22 Iron lands that breed Iron men

ASHA GREYJOY'S POV

Where the North has its tradition and the South its chivalry, the Iron Islands has its strength. We call ourselves the 'Ironborn', and we are warriors feared throughout the Seven Kingdoms.

Or so we used to be.

Unlike our mainland cousins, the First Men of the Iron Islands never bowed to the Old Gods and their strange trees. Ours was the Drowned God, who made the ironborn to reave and sack and write their names in salt, steel, and song, that his enemy, the Storm God, could not wash away.

We raised our kings from our own ranks and used beaten foes as thralls to work our mines and farm our land. Or as salt wives to warm our beds, if a woman was pretty enough. Such was the Old Way, and while we followed it, we held sway wherever the waves were heard.

As for the Seven, they are gods of weakness and defeat, pretty chains that the First Men kindly put on after the Andals crushed them, except in the Iron Islands… and in the North.

Since the Dawn Age, the Ironborn have followed our religion, as our god plucked fire from the sea and made us to reave and sack and carve our names in blood and song.

When the Andals landed on the Iron Islands, they found a god who was Father, Warrior, and Stranger; who took Mother, Maiden, and Crone when he would; and held the Smith in thrall. His priests are Drowned Men, who are clothed and armed by the sea itself and consecrate us to our creator through our most sacred rite, the Drowning, and ask God to raise them from the sea as he was, harder and stronger.

The ironborn do not fear the bloodiest battle or the roughest waves, for our God taught us long ago that what is dead may never die.

When an Ironborn falls, we just say that the Drowned God needed a strong oarsman and took him below to feast in the God's watery halls, attended by mermaids. But even in death, an ironborn is a warrior. Forever fighting against the Storm God, who holds a castle in the clouds and sends the winds to lure the ironborn off course or wreck their ships.

It's said my legendary ancestor, the Grey King, waged war against the deity of storms for a thousand years. With the help of our God, he slew the great Sea Dragon Nagga and used her bones for his hall. After its death, countless times the storms had tried to wash away any memory of this terrible foe, but songs of that legendary accomplishment fill our halls to this day.

It is widely known that it was the Storm God who first blew the Andals to the Iron Islands; to subdue us and turn us from our faith. True, they conquered and killed our king; but in time, they forsook their septs for the shore and their fat septons for the Drowned Men. The Andals came to us conquerors; in the end, they drowned.

The ironborn are of the sea, as our God made us, and given to it as our God taught us. We do not fear the Storm God's winds or his waves. But everyone else should, for they bring us to them.

Or, as I keep forgetting, so we did in our heyday.

Centuries back when Aegon came demanding fealty, King Harren the Black ruled as far east as the Trident. While other kings, like the Starks, could kneel and surrender, Harren was ironborn, and the ironborn must be beaten.

In Harrenhal, the black king had the mightiest castle in Westeros, and the army to defend it. A pity that Aegon never intended for a siege. Mounting his gargantuan dragon, the conqueror carved his epithet by roasting Harren and all his sons in their tower, and the old way with them.

Because of Harren's defiance, Aegon pushed the Ironborn back to our islands and gave the Riverlands to the insignificant Tullys. Granted, he did also allow the ironborn to choose who would lead them, but only to have a better way of ruling us.

However, even before that, House Greyjoy had always been one of the greatest houses of the Iron Islands. Tracing our descent from the Age of Heroes and the legendary Grey King, the very same who took a mermaid to wife and waged war upon the deity of storms for a thousand years. Blessed by the Drowned God to slay the great Sea Dragon and take her fire for his own.

This history made our ancestor, Vickon Greyjoy, the natural choice to lead the Ironborn after Aegon's Conquest. And for almost three hundred years, my House ruled the Ironborn, styling ourselves Lords of the Iron Islands, King of Salt and Rock, Son of the Sea Wind, Lord Reaper of Pyke.

In truth, we were nothing more than thralls. Regardless of how our people still chanted 'What is Dead May Never Die', the Old Way had died. Until now, as the Targaryens have followed their dragons into the grave, my lord father, Balon Greyjoy, prepares himself to rise against the new king, Robert Baratheon.

My father will seize our ancient crown and send our Iron Fleet against the greenlanders, burning all of their ships before any could lay anchor.

For the Greyjoy's sigil is the kraken and what it grasps once, it will never surrender.

—————————————————————

DURRANDON'S POV

It was finally time for me to board a ship once again, this time with the prospect of a deeper connection to my godly heritage due to what seemed to be a longer voyage through the open sea. So I made sure everything was ready before sailing off Seaguard.

Sending both Tyrion and Daven so they could begin making all the preparations I requested, I also had them bring along Samwell Tarly, Pia and Satin back to Lannisport just because I wasn't completely sure of how stupid the Ironborn really were.

The winter was almost upon us once again and any declaration of war from a small region such as the Iron Islands would've been completely crushed as soon as the snow melted away. For you see, despite their respectable sized navy, their army of 20 thousand men was incredibly small compared to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms.

While at the sea and coastal areas they might be a nightmare to face under a certain situation, their biggest weakness such as lack of cavalry and soldier discipline prevented them from marching into enemy territory to claim victory.

And don't let me get started with their awful economy that knew nothing of the agricultural and trading arts.

But who knows, even if they did everything right, their rebellion was still bound to fail since everyone else in Westeros seemed to hate them so much more than one another.

Before I joined the small battalion of men clambered on board that would accompany me on my journey, it was probably worth taking a last moment to consider the history of Seagard, for it was inextricably linked with my destination.

This town, the seat of House Malister, was built, or at least fortified, in order to protect the Riverlands from raids by the Iron Islanders.

I haven't given much as much thought to the Ironborn so far in my travels as I should have considering their looming rebellion only hasn't taken place yet due to the winter severely slowing down their war efforts. But for millennia everywhere down the west coast of Westeros people have looked warily out into the sunset sea, scanning for the distinctive sails of the Iron Islanders longboats.

I'm sure I will have plenty of time to get into their culture more as I explore the Islands, but as far as towns and villages like this were concerned, the Ironborn were raiders and pillagers who appeared with no warning, took what they wanted and destroyed what they didn't.

Despite my disregard for their chances of succeeding in their rebellion, I couldn't deny they were feared for a very good reason. You will be hard pressed to find any region with a tougher population since they are so focused on reaving, fighting and paying the iron price.

Pretty much everyone is willing and capable of throwing down when shit hits the fan. Not to mention how they arguably boast the largest navy in Westeros, with hundreds of longships that while not built specifically for war were still only defeated by an alliance of both the Royal and Redwyne fleet.

And as for natural defenses, they actually rank really high since the only way to get to them is by sailing, their massive fleet making just reaching them a massive undertaking, and even then one would have to immediately face a stationed host on the beach.

Not that easy for those not experienced with sea life and combat.

At Seagard, the need for early warning of such an attack led to the wonderfully named Booming Tower, a watch tower with a massive bronze bell that sounded whenever Ironborn longships were sighted.

It was the cue for the people of the region to flee to the safety of the castle and for the small fleet, which was docked here, to take to the water and face up against the fearsome raiders.

Although this was one of the closer ports to the Iron Islands, given how the north of the Westernlands was by some reason not that well explored or inhabited, journeys from here to there were still rare.

House Malister, the rulers of Seagard, were notoriously suspicious of the Iron Islanders. Not unreasonably, in my opinion, given their history. So trade between the kingdoms wasn't exactly booming.

But I shall proceed nonetheless, taking provisions for what seemed to be a week's journey thanks to the good weather my Thaumaturgy had just foreseen.

My time at sea will also be a useful reminder that although I might be going to what was considered to be the home of the Ironborn, they curiously perceived more the sea and their boats as their home.

The sea surrounding their islands was at the heart of their religion, their lifestyle and their self-identity. And as Gerion's 'Laughing Lion' set out into the deep waters of Ironman's Bay, it was easy to understand why, westwards beyond the islands was who knows what.

Some say the sea just kept on going, others that there was another continent just beyond our reach. If so, no one had ever been there and returned to tell of it. Perhaps that task will fall over me in the future.

As the waters around the 'Laughing Lion' teemed with life, Gerion Lannister, the captain of this ship, ordered for his marines to let down a net to drag behind us as we sailed and when the crew hauled it back on board there were a dozen or more different kinds of fish in it.

Cod, skate, monkfish, mackerel and many more the crew couldn't even name. Though I'm sure I could prepare all of them into fine meals regardless of that.

"Ugh!" I heard my undead greeting me with a grunt, as Sandor led me back to my chamber inside the 'Laughing Lion' ship.

"Thanks, Sandor. You may rest for now, Ser Knight will be staying guard until morning." I gently dismissed my Swornshield and moved to enter my bedchamber.

"Understood. If you need me for anything, I'll be ready." He nodded, immediately retrieving his helm and moving towards his own place for rest. Probably planning to pray a little before sleeping in order to forget about the swings of the sea.

Signaling for 'Ser Knight' to follow me inside, I commanded. "Come forth, my Nightwalker."

As the room was lit by a single lantern that swung with the movement of the ship, the shadow behind my disguised undead began altering to take the shape of my Nightwalker with its figure displaying a cycling swarm of echoes of itself.

As the fusion between my Unseen Servants and Undead Shadows kneel before me in silence, I began putting my previous reflections into action.

While I had my Death Knight disguised as my Knight identity 24/7 switching places with Sandor to guard me, I've been neglecting to put my Nightwalker to visible use ever since I had it hidden in my first undead minion's shadow.

Following a similar path I had with the Death Knight, I disguised it as my Rogue personality with its Dornish traits, though instead of having it displayed the same gear of an elite rogue I made it resemble an actual butler. One that would be seen performing simple tasks that any human servant was expected to do, such as fetching things, cleaning, mending, folding clothes, lighting fires, serving food and pouring wine. While secretly continuing with its task of mass producing everlasting Minor Summoning materials.

While my Nightwalker was always so silent, I had no doubt of its loyalty towards me. Unlike my Death Knight, who I had only released from my control after understanding it was intelligent enough to respect my power.

Before hearing the armor of my Death Knight moving, I already knew it had unsheathed its weapon and was waiting for me to do the same. Other than this creature's respect for power I've always wondered how in the seven hells that I've come across an undead with an actual sense of honor, given how it kept only challenging me once we were alone and after he had given me a fair warning of its intentions.

