The Accusation
Just after Lord Commander Byron is praising the Unlikely Assembly for giving them a jump forward in defending the Wall, the men begin to disperse. Lord Byron is giving direction to the smiths in how he wants the block of dragonglass treated. He lets the Assembly know that he still wants to speak with them and begins to walk away just as the Lannister man walks briskly towards them.
LANNISTER: Lord Byron, I hope you’re now back from gallivanting for rocks and can deal with the pressing matters here in your grand castle.
The Lannister man says the last bit with a fair level of condescension.
LANNISTER: After all House Lannister does to help the Watch, this is how it is returned?! I am not leaving until that key is returned and justice has been served!
STEWARD: Lord Lyndon, is there any possibility it was simply misplaced? No man of the Night’s Watch has need of any such possessions. Perhaps I could assign some of our men to…
Lyndon Lannister interrupts him.
LYNDON: What about this group that came just came strolling in here yesterday!? They are no Night’s Watch. They could have use. Though you are accountable, regardless!
About 50 feet from them, he turns to the Assembly.
LYNDON: You! All of you. We will be searching your things now.
He snaps his fingers and three Lannister men wearing in studded leather armor with bits of ornate plate surround the party. Byron curses under his breath.
Byron rushes behind the Lannister guards with men of the Night’s Watch flanking either side of him, as if this crow had wide black wings.
BYRON: Hold it right there. You are in my house, Lyndon. These men have done much to aid the realm – across the realm from south to north – and they intend to continue. These are not thieves.
LYNDON: Are you to imply your men are the thieves?
BYRON: Hold your tongue.
LYNDON: That was your accusation, not mine. I’m sure these are all very fine men.
Byron grits his teeth then turns to the Assembly.
BYRON: You boys have nothing to hide, do you.
QHOR: What exactly is the problem here? We are very resourceful in solving problems. Maybe we can help.
LYNDON: You are the most obvious culprits for who have stolen my key.
QHOR: Key to what?
LYNDON: That is none of your concern. Only I know what the key is used for.
QHOR: If you are the only one that knows where to use it, why would anyone steal a key without knowing what it was for?
The Power of Suggestion
Farron steps up beside Qhortho and gestures to let him handle this.
FARR: Lord Lyndon, I am Farron Fables. Perhaps you’ve heard of me? Or perhaps my book series, “Farron’s Travel Guide”? People say it is the Frommer’s Guide of Westeros?
Lyndon Lannister pauses to think, then squints at Farron, looking him over with heavy skepticism.
LYNDON: It rings a bell.
FARR: Well, in any case, it is a pleasure to meet you. You have noted that we are the most likely culprits because the Watch has no need of such an item. Your assumption is then that we do. I assure you that the wealth within our group is quite great and we have no need to resort to thievery. We are compensated quite well for our very valuable services in solving problems, whether it be mysteries of thought or issues to be handled by brute force.
LYNDON: Is that a threat??
FARR: By no means ser. I am simply stating that we have no need for your items and that it is most probable that you’ve simply misplaced the key. Might you retrace your steps? If I were you I would start at the stables.
This is no normal suggestion, this is a Suggestion. One aimed at Lyndon and his entire crew, who are all coerced into seeing the situation as Farron does.
LYNDON: Yes. Finally someone with a head on their shoulders. This seems perfectly rational. Guards, let us begin at the stables. We will retrace our steps all the way back to our bunkhouse. But, if we do not find this key, you will be seeing us again.
FARR: If you do not find your key, we would gladly help search.
QHOR: Why is this key so important?
LYNDON: That is none of your business. Why do you care?
QHOR: You’re causing such a big fuss!
LYNDON: Yeah, because I think you have it! But we’re going to look around.
Qhortho says under his breath that he is offended by these accusations.
LYNDON: Excuse me??
QHOR: You’re calling me a thief.
LYNDON: Yes!
QHOR: Mind your tongue.
LYNDON: Mind yours, savage.
Qhortho glares at him as Lyndon takes the opportunity to break away from the confrontation. Lyndon’s men follow him towards the stable. All except one, who intends to stay near the Assembly.
BYRON: Look, I won’t tell you we are going to search your room, but if we did, and you have nothing to hide, it may put this whole mess behind us.
ARAN: Yeah, that will not be a problem.
QARZ: Actually, I request that you do search our room. I agree it will put this behind us.
BYRON: Thank you. I will try to avoid it. I do not wish to divide us.
The Mission
The group heads to the tavern to have a drink with the Lannister guard following them.
Qhortho chats with the guard while Farron dissolves into the crowd. He knows he doesn’t have long, so he makes his way out the back door of the tavern and to the alley where he stashed the key.
He walks down the alley. No one is around.
As he passes the location where he stashed the key, he very deftly removes the brick, pockets the key, and replaces the brick in one fluid motion. It’s a good thing too, because as soon as the brick is back in place, one of the Watch happens to pass by the alley and look in his direction. The two nod heads in acknowledgement of each other, but it does not seem like the man saw him.
Farron moves to the next stage of his plan quickly while being careful not to call attention to himself.
Several of the Watch are within sight when he approaches the Lannister bunkhouse. Farron slows his gait. He reads where each of the men will be and realizes there is no way to get into Lyndon’s quarters without being seen. He occupies himself with a book across the yard from the bunkhouse until he can find an opportunity.
About a minute later, a few of the Night’s Watch leave and the last two are facing away from the area. Farron determines this is the best shot he’s got. He seizes the moment and gets inside without anyone seeing.
He looks around for a place to hide the key that is both hidden enough to not have been found during a cursory search and plausible for it to have accidentally been wedged. He settles on a place between Lyndon’s mattress and its frame.
As he places the key, he hears someone at the door. He quickly hides by the wall behind the door and silently prays to get out of this without spilling blood.
The door begins to open.
Farron holds his breath.
The man outside shouts to someone across the yard, “what??” The door closes abruptly. Farron peeks out a window to see the Lannister guard walking towards the rest of the Lannister entourage, clearly on their way to handle some situation. The two Night’s Watch are looking at the Lannister guard leaving the area.
After he’s gone, the two men are no longer looking in his direction.
Farron quickly opens the door, gets out, closes the door, and walks as if he was simply passing by the building.
The two men of the Watch look over to him and nod in acknowledgement, not showing any signs of being the wiser. He quickly makes his way back down the alley and to the tavern. He re-enters from the back door and gets back to the table. He’s been gone about ten minutes, just as the Lannister guard is getting agitated with Qhortho.
As Farron approaches, the guard redirects his attention to Farron.
GUARD: And where were you off to?!
