Knowledge is Power
The Assembly awakes in the Nightfort on Day 921 and is just about to head north to pick up where they’d left off when a group of four maesters run towards them.
MAESTER: Friends, I do not believe we’ve formally met. I am Maester Brance, the head maester here at the Nightfort. With me are my assistants. Maester Horace, Maester Denys, and Maester Ulyrion. About three months ago, you were looking for maps in the main library of the far north. Later, we heard the Lord Commander accuse you of snooping in his confidential library because of certain information you told him.
The Assembly shows some vague recollection of these events.
BRANCE: It was clear at that point that the information in the Lord Commander’s library could be extremely useful to the cause, so we’ve spent from then until now searching for information. We found several scrolls and various texts written in a long dead language, but after quite a bit of effort, we’ve been able to decipher some bits that seem to be of great importance.
The other three maesters can barely hold in their excitement.
HORACE: You must incarcerate via amalgamation forged by omnipotent energies!
DENYS: The Divine Calibers seem to harmonize with associated humors!
ULYERION: Spatial proximity mayn’t exert influence under this harmony!
Maester Brance nods vigorously. He stops when he realizes the excitement is not shared amongst the Assembly.
BRANCE: Don’t you see??
Qhortho stares directly at them while the rest of the party exchanges glances with one another.
QHOR: I am Qhortho.
BRANCE: Ok. Let me explain a little better. Sorry, it’s been a trying time here…
He takes a breath.
BRANCE: There was a great evil imprisoned because those that fought it could not destroy it. It seems as if the prison was a combination of forces of the gods. The higher mysteries. Our take is that the old gods were involved here, not the Seven. Harnessing these forces may be the only way to ultimately contain this… thing.
BRANCE: We also found some interesting information about The Wall itself, which may or may not lend towards information about this prison as it seems it was constructed using the same combination of higher mysteries. The texts suggest that it was built to even withstand passage through the Ethereal Plane. And the only passage through the structure, in the Physical and Ethereal realms is through the Black Gate.
BRANCE: There was also a mention of specialized god-like items that were not only bound to specific forces of the gods, but also to specific humors. These parts get a little muddy. Horace, could you explain in more detail?
In a somewhat strained voice, Maester Horace picks up the narrative.
HORACE: Certainly. There was something about these items, maybe becoming more powerful, if combined with the humors? And then something about proximity not an issue or something. It’s hard to say exactly what this all means. These were incredibly difficult texts to translate. And to be honest, we haven’t seen anything corroborating this information elsewhere. We also haven’t seen anything mentioning the contrary, but, well, there it is.
DENYS: We also found this scrap. It seems to depict the vulnerabilities of the various forces, but we cannot know for sure.
ARAN: This is interesting. It makes me think of our own scrap of vellum we found.
Aran shows the scrap they’d found in the white dragon’s lair.
DENYS: This seems to be the first corroborative evidence… The humors are all labeled here. Interesting.
The maesters gather around the diagram, and Brance asks Horace to decipher its meaning.
HORACE: The… Cold-Hearted?
BRANCE: Interesting. We haven’t seen anything about the humors needing to come from a single individual. There is the possibility that this may be a diagram to show where the humors are sourced. From our research it seemed that this could come from any human, dead or alive… as long as rigor has not yet set in.
Aran asks is there are any freshly dead bodies around the castle, but alas, there are none.
ARAN: Well, now it is the time for your ultimate sacrifice.
The maesters look at each other, uneasy.
ARAN: I kid, I kid.
They allow a few fearful laughs to escape their mouths.
They think about how they are going to transport all of their allies to the far north, where the battle will be, and determine their Teleport will be entirely too cumbersome. They talk about the Ioun Stone portal, but recall its inability to work while north of The Wall.
BRANCE: If these portals you mention do their work through the Ethereal Plane, they might work if the Black Gate were open…
Brance sees the wheels turning in the Assembly’s heads.
BRANCE: But I will add that leaving it open is incredibly dangerous!
This does not seem to dissuade them. The Assembly tells the maesters that they will speak with the Lord Commander to find out what he’s comfortable with, given the circumstances.
Just before the party leaves, Ulyrion taps Brance on the shoulder, then whistles and twirls his finger in the air.
BRANCE: Oh, right! I almost forgot. We found this pale green gemstone tucked away with some of these texts. We’re not sure what it does, but it looks similar to those things flying around your heads.
He hands over a pale green gemstone in the shape of a prism.
The party realizes this is an Ioun Stone and immediately know where they need to go once they leave the Nightfort.
They find the Lord Commander and tell him about all the allies they’d like to bring to the Nightfort, 120 in all. He tells them this is not a problem. They tell him they’d also like to have his 20 best armed with dragonglass, and ready to join them to the far north. He tells them they will be ready with dragonglass daggers and 20 dragonglass arrows each.