"Very well, if you insist." I shrugged while subtly casting my Shadow spell to surround us while leaving enough room for us to see each other. Altering myself to look like the same identity I had it constantly hid underneath, I made sure it understood I was offering power and glory in exchange for its service. "I'm ready whenever you are."

Raging and action surging, we clashed without worries after I had my Nightwalker make sure that the sound wouldn't escape that room, and even if it somehow did, it would be responsible to make people dismiss it immediately. Instead of equipping my Valyrian Steel Gladius to fight an undead wielding a greatsword, I raced forward with my bare fits.

We both knew I could obliterate it with my Magic, or that my equipment such as Dragonbone crossbow and Runed Bronze armor weren't anything it could hope to deal with for now, so a good fashion beatdown was the best way to have it acknowledge my superiority and right of rule.

Spending Ki I used my Step of the Wind to make it basically impossible for its strikes to even come close of harming me and whenever my Death Knight thought it had the upper hand in an opportunity attack I had willing displayed, my Patient Defense made even the strikes that were an inch close to my face miss as I casually stepped away.

Since its undead nature prevented it from exhausting itself, the reason behind it was that theatricality and illusion are powerful agents. Proof of that, as I finally halted my movement and stopped circling around it, I raised my arms open and challenged it to hit me.

The wrath of my Death Knight was indeed something to behold, especially when provoked to that extent, I observed it move its blade with enough strength to chop down a tree in a single swing. But as the massive blade fell down on me, with the perfect edge alignment to cut me in half, it was a little comical to witness how it barely cut deep enough to draw a drop of blood from the space between my neck and shoulder.

Ok, you got me, while I didn't have my first class Arcane Armor spell activated, against regular weapons my always active Arcane Ward cantrip was more than enough. Besides, my Rage seemed to peak whenever I was this close to the sea or exposed to either frozen tundra or scorching desert, not to mention all the other passive and active magical buffs that I had at my disposal.

"You don't get it, do you?" I grabbed my Death Knight's longsword blade with one hand and casually outmatched its strength by lifting it slightly above my head. "Against regular people you might be an unstoppable force that kills and destroys entire troops of men. But as you can see, without the proper equipment and further growth to your own level, a match between us couldn't be described as a fight."

Spending my Ki again and using my Flurry of Blows against its breastplate, I showed to it once again the gap between us by carving a whole with my right hand that would've killed any regular person.

Staring back at it while displaying my left fist that was channeling Radiant energy, I watched the malevolent pinpoints of light burning in its eye sockets flicker with clear doubt about its own capabilities. As my Death Knight dropped its weapon in defeat, I took my right fist from its chest and gently placed my other hand as it was now engulfed in darkness, healing the undead by exposing it to necrotic energy.

"Regardless of who won, I can see that you are ready for further improvements." After completely healing it and repairing its equipment with my Thaumaturgy cantrip, the Death Knight kneeled once again before me and waited silently for me to continue. "As for getting you magical equipment, I'll see what I can do about it."

The tall and bulky undead nodded in agreement as it stood up once again, doing as I commanded it before getting ready to be transformed once again to resemble my Knight identity.

But before doing so, I casted Ray of Sickening Fear a few times and watched as a green energy lashed against it. My Death Knight immediately howled, not because of pain but due to the influx of necrotic energy forcefully strengthening his undead physiology, kinda like DC's Bane went through every time he used his Venom.

I've been doing this ever since First Class spells became free of mana cost for me to use, and as a direct result my undead minion gained a much more noticeable boost compared to the Decompose Cantrip. The maximum effect of this buff lasted only a few minutes, but fortunately there was a minimal residual portion that kept stacking with each exposure to necrotic energy.

If not for my massive list of broken features like Rage, which doubled my Power and Endurance stats, or Action Surge and Extra Attack, which doubled my Mobility stat, keeping this hulking undead under my control without killing it wouldn't have been practical.

As I dismissed the Transmutation magic that had altered my body, I felt my connection with the Shadowfell deepening to the point of better understanding my undead followers. From what I managed to get from it, the Death Knight was also intrigued by my connection to the Plane of Shadows, a land it probably understood its kind also had a strange connection to.

'This definitely will help me with my studies on Necromancy magic.' I told myself, optimistically, that the specimens I had in both my Death Knight and Nightwalker were great test subjects to keep analyzing. 'Now, if the Shadowfell was where the dark and gloomy parts of this world were pushed out to, I also had to contemplate about my connection with its antithesis, the Feywild, where the brightest and most vibrant parts were.'

Other than me, my Wild Companion, Shadow, was the only one with such a strong connection.

Speaking of her, she has suddenly developed an appreciation of playing small pranks on anyone that wasn't me, like tying up some shoelaces or changing the places of things to confuse people. Perhaps it has something to do with her developing nature as a fey creature, or it's just in her nature.

Spending my Wild Points and meditating on my connection with the Feywild nearby her had been a great boost to both of our evolution.

To her as she learned to reproduce both my Nature cantrips Thorn Whip from her tail and Infestation from her symbiotic spores, not to mention a new trait that lets her vanish in a puff of misty dust. And to me by leveling up my titles of Druid and Ranger twice.

The former at sixth level gave me a connection between my wizardry visions of the future to the starry cosmos and granted a magical nature to my Wild Shapes, basically making my animal attacks magical and giving me freaking immunity to non magical attacks.

As for the latter, at fifth level I unlocked both a special type of Favored Foe in 'Horde Breaker', which wouldn't you know… made me more deadly against groups of enemies… while also unlocking a new trait called 'Beast Master'.

[BEAST MASTER TRAIT]

*Many rangers are more at home in the wilds than in civilization, to the point where animals consider them kin. Certain Rangers develop a close bond with multiple beasts, then further strengthen those bonds through the use of magic.

It's Animal Companions Feature basically pushed my skills like Animal Taming, Handling and Training to even stupider levels. And that was exactly what I needed to take the next step with my latest 2nd class spell.

You see, lately I've been so confused as to why Shadow was behaving so strangely to those close to me, but I've finally understood that as our connection was a two way street, she eventually felt what I was seeking to accomplish.

To bond more familiars to me.

Prime examples of that were the time I caught Shadow staring at Light, my white raven, as if it was her prey.

The interesting thing about ravens was that they could mimic simple sounds they had heard just like parrots did, such as a person whispering, a baby crying, or an animal chittering. Though anyone that hears the sounds seems to barely be able to tell the difference without paying attention. And the white ravens were known for their higher intelligence over their dark cousins, which led to amusing moments where Light spoke with my voice.

"Shadow! Bad girl! Leave Light alone!" The bird occasionally remarked whenever it caught Shadow prowling close to it.

'Master, allow me to kill it! It's annoying!' Was Shadow usual response, followed by the dead serious face cats so comically displayed.

"No, Shadow. The time has finally come." I told her after taking a bronze brazier from out of my Inventory.

"It has?' They both told me.

Nodding, I reached for my metallic wand and channeled the sufficient amount of mana while lighting up a fire inside the bronze brazier and burning the ingredients I had prepared for it. By opening my Grimoire, we were also joined by Page's image.

"Greetings, master. Is it time?" She asked me, replying as soon as I nodded back. "Very well, let's proceed. I will be making records of everything that happens for future analysis."

"Understood." I finally began to cast the spell that had one of the largest casting times compared to my other ones. Even my Quickened spell Metamagic wasn't enough to shorten it to less than an hour.

{FLOCK OF FAMILIARS Lv- 1(0%)}

[SECOND CLASS CONJURATION SPELL: Familiars are spirits that can be made from any animal you have affinity with, transforming it into either celestial, fey or fiend instead of a regular beast. Your familiar acts independently of you, but it always obeys your commands. When the familiar drops to 0 health points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again without having to spend the same casting time and material components. Incidentally, temporarily dismissing your familiar makes it disappear into a pocket dimension where it awaits your summons free of any material cost. Finally, when you cast a spell with a range of touch, your familiar can deliver the spell as if it had cast the spell. And while making physical contact with you, your spells that only target you will be immediately extended to them. Choose one of the following options for what you bound the service of: Seven tiny familiars. One tiny and three small familiars. One medium and two small familiars. **If you do not spend all of it now, you can do so during the following casting of this spell.]

CASTING TIME: 1 HOUR

RANGE: TOUCH

COMPONENTS: V, S AND M (Charcoal, incense and herbs that must be consumed by fire in a brass brazier)

DURATION: INSTANTANEOUS.

'I also wished to turn Night into my Steed Companion, but since she fits into the category of large animal, I will probably have to level this spell up a little before doing so.' I told myself, finding a little solace in the fact that I hadn't brought her along. 'And just like with my Unseen Servant spell, it wasn't as if multiple uses of the same spell would grant me multiple times the same result.'

"Please, stay still." I said after the hour long of preparing this spell had ended and my White Raven landed on my forearm. "Light, I want you to be my Celestial Familiar."

My trusty bird, which I had trained and befriended for a couple of months now, had gained a faint magical glow. Some magical marks began moving around her feathers almost as if they were alive, and she disappeared in thin air. When conjuring her for the first time, as I could do with Shadow, and just as it did all that time ago, my heart almost stopped when it took more than a second for anything to happen.

But eventually, Light appeared out of nowhere and began inspecting her surroundings with visible curiosity, eventually stopping her inspection at my face. Wanting to make sure she was the same White Raven, I rubbed her affectionately before casting Observe.

[LIGHT, CELESTIAL FAMILIAR]

ALLEGIANCE: DURRANDON BARATHEON

WALKING SPEED: 10 ft.

FLYING SPEED: 50 ft.

LANGUAGE: Understand all the languages you do.

POW: 6

MOB: 46

END: 24

INT: 36

STL: 20

Noticing that my spell was a success and that Light was smarter than most humans I've met, and that her endurance wasn't anything to scoff at, I couldn't help but to smile at the celestial being perched on my forearm. The powerful good energy in her rang like heavenly music in my ears thanks to my Divine Sense.

"Congratulations, master! Another great success!" Page complimented me before I thanked her back.