FARR: What business is that of yours?
GUARD: I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on you guys.
FARR: You wanted to watch me take a shit? Well, next time I’ll let you know so you can watch.
The guard grumbles but lets it slide. He decides it is best if he stands guard outside the tavern.
After some time, they leave the tavern and find the guard is no longer posted there. The group decides they should check in on Lyndon and make way to his bunkhouse.
Checking In
Aran knocks on the door. One of the guards answers.
GUARD: Yeah?
ARAN: You find the key yet? We saw our chaperone’s gone.
GUARD: Yeah. We found it.
ARAN: Good.
QHOR: That is great news. I was growing impatient for my apology.
The guard lowers his voice, clearly so his Lord Lannister did not hear what he was about to say.
GUARD: You’re not going to get an apology. You’re best off to just leave this be.
QHOR: I’ll be sure to get my apology later then.
QARZ: We were just reminiscing about how great the 76th annual Lannisport Faire was.
The guard closes the door softly and locks it.
The Assembly raises their voices in trolling jubilation, “Aww, come on, let’s get some drinks, let’s have some fun! All these Crows are stuffy, you guys look like you’d have a good time!”
They get no response from the closed door.
With the sun setting, they head back to their room. Once they are in their room, Farron fills them in.
FARR: That was fucking closer than I would have liked.
ARAN: Were you seen?
FARR: I don’t think so. But I wasn’t able to copy the key as I’d planned. I can probably tell if they are close though if I look at yours.
Aran pulls the key from his bag and hands it over.
FARR: From what I can tell, it is the same. The mechanism must be fairly advanced.
In the morning, as they are wrapping up their morning rituals, they hear the Lannister crew getting ready to hit the road.
QARZ: We should go say farewell to keep good graces with them. You never know when we may need their help…
FARR: …and their coin.
QHOR: I’m good.
ARAN: I mean, I get it, but I don’t think we’ll need them.
QARZ: Still, it is worthwhile. It hurts nothing.
ARAN: Yeah, I suppose so.
QHOR: I just want my apology.
They leave the bunkhouse to speak with Lyndon Lannister.
QARZ: Lord Lyndon, may we have a quick word?
LYNDON: I suppose. We’re getting ready to leave, so I can’t speak long.
QARZ: Oh it won’t be but a minute. I just wanted to say that I think we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. We heard your guards found the key yesterday, and we’re really glad to hear about that. We were at the tavern with one of your guards, very professional I must say. He even refused a drink with us.
LYNDON: Thank you for the check-in, but is there a point beyond the niceties?
QARZ: Actually yes, last night, we were reminiscing about how much fun we had back at the 76th Lannisport Faire after we’d dealt with that Ironborn problem you guys had. Freeing up the Gold Road was no simple task, but that was all us. Lord Lynard and all the Lannisters really treated us well…
QHOR: Unlike how we’ve been treated here.
QARZ: We understand you didn’t realize who we were…
QHOR: …slander…
Qarzdaq shifts his eyes to Qhortho, trying his best to disregard his prodding.
QARZ: … and us being a motley crew of strangers in the far north would seem suspicious to you…
QHOR: …deceit…
Qarzdaq looks over to Qhortho and tilts his heads as if to say, “really? I’m trying here dude.”
QARZ: … we’re all on the same team here.
QHOR: Are we?
Aran pulls on Qhortho’s arm to disengage him from the conversation.
LYNDON: I’m glad you’ve had good interactions with my House in the past. And with my father specifically.
QARZ: How’s your father doing by the way?
LYNDON: He’s doing alright. In any case, I think they should have done away with the Lannisport Faire back when the Gold Road was closed up. We could use those resources elsewhere. Like here at the Wall. It’s been a pleasure, but it’s time I get on the road.
ARAN: Hey just real quick. All this fuss about that key. What was it to something like a chastity belt or something? To a fair maiden?
Aran is intentionally trying to make the mood light as they part ways.
QHOR: I bet it’s to lock that stick up his ass.
Aran chuckles.
ARAN: He’s uncouth… I mean, that’s just the best way to put it.
QARZ: You ever meet a Dothraki before?
Lyndon begins to smirk with condescension towards the people of the grass sea.
QHOR: I reserve my couth for those who give me theirs.
Lyndon’s smirk falters. He turns abruptly then kicks up a small amount of dirt behind him as the walks away.
Might You Know a Maester?
As the group turns towards their bunkhouse, Qarzdaq snaps to, as if he’d forgotten about something. He jogs up towards Lyndon.
QARZ: Lord Lyndon, Lord Lyndon. One more thing.
Lyndon turns his head to the side with rushed acknowledgement, but continues walking the same speed.
Qarzdaq catches up to him and walks beside him.
QARZ: Lord Lyndon, might I ask that you take a message to your father? We value his opinion and would like to know if he could either send a maester, or recommend one to us, to help out on the Wall at Greyguard.
LYNDON: Greyguard?
QARZ: Yes. The Lord Commander has tasked us with rebuilding the castle, including staffing.
LYNDON: Hmmm.
He looks Qarzdaq up and down.
LYNDON: That is surprising.
QARZ: Yes. Well. Be that as it may, it is the reality, and we could use good people who we trust.
LYNDON: Look. You must understand that I take the Watch and their original mission to heart, but most south of the Wall do not. Being that it is to help the Watch, I will pass on your message, but I do not expect action to be taken. Perhaps I have misjudged you.
Qarzdaq takes this as a small win and grins slightly.
LYNDON: I said ‘perhaps’. Though I do not wish you harm. Be well.
Qarzdaq meets up with the rest of the Assembly.
A Deal for Dragonglass
They see the Lord Commander crossing the courtyard towards the Lannister crew.
ARAN: Lord Commander, a quick word?
BYRON: Yes?
ARAN: We are going to be leaving now for Greyguard. Don’t be stingy about sending more people to help us staff up. You know we’re make-it-happen people, so you send them over to us and we’ll make it happen.
BYRON: I trust this to be true. Once you have reconstructed the shelter to house more people, I will send more that way. Along those lines, I will send a small flock of ravens with you homed to the Nightfort. Please update with your progress.
ARAN: We certainly will.
BYRON: Just to keep you all informed, we have a total of seven castles currently occupied along the Wall, excluding the Nightfort and Greyguard. We have to keep them staffed and protected, but men are in short supply, as you know. Due to the happenings at the Shadow Tower, we just sent 300 men their way. We’ve also just sent 200 men to Stonedoor, your next-door neighbor, a mere 20 miles to the east of Greyguard. You are in just as much competition with the other castles for support as the others are with you. But you are starting off at a significant disadvantage with a crumbling castle. Get things in order, and I will assure resources are reassigned as makes sense.
