son of a bitch captcha ate my trip

Skylar Strongcock is a crafty man, tall and skinny, and pushing 40. His father was cruel and died old, but Skylar is determined to improve the family name and restore the House's honor.
However, due to their small lands and the size of the men under his command, Skylar is an avid reader of military history and tactics, and often practices war games with his men and miniature armies.
He prefers stealth and trickery to chivalrous combat when possible, in order to turn the numbers to his advantage.
His high forehead is split by a rough widow's peak, his long dark hair thinning at the crown of his head, but draping down to his shoulders in the back. He wears a close-cropped beard, now salt-and-pepper. Though no Mountain, he's got a wiry strength, and fights with a shield and bastard sword.

Lady Karyn is quite short, as is typical of the Iron Men, perhaps a full 5' on a good day. She has a long, flat nose and rather plain features. She has the Black eyes and hair typical of the Greyjoys, but he hair has begun to grey with age. She is fiercely stubborn, and "Ill mannered" not having the luxury of being raised to know the "Greenlander" etiquette. Despite this, she is a skilled verbal combatant, and far less useless than most noble ladies should push come to shove.

just call me LoneMaester...

YEA!

>>16522105
I thought there you were still posting the start.

Anyways. Let's go to convincing stark

"Sir, Ned Stark is waiting for you out in the Hall, the cooks have started the fires but breakfest won't be ready for another hour. He has Lord Criin with him, and he wants to discuss yesterdays...dealings" Maester Herla informs you

rolled 76 = 76

Lord Skylar gathered his men that remained, at told them they did work like no other. If the defense of the Roost was put in the hands of lesser men, it would have fallen. Only by their sacrifice did we hold out until Lord Stark arrived.

Now, Lord Skylar conversed with his wife on what to do. Coming out to Lord Stark about everything would be a wise course of action. No lies, no attempts to sway him over, just the truth, and the truth should be enough. He grabbed the letter that he had intercepted from the Bandits, told his eldest, Ian, that if something happens, he is the next Strongcock. Then, Skylar went to speak with Stark and finally put this nasty treachery behind him.

>>16522192
Testing

And I agree with Imperial Commands post. Not likely we can get a better roll either so bonus to that.

rolled 98 = 98

>>16522192
Agreed. Full disclosure with Lord Stark.
After we tell him the events of the last few days, give him this little speech:

"The Strongcock name has been tarnished by generations of misuse. My father was a cruel man, and none may deny that he slighted our neighbors more than once. It is no secret that Lord Criin still harbors enmity towards our House.
But I am not my father, and I have done naught to provoke hostility.
However, Lord Criin was motivated by honorable grudges... though his actions were rather less so. I would beg clemency on his behalf, Lord Stark. Let the man live out his days as a Sworn Brother on the Wall, that he might restore his honor. I would not seek the death of a prisoner in this manner."

>>16522244
And yet again again, a plan bested by the lucky number 98!

>>16522231

I like you.

>>16522231

Approacing the both of them, you can tell they've been in deep conversation noticing you first Criin turns to you "THERE HE IS, THERES THE MAN THAT WISHES TO DETHRONE YOU AND TAKE THE NORTH FOR HIMSELF" he yells spittle dribbling down his thick jowls.

Ignoring him you turn to Ned and offer up your sole piece of evidence the single piece of paper that Kelor found on the banditry, he snatches it up reads it with a few minutes then lets it drop.

sighing he rubs his eyes, turns to Lord Criin and say "Criin you were a faithful servant, you always paid your taxes in due, and never made any fuss with any of your neighbors, that is until now. The evidence provided to me by Strongcock bears your personal seal,and speaks of treachery most foul. Seeing as how it was against Strongcock, i will let him choose your fate." he turns to you, ignoring Criins squeals of contempt "so what will it be? The Wall? or Death?"

you mull it over for just a few moments and finally reply "The Wall kind sir, He did hold a grudge against my father, which was granted as he was a cruel and evil man, but I am not my father, and it was unwarranted to attack me, and not try mending bonds, but i am not my father so he shall still live and serve to protect the Realm."

Ned nods sagely and turns to Criin "You will be escorted to Winterfell to await transport to the wall, I would choose differently but a good lord knows when to listen to his servants" and with one wave of his hands his banner man grasp Criin by the arms and lead him screaming through your doors.

>>16522347

Turning to you he says "What of his lands, do you wish to aquire them? or shall i just give them to another lord?"

rolled 87 = 87

>>16522364

We shall claim them as our own, of course.

rolled 60 = 60

>>16522364
>>16522347
>Just As Planned
"I would not presume to take his lands from him by force, nor by begging. But his smallfolk will be vulnerable until his House determines an heir... if I recall correctly, Lord Criin fathered more than a few natural children in White Harbor, and paid them scant mind.
I would, however, be honored to accept the duty of protecting his lands until such time as you see fit to name a rightful successor in my place."

Once the discussion is over, we should apologize to Lord Stark for this distraction from what should have been a pleasant visit, and make sure he's taken care of while we see to our wounded. Kelor should be our first priority. I will not accept his death!

(Also, I think Ima start tripping since I'm posting so much in this quest. Just FYI, I was the one who came up with the sigil, the Words, and Skylar's description, among other things.)

>>16522390
WAIT!

First quest thread. Wasn't it described that we're over extended?

Can we get details about our possibly new lands before we take them?

rolled 55 = 55

>>16522364
Skylar thought for a moment, this could be his chance to acquire new territory, but, he had to not only be humble but realistic. His lands were to big, and taking another Lord's lands could cause conflict with the local populace. Sighing inaudibly, Skylar says, "No Lord Stark, give them to another. I did not want his land, and I have enough as is."

>>16522405
Based on how many soldiers he brought for the assault, he's not much better off than we are, but every bit of consolidated income helps.

Also, it's dice+1d100 to roll. noko+dice+1d100 if you don't have any kind of chan addon for that.

