On the way back to Seagard, the party is approached by Anya, the huntress from Chaflok. She's been having horrible nightmares about lady Joy being slaughtered by a gigantic man. As cryptical visions go, this one seems fairly easy to solve. Unfortunately Anya should have arrived 30 minutes earlier, as galloping horses are heard just after her arrival - no points for guessing who's coming.
Rha and Anya know the area well, and lead the group into the swamp. They spot the pursuers and sure enough, it's the Mountain and a fairly big group of heavy cavalrymen. Rha leaves the horses behind, which the Mountain promptly slaughters - but there is no pursuit.
Rha and Anya lead the group northward, not directly towards Seagard, but not far from Chaflok. I'm not surprised when Joy told us the Mountain set fire to the village and killed everyone, his cruelty is as legendary as his strength. Long story short, lady Joy (and the rest) makes it home to Seagard in one piece.
Meanwhile, lord Keith is in Seagard awaiting the lady's return when he gets news of the razing of Chaflok. Fearing the worst, he takes his personal guard and some cavalry and travels south. They come across a large camping grounds that's a few days old, signs pointing to 40-50 men having spent the night. Half traveled south, while the other half traveled north. Buried in the dirt there's a Lannister gold coin...not proof of course, but interesting.
Tracking the Mountain's trail doesn't prove very difficult, and Keith arrives at what's left of Chaflok. From there, the trails go west towards the sea, where they disappear - obviously someone was waiting for them. I haven't known lord Keith for long, but I can imagine just how dark red his face turned when he discovered that the "Mountain that hides" as he so fondly calls him once again slipped between his fingers...
Seagard
So after a few eventful days (for some of us at least, I traveled from Erenford to Seagard with the most exciting event being a pretty good lamprey pie at the Prancing Pony), most of the small council is gathered at Seagard. Lords Bass and Barrett stayed behind in Riverrun to get the lay of the land.
As we sit down for another one of the absurdly lavish dinners at the castle (seriously, I thought I was rich - pfah!), the maester arrives, pale-faced. Joy takes the letter he turns over to her, a vaguely irritated look on her face at the seal being broken. That soon changes as her delicate features turn pale. She composes herself, then announces that king Robert is dead, reputedly after a hunting accident. Riiight...
And with that, the small council is unofficially plunged into action. We spend hours arguing over the next course of action, the theme in question being the Freys. Being the new guy and knowing how that works, I keep my opinions more to myself than I otherwise would have. Surprisingly hard when you're used to running shit on your own, but at least I'm not unfamiliar with sucking up to nobles.
There are two clear factions. Lord Keith's side - well, need I say anything beyond slaughter, murder, rivers of blood and so on? Barrett isn't here to argue his side, but his recent letter advocates caution (as I'm beginning to understand is his modus operandi). Edmure's uncle, who is his closest political counselor, apparently impressed the need for a delicate hand in the matter upon Barrett as well. I get it - the Mallisters and the Freys go at each other, lose a bunch of men, other houses get sucked in...Riverlands is ripe for the taking, and there's no king to stop the Lannisters from doing so.
In the end though, it comes down to lady Joy. And she wants the Freys to suffer. Suffer for her uncle, for trying to kill her not once, not twice but gods know how many times. Suffer for Erenford, and suffer for not being able to grieve her father in peace. So, there it is. I'm not one to try to convince someone with a hole in their soul and the need for cold steel to do its job that peace is preferable. Sometimes, someone needs to die, even if it's not the rational choice.
But now...who's the "someone"? Throwing ideas around for the better part of an hour, we end up on deciding that we'll let the Freys' nature work against them. Everyone of old Walder's kids and grandkids would gladly step over the corpses of the others to gain power, and a year back Edwyn suggested that he wouldn't be entirely sad if Black Walder suffered a shaving accident while imprisoned at Seagard. So, why not try it again?
The plan is to have Barrett's spies in the Twins make contact with Edwyn and have him meet us at the border to Erenford. We'll suggest that he should arrange for a small party of ours to make our way into the Twins. With an elite few, finding Walder himself and his son Stevron should be doable. Edwyn will take care of Black Walder.
