A guild tourney in King’s Landing, unrest in Vaith, and the results of Ser Lormon Buckler’s expedition into the kingswood.
Day 1: Festivities sponsored by the guilds of King’s Landing (at the urging, it’s said, of the king and the Hand) following the riots begins in the city, with games, feasts, and frolics. Despite this, tensions are still high following the trouble, and the City Watch is out in force to patrol the streets, especially about King’s Landing.
Day 2: Lord Martyn Hawick and his wife arrive at Saltpans.
Day 3: Lord Martyn successfully ferrets out the camp of the bandits, and his forces destroy them swiftly. Lord Hawick spends a significant time afterwards tending to the future defense of his lands and makes efforts to avoid such situations taking place again.
Day 4: The missing Valeria Blackmont, a Dornish hostage who escaped custody, is discovered having hidden herself in a sept and returned to the Dornish tower. Ser Dagur Saltcliffe is treated for a stab wound he lady gave him, and in consequence for that and her escape Valeria is confined first to a tower cell, then her chambers, and then the Red Keep for more than a month.
Day 7: Festivities sponsored by the guilds of King’s Landing (at the urging, it’s said, of the king and the Hand) following the riots come to their conclusion with a tourney. Many notable feats and events take place, among them Ser Lormon Buckler’s violent attack on Ser Raynard Locke, accusing him of having murdered his son Ser Endros, who had gone missing in the Kingswood. The day went to Ser Dagur Saltcliffe, who performed many notable feats, including defeating Ser Reynard Caron, the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, and ultimatly taking the prize from King Daeron himself. Afterwards, it’s said spoke harshly with Ser Lormon, chastizing him—his kinsman by marriage—for his actions.
Day 13: Perhaps due to his victory in the lists, and certainly due to his skill and experience in arms, Ser Dagur Saltcliffe is given command of the City Watch of King’s Landing. In the weeks that follow, Ser Dagur enters some of his sellsword company into the rolls as sergeants, and goes about reforming the Watch and dealing with the aftermath of the riots. Among the tasks put before him, it is said, is a renewed investigation into the disappearance of Ser Lormon’s son, Ser Endros.
Day 1: Lord Andrey Blackmont’s men clash with a troop out of Starfall, and yet again escape into the mountains with little loss on their side, but several of Ser Wallace Chester’s men wounded or killed. Traffic over the Prince’s Pass is all but a trickle thanks to Blackmont’s rebellious efforts, and Ser Wallace grows increasingly forceful in his efforts to put an end to it. To raise funds to pay for these efforts, Ser Wallace greatly increases the duty on grain off-loaded at Starfall’s harbor, which is currently the
Day 8: Efforts by the warden of the kingswood and the new Commander of the City Watchto find sign of Ser Endros come to an end, in part following strange happenings in the forest. Men disappear, carters are found abandoned, and the smallfolk in the area begin to refuse to leave their cottages in the night out of fear of ghosts and monsters. With the uncertainty as to the cause of the violence, Ser Sarmion and Ser Dagur report to the king on their findings, and leave the question of what to do to him. The king, busy with other matters, comes to no immediate conclusion but sends word to his vassal knights and lords to try and protect the road between Storm’s End and King’s Landing. Their efforts seem to fail, as travellers on the road disappear without a trace in increasing numbers.
Day 10: Preparations for the royal wedding of Prince Baelor and Princess Daena grow increasingly emphasized at court, while concurrently it’s noted by various courtiers that emissaries from Braavos are making regular visitis to the court, sparking concerns that the king is preparing to take large loans from the Iron Bank of Braavos to fund his continuing efforts to pacify Dorne.
Day 18: Ser Lormon Buckler leaves with two score men for the kingswood, determined to find sign of his son, Ser Endros.
Day 20: A fight in an inn in Vaith turns into a murder, after a Dornishman stabs one of the Bright Banners for allegedly forcing himself on the man’s wife. Angry Dornishmen gather outside the Red Dunes, shouting for justice, only to have a volley of crossbow bolts sending them scattering. A sortie from the castle chases down a number of them, killing most of those they catch and taking a few prisoner.
