The Siege of Castle Claw

Combatants| * House Starkwood
* House Wolf
* House Griften

Commanders| * Lord Artos Starkwood
* Lord Shamus Blackwolf
* Ser Robb Griften

Forces| 2,942 Starkwood forces~* 1200 Starkwood forces (700 infantry, 300 archers, 200 Calvary)
* 312 Griften troops (110 Pikemen, 101 crossbowmen, 101 Calvary)
* 1430 Blackwolf soldiers (850 infantry, 380 archers, 200 Calvary)

## Prelude

> *Artos: Smart of Lord Verdant to let us take this castle, we know the land better then any of his own men and it would better suited if Southern Lords didnt linger in the North.*
>
>

> *Robb: Our allies are keeping the Redwater threat busy. We can certaintly expect little help for the Lashes of the North*
>
>

Castle Claw was an established land of the Lashes in one of the few castles they did hold while not the biggest it was decent holding where Tavion Lash could gather the necessary troops and could attack the Verdants from the North. Wanting to stop this Daemon Verdant Had his Northern allies mobilize and take the castle before it could be used for this purpose. The Starkwoods were quick and on the attack soon pushing in and surrounding the castle with a large host that only had a small garrison and a few catapults. Held by Rodrick Rynd who even with this situation was determined to make Castle Claw a sign of defiance that the Northern Lords would need to understand.

## Battle

> *Shamus: We will take this castle and burn it to the ground, that'll show Lash who he deals with.*
>
>

> *Rodrick: Ive seen better men then you try and take it. And ill live to see more try and kill me.*
>
>

The first day of the siege began in the afternoon with bombardments. Shamus's forces played a key role in the initial attack as the castle was easily outnumbered and outgunned with only two catapults to defend it, opening fire on the enemy and trying to break the smaller garrison. But the Northerners underestimated the will of the men to fight despite being so badly outnumbered and they kept strong and did every command Rodrick bellowed firing down on the enemy with the catapults that battered the siege tower and kept it from being able to land while also laying into the enemy completely with constant fire from there catapults that scattered any attempt to charge and take the place. Shamus himself was nearly killed by a hail of arrow fire before Artos instead redirected the attack on the catapults and there crew ignoring the rest of the castle altogether and by the end of the day having destroyed them both before pulling his men back and ending the first day of the siege. The Lashes held firm with only 4 men killed on the walls but with a bleak tomorrow with both of there catapults destroyed, and the attackers as expected lost more men but still had plenty to come at the Lash troops once more.

The next day was a far bloodier experience without the catapults Rodrick knew they would be hit hard so he ordered the area blocked as much as possible and had every ranger ready to open fire when the sun came back up. Even with these precautions the day was just as bad as he could have feared with the Northern lords looking to end the siege this day and attacked in full, the rangers especially were put under pressure trying to maintain an attack while under constant bombardment but were surprisingly determined in the face of it. The issue became the ladders and siege equipment that was still closing in on them. Rodrick ordered a desperate push out with his infantry to try and damage it but it lead to the death of almost all the men who took part in it, and though it did stall the enemy and made the day go by without the fall of the castle morale had taken a hit and there were a lot less men to defend what was left.

Rodrick was no fool and instead made his terms clear to Artos Starkwood, he challenged the lord to a duel claiming he would surrender the castle peacefully if he lost and if he won the castle would still be his but his men would go free. Artos not looking to let this fight end in a battered slugfest agreed knowing that the castle was the end goal. The two clashed and despite Artos being a skilled warrior and veteran of war Rodrick Rynd attacked with no fear and put the man on guard for sure even catching his chest and sides with a few cuts of hits short sword though neither was enough to draw blood, instead it was Artos who after a fierce some assault caught Rodrick in the shoulder deep enough to draw blood and force Rodrick to yield, the garrison surrendered as promised the castle was soon in the hands of House Starkwood.

## Aftermath

> *Tion: The Lash banners around Castle Claw are gone, The Starkwoods control it now*
>
>

> *Daemon: And that means the only threat that remains is the one in front of us. Tell Artos to send some men down south as soon as he can, I suspect Tavion and Jory wont just wait for me to be ready for them.*
>
>

Artos sent the word of his victory to Lord Daemon immediately, reaching him soon enough the Verdant lord was pleased and praised the Starkwoods on there victory but that was only one caslte, the main prize he knew to be Castle Lash and he stayed in his keep planning out a means to gain it, the issue was that he couldnt march and take it as he needed to defend his home from the Redwaters, who had a much stronger presence in the Riverlands which he would need to march through to get there, meaning that his best bet involved being able to slowly push through the area and beat one of the Strongest Houses under the Brightflame banner. Not an easy task.

Worse still tavion Lash had marshaled most of his men and began making way for Castamere his intent was clearly to end the war by taking the castle and potentially Lord Verdant's head. Daemon ordered his man Ser Tion Raine to put a stop to the man's attempts and keep any of his enemies away from Castamere which was still being built.