ARAN: Since we’re at a disadvantage as you say, could we take enough dragonglass for a hundred men?
Byron agrees.
QARZ: Ok, great. Could you have your men break us off an acceptable cube of the material over the next couple of days? I think a one foot cube should do it, if that is ok with you. I’ll come back here and get the cube from you.
Byron nods, no longer in wonder about how he could flippantly travel across the realm. The Assembly thanks him and they get on their way with a hundred men and 20 horses.
Noobs
The first night on the way to Greyguard, the Assembly finds themselves having to lay down the law, snuffing out scuffles and squabbles amongst the men across a range of petty disputes. They are met with a sense of a “you’re not my dad!” attitude in the Assembly taking charge. Some of the men outright laugh at the thought of being told what to do by people not even in the Watch.
This ignites an anger in Aran. He grabs the biggest man he can see by the cloak and tosses him straight to the ground with ease. He scans the men and sees the nine that were with them beyond the Wall when they’d been attacked by the Others. They are the only ones that take the Assembly’s leadership seriously.
ARAN: You, the nine of you. You’ve fucking seen what we can do with your own eyes! You better step the fuck up and get the rest of this group to realize. You don’t know how fucking lucky you are that you were thrown in with us!
The audience of men quiet.
QHOR: You stand far better chances of survival at our sides than anywhere else.
The men of the Watch act much more in line for the rest of their travels to Greyguard. Mid-day on their third day of travel, they arrive at Greyguard. Seeing it now, they remember passing the crumbling structures on their way to the Nightfort, but now these are their crumbling structures. This is their responsibility. This place needs a lot of work, but the Builders are ready to get started immediately.
Even though it is in shambles, the keep can be used in its current state to house the men they’ve got, but it will be some time before it can house more people to help, let alone accept guests and prisoners. There is no head builder, so all four members of the Assembly act as a joint foreman of sorts.
In surveying the area with the team of 30 builders, they find they can salvage several buildings so they won’t be starting from scratch. They find a dining hall, a barracks, a forge and smithy, a tanner, a brewery, the stables, and a stout tower. The tower is half-intact lengthwise, with the other half in a pile of rubble at the base. They see what must be the commander’s chambers at the top and the maester’s room just below.
A large stairway was built alongside the Wall leading to the top, but it is falling apart in areas or encased in ice where the Wall has overgrown it. Thankfully, they find the gate leading beyond the Wall to be intact, but it could definitely use some attention.
They realize that if they fortify the rations from their own funds, everyone can focus on the massive rebuild.
They realize there are still some people that need to focus on maintenance and defense, so they make the minimal assignments to keep everything operational, and assign a Ranger named Rick to scout locally beyond the Wall. He is by himself, which is dangerous, but it helps out the defenders, so it was deemed worthwhile.
Rick returns before sundown and the defenders on the wall see him on return. All is going well so far.
That night is cold, and the keep’s remains do little to keep them warm. Still, the men made good progress for a day’s work and it is clear they are on the right path.
When everyone wakes in the morning, they do so with renewed purpose. This is their station and they are owning it. The builders are working together to keep the rangers and stewards on task, with all their focus on the barracks and various firepits, they should sleep much better going forward.
With everything in place and the operation appearing to run smoothly, the Assembly informs the men of their intentions to go in search of the Fist of the First Men.
Qarzdaq and Farron teleport back to the Nightfort for the chunk of dragonglass. After speaking with the Lord Commander and one of the smiths, they teleport the object back to Greyguard, then teleport themselves right after.
They speak with the men about the importance of the material and that it is not to be worked with until after their return.
The Assembly decides it is best to stay at Greyguard for another full day to ensure everything remains operational without their direct involvement. Over this time, Ranger Rick comes back unscathed and they have only minor issues around the grounds to address.
Will Work Wood for Food
On the morning of their third day at Greyguard, they gather the men around and announce they will gone for a few weeks. Before leaving, they instruct the four unassigned rangers to manage defenses until the Assembly return. They take enough rations with them on the road and stash 200 rations in the Ioun Cavern so Farron and Qarzdaq don’t have to carry all of theirs in their bags.
The plan is to pick up the Milkwater River north of Greyguard and follow it northward through the Haunted Forest.
Before their first day is over, they notice an encampment along the forest’s edge. It’s eerily familiar to the scene from their fortune when they’d been acting as corporeal whites, ravaging a town of defenseless free folk. This is definitely not the location; the environment is all wrong. But the sight still triggers the memory of their atrocities.
Qhortho takes the lead in approaching the camp. As he walks up to the camp, he spots a group of six wildlings chopping wood. Qhortho raises his hands to indicate he is no threat.
QHOR: Friends of the wild, we come in peace, as a shield against the enemy to the north. We seek naught but bread and salt at your tables.
One of the men stops chopping, drawing the attention of the others. He rests the axe on his shoulder.
WILDLING: Enemy to the north? Can you be more specific? And who the hell are you anyways? Don’t seem to be no crows… are you?
QHOR: There is no hiding we are from south of the Wall…
WILDLING: Clearly.
QHOR: … but unlike others south of the Wall, we view you as men. And we aim to protect the realms of men, regardless of where they dwell, from the white walkers that threaten our kind.
WILDLING: The undead?
QHOR: The undead.
WILDLING: The ones that come back.
QHOR: They rise and they kill. But not on our watch.
WILDLING: Many have said.
QHOR: But we ask nothing more than to share bread and salt on our journey in search of these threats.
WILDLING: So let me get this straight. You come from the realms of bent knees and ask quarter of us?
QHOR: Any quarrels you have with men to the south, you do not have with me. I can vouch for the honor of those I travel with.
WILDLING: Vouch? For honor?
He turns to his friends and they share a laugh.
WILDLING: Seems you may have spent too much time within stone walls, friend. Why is it that we owe you?
QHOR: You owe us nothing.
WILDLING: Except bread and salt?
QHOR: I demand nothing.
WILDLING: Alright then. Be on your way.
QHOR: If that is your wish, then we will.
Clearly expecting a fight, the wildling is taken aback by the willingness of this foreigner to just move on. They discuss more about the Night’s Watch and the intent to seek the undead. Qhortho reiterates that they will be defending them against the great threat whether or not they are provided any comforts.
ARAN: We also expect to get some better weaponry to be used against them, which we are going to supply you with. That way you can protect yourselves, but it also means less of them for us to deal with.