Day 21: On the morning, the people of Vaith find the bodies of the men who were taken prisoner and taken back to King’s Landing hanging from the castle walls, their arms and limbs mutilated, their entrails hanging about their knees. The Bright Banners patrol the town in force for a time after this, meteing out swift violence at any sign of unrest. Tensions grow increasingly high in the town and its surrounding area.
Day 28: Lord Tyrell departs Yronwood, beginning a fresh circuit of the Dornish castles so as to try and keep the countryside passive. He rides to Godsgrace first, following reports reaching him of growing unrest in Vaith.
Day 3: Following rapes and murders of several orphans of the Greenblood, the orphans plying their trade on the upper Vaith withdraw downriver and refuse to carry any more supplies to the Red Dunes. Beslon the Bad has a pair of the Bright Banners hanged, claiming they were at fault for the crime, but it does little to appease the smallfolk of Vaith, some of whom claim that it was Smallwood himself who commited the atrocities.
Day 4: Lord Martyn and Lady Hollyse Hawick depart Saltpans for King’s Landing once more, Soranna Hawick in tow. The pace is a more leisurely one than before.
Day 7: Several orphan families, held under duress by the garrison commander at Godsgrace at the town dock, abandon their poleboats in the night and escape the area of the city. Somehow, word has run down the river to the rest of the orphans, and their poleboats keep well away from Godsgrace as well. This hampers the passage of goods up the Greenblood to its source, vital for supplying the chain of garrisons that King Daeron established to control Dorne’s central desert.
Day 9: Word from Dorne reaches the court, claiming that Lord Manwoody has quietly begun to send more and more men to the vicinity of Vaith with the aid of the sandy Dornish in the deserts who are able to slip them past the chain of garrisons in small numbers. Supporters in Vaith plot with them to attack the Red Dunes, and it is only a matter of time before it happens, risking the garrison being overrun. King Daeron sends immediately to various garrisons in Dorne about this.
Day 12: Lord Caswald Vaith, the younger son of Caston the Leopard who betrayed his elder brother and younger sister so as to be given the rule of Vaith, is tried and summarily executed by Beslon Smallwood for having aided and abetted rebel sympathizers.
Day 15: After nearly a month in the kingswood, Ser Lormon Buckler and most of his men return, weary and haggard, to King’s Landing. They are initially tight-mouthed about what they found, until Ser Lormon is able to speak with the king and his officers.
Day 16: Word begins to spread in the city that the mysterious disappearances and apparent murders in the kingswood can be lain at the feet of the notorious outlaw, Starion Flowers, the feared Starveling. For the last several years, Flowers had confined his band’s efforts to the rainwood, troubling the Baratheons and their vassals, but for some reason he has moved nearer to the royal capital. Ser Lormon Buckler is said to ask for two hundred men to track down Flowers and his bands of men, who have taken to using ambush and fear to terrorize the region and dissuade investigations into their actions.
Day 18: Lord Tyrell arrives at Godsgrace, where he takes up residence. Lady Allyrion greets him stiffly, while the commander of Daeron’s garrison in the town watches on. The lady is sent to her chambers while Lord Tyrell discusses matters in the region with the garrison’s offices, with a special emphasis on the situation in Dorne. That evening, a raven arrives from King’s Landing, warning of Lord Manwoody’s plans which hastens Lord Tyrell’s efforts to strength the garrison line in the desert. He chooses to not send men to Vaith, however, in support of the Bright Banners.
Day 20: Lord Hawick arrives with his household in King’s Landing again, and resumes their residence at the Red Keep.
Day 24: Lord Tyrell departs Godsgrace, leaving behind bodies hanging from the walls—men and women accused of treason against the king for having attempted to forment result—and striking west for Vaith, where rumors of an attack from Lord Manwoody have proven to be false.
Day 30: Welcomed into the desolate town by Beslon the Bad, Lord Tyrell insists that the Bright Banners be billeted outside of the walls to make room for his own forces. Beslon the Bad does so… but it’s noted that he has his company make a secure encampment. Rumors are rife that Lord Tyrell means to do away with the Bright Banners, perhaps violently.
Day 5: An expedition led by Ser Sarmion Baratheon travels into the Kingswood, having received word from Ser Gregor Wendwater that some captured outlaws revealed the approximate location of the Starveling’s chief bandit encampment. Among participants in the expedition are members of the City Watch led by Ser Dagur Saltcliffe, a handful of Dornish hostages allowed the chance to practice their chivalry led by Prince Cadan Nymeros Martell, Ser Jonn Lannister, Ser Ardon Tyrell, Ser Raynard Locke, and a small troop led by Ser Lormon Buckler.
