Battle of the Dark Storm

## Prelude

> *Daniel: Your Grace, is it well advised for your Lord Commander to be off the Island rather then protecting you?*
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> *Haywin: Ethan's a brutish soldier, his place is on the battlefield and the front lines is exactly what he should be doing. We can handle the rest.*
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The defeat at King's Landing wasnt the only attempt at an invasion, Ethan Lash, Lord Commander of the Silver Cloaks was tasked with leading an attack from the Stormlands, in an effort to keep any attacks off of Haywin himself he met with the Qohor forces and Khal Pono's men and further assisted by the freed Randyl Tary were going to assist as well. Darron Darkspear, heir to Bloodstone also followed Ethan into battle as did House Warden under Garahel. They landed in the Stormlands and slowly started securing the area and began planning there attack, which according to Ethan was a nightmare for him thanks to Khal Pono, the arrogant horselord who had conquered Volantis didnt want to do things Ethan's way and Randyl and Garahel also had differing ideas about how to do things. While they bickered Graznan Zo Patton gathered his own forces calling on his lords to try and put an end to them as quickly as possible. Many men came to his aid but two prominent ones were Lord Dwyte Skybright and Lord Taren Lash Ethan's cousin who despite being a crownlands lord marched out to try and stop the threat Ethan posed to the Brightflames.

The Stepstones scouts found out about the approaching army and Ethan lead a force out to meet them, knowing that a victory over the Lord Paramount would shake the recovering confidence of the 8 Kingdoms. Though his forces were smaller he gave Randyl control of there flank while Khal Pono lead there vanguard.

## The Battle

> *Taren: You claim to want to redeem our name but you further taint it by becoming a traitor? What lows will you sink to next? Kinslaying?*
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> *Ethan: If not for Haywin I would be in exile or worst. For the sake of my family I cannot relent, no matter how much I hate it.*
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As a resident of Essos, Zo Patton had experience dealing with the Dothraki hordes before, there skirmishers attempts to pick at his defenses with there many arrows was countered as best as the man could but he still found himself struggling to get to most of them, but his vanguard lead by Taren was getting the best of the lighter armored forces of Khal Pono. Ethan sent the Warden lead Calvary forces to try and assist them while the Dothraki archers continued to chip away at the defenses of the larger army. The forces eventually started to clash with Ethan bringing up his main host to try and break through the main Stormlanders men and deal with his troublesome cousin, in a rematch between them after Taren bested him at there castle, the two lords met in the middle of the battlefield, and Randyl Tarly quickly took command of the Stepstone/Free City forces.

The Stepstones found success on all counts, Randyl's superior tactics bested Graznan and combined with a rush of Dothraki hordes they had shattered his main host causing far more casualties on the Brightflames side. He even bested Dwyte's Skybright in single combat, with the Lord only escaping death thanks to other Stormland Lords coming to his aid, Darron Darkspear proved the difference maker in Taren and Ethan's fight giving Ethan the opening to win and bring his cousin down, though Ethan himself spared Taren, refusing to become a kinslayer, instead Ethan was taken prisoner where Ethan hoped to keep House Lash of New Dawn docile. Zo Patton witnessed all of this unfold and with his host falling apart and breaking he knew victory was impossible, and was forced to call a retreat as best he could, with the lords following him into a routed retreat.

## The Aftermath

> *Darron: Keep in mind Lord Tarly no matter how much power you think you have this is still a Darkspear victory, without my father, the King youd be locked up in Dragonstone.*
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> *Randyl: And unless your king intends to join me in a cell or meet the gods soon he should heed my warning and take the fight North, go for the King and his sister and bring all of the Brightflames to heel. Kings Landing is a failed attempt so he needs a decisive victory that they cant recover from.*
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The Stepstone forces proved too strong to face head on, as the army broke away any attempt at coming together proved futile, and the Volantis Dothraki began raiding and pillaging, turning the area into a place of guerilla warfare as lords and respected knights lead attacks fending off the enemy. The Qohor sellswords assisted Khal Pono in this matter but Ethan and the Stepstone Lords did not. Randyl Tarly was awarded much of the spoils of the victory for his part, given he was without his castle or forces and had spent a long time in captivity Ethan likely knew he was in need of them far more then him. Though the alliance started to fall apart soon after, Khal Pono was already difficult to control and was taking matters into his own hands from there, the Qohor forces had no decisive leader merely wanting to cause pain for House Brightflame and Darron, Ethan and Randyl were at odds about what to do next. Ethan wanted to keep on going from there but was criticized by Randyl who pointed out that he, and by extension the Stepstones while a powerful army lacked the forces or supplies for such a campaign, instead arguing that they should concentrate there forces on attacking areas of significance, and instead try to draw the King back into the war. He wanted to capture and kill him to cripple the Brightflames further as he lacked faith in Rhaenys ability to lead and was sure her leadership would end the dynasty. The two couldnt quite reconcile with each other as Ethan and Darron felt they had the power but Randyl had little reason in his mind to put himself behind two men with less experience at warfare then him.

Eventually Ethan was called back for a mission in Dorne ordered by Haywin himself and he took Prince Darron with him leaving Lord Warden in the Stormlands with Randyl in charge of the armies there, making sure there control over the area remained. The invaders weren't pushed out until Ian Dayne lead a force into the area and dealt with them personally, Lord Tarly was captured once again, and Khal Pono was pushed out of Westeros for good, and assuring he was out of the war and depriving Haywin of another ally.