Concentrating for a moment, I was satisfied to find my vision shifting towards hers just as easily as I was able to do with Shadow.

"That was a little unpleasant, master. What just happened?" Light asked, noticeably coming up with more complex sentences without noticing.

'You were made a new being. All thanks to our wonderful master.' Shadow suddenly explained once she climbed over my shoulder, apparently finally accepting Light as something more than food.

'It seems both of you can finally see eye to eye now.' Smirking at their interaction, I remarked. 'Though I would recommend you not to speak so freely while in the presence of others, Light. As for the rest, I'm sure Shadow will help you get used to the new you.' Gently rubbing both of my magical companions on their backs, I attempted to set them bond together more easily.

'Yes, master!' They both replied together.

"Master and I will be very interested in running experiments to better understand your celestial nature." Page began speaking to Light. "It's to my understanding that you now have ties with the Upper Planes. Perhaps a connection with the New Gods is not a farfetched assumption."

'Not now, scribbles. Let her rest for a day or two first.' Shadow dismissed Page's remarks about studying new possibilities for magic, probably having had her fair share of interrogation about the Feywild back in the day.

'Perhaps later.' Light told Page, probably trying to not antagonize my grimoire like Shadow so casually did.

Ignoring the idea of angering the Seven because I created a Celestial being, arguing to myself that the Old Gods didn't seem to care back when I did the same for a Fey creature, I spent one of my Ki Points and used Hands of healing to share some radiant energy with Light.

As I witness her closing her eyes as a sign of enjoyment and quite literally basking in the light coming out of my hand, I sought to test if I would have similar results to the ones I had with Shadow and my Wild Points, so I spent one of my Divine Points and used Lay on Hands to share some divine energy with my White Raven.

[PING!]

[YOUR FAMILIAR HAS LEVELED UP!]

'Already?' I told myself.

[FEATURE UNLOCKED: CELESTIAL PRESENCE!]

*Your familiar has the ability to channel celestial energy to heal wounds from a finite pool that fills itself after a short rest. Once each use, it can choose to heal a creature within 20-meters from it.

More healing, but this time for my familiar that can fly and reach far away allies. Excellent!

Next…

[FEATURE UNLOCKED: RADIANT SOUL]

*Your familiar's link to the Upper planes allows it to serve as a conduit for radiant energy. Other than granting both of you a passive resistance to radiant damage, whenever you deal radiant damage nearby your familiar, the damage is doubled.

Makes it really worthwhile to have her fighting by my side in an actual battlefield against the undead.

Finally…

[HEAVEN'S SOAR]

*Whenever your familiar moves through a non magical aerial zone, it moves twice its regular pace. It can also pass through non magical harsh weather without being slowed or taking damage from them.

Nothing groundbreaking, but she will at least deliver my letters much faster and more safely than she normally did.

[PING!]

Wait, more?

[YOUR PALADIN AND CLERIC TITLES HAVE LEVELED UP!]

Sweet!

[FEATURE UNLOCKED: AURA OF PROTECTION!]

*Whenever you or a friendly creature within 3 meters of you is in peril, your holy aura grants magical advantage to face any threat. You must be conscious to grant this bonus.

Awesome, an always active buff to a considerable area. Stacking my Vow of Enmity or anything like it to nerf my opponents and perhaps even legendary monsters will be a walk in the park for me to face.

[FEATURE IMPROVED: PROTECTIVE BOND!]

*The bond you've forged between people helps them protect each other much better. When a creature affected by your Emboldening Bond feature is about to take damage, a second bonded creature within 10 meters of the first can react by teleporting to an unoccupied space within 2 meters of the first creature. The second creature then takes all the damage instead.

Excellent for the perfect synergy between my companions, like having tough guys such as Sandor always in the ready to cover for ranged and stealthy fighters like Tyrion.

[FEATURE UNLOCKED: STEPS OF THE NIGHT!]

*You can draw on the mystical power of night to rise into the air. Whenever you are in dim light or darkness, you can magically give yourself a flying speed equal to your walking speed for a minute. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your cleric title's level, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a short rest.

Alright, even if my Tempestuous magic already got it covered, the extra flight speed is always a welcomed addition. And now my Levitation spell only has immunity to falling damage on-demand going for it.

All in all, other than my great satisfaction at Light's incredible growth, I was a little surprised by how fast she reached the point Shadow had taken almost a year to. My ongoing theory was that because I had used a second class spell this time to make her one of my familiars, compared to my Druid's feature on Shadow, her 'base stat' were much higher from the get go.

Having considered that, and the fact that my experiments with undead helped me with necromancy magic, perhaps Light and Shadow will also be an inestimable boon for my studies of Divination magic with their Celestial and Fey nature.

Regardless, I had another being that made me feel like I was collecting Pokémons, and that was beyond awesome.

Picking up both Gobble, the mimic, from my belt and the slime I had stored in my Inventory, I asked Page. "What are the chances of successfully transforming a shapeshifter and an ooze into my familiars? Their sizes shouldn't be an issue."

"From the current data I have, I'm afraid that probability would be smaller than one percent, master." She immediately replied, showing some signs of uncertainty. "Other than just failing the casting, it might end up harming the species you've collected."

"I see." I dismissed that idea and just fed a little bit of fish to all of them, safe for Page. Spending the next day testing my control with two familiars, I had both Shadow scouting the ship for any rats that might've boarded it from back at Seagard while sending Light to patrol ahead and estimate our distance from the Iron Islands.

Finally, around a week into my journey and as we were less than a day's journey from our first destination, Light informed me that she sighted one of the fabled Ironborn longships, 'The Black Wind' as my Observe skill revealed to me.

Cutting through the water at twice the speed we did, as its rectangular sail effortlessly caught the sea wind, I noticed how thinner, longer and leaner than I had expected it was.

With a shallow draft that supposedly allowed it to land directly on beaches or anywhere really, and even travel up rivers just a meter deep. Also boasting a double prow that allowed it to change direction completely with no fuss while oars could be used when the wind was light.

In short, it was undoubtedly the ideal fast, versatile and maneuverable ship I had attempted to picture in my mind for so long.

Soon enough as I finished contemplating such a fine vessel, the captain of this longship announced its authority over this waters, signaling that they were boarding our expensive looking ship to make sure we weren't 'a threat to the people of the Iron Islands'.

From the brief exchange at a distance it seemed even this early that Asha Greyjoy had already started to make a name for herself. And as the 'Black Wind' approached us, I could see the faces of the Ironborn peering out at us, all of them were weather beaten and hardened in some way.

I could feel the crew of my ship tensing up, praying under their breath that the longship would do as it claimed without causing any incident.

At least the few companions I had from my Royal Legion weren't blatantly cringing at the prospect of facing some Ironborn. Seven Hells, Thoros was almost hoping we were being boarded by pirates claiming to be Ironborn soldiers.

They say here that every captain was a king aboard his own ship, and so the islands were known, if only to the Islanders themselves, as the land of a thousand kings.

Although still in her fifteen, Asha Greyjoy was long legged and much leaner than the men she sailed with, although still more robust than most Andal and Rhoynar girls her age, with dark eyes and black hair cut short, her face was thin, with a big, sharp nose, wind-chafed skin and a characteristic wicked smile.

My Observe skill and foreknowledge of both the books and series told me that Asha was a wild and headstrong young woman, raised by her mother to be bold.

She possessed a sharp wit and had no problem with holding her own against men, both in a verbal battle and on occasion in a physical fight as well.

Let's see…what else…

{ASHA GREYJOY, CAPTAIN OF THE BLACK WIND.}

LV: 20

RACE: IRONBORN

PWR: 19

END: 20

MOB: 27

INT: 20

STL: 20

DEF: 10* (Sleeveless Leather Jerkin and Thin Gambeson: Piercing/Slashing +30% Damage Resistance/ Bludgeoning +15% Damage Resistance)

[Asha Greyjoy is a member of House Greyjoy and is the daughter of Lord Balon Greyjoy by his wife, Alannys Harlaw. She is a wild and headstrong young woman, with boldness even to the way she walks; part saunter, part sway. Asha enjoys ale and wine. Defying the classical gender roles of Westerosi culture, Asha is appalled by the idea of becoming a lord's wife. However, as she finds herself in the shadow of her older two brothers, Asha's father still doesn't see her as his heir, but treats her like he would a son. As of last year, she has already had her first flowering…]

'Ok, too much information all at once.' I dismissed her status window after reading enough information from her bio. 'As for what the skill didn't described…'

Asha's attire included a brown quilted tunic, breeches of black and green wool, a studded belt and salt-stained high leather boots. Oh, and the stereotypical and quite honestly not as useful sleeveless leather jerkin half-unlaced.

And from the looks of it, she obviously prefers throwing those small axes, which she had apparently been practicing with since she was just a little girl, but she also kept a dirk with her, just in case.

Interestingly enough, even if she might not admit openly or even to herself she was not completely devoted to the Drowned God, since his law spoke against her doing what she liked most.

As she got aboard Gerion's ship, as she not so subtly inspected the worth of our vessel and crew, Asha argued around before eventually commanding Gerion Lannister. "State your business, Lannister."

—————————————————————

ASHA GREYJOY'S POV

I could barely get a hold of my excitement. In a few months, the Iron Islands will finally be able to proudly claim its independence from the greenlanders and resume its tradition of paying the iron price.

Back when the dragonlords subjugated my people, out of practicality we remained loyal even after the last dragon drew its last breath. And even now, as the rebel storm lord claims ownership of the Iron Throne, my people remain to themselves instead of reminding the greenlanders of the dread they once felt due to our raids.

But that humiliation will finally come to a glorious end.

My father, Balon Greyjoy, is the only one brave enough to defy the rebel stag lord claiming to be king of the Seven kingdoms. And my older brothers, Rodrik and Maron, told me that our father wisely noticed that the Seven Kingdoms weren't united anymore, which made it the best opportunity for a strike.

As our longships will once again raid any city or town stupid enough to be set close to our seas, the rebel stag will notice how weak his authority over the other kingdoms really is. Prompting the greenlanders to fight amongst themselves, allowing us to simply reap the benefits through iron and blood.

However, the only reason my father hadn't declared independence yet was due to this accursed winter the Starks have always boasted about. Not that it will deter my people from raiding their shores, it's just that it made war preparations a hell of a bitch harder to make progress while the cold and starvation became a frequent issue my lord father had to constantly account for.