Day 8: An attempt to lure some of the bandits out of the woods proves costlier than intended, but in the end almost all the outlaws are killed or captured. One escapes, however, despite efforts by Ser Lormon to capture him. Later that evening, Ser Lormon’s missing son Endros appears out of the wood and recounts his captivity at the hands of the Starveling, his escape, his recovery from injuries, and his recent return. He confirms the claims of the captives regarding Starion Flowers’s encampment.
Day 9: A double-marriage takes place in Winterfell, as Lord Brandon’s sister Marian is wed to Seth Blackwood, while her former lady-in-waiting Elyn Ryswell is wed to Ser Bonifer Buckwell, castellan of the Antlers.
Day 11: The attack on the Starveling’s camp proves more difficult than imagined, despite the careful planning of the Stormbreaker. Starion Flowers proved wily and, with the warning that he had from the one man to escape the Warden of the Kingswood’s trap, called in many of his bands. Hiding one portion behind a ridge, he allowed the knights to think that they had trapped him. When sixty more men sprang up from the ridge, it was only a thin line of the Dornish hostages and the City Watch that escorted them that held them back long enough. Stormbreaker closed with Flowers, but the notorious bandit escaped with a number of his followers. Prince Cadan took serious injury after an arrow found its way between his ribs, necessitating that a wagon be found to transport him to the nearest maester.
Day 14: Returning from the kingswood, the expedition reports its success in decimating the huge outlaw band under Starion Flowers. However, Prince Cadan’s near run with death is said to have angered the king and the Hand, who had hoped that more care would be taken with the safety of the hostages than to leave them to hold off ten times their number with little aid. The escape of the Starveling was also cause for concern, but it’s said that the king was well-pleased that even though the outlaw escaped, his band was now much weakened and unlikely to cause such great troubles as they had done in the previous months.
Day 19: The wedding of Rosalind Hill to Ser Endros Buckler, recently returned from the Kingswood. Ser Jonn Lannister, heir to Casterly Rock, is not in attendance. However, his great-uncle Ser Rickard Lannister and his daughter Melissa are, after having very recently arrived in the city.
Day 22: Many courtiers enjoy themselves at a feast thrown in the Old Keep in King’s Landing, though none seem to know for certain who the host is or what is the occasion All becomes clear when Prince Aegon Targaryen enters with Lady Cassella Vaith, his mistress picked out from among the Dornish hostages; flaunting her is merely another slap in the face of his wife, Princess Naerys.
Day 29: Lord Manfred Dondarrion, Lord of Blackhaven, arrives in King’s Landing. Just a few short hours later, Ferro Antaryon, the Sealord of Braavos, and his entourage arrive on his flagship, escorted by four war galleys of Braavos. Greeted at the docks by King Daeron and the court, the Sealord and his companions are led in a procession through the streets of the city to the Red Keep. There, they are installed in the Kitchen Keep and then feted at a great feast. Sealord Ferro spends much time at the high table, speaking with the Young Dragon, with his First Sword Trello Romaris hovering near. Among his notable companions are the beautiful, half-Dornish courtesan Essella Antaryon, the Daughter of the Sands, who is a distant relation of the Sealord, and the wealthy merchant-lord Donalo Prestayn, a representative of the Iron Bank of Braavos. Rumors swirl around the court concerning the state visit, with assumptions running towards military alliances, impoving trade, or perhaps matters related to the loans the crown has taken to fund its efforts to control Dorne.
Day 8: Lord Jonothor Arryn sails into port on his new flagship, Ser Artys, after having been at the Vale the last months.
Day 9: Lord Chester takes his leave of his brother and sails from Starfall to Sunspear, at Ser Alyn Velaryon’s request.
Day 15: Seth Blackwood and Ser Bonifer Buckwell arrive by sea from the North with their new brides, Marian of House Stark and Elyn of House Ryswell. More notably, however, Lord Cregan Stark and a small escort of the men of Winterfell arrive with them. Lord Cregan is swiftly presented to King Daeron.
