short way north now of the Red Fork. The forces loyal to House Baratheon now possessed comfortable numbers, but Rivers had found good quality soldiers and steel from somewhere, and seemed to know their dispositions before they did. Their alliance staggered further north with slight losses in blood but more in credit, unsure themselves, Hyle quipped to one of the disgusted Estermont brethren, whether they were advancing or retreating.

And so matters continued until the handful of deserters Ser Jared had convinced to turn, and now employed carefully as well-guarded scouts, came up with the goods. Not far east of Seagard, Bloodborn’s exhausted band, weakened by desertions and Greyjoy savagery, had sunk into an embedded forest camp. And at last Ser Jared and his friends could offer their elusive prey battle. Much good, Hunt thought sourly, may it do us.

They could scarce the outlaws for undergrowth, branches and stakes, of course. Ser Jared estimated they likely still had the numbers, but only a smattering of decent equipment pilfered from Cleos’s guards. The question of command among the allies now raised its awkward head, and it was uncertainly decided to attack in separate contingents under the existing captains, Ser Jared, Ser Clifford Swann, and the ironmen and dismounted tourney knights acting as one under Ser Rolland and Ser Harras jointly.

The Knight of Grey Garden was confident that this was an ironman’s ideal encounter. Hyle had not greatly taken to the tall, dour, pious but proud islander, always polishing and sharpening his great, dark longsword, but he identified the man as a good wager for following close and looting the slain. Ser Gladden Wylde, a particularly gloomy Stormlander, seemed less convinced. “The man has death in his eyes, Hunt, but I couldn’t swear if it’s Bloodborn’s, ours or his own.” Hyle reflected with alarm that he’d once heard at a small Mistwood wedding tourney that the Wyldes had a casual gift for prophecy.

Neither the Frey assault nor the Swanns seemed yet to be clearing much ground, grim attrition and slogging beneath the boughs with losses all too even, but Ser Harras seemed to earn, indeed blaze, his name. Deeper and deeper into the wood the knights and the Ironmen passed, felling those broken men fool enough not to flee. At intervals word from elsewhere reached them. Ser Garse Goodbrook was fallen or taken; a bodkin arrow had passed through Ser Clifford’s right eye with the usual result. Ser Jared was maintaining good order. Of Bloodborn himself there was no sign.

No sign, that is, until a rare whirr pierced the bosky dark, one Hyle had heard once before long time since during a stint with the Gallant Men across the Narrow Sea – a Myrish crossbow. Its bolt punctured Ser Andrew Estermont’s skull, robbing the king himself of a kinsman; the first tourney knight to fall. Then for a moment Hyle, and not just he, were flung into confusion – Lannister men among the foe? – before, of course, they remembered the looted arms. The Ironmen were going down everywhere now, their lighter mail starting to tell. Ser Harras span a defiant circle of obsidian death – until another lion-helmed wood-spirit cut him down from the black. Hyle could not see his foe’s face, did not care to crawl too close to check. He had heard the Bloodborn was well-favoured for a Frey. When the canny, honourless traitor seized Nightfall lightly and dissolved with his remnants further yet into the trees, Ser Hyle, in any case, obtained his answer.

***

[Garlan Gunter]

ERRECK



The Archmaesters had scarcely needed to make it clear to Erreck that he was being dispatched to a crucial, sensitive, and difficult position. His predecessor, after all, was said to be still having difficulty either walking or speaking. But Erreck was the possessor of a lofty and unscathed reputation at the Citadel, and simultaneously without either the protection or the encumbrance of high birth. He had determined to make the best of things as quickly as possible, so that he might be summoned back in due time to a seat at the Citadel’s Conclave itself.

At first the man he had most to do with was Ser Tytos Frey, the Steward, a man of smooth words but firm deeds, apparently competent and dependable as a patron. As such, Erreck found himself sedulously warned against the heir to the Crossing, old Ser Stevron, once a highly thought of knight but more divisive since the poisoning of his brother Lame Lothar. And then there was the matter of the temporary ruling Lady, Annara, once of House Farring.