>>16522405

I was thinking we can give the land to our eldest son, get him familiar with ruling for when we are gone.

>>16522390
>>16522402
Guys, half our men are dead. Most a wounded, and our current lands are to large to govern now.

You: >>16522390

Are you sure you don't want to reconsider?

rolled 6 = 6

Would it be possible to encourage a kind of immigration from the southern cities into our lands?

Make our vast lands come off as a land of opportunity?

What's the name of our castle? Cock's Wallop? Castle Mongle?Reach Around?

>>16522424

Or we could give it to the Boltons, become BFF.

Thoughts?

>>16522423
I like this idea.

>>16522424
We're not overtaxed to an unreasonable degree, and the few who died (no concrete numbers yet) were soldiers. Most of our smallfolk are still out there, minin' and farmin'. Plus, I'm sure Criin's lands have enough men to operate them.
Remember, consolidating the incomes of his lands and ours will allow us to improve the quality of life in both, as well as our status.

>>16522434
Tell them you found gold. That usually works.

>>16522405

his lands are much smaller then yours laying a very wooded area, they are mainly woodsmen and hunters, they supply large amount of timber to the north, and are much wealthier then you. His land is better protected but taking it would strain your forces to the limit and could cause more bandits to sneak through.

his military force was the same as yours but he was ablt to buy off bandits for mercenary work

>>16522347
Well... that sure was... easy.
..
...
....
?

((Also, strictly speaking, as per aSoIaF culture, we wouldn't get *all* their lands. If he had heirs who weren't complicit in his schemes, they'd get the Lion's share. We'd get some coin and lands in "restitution". Has he no heirs, we might make off with more, but some would go back to the Liege lord (Stark) so yeah ))

>>16522435
The Roost. Location is marked on the map in the third post up above.

>>16522439
The Boltons are not people I'd want to get into bed with in any sense of the phrase.

>>16522446
Silver would be more believable, IIRC. Gold deposits are fairly rare up here in the frozen north.

>>16522435
Get your mind out of the gutter, It's the Roost.

>>16522424


Award the land to the Boltons, as a sign of goodwill or some such.

rolled 5 = 5

We could try to take the more wealthy bits of land near our own for ourselves. Then reward the rest to the Boltons.

>>16522458


I'd rather have them on our side if things get ugly down the road.

rolled 76 = 76

>>16522460
Cock's Wallop would have been awesome.

Rolling to let his family (such as it is) keep their lands, but pay to us hefty restitution.

Try to make Eddard's stay as plesent as possible to kissass, also, try to keep Kelor alive.

>>16522477
Good God in heaven there are just so many ways to say this. Never, not in a million years, absolutely not,? no way Jose, no chance Lance, nyet, negatory, mm-mm, nuh-uh, uh-uh! And of course my own personal favorite of all time, man falling off of a cliff: NNNOOOOOOOOOoooooooo.......

>>16522497

This help?

rolled 43 = 43

>>16522497
I agree with this man.

Not that many chances of expansion like this.

>>16522497
Seconded, thirded, and hell, up through googleplexed.

Glad to see we're on the same page about the Boltons, IC. Pic related, the consequences of allying ourselves with the Dreadfort.

rolled 34 = 34

So how about we take the land and hire us some more guys as soldiers?
We could just advertize to the most feared rogues, offer them payment, protection and respect so long as they keep our woods clear of the worse scum.
Most people respond well to respect, a secure income and a perspective.

>>16522545
>Putting thieves in charge of lowering crime
This plan sounds familiar... and I like it. Wrong setting, but a good idea nonetheless.
Not sure how Lord Stark would feel about it though.

rolled 23 = 23

Rogues tends to be easy to pay off that's why people call them that. What we need it good, honest, loyal troops.

And for the future prosperity of our realm I say that we should encourage population growth in our realm, along with possible immigration.

Well as it stands, OP, it seems that we are going to take the land for ourselves.

Also, will Stark still want to go hunting? Heh?

Mulling it over a meal of porridge and pork, you finally decide to take some of the land as recompense. you waited until you led Ned on a tour of your lands

"considering your offer I find it within our best interest to take a small piece of land near our borders and a sizable amount of Thrones as recompense for the attack, we wish to cause no further ilk amongst us and Criin's family so we will err on the side of modesty and not cause any further damage."

Ned looks at you in surprise "very well, i was expecting a larger portion of his land but you will be awarded 1000 thrones and Miller's Hill."

Millers Hill is a Hill (NOWAI) that has a large mill and a logging camp on it that could possibly increase your revenue greatly if protected by the banditry of the forest.

your treasure is now up to 1300 thrones

rolled 5 = 5

>>16522564
Given the choice to rob law-abiding citizens and being hunted for it or to hunt down the lawless and being rewarded for doing so with a prospect of gaining yourself honor and a name sounds like a reasonable trade-off to me.
If the lawless around here are sufficiently cultured to think past the next raid,they might bite.

rolled 34 = 34

>>16522598
Excellent!

Now let's see if we can go on that hunt! In a safe enough location in our lands from bandits.

Exactly how much of a population do we have in our land?

rolled 99 = 99

>>16522626
I'm supporting this man, he needs my help.

>>16522639
My brotha

>>16522626
your keep and its town houses about 300 people and another 600 are spread about the country side (most of them along the route between the keep and the mine)

>>16522639
>99

>>16522652
Just how much theoretically people can we feed in our land?

rolled 7 = 7

>>16522652
Any noteable bands of lawless around here?
Especially such with an ambitious commander.

>>16522652

you keep can keep your people well fed as it is, though if you clear out more woodland you could start having surpluses.

>>16522691
>We can profit from using the new lumber mill
>We can profit from knocking down some forests

I think I see an opportunity for major profits.
Does Maester Herla have his gold link? Once the wounded are stabilized (and we're STILL waiting to hear about Kelor) put him to work on figuring out an optimal budget based on our new resources and manpower.

