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

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If we put that on people, we might as well make them Praetori.

Also keep in mind that grafted stuff can't be regrown, so taking a bunch of scales from Viserys will result in baldness.
 
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Part MMDCXXXVI: Of Tangled Kinship
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    • Of Tangled Kinship​

    Nineteenth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC

    Having settled on the informal deal with Black Walder to find him a lordship proportional to his aid both with the Lads and otherwise, you settle down to speak of matters of his House. With the hour growing towards evening you also have Hestior the Lar bring some food and wine—nothing excessive or particularly foreign to Westerosi tastes—mushroom stew with venison and a dry Dornish Red. "Now tell me about the Freys... no, not all of them. We would still be talking when the festival ends, and that would be a pity."

    He chuckles with some sincerity behind it yet answers you. It seems not all Freys share their patriarch's notoriously thin skin, at least not when put in such a fine mood.

    "I would like to know which of your kin would be most suited for a life of scholarship and a willingness to dedicate themselves to their oaths rather than fall to petty schemes of the kind Lord Frey is said to be so fond of alongside his descendants," you continue, keeping to plain speaking.

    "Lord Frey expects great loyalty to the family," Ser Walder counters mildly.

    "Which is to say loyalty to him while you all fight for his favor," you counter. "I would like to know who I can count on not to play those sorts of games with magic at their beck and call, for sorcery can do a great many things and it has no will of its own as an armsman or servant might to warn a lord or lady against folly. I do not expect men and women who will forget the bonds of kin and kith, but I do expect competence and common sense at least."

    "Men and women?" The Frey knight swirls the wine in his glass and admires the color in a movement you suspect he has been practicing since it is far more an Essosi custom than a Westerosi one. "I suppose I can see that Benjicot's lot found more witches than wizards and they don't seem to do any worse for it. It'll make it harder for them to catch a husband, though."

    Your first impulse would be to point out that any husband that would need to be chased down like the fox in the woods probably would not be worth having, but that is not a point you imagine Black Walder or his great-grandfather would care about. So instead you answer simply: "In Westeros, perhaps, and for a time, but even now there are many Essosi families dreaming of breeding magic back into their own lines. There is much trade to be had with the east and from it wealth and power."

    "Alright then," the knight replies. "There's my cousin Walda, Walton's daughter, called "Fair" Walda and not without cause. She has a sharp wit and I imagine a will for witchery. There's Robert Frey, Ser Raymund's eldest. He has a temperament to be sent off to the Citadel I reckon, but he hasn't been sent off yet. His brother Malwyn mayhaps even better, he was an apprentice in the Alchemist's Guild for a few months before it burned down. Barely made it out of King's Landing alive, but that doesn't seem to have scared him off it. Tyta, Lord Frey's last daughter by Alyssa Blackwood, isn't the sharpest, but she'd probably be grateful for the rest of her days for getting out of the Twins in a way that isn't being passed off to a passing hedge knight crossing the bridge..."

    He pauses to ease his throat with a bit of wine before continuing his recounting of his kindred. "Perwyn is eight-and-ten already, though he hasn't taken his knight's vows yet. You might be able to get away with trying to get him as a squire, and his brother Willamen is another one who's thinking of going to forge a chain. He's a preachy little git though, so you might want to beat that out of him if you want to teach him magic."

    "Beating someone before handing them the power of sorcery is not the safest of endeavors," you point out, keeping your voice and tone perfectly neutral. Walder is too useful to insult over his notions of child rearing.

    He does actually seem to think about it at least rather that waving it away. "Fair point. I don't think he's worth taking as a squire either. His brother Olyvar is stubborn as a mule but loyal with it, though. There's the girl... what's her name." He closes his eyes in thought, leaving you momentarily bemused imagining what it would be like to have a family so large you would start forgetting their names. "Roslin, that's it... Pretty little thing. Grandfather is probably keeping her in mind for a good marriage, and unlike 'Fair' Walda she doesn't have a sharp enough tongue that he would would consider sending her off. Not sure what she's like in studies. You'd have to ask her septa. Last of the ones you might want to consider is little Arwyn. She's born to Annara Farring, the current Lady of the Twins. The girl's clever, polite, and with a decent head for letters."