Besides, it would be the best strategy to first hit the greenlanders as they are still recovering from the cold season themselves, and by the time cold returns we will have Targaryen Loyalists and Rebels once again fighting against one another in the continent.

After the Seven Kingdoms is once again thrown into chaos, I will have another matter to deal with. The traditional Faith of the Iron Islands was becoming a nuisance to my way of living. Most of my fellow Ironborn people, safe for my crewmen, didn't approve of my boldness to seek more than what I'm supposed to.

I've heard some Lords remarking that I should know my place and marry a reaving lord, sire him brave soldiers and take care of his castle.

But I say they can go fuck themselves. As a 'shy lady' my finger dance axe is my 'lord husband' and my dirk is my 'sweet suckling babe'.

I'm Asha Greyjoy, daughter of Balon Greyjoy, Lord Reaper of Pyke, and captain of the 'Black Wind'. I'm a warrior of the sea. I will take what I want and destroy what I don't.

End of the story.

For now, until the time for war comes, I had only to follow my father's orders of scouting the islands for anything out of the ordinary. But of all things I have expected to be doing today, boarding a greenlander ship to make sure they weren't a threat nor spies was certainly not one of them.

Worst of all, the ship sailed with the Lannister flag, accompanied by another one with a black lion I wasn't capable of identifying yet.

Did the lord of the Rock and warden of the west have a spy informing him of our plans? It doesn't matter, as of now it was too late for us to go back or for anyone to stop us. The best they could hope for was to not be caught completely by surprise once our longships reached their shores ready for battle.

Our own spies told us that the greenlander lords were more worried about punishing lowly bandits and sharing provisions for the harsh winters with their neighboring kingdoms since they seemed to provide some manpower to better patrol the countryside's roads.

In any event, as I boarded the greenlander ship, two things caught my attention.

First being the stupid abundance of the gold and silver engraved everywhere on this ship's hull, deck and masts. It was as if they were begging to be raided or something like that.

And the second being the nervous looks some of the crewmen on this ship were sending towards me and my men. The ones that didn't react as meekly I suppose were responsible for guarding the crew in case they were attacked.

Although I've never seen armor designed like the ones they were equipped with, I had to at least acknowledge their courage to wear armor while sailing this far away from coastal waters.

"Who's the captain of this ship?" I finally asked with a grin after witnessing a regular sailor squirm meekly under my stare. 'Heh. My father's rebellion might end earlier than I had anticipated.' I couldn't help myself from mentally assuming.

Amongst the crew of sailors and soldiers, I sighted some interesting individuals, such as a tall Summer Islander that was clad in a mixture of Westerossi armor adapted to its native design of colorful feathers. One Bravossi with its short stature but, aside from his short and thin sword, he was armed in similar fashion to the greenlanders. And also what appeared to a Red Priest, that while still uniformed just like the others, boasting the red color of its faith.

"That will be me, my lady." A blond and handsome man finally announced, surprisingly showing more calmness than the more experienced looking sailor from before. "Gerion Lannister, at your service."

"I'm not your lady, greenlander." Me and my men snickered at his antics before approaching the Lannister captain to measure his determination.

To his credit, instead of becoming intimidated by a girl a head shorter than him, his eyes darted cautiously towards the weapons on me.

"State your business, Lannister." I commanded, still aiming to intimidate him while also being careful to not escalate things and ruin years of preparation.

"I'm merely a noble merchant seeking to sell and trade my goods. You see, I've been sailing all around Westeros making business. From food to clothes, provisions to equipment, and even the occasional rare materials." The Lannister captain told me. "Me and my men have just left Seagard and were on our way towards Harlaw island, before you boarded us."

Raising an eyebrow, I glanced around once again to have a better read on the mood of this ship's crew. Most of them indeed didn't seem like a crew of warriors, and the luxurious ship was indeed filled with crates and barrels.

To my shock, I eventually met the gaze of one of the most peculiar young men that I've ever seen, as he was being guarded by two very tall men, one with a roaring lion helm and another with a snarling hound headpiece.

The young man had two immediate peculiar traits on him, one being his alluring pair of eyes of different colors, purple and blue, while the other being his mismatched hair of black and silver.

To call him pretty would be a massive understatement, for even the way he stared back at me made me stop for a brief moment. At first I reasoned that he could have been just a bed slave being tarde from Lys, but I recalled how the people of the continent were mostly against the practice of slavery, not to mention how well dressed and guarded the young lad was.

'If only I could make you my salt husband, pretty boy, I'm sure I could make you smile more in my bed.' I smiled at him, hiding my true intentions. 'Then again, soon enough I might have my chance, I just need to get past those bastards guarding you and claim you as mine.'

"You there…kid!" I finally called the young man, having grown tired of guessing who he was. "You don't appear to be a sailor. Who are you?"

The young man immediately behaved just like the Lannister captain did, though his giant bodyguards immediately tensed in response while grasping their weapons. A reaction that was followed by what remained of proper fighters in this vessel.

The mood of the ship changed for a brief moment and suddenly out of nowhere I felt threatened at the same place I had just witnessed someone wincing meekly from my stare just a few seconds ago. The three foreigners from before are also ready for a battle, especially the Red priest, who seemed to be ready to celebrate something.

But before my men stepped forward to accept their challenge and defend me, the young man I had just talked to raised a hand in silence and everything returned to normal.

'W-what was that?!' I asked myself in disbelief.

"My apologies for that, captain of the Black Wind." The young man said with a confident yet cold expression as a cat of black fur trailed nearby his feet. "My name is Durrandon Baratheon, Crown Prince of the Seven Kingdoms."

This time my men were the one shaming their captain by actually gasping at the boy's words.

"M-my prince." I heard the words coming out of my mouth before I could properly react.

'Bloody hell?!' I shouted mentally, forcing myself to get up only to fail miserably. 'What sort of sorcery is this?!'

Noticeably unsure of what the hell had just happened, I was already kneeling before him and calling him 'my prince'.

"Tell me, if it's not unreasonable of me to ask, is there a reason for you and your men to be securing the borders of your kingdom?" The one named Durrandon asked with his expression betraying no emotion.

'What should I say? Fuck. Shit. Fricking Asshole.' Took almost all my effort not to open my mouth this time, the remaining of it was spent trying to think about the weird situation I found myself in. 'What is the son of the rebel stag lord doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be just a kid? Then why is he so big! My younger brother appeared to be a scrawny child next to him, and although Theon was still taller than the prince, he was already past his twelfth name day.' I remarked, so surprised by this fact. 'Hell, he was already around my height! And… for fuck's sake… stop thinking about his size.'

*Snap!

"Wha-what the fuck?!" I asked after being suddenly spooked by the young crown prince, who apparently had walked all the way to me and snapped his fingers before me.

"I asked if there's a valid reason for this security check? Are the Iron Islands under attack, Captain Greyjoy?" He questioned once again, this time a white raven landed on his shoulder and also stared at me.

"No, it's just that… wait, you know my name?" I replied while noticing the unexpected revelation.

"Of course I do, Asha Greyjoy. The flag on your ship made it an easy guess since Lord Avalon Greyjoy is said to have only one daughter." The prince's expression remained cold and his stare sharp as he spoke again. "If there's no particular reason for this blockage, I would appreciate it if you allowed us to continue on our way. If possible, I would prefer to return to the continent before winter arrives."

The way this greenlander prince worded his sentences was something I've never heard nor felt before. Though opinions always differed on whether I was an actual lady, I was Asha of House Greyjoy and daughter of Balon Greyjoy… no amount of sweet words should turn me into a shy maid.

However, right at this moment, I was unable to make a single one of my sarcastic quips and snide remarks. The best I could do right now was give my best intimidating face to make him see I was no pushover. But the only thing I got from the exotic looking prince was an amused smile.

'You smug fucker!' I mentally should again.

"Captain, I believe we should let them go." Earl Harlaw, my confidant man who must have noticed I was about to do something I would regret later, spoke. "Their intentions here have already been identified and I've checked their merchandise."

Looking around, I noticed both parties were expecting a fight to come to pass. But I knew better.

"A-agreed." I turned towards the eye-catching prince and said. "You are all free to return to your business."

"Much appreciated, my lady." The prince replied, obviously mocking me before everyone. "I hope to meet you once again in better circumstances."

'You little shit!' I thought while hurriedly nodding my head and turning away.

Walking away back to my ship, I had to grind my teeth at the notion that some of my men were thinking less of me after this encounter. The only redeeming outcome for this encounter would have to be targeting this golden ship first during my father's rebellion.

This prince doesn't know yet, but this isn't over yet.

—————————————————————

DURRANDON'S POV

'So…the little Kraken believed she could take me as an object. Heh.' I thought after reading the latest sentence in her description that had just been updated after our brief encounter. 'How pathetic and simple minded of her. But that feeling… she was resisting my Charm effect, wasn't she? Hmm, interesting.'

Anyhow…

By the time the 'Black Wind' moved far enough from us, leaving the 'Laughing Lion' to the wind and the ever-present salty spray of seawater whipping around us, I had proceeded to calm down all of Gerions men with a small appearance of my Bard identity.

As I'm sure anyone would agree, hearing words of encouragement came a long way if said by me.

Our small adventure was most likely how the first Iron Islanders must have come here, First Men on boats from the mainland settling on these rocky isles that were either inhabited or didn't pose enough resistance to repel them back to where they came from.

The priests of the drowned god of course told a different tale, preaching stories of men emerging from under the sea while also not shying away from implying a certain connection with sea creatures resembling what most would describe as merfolk from classic fantasy.

However they got here, their separation from the mainland had led to a very different set of values and a way of living. Their antagonism of the 'Storm God', after considering everything that I've uncovered from my godly heritage, made me wonder if they were either talking about the God of the Sea or Goddess of the Wind the Stormlanders also believed in.

Or was there really a different group of deities that ruled both the Storms and the Deep Sea and found themselves in an eternal struggle? Maybe something that might even resemble Poseidon and Cthulhu. After all, George RR Martin, has always been very fond of including references and allusions to other writers' worlds and mythos and of repurposing fantasy tropes and archetypes in his works. One of the first Ironborn might've plunged into a pact with the deeps, either of the seas or space, as an entity of the ocean or another otherworldly sea that offered them to draw on its thalassic power in exchange for something.

