Year of Skulls and Daggers

The Battle of Mist Town

(WIP)

The **Year of Skulls and Daggers** refers to 97 AC in the Stormlands, where following the death of Aemon Targaryen the previous year tensions boiled over and started a war of banditry between forces loyal to the Iron Throne and forces who believed in the cause of Stormlander independence, spearheaded by Lord Wylde and the Lord of the Storm's Heart, a Toyne, respectively.

## History

With the death of Aemon Targaryen in 96 AC, many in the Stormlands felt that the last real threat the crown might pose to a secession movement had ended.  The rumbles grew to the point where even Roy Baratheon began to notice the tension in the air. For the first few moons of 97 AC, however, it seemed that things would calm down, as they always have.

When rumors spread of a new bandit group operating in the Rainwood, Lord Roy ordered his bannermen to find them and see them destroyed.  And for a few weeks, it seemed that that would be the end of it. What Roy did not know was that this would be the first major challenge of his rule as Lord Baratheon.

News began to reach Storm’s End of the movements of these bandits, who seemed to have survived the initial blows by House Toyne.  Curiously, however, the bandits held to a specific pattern that anyone who understood the politics of the Stormlands could see; Houses that supported remaining with the throne would be raided, while those who supported independence would be left unscathed.  Roy was not the only person to notice this. In the Fifth Moon, House Wylde declared that it would safeguard its allied houses from the bandits and called their levy. Roy supported the measure, and began to call up a few hundred knights to support.

However, before Roy could even leave Storm’s End, it became clear that Lord Wylde was not acting in good faith, his soldiers purporting to be the defenders of the rights of the throne-supporting lords began to act quite like the bandits themselves.  But that wasn’t all. It seemed that a knight of House Toyne had taken over the bandit group for his own, and had begun to call himself the Lord of the Storm’s Heart. In the background, it was speculated that Lord Toyne himself was funding the group, and had perhaps done so from the start.

Although initially decisive, Roy’s inexperience showed when forced to choose who to confront.  His own allegiance may have lain with the throne, but that did not mean he supported the measures taken by Lord Wylde.  Yet still, taking out the bandits of the Storm’s Heart might incensitize House Toyne against him as well. In the end, Roy followed the only path that would gain him nothing; he stood in Storm’s End with hundreds of men, and waited for the two to deal with one another.

The first clash between the rogues occurred near Mistwood.  As Lord Mertyns holed up in his castle alongside whatever smallfolk he could afford to house before the inevitable, blood was spilled in a nearby town.  It was utter chaos, with men on both sides going to pillage nearby houses as their comrades were cut down around them. In the end, the Lord of the Storm’s Heart’s men would push out those of Lord Wylde, and reave the country-side with impunity.

Roy, realizing what his decision was costing, finally began to move, albeit slowly.  In the fortress of Crow’s Nest, held by House Morrigen, he supplemented his forces with local troops and scouts, before ordering the Rainwood cut off from the rest of the Stormlands until the threat was dealt with.

Lord Wylde’s forces, reeling after their defeat at Mistwood, began to offer aid to Lord Roy in exchange for a pardon, though they were refused.  Baratheon had had enough of their antics, and justice would be dealt. With no other option, Lord Wylde began to fortify his holdings and prepare for the oncoming storm.

But before he could deal with the belligerent lord, Roy first had to deal with the bandits of the Storm’s Heart.  For awhile, he was harried by the bandits as he attempted to search through the Rainwood for their hideout. Frustrated, Roy was close to marching to the keep of House Toyne and tearing it down stone by stone before he was talked down by his siblings and loyal lords.

In the Eighth Moon, Baratheon forces finally began to corner the bandits.  Gains were made every week, until the final blow came to the north of Mist Town.  The Lord of the Storm’s Heart led what men he could, but with scouts provided by Lords Mertyns and Whitehead, he was unable to evade the more properly prepared Stag.  In the forest, Roy’s knights were hampered, and so they were forced to dismount. The Lord of the Storm’s Heart was outnumbered, but he fought well until he came across Roy himself.  As the fight raged the two were separated from the rest, and though nobody was there to record it, it is generally considered a fact that Roy slew the self-proclaimed lord.

With the bandits dealt with, Roy turned his gaze to Lord Wylde, preparing for a siege.  Unexpectedly, Lord Wylde entered the Baratheon camp in nothing but rags, and paid homage to Roy, who, moved by the display of loyalty, pardoned him in exchange for a hostage.

Although House Toyne was not directly implicated in the banditry, nobody held doubts as to their complicity.  Not confident in his ability to directly punish the Lord Toyne, Roy instead merely sent a letter to thank him for his initial “crushing” of the bandits, noting that it is the fate for all who engage in such activity in the end.