    Black Walder's next pause as he eats is longer and more thoughtful, as though he is struggling with something. "Eh... fuck it, I might as well tell you. You wouldn't be one to judge, would you, Your Grace?"

    "No," you answer automatically, a touch startled by the sudden urge to confess, but curious to hear it just the same.

    "I think she's mine. Not like it was pleasant for her mother to be married off to a man old enough to be her grand-sire, so I consoled her as best I could and... one thing led to another..." Black Walder admits, sounding almost defensive about it, not boastful as you might have expected him to be talking about his conquests in his cups. You rather suspect the knight's feelings towards his lover might be deeper than lust, though perhaps not even he knows it.

    "That's entirely understandable in such unfortunate circumstances," you say honestly, though moving very quickly onward lest you be caught in a tangle you have no stake in. "There can be no talk of lordships while the board is still in flux, though the list you presented is a good draft to begin with, bar Riverrun."

    "Why spare the trouts?" the Frey knight asks.

    "Because it would breed more of the bad blood that made the Riverlands the tangled mare's nest it is today with every house having two grudges for every alliance," you reply truthfully as far as it goes, though the matter of Lord Stark and his Tully wife is also on your mind. "Rest assured, Hoster Tully will be far from happy with what I have in mind."

    "That's something to sell to grandfather as much as gold and fosterings," Black Walder replies.

    "I have something far more lasting than gold in mind for the Twins," you assure him.

    You make arrangements for Black Walder to meet with some of your Braavosi advisors in order to draw up a comprehensive plan for improvements to all Frey lands, incubating a trade harbor to make up for lost revenue from the bridge once you make other passages and a charter for a new city that will grow up around it.

    ***​

    Twentieth Day of the Eighth Month 293 AC

    Though Walder and the Braavosi worked through the night and into the next day the plans dropped on your breakfast table are still preliminary lacking much of the polish they will need to be sold to the Iron Bank, but you suspect it will make fine bait just the same.

    "What do you have there?" your mother looks up from her food, knowing that even for you having parchments delivered with your morning tea is unusual.

    "Bribes of various sorts for Walder Frey," you reply before going on to explain the substance of your proposal and the reasoning behind it.

    "It seems even the changing of the world isn't enough to break old Walder's streak of good fortune, is it?" she shakes her head, though more in bemusement than real disapproval.

    "Not so long as he keeps his word," you reply, meaning every word. The Lord of the Twins will not be 'late' in your service if he wishes to reap the rewards of it.

    As you are going to discuss squirings and fosterings alongside other matters your mother offers to come with you alongside Dany, an offer you gladly take.

    The three of you take the chance to fly unseen from Harroway to the banks of the Green Fork. Just as you come within sight of the great stone keeps the thick grey clouds make good their promise of rain, making you glad for the chance to get under a roof... and a solid roof indeed as Walder Frey promised. Looking down on the mass of the twin stone keeps joined by the ancient bridge makes it very clear indeed how House Frey has grown as rich as it has, how it has afforded to act with as much impudence as it had during the Usurpation. One would need two armies to siege the Twins, one from the north and the other from the south. Worse yet the defenders could pick and choose which to sally against making the encirclement only as good as the weaker of the two.


    Your mother's words call you from your thoughts. "It would likely be unwise to use the guise of common merchants to enter here. Lord Walder is not the sort of man to take a audience alone with such, making it suspicious for the many... many eyes about."

    How do you approach, and which of Walder's relatives do you offer to squire or take into the Scholarum?