Day 20: A tourney hosted by Ser Jonn Lannister in the fields outside of King’s Landing takes place, in honor of the Sealord of Braavos, who watches with great interest. The event opens with a mummer’s farce clearly aimed at the Tyrells and Ser Dagur Saltcliffe. Ser Aidan Dayne wins against a small field, although he defeats notables such as Lord Whalon Rosby, the Jousting Lord, and the Iron Serpent himself. His hardest matches come against Ser Raynard Locke and, in the final contest, Ser Ethos Mertyns, formerly squire to Ser Sarmion Baratheon.
Day 23: Prince Cadan Nymeros Martell, chief among the Dornish hostages, co-hosts a masque with Princess Daena Targaryen, in honor of the Sealord. It is an extravagant event, carefully orchestrated by the Dornish prince who had the reputation of a leading courtier in Sunspear.
Day 24: Lord Chester arrives at the Planky Town.
Day 25: Despite the rising tensions between the Bright Banners and Lord Tyrell’s men, and between Beslon the Bad and Lord Tyrell himself, Lord Lyonel departs from Vaith and travels north, intent on the Tor. He leaves Beslon the Bad in charge of the town, and is heard to remark that if Beslon wishes to be lord of a charnel house, and the king sees no fault in it, than he will not gainsay them.
Day 26: The wedding of Prince Baelor and Princess Daena takes place with much pomp and ceremony. The prayers issued before, during, and after the ceremony are considerable in number, and the prince fasts on the day of the marriage even during the feast. Two septons read holy text behind him as he sits with his new bride, who dines and converses with the others at the high table. Many high lords and gracious ladies, and a great number of noble knights, are present during the feast. After several hours, the couple are led to the marriage chamber, not by the usual raucous groups of lords and ladies, but by septons.
Day 27: Lord Belion Chester, called Reaversbane in his youth, arrives in Sunspear from Starfall where he had been assisting his brother, Ser Wallace, carry out the bloody business of hunting down Andrey Blackmont and his rebels in the mountains. Reaversbane brought fire and sword to villages and hamlets thought to be giving aid, and skirmished a number of times with outlaw bands. Rumor in the shadow city is that he will be tasked with rooting out rebels nearer to Sunspear, in the city itself perhaps, or in the river valleys of the Greenblood and the Scourge. On the same day, Prince Marence appoints his brother, Prince Rhodry, to the post of Keeper of the Tower of the Sun that was held by Prince Cadan before he was carried away in exile. Tasked with arranging feasts and frolics, the first task given to the prince was to arrange Lord Chester’s formal introduction to his brother after Ser Alyn Velaryon requested such a consideration. Prince Rhodry was outspoken in his disgust.
Day 28: Lord Chester is formally introduced to Prince Marence.
Day 2: At the Tor, Lord Tyrell oversees part of the rebuilding and maintenance of parts of the town, particularly the area of the harbor. Citizens of the town are conscripted into providing this labor, and many local farmers are mercilessly taxed, paying in kind with what few reserves of food that they have so as to increase the stockpile of the king’s garrison holding the castle at the heart of the town.
Day 9: Following the royal wedding, a joust for love took place in honor of the wedded prince and princess. Notable participants among the more than two dozen knights included Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, Ser Tancred Baratheon, Ser Sarmion Baratheon, Ser Ardon Tyrell, Lord Rosby, Ser Aidan Dayne, Ser Noel Upcliff, Ser Janden Melcolm, Ser Ethos Mertyns, Ser Kay Yronwood, Ser Raynard Locke, and the Sealord of Braavos, Ferro Antaryon. The Sealord hastily learned jousting after witnessing the Lannister tourney, and had the modest aim of riding a course against seven knights, which he achieved while carrying the favor of Princess Rhaena. Sarmion Stormbreaker carried his dead wife’s favor until he broke his first lance in his first tilt, and then honorably changed it to the favor of Lyrissa Hightower, to whom he was newly betrothed. A mystery knight clad in grey caused some speculation, until at the end he revealed himself to be Ser Dagur Saltcliffe. Of all the jousters, only Prince Aemon rode undefeated in all contests, including unhorsing the Knight of the Twilight who had twice successfully matched him. However, after the ladies deliberated, the prize for the finest example of devotion and chivalry was given to Ser Ardon.
