Find-A-Way04

Story Four: An Ill-Omened Visit

Scene One: Strange Tidings

In which a raven brings interesting news.

• That afternoon, while Tolbric is reading through his new book, he finds, in his books, a reference to Torrhen's Bull, one of Torrhen's cohort. It does not even give his name, but he was the founder of House Wisent. It mentions that he wielded a potent maul of Valyrian steel craft, named Yrfeal, which means "Bull" in the tongue of the First Men. He can't seem to find any information about what happened to it, however.
• While he is reading, a raven comes in bearing a letter. It bears the seal of Lord Rodrik Ryswell, the Lord of House Ryswell. Lord Josian has the Maester read it to him.

• At dinner, Ser Thomas is a guest, reporting that they've had a great deal of success dealing with the bandits, though they haven't managed to find their main camp. They've rooted them out of a number of camps, although one of them turned out to be a trap - they'd rigged deadfalls and pit traps.
• Afterwards, Ser Thomas takes both Ayrant, Garwyn and Maester Tolbric aside, and thanks them for their part in talking Lord Wisent into taking a proactive stance on this. He is gladdened that he has someone he can come to with these kinds of things that is going to take them seriously - other than his son, of course.

Scene Two: Visitors

In which the House entertains visitors.

• When the Ryswell party shows up, they are accompanied by six guards, as well as extra horses.
  • Two of the horses are extremely fine coursers, and one is one of the beautiful red destriers that House Ryswell is known for.
• There are several ladies with the party - one of whom is Jocasta Ryswell, the cousin discussed in the letter. Among her ladies' maids, however, is Jonelle Branley, the pretty blonde who was so taken with Maester Tolbric at the tournament!
  • The young lady notes that she needs to speak with the Maester later that evening.
• Once everyone is settled in for the evening, bathing and eating something to rest up from their travel, Maester Tolbric seeks out Jonelle.
  • She tells him that she has a secret to tell him. She asked around to find out what had happened to Ayrant's bastard, and she discovered that he's been sent to the Wall! His mother Serise said that her uncle was a member of the Night's Watch, and that the black brothers will take in orphans sometimes, so when it was time to look for a husband for Serise, her father arranged to have his brother take the boy in at the Shadow Tower, under the care of his uncle Ruthlyn Dustin.
  • Jonelle is very excited to see the rookery, asking all kinds of questions about ravens.
• Later on, Lord Josian gives the Ryswell Red to Garwyn, a gift for his comporting himself so well as House Champion at the tourney.

Scene Three: Jocasta, Frankly

In which Ayrant gets to know Jocasta Ryswell.

• Elizabel comes to tell Ayrant that Josian is taking the Ryswell party hunting for a few days, and that's not the sort of entertainment Jocasta is interested in. Would he be willing to show her around? He should make arrangements with Garwyn to come along, too.
  • Kaila and Tolbric, who were listening in, immediately swoop down on Ayrant to torment him a little. Kaila chuckles and "warns him" that her father spent a lot of time at the tournament talking to this and this lord; she's pretty sure that Jocasta is someone that her father might be planning to marry him off to.
• Jocasta is pretty and pleasant. She asks to see the Weeping Gardens she's heard so much about. The nearest godswood they have in the Rillseat is about two days or so away, and she misses having one near. They are accompanied by Garwyn, Maester Tolbric, Jonelle (who shows some interest in the handsome, dashing Garwyn) and two Ryswell guards.
  • While there, she discusses that she's fairly certain his brother and her uncle are looking to marry them off to one another.
  • She's very forthright about herself - she has high expectations of suitors. She likes her men smart, not just sides of beef in a suit of armor. And she appreciates how well-traveled he is, too.
  • She is also upfront about a "delicate matter" - she isn't a virgin. She came to live with her uncle a year or so ago because she simply couldn't bear to live out on Stony Shore any longer. A year ago or so, she was ravished by ironman raiders along the coastline. It's taken her a long time to be able to sit next to a man again without shaking, and she's very content to never again see the sea.
  • But that's why she felt she could trust Ayrant, despite his reputation. She has been raped, and she knows what that kind of man is like, and Ayrant isn't one. Neither does Serise Dustin act or talk like a woman who has been ravished either.
• As the two of them sit talking, they are snuck up on by a group of six bandits!
  • Jonelle and Tolbric flee for the town, to rouse the guards.
  • Ayrant quickly takes care of two of them, gently pushing Jocasta toward the two Ryswell guards and Garwyn.
  • Likewise, Garwyn quickly engages the troops.
  • By the time the Wisenwood guard arrives, all but one of the bandits are dead.
  • Ayrant escorts Jocasta home, while Garwyn and Tolbric (who returned with the guard) put the surviving bandit to the question.
  • With some interrogation - including a fairly sinister threat of poisoning from the normally jolly maester - they find out that they are part of a larger group of bandits. They move outward and then split up, meeting up at two hours after sunset at a pre-arranged location.