The Lady’s position seemed both safe and strong with the support of her Crownlander kin, none of whom deigned to move on or hunt outlaws after the late wedding tourney save for the great lord amongst them, Rykker of Duskendale. The rest remained, some, Erreck observed, keeping their hands to their hilts, others, like the apparent sot Ser Dontos Hollard, maintaining their watch on events with glances, keen ears and judicious expenditure.

Ser Stevron seemed to be well enough liked again – even by his potential obstacle Lady Frey – and Erreck had listened in with interest when the old knight delivered his report on the affair of Harlan Hunter, and the extent of Symond Frey’s complicity. At the elderly heir’s urgently argued suggestion, Ser Harlan’s request for a trial by combat was quashed – “accused as a poisoner, he shall not stand as a knight” – and the Valeman was judged by Lady Annara alongside two of Lothar’s closest kin, the Blackwood Freys Sers Jammos and Whalen. It was thus all the more shocking when he walked free acquitted, or would have been to Erreck had he not been quietly instrumental in the compact with House Hunter than settled the matter.

Ser Harlan’s adjudged innocence carried with it the release of his secret friend Betharios of Braavos, who had been apprehended by Bastard Walder while trying to flee. But her son, Alesander, returned from the outlaw-ridden wilds with a glib smile, was quite another matter, his treason and desertion of Ser Jared charges that must still be investigated. Through all these entanglements, Erreck observed, noted, and calculated, pondering the three main forces resident at the Twins – Lady Annara, the Steward Ser Tytos, and the heir Ser Stevron – while, of course, ministering to the bedridden but true Lord Frey himself.

The Steward appeared to have contrived a particular triumph following a trade agreement with House Tyrell; but Ser Stevron had the past success of the tourney and the Hightower alliance, and friends in the Vale aplenty to cultivate besides. Yet, more and more, it was the Lady to whom Maester Erreck felt most endebted, in whose confidence he felt settled, and to whom he offered his admiration. Was he not vowed to counsel the ruler of the Twins? At present, did that not mean Annara?

It seemed that the lady herself thought similarly, and so it was that Erreck came into possession of her most dangerous secret. He had studied similar precedents, and knew what exact measures might be taken. That Lord Frey’s recovery was proceeding apace was both a peril and an opportunity. So just as the ancient Lord Walder rose from his pallet and threw off his wife’s regency, Lady Annara retired with a mysterious but most debilitating illness of her own…and Erreck continued to bide his time.

***

[Garlan Gunter]

Summer, sixth month of 295 AC



‘Ugh…urkh…mmmph…heh…what in the hells has been going on around here?’

As old Lord Walder began to stir towards recovery under the assiduous care of Maester Erreck, he had much and more to take in indeed.

From House Nayland came the grim word that Hag’s Mire had this time fallen for sure, with no word from the young maester or Ser Cleos, and both assuredly dead or taken.

From House Tyrell came enthusiastic agreement for the trade deal with House Frey offered by Ser Jared and the Steward, a great and certain boost to the Twins’ coffers.

But most active of all were the Twins themselves, still overfilled with Crownlander guests of Lady Frey. Bastard Walder had taken first Betharios of Braavos into custody as she attempted flight, and then her wastrel of a singer son Alesander, foolishly returned from the wilds without any seeming significant tidings or account of himself.

With old Lord Frey still too ill to rise, though now cognizant of events around him, it was left to Lady Frey to remain presiding over the trial of Ser Harlan Hunter, accused murderer of Lame Lothar.

‘Wait, heh, …she did what?!’

The three judges, Lady Frey and two knights of the Blackwood Frey line – kin to Lothar, and chosen at Ser Stevron’s suggestion – astonished the Twins by clearing Ser Harlan of any ill intent, agreeing he had passed on the poisoned wine as a gift in all innocency. With this decision Betharios, who had harboured the Valeknight, was released, though her son remained under Bastard Walder’s guard. As speculation raged about Ser Stevron’s schemes and his friends in the Vale, Ser Harlan departed in peace and House Frey’s attention was seized by events elsewhere…

‘Sounds like a good scrap, heh. If I were only half a century or so the younger…’

While Asha Greyjoy hunted in the woods and caught plentiful deserters, whom her men put to the axe without mercy, the Bloodborn continued to elude his other pursuers. Ser Jared’s embattled force was however, partly by way of the strategic nous of Maester Erreck, successfully reinforced by Houses Swann and Harlaw, as well as over a dozen tourney knights and their retainers, to the number of sixty-odd horse, with Ser Rolland Storm in loose command. These last also escorted a caravan of superior equipment from the Twins to Ser Jared’s camp.