>>16522639

you bring up the hunt to ned over dinner, "sir mayhaps we can bring the hunt forward a week?"

Ned looks at you over his trencher of soup "Yes, i do want to remove this awful taste out of my mouth, a few days of riding should do that...very well" he motions for one of his guards to go fetch Bran from the baggage train "we will commence the hunt when Bran arrives"

the local Bandit lord is a man Name Red Belly

>>16522713

Yes he does

kelor is barely clinging to life and Herla is spending most of his time keeping him from death. the death toll came in you lost 12 archers 5 sword garrison and 30 Ironmen Garrison (though the damage they did to the banditry that ambushed them might lead to a downsurge of banditry for a while)

rolled 36 = 36

>>16522742
He needs my help

rolled 18 = 18

>>16522736

We should go say hi!

rolled 86 = 86

>>16522736
Let's put off any discussion of hiring bandits until the Honorable-To-A-Fault Lord Stark departs, shall we?
This hunt needs to go flawlessly.

>>16522777
This.

And I really do think we should avoid hiring bandits I say we should begin bringing in people from the south.

rolled 23 = 23

>>16522736
Send word to Red Belly, that I am in a good mood, and I could employ his skill and craftiness. As long as he keeps bandit crime to a minimum then he can have whatever he wants, his men can be paid by me, five Thrones each, and he will receive a generous pay of one fifty Thrones per month.

While I'm at it, begin massive tree cutting.

rolled 30 = 30

>>16522777
Any chances to better our position if Lord Stark was to be shot by wayward bandits during the hunt?

rolled 10 = 10

>>16522777
Agreed.
Also, I'm going to start fleshing out the Children of House Strongcock, why should only the parents get personalities?

Starting with the girls

>>16522794
Doesn't that sound a bit expensive for mere bandits? We could kill them all loot the remains, and get a good reputation among the nobility.

>>16522802
Oh good god no. Stark is one of the people in the kingdoms you can trust.

how old is Zachary? same age as bran?

>>16522794
I thought that we are attempting to repair our houses image?

If that was found it would ruin us.

>>16522842
15 IIRC

>>16522070
Edyth Strongcock
Edyth was blessed from birth, it would seem. Somehow, the gods managed to blend the stout, chiseled features of her mother and the long, wiry frame of her father into one of the fairest visages the north has to offer.
Edyth is keenly aware of this, and often laments her (in her mind) low status, and blames it for her own failures.
She's cold as ice, the only thing she ever loved near as much as herself, was her own reflection.
She fancies herself a great schemer, but her arrogance and impatience will be her undoing.
Her first husband died suspiciously in a "fishing accident". Was Edyth to blame? Who's to say...

>the Roost
Isn't that a lot like The Aerie?

>>16522915
Nonsense! We're nothing like the kings of the East.
They're eagles, we're roosters. They're in the Aerie, we're in the Roost. They live in mountains, we live in hills.

See? Completely different.

rolled 86 = 86

>>16522863
Agreed. We can't risk the impact this would have on our image. Gotta keep nice and squeeky clean, at least on the surface. Bandits turned Constable is just too... ... "Pragmatic"

>>16522070
Dina Strongcock:
Poor Dina. Where Edyth is fair, she is plain. 8 years younger than her sister, Dina has forever lived in Edyth's shapely shadow.
She tries her best, she really does, but no matter how immaculate her stitching, how well she recites her lessons, or how sweetly she sings, her sister earns all the praise.

Easily the most accomplished of the Strongcocks in the domestic arts, well educated for her age, and quite cunning, Dina is plagued by a crippling self doubt.

You knock on Herla's Door and he opens looking at you with weary eyes, and bids you enter stifling a yawn he says "Kelor possesses a warriors spirit he will not die easily to wounds a lesser man would've fallen to." he motions to Kelor who lies bandaged up from both thighs down and one arm covered in blood stained bandages. "when i got him i though death was already with him but he persevered." you walk up pat Kelor on the shoulder and turn to Herla.

"we've acquired Miller's Hill, i need you when you have time to draft some plans to expand the logging around there and a safe route to the castle. If you can i'd like to have some plans done in a week if thats reasonable."

"Indeed it is" he replies "Kelor can eat by himself now i just need to keep changing his dressings, but before you know it he'll be back on the wall protecting us."

And with that you bid him farewell, and wake Zachary up to see if he wishes to go hunting with you, Ned, and Bran which he heartily agrees, hes taken a shine to Bran from the short time they've been together. and with that you meet Ned and Bran at the doors to your keep and head off to the safest part of the forest to conduct your hunt

>>16522926
They're not kings, it's 295, they're just the Lords of the Vale and Wardens of the East =p

rolled 51 = 51

>>16522969
Self doubt?
Great, we can use that.
The more she hates her sister, the more we can push her into becoming the unseen enforcer of our will, our blade in the night, our hit girl.
Not the beautiful angel of death, but a stonecold killer, refined yet silent as befits her nature.

rolled 33 = 33

>>16522984
It's called a nickname. The smallfolk still call Lord Stark the king of the north, from time to time.

>>16522971
Glad to see Kelor's pulling through. Reward him for his valor and his sacrifice, as well as his loyalty and obedience. 200 thrones and a promotion to Castellan of the Roost.

>>16522969
Why do our daughters remind me so much of Ned Stark's girls? Bah.

Calum Strongcock: Our eldest is witty and our youngest is courageous, but our middle boy got the brains in the family. He's read every book in Herla's small library a dozen times over, and makes the journey to White Harbor annually to help expand it. Now that we're not living hand-to-mouth, we should see about socking away a savings so that he can live his dream and study at the Citadel when he comes of age in a couple of years.

rolled 20 = 20

>>16523058
Rollan for this guy. Supporting mah bro.