Scene Four: Making Plans

In which plans are made for tracking the bandits back to their main camp, and go horribly awry.

• They return to Wisenwood tower, securing the bandit in the tower.
  • A rider is immediately dispatched to Josian and the hunting party, letting them know what happened.
• With some additional questioning, Ayrant, Tolbric, Garwyn and Daenar make plans to let the bandit go and have him lead them back to the camp.
  • They secure him in the stocks as punishment, but deliberately rig it so that he can break free if he struggles.
  • Then, once night falls, the guards who are supposedly watching him wander off to one of the local taverns for a quick drink. In the meantime, Garwyn watches from a tavern across the way and Daenar - a huntsman of no small skill - remains hidden, prepared to follow him when he flees for the rendezvous point.
  • Garwyn sees the man escape, and Daenar signals that he's following the man. The very un-stealthy Garwyn nods.
• A few hours later, a guard comes to the tower to let them know that they've found Daenar's corpse.
  • He was stabbed in the kidney. There are no signs of struggle at all - clearly someone simple snuck up on him and stabbed him, killing him almost instantly.
• In discussing options, the group decides to track the man using Lord Wisent's hunting dogs.
  • They catch the scent at the stocks and follow it out of the town. In the nearby woods - he even traveled through a nearby stream hoping to lose any scent - they find his corpse. He was stabbed by the same blade, again without struggle.

Scene Five: Josian Returns

In which the situation seems grim.

• As they near the town, a few hours before sunrise, they encounter one of the Wise by the name of Bory.
  • He tells them that the bandits are attacking the other domains.
  • A minor sortie was made against Palewood, and Lord Wisent's hunting party encountered them. Lord Wisent is grievously injured, and was only saved because of the presence of Roger Ryswell, who fought them off and got them to safety.
  • Worse still, a much larger force of bandits has attacked Blackhorn Vale, and are harrying Blackhorn Tower sorely.
• Returning with the news to Wisenwood Tower, they begin making preparations.
  • Garwyn begins preparing horses for the travel north into the Wolfswood, while Ser Ormun Ironsmith musters up the Bulls and prepares them to march.
  • Ayrant informs the rest of the House what has happened. Elizabel is insistent that she is going to Palewood, and refuses to hear otherwise.
    • Ayrant talks Kaila out of going, pointing out that she's going to be the elder Wisent in residence. She blanches, and then agrees, going off to reassure her sisters and Lady Jocasta and her maids that everything is alright.
  • Maester Tolbric readies his maester's kit, and pockets some extra cheese for the road.
  • Captain Sand, of the Greencloaks, is made temporary castellan. He calls up all of the guard, and puts them on the walls, save for a very secure force in and around Wisenwood Tower.
• They set out, in two groups.
  • The faster, smaller group is all a-horse, and is made up of Maester Tolbric, Ayrant, Garwyn and ten or so Bulls.
  • The slower group is made up of the rest of the Bulls, commanded by Ser Ormun.
• Along the way, the first group sees signs of predation of the smallfolk when they reach Palewood domain: houses burnt out, the butchered corpses of men and children, and tracks that indicate that the women were stolen away.
  • Halfway there, they are met by Tarmun the Archer, the castellan of Palewood Tower, and a force of his Wisent Wise, the force of guerillas employed by House Wisent as guardians of Palewood domain. He escorts them the rest of the way to Palewood Village.
• Upon arriving, they find Lord Josian unconscious and feverish from his wound, and Maester Tolbric immediately gets to work, while Ayrant coordinates people to help him.
  • Roger Ryswell is injured, as well, but he sits aside, nursing a flagon of wine and staying out of peoples' way.
  • Shortly after they arrive, Tarmun indicates that they've had word that Blackhorn Vale is sorely pressed. Ser Garwyn immediately mounts up and prepares to go to their aid. He, Ayrant, Borys of the Wise and a mixture of other Wise and Bulls mount up to go.

