Stonedance is recovered from the outlaw Red Rhys of the Scourge, but at great cost. Embassies are dispatched by the Iron Throne and Dorne to attempt to win Braavos’s intervention (or lack of it) in the conflict brewing over control of the Stepstones between Pentos, Lys, and their respective allies. The embassies end in debacle, after princes from both realms are caught up in the politics of the Sealord’s court and one of their hosts is assassinated when mistaken for Prince Aegon. House Martell and House Santagar become estranged after a falling out between Prince Cadan and his lady wife, Senara. King Baelor recovers from his latest bout of fasting, and issues new edicts that raise eyebrows, and soon after reveals his intention to swear a septon’s vows.
Day 1: The royal host is ill-prepared when ambushed further along the pass, two days from Stonedance. Red Rhys’ men cause rockslides that shatter the van under Warden of the Kingswood Ser Jan Marbrand and his men, chief among them Sers Cleyton Waxley, Ryckon Westerling and Dermett Corbray, heir to Heart’s Home, before he and the Eater attack and carve through it. Sullehman Saan and Vaario Quanis are revealed to have been in league with them as they appear and fall upon the rear, their numbers bolstered by Dornish folk, ever as crossbowmen shoot at the center from inaccessible heights. Ser Ethos Mertyns is killed attempting a mad climb against the crossbowmen, while Ser Yohnen Darklyn is captured and the commander Ser Richard Harte himself, trampled to death. The survivors only manage to retreat once the rearguard under Warden of Crackclaw Point Ser Dagur Saltcliffe, “the Iron Serpent” and his men punch a hole through Saan’s lines. Notables to be found fighting in the rear, Dagur’s Deputy Ser Ammon Massey as well as Sers Eon Hunter, Walton Smallwood, Janden Melcolm and squire Merik Waxley.
Saan barely escapes capture at the hands of Ser Ammon, and within the day decimates the camp of the injured and the supply train, effectively cutting contact twixt the royal forces and King’s Landing.
Day 4: Having retreated south, the shattered army of Ser Richard sets up camp at a fortifiable position. Ser Dagur Saltcliffe takes command.
Day 6: A feverish Ser Janden Melcolm, the Royal Huntsman, arrives at King’s Landing after extremely hard riding from Massey’s Hook through the southern Crownlands and bandit attacks to relay news of the defeat. His feat of covering the distance in a mere five days, far from the normal twenty, is to quickly earn him the name “Swiftspur”.
Day 7: Hand of the King Prince Viserys gathers a new force to send to the war front under the command of his son Prince Aemon “the Dragonknight”, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard; other notables in its ranks being Ser Sorin of the Kingsguard as well as Ser Sarmion “Stormbreaker” Baratheon, Harbormaster of King’s Landing and Ser Mathin Lannister.
Day 8: Stormlander reinforcements arrive at Massey’s Hook under Sers Arion, heir to Storm’s End, and Orson Baratheon; four hundred men, including two hundred-odd Baratheon soldiers, fifty Fell ones and Penrose and Errol forces too.
Day 9: Prince Aemon and his levies sail from King’s Landing.
Day 13: Red Rhys releases Ser Yohnen Darklyn following extended torture with the message that House Massey will pay for the King’s men’s actions; a point he proves by forcing him first to pick a Massey daughter to be raped by his troop.
Day 15: Kingswood Wardenry and Stormlander men functioning as patrol engage in a bloody skirmish with bandit levies.
Day 19: Red Rhys descends fiercely on the royal camp under Ser Dagur Saltcliffe, but the King’s men withstand the assault, and the Dornishman is finally driven away by a surprise force under Sers “Black” Jonn Lannister, heir to Casterly Rock and Ryckon Westerling coming from nearby hills.
Day 20: Prince Aemon and his troops join the remnants of the first army.
Day 21: A war council is held by the Dragonknight; there, it is decided that the royal army shall not move against Stonedance for the nonce. The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard bids Ser Dagur to take charge of the patchwork fleet and rid the coast from the vagabonds and Ser Sarmion to head a force that will wrest the hills around the castle from them, better to protect the royal host when the time for attack comes.
Day 21: In light of the conflict of control of the Stepstones betwixt Pentos and Lys, a Dornish embassy departs for Braavos from Planky Town, aiming for its alliance against the latter and potentially Iron Throne involvement in the region. Headed by Prince Rhodry Martell, it furthermore includes Ser Marius Dalt, “the Little Lemon” Ser Orivel “Shortfoot” Dayne and Samara Sand, bastard daughter of Ser Mavros Uller, a woman raised in, and well acquainted with the Free Cities.