QHOR: And if you are effective, you won’t be coming back from the dead…
The group of men share some shrugs and nods. Sensing truthfulness, the spokesman tells them they can stay the night, but they need to help cut wood for the village.
QHOR: Gladly. How much do you need?
The men look at each other.
WILDLING: Say two cords?
QHOR: You got it. Two cords.
Qhortho turns to Aran.
QHOR: How much is a cord?
Aran looks at the trees nearby.
ARAN: We’re looking at about 20 trees…
QHOR: Well, we better get to work! What was your name again?
WILDING: The name’s Willy.
Qhortho and Aran spend the next few hours cutting wood and chopping into segments suitable as firewood. They start to draw a small crowd of men as they make the process seem absolutely effortless.
The Assembly are treated as outsiders by most of the village, but they are cordial enough. As they’d agreed, food and drink are provided to the Assembly, so they do not need to use any rations. They remain separated from the tribe, not wanting to cause a disturbance, but that doesn’t prevent some of the women from watching curiously at a distance.
In the morning, before they are on their way, Willy stops by.
QHOR: We are ranging farther north today, but on our way back, we would appreciate your hospitality as we head back to the Wall.
WILLY: If you’ll chop more wood, you’re welcome to stay any time.
Qhortho nods and the group gets on their way.
As they progress towards the Fist along the Milkwater, they pass four more wildling camps within a day or so of each other. With each encounter, Qhortho is the one to make contact, getting better along the way as he understands the free folks’ priorities and preferred interaction style.
Each camp greets them similarly: defensively skeptical but non-aggressive.
The good thing is that through these days of travel, they’ve only needed half rations, so they were able to save some in case they get into a jam.
Whinny in the Woods
After that fifth camp, they go a full day without any in sight so they stop to rest in the wilderness. They realize they are much hungrier than normal and the cold is getting more and more bitter. They can still get by with a single day of rations, but they don’t feel like they can skip their meals for fear of becoming very tired.
Farron summon his Tiny Hut, they eat, and get some much needed reprieve from their exhaustion of the day.
The next morning, before getting on their way, Farron consults his crystal compass. The light is fairly bright, even in the daylight. The floating indicator still points north-northwest. They consider the location might be the Thenns valley. The stories they’d heard of the Thenns mention they are a cannibalistic tribe that only speaks the old tongue of the First Men.
FARRON: Should be fun!
Several days after seeing that last camp, they still find no others. At night, they can sometimes see light in the distance, but never any camps, even when they reach those points the next day.
After a few more days travel, as the sun hides behind the tree tops, a horse’s whinny pierces the otherwise silent surroundings.
Farron is the first to notice the streak of a white through the trees, but whenever he looks in that direction, it seems to skip to another area around them. The rest of them glance around, trying catch sight of it.
Farron inspires Qhortho then Hastens Aran. Qarzdaq creates 3 Mirror Images of himself to prepare for whatever this thing is.
Unsure of whether this requires dragonglass or his guandao, Aran pulls out his dragonglass great axe and drops it at his feet. He then equips his guandao and takes a defensive stance.
Qhortho takes a different tact. He runs forward to the last place he saw the white streak and calls out, “WHO GOES THERE?!”
Suddenly a spectral skeletal steed rushes Qarzdaq from behind. It attempts to trample him, but as Farron turns towards it, it disappears then reappears 20 feet away. Farron quickly summons his Crown of Stars but holds off on firing one until he has a better shot.
Qarzdaq closes his eyes and tries to Blink into the Ethereal Plane, but it fails.
Leaving his dragonglass great axe, Aran moves to a more open area closer to the river and readies a Trip Attack.
Qhortho continues moving forward slowly, looking for any chance to strike this thing.
QHOR: SHOW YOURSELF!
It shows itself, almost in response to Qhortho’s call, but does so just behind Farron.
Farron’s quick reaction spooks the spectral steed, but before it can disappear again, Farron manages to launch off one of his stars! It strikes the steed in the center of its neck, immediately dissipating the spectral being. Based on previous encounters against those of the Ethereal sauce, they believe this creature to have been vanquished.
Farron, unsure of whether there are more beings out there, readies himself to fire off another star. Qarzdaq readies a Fire Bolt to shoot at the next thing he sees. Suddenly, he blinks out of the Material Plane and sees three more of the spectral steeds circling around them, his allies completely unaware.
Qarzdaq realizes that it wasn’t the same steed disappearing and reappearing farther away, each of them is emerging off and on into the Material Plane.
The first one he sees is struck by a Fire Bolt on its side. It immediately enters the Material Plane, making it visible to everyone else.
FARRON: OVER HERE!
Aran runs towards it and strikes it with his guandao, dissipating it in the same way Farron’s star had a few moments earlier.
Qhortho senses he’s the one missing out on the fun and rushes back towards the group.
In the Ethereal Plane, one of the steeds rushes at Qarzdaq, but strikes one of the illusory duplicates then enters the Material Plane, circling around the party.
The other steed enters the Ethereal Plane and rushes at Farron. Farron quickly launches off a star, striking its face and dissipating the creature. He then attempts to Toll the Dead, causing the horse some distress, but it disappears in response rather than dissipating into wispy bits.
Qarzdaq sees the horse re-enter the Ethereal Plane just as he emerges into the Material Plane.
QARZ: There’s only one more of these things left.
Hoping Blink gets him back to the Ethereal Plane in just a moment, Qarzdaq readies another Fire Bolt. Alas, Qarzdaq remains in the Material Plane.
QARZ: Blink is a fucking contemptuous mistress…
The spectral steed reappears and attacks another of Qarzdaq’s illusions, then quickly disappears.
After several seconds of absolute quiet, the horse reappears with a shrieking whinny. Farron and Aran both attack the creature, with Farron just slightly quicker. Farron’s star rips through and dissipates the injured being immediately as Aran’s guandao swings through the wisps an instant later.
Aran looks over to Farron as if he’d been wronged, but Farron just winks at him. Aran shakes his head and does the walk of shame back to his great axe and stows both his weapons.
Though Qarzdaq is used to feeling exhausted after his artifact’s power dwindles at the end of a fight, he now feels the burden of additional exhaustion due to their travels through this region.
Again, the eat their rations and have a good rest through the night.
Like a Tea Party
The next morning, after the normal rituals, Qarzdaq realizes he is still run down from the day before. This may prove to be a problem.
As they continue their journey northward along the Milkwater, they all feel more and more on edge. Spooky sounds and screams can be heard randomly throughout the Haunted Forest and with no obvious consequence.