Day 21: Rumors run through King’s Landing that the Sealord of Braavos, Ferro Antaryon, has been in negotiation to betroth the king’s sister, Rhaena.
Day 10: Lord Tyrell arrives at Ghost Hill, where he makes efforts to quiet the region. Lord Toland seems intent on protecting his people, and grudgingly takes part in Lord Tyrell’s efforts to pacify the area, lending him a few household knights to lead his forces into the surrounding desert and wastes where rebels and outlaws are said to dwell. Lord Tyrell personally leads a significant expedition west, deeper into the Broken Arm, as a show of force; he burns down a handful of holdfasts and villages as part of the process, places suspected of rendering rebels aid.
Day 11: Prince Marence appoints an assistant for his brother Prince Rhodry in carrying out the tasks of Keeper of the Tower of the Sun. He chooses Elysa Dayne, sister to the Lady of Starfall, who was known to him. The lady is tasked with assisting Prince Rhodry in arranging a farewell feast for Lord Chester, who will soon set out on his task of rooting out rebels to his grace, King Daeron.
Day 18: The betrothal of the Sealord of Braavos to Princess Rhaena Targaryen is proclaimed throughout the city of King’s Landing, and birds wing to the four corners of the kingdom with this news.
Day 21: A farewell feast is held in the Old Palace of Sunspear for Lord Chester on the eve of his departure for the Greenblood, where he will bring the king’s justice and root out rebels. Prince Rhodry, tasked with organizing it, is not there, leaving it to his assistant Lady Elysa Dayne and his brother, Prince Marence. A less than cheerful affair for the most part, but there are no untoward incidents. The party runs very late into the night.
Day 22: On the morning set for his departure, Lord Chester rides into the shadow city with only a pair of guards in some haste, apparently for a last meeting with Ser Alyn Velaryon, the king’s cousin and Master of Ships. Running into a funeral procession in that early hour, Lord Chester attempts to force his way past, separating himself from his guards. From the procession, assassins leap out, dragging Belion Reaversbane from his horse and stabbing him many times unto his death. Chaos follows, and a strict curfew is called in the city. At least a dozen Dornishmen are killed in rioting or in other mischief that evening.
Day 24: The investigation determines that Lord Chester was in the shadow city so early because the message intended to bring him into his last meeting with Ser Alyn was delayed some hours. The knight who had been tasked with carrying it is seen being berated, and shortly after is sent away to the Planky Town to take ship for the upper reaches of the Greenblood, to hunt rebels and outlaws in the dangerous desert wastes. The Lord Shariff, Ser Robin Dayne, provides full assistance into the matter at Prince Marence’s behest.
Day 25: The pillow house where the knight tasked with carrying Ser Alyn’s message decided to while some hours before delivering the missive is turned inside out in search of conspirators who had some part in Lord Chester’s death. Two pillow girls and one of the pillow house’s serving men, however, have disappeared. Ser Robin orders a thorough search of the shadow city for these suspects, as well as the assassins who carried out the foul murder.
Day 30: The investigation into Lord Chester’s death is given up as fruitless, with the only new information being that one of the pillow girls was said to have left for the Planky Town to take ship for Oldtown to see if trade will be better there. Ser Alyn sends to the harbormaster there to see if any such ships had departed. At the same time, in King’s Landing, news of Lord Belion’s murder arrives. The king is outraged, and spends his time in council.
Day 8: Lord Tyrell departs from Ghost Hill, sweeping south along the high hills to root out more rebels, then turning west for Godsgrace.
Day 12: Jaremy Dustin of Barrowton and eight of the Brothers of the Battle arrive in King’s Landing, on the latest ship from Dorne. Those northmen among them meet with Lord Stark, who is making preparations to depart for Winterfell the fortnight after the Sealord departs. They bear letters from Ser Alyn Velaryon and Lord Tyrell as well, and fresh news of events there that make them popular at court when combined with their renown for their famous chivalric combat.
Day 14: The Sealord of Braavos departs with great pomp and circumstance. He swears to personally return in a year’s time, to escort his betrothed, Princess Rhaena, to Braavos for a great wedding.
Day 16: Lord Stark departs King’s Landing for Winterfell, after concluding his business in the South.