And if that's not that much of a far-fetched theory, given how popular I remember it being in my previous life, was it merely using them to learn about terrestrial realms or does it want you to open cosmic floodgates and drown the world? Whatever the reason for their pact, if it existed at all in the first place, even up to this day the sea and its unknown depths seemed to call for these Ironborn.

In any case, by the time I was already coming up with more and more theories, my celestial familiar landed once again on my shoulder. 'Master, we finally have land on sight.'

'Thanks, Light.' I replied back and dismissed my previous thoughts for later.

There were 31 islands in total in the archipelago of the Iron Islands, but only seven could truly be counted as officially inhabited. For there may be the odd Ironborn family on the smaller islands, fishing and tending sheep, but nothing significant. Their ubiquitous rocky shorelines meant that there were actually very few safe harbors, so the towns and villages of these islands tended to cluster around them.

But make no mistake, these were inhospitable islands. They had their rugged charm and all, but they were not beautiful like the Arbor of the Redwynes, or how Bear Island was said to be. The shallow rocky soil here made them hard to farm and now that most of them had been deforested, the wind whipped across them like an angry god.

Which was definitely ironic considering their own beliefs.

The result of all this hardship over millennia was a hardy folk, and although I could not condone it, it was understandable to me why the inhabitants here thought it was easier to get what they needed by raiding the mainland than by tilling the hard soil at home.

As for our first stop, Harlaw, the second largest and most densely populated of the Iron islands was ruled over by none other than House Harlaw, who apparently found it fitting to display their power by having five different keeps dotted across the island, even if three of them were barely worth mentioning.

Grey Garden, the Tower of Glimmering and Harridan Hill were all worthy structures ruled by relatives or cadet branches of the Harlaws, but there was nothing particularly noteworthy about either of them.

The fourth, Harlaw Hall, used to be the seat of house Harlaw, but it was old, prone to flooding and continued in use mostly as a nod to the past. But the fifth castle, Ten Towers, was definitely worth a visit during my tour around the islands. So this was exactly where I had informed Gerion to head up first, which prompted the 'Laughing Lion' to moor along the long stone keep.

It was the newest castle on these islands, having been built back when Theomore Harlaw blamed Harlaw Hall's dampness for the deaths of three of his children, and rather than attempt to rebuild that instead he built an entirely new castle. Although as my retinue and I entered its courts, it did indeed felt more like ten castles squashed together than one castle.

Honestly, there was no internal consistency of design, which was my way of describing that the Ten Towers were all different. The Book Tower for example was octagonal, squat, broad and made from black stone. Others, like the Widow's Tower, were tall, thin and round. Still, many others were square, made from the lighter colored stone and all of these were joined together by a confusion of bridges and walkways.

It was disconcerting indeed for visitors like us who didn't know their way around, which was precisely why Lord Harlaw's servants informed Gerion that he awaited me on the nearest one while his own Maester would deal with whatever goods my Greatuncle was interested to trade.

'Not very subtle of him. Makes me wonder how the man even knew I was aboard, since there was no way that Asha would be able to inform everyone of my presence.' I thought to myself, before recalling what type of man I was dealing with.

The first place I managed to have a good look while on my way towards the Lord of the castle's solar was the main hall, with the seat itself of House Harlaw.

It was, I will admit, not the grandest or the most brightly decorated of all the high halls I have visited, but it was impressive enough for one of the most powerful houses on the Iron Islands to rule from. The only thing of real note here was just above the throne, or high seat.

Two huge silver sides were hung on the wall,

glinting in the evening sun streaming through the windows. A reminder of house Harlaws' scythe sigil, a curious sigil for a seafaring family, but perhaps it was a reminder that this bare island was once lush and forested until all was chopped down in the pursuit of building more boats and gaining more wealth.

Now Harlaw island was more famed for mining and the rather shaggy-haired ponies that served as the main form of transport. It was by no means glamorous or refined, but perhaps the scythe was a fair reflection of this house and Island.

By now, the joy of being inside a ship after days at sea was felt amongst some of my men, especially Sandor and Lothor, who for all of their propensity to brood around all day did become a little more vocal about their dislikes. Which was obviously a target for both Syrio and Jalabhar comments in regards to how much reinvigorating seafaring was to them.

For once, Thoros was the only one too busy working around while supervising the Legionnaires who were going through the training to become part of my Royal Legion's Marine Force. Probably because, despite his usual behavior, the Myrman seemed to be very aware of the infamy most Ironborn felt pride in.

And to their surprise, which by the way, shouldn't have been given that this was after all named the Book Tower, we found ourselves in a roomy, well-stocked library with floor-to-ceiling shelves heavy with books and parchments. I even saw the swish of a septons cassock over here and there, which perhaps could come as a surprise to those expecting only the worship of the Drowned God here, especially after everything I've been theorizing about.

But as a matter of fact, there were a sizable number of adherents to the faith of the Seven on these islands, a relic of the Andal invasion that most Ironborn seemed to so easily forget, or merely ignore. You see, the followers of the old way might be the majority amongst the population of the Iron Islands, but this was not a religious monopoly.

And none other illustrated it better than Lord Rodrick Harlaw himself, the one that somehow seemed to already expect my arrival. At first glance, he was an average-looking man with brown hair and eyes, alongside a short neat beard that was grey due to his age. On a second note though, Lord Harlaw also was in possession of a Myrish lens that assisted him with his vision.

By quickly using my Observe skill on him, I got that his only exceptional stat was his intelligence, and that in his description/bio it was clear that the cautious Rodrik enjoyed reading, especially given how he kept actual Septons to help care for his book. It also informed me that Lord Rodrik was seldom seen without a book in hand, be it in the privy, on the deck of his Sea Song, or whilst holding an audience.

His taste for books and proximity with the Faith of the Seven was exactly what I had planned to persuade him into becoming an ally with. Besides that, Lord Rodrik Harlaw was perhaps the only Ironborn sane enough to recognize the stupidity in Balon Greyjoy's plan of rebellion. Though he did indeed end up failing in advising Lord Greyjoy to forget about his dream of having the Iron Islands independent from the Iron Throne, it still showed that he wasn't a coward or stupid.

"Thank you for receiving us with such hospitality in your castle, Lord Harlaw. Please accept these gifts as a token of our gratitude." I began our meeting by having my Dornish butler presenting him with a small collection of books I've managed to personally write about my fictional tales and songs, alongside some rare copies of the most notable Archmaesters works in the Citadel.

The Ironborn Lord was immediately intrigued by my gift, clearly having not expected that a Crown Prince would so blatantly attempt to gain his favor, while still showing fascination for what I managed to get for him.

After I signaled for us to be left alone after the guests' rights were invoked, Lord Rodrik finally began.

"My prince, I must confess, it is such an unexpected surprise to find you here so far way from your Grandfather." Lord Harlaw received me with more hospitality than I had been expecting, though the awkwardness still betrayed he was aware of the looming rebellion. That and the fact that just like Ollena and Randyll, Rodrik too saw me as little less than a pawn in Tywin's hand.

"Forgive my boldness, Lord Harlaw, but I don't believe there's any other type of surprise." I replied with a cordial smile.

"Ah, you are completely right." He said in a friendly manner. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?"

"In all honesty, I've just recently become aware of the fact that if I want to one day become a great ruler, I must know the lands that I will be ruling over." I revealed it to him, subtly hinting that I knew of the plans for rebellion. "And you seemed the most reasonable Lord in the Iron Islands for me to begin this endeavor."

"Is that so? I must confess I don't know how to respond to such high praise, my prince." Rodrik Harlaw's smile was now a little more tense than before, as he probably noticed my persuasion skill being much higher than what he was expecting.

"I wouldn't worry about it that much, there isn't much that goes without my Grandfather knowing for long. A reputation as respectable as yours would definitely not be any different, as you seemed to already know of my whereabouts beforehand. And especially true since you found yourself as the voice of reason amongst your radical peers." I said, mentioning Tywin Lannister in order to make it more believable that despite my age, my words carried meaning behind them.

"I like to believe I'm a sensible man." Rodrik remarked, taking off his Myrish lens to fake having to clean them in order to break contact with me. "Gods know that we could use more of those."

"I'm glad to hear it." I replied, finding it amusing how common it was for him to refer to multiple deities. "You see, I was initially inclined to approach the current Lord Greyjoy and resume the effort his late father was putting into integrating the Iron Islands with the continent." I added. "But something tells me he's currently busy with his preparations for the approaching winter."

Rodrik Harlaw cringed ever so slightly, still focused on his little trinket in hands, so I walked towards him without showing fear or doubt. Snapping my fingers, I summoned Light from a flash of light and had Shadow come out of my own shadow.

With wide eyes, the Ironborn Lord starred as my Wild Companion morphed into her larger and natural armored form, her slit eyes promising to slit his throat if he dared call for help, while Light appeared as a beacon of the gods thanks to her radiant aura.

Willing to dial it up to an eleven since my time here was short, I also stack several features like my Starry Form, my Balm of Peace and Bardic Inspiration so to get this 'persuasion roll' done with. Hell, I even casted Zone of Truth without the poor Ironman noticing it.

"I would like to know if your house, Lord Harlaw, would be interested in looking towards the future instead of the past." I broke him out of his shock and stared him in the eyes with my gleaming stars, charming him without him even noticing. "I'm sure it will be a mutually beneficial business."

"I-indeed, err-I'm of the same mind." Lord Harlaw nodded with a cold sweat and we continued to discuss a few matters while still in private.

"Excellent! Perhaps we might even get this bare Island of yours fertile once again. After all, conquest IS your harvest, isn't it?" I reasoned, bringing forth the words of his house.

"I'm not entirely sure how that can be achieved, but I certainly am open to it." Rodrik Harlaw gave a weak smile, with conflicting feelings about my magical nature that I could sense all boiled down to if he should ask me about it or not. But at least the man seemed to show signs of being calmer than before.

"Excellent. The Seven will reward you for your cooperativeness." I grinned before beginning to spin words laced with magic, saying the right thing at the right time while wording my suggestions in a way that made it sound reasonable. And although it might appear to be overkill, Shadow also helped me with charming the man before me.