Once that is settled, they tell the Lord Commander they’d like to test the use of their Ioun portals with the Black Gate opened. He agrees, but very firmly states that no one opens the Black Gate without his permission.
ARAN: If this works, we will need this to remain open so we can transport everyone to where they need to be.
The Lord Commander releases a long sigh, not yet agreeing but not disagreeing either.
Revisiting the Black Gate
Byron leads the party down the underground staircase leading to the wide and tall corridor towards the Black Gate. The old, pale, shrunken, wrinkled face is just as creepy seeing it again as it was the first time.
Byron walks up to the door, just as he had before, and it emits the same soft white glow. The eyes of the face slowly open.
DOOR: Who are you?
BYRON: I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers. I am the shield that guards the realms of men.
DOOR: Then pass.
The mouth of the face stretches open, blasting them with cold air. The lips continue opening until the mouth is nothing more than a ring of wrinkles.
BYRON: I’ll wait here to keep the door open. Go do your little experiment.
The party walks 50 feet north of The Wall and starts summoning the portal. Half a minute later, the portal opens without static! However… it is still blocked by a pile of rubble. They attempt to move it, but magic will not travel through the portal. Enthused by their enlightenment, they rush back to the Lord Commander to let him know that it was a success.
The Lord Commander tells them he will close the Black Gate for now, but re-open it when he hears from the Assembly that they are headed to the far north once again.
The Assembly agrees and Qarzdaq teleports them to the Ioun Cavern.
I’ve Had It With This Motherfucking Naga in this Motherfucking Cavern!
Upon arriving, they hear a voice, “Thisss isss now three timesss…. You mussst not sssave the dead!”
Before the Assembly can see the serpent, its baby egg hunters are shot around the cavern’s ceiling. It seems this creature is done with the warnings.
It slithers out and immediately spits venom at them. “You do not know what you are doing!”
Qhortho charges the creature, slashing it with his Valyrian steel. Aran follows just behind, slashing and stabbing with his guandao.
“You mussst leave!”
It slithers towards Qarzdaq. Qarzdaq points at the naga and casts Disintegrate on it, causing it immense crushing pain. It continues towards him, but it is badly injured.
The naga casts a spell in return at Qarzdaq, but Qarzdaq notices and attempts to Counterspell it. The naga’s casting ability proves to be too strong and its Finger of Death spell strikes Qarzdaq, causing him to feel as if his insides are searing, but not in a good way.
Qhortho runs up behind the naga and cleaves it in half. He looks around for the egg hunters and does not see them anywhere.
Farron notices where two of them burrowed into the ceiling and casts Qarzdaq’s Fireball from his ring. After the fiery eruption, ooze drips from the two locations.
FARR: Two down, two to go.
Qarzdaq follows up with his own Fireball on the other two burrow holes. Ooze from two more locations.
Qarzdaq uses telekinesis to move the rubble back to the location where that Ioun pillar had initially fallen.
QARZ: Ok, so now how do we prevent this naga from coming back next time?
Aran makes the case for sending it to the Eyrie, but they ultimately decide to teleport its 2 halves to the top of the Frostfangs so they can finally be done with this thing.
Mastery
They rest for the night in the cave and awake with even more power. [Level 17! w00t!]
In addition to their class upgrades, all members of the Assembly may now use potions and poisons as a bonus action, and inspiration tokens can be used to reroll ANY die, not just a player’s die.
They spend time examining all the information provided by the maesters. They deduce from the evidence the following connections:
|
HUE |
BLUE |
RED |
GREEN |
WHITE |
|
GODLY SOURCE |
WATER |
FIRE |
EARTH |
AIR |
|
HUMOR |
PHLEGM |
BLOOD |
BLACK BILE |
YELLOW BILE |
|
ENVIRONMENT |
WET, COLD |
DRY, HOT |
DRY, COLD |
WET, HOT |
|
ORGAN |
BRAIN |
HEART |
SPLEEN |
LIVER |
|
IMMUNITY |
WATER |
FIRE |
EARTH |
COLD |
|
RESISTANCE |
POISON |
LIGHTNING |
RADIANT |
THUNDER |
|
VULNERABILITIES |
EARTH, LIGHTNING |
WATER, THUNDER |
COLD, POISON |
FIRE, RADIANT |
Knowing what they know of their allies, they determine:
|
WATER |
IRON ISLANDS |
|
EARTH |
CHILDREN OF THE FOREST |
|
FIRE |
WESTERN LIGHT |
|
COLD |
EYRIE |
|
POISON |
SANDSHIP |
|
RADIANT |
CITADEL |
|
LIGHTNING |
INVENTORSHIP |
|
THUNDER |
? |
One type of damage not mentioned here is normal slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning damage. This would most certainly come from the Night’s Watch and Winterfell, but it is likely that all sources of magic will be resistant to this. And of course, what’s not mentioned here is that any undead with glowing blue eyes is extremely vulnerable to dragonglass.