Border of Erenford and Frey
And so, a week later, we find ourselves meeting up with Edwyn as planned. "We" being myself, Rha, lord Keith, lord Willard, Anya and a small group of Keith's personal guards. Lady Joy is staying close to the city. Edwyn shows up with around 20 men. After the usual banter, Edwyn actually agrees, his hunger for power overcoming his natural caution. I've heard he's the Frey we should fear the most, being actually intelligent and cautious, with the capacity for long-term planning. And here we are dealing with him.
As we shake hands, an arrow suddenly sprouts from his eye, spraying lord Keith with blood. In the distance, we can barely make out Black Walder with a maniacal grin on his face. Besides him, the Mountain lets out a roar and charges alongside 40-50 cavalrymen.
Edwyn's 2nd in command looks at his fallen leader in complete shock, and the rest of his men are clearly confused about what the hell they're supposed to do now. I quickly recognize that without them on our side, we're dead men - and if there's one thing I'm good at, it's getting people to understand what's good for them. I bellow orders for them to fight or die, and luckily they have the wits to obey. Alright, at least we have a shot.
The fight is...well. Whoever told you fighting is honorable has clearly never been in a battle like this. We start with Rha taking out the horses of the Mountain and Black Walder, because otherwise we're dead. The Mountain recognizes Rha's deadly accuracy and orders a bunch of the cavalry to take him down. Rha leads them around, sniping at them and their horses, and pretty much keeps Black Walder out of the fight all by himself.
Watching Willard in a fight (and watch I did, given how damnably ineffective I am compared to these guys) is mesmerizing. The Mountain is among the best swordsmen in Westeros, and even he's got problems getting in a hit. Dance this way, dodge that way, jump over the vicious downstrokes. It's almost like he's surprised when the Mountain manages to land a blow that draws blood.
Anya's not on the same level as those two, but while Willard doesn't present a big threat to the Mountain, Anya's axes leave nasty wounds time after time, finding the spaces in his armor and biting deep.
And with that, the small council is unofficially plunged into action. We spend hours arguing over the next course of action, the theme in question being the Freys. Being the new guy and knowing how that works, I keep my opinions more to myself than I otherwise would have. Surprisingly hard when you're used to running shit on your own, but at least I'm not unfamiliar with sucking up to nobles.
There are two clear factions. Lord Keith's side - well, need I say anything beyond slaughter, murder, rivers of blood and so on? Barrett isn't here to argue his side, but his recent letter advocates caution (as I'm beginning to understand is his modus operandi). Edmure's uncle, who is his closest political counselor, apparently impressed the need for a delicate hand in the matter upon Barrett as well. I get it - the Mallisters and the Freys go at each other, lose a bunch of men, other houses get sucked in...Riverlands is ripe for the taking, and there's no king to stop the Lannisters from doing so.
In the end though, it comes down to lady Joy. And she wants the Freys to suffer. Suffer for her uncle, for trying to kill her not once, not twice but gods know how many times. Suffer for Erenford, and suffer for not being able to grieve her father in peace. So, there it is. I'm not one to try to convince someone with a hole in their soul and the need for cold steel to do its job that peace is preferable. Sometimes, someone needs to die, even if it's not the rational choice.
But now...who's the "someone"? Throwing ideas around for the better part of an hour, we end up on deciding that we'll let the Freys' nature work against them. Everyone of old Walder's kids and grandkids would gladly step over the corpses of the others to gain power, and a year back Edwyn suggested that he wouldn't be entirely sad if Black Walder suffered a shaving accident while imprisoned at Seagard. So, why not try it again?
The plan is to have Barrett's spies in the Twins make contact with Edwyn and have him meet us at the border to Erenford. We'll suggest that he should arrange for a small party of ours to make our way into the Twins. With an elite few, finding Walder himself and his son Stevron should be doable. Edwyn will take care of Black Walder.