"You would do well to contact Lord Blacktyde and explain that you've accepted the deal I'm now offering you." I told him, finally deactivating my Starry Form like it was nothing. "Oh, as we speak Gerion Lannister has probably just traded enough provisions to help your house endure the approaching winter without any problem. Make sure to bargain the excess with the other castles in this island for their support as well."

"Yes. I'm grateful for your generosity and I will definitely gain more supporters for our cause." Rodrik immediately replied, betraying no duplicity. "As for transmitting my stance to Lord Blacktyde…Of course, consider it done."

"Splendid." I shook his hand, startling him for a second. Looking around the massive collection of books this man had before noticing the bright daylight outside, I thought to myself. 'Eh, I'm busy and all, but why the hell not? My men sure could use the rest from the sea.'

So after leaving Shadow behind, hidden so as to spy on what Lord Harlaw will do meanwhile, I traced my way towards the Magical Dungeon of this castle.

—————————————————————

The Magical dungeon under the Ten Towers was fortunately tougher than I had first anticipated, with its shoulder high water level being enough to make me rely once again on my swimming skill.

A pity neither Shadow or Light were adapted underwater environments, not to mention how ineffective my Alter Self spell was on them. That reminds me, I had also to store Gobble, my mimic pretending to be a purse, away inside my Inventory.

Fascinatingly, it was the perfect opportunity to test my progress from back again during my stay at Riverrun. And just as before, most undead enemies awaited me on their small boats, ready to fish and gut any trespassers with nasty longbows and rusted looking chained hooks.

With several effective alternatives now that my Wild Shapes natural weapons worked better than regular steel, my Alter Self spell displayed an unexpected breakthrough for my Aquatic Adaptation and Natural Weapons.

After using and storing away my Metalic wand, I was once again sprouting gills and fins from my body, while also growing webbing between my fingers and not forgetting a jaw similar to the one of a crocodile for extra damage. The octopuses' ink glands for underwater retreat were just cherry on top as I finished readying myself again for an underwater adventure.

Swimming as fast as a swordfish, I leap out of water in arching patterns, ready to rip their rotten flesh without having to worry. Even the quickest undead archer got no result from getting a perfect shot at my row of teeth, probably because the arrow wasn't capable of scratching me.

By constantly releasing clouds of black ink it eventually resulted that they were fighting a blind combat against a freaking fusion of both Jaws and Arkham Asylum's Killer Croc as I kept getting them by surprise. Either with the same repeating tactic or by simply dragging them into the water depths just to crush their heads with my bare hands.

Soon enough, the Dungeon seemed to be tired of me dealing with the usual undead and decided to throw at me as minions creatures that were once treated as treasure room guardians.

{KUO-TOA, MEDIUM HUMANOID}

{LV - 20}

POW: 39

MOB: 30

END: 33

INT: 33

STL: 25

DEF: 0

HP: 400

SPEED: 30 ft. Swim 30 ft.

SENSES: DARKVISION 120 ft.

LANGUAGES: UNDERCOMMON.

[AMPHIBIOUS: The kuo-toa can breathe air and water.]

[OTHERWORLDLY PERCEPTION: The kuo-toa can sense the presence of any creature within 10 meters of it that is invisible or on the Ethereal Plane. It can pinpoint such a creature that is moving.]

[SLIPPERY: The kuo-toa has the advantage of escaping any form of grapple thanks to a layer of slime over its skin.]

[SUNLIGHT SENSITIVITY: While in sunlight, the kuo-toa has its attacks weakened, as well as its perception that rely on sight.]

*Kuo-toa are sadistic, degenerate fish-like humanoids that once inhabited the shores and islands of the surface world.

This time instead of a couple of ugly bastards, I had at least a dozen of them rushing straight at me.

'Man, these guys' perception is off the charts!' I thought to myself before facing them head on.

Focusing my chomps on their heads after finding an opening in their shoal formation by stunning them with electricity, I was admittedly disappointed to discover that their spears were just as useless as my Death Knight's greatsword. And that their flesh was much tastier in comparison to the average undead, which was always a neat bonus of fighting these corrupted creatures, ugly as they were.

Shadow sure did appreciate it, 'delicious fish-bait' as she called it whenever she wanted more, which makes me wonder what Light's opinion will be. Birds eat fish, don't they? Even if they are like celestial angels? Who knows, only one way to find.

Finally, as I made good progress to reach the treasure room of this dungeon, I was surprised to see that this underground tunnel eventually led me to a portion above the level of water. For that point onwards it seemed I wasn't going to need my Adapted Form.

As the first group of undeads attempted to catch me by surprise as soon as I stepped outside of the body of water, I simply opened my mouth and exhaled my Draconic energy, which was a thunderous shout that blew all of them back a few meters, knocking them on their rotten arses.

As I casually finished the ten undeads with a beam of Eldritch blast on each of their heads, twined cantrip in order to have one coming from each finger of my hands, I summoned my Celestial companion to me and saw as she came from a bright flash.

"At your command, master." She spoke in her own voice, flapping her wings before landing on my raised forearm.

"Hey, girl. Eat this and tell me if you like it." I told her, removing Gobble from my Inventory and offering a piece of Kuo-Toa to both of them.

"Yes, master." She replied before immediately beginning to bite pieces of it in a much more behaved manner than Shadow so usually did.

"Nham! Nham! Delicious!" My pet mimic replied, though we have come to an agreement that as long as I keep feeding him regularly he would patiently wait for his next meal. Besides, the remaining pieces I had stored were all for Shadow.

"Hmm. I must agree with you, Gobble. Even though I'm a creature of light, capable of absorbing through osmosis the joy of laughter, the warmth of love and the gratitude of kindness in order to find sustenance, I must admit it was quite flavorsome." Light remarked, looking sideways at me with her light blue eye, probably expecting me to caress her pear white feathers.

"I see." I said while petting both she and my tiny mimic. "And where did you get that small piece of knowledge from? You've been spending some time with Page, right?" I asked, recalling I had once discussed it with my Grimoire long before learning the Flocks of Familiar spell, while slowly strolling forward in the dungeon and confirming that I had enough space for trying something new.

"Right as always, master. Lady Page has been very insightful about such matters." As she perched on my shoulder, Light remarked before sharing some information about my Familiars and Grimoire. "Is there a problem with that? Lady Page says that she would have provided the same amount of intelligence support for Lady Shadow, but she claims the latter isn't all that open to her findings."

"Not at all, just curious. And don't worry about those two, despite their differences their loyalty to me shouldn't be underestimated." I replied with a shrug before bringing my Death Knight from out of my Inventory and summoning my Nightwalker to join it. Inspecting Light's reaction up close, I was satisfied with the fact that her celestial nature and insistence on joining me during my daily prayers didn't make her suddenly be staunchly against the concept of undeath.

Now, turning my gaze towards my Undead supporters, I was pleased to see the great work I've put into making more appropriate gear for them.

This time my Death Knight bore a finely crafted full body plate armor with riveted mail and thick gambeson underneath it, his pauldrons possessing sword breakers and the helmet now resembling a close one with a large visor that made his burning stare still visible. Instead of adding a cape for the added symbolism, I've managed to carve enough infusions of Defense Enhancement to give it a really intimidating aspect while also being very effective in combat and exploration.

As for its weapon, after making sure my Death Knight was capable of skillfully wielding such weapon in one hand, other than granting to its greatsword Attack Enhancement infusions, which by the way made that large piece of steel very mesmerizing to look at, I took the liberty of crafting a tower shield made of metal. One that had the appropriate size for someone of Sandor's stature, which basically made it resemble an actual door and I was considering this an experiment before crafting one for me to use.

"Rise, my subjects." I ordered at both kneeling undeads, already perceiving some motion farther ahead in the tunnel thanks to my previous loud attack, and was immediately obeyed.

Last but definitely not least, after confirming my Nightwalker was capable of retaining whatever equipment I granted it, I went all the way with the assassin and ninja themes I had it going with. Which led me to craft a set of dark colored infused Brigandine armor, which was so oftenly called by the ignorant masses as Studded Leather, in order to make it capable of taking considerably more hits than it would've without losing mobility or stealth.

And for weapons, since I considered myself to be an enthusiast of the dual wielding arts, I gave it two similarly fashioned short swords and my own Goldenheart bow after casting Magical Aura enough times to make it resemble obsidian. That last piece wasn't a loss for me since other than my previously crafted Dragonbone crossbow, I already had plans to make a bow of similar material.

"Death Knight, step forward." I said while retrieving both my metallic wand and Transmuter's stone from my Inventory. As the towering undead did as it was bid, I casted my Alter Self spell on it. But instead of focusing on changing its appearance, I tested for the first time, with my Transmuter's stone attached to my Metalic wand empowering me, a new effect I had unlocked after leveling the spell up enough from constant uses. Grabbing a pinch of iron powder, I shouted mentally. 'Alter Self: Enlarge.'

At that moment, my spell caused my Death Knight to grow twice as large in all dimensions and have its weight multiplied by eight, with everything it was wearing and carrying also changing sizes with it.

'Unbelievable!' I told myself while inspecting my servant. 'I made you go from Sandor's level of big to that of a freaking giant! Rise my Death Knight, go and prove to the world how mighty Ainz Ooal… just kidding, just kidding… heh.'

"Grrr." The now massive undead grunted, still getting used to its new size, weight and strength. As well as swinging a few times its massive weapon and appropriately named tower shield.

"Since I want to test how you fare in this form, I will be leaving the rest of this dungeon to you." I ordered it loud and clear before turning to my Nightwalker. "Make sure that he clears everything without a problem. The power he now wields is immense, but that might make him go careless and prone to stupid mistakes."

Both undeads nodded before rushing forward, as each step of my Death Knight made the ground noticeably shake, prompting a bit of dust to fall down from the ceiling and walls. Sending Light to keep an eye on them, I admittedly felt like motherfucking Itachi Uchiha with his spying crows.

"Great, now that I've got that out of the way…" I then retrieved my Grimoire, making it float around with my Legerdemain hands. "…let's go back to business. Page, what's your report on our latest magical research?"