>>16523058
I'll roll for this man.

rolled 33 = 33

>>16523058
200 seems a bithigh, though.
How about 100?

rolled 13 = 13

>>16523109
derp

rolled 53 = 53

>>16523128
Kelor advised against splitting our forces, but we wanted to make sure we caught Criin somewhere. For our stubbornness, he nearly died.
200 isn't enough. But it's really all we can afford to give.

>>16523050
I've heard there are schools across the narrow sea that can accomplish what we need. How would we go about putting out feelers for them?

>>16523058

you decide to on your return to award Kelor with Castellan of the Roost for his exemplary services and the bonus of 100 thrones but enough of that theres a hunt to be had! and bonds to form!

hopefully this will make it easier to see when i post

>>16523195
On to the hunt!

>>16523179
100 crowns is already a goddamn fortune to one of the smallfolk.

>>16523058
On the girls: I'm working with what we had from the last thread. The eldest was supposed to be beautiful, and the youngest seen as "unworthy" of a good wedding. Tried to play that up for something. In my defense, Edyth certainly isn't Sansha (she's not naive, and possibly a murderer) and Dina isn't Arya (She isn't a tomboy)

>>16523195
Thank god you took a name.

rolled 19 = 19

>>16523247
>crowns
Although I'm just as bad for saying Thrones. I was just talking about DH irl.
The coin of the realm is golden dragons.

The girls are fine, I was just observing.
It might actually serve as a bonding point with our liege lord. A ladylike daughter and one who isn't quite. Surely we can find common ground and bro it up. Go dice go for bro power!

rolled 70 = 70

>>16523179
Why no, we have Kelor and Herla train her in secret and Calum can go search for books about poisons and the likes.

>>16523278
You have a history of bad ideas .

I vote no.

rolled 31 = 31

>>16523277
This man needs my help!

rolled 27 = 27

>>16523285
Why not?
Just because it is morally appalling and probably won't even work?
If we can't marry the little wallflower off, we must find some good use for her.
And being unimpressive is a virtue for an assassin.
Even when she is no goodwith knifes and crossbows, she can still poison the shit out of people.

>>16523058
From the First thread:
>Your seconds son is renowned for his prowess at archery, and is rather good with the ladies (but not much else).
One or the other needs to be overwritten, I'm all for your description, as it's more than just a sentence.
Zachary is still a blank state btw, but also worth nothing:
>Your first son is a pretty cool guy. He is a fair hand at swordplay, and has a silver tongue

Btw, quick list of Ages:
Lord and Lady Strongcock, 40ish; Ian, 22; Edyth, 20; Calum, 18; Zachary, 15; Dina, 12;

rolled 7 = 7

>>16523314
Do not taint the honor of our house!

rolled 35 = 35

>>16523324
It will take her years before she is ready, anyway.
Nobody will know unless we use her.

Cresting a hill you notice deep down there is a large bull moose, it hasnt noticed you yet, its busy drinking from a brook wtih its back to you. lucky for you you are down wind of it and it continues drinking in supposed safety.

you see bran and zachary scamper off as zachary helps bran climb a nearby tree and disappear after him turning to ned you motion for you two to continue and fell this lord of the forest, he beckons you forward saying "the man who lords over these forests should get first kill."

you two are equipped with a hunting bow a long spear and a short sword to be used for gutting and cleaning (you also have a hatchet for cutting saplings)

>>16523321
I would suggest moving the Archery description to Zachary, if he is indeed a blank slate. But I'll let people vote/roll for their preference.
It's just a lil difficult to keep track of stuff sometimes.

>>16523314
Just because she can't be married off *now* doesn't mean that she's worthless.
It might be a blessing in disguise.
As House Strongcock rises in prominence, so too will the value of her marriage, Family members are worth their weight in gold (or at least Silver) politically, why on earth would we push one away for lack of immediate value?

rolled 84 = 84

>>16523359
Push her away?
Are you mad? She would need to be daddy's girl all the way unless she could go poison us.

>>16523350
>zachary helps bran climb a nearby tree

rolled 61 = 61

>>16523384
Stop pushing this. We could always get someone else for this. But not our own family.

rollan for hunt

>>16523359
Would Walder Frey(the pigfucking cunt that he is) be willing to marry off one of his sons/grandsons/other male family members to her? Or would he feel that he is too good for us? I don't have a whole lot of knowledge about asofai beyond having read the first two books and about half of the third so far.

>>16523396
>All my tears
>OP is amazing

rolled 70 = 70

>>16523417
The Freys are rich, but only a step above the Boltons. If we're trying to move up in the world and restore our House's honor, we don't want to associate with people like Walder, let alone marry our daughter to his great-something or other.
I still maintain that our silver-tongued firstborn would be a smash hit with the Umbers. They've got a bushel of daughters, if memory serves. Ned would probably know, though.

Remember, on the hunt, our primary goal is to BRO. IT. UP.

And I guess we should impress him with a clean kill of the moose, then offer him the head and antlers as a gift (we should have someone who can stuff and preserve it as a trophy) while bringing home the meat for a feast tonight.

Why is everyone crying?

>>16523453
No idea. Then again I don't know shit about the setting.

rolled 35 = 35

>>16523451
Supporting this.

>>16523453
No... no reason, milord. Back to your play.

>>16523470
This explains some of your suggestions.

You will raise them yourselves. You will feed them yourselves. And if they die, you will pluck them yourselves!

>>16523396

I'm not even part of this Quest and I started watering up.

>>16523451
ok then umbers it is for the son.
>>16523453
*sniff* it's better you not know lad

>>16523501
>>16523484
>>16523433
>>16523396
>>16523505
Now what the fuck is all this crying about?
And what are our sons doing in the trees?

>>16523451
Please tell me we know how to skin a moose. Even fucking Tywin Lannister knows how to skin a moose.

>>16523516
Dammit Friedrich I like you in my quest but I guess I have to explain it. In Game of Thrones (Both Book and Show) Bran is a young, innocent boy growing up in a harsh cruel world. When he sees something he shouldn't, he is pushed out of tower and he is paralyzed to the waist down. That's the thing about helping him up the tree, Bran can't do that anymore since he is handicapped.