The forest itself is made up of various pines, maples, and weirwoods, but it is not very dense, so making camp in the forest is not difficult. The ground forms a shallow slope from the forest all the way to the river, with the river bank itself only slightly steeper; it is easy to get to the water’s edge without any major effort.
They follow the river for a couple more days, with each day spookier than the one before, until they happen upon a large black rocky outcrop between the river and the tree line. As they get nearer to the large rock, they see it is definitely out of place and easily 15 feet tall. On the ground around the perimeter a many (human) children’s dolls each with their backs against the rock.
Aran looks on with unease.
ARAN: There are children around here, I just know it. We have to get out of here.
Qarzdaq thinks back to the books he’d read while at the Nightfort library. But from what he can recall, there is nothing he’d learned that mentioned this specifically. Still, it is in line with the spooky personal recounts typically coupled with storied from the Haunted Forest, hence the name.
QARZ: Think the wildlings put these here?
ARAN: We haven’t seen any settlements for days though. You think they came all the way out here? We should leave.
QARZ: We haven’t seen settlements along the river, but they could be further in the forest.
ARAN: Do we care though?
Qarzdaq is intrigued. He walks towards the rock and touches it. It is ice cold. As he wipes his hand on it, he realizes it is actually a block of ice! When he takes his hand away, he realizes he can see inside the ice block. He looks closely and finds several human children frozen inside.
QARZ: Well that is fucked up. Guys, you have to see this. There are kids in there.
His first thought is to thaw the ice. He concentrates on making his hand very warm and places it on the ice block. His hand starts to melt the ice, but it only melts where his hand is touching; the rest of the block is not being warmed. He pushes his hand harder against the block, forming a perfect hand shape indentation in its side. After it is in a few inches, he sees the outer wall of the ice starting to reform around his hand. He quickly pulls it away.
QARZ: Whoa…
He turns to the others.
QARZ: Ok, so that is not the way.
As he finishes his sentence, the dolls around the block come to life. Qarzdaq jumps backward. One of them hits him, causing much more pain than expected for their size.
Qarzdaq’s and Qhortho’s artifacts glow brightly.
Qhortho rushes toward the dolls and slashes with his great sword. He smashes it and manages to expel some of its stuffing, but this has just angered it. Qhortho recoils slightly and the creepiness factor but follows up with another strike, slashing it in half, this time splaying its insides across the snow.
The ice block cracks slightly.
Qarzdaq creates a Wall of Fire just around the perimeter of the ice block with the hot side outward. The dolls all jump away from the fire, but only four are able to evade the full heat of the flames.
The ice block cracks significantly. This time the cracks are coupled with screams as if it was trapped inside the ice.
Aran runs towards the fire to attack the closest doll. Seeing this, Qarzdaq immediately drops the Wall of Fire. Aran slashes the doll with his guandao, scattering its straw in the wind.
The ice block cracks a little more. And again, a small scream can be heard from within.
Aran attacks a second one, and destroys it too.
The ice block cracks a little more. More screams, this time even louder. Definitely the screams of children.
Aran attacks a third one, and destroys it too.
The ice block cracks a little more along with more loud screams from children.
Aran attacks the last one, killing it.
Another crack in the ice block forms, connecting to the others. The ice block shatters into small pieces. The trapped screams of children pour out, forcing the Assembly to instinctively cover their ears. The ice shards melt almost immediately into the snow leaving behind a pile of dead children.
At first, the children look as if they were recently killed, but they decay extremely rapidly, leaving behind a pile of skeletons within a minute.
ARAN: Yeah, ok, well dead children are better than live ones, but you have to burn these things.
QARZ: Yeah I will. I just want to arrange them better.
ARAN: You have to burn them fast.
QARZ: Well, I want to give them a little minute.
ARAN: A little minute?! They’re gonna become like things that are gonna attack us!
QARZ: I’m going to arrange them then burn them.
Aran looks at him like he’s crazy.
QARZ: Not like… you know… I just want to give them a little respect. That’s all I’m saying.
QHOR: You going to pose it like a little tea party?
ARAN: I feel like you going to pose them like you’re a fucking serial killer, just fucking burn these things! You make it like that’s being respectful. That’s just weird, dude.
FARR: One of the dark mysteries of Westeros has finally been unraveled.
QARZ: Nah man. It’s called respect. It’s called respect.
When the artifacts dim, now Qarzdaq is feeling extremely run down; it’s tough for him just to move half his normal speed. Qhortho is feeling it too, just not to the same degree.
They realize they really need to Teleport back to Greyguard to recover more fully.
Myke
Upon arriving in the Greyguard courtyard, they find 20 unfamiliar men looking to take control over the facility.
One of the men approaches them and bows.
MAN: Ah, my lords! We were sent from Winterfell. Well most of us. You may not remember, but you helped train us during the Dreadfort siege. Winterfell sent a much larger group, 40 of us, to the Nightfort to take the black. We were sent with two wagons of supplies. Once the Lord Commander learned that you’d trained us, we were split up. We were ordered here, while the others were kept behind to help with training.
QARZ: And what was your name?
MAN: Myke, my lord. But I come as a group of five rangers, me being one of them, plus five builders and five stewards. He stewards and a couple of the builders were already at the Nightfort. But… my lords… I must tell you something. Can we speak more privately?
QARZ: Of course.
ARAN: Let’s go up the tower.
As they climb the broken steps, Aran realizes this structure is in worse shape than he knew.
ARAN: Let’s just stop here.
They stand on the broken tower steps while Myke tells them that they arrived in Greyguard just an hour earlier, but some of the men were in stockades. He learned that two builders and three stewards got into a fight when working together on the massive rebuild, and the rangers put the offenders in the stocks.
The Assembly realizes they need someone to take a leadership position while they are out ranging.
They tell Myke that they appreciate his help and they are going to find out more of the details.
MYKE: Well, we, the Winterfell group, are certainly here to stay. We can keep an eye on things and ensure the others follow your orders. You really helped us out with the Dreadfort, so we welcome the opportunity to return the favor.
They thank him again and are about to take their leave when Myke continues.
MYKE: My lords, may I speak freely?
ARAN: Yes.
MYKE: It may not have been the best move to leave a hundred new recruits, recently placed under new command, but I understand the reasons for it and certainly don’t mean to pass judgment on your decisions. This is your command, and I apologize if I’ve been out of line.
ARAN: We’ve got what we’ve got and we’ve got to use what we’ve got. That’s just the reality of the situation.
MYKE: Yes, I completely understand. At Winterfell, we were encouraged to speak our minds to our commanders, as long as it was respectful. And if an order did not go the way we thought it should, it did not matter. We would follow that order regardless of personal opinions once it was issued. It’s been a habit formed during my time there, and I understand that I am a man of the Watch now. If you would prefer me lose that habit, just say the word.