Day 20: Reaching Godsgrace, Lord Tyrell rests his forces before daring the desert for the arduous crossing to Hellholt.
Day 23: Lord Tyrell departs Godsgrace, striking west.
Day 15: Lord Lyonel Tyrell and his tail of forces arrive at Hellholt, there to pacify the surrounding area and to ensure the loyalty of Lady Uller. Outlaws and rebels in the deep desert—some being remnants of Lord Vaith’s forces—remain an issue in the region, and suspicions run high that Lady Uller and those in the castletons are providing them suppot and information. The next month feature occasional minor clashes with isolated groups of outlaws, who more often than not escape into the desert on their swift sand steeds. Guides from the local population as often as not hamper Lord Lyonel’s efforts, sometimes failing to find watering places or appropriate shelters among the sands.
Day 25: In the Prince’s Pass, the outlaw lord Andrey Blackmont and a handful of his men crept from their hiding places in the fastnesses and tracks of the red mountains of Dorne. Their purpose? A parley with Lord Qorgyle’s castellan, Ser Mavros Uller, a man once exiled from Dorne and now rising high thanks to an old, blind lord’s trust and the esteem of the Young Dragon. For weeks, Ser Mavros at the head of a troop of Qorgyle spears played a cat-and-mouse game with the rebel who had done so much to choke traffic across the Prince’s Pass and who bedeviled Ser Wallace Chester in Starfall. A number of skirmishes had taken place, until suddenly Ser Mavros received word from King’s Landing that the king wished him to speak under a peace banner with Lord Andrey, to offer him a conditional pardon, the promise of honorable treatment and respect for his courage, and a new son in the form of the heir to Storm’s End when he married his daughter, the hostage Lady Valeria.
After much effort, Ser Mavros seemed to prevail on Andrey Blackmont to meet with him. In a high mountain vale they were to meet. What followed was chaos: word from the Prince’s Pass was that Lord Blackmont had broken the peace of the parley, and that he died as a result. The truth? Ser Mavros and he had already secretly met, and the infamous Uller had informed him that King Daeron wished him killed… but that Lord Qorgyle and he intended to start a rebellion. And so the rumor of Lord Andrey’s demise was only a stratagem, to buy time and trust for Sandstone.
Day 25: Lord Stark arrives at Winterfell after having left King’s Landing a month before.
Day 25: In Braavos, the Sealord deals with the preparations for his wedding in the coming year to Princess Rhaena, while the Archon of Tyrosh and the Prince of Pentos threaten war against him.
Day 25: The secret marriage of Valeria Blackmont to Kay Yronwood, recently discovered, puts at jeoprday the king’s plans for her marriage to the heir to Storm’s End. The marriage cannot go forward until the question of annulling the secret marriage is resolved among the recalcitrant Most Devout who have dug in their heels (and forced the High Septon to do the same) over concerns that the Faith is too much at the beck and call of the Young Dragon. The king has Lord Ryger, the master of laws, draw up a bill of attainder dispossessing Valeria and her siblings and other kin of Blackmont, and sends for Lord Baratheon to discuss the disposition of the ancient Dornish seat.
Day 24: Lord Tyrell sets out from Hellholt after having spent a month at the seat, aiming west for Sandstone to meet with Lord Qorgyle, to discuss the death of Andrey Blackmont and progress in the Prince’s Pass, and more.
Day 4: Having arrived at Sandstone after a hard ride through the desert with his three thousand men-at-arms and knights, Lord Lyonel is met by the blind Lord Qorgyle, who presents him with the tar-preserved head of Lord Andrey Blackmont. His castellan, Ser Mavros, who had served as the king’s emissary and who is said to have killed Blackmont when the outlaw tried to kill him during a parley, was not present. After being satisfied with Lord Qorgyle’s report of the situation in the region, Lord Lyonel explained his intentions to spend a moon’s turn at Sandstone, and required Sandstone to supply his mounted force while they hunted the desert for certain rebels as well as providing his own chambers for his own residence as was his custom.