You dismount from your horse picking up bow you sneak within fifty paces of the moose and load an arrow and pull the string taut....


and TWING the arrow sails cleanly but narrowly misses the heart which you were aiming for but slices the tendon on the front left hoof, and the moose goes down letting loose a bellow of astonishment as it starts to vainly try to get up.

you grab your spear and with one quick thrust stab it in the neck ending its life mercifully.

as you end the moose's life Zachary and Bran run up carrying a clutch of rabbits Bran beaming he runs up to his father and proudly shows him the kills he got, three rabbits "Zachary helped me shoot them with his bow i missed a fourth one but i still got three! Zachary said when he became a knight i can be his squire! can i be a squire to him dad? can I?" he looks expectantly at Ned

Ned ruffles his hair and looks at you "Well if Skylar sends his son to become a knight i don't see why not!" and laughs at his sons merriment

...that was a lot harder to right then it shouldve..

>>16523557
Thank you, now shit is starting to make some fucking sense.

rolled 75 = 75

>>16523564
>Lord Stark has offered to let his son squire under our son.
BY THE OLD GODS, GET ZACHARY SQUIRING POST-HASTE.
If he can get his spurs fast enough, we might actually be able to make this a reality. I can TASTE the honor.

More immediately, let's have our people load up the moose and give them instructions to send the meat to the kitchens and the head to Maester Herla (unless we have a dedicated taxidermist in the Roost).

Be sure to compliment Bran on his hunting, running, climbing... I can't go on, as my keyboard is covered in tears, but you get the idea.

>>16523564
That, It's, I need a moment.

>>16523564

you clean the animal where you kill it and hoist it up (saving the intestines cause your wife can make a mean moose sausage) and travel back to the castle, upon seeing you the horn is blown and the gate is open and everyone sees the magnificent kill you see and they ooh and aah at the massive horns it has, truly a great prize indeed!

>6 year old bran climbin' trees, wantin' to be a knight
MANLYTEARS.JPG

This quest is now about preventing paralysis. ;.;

>>16523607
He has 4-5 years until Bran is old enough to be anything but a page.
Assuming he doesn't... *sniff*

>>16523624
But no metagaming. We Strongcocks are manly folks, and discouraging a young scamp from climbing everything in sight is grievously unmanly.

>>16523624
Step one would involve Friedrich's plans for Dina and a secret trip to King's Landing...

>>16523619
At the feast, we should compliment our lady wife's sausages very, very loudly.

>>16523564
God damn it!

Now we have to send our son to be a knight! Those two will become friends for life! The bonds between our houses will last the ages!

>>16523619
What do we have in the way of entertainers? We need sagas and shit.

>>16523663

The Maester knows a lot of riveting tales of knighthood killing of dragons and saving of maidens. he also knows some comedic tales as well. There is also a travelling bard of some repute travelling around, though not much is known about him

>>16523619
So what does our noble liege-lord Stark have to say to us after that hunt?

rolled 29 = 29

>>16523685
An unknown bard is risky, but just a maester is poor entertainment.
Eh, how bawdy can he be? I'm sure a rough-and-tumble northern lord like Eddard Stark can handle a round of The Bear And The Maiden Fair. I say send some men out to invite him.

>>16523685
I'm all for hiring the bard(even if he does turn out to be the mance)

>>16523724
We are a northern lord too are we not?

Also I''ll help with your roll. Dice gods bless me!

rolled 49 = 49

>>16523735
Derp

rolled 5 = 5

>>16523724
Rollan to support.

rolled 63 = 63

>>16523765
What the hell is up with my rolls, Re-rolling.

rolled 71 = 71

>>16523724
Eh, why not?
As long as he does not start singing about disabled nobles...

I know it's unlikely because he lives in King's Landing, but I hope we can save that bard who wrote the verse about how Cersei is a murderous shit. Put in on the to-do list behind bro-ing it up with Bran.

>>16523806
TodoList:
1.) Wife, need more heirs
2.) Prevent bran from being crippled.
3.) Eat that fucking sausage
4.) Preserve the glory of fuckawesome songs
5.) Kill the batman.

So I think a key issue coming up here is getting more soldiers.
I'd rather not rely on bandits or mercs, so how does one go about acquiring more loyal men-at-arms?

You send some men out to gather the bard up and he comes, a short man who prances about, singing bawdy songs. a highly humorous man,

The dinner, going full swing, was a success the bard going around singing caught everyone in attendance in a The Bear And The Maiden Fair chorus, afterwhich the maester sang about the defeat of the Old Ones and the settling of Winterfell to much applause.

Ned pulls you aside afterwards belly full of moose sausage and your best drink and commends you on a great fefast and he wishes to have the recipe for his own kitchen to cook

>>16523873
Go to a orphanage and adopt all of the chidren?

Or we could try to get our own people to have more children. Have them be proud to be part of lands of Strongcock their pride is added to our own pride.

>>16523873
typically through hiring/training them.
Raising armies costs money, lots of money.
You have to pay peasants to leave their land (they had a hard winter and want food) Then you have to pay to equip them (even leather armor is fairly expensive in bulk) Train them (drilling tends to kill/drive off some, cutting into your numbers) then pay their standing wages.

Bitching aside, we have 1000 dragons now, we can probably afford 100 or so infantry, maybe more (IIRC, in aSoIaFRPG 100 dragons = 1 "power". green infantry = 5 power. Dunno how much of that the OP is using though)

rolled 99 = 99

>>16523890
Tell him he'd need to gather his best men-at-arms to fight it out of our wife, but we'd be most honored to come visit Winterfell some time and give him another taste.

Lead the feast hall in a great toast to the wisdom of Lord Eddard Stark! May he rule and protect us all for a thousand years!