META NOTE: Bathing the artifacts in their respective fluids doubles their effect, halves the roll needed to activate, and prevents active artifacts from blasting apart.
They then look over which items have not been provided top anyone. One such item is a pale bracelet that prevents the wearer from feeling sunlight on their skin. They’re not sure who this would go to, but a vampire seems to be a good bet.
ARAN: Vyctor, right?
The team remembers that guy.
QHOR: I really don’t think he was that bad of a guy to be honest.
Farron brings up another item, the dagger with 2 blades with their hilts fashioned into 2 intertwined snakes. The item doesn’t appear to have any special abilities, and the Assembly cannot determine who might want it.
They prepare for the next Ioun battle, positioning themselves to be safe for whatever might arise. Farron prepares his Crown of Stars then casts Foresight on Qhortho to provide him a momentary glimpse into the future for 1 minute.
Qhortho drops the Ioun stone into place and a huge 12 foot demon appears before them with red skin and 2 heads! One head is a slavering wolf; the other a serpent with a long neck and dripping fangs.
Farron shoots a ball of light at the demon, drawing first blood. He then casts Unsettling Words. It charges towards Farron without provoking opportunity attacks from Aran and Qhortho.
Aran is not having that. He runs after the demo and strike it multiple time. Even though it is taking damage, the demon seems unfazed by these mortals.
It focuses on Qarzdaq and strikes with his demonic weapon, nearly decapitating him! If the gods hadn’t stepped in, he would have been killed. It then bites him with his wolf head, then again with his serpent head.
Qhortho moves to be alongside Aran then strikes the demon a few times.
Farron strikes it with his crown of stars, and Aran finishes it off, causing it to disintegrate into a pile of ash.
Qhortho retrieves the upgraded stone and spends some time with it. He discovers it is an upgraded Ioun Stone of Mastery, providing +2 to proficiency, which in turn allows him to attune to 2 more items!
They spend the rest of the day planning how to ferry all of their support to the Nightfort. The plan is to visit each allied location in turn and open the Ioun Portal so their allies can await the final transport to the Nightfort from the cavern. Once they’ve used all but one of their teleports for the day, they will teleport to the Nightfort and open an Ioun Portal to have all the allies in the cavern walk through. This will allow 100 support units to travel in a single day.
The Inventorship
The Assembly teleports to the Inventorship and, upon gaining entry to the town with the usual procedure, they find out that the Inventorship can now control the lightning capability! They feel the need to go out of their way to say that this is not intended for offensive strikes; this is for pre-emptive defense only. The Assembly is happy to call it whatever they’d like, if they are still volunteering their support, which they are.
They have an additional surprise though: night-vision goggles! It’s not magic… technically. The only 4 of these devices known to exist are provided to the Assembly, allowing them to see through obscured areas from weather and darkness. They do take a full action to don or doff, but that is a fine trade-off.
Aran tells them the plan of getting them all to the Ioun Cavern with the intent of getting them all up to The Wall.
He opens the Ioun Portal and the Assembly leads 20 people from the Inventorship through. Once they know the Inventorship are good enough with the accommodations, they teleport to Winterfell.
Winterfell
The Assembly finds Karlan Stark and immediately starts in on the need for Stark reinforcements to the far north.
Karlan does a double-take and his face saddens.
KARLAN: Friends… I have sour news. Can we sit?
They walk from the courtyard to a table at an outdoor tavern, away from anyone else.
KARLAN: It’s about your friend, Rolan. We found his body. It was found not more than 2 days’ travel outside the town towards the west. We have no other information, despite our best efforts to investigate the matter. I am very sorry to share this news.
QARZ: Oh. Shit. Where’s his body now?
KARLAN: We burned it.
QARZ: No indication how he died?
KARLAN: None. He looked as if the life had been sucked out of him, but no evidence as to the means to do such a thing. No markings. Nothing.
They seem to get over this initial shock quickly to get right to the point about needing the men he pledged. He tells them they can have 20 of his best.
KARLAN: Come with me.
As he gets up from the table, Qarzdaq stops him.
QARZ: Hey Karlan… do you happen to have any freshly dead bodies around here?
Karlan looks slightly confused, but informs them that he does not.
They all get up from the table and follow Karlan to the troops. The Assembly re-introduces themselves and 20 men join their side. Aran opens an Ioun Portal and they all walk through.
They quickly introduce the Inventorship and Winterfell crews, then teleport to Oldtown.
Oldtown
Qhortho goes to a gem stop first to see about Ioun Stones. The shop owner is clueless.
QHOR: Oh. Right.
