In Cold Waters
Twelfth Day of the Third Month 294 AC
This is not the first time you have consigned a defeated foe to the form a tome, nor will it be the last, yet you are glad to have done it near the top of the Shadow Tower out of sight and out of mind of most and out of the world entire. You are not sure what you had expected, staring eyes and gaping maws perhaps, flowing daemonic script, perhaps even runes of
Skroth which no men speak. Instead the book is a black so deep it seems a square cut from a starless sky in a moment of madness.
For it is indeed madness that lurks behind those covers. You can hear it at the edge of your mind even through the wards of the crown like dark waters wearing away the foundations of a tower, whispers promising wisdom, power,
truth. What this book might do in less careful hands does not bear contemplation. Qyburn will read through this somehow, of that you have no doubt after seeing the lengths the former maester is willing to go in service of his chosen craft, but for now you have simpler questions to ask of this damnable tome.
Only the Void itself, nameless and without form, held dominion over the ancient daemon's thoughts since it had abandoned the service of the Moon Pale Maiden aeons ago. It's passion and greatest skill was dominion over the unliving, the Dead raising the Dead in an all devouring mockery of life. It seems to see all the world in such cycles of unmaking, which is in part what had drawn it to the darker side of Ibbenese trading, smuggling, piracy, wrecking, all these provided an entrance way to its blandishments.
In a matter of weeks the daemon had managed to grow what had been a modest fortune belonging to its former host into a thriving ever expanding business profiting from both insight into the dangers of the sea and fortune telling carried on a wind from the north. Tonight had been about preparing a merger of stock with the much larger North Ibben Blue Sails Company.
The daemon had been planning to abandon its host shortly thereafter so as not to arouse suspicion. A small company suddenly rising to dominance in the Shivering Seas would have drawn many eyes, not least yours, while a small successful company being effectively caught up by a larger one to maintain dominance on the sea lanes is simply the way of things.
Unfortunately, it had not stacked all its eggs in one basket. The Blue Sails Company was already infiltrated by unwitting servants of the Void, be it newly awakened seers drawn by dreams of Winter to come, or unlikely survivors of wrecks and storms, Winter is clearly taking a slow path to the doom of Ibb and its colonies. While it is likely that without the daemon and its insights into the mortal mind the scheme could fall apart, especially in light of the presence of some kind of organized arcane tradition on the isle, it is just as likely that a poisoned seed once sown will sprout.
"Do you think we should warn these... Valley Men?" Dany's question is hesitant and not just for the odd name of the Ibbenese sorcerers. Any information you might share will be tainted by either a lie or admitting that you were part of the chaos in New Ibbish tonight.
"I think we should learn more about them and the Shadow Council before we make any move in that direction," you reply thoughtfully. "From the daemon's understanding, the relationship between them is strained due to the Valley Men originally being bound by oath to serve the God Kings who are no more, the very ones the Shadow Council overthrew. Practicality may keep them cooperating, but I would not wish to risk offense or stumbling into unknown intrigue by warning one over the other without thought."
Dany nods. "So no inquisitors yet, but definitely send someone next month to look in on it. Maybe some diplomats as well, to get the lay of the land and the sea for that matter?"
What next?
[] Write in
OOC: I don't really want to grind the turn to a halt with and Ibb exposition so that will be handled as soon as you have some agents or diplomats on the island Not yet edited.