"At once, master. Lady Light." Page replied with a nod, acknowledging both me and my celestial familiar before recollecting everything we worked on so far. "Other than finally having a considerable list of spells from third class and higher ready for testing, we also have two nature related ones of first and second class, as well a second class necromancy one."

"We will be leaving the nature ones for later since I currently have Shadow busy completing a task for me." I said, well aware that these were the ones she had most aptitude with. "Let's start with the necromancy one."

"Understood." Page replied before assembling an abridged version of everything. "Name: Gentle Repose. Description: You touch a corpse or other remains. For the duration, the target is protected from decay and can't become undead. The spell also effectively extends the time limit on raising the target from the dead, since days spent under the influence of this spell don't count against the time limit of spells such as raise dead. Casting time: 6 seconds. Range: Touched. Componentes: Vocal and Somatic, which you are capable of ignoring, and material such as a pinch of salt and one copper piece placed on each of the corpse's eyes, which must remain there for the duration of the spell. Duration: 10 days."

"Excellent. I've been thinking about alternative ways of bringing someone back from life. My Spare the Dying cantrip had an annoying limit of resurrecting a corpse one hour at most after its death." I said pulling out of my Inventory a restrained and gagged vicious criminal I've sequestered from my raids in Oldtown. As the man took his time to understand his surroundings, probably perceiving all the time he spent stored away as an instant, he failed to notice me stabbing his ear with a thin yet sharp knife. It was so fast that he didn't even have the time to react.

As the now dead body lay bleeding in the ground, I sat down and quickly moved to perform the ritual spell that Page and I came up with. In mere seconds I got the confirmation of another viable spell.

"Splendid. I want you to begin mass producing scrolls of this spell as soon as possible." I informed Page while storing the preserved body of the criminal back to my Inventory for future studies.

"Acknowledged." She replied before flipping her pages. "Now, as for the higher class spells, shall we proceed to test all of them. I've run several calculations on their viability and these are all of those that have a 75% of success."

"Leave the fourth class and above for later, we need to be very meticulous with everything." I said, preparing myself for another marathon of trial and error.

"Yes, master." Page confirmed before dumping on me all the work we've been doing lately.

First of all, I really regret not taking some of the schools of magic as seriously as I did the others. For once, all of the conjuration ones failed, either because I didn't get the right materials for it or simply lacked some basic understanding for it to work as it should.

While the spells for both Evocation and Enchantment failed due to not being in the appropriate environment, such as was the case with my Second Class Starbeam requiring to be outdoors, and that I lack the necessary test subjects even if I retrieved all the sequestered criminals I had stored inside my Inventory.

Which, I will let know, weren't that much to begin with. Contrary to popular belief, the really wicked and vicious individuals not worthy of being redeemed were actually hard to come by, at least serving down in the ranks as lowly henchmen.

I got similar results for both the Divination and Necromancy schools, although I could at the very least find solace after seeing a clear path for both putting to use the Glass Candle I got during my stay at Oldtown and a way of dealing with the supposed curse looming over Harrenhal.

As for what I actually got…

{HASTE/SLOW Lv- 1(0%)}

[THIRD CLASS TRANSMUTATION SPELL: Choose a willing creature that you can see within range and you will alter time around it. If you choose to haste it, until the spell ends, the target's Mobility stat is doubled and even its spells' casting time are cut in half. But if you choose to slow it down, until the spell ends, the target's Mobility is cut in half and its spells' casting duration are doubled. If the spell ends in either ways, the target can't move or take actions for a few seconds, as a wave of lethargy either sweeps over ligers over it.]

CASTING TIME: INSTANTANEOUS

RANGE: 40 METERS

COMPONENTS: V, S AND M (A shaving of licorice root or a drop of molasses)

DURATION: CONCENTRATION, UP TO 1 MINUTE

Stacking it on top of my Action Surge for added Mobility and by the Seven I was fast. Like really, really fast. Like the X-Men movies, Quicksilver's scenes fast. And just imagine how awful it must be to be hit with either the lethargy after effect or with Slow and almost become Mo-Slo from that The Boys diabolical animated series.

Depending on the situation, it might be useful to just obliterate any opponent that is too tough to face otherwise, or at least escape from it if the need ever arises. Aside from wondering what the hell time manipulation had to do with transmutation magic, I was more than impressed with my first spell at this class.

Next…

{GASEOUS FORM Lv- 1(0%)}

[THIRD CLASS TRANSMUTATION SPELL: You grant a willing creature you touch the ability to transform at will, along with everything it's wearing and carrying, into a misty cloud for the duration. While in this form, the target's only method of movement is a flying speed of 30 feet. The target can enter and occupy the space of another creature while having immunity to non magical damage. The target can pass through small holes, narrow openings, and even mere cracks, though it treats liquids as though they were solid surfaces. The target can't fall and remains hovering in the air. While in the form of a misty cloud, the target can't talk or manipulate objects, and any objects it was carrying or holding can't be dropped, used, or otherwise interacted with. The target can't attack or cast spells.]

CASTING TIME: INSTANTANEOUS

RANGE: SELF/TOUCH

COMPONENTS: V, S, M (a bit of gauze and a wisp of smoke)

DURATION: CONCENTRATION, UP TO 1 HOUR

Well, all those times going ghost with the Heartstone and getting used to inhabit the Ethereal plane had to pay off somehow. And with my Tempestuous magic boosting my flying speed, it might be a better way of traveling around undetected.

Though admittedly I wasn't sure if the concept of not being capable of entering any body of water while in this gaseous form was either a neat feature or possibly a vexing flaw I will find trouble with. And all that concentration stuff appearing must've been somewhat intentional so as not to allow me to stack these third class spells together even if my Metalic wand provided me with enough mana.

All in all, great stuff with the Transmutation field, now onto Illusions…

{MAJOR IMAGE Lv- 1(0%)}

[THIRD CLASS ILLUSION SPELL: You create the image of an object, a creature, or some other visible phenomenon that is no larger than a 6-meters cube. The image appears at a spot that you can see within range and lasts for the duration. It seems completely real, including sounds, smells, and temperature appropriate to the thing depicted. You can't create sufficient heat or cold to cause damage, a sound loud enough to deal thunder damage or deafen a creature, or a stench that might sicken a creature. As long as you are within range of the illusion, you can cause the image to move to any other spot within range. As the image changes location, you can alter its appearance so that its movements appear natural for the image. For example, if you create an image of a creature and move it, you can alter the image so that it appears to be walking. Similarly, you can cause the illusion to make different sounds at different times, even making it carry on a conversation, for example. Physical interaction with the image that is capable of dealing damage reveals it to be an illusion, because harmful attacks will pass through it. A creature that attempts to examine the image might be able to determine that it is an illusion. If a creature discerns the illusion for what it is, the creature can see through the image, and its other sensory qualities become faint to the creature.]

CASTING TIME: INSTANTANEOUS

RANGE: 40 METERS

COMPONENTS: V, S AND M (A bit of fleece)

DURATION: CONCENTRATION, UP TO 10 MINUTES

Do you have any idea of what this is? A spell that allows me to make any creature capable of fitting inside such a large area must be the biggest carte-blanche to do whatever I wanted. Granted, just as with my combination of Minor Illusion and Disguise Self, dealing and taking damage would be far from its strong suits. But illusion magic was never meant to thrive in that role anyway.

With this spell I could have something like an actual Dragon at my disposal to impress the masses and terrorize my enemies, and even if it won't be as big as a full grown dragon that's still just the tip of the iceberg. A giant Hrakkar or Direwolf are also interesting options. Perhaps I might even be capable of enlarging that 6-meter cube to something even more crazy.

Yeah, the sky was the limit with this one, as for the other Illusion spell I got…

{HYPNOTIC PATTERN Lv- 1(0%)}

[THIRD CLASS ILLUSION SPELL: You create a twisting pattern of colors that weaves through the air inside a 10-meters cube within range. The pattern appears for a moment and vanishes. Each creature in the area who sees the pattern becomes charmed for the duration. While charmed by this spell, the creature is incapacitated and has a speed of 0. The spell ends for an affected creature if it takes any damage or if someone else succeeds in shaking the creature out of its stupor.]

CASTING TIME: INSTANTANEOUS

RANGE: 40 METERS

COMPONENTS: S AND M (A glowing stick of incense or a crystal vial filled with phosphorescent material)

DURATION: CONCENTRATION, UP TO 1 MINUTE

While my first class spell Sleep is great now that I can just spam it to my heart's content, I still had my second class spell Paralyze to incapacitate a couple of targets. This Hypnotic flash of light appears to be even more effective to end encounters, especially if they remained drooling their brains out in the ground instead of being allowed to constantly fight to break free.

Finally, the school of Abjuration was the last one that paid dividends this time, and by the Seven they were amazing.

Going with the classics first…

{COUNTER/ DISPEL MAGIC Lv- 1(0%)}

[THIRD CLASS ABJURATION SPELL: You attempt to interrupt a creature in the process of casting a spell. If the creature is casting a spell of 3rd class or lower, its spell automatically fails and has no effect. But if the enemy spell has already been casted and is currently active, you choose one creature, object, or magical effect within range. Any spell of 3rd class or lower on the target ends. In both instances, if you are targeting a spell of 4th class or higher, it will depend on both your skill with this spell against your opponent's with theirs.]

CASTING TIME/ DURATION: INSTANTANEOUS

RANGE: 40 METERS

COMPONENTS: V AND S

Basically my ticket to curbstomp any wannabe spellcaster that has a bone to pick with me, especially if it is someone who got their hands on one of my magical scrolls or was somehow entrusted with enough knowledge by me. Occasionally ending illusions and enchantments, like the ones I was expecting the likes of Melissandre to pull off once they became more prominent players of the Game of thrones was also a great advantage to have. Sadly, I wasn't convinced that the dispelling aspect was what I was looking for in regards to ending the curse of Harrenhal, so I will just have to keep trying.