He was thinking about the Ring of Universatility, but that uses regular gemstones. He then determines he doesn’t want anything. He yells at the shop owner.
QHOR: Your wares are all junk! You have nothing useful! We’re leaving.
The shop owner is just fine with that.
They leave for the Citadel. Upon arriving they ask for the reinforcements who would aid them in battle.
The head maester tells them they have pre-selected a bunch for the role. He rings a bell that has a lower, more ominous tone. 20 maesters file out of a room from the back. Each of them has a link of Valyrian steel in the chains around their necks.
The head maester tells the Assembly that these men had been studying the higher mysteries in secret, but were brave enough to step forward when told this special knowledge was in dire need.
The Assembly gives them the rundown of how they will walk through a portal to wait in a cave until another portal will bring them to The Wall. The maesters don’t bat an eye.
Aran opens the portal and they all walk through, leaving only Qarzdaq behind so he can speak with the Western Light alone.
Qarzdaq walks to the Red Temple and finds the Western Light. He tells them they are in need of men of R’hllor to assist beyond The Wall.
W. LIGHT: I am sorry. I wish I could provide more help, but we can only afford to provide 20 men. But I assure you that 60 wanted to go.
QARZ: That’s perfect.
Qarzdaq opens an Ioun portal and they all walk through.
There are now 80 men besides the Assembly inside this cavern. The typically damp and cold space is now beginning to get warm and stuffy.
The Sandship
Given the number of people in the cavern, and the potential for disorder rising, Qarzdaq teleports only himself to the Sandship.
Qarzdaq looks around the area and quickly find Mors Martel.
QARZ: Mors! We’re in need of some of those support troops you mentioned.
MORS: Qarzdaq, you sonofabitch. I’m in!
He calls out and 20 women soldiers line up in front of Qarzdaq. Qarzdaq opens the portal and they all walk through.
Iron Islands
Given the prickliness of the Ironborn, Qarzdaq and Aran teleport to Peake, directly outside the castle.
They eventually convince the guards outside the gate to grant an audience with the king.
ARAN: That is an excellently wet-looking trident you have there.
HARMUND: Thank you. I like it wet. Take 20 men.
ARAN: Gladly.
He opens the portal again and they all walk through.
Nightfort
Farron teleports to the Nightfort and immediately seeks out Lord Commander Byron. He tells Byron that they have 120 men ready to enter the Nightfort. Instinctively, Byron looks around as if they were in the vicinity, but quickly realizes they must be a thousand miles away and ready to enter by magical means.
The Lord Commander tells Farron to meet him in the courtyard but not to bring them here until he gives the go-ahead. Farron reminds him that this needs to happen imminently. The Lord Commander recognizes this, and remains firm, reminding Farron who is in charge here.
Farron goes to the courtyard and patiently waits for about 10 minutes when the Lord Commander appears in full armor and thick furs, leading 300 battle-tested rangers. He calls them to formation, then turns to Farron.
COMMANDER: Let them through.
This is quite impressive to Farron, and he makes a few mental notes for his next book.
He nods with approval and walks back almost a hundred feet before opening the portal. Upon opening, the first people to step through are the other members of the Unlikely Assembly, followed by squad after squad of support from all different walks of life. These people are clearly the best of their homelands, falling in line, ready for their commands.
The Assembly speaks with the Lord Commander and he assigns barracks for each of the squads, ensuring each gets their own barracks building.
They spend the evening making sure everything is copacetic, which it is… thankfully.
The Assembly rests for the night.
The Eyrie
The next morning the group game plans their visit with the Eyrie.
They decide that all four of them will make this visit, with Qhortho carrying the Valyrian blade on his back. Farron will be disguised in the same form as his last two visits to the Eyrie, but the other three will be exactly as they appear on the wanted poster.
Farron teleports them just outside the gates of the Eyrie and approaches the guards at the gate.
FARR: What’s up guys? We’re back. We’re here to collect the bodies that were promised.
GUARD: Bodies?
FARR: Oh and if you have and dead bodies, that would be awesome too.
GUARD: The buddies and the bodies.
ARAN: We need everyone we can get for our fight to the north.
The guards are mid-confused-question when the gates open from behind them. The guards see more guards entering from the rear of the hall and realize this is intended. They step aside to allow the repeat offenders to enter.
As the Assembly enters the hall, they are met with many more guards than they’d seen last time.
Brutus Maximus, in all his purple-hued swollen glory, is standing in full plate next to a maester. The maester walks towards the Assembly, Brutus Maximus following behind like a golem.
MAESTER: You… are back?…
FARR: Yeah.
Farron reaches up and slaps Brutus on the shoulder.
FARR: You feeling any better there, big guy?
He grunts without moving a muscle as if any further interaction would necessitate escalation.