>>16523905
>humble peasants, by the order of Lord Strongcock, you must all begin to shag like rabbits

>>16523890
Give it to him!
Don't explicitly ask for anything, because Ned already kind of dislikes how much we rely on him, but turn the conversation toward our recent troubles, then thank him heartily for agreeing to squire Bran with us and ask if there's anything else we can do for him.

>>16523905
seconding this but also we should probably hire some mercs just to bolster our forces until we can train some more men. Also we might want to consider training every male in our holdings to wield a weapon so that we'll have a militia that we can use in an emergency

rolled 90 = 90

>>16523922
>>16523927
Rolling to support both of these

rolled 63 = 63

>>16523922
This. A thousand times this.

>>16523927
He didn't agree to.
Also, we can't squire his son until we have a knight of our own.
We'll need to see what we can do about that with Zachary... The Manderlys don't seem to care for us (last thread) and our Wife's family will be worthless. Perhaps we need to send him south? Do we know any southron knights?

>>16523905
your pride only makes my strongcock harder

rolled 16 = 16

>>16523925
rollan

rolled 82 = 82

>>16523941
We could try offering Zachary as a package deal with Edyth. A wife and a squire for some lucky young knight.
I recommended the Umbers of Last Hearth earlier, we know for a fact that their boys often go in for knighthood.

Other than that, I seem to recall some knights in the Karstark household, though they're pretty tight with the Manderlys.

If we really need to, we could try looking further south, into the Riverlands. Lord Stark's wife is a Tully, isn't she? Maybe we can use that in some way.

>>16523986
seconding offering a package deal to the Umbers

>>16523922

you laugh "Sir, if you can beat my wife in combat then she'll give it to you, you best bet is to get all of your men and you just might get it"

he laughs uproariously at this and pats you on the back, "you're a lot different then your father, if you need help getting Zachary squired i can help find him a knight to squire underneath." he pats you on the back once more and goes back to his room

"Sir we must discuss the wellbeing of our lands" Herla interrupts after Ned leaves "Our forces are dangerously stretched thin, we can either send Young Zachary to Squire or hire some forces."

tough choices we have there...perhaps your other children might be able to help out with this predicament...

>>16523986

Wait...isn't our wife Greyjoy? Why not send Zachary to their lands? Certainly his swordsmanship may be lacking, but are the Ironmen not some of the greatest archers in Westeros?

Better to protect a Lord's head by killing his assassin, then by taking the arrow ourselves.

>>16524034

Also, sending Zachary to being squired by family would most certainly be cheaper.

rolled 17 = 17

>>16524055
>>16524034
Nice idea, but the Greyjoys don't really do knighthood. It's mainly a seven-worshiper thing, and while Houses of the North do it sometimes and look the other way on religion, the Ironmen are a little to sea-crazy to work like that.
tl;dr There are basically no knights in the Iron Islands. And it wouldn't earn us any points with Ned anyway.

>>16524055
>>16524034
The Ironmen have few knights, the Greyjoys even fewer.
(none IIRC, Balon keeps to "The Old Ways"(tm) which involves drowning people who speak of "Greenlander folly")
If we wanted Zachary to be a pirate and a rapist, the Greyjoys would be a phenomenal choice. We want him to be a Knight.
Stark offered to help us find somewhere to squire Zachary, we should follow up on that. His wife is a Tully, they're the lords of the Riverlands. The Riverlands have a lot of knights. A glut, really.

rolled 66 = 66

>>16524094
Rolling for this man.

>>16524080

Ah, sorry for the dumb idea then. I need to look into this series further than the tv show, lol.

>>16524094
Again, I need to brush up on this shit.

What about Theon? Could we not have Zachary squire under him? Being trained by Ned's ward and (sort-of) foster-son would probably get us some points with the old Wolf.

>>16524130
Theon isn't a knight.
Also, he's a mean spirited bastard, but that's a different issue.

>>16524130

Theon is as much a hostage as he is a ward. Besides, he isn't a knight, so he can not train anyone to become one.

>>16524130
good idea except that theon isn't a knight. Why did we want to make our kid a knight anyway? It's not like being a knight is very important in the north.

>>16524188
Its one of the only ways a 3rd son can earn land and glory for himself tbph. It's good to give them the option, as it helps prevent fratricide.
Also, should we ever need to go south (say, in 299) a knight commands a lot more respect.

What about Eddard Stark's pet knight? Ser Rodderik? He doesn't have a squire IIRC.

>>16524188

>Why did we want to make our kid a knight anyway?

I believe it was to get in closer with Ned. Though I would agree, knight doesn't seem like much up there.

What other options do we have for our son's future?

So we're trying to secure additional forces, either through allegiance or purchase?

What about an engagement?

>>16524210

Eldest Son could be a silver tongued devil that could play the game of thrones

Middle son....what can he do?

youngest son can be a knight

and lets not forget the daughters could marry them off.

having a close knight in the north could be helpful as well and make you powerful... everyone would want to send at least one child your way

rolled 33 = 33

>>16524210

Send him south to Riverrun. Get in deep with with the Tully's

>>16524222
Oldest daughter may or may not have killed her last husband. Either way, it's suspected, which makes it... difficult to marry her off.

Youngest daughter is a bit young, also, we're pretty minor in status, and she isn't a looker.

Any of the sons could be betrothed. We should probably start looking for a wife for our eldest, so he can produce an heir for himself.

Or it seems I misinterpreted our purpose.

Sending the child to squire under Sir Cassel might put too much strain on Winterfell; he already trains Robb, Theon, and Jon, along with all the regular fighting men.

I say send him to the Eyrie, to squire under the Trout, Edmund Tully.

rolled 15 = 15

>>16524241

But obviously we are working so that our children will be able to enjoy such prosperous times as we do, are we not?

Is not our goal in this short and pitiable life to leave our sons and daughters in happiness?

Ask Zachary who HE would like to be a squire for!