As for the totally unexpected MVP…

{MAGIC CIRCLE Lv- 1(0%)}

[THIRD CLASS ABJURATION SPELL: You create a 3-meters-radius, 6-meters-tall cylinder of magical energy centered on a point on the ground that you can see within range. Glowing runes appear wherever the cylinder intersects with the floor or other surface. Choose one or more of the following types of creatures: celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, or undead. The circle affects a creature of the chosen type in the following ways: The creature can't willingly enter the cylinder by non magical means. If the creature tries to use teleportation or interplanar travel to do so, it has disadvantage and will most likely be teleported to a nearby area. The creatures also have disadvantage on attacks against targets within the cylinder. Targets within the cylinder can't be charmed, frightened or possessed by the creatures it is warded against. When you cast this spell, you can elect to cause its magic to operate in the reverse direction, preventing a creature of the specified type from leaving the cylinder and protecting targets outside it. Also, for the duration of the spell, you hide that area and everyone inside it from divination magic like scrying sensors. Spells and other magical effects can't extend through the circle or be cast through it. The atmosphere inside the space is comfortable and dry, regardless of the weather outside. Until the spell ends, you can command the interior to become dimly lit or dark. The circle can be made to be opaque from the side you are warding against, of any color you choose while also remaining transparent from the other side.]

CASTING TIME: 1 MINUTE

RANGE: 3 METERS

COMPONENTS: V, S AND M (holy water or powdered silver and iron, which the spell consumes)

DURATION: 8 HOURS

Essentially it is a free pass to regroup and rest even in a dangerous warzone against creatures of other planes for eight hours. That's just crazy, I had to prioritize mass producing scrolls of this spell as soon as possible. Who knows, I might actually be capable of starting to conquer other planes by protecting my troops with defenses such as this one. Just give me some magical mine traps to spread around it and then we are cooking with gas and firing on all cylinders.

Ahem…Having considered all of that, I better be extra careful with my Counter/Dispel magic spell, from what I understand it has all the advantages necessary to cancel this magnificent magical defense as if it was nothing.

I know, I'm painfully aware that I should be more than satisfied with what I already got, it's just that I knew I could still get more with the other schools of magic.

But enough of goofing around, as I received a mental message from Light, I took the cue to move on.

On my way, I saw the aftermath of my enlarged Death Knight. With many undeads ripped to shreds, even those wearing considerable amounts of protection were cut to pieces. And the countless traps I was worried my minion would've been to dumb to deal with were all wrecked, hence why I send both my Nightwalker and Light to keep a watch, weren't exceptions. I passed by splintered battering rams, crushed falling rocks, flattened bear traps and swinging blades smashed against the walls.

Honestly it wasn't that much different from what one would expect if the Hulk came rampaging through this tunnel. As I was expecting to find my Death Knight back to normal and struggling with the boss guardians of this dungeon, I was once again surprised by finding it dutifully awaiting for my arrival without a single scratch, much less a wound on its body.

Finding both my Nightwalker and Light by its sides, I lowered my gaze at the slayed creatures on the ground. From the remains I managed to make out that they were sexless and muscular humanoids, with a deathly pale gray skin, devoid of any hair at all. More eerie still was their face, which was twisted into an inhuman visage of sheer madness and horror with empty, milky-white eyes outstretched to the shape of vertical ovals.

As my curiosity won me over, I used my Observe skill on the bloody pieces.

{BODAK, MEDIUM UNDEAD}

{LV - 50}

POW: 45 (-25)

MOB: 48

END: 45

INT: 21

STL: 40

DEF: 0

HP: 2,000

SPEED: 30 ft.

SENSES: DARKVISION 120 ft.

LANGUAGES: Abyssal, the language it knew in life.

DAMAGE RESISTANCES: COLD, FIRE, NECROTIC; BLUDGEONING, PIERCING AND SLASHING FROM NON MAGICAL ATTACKS

DAMAGE IMMUNITIES: LIGHTNING AND POISON.

CONDITION IMMUNITIES: CHARMED, FRIGHTENED AND POISONED

DAMAGE VULNERABILITY: RADIANT.

[AURA OF ANNIHILATION: The bodak can passively deal necrotic damage to any creature within 10 meters of it. The monster's mere presence is so unnatural that animals untrained for war instinctively flee even before establishing eyesight. Undead and fiends ignore this effect.]

[WITHERING DEATH GAZE: The ability to gaze into the soul of a nearby creature through eyesight, gravely injuring them with psychic and necrotic damage by showing its victims an unsettling vision of their own death or killing them if they were already weakened. Those killed by a bodak's death gaze were likely to subsequently become bodaks themselves.]

[SUNLIGHT HYPERSENSITIVITY: Even nature despises the Bodak, for the sun burns away its cursed flesh, constantly dealing radiant damage. While in sunlight, the Bodak has its attacks severely weakened, as well as its perception that rely on sight.]

[UNDEAD NATURE: They are completely invulnerable to disease or poison and have a strong resistance against the effects of necrotic power. And have no need to eat, drink or rest.]

*A Bodak is the undead remains of someone who revered a fiendish lord. Devoid of life and soul, it exists only to cause death and destruction.

Noticing the reduced Power stat and smell of burned flesh I realized it had been a group effort of both my Nightwalker's Strength drain alongside Light's Celestial Presence and Radiant Soul. Though it was still very fortunate that I had prepared magical armor and weapons for my undeads, otherwise I presume they wouldn't have had the same easiness dealing with such dangerous guardians.

By the end of my dungeon delving, I was greeted with another chest filled with gold and unlocked another minor House castle. Sadly I found nothing more exciting than that. Hopefully by now Lord Harlaw would've finished all the preparations I had requested.

Knowing my fey familiar very well, I'm sure Shadow must be awfully bored after staying behind to keep a watch. Fortunately I managed to get some big pieces of Kuo-Toa and a couple of Nature spells, those things always seemed to lift her mood.

—————————————————————

Before dusk I was back on a boat, since there really was no other way to experience the Iron Islands. While one might think that once they were in this archipelago the choppy waters would subside a little, that didn't seem to be true at all, for even a short trip between islands needed an experienced captain and a strong stomach.

"Lord Lannister, thanks to the weather we will be making quick progress towards Blacktyde." An older man with graying hair and beard spoke to Gerion behind me, as I was enjoying the sea breeze after sending Light, my celestial familiar, with a message for my Grandfather about my latest alliance.

"Outstanding. Keep me informed about the special routes you will be taking." My great uncle told the man before turning towards me. "So considerable of Lord Harlaw to borrow one of his best quartermasters. With his aid in sailing my ship around, I foresee that we won't be sticking like a sore thumb to the locals."

Gerion's double meaning behind the generosity from a vassal lord that is sworn directly to the soon to be declared King of the Iron Islands was not lost on me. But fortunately he had long since given up on questioning my methods. With my remarkable accomplishments with both the Kingdoms of the Reach and Riverlands, making alliances with some influential houses in the Iron Islands by reminding them the folly of such revolt doesn't seem that much of a stretch.

"Indeed it is, Granduncle. Hopefully that first meeting with the daughter of Lord Greyjoy won't become a recurring issue. You know, I've been wondering…" I replied, stretching my body while enjoying the rocking of the ship. "…while the Arbor and the Riverlands had taught us so much about their methods of managing a commercial fleet in such contrasting environments, will these Iron Islanders have more to contribute towards the aspects of navigation outside of westeros' coast and even naval warfare."

"I would like to believe so, Don." Gerion gave me his honest opinion. "Right after hearing your first idea for the Royal legion and its Marine Corps, I would be lying to say I hadn't considered proposing to intensify our recruitment in this region. As I was put apart in the situation, well, I might have overreacted a little and focused all of my efforts into making this project yours work. Hopefully there will still be an opportunity with these allies you're making during this journey, especially after everything is settled down."

"Agreed." I said before turning to return to my chamber. "If you will excuse me."

"Of course. I will send someone to inform you as soon as we approach our destination." Gerion nodded and immediately left to do his duties.

Making my way around the 'Laughing Lion' while being followed by Shadow, I sighted Sandor interacting with the very same group of men that have followed me ever since I left King's Landing. It was admittedly a wholesome moment that was becoming more and more frequent with how less antisocial the younger Clegane was growing into.

Not that he was already at the point of telling jokes and challenging others for a drinking contest, but still, I've heard he has been learning a few languages with the foreigners and exchanging some experiences with Lothor Brune, which was much more than I had anticipated. Just imagine how different he will be once he gets to proudly show to everyone his healing face.

Between us lies nothing more than a deep bond of respect and a blooming friendship that neither of us had expected. Hell, other than training together while I pretended to be my Knight persona, whenever I didn't set him and my Death Knight to spar with one another, we also prayed together alongside Light, my celestial familiar, as I aided him through the path of the Paladin Cleric.

Yeah, that will have to do for now.

My second stop on this trip was Blacktyde, and I will not lie, it was not a particularly attractive destination. Perhaps I was just not impressed by the lack of imagination in the rather dull nomenclature here. The principal house of Blacktyde Island was none other than House Blacktyde, who resided in Blacktyde castle.

Yeah, this lack of imagination was, I have to say, reflected in the island itself. Like almost all of the Ironborn castles, it was on the coast, made from stone and dank. Its only real distinguishing feature was that it was on the northernmost of these islands, and it was therefore the coldest. But at least this did provide the opportunity to remind and reflect on the fact that once, and indeed for most of the history of the Iron Islands, each of the islands were their own Kingdom.

However small or dull they might've been. And each Kingdom had two kings back then. A Rock King who was in charge of all matters on the island itself, settling disputes and dispensing justice. And the Salt King, whose rule was absolute over the island's fleet and everything that happened at sea.

Funnily enough, even before making that deal with Tywin, I had been thinking of placing my brother, Lann, as a political figurehead while I dealt with everything else that concerned keeping the order and peace in the realm, even if that realm ended up bigger than it started under our rule.

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(03/01/2022)

(05/01/2022)

(02/02/2022)

(09/09/2022)

*Hope this chapter is of your liking.

Anything you wish to ask or suggest, feel free to do so.

Check out my auxiliary chapter if you still haven't.

Thanks as always for your attention and please be safe.

Any problems with my writing, just point them out and I will correct them as soon as possible.

**I really recommend that you check out: "10 Years of WesterosCraft: A Showcase", it has helped me better picture the world George R.R. Martin has created. 😎👍

***Sorry for the delay 😅 I'm currently visiting some relatives on the USA 🇺🇸 ❄️ ⛄️ (I first released this chapter around January and February of 2022)