ARAN: No, that makes sense. We welcome the feedback as long as what we decide is final.
MYKE: Understood. Thank you.
Jaery
The Assembly walk to the stockades and find the five men still locked up. Though they are not starving, they look like they’ve only been given half rations over several days.
Aran asks for their side of the story, starting with one of the stewards.
The steward mentions that the scuffle broke out between one of the other stewards about how much water was being added to the mortar mix.
After interviewing the other four people, the situation is very understandable. It sounds like the builders continually treated the stewards as lesser people simply because they hadn’t been trained. On the other hand, the builders were frustrated that there were just as many stewards on the building project as there were builders, making them have to work twice as hard just to make sure the structures were being built properly.
For the most part, it seems like the double rations helped keep people satiated enough, but this incident broke down a full days’ work. However, when the fight took place, one of the rangers, Jaery, took charge, ordering the other rangers to build these stockades and forcing the offenders into them.
It seems the power got to him a bit though. He cut the rations for the prisoners and stopped doing any manual labor, taking more of a supervisory role over the entire castle. As a result, morale is much lower.
The Assembly search the grounds for Jaery, but he is not very hard to find. The brewery is currently the builders’ focus and within sight of the site, a very large muscular man is leaning against the newly-repaired foundry.
They approach the man with Aran taking the lead.
ARAN: Jaery?
MAN: Yeah, I’m Jaery.
His voice is raspy and deep. He is by far the largest man on the grounds, which explains why there was little pushback to his assumption of authority.
JAERY: Ah, you’ve returned. I’ve kept things in line while you were away. Everything is moving along good.
ARAN: What’s the people with the guys in the stockade?
JAERY: Those fucking guys… those fucking guys. They were arguing over some bullshit so I took ‘em out of the mix. Everyone else picked up once they knew someone was in charge.
ARAN: So what’s the plan to get them back to building? We need as much building going on as possible.
JAERY: Fuck ‘em!
QARZ: But…
JAERY: Nah, if they’re not gonna listen, fuck ‘em!
QARZ: There’s no “fuck ‘em” on the Wall. We fuck together or we die together. There must be a path to redemption. I think they’ve done their time.
QHOR: Certainly a few days is plenty of time for getting into a fight.
Jaery is clearly getting agitated.
JAERY: Ya know, you guys come back in here, throwing around your rules while you left us alone here!
ARAN: Yeah, it is our rules.
JAERY: Nah, it’s my rules now!
Shouting ensues between both sides, but Aran only lets that go on for about 30 seconds before he grabs the man by his throat and lifts him into the air.
Jaery gasps for air at first, clearly never having been in this situation before. Almost as if he just remembered his own strength, he grabs Aran’s forearm and lifts himself up slightly to relieve some of the pressure on his throat. Jaery grins as if he was the one showing strength over Aran.
Aran releases him.
ARAN: Let there be no question about our strength and power. You work for us. And there is no other fucking way around it. So you better fall in line immediately or you’ll be the one in the stocks.
He takes a step backward, anger smeared across his face. He takes one more look across the group then turns away and storms off, probably outmatched for the first time in his life and embarrassed by the incident in front of the other men.
Finding a Leader
The Assembly quietly discusses how they might use Jaery and think he may be best to do local ranging on his own.
They release the men from the stockades and tell them to rest for the next day, but after that, they will be put back to work. As far as the Assembly is concerned, they’ve paid their dues and there will be no hard feelings.
The Assembly decide that Myke is probably the best person to take the leadership role, but they’ll first need to speak with him. They find him working alongside the builders. It is clear he is not the most skilled, but he sees to be trying as best he can.
Qarzdaq approaches him and asks to speak with him.
QARZ: Myke, listen. We trained you. We trust you. You trust us. You know we are the authority here. You will answer to us and our authority is final. The only one with more authority than us is the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch.
MYKE: Sure. No question. What will you have me do?
QARZ: Well, we’d like you to take the leadership position on an interim basis.
Myke looks hesitant.
MYKE: I don’t know if I’m right person for that.
QARZ: We’ve seen what you can do. We’ve seen you at work. We think you’re the right person. Don’t worry, we’re going to be back soon. If you have trouble, you’ll just have to do your best and we’ll assess when we return. We shouldn’t be more than five to ten days.
MYKE: Ok. So I get it. Someone needs to be in that role. I haven’t seen anyone that stands out, though I also don’t think I’m the person for it…
QARZ: All the more reason for you to have the job.
MYKE: If you need me to do it, I’ll do the best I can. Though I cannot make any guarantees that I’ll be successful.
QARZ: Understood. You had a few other rangers with you from Winterfell too, right?
MYKE: Yeah, four others.
QARZ: Ones you trust?
MYKE: Absolutely. I served with them at Winterfell.
QARZ: They should act as your enforcement. Brawls are unacceptable. One night in the stockade is for a first offense, and it will double for each additional offense.
MYKE: If I could make a suggestion?
Qarzdaq gestures to proceed.
MYKE: I don’t like the idea of cutting the rations of our own men as prisoners.
QARZ: Agreed. This is a deterrent for brawling and not intended to weaken anybody on the Wall. Obviously, if there is an attack, immediately release anyone in the stockades so they can fight.
MYKE: Yeah, that’s another thing. I don’t think a lot of these guys have seen battle. Obviously the ones of us from Winterfell have.
QARZ: Yeah. We have a number of issues. The first priority is rebuilding Greyguard. Find somebody that knows what they are doing and lean on them. We’ll trust your judgment.
MYKE: Ok. We had five builders from Winterfell also. They also have battle experience, they just ended up as builders because of their affinity towards construction. Still, I think we newcomers should fall in line with what your builders were doing as to not upset the apple cart, so to speak.
QARZ: Just remember, you are the authority when we are not here. You have the final word.
MYKE: Ok. I can’t make any promises I’ll be a good choice, but I will do my best.
QARZ: Good. Just make sure everything is still standing when we come back and we’ll go from there.
MYKE: I can do that.
He repeats those words more confidently, as if trying to convince himself.
Qarzdaq tells him that they will make an announcement to the men in just a few minutes.
Building a Friendship
While Qarzdaq is speaking with Myke, Aran goes in search of Jaery. Aran walks the grounds fully more than once before he’s able to find him.
ARAN: Jaery. Let me talk to you for a minute.
JAERY: Yeah, what… what else is there to say…
ARAN: Look, I just want you to know that I get it. You took charge when no one else was here, and I appreciate that.
JAERY: You damn right better.