ARAN: I think that one of these days it’ll be time for you to stop underestimating us.
The maester looks at Aran with a quizzical look, as if asking “are we really skipping all the steps to pure antagony?”
Aran’s look in return, simply says, “you betcha!”
FARR: Ok ok ok. Guys. We have to get back up to The Wall. Your team pledged support for that. We just have to get this thing into gear to…
He is interrupted from a loud call from the rear of the hall.
REYSIN: I DID WHAT?!
Farron calls back immediately.
FARR: Hey. Hey. We made it down safely from your Moon Door. If we need to demonstrate it again, we can, but you did tell us that you would send support units to aid the fight. This is happening right now and we need to get back to The Wall.
The entire time Farron is speaking, Reysin is shuffling over. He pokes at Farron to ensure he is made of flesh and not some illusion.
FARR: Yeah. It’s me. Come one. We’re wasting daylight here. The clock is ticking.
REYSIN: How can I trust my men to you?
FARR: I thought we’d covered all this!
REYSIN: I told you I would support Winterfell and the Night’s Watch. Not you. Where is their representation here? All I see is criminals.
QARZ: They are already at The Wall.
REYSIN: Well no shit the Night’s Watch is at The Wall. Why aren’t they here?
ARAN: I told you thins guy wasn’t going to hold up his end of the bargain.
Reysin looks at Aran and grinds his teeth. Farron attempts to keep the focus on himself.
FARR: Why would we bring them here? That’s the wrong direction for them to be headed if we need to go north.
REYSIN: A good faith treat requires proper representation. You have provided no reason to change my attitude towards you.
QARZ: You want me to bring Karlan Stark here right now?
FARR: You’re free to come to The Wall yourself if you want to see them!
REYSIN: I’m not going to be taken hostage by you. Are you mad?!
FARR: We’re not…! Oh my god man…
ARAN: This fucking guy.
QARZ: Look. Let me bring Karlan down here right quick. He’s a good friend and I’m sure that he would help smooth this over. I’ll be back in two shakes.
QHOR: Nah. We don’t need this guy’s men. We’ll head up there and tell everybody that the Eyrie wouldn’t contribute to the cause.
Farron cranes his neck to look at Qhortho with wide eyes. Aran sees this and stokes the flames.
ARAN: That’s exactly what we should do. The Eyrie goes back on their word. It’s all we know from them.
Lord Reysin signals to the guards with a nod. They begin circling the group from behind and lightly poke at Qhortho and Aran, herding them forward. Neither Aran nor Qhortho move an inch.
ARAN: You better watch it there, buddy. Back off.
Reysin smirks with sadism.
REYSIN: You threatening my men?
QHOR: They’re poking me with their weapons.
ARAN: Yes.
FARR: No. There are no threats. It’s just a tense time. Time is greatly of the essence.
QARZ: If you need me to bring Karlon Stark here right now to show they’re supporting us, I’d gladly do it.
Reysin realizes that he is now trapped. Were he to decline after Karlon Stark sent this group, he would be the one facing the consequences. Reluctantly, he accepts.
REYSIN: It would help… But make it quick! I take no responsibility if my men need to defend themselves against your boys here…
ARAN: You want to just take the Moon Door?
Aran smiles at Lord Reysin, showing how ineffective his most effective tool is against them. Reysin grimaces.
QARZ: No, no, no… I’ll just go out the main gate. I’ll be right back my lord.
The guards make a passage for Qarzdaq to leave. They open the gate and he walks out, disappearing after just a few yards outside.
FARR: My lord. I implore you, as we await Karlon Stark’s entrance, that you act with reason rather than vengeance, even if you deem that vengeance within your rights. We are not lying to you.
REYSIN: You have been the only one with a head on your shoulders. I will give you benefit of the doubt… as long as these two SHUT THEIR FUCKING MOUTHS!!
FARR: No, no, that’s the problem. That’s the problem.
REYSIN: No, that’s the precondition.
ARAN: Well, we don’t always get everything we ask for, do we?
REYSIN: No. We don’t.
One of the guards pokes at Aran. Aran quickly maneuvers himself in such a way to snaps the head off the guard’s pike.
ARAN: I wish you wouldn’t do that again.
Three others poke at Aran. He shakes his head with growing disdain.
QHOR: Are you trying to start a fight with us?
REYSIN: You are the aggressors in my house.
QHOR: I hold no weapon.
ARAN: How are we the aggressors when we are doing nothing and you are poking at me with your weapons. You guys are working your way towards an early grave is what’s happening because once I go off, you’re all going to be dead.
Farron turns towards Aran.
FARR: Aran.
ARAN: Look, I’m not the bad guy here.