That evening, Lord Lyonel—fond of Dornish women—reached for the bell-pull to summon one to his bed. The bed’s canopy parted with the pull of the rope, however, a thousand scorpions fell onto him. He died, screaming, as his lords and officers were slaughtered in the night. One small group barricaded themselves in the ravenry, sending ravens wildly with messages they forced the maester to write, but they too died once the door was forced open. Outside the castle walls, the encamped host—having been given a great deal of Dornish wine as a reward for the swift passage through the desert, and drunk with it—were set upon by fifteen hundred Dornish spears led by Ser Mavros himself. Unprepared, it was a rout, and hundreds were killed, and night on a thousand surrendered. The rest, driven into the desert without adequate water or food, would face a slower death.
Day 5: Hundreds of prisoners are executed outside the walls of Sandstone at Qorgyle’s command. At Hellholt, that same morning, the people of the castleton armed themselves and swarmed the castle gates as they were opened to admit fresh supplies to the garrison. Lady Uller’s kin and retainers joined them, forcing the surrender of the garrison. No message had yet arrived from Sandstone—the Ullers appear to have been forewarned. Lady Joslena, freed from his confinement, ordered the hanging of every knight that surrendered. Over sixty bodies swung from the battlements of Hellholt by noon.
Day 6: Word arrives at Hellholt of what happened at Sandstone. Lady Joslena commands that the spears be gathered, and many are the smallfolk who volunteer their arms. Word also arrives at Starfall, while Ser Wallace Chester is away escorting a train of supplies leaving the Prince’s Pass. The maester, keeping the messsage concealed, delivers it to Lady Alia Dayne. Quietly, she informs members of her household.
Day 7: Ser Wallace returns to Starfall, unaware of the news still. That night, he goes to Lady Alia’s bed.
Day 8: Ser Wallace is dead, murdered in his bed. The garrison is quickly overwhelmed, as the smallfolk about the castle are admitted under arms. The lady commands a minimal loss of life, and most of Ser Wallace’s kin and men surrender to her and are imprisoned. Even the septon called Preachfire is kept alive.
Ser Wallace’s son by the Lady of Starfall, Lyonel, is not seen again.
Day 8: A great caravan of supplies and goods—arms and armor, arrows, grain, and more—coming up from Nightsong, escorted by a hundred Dornish spears—Qorgyle spears—is ambushed by a large force of outlaws. The Qorgyle spears turn on the rest of the defenders, joining the attackers.
The outlaws fly the black vulture of Blackmont.
Day 9: The news reaches Kingsgrave, where the garrison is able to maintain control. They send a raven to Blackmont, to share the news.
Day 10: Early that morning, the caravan on the Prince’s Pass arrives at Blackmont to deliver supplies. The raven from Kingsgrave arrives as the gates are being opened, and when the maester reads it, he says nothing. The castle falls in quick order, after the commander surrenders. It does him and his officers little good. Their throats are slit and they are thrown into a nearby ravine, food for the vultures. The leader of the outlaws takes command of the castle, and is welcomed by smallfolk and Blackmonts alike: Lord Andrey himself, back from the dead; though of course he was never killed, but merely agreed in secret with Ser Mavros Uller on the rouse.
Day 11: The news of Tyrell’s death and the raising of the banners of rebellion by the Qorgyles and Ullers reaches the Planky Town. There, the orphans of the Greenblood and other Dornishmen rise up, attempting to seize the docked ships of Ser Alyn Velaryon’s fleet. Although a handful of ships are burned or damaged, Ser Alyn’s lieutenant and captains manage to take much of the fleet to sea. Those sailors and knights ashore at the time were able to fight their way to the last ships to clear the dock, leaving the Planky Town entirely raised against them.
News arrives at the Tor and Ghost Hill of the uprising, and the garrisons take up steps to defend themselves.
Day 12: News of the events at Sandstone and Hellholt reaches Sunspear, where some seem to have been forewarned; rumor too follows from Planky Town, magnifying the harm done to the king’s fleet with claims that half the ships were burned or taken. The shadow city, long a nest of rebellious sentiments despite the attempts of Prince Marence to remain calm, explodes and almost every single group of the king’s knights and men-at-arms found in its streets and alleys are murdered. Ser Alyn and a number of high officers, lords, and heirs were dining with Prince Marence at the Old Palace, unaware of the news until Prince Rhodry Nymeros Martell bursts in with a number of retainers, calling for the hanging of all the king’s men. Violence ensues, during which Ser Alyn is taken hostage, and Ser Mern Estren takes Prince Marence hostage in turns. Eventually, Marence is able to bring an end to the confrontation, promising Ser Alyn and his men the protection of guest right. Surrendering their arms, they are taken to tower rooms under guard.