The united allies narrowly beat off another attempt by the Bastard of Darry’s emboldened Targaryen loyalists before proceeding north, and finally, after employing outlaw turncoats as scouts, brought the Bloodborn to battle at a wood east of Seagard, subsequently called Stakewood Copse after the encounter. Despite their losses to desertion, Bloodborn’s men still had numbers on their side, the benefit of looted Lannister equipage, and extensive if improvised traps and defences around their camp. Their command was also more unified by desperation and rule of force, in comparison to the fractious alliance of noble knights.

Ser Jared and Ser Clifford Swann on the left and right fought the outlaws to a bloody standstill. When the Swann knight himself was shot down the Swanns withdrew in disorder, while Ser Jared, despite the loss of his good-son and second-in-command Ser Garse Goodbrook, achieved a costly but successful advance. Goodbrook’s body was recovered some time after his disappearance, and letters were later discovered on his person that indicated he had indeed conspired with Ser Tristan Rivers to betray the Frey force’s manoeuvres.

Most notable of all was the centre of the fight, where Ser Harras Harlaw, supported by the dismounted tourney knights, at first achieved conspicuous and resistless success, carving his way far ahead of the other allies. But a counterattack and ambush led by Bloodborn himself – evidently quite recovered from the wound Ser Hosteen Frey had dealt him, and accoutred in fine Lannister arms – led to the deaths of Harlaw and most of his Ironmen, along with a cousin of King Robert, Ser Andrew Estermont.

Ser Jared meanwhile having veered to mop up the leaderless and scattering outlaw right, Bloodborn, once he had stolen Harlaw’s storied Valyrian blade Nightfall, chose his moment to flee. His band had been reduced to little more than a hundred hardened outlaws, leaving behind it over a hundred men of House Frey and a similar number from House Swann, along with the Ironmen and Estermont, slain on the field. It was a great victory for Ser Jared and House Frey, but one with a very considerable butcher’s bill, extending among knights and noblemen as well as humble footmen.

‘Well, Ser Ryman, heh. Remind me again. What exactly are you good for, heh? Anything at all?’

Ser Ryman and Walton Frey had to report entire failure in their efforts to find Black Walder, who appeared to have quite vanished into the dark.

It was then – with the Twins in any case ominously astir as Lady Annara appeared to be ailing herself, while Lord Frey was partially but not wholly recovered – that the new maester received an ominous raven.

The Bloodborn, using the maester and birds he had captured at Hag’s Mire, now demanded safe passage through the Twins, in exchange for the lives of Ser Cleos and Black Walder, whom he claimed to have taken on the road. In this emergency the maester and Steward consulted together, but it was Bastard Walder who truly seized the initiative. Accepting Bloodborn’s terms on his own authority and using his terrified captive Alesander as a go-between, he obtained the release of Ser Cleos but not yet Black Walder in exchange for leaving a discreet way through unguarded, before attempting to ambush the outlaw band on its way into the Neck to retrieve the disinherited Walder too.

A lively fight in the marshes broke out, with Bastard Walder initially effortlessly in control of the situation and casting the remaining outlaws into utter confusion, before Bloodborn wielding Nightfall cut his way out of the mess. The skirmish left another fifty or so outlaws slain, with lighter Frey losses. Bloodborn’s pressed maester from Hag's Mire was rescued, but Aegon himself, his last cluster of men, Nightfall and Black Walder were missing somewhere in the swamps.

‘More letters from the capital, mmmph. One insult to our House after another…but our time is drawing near, just you wait and see.’