Day 23: An Iron Throne embassy under Prince Aegon, sets sail from King’s Landing to Braavos, to dissuade from involvement in the Stepstones; in its ranks, Lord Kennoth Bracken of Stone Hedge and Sers Emond Coldwater, heir to Coldwater Burn and Philbert Celtigar.
Day 24: A contingent of noblewomen is assaulted in the night; Reyna Saltcliffe, Mistress of Keys to Princess Naerys is injured, her lady-in-waiting Elrone Darklyn as well as Jyana Arryn, lady-in-waiting to Princess Naerys and Princess Daena before her, taken.
Day 26: Ser Cleyton Waxley is appointed Deputy Warden of the Kingswood by his cousin, Warden Ser Jan Marbrand.
Day 4: A patrol led by Ser Ryckon Westerling attacks a bandit one, striking from a ridge until the rogues retreat, and suffering substantial damage itself.
Day 5: A messenger of Rhys to the royal camp reveals the self-styled “King of Stonedance” as the culprit behind the abduction of the noblewomen.
Day 13: Fires set by King’s men under Ser Mathin Lannister as part of the guerilla warfare orchestrated by Ser Sarmion Baratheon go out of control and burn through a fleeing bandit camp and a village. The human mass is pushed into a column led by Ser Jan Marbrand, to several losses, before retreat.
Day 13: Sullehman Saan and Vaario Quanis finally face the harassing fleet under Ser Dagur Saltcliffe -and observe their own engulfed in wildfire fetched from King’s Landing and driven into their ranks with the help of Ironborn longships under embassy members Eurik Greyjoy and Tormund “Bloodaxe” Stonetree. During battle, Quanis loses an eye to Ser Dagur, ever as Saan duels yet again, and finally slays his nemesis Ser Ammon Massey before escaping by jumping in the sea. Ser Eon Hunter is appointed Deputy Warden of Crackclaw Point in Ammon’s place on the spot.
As for the remnants of the pirate fleet, they take to the shore and the safety of Stonedance, sealing the royal one’s victory.
Day 14: Word of the victory at sea having come through a system of lookouts and signal fires set up in the hills by Ser Sarmion Baratheon as he prised them from Rhys, the royal host under Prince Aemon ready to march for Stonedance.
Day 16: The Iron Throne embassy arrives in Braavos and is ushered in a manse provided by Tybio Erosenes, a merchant prince and the Lyseni envoy to the city.
Day 17: Ser Torren Blackmont, a shadow city shariff, weds Lilah Gargalen, chatelaine to Princess Ariana Martell, in Sunspear.
Day 19: The entirety of the royal forces gather outside Stonedance to witness Lord Allard Massey be hanged from the battlements as a warning. At the parley that follows, Red Rhys and Sullehman Saan demand that the King’s men withdraw lest they keep killing -and threaten with the life of Jyana Arryn- yet Prince Aemon answers by proposing surrender to their lieutenants, and subsequently, merciful deaths for Rhys, Saan and Quanis and the black for the rest. No result is produced.
Day 19: The Dornish embassy to Braavos makes landfall, eventually finding lodgings with a Pentoshi magister.
Day 20: Late in the night and despite appearing to be setting up a siege, the royal forces assail Stonedance and manage to overwhelm the walls -less manned as they are for discord twixt Saan’s and Rhys’ men due to Prince Aemon’s offer- be it by killing or prompting surrenders. Ser Jonald Baratheon is wounded grievously in the process. Battle, the Dragonknight heading the charge, spills over to the keep, that is soon aflame and partly collapses; there, Ser Dagur Saltcliffe manages to gut and decapitate Sullehman Saan as soon as Ser Jan Marbrand rescues the captured noblewomen from death at the Lyseni’s hands. Marbrand and Ser Cleyton Waxley succeed in stabbing the Eater to death; Red Rhys of the Scourge dies too, on his throne, chest caved in by Ser Sarmion Baratheon. The giant Vaario Quanis alone flees, burned and crazed, and not before making wreckage of Ser Mathin Lannister; but with the bulk of the cravens dead or captured, the Rape of Stonedance is at an end.
Day 26: The majority of the Iron Throne troop returns, at long last, to King’s Landing.
Day 30: The final bits of fighting at Massey’s Hook take place, as a force under Sers Sarmion Baratheon, Jan Marbrand and Stevyn Locke tracks surviving pirates, Quanis among them, and drives them once and for all into the sea.
Day 4: Death of Lord Ewan Prester of Feastfires, of grave illness. He is succeeded by his also ailing eldest son Ser Egon, who is to recover but months later.