    [] Write in

    OOC: Yes I know it is implied in canon that Black Walder just slept around, but the person saying it was not exactly kindly inclined towards him, so I took the more humanizing approach of him actually having feelings towards the last Lady of the Crossing.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Why do we need the freys again. I mean their bridge is litreally not that important.
    And i mean do we even need their armsmen. I mean how many do they have a few thousand. I just dislike slimy schemers and would deny them all victories.
    I mean is their location that important.
    Or is just political influence. Cause from what i see litteraly no one like or respects the man, if we kill him i dont think a lot of people will mind.
     
    I think there is a bloodline spell we can wish up pretty easily, if we wanna offer to check paternity for Walker?
     
    DragonParadox said:
    "Alright then," the knight replies. "There's my cousin Walda, Walton's daughter, called Fair Walda and not without cause. She has a sharp wit and I imagine a will for witchery. There's Robert Frey, Ser Raymund's eldest. He has a temperament to be sent off to the Citadel I reckon, but he hasn't been sent off yet. His brother Malwyn mayhaps even better, he was an apprentice in the Alchemist's Guild for a few months before it burned down. Barely made it out alive out of King's Landing, but that doesn't seemed to have scared him off it. Tyta, Lord Frey's last daughter by Alyssa Blackwood, isn't the sharpest, but she'd probably be grateful for the rest of her days for getting out of the Twins in a way that isn't bing passed off to a passing hedge knight crossing the bridge..."

    He pauses to ease his throat with a bit of wine before continuing his recounting of his kindred. "Perwyn is eight-and-ten already, though he hasn't taken his knight's vows yet. You might be able to get away with trying to get him as a squire, and his brother Willamen is another one who's thinking of going to forge a chain. He's a preachy little git, though, so you might want to beat that out of him if you want to teach him magic."

    "Beating someone before handing them the power of sorcery is not the safest of endeavors," you point out, keeping your voice and tone perfectly neutral. Walder is too useful to insult over his notions of child rearing.

    He does actually seem to think about it at least rather that waving it away. "Fair point. I don't think he's worth taking as a squire either. His brother Olyvar is stubborn as a mule and loyal with it, though. There's the girl... what's her name." He closes his eyes in thought, leaving you momentarily bemused imagining what it would be like to have a family so large you would start forgetting their names. "Roslin, that's it... Pretty little thing. Grandfather is probably keeping her in mind for a good marriage, and unlike Fair Walda she doesn't have a sharp enough tongue that he would would consider sending her off. Not sure what she's like in studies. You'd have to ask her Septa. Last of the ones you might want to consider is little Arwyn. She's born to Annara Farring, the current Lady of the Twins. The girl's clever, polite, and with a decent head for letters."
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    Let's see...

    Fair Walda - Seems like a good bet. Tell it Walder Prime as it is. If she looks good, has a sharp wit and magic on top of that, then various Essosi will throw money at him to get that marriage.
    Robert - Also seems like a good bet. Citadel pretty much means he is dead as far as his house is concerned, so this is automatically a win for Walder Prime.
    Malwyn - Same and he already has some basics. Might have Devil contacts though, so keep an eye on him.
    Tyta - Eh. Test her. You don't need to be smart to be a Sorcerer or Druid.
    Perwyn - We don't really have someone to squire him under.
    Willamen - Having a friendly Seven cleric might come in handy and there is always the chance to convert him to a more useful faith.
    Olyvar - Seems uninteresting.
    Roslin - Same.
    Arwyn - As a favor to Walder Black, I would definitely take her.

    All in all, let's just test them right here and now and then take everyone with the aptitude. Free mages! We can offer the remainder a good education in the Deep and for the more martially inclined, a career in the Legion.
     
    Acolyte said:
    Why do we need the freys again. I mean their bridge is litreally not that important.
    And i mean do we even need their armsmen. I mean how many do they have a few thousand. I just dislike slimy schemers and would deny them all victories.
    I mean is their location that important.
    Or is just political influence. Cause from what i see litteraly no one like or respects the man, if we kill him i dont think a lot of people will mind.
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    To sow discord in the Riverlands.

    The fact that they are taking the initiative to reach out to us is even better.
     