As a curt letter from Lord Reed confirmed that Edwyn had reached Moat Cailin safe and unmolested, more alarming word arrived from King’s Landing. Symond Frey claimed to have survived an assassin almost certainly, he confided to Lord Frey and his closest counsellors, employed by Lord Varys; while no conclusive friendliness was yet to be found from the Queen or Lord Baelish. On a brighter note, the High Septon was quite definitely said to be sinking now, and Septon Luceon’s prospects for election had never looked better. Lord Frey resumed control at the Twins comforted by the prospect of a son at the head of the Faith of the Seven.

***

[Garlan Gunter]

Ser Stevron Frey, Heir to the Crossing

Favour: 8 (has regained considerable favour by thorough investigation and sound counsel on case of Harlan Hunter; also benefits from return to power of his father)

Resources: Adequate (large recent expenditure on clandestine agents)

Influence: 8 (strong allies in Riverlands, Stormlands, Vale, North and Reach)

Standing: 7 (rumours about corruption over acquittal of Ser Harlan, but otherwise reputation stable)

Turn IV Crises:

Your swift and competent investigation into the Hunter case and the involvement of Symond Frey’s family has had the happy effect of endearing you to almost everyone concerned. Lord Frey is much impressed, the Blackwoods and Blackwood Freys cannot now deny that they have been granted justice, the Vale is satisfied and money and treaties flow into the Twins. Your honour may be a little compromised to knightly purists or fanatical pursuers of justice, but that seems a slender price to pay.

Your eldest son and heir, on the other hand, lurches from laughing stock to laughing stock. Ser Ryman has committed no actual crime, of course, but his incompetence shames you and diminishes your credit. Among your descendants he is particularly outdone by Walton and his prodigious son Steffon the Sweet; elsewhere, more dangerously, Ser Jared is ever more securely established as the military success, and Ser Tytos as the competent politician, in the family. Will you find any way of further adjusting the succession? And as Steffon nears the age of knighthood, for whom should he serve out the last stage of his squiring? Many Crownlands guests and knights of the tourney returning from the campaign might now be amenable to your approaches.

Black Walder, who has still not acquiesced in his disinheritage by vow or signature, has gone willingly or otherwise with Aegon Bloodborn into the Neck, a dangerous combination indeed. How do you intend to address this threat?

Edwyn must now journey through the North to the Wall; he is likely to travel there safely under House Stark’s watch, unless he is foolish enough to attempt an escape. Will you leave him to it, warn him to stay obedient, or even secretly abet his slipping away?

Fair Walda seems preoccupied with dancing and feasting at Oldtown and writes nothing of substance to you. How can you leverage greater advantage out of your Hightower alliance?

Your lord father is back in charge, your lady stepmother lies mysteriously sick and ever tended by the assiduous new maester, and her Crownlands kin, to Lord Frey’s clear irritation, still clog up the guest chambers. Will you join your sire in advising them to move on at last?

How will you develop your quest to shape Petyr Pimple into a worthy heir?

Your purse has become uncommonly light for a rich lord’s heir. What steps might improve it?

Order in the Riverlands is still under threat by the Targaryen loyalists openly mustered under Ser Tristan Rivers; these are not however strictly speaking House Frey’s responsibility, but that of House Tully. Lord Tully is, however, an old friend who has thus far done his best to help you. Will you endeavour to repay him in this matter?


Aegon, formerly of House Frey, outlaw leader known as the Bloodborn

Favour: 0 (still disinherited)

Resources: Adequate (only a handful to feed, loot from Hag’s Mire and Lannisters, small ransom negotiated for Ser Cleos during abortive deal with Bastard Walder)

Influence: 9 (still ruthless and able)

Standing: -1 (hated, feared, has provoked blood feuds with Ironborn, Targaryen loyalists and Baratheon Crown)

Turn IV Crises:

You stand with fifty odd of your toughest, most desperate fighters, as well as your cousin Black Walder, all but recovered, an uncertain captive and a possible ally, figurehead, and/or tool. Nightfall hangs on your hip, you like the feel of its swing, and you swagger comfortably in excellent West-forged arms, specially adapted for mobile combat. Around you, however, stretches the comfortless morass of the Neck, infested by your kin’s hereditary enemies, the crannogmen or frogeaters.