For the sake of the old gods, someone make Tyrion Lannister a knight so that Zachary can be his squire!

rolled 70 = 70

Rolling to send him south to be a Tully squire.

>>16524287
...that would be pretty fucking awesome

>>16524273

Or propose a marriage, Edmund is unwed. (Although I doubt we could marry so high up)

We could always slap one of our daughters up against a Frey...

>>16524273
It's "Ser" not "sir" in Westeros =p
((Also, you only use "Ser" with either the first name i.e. "Ser Rodderik" or with the full name : "Ser Rodderik Cassel" but not "Ser Cassel"))

Goddamn, All I do is fucking pop up and go "Here's a fun fact for you!" I should really suggest some actions...

>>16524305


Thanks for the heads up. I realize I've been calling Edmure Tully Edmund as well.

It has been a while since I've read the full series.

rolled 46 = 46

>>16524302
No, no Freys or Boltons.

>>16524305

DO IT

DO IT FOR BRAN

rolled 76 = 76

>>16524299

...I'm rolling to see if Tyrion was somehow made a knight.

>>16524369
I don't think Tyrion would like that. And there's no fucking way Tywin would let his family become a laughingstock. That's why he's always marginalized Tyrion in the first place.

rolled 53 = 53

>>16524369
Although it makes no sense and it would be highly unlikely, if there is even a small chance our son could be trained by Tyrion, I'm all up for it.

rolled 2 = 2

>>16524302
No way we could marry that high up.
He's ... 19(?) at the time, in no real rush to marry, and Lord Hoster is still sentient. (So he'd deff nix any marriage to a minor northern house)
Great houses tend to marry Great houses /shrug.

Well, we can't really do everything, can we...
I say, get our Eldest Son working on a new army (He's a good schmoozer, right?)
We should send Zachary south (more knights, more wealth)
And start looking for wives for our sons. And maybe husbands for our daughters.... Though I still say keep the younger one on the back burner for later.

rolled 74 = 74

>>16524369
>>16524408

WAIT A GOD-DAMNED MINUTE!

I've been freshing up on GoT lore and just noticed that in A Game of Thrones, Tyrion is given a squire by Tywin Lannister.

ZACHARY COULD BECOME TYRION'S SQUIRE!

>>16524369
>>16524396
>>16524408
Tyrion *can't* be a knight.
Knighthood is a martial position, Tyrion, due to his... stature, is physically unable to fufill the dutys of knighthood.
If they wouldn't let Willis Tyrell be a knight, Tyrion has no hope.

(That being said, Tyrion *Does* have a squire (Poderick Payne) later on)

Lords can take squires (and knight them) even thought they themselves are not knights.

>>16524414

I doubt Tywin would want Tyrion running around with his own little pet Northron squire.

I don't see it working. Worst case scenario, Zachary has an "accident".

rolled 81 = 81

>>16524441
>Lords can take squires (and knight them) even thought they themselves are not knights.

That's good enough for Tyrion to teach Zachary how to keep his pimp-hand strong.

>>16524412

You call Ian to your presence and tell him to travel abroad to find suitable heirs and to create an army

will he succeed...who knows...

>>16524465
derpderp rolled a two.
In before the bastard is born T.T

Also, Re: Tyrion's squire.
Zachary probably wouldn't get along well with him.
Also, Tyrion is hated by... everyone. While effective, we probably don't want to be associated with him.

rolled 77 = 77

No fucking alliance with goddamn Lannisters.
We just got our liege lord to like us again, why would we throw that away?
Let's look for a Tully knight who needs a squire. Ned already said he'd help.

If we're trying to incorporate every single cool and/or sympathetic character, why not snap up Syrio Forel before Ned has need of him? Of course that means that Arya probably dies down the road, but whatever.

rolled 17 = 17

Someone put this on the suptg archive.

And don't forget to vote up this thread and the last one.

rolled 69 = 69

>>16524484
I know how hard it's going to be, I know all the difficulties that follow with Zach being taught by midget lord, but, it's just awesome.

Think a house called Strongcock could exist in SoIaF? We are pushing the limits being amazing, and amazing we will always be.

rolled 11 = 11

>>16524514

We'll spin the story about having Zachary down there to keep tabs on the Lannisters.

Besides, he's the squire of a dwarve. We're training Zachary to be cunning here, Ian's our golden boy that will become a great lord.

>>16524523
I am all for Calum being trained the ways of the Braavosi.

Let's take a vote.

All in favor of Zachery being taught by Tyrion say Aye, all those opposed say Nay.

>>16524537
While our favorite dorf would be a interesting person for our son to be a squire for. There's no presteige honor or glory in it.

Keep to the North for now.

>>16524566
Nay. There will be more natural ways to interact with the Imp later on.

Does a minor house ask Tywin Lannister if Tyrion will squire our son?

Does anybody honestly see this working?

>>16524537
>>16524530
>>16524484
>>16524462
Why would Tyrion Lannister want a squire from some poor as shit Northern lord who rules over the glorious lands of the middle of nowhere?
Seriously guys, Tyrion was a cool character and all, but let's keep the fanwankery out of this quest.

rolled 95 = 95

>>16524566

Nay! South to Riverrun for the young boy! Ned could make this happen easily.

Next, we should focus on our economy...are there any regional issues that are creating refugees? Let's find a way to increase our population

You called Zachary to you, You give him a bag of 600 thrones nad tell him to go to winterfell, you send him there with 10 of your Sword Garrison. Hopefully Ned will find him a nice knight to squire...hopefully

TAXES HAVE CAME IN, you have gained 124 Dragons you are now at 654 dragons

rolled 72 = 72

>>16524514
Rolling in support of Tully alliance, negotiated with Ned's help.

rolled 79 = 79

Then we have come to an agreement, Zachery will not be squired by Tyrion.

Now, let's use dice. I say Zachery should be trained by those in the Riverlands, use Stark if necessary.