Scene Six: Travel to Blackhorn

In which travel within the Wisent domain becomes dangerous.

• Along the way, they are ambushed by a fair-sized force of bandits, led by an axe-wielding berserker!
  • Garwyn and his new destrier make a fine account of themselves, as do Ayrant and Borys.
  • Both Ayrant and Borys are grievously injured by the berserker, who simply refuses to fall, no matter how much they chop at him.
  • Finally, though, he is killed, punctured through with multiple injuries from both Borys' arrows and the Valyrian steel Braavosi blade that was once Steelhorn.
  • Strangely, they find that the berserker has a waterskin of salt water at his side.
• They arrive at Palewood, and lend their arms through the night.
  • The tide is very much turned with the arrival of the Bulls. The bandits flee, and Houses Wisent and Blackhorn take a breath, bandage their wounds and bury their dead.
  • Then, they set to march with Blackhorn Archers and Bulls.

Scene Seven: Tracked to the Camp

In which the forces of House Wisent rouse their foes from their encampment in the woods.

• The bandits' trail leads to Taevis Hill, a domain some six leagues away. It is technically under the auspices of House Stark, though its people have not seen anyone from their liege house in a generation, save when they send their harvest taxes in. It is populated mostly by the Wolfswood clans, by the name of Bole and Woods.
  • The bandits have made an ancient hillfort of the First Men their base, and bring to bear a unit of bandits (Trained Guerillas) and the reserves, a unit of ironborn (Veteran Raiders).
  • The battle is hard, and led by Ser Thomas Blackhorn, with the captain of the Wisenwood garrison, a Bull by the name of Captain Sand, acting as subcommander. Captain Sand comports himself well, and his skill at commanding the troops is well noted.
  • Ser Garwyn and his brother Ser Danyk wreak merry havoc on the bandits, riding through them and leading charges of the Bulls.
  • Garwyn engages the enemy commanders, and one of them - another axe-wielding ironborn - cuts his beautiful new destrier out from under him, killing it.
  • Garwyn engages the other commander as well, forcing both of them to fight him directly, leaving their troops without a commander. Havoc ensues and the Bulls and Blackhorn Archers mop up.
  • Though things look grim for Garwyn, who is facing down the berserker and the lithe, black-haired, long- and short-blade wielding commander of the bandits. Fortunately, Ser Danyk shows up in time and spirits him away on horseback, leaving the two commanders to flee the battle.

Epilogue

• In the aftermath, the Bulls lost so many that their quality was reduced to Green. That's nothing compared to the unit of archers, however, who were so hard pressed that too many of them were either killed, maimed or just unmanned by the battle, never to fight again, resulting in the unit being Destroyed.
• House Wisent has petitioned House Stark for permission to take dominion over the Taevis Hill domain, to prevent bandits from returning to it.
  • As is traditional, if House Wisent keeps troops on it for three months, they will be given permission to lay claim to it, but not to the lands between them (six leagues worth).
  • As such, House Wisent is probably going to have to appoint a banner house to oversee it. Lord Josian is currently considering who exactly.