Eye of Winter
Thirteenth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC
Truth be told you are more of a mind to strike a bargain upon the edge of a cold iron blade than letting the fey play their games with your subjects for props. If the past is not to be allowed to dictate the future in Volantis then why should you permit old twice-twisted legends or ballads composed by a minstrel singing for his supper to hold sway over the lives of men? No, Bloodraven's solution or even Dany's will 'make do' on the matter of the fey perhaps, but you had long since decided against taking patchwork for your policy.
The law is never fairest than when it is even for all, King Jaehaerys said, words to live by even, or perhaps especially, in a world transformed.
Something of your resolve must have shown upon your face for Bloodraven nods slightly. "I see you have some plan in mind, Your Grace. If you have any need of my aid in setting it in motion you have but to ask."
"Your counsel is always heard, your aid always appreciated," you reply sincerely. "But now I would hear of your great task. Where does the power of Winter linger in the south, be it in forgotten tombs or in the hearts of men foolish enough to heed blandishments upon a Northern wind?"
At these words Bloodraven frowns, the web of lines that cover his pale face deepening. "There is something in the North,
someone more likely than not, worryingly subtle, enough so that it had escaped my sight entirely until a cart filled with hay crossed into Winter town with a wight hidden within. Thankfully the thing wasn't 'ripe' enough to rise by the time the agitation of hounds smelling meat caught the eye of one of my ravens. I plucked out the thing's eyes myself before seeking out the cart driver in his dreams. Alas, he was utterly guiltless and with no notion of where the cursed corpse could have come from. However, what it was meant to do was worryingly clear..."
Bloodraven trails off as a bat swoops down from high above, bearing in its claws what seems as first a pale pebble, but as it rolls onto the table you see that it is instead a frozen eye glaring blindly out at you. Dany catches it before you can, calling on the second sight with the speed of long practice.
"That is a
bright lingering aura," she says grimly. "Particularly for something that never rose." Matching her incantation you have to agree, as strong a glow of death magic as a spell of the first or second circle might leave.
"Do you have any idea what it would have risen as?" you ask, a weight in your stomach as you consider Jon, so close to where Bloodraven had found this thing.
"He who used that eye in life was a hunter among the Mountain Clans, a cruel man and hated by his fellows, an exile since last winter," the Last Greenseer begins.
"He must have been a hell of a good shot," Vee whistles. "Even back in the swamp 'banishing' usually just meant a killin' where you didn't have ta see the corpse. Up in the North, with snow at least five feet deep, it's gotta be a lot worse."
"Argga was an extraordinary hunter indeed," Bloodraven confirms. "And one obsessed with his craft besides. He would have honed his skills in taking life besides the tirelessness and endless hunger of the grave. The First Men of old called that particular breed of horror
Bykok. Whole clans might've starved to death as it hunted their hunters for vicious sport."
"But it wasn't hunters it had been sent to Winter town to hunt, is it?" you ask, the bite of worry only growing sharper with each word he spoke.
"No, certainly not," Bloodraven confirms. "What troubles me most is that I can see nothing of what happened to Argga's corpse between his death in a blizzard, and my removal of the eyes and the breaking of the curse upon it, or rather all I can see is the blizzard. It is clear enough which power veils it from sight, but not what hands
They used to enact the plot." Then guessing your thoughts he adds, "I have been keeping an even closer watch than usual on your nephew, Your Grace, and I will be instructing the mage Lord Manderly sent to Winterfell the better to protect him and the rest of the Starks."
"Why didn't you tell us too?" Dany asks, careful to keep the question from sounding accusatory.
"Because neither of you have slept in over twenty hours," Bloodraven replies simply. "This is not the sort of news one trusts to a raven, even one I might guide. The Enemy
is watching."
What do you do about the threat to Winterfell that Bloodraven revealed?
[] Send a message to Lord Stark at once
-[] Write in means and contents
[] Assign an Inquisition presence to Winter town as soon as you are able to arrange it [Locks one intrigue action for next month]
[] Write in
OOC: This is enough of impactful news that I think it is fair to decide now rather than have Viserys think IC that he will deal with it once the discussion is over. If the rolls had turned out differently this would have been an interlude, though without your visit to Bloodraven I would have moved the whole thing to later in the month so as not to cram too many things into one day.