>>16524600
No.

>>16524599

Lone that's a little railroading, we want him to be trained by a house in the Riverlands.

rolled 11 = 11

>>16524566

Aye. Despite the challenges before us, I believe Tyrion would be a great influence on the lad.

We obviously could not petition Jaime to be the boy's master, so why not attempt to gain the prestige of having our youngest the squire of a lesser Lannister? Certainly, people will give us funny looks for it, but that is because they do not see the potential in the dwarve.

Failing that, I would suggest Zachary be the squire of the best Stark of them all, Antonio Stark, master of siege-craft.

>>16524614
>>16524600
see
>>16524599
it has been done.
Lets move on to other issues, in no particular order
1.) Poverty
2.) Banditry (related to 1.)
3.) Unwed Children (Might be difficult to fix due to 1.)
4.) We're running low on Sausage.

>>16524638
we don't actually *know* any houses in the Riverlands. Hence Stark.
((Or do we?))

>>16524674

all you know about the southern is one of them is tully

>>16524678

best bet is that ned will give zachary to a Tully Knight, as he has close ties to them

What is the common wealth of the common person in our territory?

>>16524720


I doubt those who swear us fealty have any wealth. Most would be subsistence farmers, with some tradesman. Commerce would be via barter.

they make about 30 stags, which your predecessor demands taxed at 66%

rolled 14 = 14

>>16524747
That's unreasonable.
Lower the household tax to 25%.
Any household that sends a man to train in our militia as part of our House Guard will only have to pay 10%.
Any household that has three or more children under the age of 10 only pays 10%.

We'll become immensely popular with our smallfolk, something which Ned looks on kindly, while also incentivising the behaviors we want.

>>16524747

i should clarify thats in sellable goods not in money money

>>16524832

And we can hopefully recoup the lost income by increasing lumber mill production. We should double the guard at the Mill, however. Bandits still plague the area.

>>16524832
we're destitute at our stupid-high tax rate.
We need the money to hire soldiers for security...
If we don't tax, bandits, bandits everywhere.

Inb4 Republican rhetoric.

rolled 46 = 46

>>16524832
I support this action

>ctrl-f rape

>nothing

My immersion

rolled 31 = 31

Also, just catching up as I was afk,

NAY NAY NAY on the Tyrion idea. Yes, I like him too, but even putting aside the fanwank, it's ridiculous to think a House like ours would be anywhere on the Lannister radar. Plus there's the Stark factor to consider.

Zachary will go off to squire in the Riverlands, as arranged by Lord Stark.

Let's talk Calum. Do we want to use the original description where he's an archer, or the more recent idea that he's a smart kid who dreams of wearing a maester's chain?
Having a maester for a son would be an investment, like any education, and could help our incomes down the road once he's making good money at some other noble's keep.

>>16524865

Lowered taxes should prompt people to work a little bit harder.

Perhaps we should ride the countryside. Show our face, boost morale, show there is nothing to fear from bandits.

>>16524886
lower taxes means more money in their pockets, means more tempting targets for bandits. . .
Law of Unintended Consequences.

So we need more money to hire soldiers to fight off bandits. And we don't have any money because of bandits.

Can we call in a favour from any other Northmen?

Perhaps the bandits are a result of the high taxes? Our own people robbing to recoup their losses?

>>16524979
It also means less people have to resort to banditry.

rolled 53 = 53

>>16524979
There's an old Irish joke that says the pinnacle of success is to be fighting off thieves every night.

>>16525008
Did we not plan of talking with Red Belly, the leader of the bandits?

>>16525031
We really can't afford to risk sullying our reputation.
Especially after finally managing to score some big points with Lord Stark...

>>16525031
Or, the inverse, we could put a Bounty on his head.
Give him the option to turn in the bounty himself.

You summon Maester Herla, whom informs you that Watch Commander Kelor will soon be ready to start training again, to write up a proposal to lower taxes to your people while lowering it even further to those people who serve in your militia/guard. you're ranks swell by 20 by the end of the day so its not too bad

updated relations list

>Lord Gostrik of Cliin HATED (may cause problems with his family
>Stark slightly warm
>the Freys are neutral to us
>Tully have heard of our names
>the rest of southron do not know us
>Boltons are neutral to us

tax rate is 25% (10 if you serve the militia)
banditry is still a rampant problem the Red Belly is still the mastermind behind it you think
People are starting to warm up to you

rolled 46 = 46

>>16525090
This is a good start.
Let's take a full inventory of our household at this point, shall we? Call in our family and the important individuals in the Roost like Herla.
I want to hear what each of them has to say about Lord Stark or his son, or failing that, something they observed or figured out during/after the feast.

We've got to keep our kids sharp!
Like beaks?
Fuck, I dunno. The path of the adventure is a little vague right now.

rolled 6 = 6

Oh, here's a thought for y'all.

Have some men (carrying no money, obviously) deliver an invitation to Red Belly. He'll be fully protected by the laws of hospitality, despite his outlaw status.
Bring him in for dinner, and let's see if we can't find a solution that's amenable to both parties.
After all, he benefits if the bandits not under his command are sent to the wall, and we benefit if he keeps his thieves from murdering and raping.

Archiving this thread, its autosaging

>>16525197
public invitation to a criminal?
Guest Rite does not protect us from *his* treachery.
Plus, he's unlikely to take us up on it, as "accidents" that occur en route aren't covered.
Also, shame.
Still, a better suggestion than trying to hire him...

>>16525197
People seem to be going to bed. Let's wait for whenever op wants to continue.

Though I say we investigate the mans reputation first before we do anything.

New thread here

>>16525254

>>16525197

I wouldn't want to be responsible for the continued existence of a bandit group.

If we had the manpower to pose a threat to them we could offer an ultimatum. Let them join the Black, or we wipe them all out.

>>16524654
Head for the Vale and stab some Stone Crows. Shaga and Gunther will give us delicious sausage!