Border of Erenford and Frey
And so, a week later, we find ourselves meeting up with Edwyn as planned. "We" being myself, Rha, lord Keith, lord Willard, Anya and a small group of Keith's personal guards. Lady Joy is staying close to the city. Edwyn shows up with around 20 men. After the usual banter, Edwyn actually agrees, his hunger for power overcoming his natural caution. I've heard he's the Frey we should fear the most, being actually intelligent and cautious, with the capacity for long-term planning. And here we are dealing with him.
As we shake hands, an arrow suddenly sprouts from his eye, spraying lord Keith with blood. In the distance, we can barely make out Black Walder with a maniacal grin on his face. Besides him, the Mountain lets out a roar and charges alongside 40-50 cavalrymen.
Edwyn's 2nd in command looks at his fallen leader in complete shock, and the rest of his men are clearly confused about what the hell they're supposed to do now. I quickly recognize that without them on our side, we're dead men - and if there's one thing I'm good at, it's getting people to understand what's good for them. I bellow orders for them to fight or die, and luckily they have the wits to obey. Alright, at least we have a shot.
The fight is...well. Whoever told you fighting is honorable has clearly never been in a battle like this. We start with Rha taking out the horses of the Mountain and Black Walder, because otherwise we're dead. The Mountain recognizes Rha's deadly accuracy and orders a bunch of the cavalry to take him down. Rha leads them around, sniping at them and their horses, and pretty much keeps Black Walder out of the fight all by himself.
Watching Willard in a fight (and watch I did, given how damnably ineffective I am compared to these guys) is mesmerizing. The Mountain is among the best swordsmen in Westeros, and even he's got problems getting in a hit. Dance this way, dodge that way, jump over the vicious downstrokes. It's almost like he's surprised when the Mountain manages to land a blow that draws blood.
Anya's not on the same level as those two, but while Willard doesn't present a big threat to the Mountain, Anya's axes leave nasty wounds time after time, finding the spaces in his armor and biting deep.
The most impressive display, however, is by lord Keith. Not because he's the best swordsman. He isn't. He wields his greatsword with brute skill honed by years of experience, but there are hundreds if not thousands who are his better. Not because he can block or dodge attacks like Willard. He can't. It's simply because he refuses to surrender, his broken body climbing to its feet again and again after yet another gruesome hit. Both the Mountain and his men rain blow upon blow on him, and I could swear his skull must be made of iron - how else did his head not split like a ripe melon after a clean hit by the Mountain's gigantic sword?
Ever so slowly, the fight turns in our favor, and in the end Gregor Clegane stands alone against us. You can see the realization that he's actually going to die slowly dawn upon him. To his credit there is no begging for mercy, no trying to flee, just a single-minded need to drag as many as possible down with him. In the end, Willard's sword worms its way into his right eye and through the back of his skull, skewering him to the ground. He manages a last look of disgust, as if even now we're not worthy of even fighting him, then the life seeps from him.
The battlefield is strewn with broken bodies of men and horses. The rest of the Frey men slaughtered each other almost to a man, with the survivors slinking away in the darkness. Black Walder is hiding behind his horse, barely managing to stay out of the way of Rha's arrows. We briefly consider keeping him alive, but Willard just walks up to him and kills him with a single stroke. Probably easier that way.
Most of us are beaten within an inch of our lives, lord Keith and Anya more than most. Keith's remaining men look at him with unadulterated worship in their eyes, barely believing he managed to face the Mountain and live to tell the tale. We bind our wounds as best we can, then limp back to our horses and find our way back to lady Joy.
The aftermath
Joy takes the news with grim content. Not exactly what we planned, but hey - both Edwyn, Black Walder AND the Mountain is dead! Pretty good day's work if you ask me.
So how do we handle this? There's a short discussion, in the end we lean towards just being totally honest to further embarrass the Freys and pretty much stating that if you fuck with the Mallisters, you'll find yourself in pretty gods damned dire straits. I get it, but I'm not entirely sure it's the best plan. We wanted to kill Severin as well right? If anything I think the Freys will band together now, and their bannermen might make life pretty damn hard for us. Don't think Joy will have an easy time in Riverrun either. We still have the night to decide otherwise. As much as I hate the Freys I'm beginning to think this is a really bad idea...