FARR: I am not saying that. I also know you are not planning on escalating anything beyond words, but you must understand that even speaking right now is an escalation vector. If you could just…
ARAN: You want me to just stop talking…
FARR: Well, yeah. Just until Karlon can get a chance to talk to this guy. Once they figure things out, then we can figure out what we’re going to do.
ARAN: Fine.
Reysin nods at the guards near Aran and they back off about a foot. Everyone stands in silence.
Suddenly, the gate doors open with a boom, shattering the silence.
Karlon Stark walks through the doors with Qarzdaq just behind him. The guards immediately give way to Lord Karlon as he walks straight up to Lord Reysin. As he passes directly through the center where the Unlikely Assembly stands, he nods to Qhortho and Aran. Not knowing the other stranger, he simply makes eye contact and moves on.
KARLON: These men are with me, Reysin. They are here on my orders.
Reysin looks to be somewhat in disbelief that these criminals were telling the truth. He starts to grit his teeth again.
REYSIN: You have my men.
He turns away and walks towards the back of the room. All of the guards in the room stow their pikes and spears. All but 20 retreat towards the walls. The other 20 fall into formation, ready to accept orders from Karlon.
Aran opens the Ioun Portal.
ARAN: Right this way gentlemen.
The men don’t immediately move. The portal suddenly disappears and reappears across the room near another cloaked individual with an Ioun Stone flying around their head.
Aran walks over to the other portal and looks at the cloaked man.
ARAN: Your lord is a real dick, you know that?
Aran steps into the portal to wait for everyone else.
Still none of the guards move.
KARLON: Listen up men. Lord Reysin has put you under my command, which means you are now under these men’s command. They have proven themselves time and time again, and they act with my full authority. You will follow their orders.
The rest of the Assembly and Karlon walk through the portal, followed by the 20 Eyrie troops.
Farron removes his disguise so Karlon can recognize him. Once he does, Karlon drops his guard with Farron. Farron teleports Karlon back to Winterfell, then teleports himself to the Nightfort. He finds the Lord Commander to let him know about the incoming men from the Eyrie. Byron gathers only about 50 men this time in the courtyard before Farron is instructed to open the portal. Once he does, the Assembly walk through. Byron provides another barracks to the men of the Eyrie.
This now brings the Assembly’s support crew to 140 people… this is yet another instance of the unlikeliest assemblies to ever occur.
Everyone settles in and rests for the remainder of the day until the next morning.
Addressing the Troops
The Lord Commander finds and approaches the Unlikely Assembly.
BYRON: Looks like your men are going to work out fine here. Overnight, our population has increased by almost ten percent, but we have the infrastructure to provide for them in the short term. It could go sideways at any point, but these men…
A few of the Dornish troops walk by at this point, attracting the gaze of many of the Wall veterans.
BYRON: men and women… seem to be trained well enough. Still, you’re going to need to address them and get them in the right head space. If it were me, I would do this before any interactions. Be proactive, not reactive.
The Assembly agrees this makes sense. They look at each other and their gazes settle it: Aran will be the one. The Lord Commander steps back to watch how they will conduct themselves. He knows that regardless of the training, this many new units from various factions under a new leader can be quite the challenge.
Aran looks around the area and sees that most of their support troops are in the vicinity, so he stands up and calls out: “LISTEN UP!”
He gets a few heads, but not all.
He stands up on the table and stomps his foot, knocking a few plates to the floor. Even louder, he calls out: “HEY! LISTEN UP!”
Now he has everyone’s attention.
ARAN: I NEED EVERYONE UNDER THE COMMAND OF THE UNLIKELY ASSEMBLY TO GATHER IN THE COURTYARD.
There is some shuffling, but no urgency.
ARAN: NOW!
The soldiers jump to immediately.
ARAN: AND IF ANY OF YOUR FACTIONS ARE NOT HERE, BE SURE TO GATHER THEM. NO EXCUSES. EVERYONE MUST BE THERE.
Several people from different factions run off towards the barracks.
The Lord Commander nods with approval and walks away.
After about 10 minutes, seeing as all of the troops are gathered in the courtyard, the Assembly climbs the wooden steps to the raised deck. They look out, seeing their support before them, gathered from across the realm, pinnacling their success across all of Westeros. Panning the courtyard, it’s impossible not to notice the very large white Weirwood growing from the hole in the ground. The great Watcher of the Wall.
The Lord Commander watches from where the Assembly once watched him speak to the new recruits of the Night’s Watch. The First Ranger, First Builder, First Steward, and Head Maester are by his side.
Instinctively, Aran steps forward and places his hands on the railing.
ARAN: Alright everyone. Here’s the deal. We’re headed north into the real shit. We’re going to come back to get you with barely a moment’s notice, so you’ve got to be ready. We don’t know what’s coming, but we know it has the potential to wipe out all of humanity. Whatever petty squabbles and bullshit you were dealing with in your hometowns, that is… MEANINGLESS. And if you were wondering why we were acting a certain way before, you’ll soon see.
