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

Thirtieth Day of the Twelfth Month 293 AC

It does not take you long in the company of Lord Orton and Lady Teana Merryweather to realize the latter rather than the former holds the most power over the lands of Longtable. Florid-cheeked, loud and brash the lord brings to mind nothing so much as a younger and thankfully less damaging Robert Baratheon. You can only imagine his lady wife knew enough of the fey from her kin in Myr to steer him clear of any bargains binding body and soul, though she seems willing enough to talk to you... for a price.

You have never had to explicitly pay good coin to secure a lord's fealty before, but given that House Merryweather is still mired in debts, the same debts that inclined the lord of the House to wed the daughter of an Essosi magister rather than one of his neighbors or bannermen, you can see why the lady would take such a hard-headed approach to fealty. Hells, half the reason Lord Orton inherited those debts is your father's exile of his grandfather. Marks, you decide, are a small price to pay for a lady willing and indeed eager to embrace the profits of a new age.

Gold changes hands, words of fealty are spoken and toasts made. You can only hope the Lord of Longtable will gain a more discerning taste in said wine along with his new funds.

Lost 10,000 IM

Noticing Lya's grimace as the wine burns down her throat Lady Merryweather gives her an understanding look, mouthing: "Just spell it decent."

You do not see any ring upon her finger that would have that power. A sorceress too it seems, well that explains doubly so why she would be wary of the Court of Stars bearing gifts.


"She actually asked for money to secure fealty?" Your mother's voice holds enough disdain that one would think Lady Merryweather was practicing necromancy in the family crypts.

"Not explicitly, but I have bribed enough magisters to recognize the attempt," you shrug. "It was at least quickly sorted unlike other tangles I have found these days."

"Well yes, but that is Essos, a proper lord should be above trading his fealty like a... sellsword," she sniffs, before returning to her lunch.

"Well, then no one told Walder Frey that," you note, recalling your meeting with the Lord of the Crossing. True, marks were not all he had asked for, but that explicit support had gone a long way to securing his pledge.

"No one has expected Walder Frey to behave decently for at least half a century," she counters. "I will grant it would probably have been simpler to just pay some of the other Reacher Lords off, but it is the principle of the thing. If one can be bought with coin once why not a second time?"

"The expectation that there is more coin in remaining loyal, not to mention living people doing a better job at actually enjoying their wealth?" Dany pipes up with the sort of faux-innocence that contrasts humorously with her words, drawing an reluctant laugh from your mother.

"So about those less than tractable lords?" you prompt.

"Warryn Beesbury hemmed and hawed about proprieties, but he pledged his support eventually. Lord Jon Bulwer by contrast was hunting bandits through the woods when we found him. After my escort and I helped him deal with them in a timely manner he had no doubts about the rightness of your cause."

"You didn't end up fighting them yourself did you?" Dany asks a little troubled.

To tell the truth you are still shaken from the attack on your mother earlier in the month too, but she waves the concern away. "Leaving aside the knights of my escort being more skilled than many Kingsguard could you imagine any brigands who would be a match for the Seeker?"

The notion is almost enough to make you wince in sympathy for those now dead brigands.

"House Crane," your mother continues, "fell into line with hardly any effort on my part. The Florents had already practically assured their loyalty beyond the merest of formalities. Expect a few children coming to the Deep for some sort of education, mostly boys and a pair of girls far enough from the main line that Lord Richard would not be opposed to them marrying into mercantile connections. House Footly was much the same with Baelor Hightower, having stepped in to sow the seeds of future loialty, though the lord was... a bit too curious abut my condition."

"Condition?" you ask bemused.

"Being alive," she replies dryly. "Not from any fear of necromancy, but a desire to bring his sister back from the dead. I cautioned him that it may not be possible depending on the choices of the departed and gave him some advice about what sort of mages not to trust with such matters, but otherwise left him to it. It was not necesary to secure his pledge and would have added needless complications. A reputation for securing too much support through what our enemies will doubtlessly call 'necromancy' would not do our House good."

"It's not even necromancy though," Dany sighs faintly exasperated. "Not that there is anything wrong with necromacy if you use it responsibly."

"A fact which will hopefully become common knowledge in the years to come after the restoration," your mother replies before moving on to the last House, House Shermer. "They were wary of all magic initially, perhaps understandably so given that happened in Oldtown, but once I demonstrated simple mind wards and explained the protections they would have from the Scholarum and the Inquisition Lady Eloise came around. I think she was concerned about her neighbors pressing old claims on their lands, but by pledging to the Crown they also gained the more immediate albeit tacit support of the other Loyalists in the Reach "

What do you do next?

[] Continue with Viserys
-[] Write in

[] Receive a report (interludes)
-[] Write in

[] Write in

OOC: And here we are, a bit of family byplay as we wrap up the Reach actions for this month.