ARAN: I want you to realize who is really in charge. That is us four. There should never be any doubt about that. That was the point I was trying to get through to you because you seemed a little bit resistant to what I was saying.
JAERY: Well, you know. Someone had to step in.
ARAN: I get that. You did that, and we appreciate that.
JAERY: Alright.
ARAN: Long story short, we think it is a misuse of your skills. You’re obviously a big guy. A strong guy. And we need you more on the battlefront.
JAERY: Yeah.
ARAN: I just wanted to come by to tell you that I appreciate what you did, and I understand why you did it. And I am not upset about that, but…
JAERY: Look, you could have handled this a lot better back there.
ARAN: BUT, I think you needed a slap in the face of reality.
Jaery looks pissed at first, then looks to the side. He looks back to Aran.
JAERY: You know what? Fuck you. But yeah. You’re probably right.
Aran laughs.
ARAN: See, that’s what I’m talking about. This is not what you are meant to be doing. You don’t need to be telling some guys to build some stone wall, you need to be out there kicking ass. And that’s our fault. It’s our fault that we put you in the position where you had to do that. So I just wanted to smooth the air and tell you we appreciate what you did. I don’t want you to think we dislike you or that we’re not on your side because we are certainly on your side. We feel like we made a mistake in just leaving like we did. You did the best you could do. But we learned from that, and going forward we’ve got a plan for the leadership position. You don’t need to be giving orders on how to build a damn fort, you’re a beast! You’re a beast man, you need to get out there fucking shit up!
JAERY: I’ve been saying that since I got here!
ARAN: I hear ya man. So we’re going to work on getting all of this in place and get you doing the things you’re best at. We’re going to make a name for ourselves here. All of us.
Jaery laughs a bit and reaches out his arm to do the forearm handshake.
ARAN: I have a feeling we’re going to be good friends.
JAERY: By the way, you’ve got a good grip.
JAERY: We’re going to make some announcements in just a few minutes, so head on over to the center square. We’re going to put Myke, one of the new rangers, in charge and have you act as our first ranger doing local ranging. We’ll continue ranging farther and farther north and continue to check back in here. Eventually, once we have our foundation built up here, you’ll be ranging farther and farther with a troop alongside you. That’s the goal. It’ll just take some time to get there.
JAERY: Understood. And uh… thank you.
ARAN: Good talk. We’ll grab a drink later.
The Assembly’s Assembly
After about 15 minutes, they’ve got 150 people gathered in the center square. Aran decides he will be the one to speak. There is no dais, stage, or other form of deck to orate from, so he just looks to Qarzdaq and raises his eyebrows as if to say, “anything you can do?” Qarzdaq understands and nods with a slow confidence.
Aran looks at the first row of men and realizes he is being levitated into the air. Nothing too crazy; just a respectable 4 feet or so off the ground.
ARAN: Alright everybody. I understand we just left you all to your own devices. But before I get started here, I just want to say, you guys did an excellent job getting the building going. Obviously, we have a lot more to do, but we appreciate what you’ve done. All without an assigned leader while we were gone. We are going to fix that today, but I want to personally thank Jaery for filling in that role. As a result, we’ve learned of Jaery’s strengths and he will be assigned to a role befitting those strengths.
Some coughs and snickers can be heard in the crowd. Aran can see Jaery looking around for who might be the offenders. Aran subtly gestures to hold it together. He immediately straightens up as if he’s about to get a huge promotion and doesn’t want to blow it.
ARAN: Jaery will be taking on the role of the Greyguard First Ranger. It’s not an official Night’s Watch rank, but it will be treated as such by us, and we expect it from you. Jaery’s responsibilities will be daily ranging beyond the Wall, but only within one-days’ travel. The purpose is to maintain authority to our immediate north to prevent raids on the castle grounds. The expectation is for his safe return each and every day.
Jaery has a group of “his guys” around him who start nudging and pushing him with tough-guy attaboys.
ARAN: As for leadership in our stead, we are appointing a man who we trained from Winterfell. A man with an impeccable reputation for teamwork. A man with an objective-focused attitude. A man with battlefield experience. Myke will take on the leadership role to ensure issues are ironed out, that people remain on task, and to set up best practices to help non-builders learn the ropes more effectively than we have done. In addition, he will be responsible for enforcing our rules, but to do so fairly and justly.
They see people nodding in mild agreement. It’s more a sense of non-disagreement than acceptance, but that’s not bad given the situation.
ARAN: As you know, we’ve poured a ton of our personal wealth into purchasing rations so that everyone not in a critical role is spending their time building so this place can be up and running as quickly as possible. Once we have the main keep and supporting buildings rebuilt, we will be able to support more help from the Nightfort, and then focus on rebuilding the tower. Once the tower is complete, the Nightfort will assign a proper commander to take charge here.
Aran can see that he is getting buy-in across the crowd and leans into it.
ARAN: These are short term goals. We need this done quickly because there is a battle coming. We need to be prepared. The four of us have just come back from the Fist of the First Men. A three-week trek north of the Wall. What we saw would make most men south of the Wall shake in their boots. We are going to continue venturing North of the Wall to hold the battle off, but make no mistake… this war is coming right here. We need to be ready for it when it happens. We need this place fortified. We need to build up our numbers. We have a lot of work to do. We will be coming back more regularly to check in and ensure you have everything you need.
A man from the crowd throws his fist in the air and yells out, “the double rations aren’t hurtin!”
Aran laughs.
ARAN: Good! We want to make sure you guys are provided for. I mean, let’s be honest, they sent us all out here and there’s a lot of shit to be done!
The crowd laughs.
ARAN: To the builders, you guys know what you’re doing. But be patient with those who are learning. They need to know how to do things properly, but they have not been trained for this. It is also a temporary situation, and a lot of those same guys are going to be cooking your food!
The guys laugh again.
ARAN: To the stewards, you guys are really holding it together. Some of you probably wanted to be builders and others wanted to be rangers, but many of you wanted to be stewards and you’ve been thrust into hard manual labor. Not only that, it is hard and technical manual labor. Just remember, this is temporary. You will be moving into more traditional stewardships once we are up and running. I promise.
The stewards nod in understanding.
ARAN: To the rangers, you guys are doing a great job in handling defense with the show of force atop the Wall and in helping with the rebuilding efforts. I know this isn’t what you want to be doing, but we will be setting up ranging parties, with Jaery at the lead, as soon as we are able.
The rangers nod.
ARAN: And to all of you, keep up your weapons training as you are able. We’re all going to be depending on each other when this war comes to our doorstep. Without further adieu, I’m going to let Myke come up and say a few words.