ARAN: The Lord Commander will be providing every one of you dragonglass daggers. If you see anything with glowing blue eyes, it is almost certainly vulnerable to these weapons. If you land an attack, the creature will shatter. Normal weapons will hurt them, but dragonglass would be best. Do not use this dragonglass in other cases because it may break. Valyrian steel is the best of both worlds, but there’s not a whole lot of that going around. If a person dies while north of The Wall, they must be burned, or they will turn. If I get killed, someone better fucking burn me.
The people from the Inventorship, the Red Temple, and the Citadel squirm slightly, while all the others stand even taller. Regardless of their experience, they are all taking this very seriously.
ARAN: While you are here at the Nightfort, you MUST protect the Black Gate. It must remain open to get you guys up to the battle, but keeping it open endangers everyone. Keep your eyes open. Although you are under our command, we are being kept fed by the Night’s Watch and so while you are here at the Nightfort, you will treat any orders by the Lord Commander as coming from us.
The crowd shows full signs of agreement.
ARAN: We will be leaving the Nightfort immediately and we do not know when we will come back for you, so again. Just be ready! When we come back, we’re all going to be farther north than any map has ever shown. And we expect to see the biggest and hardest battle you’ve ever seen.
There is no dissent, even among those from the Eyrie.
ARAN: That is all.
The Assembly descends the stairs and speak with Lord Commander Byron.
BYRON: The first time we met, I wasn’t sure you’d be effective as leaders, but you have proven yourselves. And after seeing that address, I now trust you with my own men. I am going to further the cause and provide 20 of my own men to be support in this fight. They will still be Night’s Watch and under my rule, but they will be under special orders to act as a task force for the Unlikely Assembly.
ARAN: I know you do not do that lightly. It is much appreciated.
QARZ: Hey, do you happen to have any particularly bad prisoners or any people that have recently died, lying around here?
BYRON: Some wolves, but that’s about it.
QARZ: That’s ok. R’hllor will provide.
FARR: No prisoners at all?
BYRON: We do have some prisoners, but none that I’d put to death, if that’s what you’re asking.
QARZ: First Ranger Gulcert, have you come in contact with any bad groups of wildlings?
GULCERT: Luckily, no.
QARZ: Lucky for who?!
Qarzdaq laughs off his own comment.
They decide it’s time to revisit the Sandship to find a prison of war.
BYRON: And I’ll make sure the Black Gate remains open. I’ll see you guys on the other side. Take care.
They walk to an unoccupied area of the courtyard and disappear, teleporting to the Sandship.
The Dornish Prisoner
They find Mors and tell him they need a prisoner that he plans to kill, or at least wouldn’t mind if he were dead.
MORS: I’d love you to kill Yorick Yronwood.
QARZ: Yronwood you say?
MORS: Yeah… the so-called King of the Stone Way. But that’s not very likely. What are you looking for?
QARZ: We need to find someone up for capital punishment.
ARAN: We need brain juice, spleen juice, liver juice, and heart juice.
Mors looks confused, but decides not to question it further.
He mentions that in Hellholt, there are some prisoners that he does not believe will join his side and are not suitable for the Night’s Watch.
They teleport to Hellholt and now recognize the Sunspear banners as friends. They speak with a few guards, telling them that Mors sent them and they needed to speak with a prisoner that is never meant to see the light of day again.
They are provided an interrogation room with no windows, one table, 2 chairs. The 4 party members stand against the back wall waiting for their prisoner to arrive.
A very large muscular prisoner is pushed through the door by 3 guards. The man has large flame tattoos on his arms leading to his shackled wrists.
One of the guards tells them this one is particularly nasty and to just let them know when they are finished with their interrogation.
Qhortho asks for the guard’s weapon. The guard seems confused by this, seeing as this group of people are better armed than any single guard.
QHOR: It’s not for me. It’s for him. I can’t just kill an unarmed man.
The guard hesitates but decides he would be better off not questioning it then hands over his blade.
Farron casts Foresight on Qhortho.
QHOR: Release his shackles.
The other two guards go into the hall while the now-unarmed guard opens the prisoner’s restraints. He leaves the room immediately and locks the door behind him.
The prisoner stretches, cracking his wrists and neck. He knows what this is going to be and doesn’t waste any time grabbing the weapon.
Qhortho refuses to be the first to attack and just waits to defend himself. The prisoner very quickly slashes at Qhortho, who blocks the attack and slashes open the man’s neck, killing him immediately.
The Assembly gather around the body and each stabs into their respective organ like cultists.
Qarzdaq cuts into the man’s chest and removes his entire heart. He grinds the slices of the heart with a mortar and pestle until it is a thick paste. He then dips the Amulet of Lightbringer into the paste so it is completely coated.