    MTB said:
    Viserys clone?
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    Clone specifically calls out the results as "a soulless bit of I nert flesh", which lack the connection to the original since the flesh is also unusable for resurrection spells.

    Potentially usable if we wanted to make Dragon Vassals or the like without directly controlling them but likely wouldn't work as a substitute for Viserys's own scales.
     
    Azel said:
    All in all, let's just test them right here and now and then take everyone with the aptitude. Free mages! We can offer the remainder a good education in the Deep and for the more martially inclined, a career in the Legion.
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    We can also offer becoming clerics. At least those who are open minded enough to check out the option.
     
    I'm gonna pick out some Frey's that would work as mages and pages. Those are some good picks from Walders immediate children but there's a lot more to use.
     
    Azel said:
    Fair Walda - Seems like a good bet. Tell it Walder Prime as it is. If she looks good, has a sharp wit and magic on top of that, then various Essosi will throw money at him to get that marriage.
    Robert - Also seems like a good bet. Citadel pretty much means he is dead as far as his house is concerned, so this is automatically a win for Walder Prime.
    Malwyn - Same and he already has some basics. Might have Devil contacts though, so keep an eye on him.
    Tyta - Eh. Test her. You don't need to be smart to be a Sorcerer or Druid.
    Perwyn - We don't really have someone to squire him under.
    Willamen - Having a friendly Seven cleric might come in handy and there is always the chance to convert him to a more useful faith.
    Olyvar - Seems uninteresting.
    Roslin - Same.
    Arwyn - As a favor to Walder Black, I would definitely take her.
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    This is a good analysis of potential magic users but you're rather ignoring the second point. We can pick potential knights for squiring from SD and loyalist lords, so that's not really a huge issue.
     
    @DragonParadox - there was no mention made of Annara Farring's other children, which should have been born by now and are also suspected to be Black Walder's children. Are they too young to mention? Wendel and Colmar Frey at least are old enough to page.
     
    @LonelyWolf999, since you wrangled the Frey family tree, I would leave that part up to you.

    [X] Plan Unseen Entrance
    -[X] Let Walder Black enter alone with a Arcane Marked stone and get Walder Prime to a private room. Viserys, Rhealla and Dany then Teleport straight in.
    -[X] First thing first, Heal and Regenerate for Walder Prime. Getting rid of some of the effects of old age should put him in a good mood. Also, that gets him new teeth, so the perfect time for a steak.
    -[X] Offer him squiring under knights sworn to you for any who wish it and magical education for all of his children who get a positive test result for aptitude. We can also offer regular education for those who have the wits, but no hand for magic.
    --[X] This excludes Richard and Waymar. Their regular duties are a good bit too intense for a squire to survive all that long.
    --[X] Point out that especially his girls would profit from this, as Essosi money is looking for brides to get magic into their lines and are certainly willing to pay him handsomely for the privilege. The Westerosi lords will also wisen up to that sooner rather then later.
    -[X] Otherwise, the same as we already hatched out with Walder Black.
    -[X] Detailed list of whom to take: [TBD]
     
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    LonelyWolf999 said:
    @DragonParadox - there was no mention made of Annara Farring's other children, which should have been born by now and are also suspected to be Black Walder's children. Are they too young to mention? Wendel and Colmar Frey at least are old enough to page.
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    They are but Walder is relatively certain they aren't his and he did not mention them because he subconsciously does not want to think about the old man sleeping with his lover.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    They are but Walder is relatively certain they aren't his and he did not mention them because he subconsciously does not want to think about the old man sleeping with his lover.
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    Really? All of them? I was under the impression that they were having a relatively constant affair and that's how the rumors got so proliferated. Considering she's had six kids I'd imagine their parentage would be rather ambiguous.
     
    @Azel, I'm assuming the squirings will be handled by the many, many knights that have shown up at Sorcerer's Deep to swear themselves to us?
     
    [X] Azel

    Looks good, man those weasels are going to be endemic if they prove even mildly talented with magic. Looks like Walders plan to out breed everyone is bearing fruit.
     
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