Black Walder potentially possesses a much stronger claim on the Twins than your own. The young maester who was briefly forced to travel with you looked over his wounds and confirmed that though he is now hale enough, he will never sow a legitimate child to add to his rumoured bastards across the Frey cradles. Walder is sullen, bitter and would do anything for vengeance and power. You could swear allegiance to him as he demands, offer him a place as your second in command for the present, cut some other deal with him or keep him prisoner against the future. What will you decide? His value as a hostage has arguably sunk with the fall of his lover, Lady Frey, from power at the Twins.

You have travelled in the Neck yourself before, but rarely; only one of your men, himself a renegade Crannogman who claims kin with House Myre, knows these lands well. Will you try to make common cause against House Frey with the crannogmen, cut your way through the marshes with fire and steel, or try to stay aloof and discreet?

Your men’s unwitting dispatch of the secret Targaryen agent Ser Garse Goodbrook has, a secret message from Tom O’Sevens reveals, had the disastrous effect of breaking your good relations with Ser Tristan Rivers, your former lieutenant, and the other Targaryen loyalists. Tom himself writes that it will now be too dangerous to communicate in future. He suggests as a parting gift that the Golden Company may still take you and that their recruiter remains in the eastern Riverlands. Will you follow this lead, continue your own way north or take some other course?

The perilous young pirate Asha Greyjoy has slaughtered almost all of the fools who deserted your band, but since her cousin Ser Harras’s death by your blade has vowed in blood to hunt you and seize back Nightfall, wherever you may hide. As Asha is the favourite of her father, the Lord of Pyke, all the Ironmen, not just House Harlaw, will listen to her, though on the other hand she is clear she wishes to slay you in person. Can you appease, escape or repel the determined and vengeful islanders?

One of your remaining men, a Myrman, also had the dangerous distinction of shooting the King’s cousin dead. If the Crown’s attention was not certain before, it surely is now. How can you survive this fatal combination?

Bastard Walder made some use of Symond Frey’s son, the singer Alesander, who seems a callow youth of unstable loyalties. Could you make use of him in turn to keep up communications with dissident Freys?

Will you resort to the risk of contacting your nearest kin in any way?


Ser Jared Frey

Favour: 9 (victor over Bloodborn, arranged Tyrell treaty, clear current leading Frey)

Resources: Substantial (Ser Tytos as Steward arranging healthy cut of deal with Tyrells; Septon Luceon’s separate resources still Substantial)

Influence: 8 (9 in matters involving the Faith)

Standing: 10 (has won fame as warrior and diplomat both throughout and beyond the Riverlands)

Turn IV Crises:

Your direct contingent of Frey men are now much diminished, but far better equipped, and Bloodborn’s ragged ‘army’ has been completely destroyed. Ser Tristan Rivers might still be a threat, though theoretically he is Tully’s to deal with, not yours. Will you try to keep your men and allies together or disband them and return to the Twins in triumph to enjoy your rightful rewards and influence?

Your good-son Ser Garse Goodbrook, apparently such a capable second-in-command, has indeed been revealed as the traitor within your ranks – unless there is any chance the offending papers were planted on him in a conspiracy of fiendish complexity. Will you take his widow, your daughter Kyra, and your Goodbrook grandchildren under your care rather than leave them in a family of twice-proven treachery? And what of Alesander Frey? He may not have betrayed you so vilely as Ser Garse, but his desertion was frivolous at best and suspicious at worst. Bastard Walder believes he has now proved his usefulness over the ransom of Ser Cleos, but will you press for the singer’s more formal punishment?

Lord Vance has broken off communications with you entirely in disgust at your tardiness about his grand-daughter. Meanwhile Asha Greyjoy appears more interested in hunting the Bloodborn herself than marriage, her cousin, your granddaughter Zia’s betrothed Ser Harras, is slain, and Ser Tytos’s wife, Zhoe Blanetree, has perished of a sharp fever. As your reputation rides at its highest yet, surely this is a good time to broker many marriages.