Assessing the news, Prince Marence fears it a trap, and is cautious. He sends the shariffs out to calm the shadow city and find and rescue any remaining king’s men. At the walled inn where Velaryon customarily made his headquarters, more than a hundred knights and soldiers hold off a few attempts by the smallfolk to storm their walls, and afterward the shariffs force the smallfolk away. None are allowed to leave or enter while the prince decides what to do. Among the occupants is Ser Meros Tyrell, Mad Meros as he is called, who had been at the feast at the Old Palace but left early; by some chance or skill, he contrived to win his way back to the headquarters, where he is said to be in charge of those holding out in the fort.
Day 13: Sunspear remains unsteady, but the shariffs are doing their duty as the king commanded. Prince Marence meets with Ser Alyn, informing him of the latest news. Despite Ser Alyn’s urging that the king will remember his friends when this uprising is dealt with, the prince requires Ser Alyn to remain as his “guest” while he considers. Many of his councilors advise him to raise the banners as well, to send the spears to liberate the rest of the seats watered by the Greenblood, but he hesitates.
At Skyreach, six hundred rebels reinforced by the local smallfolk surround Skyreach. Aware of the disaster, and the lack of reinforcement or supply in the forseeable future, the garrison commander accepts the offer to surrender in return for safe passage to the Marches.
Day 14: Ghost Hill’s garrison commanders die of poison. Once more, Dornishmen are able to seize the castle gates. The garrison holds to the inner keep, able to withstand a siege, but young Lord Toland convinces them to surrender peacefully in return for the promise of a boat to take them away to safety. An attempted uprising by smallfolk about Vaith proves far less successful, brutally put down by Beslon Smallwood and the Bright Banners, who have practically depopulated the countryside. Godsgrace, one of the most powerful and wealthiest of seats, remains under control of a garrison a thousand strong, although the smallfolk grow restless and a few isolated murders and destruction or theft of supplies have taken place. The commander of the garrison sets the smallfolk to reinforcing the walls and gates, while sending to Yronwood, Sunspear, and King’s Landing for orders.
Qorgyle forces, under Ser Mavros, depart for Hellholt, while another force under Ser Manfryd the Merciful moves west to join troops from House Dayne marching east with the intention of joining other Dornish rebels in barring the Boneway and capturing watchtowers manned by the king’s men.
Day 15: The uprising of the smallfolk at the Tor comes in a sudden outburst when the garrison commander leads a strong force to pacify the surrounding region. Servants from within the castle open a sallyport, and smallfolk rush in. The remaining garrison are mostly killed, while the town gates are hurriedly foritified. Returning to now find the castle and town against him, the commander chooses to withdraw towards Yronwood in good order. Jordayne men-at-arms and mounted archers harry them, but to little effect.
Day 17: Lord Manwoody, after months of little activity, leads outlaws to swarm in a dozen different places on the Boneway, laying ambushes and capturing supplies. Red Rhys of the Scourge and Alyx the Witch also leave their outlaw fastness, increasing the disorder there. Yronwood and Wyl, still strongly held, are now cut off from communication by Dornish rebels save for the use of ravens.
Day 18: After spending a week at sea, waiting to see if Ser Alyn’s forces at Sunspear might clear out the rebels at the Planky Town, a boat from Lemonwood—still in the king’s hands—finds them and informs them of all that has transpired, such as they know it. Salt Shore, it’s said, is still held by the garrison there and Velaryon’s lieutenant determines to take the fleet there, to take stock of the situation and resupply.
Day 19: Word is sent to King’s Landing from Wyl of what has transpired in the Boneway, and what news of the rest of Dorne has arrived there.
Day 22: By this date, news has arrived at Sunspear of the various events in the west, including the fall of Blackmont with the return of Lord Andrey, as well as the defeat or surrender of the garrisons at Skyreach, the Tor, and Ghost Hill.
At Salt Shore, Velaryon’s lieutenant lends troops to reinforce the garrison and prepares plans to retake the Planky Town and then lay siege to Sunspear.