Day 10: Mariya Wyl and a stillborn son, twin children of Ser Coran Wyl, heir to Wyl and Lyra of House Fowler are born in Sunspear.
Day 13: Swaths of Kingswood war refugees finally set out from King’s Landing to return to their homes - led by Kingswood Officer Ser Dermett Corbray, a man already known for his wont to carouse with the lowborn variously.
Day 15: Gallard Connington, heir to Griffin’s Roost, weds Melarra Hightower in King’s Landing.
Day 15: Lord Tytos Sarsfield of Sarsfield weds Sylvina Serry at his ancestral seat.
Day 16: The grand Tourney of Love and Beauty celebrating the Connington - Hightower union takes place. Ser Elys Mertyns, heir to Mistwood, claims victory with a long performance, and thus the crown of the Queen of Love and Beauty to bestow on his wife Olyria of House Frey and a robust prize purse. That, in turn, he dedicates to the keeping of the Faith, with the view, mainly of the erection of a statue of his slain cousin Ser Ethos.
Day 7: A fire breaks out in the apartments of Prince Cadan Martell and his wife Senara Santagar, heir to Spottswood. In its aftermath, the lady takes up residence at a shadow city manse rather than with her husband.
Day 13: Ser Janden Melcolm is removed from his post of Royal Huntsman and appointed to that of Master of Horse by Prince Viserys.
Day 21: Word spreads of Dornish naval exercises at the Broken Arm and ventures to the westernmost Stepstones, to Pentoshi bases, as a developing affiliation is observed in Braavos twixt the Dornish emissaries and the Sealord Donalo Prestayn’s chief admiral Tenesio Velaron.
Day 25: Senara Santagar’s departure from Sunspear is halted by a contingent under her husband Prince Cadan and Ser Daven Wyl, producing a bloody, if brief scuffle twixt their men-at-arms and those sent from Spottswood to fetch the lady. The latter, just revealed to be with child again, is subsequently put under supervision.
Day 26: A ceremony of mass knighting of squires by the Kingsguard is followed by a celebratory tourney. The mystery Knight of Green Wood, later revealed as Ser Kavan “the Young” Paege, carries the day, felling Ser Dermett Corbray. He is awarded an ancient copy of the Seven-Pointed Star, brought from Dragonstone by the Conqueror himself.
Day 2: Ser Jan Marbrand weds Elrone Darklyn in King’s Landing.
Day 3: The Marbrand - Darklyn wedding tourney sees Ser Elmer Crakehall emerge as the victor, unhorsing Ser Janden Melcolm and rewarded with a heavy purse.
Day 10: Ser Jonn Lannister weds Jyana Arryn, “the Jewel of the Eyrie” in King’s Landing. Instead of a tourney, feats and obstacles testing strength and endurance constitute the entertainment.
Day 16: Officer of the Kingswood Ser Ryckon Westerling leaves his post to assume that of Commander of King’s Landing’s Dragon Gate, proposed by Commander of the City Watch Ser Luthor Rivers.
Day 26: Gregor Staunton, son of Ser Gwayne Staunton, Officer of the Sea Watch, and Amyana of House Celtigar, formerly Waxley, is born -with a club foot- in King’s Landing.
Day 30: A hundred or so men participate in an archery tourney at the Kingswood. It is won by Ser Orson Baratheon.
Day 6: A serpent-boat race in Braavos’ Green Canal sees a riot erupt as men from rival quarters come to blows. The Targaryen emissaries find themselves encircled by the mob due to guards’ errant blows, yet are rescued by the Sealord’s men.
Day 10: At the grand ball celebrating the end of Braavos’ world-famous carnival, Tybio Erosenes, the Lyseni host of the Targaryen embassy, chokes to death - apparently from poison intended for Prince Aegon, with whom he had earlier traded costumes.
Day 13: Ser Anders Dondarrion weds Obany Darklyn, formerly Baratheon, at his ancestral home of Blackhaven.
Day 20: The Dornish embassy abruptly leaves Braavos at the Sealord’s urging, their bid for Braavosi support to Pentos and Dorne in a war against Lys rejected and their safety no longer guaranteed.
Day 27: Several new appointments are announced in King’s Landing: Ser Dermett Corbray is named Royal Huntsman and Lord Justyn Serry of Southshield, Assistant to the Master of Ships Lord Alyn Velaryon of Driftmark. Ser Sarmion Baratheon is appointed Commander of the Sea Watch, while Ser Harstyn Tully is promoted from assistant to Harbormaster in his stead.