Or will you do as Asha insists your duty demands and keep hunting Bloodborn even into the Neck? Failure to do so may wreck your recent Ironborn links.

Maester Erreck seems to regard his primary loyalty as to the sickly Lady Frey, not to the recovered Lord Frey or any more to your son, Ser Tytos the Steward, who arranged for his coming. Should you look into this enigmatic state of affairs? And what is to be done about Lady Frey’s Crownlands kin, whose sojourn so irritates your lord father?

Septon Luceon expects his election any day but requests more funds for canvassing with his usual monotony. He appears to believe he has found in Symond a useful and indispensable friend and brother; should you try to warn him about such possible naivety?

Black Walder, once your ally, now accompanies Bloodborn, whether or not by worse. Do you wish to attempt any communication with him?


Symond Frey

Favour: 6 (with Harlan Hunter’s release and Lord Frey’s return to power your credit resurfaces a little, though a cloud still hangs over your son Alesander)

Resources: Substantial (the poppy business has picked up more than a little)

Influence: 7 (your various agents sense loss of direction and drift at the heart of the family)

Standing: 6 (your friendship with your half-brother Septon Luceon has solidified, but Lord Baelish no longer grants you audiences and the Queen is openly disdainful)

Turn IV Crises:

Betharios arrives at the capital in some distress with more handmaids than coins, having scraped together passage after being first arrested then released by Bastard Walder. She warns you that your elder son Alesander may be in great danger at the Twins. Should you try and extricate him to join you in the city too?

Lord Baelish appears now to believe you have little or nothing to offer him; but Varys still seems to take you seriously as a threat, sending the Ironhand to neutralise you. Luckily your friendship with and usefulness to Septon Luceon has flourished, and you are saved by the intervention of some of his more fanatical followers. Can you ensure this alliance by conspicuously delivering Luceon his election as High Septon? And can you find anything of the secret researches that seem so to embolden him?

Lancel Lannister actually spat at you when you tried to make his acquaintance. The Queen never answers your letters, while her favourites abuse you and your servants in the streets. Is it worth another bid to win her over – mayhaps with Betharios’s aid – or should you accept the fact of her settled enmity?

Alyx writes in querulous complaint that she might as well have become a septa in truth for all the use you ever put her to. What is worse, her letter seems to have been opened by someone, damaging her cover, especially as she mentions Bloodborn, Edwyn and Black Walder in vague but identifiable terms.

Alesander writes a short message informing you that he trusts Ser Walder Rivers to protect him, but you suspect the letter is not of his own agency.

Bradamar does not write at all, but your wife’s kin reveal that he has risen high in the Tendyris service, so high indeed that his childless master has all but confirmed him as his heir, if he will only formally change his name from Frey. It is evident, though, that the clever boy has managed to communicate the truth about the Tendyris fortune to his maternal relations. Tendyris is still intent on becoming Sealord – should you, your son and your good-kin help or hinder him?

One of your precariously inherited western villages has reverted to Crakehall protection; the other still pays no rent to any lord.

***

[Garlan Gunter]

Men (and Asha!!) under arms



Ser Jared Frey, 180 foot, 25 household knights, decently equipped, encamped at Stakewood Copse east of Seagard.

Aegon Bloodborn, around fifty outlaws, some excellent equipment, Black Walder, currently somewhere in the Neck.

Ser Ryman Frey, Walton Frey, a dozen knights, a dozen crossbowmen, scouting around the Twins.

Ser Tristan Rivers, outlaw following around four hundred strong, some decent equipment and experienced warriors and mercenaries, just south of Hag's Mire.

Lem Lemoncloak, small outlaw following, uncertain intentions, unknown equipment, Oldstones

Asha Greyjoy, thirty well armed Ironborn raiders, scouting north of Stakewood Copse.

Ser Rolland Storm and other tourney knights with their attendants, fifty mounted knights and squires, encamped at Stakewood Copse.

Ser Donnel Swann, heir to Stonehelm, tourney knight, taking command of remaining 80 Swann men, encamped at Stakewood Copse.

Edwyn Frey under guard of a dozen Frey soldiers, at Moat Cailin.

***