S01E10

## Betrayal at Aldford

### Summary:

House Glenbain is brought to ruin by the combined efforts of Tywin Lannister, Jarden Krey and House Dyre. The group is left split and desperate.

### Characters:

Alon, Brenwyn, Brokenose Winston, Clyde, Maxir, Torrhen, Wilfred, Xu Maru

## Betrayal at Aldford

The kind words had been spoken. The rights had been observed. The smallfolk had had their memorial. The court, the inner circle, stood in the family sept. Zandren was there on the altar, stones over his eyes to keep them shut. The Silent Sisters washed the body, its final preparation before being taken away.

Brenwyn could hear voices arguing from down in the courtyard. It was Cley the woodscutter, trying to tell the gate guards that he had spotted scouts in the woods to the north. After Zandren's service, the group split. Brenwyn, Brokenose, Maxir, Minnie and Torrhen took to horse and headed into the forest.

Alon, Clyde, Rook, Wilfred and Xu Maru stayed behind, ready to greet Lord Tywin Lannister when he arrived. So, it came as a surprise when coming up the hill, flying the standards of Lord Tywin came Lord Jarden Krey, Zandren's melancholy second-cousin.

- The Greyrocks were a thick, rocky, almost impassible wilderness. Cutting a path the best they could, the warriors found themselves walking through a patch of poison nettles. The group stopped to check to see if anyone had been poisoned. Brenwyn was feeling odd, with a touch of heartburn, but he hadn't been pricked so the team continued on.

- It took Torrhen's keen eyes, but they spotted a natural hollow ringed by cliff faces. Examining closer, Brokenose and Torrhen found the tracks of nine scouts, elite and well-equipped.

- The courtly group met with Lord Jarden Krey. He rather bluntly suggested that House Glenbain should refuse Tywin Lannister's offer of Stewardship, that they should give the honour and responsibility of defending The Westerlands to House Krey.

- An argument ensued. The discussion moved back and forth, but in the end the group convinced Lord Jarden that it was their right to hold the Stewardship and that he should not interfere.

- The warriors assaulted the scouts. As soon as they were roused, they launched a bright red firework as a signal.

- The fighting was vicious. Brenwyn's heartburn became more difficult and painful. These scouts were Eastern mercenaries, equipped with odd leather armor and fine braavosi blades. Minnie, Brenwyn and Brokenose took wounds, but they were victorious.

- One Eastern mercenary left alive was very forthcoming with information. Unfortunately, he didn't have much information to give. His group was ordered to live in The Greyrocks for three weeks, keeping as quiet and hidden as possible. They were to launch the firework when they were attacked. Beyond that, he understood nothing and had no mission. He expected to be let free, as is custom with mercenaries in the East. The group dispatched him.

- The courtly group sat to dinner with Jarden Krey and his advisers. Jarden Krey dropped a note to the floor, concealing it from his own advisers. It read:

"I'm sorry. This is a trap. A Lannister force of 2,500 is coming. You may be able to survive if you divide their attack by burning your bridge and closing your gate. Scouts are watching. If they see a large group moving to the bridge they will know and the invaders will wait to regroup."

- Disguised as peasants, the group took a mule and cart down the hill to Aldford. They were stopped along the way by a pair of suspicious looking peasants. Alon and Rook turned them away with some masterful fast-talk.

- Reaching Aldford, they burned the bridge. It had been rigged to burn, so the execution was simple. Having finished the job, they raced back up the hill to the castle.

- The warriors looked down the The Greyrocks to the castle. An army of 30,000 Lannister troops swarmed over the land like locusts. They had landed on the coast to the West, somehow knowing that the bridge and the river would be impassible.

- Brenwyn fell to the ground in pain. Minnie ran to his side, throwing open his shirt. There was a deep red spot on Brenwyn's chest and Minnie could feel heat coming off of it. The spot burned open, smoke and light pouring out. Brenwyn was burning from the inside out, the hole in his abdomen growing and growing. His death imminent and in agonizing pain, Minnie used her axe to end his misery.

- The courtly group returned to the castle and through down the front gate, only to realize that the castle courtyard was filled with hundreds of Lannister elites with crossbows.

- Tywin Lannister emerged, revealing that Melinsa, now of House Glenbain, had betrayed them. She had arranged for the Lannisters to scale the castle wall while the warriors were away and that she had poisoned her husband.

- Lord Tywin Lannister declared Maxir's claim as Lord of Glenbain void and so the title passes to Dalin Glenbain, Zandren's seven year old son. By the customs of Westeros Dalin cannot take rule until he is sixteen, so a Regent must be named to rule in his name. Tywin chose Maedalyn Dyre as Dalin's Regent and Protector.

- Maedalyn Dyre had the Lannister soldiers capture Alon, Clyde, Rook, Wilfred and Xu Maru, promising each of them a place in her court as soon as they "learned to behave." They were taken to the castle dungeons. Little Dalin was placed in a prisoner's carriage and sent to Raptor's Rest, the fortress of House Dyre, to live with Maedalyn's son Lord Lartel.

- Their cause hopeless, the warriors headed north in defeat.

## Experience

- Alon, Brenwyn, Brokenose Winston, Clyde, Maxir, Torrhen, Wilfred and Xu Maru received 14 XP, 3 Glory

- Before the adventure, Maxir granted Clyde Flay a knighthood (-10 INF)

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