Myke is definitely taken by surprise by this, but he realizes he’s got to step up right now if this is going to work at all.
Qarzdaq lowers Aran to the ground as Myke steps forward to address the men.
QARZ: Hey Myke, you want a little rise there?
MYKE: Uh… No. Thank you.
He turns to face the front row of men and speaks with a voice that carries well.
MYKE: Look, I don’t think everyone here knows me yet, and I wasn’t really prepared to step into this role, but I’m going to do everything I can to make sure that we are fair and keeping things on track according to the Unlikely Assembly, as we came to know them back in Winterfell. If you need anything, just let me know, and I will figure out the best solution I can. I have no desire to make up rules for the sake of rules. I just want to do the best job I can. I’ve known these guys longer than they realize they’ve known me. It was under their training that we, at Winterfell, were able to finish our siege of the Dreadfort. We won because of their training. I was trained directly by them and I will carry out their vision to the best of my ability. I’m not the best person for the job, but I’ll do the best I can.
The other men that knew Myke from Winterfell yell out, “here, here!”
Myke smirks reflexively, but the weight of the reality diminishes his expression quickly. It’s not that he’s nervous, or worried, but he definitely takes this charge seriously.
ARAN: Alright everyone, let’s get back to it. And again, thank you all.
Everyone heads back to their posts, but Aran makes sure to catch up to Jaery.
ARAN: Hey Jaery, I wanted to follow up with our talk earlier about making sure you know we have your back. You mind if I join you out ranging today? I haven’t been around all the local patrolling areas north of Greyguard and it’s worth me knowing this place inside and out. I figure we have a better chance out there if you’ve got my back and I’ve got yours.
JAERY: Yeah, alright. That sounds good to me. Let’s head out.
Aran and Jaery leave for a day beyond the Wall while the rest of the party helps with building.
They all reconvene just before sundown and recount the events of the day, pleased with how things ended up.
Before leaving Greyguard, they send a raven to the Nightfort to let them know of their assignments and that the main keep should be fully rebuilt in about a month.
Not on My Watch
Continuing along the Milkwater, the alternate between feeling as if they are on a normal trek and feeling utterly insane with the creepy sights and sounds around in the forest.
A few days later, while Farron is setting up his Tiny Hut, the wind starts to pick up around them. Qhortho notices glowing points of blue lights in pairs through the frosty white wind. Qarzdaq and Aran see them too though it is becoming increasingly difficult to see more than 10 feet in front of them.
It’s at that point they realize… they are completely surrounded by undead. They all arm themselves with dragonglass.
The blue-eyed creatures are wearing all manner of clothing and armor. Some are armed. They’d clearly been killed at various points in time. Some perhaps in their sleep. Some definitely during battle.
Qhortho yells at Farron to interrupt his Tiny Hut ritual. As he does, it feels as if the air is being pulled from his lungs. They are all able to breathe, but it feels like the air pressure has dropped considerably. Farron snaps to, immediately ready to join the fight.
Qhortho is the first to act. He is able to shatter two of the corporeal wights.
Farron uses his Valyrian blades to kill two himself.
Qarzdaq decides his friends can withstand a little heat. For himself though, he decides he deserves a little fire resistance. After using some metamagic to give himself fire resistance, he casts Fireball on himself.
It is at this point that he realizes that his fire damage is so potent it ignores resistance… He felt good about it for a moment, but that moment has passed.
As if in slow motion, all of the Assembly dive away from Qarzdaq, who also tries to evade himself. Qhortho can be heard saying, “ooooohhhhh shiiiiiiiit” as the fire erupts all around them.
The party gets back to their feet, charred and dumbstruck, they look for any remaining targets. Some of the bodies were vaporized, leaving only metal armor scraps behind, but some are still mid slump to the ground. Many are burning. None of them are still trying to attack.
As the air begins to clear, the ground rumbles and through the slowing white winds stomps some type of huge creature. Small puffs of its cold breath escape its long sharp teeth, freezing moisture in the air fall to the ground as small shards of sleet.
The creature breathes out a huge cone of cold, enveloping them all. The sudden shock of cold air, to extreme heat, to even more extreme cold knocks the wind out of them.
Aran attacks the beast with his jaded guandao repeatedly. After six attacks, he barely causes it distress. For good measure, he bashes it with the butt of his guandao. It roars at Aran.
Aran takes a step back, hoping to provoke an attack of opportunity, also hoping that it misses, then hoping he can retaliate effectively against that miss. It’s a bold strategy, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off for him.
The creature lunges forward and sinks into Aran’s flesh with its icy teeth, causing him searing pain, almost bringing him to his knees. Luckily Aran gets free as the creature is distracted by Farron.
Farron moves around to the beast’s side and casts Crown of Stars, sending one immediately into the creature’s flesh.
Qhortho runs up and slashes across its neck, leaving two deep gashes. The frost creature is in pain, but this seems to drive it even more.
Qarzdaq casts his highest level Disintegrate on the creature, causing it extreme distress (102 damage!), though it remains alive.
It claws ferociously at Qhortho, ripping through his flesh, following it up with a nasty bite, taking Qhortho down to less than half of his health.
Aran sees his friend in dire straits, and sees the perfect place to land a precise attack.
ARAN: Not on my watch!
Aran plunges his guandao under its jaw and deep into its throat. He twists the weapon then rips it out quickly, causing the frost salamander’s blood to shoot out in spurts all over Qhortho.
QHOR: Awww man, I was just about to splat him!
After the battle, they dust themselves off, now really in need of some good rest.
Enter The Fist
A few days later, they see what can only be the Fist of the First Men. It’s not as tall as they expected, but maybe that’s just because they’d gotten accustomed to the height of the Wall. Still, the hill is quite steep, with the least steep approach on the southern forest-facing side.
It’s known as a great fortification point through ages, providing commanding views across the region. The slopes to the north and west are especially dangerous, and only slightly less dangerous to east.
Qarzdaq spreads his wings while the others are forced to climb.
Once they reach the top, they see a ring wall of chest-high grey stone; the crown of the Fist. But they are not alone. It takes a few moments to realize it, but there are 8 ghosts standing almost motionless looking over the edge to the north and west.
The ghosts appear to be wearing thick fur cloaks and are wielding bows. They seem to be looking out for something below.
We end this session on Day 859, 21 days since leaving the Wall. The Assembly have officially begun rebuilding Greyguard and have made their first friends north of the Wall. They are finding that life this far north must be earned every single moment. Over this time, each member of the party has gained 2.5 kXP, bringing each to a total of 171.5 kXP.