Aran uses his dagger stabs into the temple of his head, and twists it to get a chunk of brain. Realizing this is not enough, he manages to cut open the skull and remove larger chunks of the brain. He pushes the Tear of Life directly into the chunks, squishing it to the best of his ability. It squirts blood and clear liquid all over his face and clothes.
Qhortho uses Travers’ dagger to cleanly remove the liver as deftly as a veteran hunter dressing a deer in the wild. He uses that dagger finely slice the liver and drapes the slices all over the Root of Knowledge to let it really sink in.
Farron decides his rapier is going to be the tool of choice here. He manages to perforate the skin in sequential stabbing motions until the skin can be pulled up, giving him access to the man’s spleen. Though strange (for various reasons), his process was fairly clean and did not nick the organ once.
FARR: We can all see the humor in this, right?
He wrings out the spleen a bit, causing the thick black humors to run over the stark white crystalline shard. It oozes around and along every angular edge.
They all loosely wrap the artifacts in rags to dry.
They place the guard’s clean sword on the table and knock on the door.
QARZ: Ok we’re done here.
Before the guards open the door, they teleport themselves and the dead body into the desert outside Hellholt, leaving the guards to clean up the pools of blood and humors and in utter confusion as to where they went and what happened.
They burn the body and set up a tiny hut to clean up and rest.
Frost Worms
In the morning, with their crusty, dried artifacts, the party teleports far north of The Wall to continue their journey.
They still have no idea how far away their destination might be, but they continue northward, following the holographic compass. This far north, the weather is becoming so frigid and difficult to traverse that they now being injured by the cold itself. The constant wind and snowfall make this area lightly obscured.
Those with specialized warming equipment, like the Boots of the Winterlands and the Inventorship’s heated cloak take no damage; those without take 1d4 cold damage per hour exposed.
Qarzdaq is fine with the cloak so provides the Boots of the Winterlands to Aran.
After another 6 days’ travel, the ground around them begins to rumble.
They do not see anything, so they don their night vision goggles. Still they do not see anything. They all take a defensive stance and remove the goggles, ready for anything.
Well… almost anything. Two gargantuan Frost Worms erupt from the ground, sending large chunks of ice in all directions. By the looks of them, these appear to be related to the Purple Worms of the Reach.
All of the artifacts become active immediately. They feel as if they are somehow twice as strong as they were before.
Aran is the first to strike, his guandao bouncing off the worm’s thick carapace. His second attack manages to land between its scales, causing it to spill blood. Its focus is now clearly on Aran.
Qarzdaq casts Disintegrate on the worm looking at Aran like its next meal. The worm releases a terrifying shriek as incredible force damage crushes its insides with its own hardened carapace.
Farron casts Unsettling Words on the other worm, degenerating its innards with necrotic damage. This one turns to focus on him.
The two worms emit a haunting cry, stunning everyone except Qhortho.
Aran’s worm bites Aran and swallows him whole.
Farron’s worm bites Farron and swallows him whole.
Qhortho attacks Farron’s worm, landing two strikes. Being in such close proximity, he is struck by the creature’s emission of pure cold, causing moderate pain.
Qarzdaq shakes off his stun and staggers away a few feet from the worms.
Aran’s worm bites Qarzdaq twice but avoids being swallowed.
Farron’s worm bites Qhortho twice and swallows him. Qhortho uses his Valyrian steel to the best of his ability while avoiding his close roommate Farron inside this monstrosity’s belly. He manages to deal significant damage despite the circumstances, causing the creature to regurgitate both Farron and Qhortho to the ground! They fall prone with Farron still stunned.
Qarzdaq is done fucking around and quickly sends a Fireball towards Aran’s worm. It explodes in a burst of frigid energy. Everyone except Aran, who was “safely” inside the creature, takes significant cold damage.
Farron’s worm rears up, ready to bite Qarzdaq when he launches a powerful Fire Bolt into its mouth, causing it to explode in a burst of frigid energy!
Everyone takes significant cold damage, causing both Qarzdaq and Farron to fall unconscious. Their artifacts fade. They are now clutching to the last remnants of their lives.
Qhortho gets up from the ground, seeing everyone around him fallen. He rushes over to Farron and Qarzdaq and manages to stabilize both of them. Although they are no longer on death’s doorstep, they are still unconscious. Qhortho rushes to stabilize Aran but realizes he is only stunned and is otherwise ok.
They all need to get to warmth and quickly.
Aran soon snaps out of it and gets himself off the icy ground. Day 931 continues to drag on with the bitter cold only making their injuries worse and half the team unconscious. Each of them has a point of exhaustion from their artifacts. Despite the current circumstances, each member of the Assembly has gained 14kXP this session, bringing their total to 237,350 XP.