Day 28: A melee, as part of which knights also climb the exterior of a tower of love to win favor by ladies cooped up there, is hosted by Danelle Vaith in Sunspear.
Day 29: Ser Corrent Gargalen weds his paramour Tamara Fowler at his ancestral home of Salt Shore.
Day 6: Ser Janden “Swiftspur” Melcolm, Master of Horse, weds Olianne Rosby, lady-in-waiting at the Red Keep, at Rosby. The horse race in celebration is won by Ser Elmer Crakehall, who narrowly thus beats Elyanna Baratheon and Ser Dermett Corbray, tied in second place.
Day 15: Holding court for the first time after a prolonged recovery from an extreme fast, King Baelor decrees a new set of decisions: placement of a few maidens by his confined sisters in what has become known as the Maidenvault, a portion of ten gold dragons for each smallfolk couple that weds -a fortune for the smallfolk, spurring a wave of fraudulent or repeated weddings- following consultation with the High Septon and the Most Devout, and a queer betrothal, that of Ser Aidan Dayne, one of the Dornish emissaries, to a Northwoman, Aisling Ryswell.
Day 15: Tristan Rivers, son of Ser Luthor Rivers and Pennei of House Massey, is born in King’s Landing.
Day 22: Prince Rhodry Martell and the other emissaries reach Sunspear, after a brief repose at Planky Town, and are feted.
Day 27: Ser Tarell Darklyn, heir to Duskendale, weds Myleria Tyrell in King’s Landing. At the celebratory Tourney of Love and Beauty, Ser Conrad Arryn, the Royal Steward, claims victory, unhorsing Ser Kendros “Longaxe” Goodbrook, heir to Goodbrook. He opts to crown his betrothed, Isabel Royce, lady-in-waiting to Lady Lira Arryn, Queen of Love and Beauty.
Day 29: White ravens fly from the Citadel in Oldtown and across the realm to announce the end of a long autumn and the start of winter.
Day 5: Ser Dermett Corbray attacks and stabs Dornish emissary Ser Aubry Allyrion upon the latter drunkenly laying hands on the lady Ammena Piper. The Corbray is put under house arrest, the Dornishman, taken into the custody of his fellow member of the embassy Ser Perrin Blackmont.
Day 6: Ser Aubry Allyrion evades guard and flees the capital, prompting a pursuit.
Day 11: Noble knights locate Ser Aubry, ill, with a festered hand freshly amputated and standing accused of theft, assault, and rape, and subdue him.
Day 30: Landon Gargalen, son of Ser Corrent Gargalen and Tamara of House Fowler is born at Salt Shore.
Day 11: The ship bringing Ser Aubry Allyrion to justice is found to have sunk together with everyone boarding it, off the coast of Dorne.
Day 19: Following an extended hunger strike, Senara Santagar is allowed to leave her seclusion and the court for her ancestral home of Spottswood.
Day 25: Ser Roland Hunter is appointed an Officer of the City Watch of King’s Landing under the command of his cousin, Ser Ryckon Westerling.
Day 28: Ser Conrad Arryn weds Isabel “Brightrune” Royce in King’s Landing, the High Septon himself presiding over the ceremony.
Day 29: The Tourney of Love and Beauty in honor of the Arryn - Royce marriage is won by Ser Mathin “Flamewalker” Lannister, who unhorses Ser Janden Melcolm and thus bestows the Queen of Love and Beauty’s crown on his sister Lady Lira Arryn. He gains a hefty purse for his feat.
Day 29: Jocasta Gargalen, daughter of Joleta Gargalen, heir to Salt Shore and Ser “Dread” Daven Wyl, is born in Sunspear.
Day 2: Eldred Arryn, heir to the Eyrie, disappears from his family’s manse in King’s Landing’s Manse Row.
Day 12: King Baelor announces to his court his intention to swear the holy vows of a Septon, effectively spurring questions on the line of succession.
Day 13: Eldred Arryn is located amidst Flea Bottom hovels and returned to safety.
Day 14: Maeva Serry, daughter of Lord Justyn Serry and his Lady Katla of House Greyjoy is born in King’s Landing.
Day 20: Seven days of preparation and a night of fasting bygone, King Baelor Targaryen is anointed and blessed and rises as the Septon King.
Day 20: Aron Santagar, son of Senara Santagar, heir to Spottswood and Prince Cadan Martell, is born at Spottswood.
Day 22: The recently disgraced Ser Dermett Corbray is installed as an Officer of the Crackclaw Point Wardenship by Warden Ser Dagur Saltcliffe.