Ambush in the Lonely Hills

Forces| House Bolton:* 100 Horsemen

Casualties| * 22 Bolton Rider's killed
* Ser Arthur Fulgarian
* Ser Landor Longstride

## Prelude

> *Terrance: Maester Aemon...has passed away.*
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> *Old Bear: Damn...how do we handle a funeral?*
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Following off the heels of the brutal Battle of Castle Black House Brightflame's men retreated, an effort to make it to White Harbor to sail back to the Capitol they had made there way to Bolton Territory that was on the way there, split off from any other Man of the Night's Watch then Maester Aemon they took some time to heal and ponder the dire situation in front of them, dome debated going to King Robb for assistance but men like Derrick Esterold were described as being stubbornly opposed to plan claiming Robb to be stubborn to be reliable, despite protests saying otherwise from men Like Daniel Youngflower, and the rest mourning the losses of the good men at the battle, not to mention there regret at there own failure to make a difference. Worst just as a plan seemed to form Ser Terrance noticed Aemon talking to himself before finally passing on apparently dreaming of an encounter with a beloved family member. When he informed the rest they all offered to help in some capacity with Bear and Zelos gathering wood to set up a pyre for the respected Targaryean. When they were set they lit the pyre aflame and made sure to try and honor the man's death as much as they could despite them not being kin or members of his Order.

Though this was all interrupted by a plot from one Ramsey Snow, the bastard born of Roose Bolton. The Boltons and Starks had been enemies for Centuries before the Starks eventually defeated the Red Kings and forced them to heel, since then they had been one of the most powerful vassals they have and certaintly one of the most feared. Though it seemed Roose Bolton had his eyes on Winterfell for the longest time, but Roose was a pragmatic man, he'd never do anything foolish unless he was sure he had some backup plan. His bastard born though had acquired a reputation...Though its unknown how true all of it is the boy was said to be very sadistic and spontaneous, while he no doubt had his fathers cunning he lacked his foresight and thus when his spies reported Brightflame bannermen in the North he made a move to intercept them on there way back home hoping to kill or capture what he could and use the rest as a means of provoking a wat that would allow Ramsey to strike at Winterfell while Robb fought off the Southern invaders, has reported by Ser Terrance while captured in the Dreadfort. How he intended to keep such a gain from being taken back by loyal Northerners, or how he planned to repel a Brightflame invasion if he instigated a Northern Civil war is up to any man's interpretation and thus we can assume such a nearsighted plan was never brought up to Roose Bolton himself. Though that would be of little comfort to the men he attacked.

## Battle

> *Zelos: Form up! We'll be overun if we splinter off!*
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> *Darron: How are there so many of them!?*
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The Brightflame group was still huddled around the burning pyre of Maester Ameon when they saw what Ser Terrance described as thousands of Pink and Red Banners rising over the hill. In actuality the number was more akin to one hundred, as many of them recall though it was hard for them to initially see in the heat of the moment. Though they tried to quickly form up the Riders were fast and knew how and where to strike to make sure that the enemy never had a chance to gain the ground they needed. There initial charge knocked out men like Artos Starkwood who were nearly killed in the ensuing chaos and Robb Griften who tried to make an opening before he was hit in the head and brought to the snow, not rising until long after the horses had fled. Davon Yew, was quick to loose some arrows out but many of the men were well armed and avoided them and even the ones who were pierced and died it did little to halt the charge. The leader of the riders swung an axe that caught Ser Musty on his way to protect Rickard and the Mormont man was killed almost instantly by the strike. Ser Terrance would likewise attempt to wake the injured greywinde hoping to make sure he didnt succumb o his wounds or be killed by the Bolton cowards but he was quickly overwhelmed and knocked out. Darron Flameheart, Ser Tristifer Terrance, and many others tried to get out of there defenses and attack to save there fallen allies but in there charge while they succeeded in killing a few of there own, Arthur Fulgarian took several arrows in the chest as he finished off a downed Bolton rider and Visenya was nearly decapitated by another rider, though he was quickly downed when Daniel Youngflower took out his horse. Zelos Wilder and Landor Longstride stayed close in an effort to keep the enemy at bay but Landor was killed by a lance when he saw it coming and moved to protect Zelos from it, killing the rider as it caught him in the chest.

It was by this point many of the riders started to fall back having lost more men then they expected, having hoped that this would just be a simple sweep up of scattered and exhausted enemies, though they had succeeded on two fronts. They captured two men and they had taken Dark Sister from the enemy and Ramsey decided this was enough to serve his purposes. After one more pass where no one died though a few more were injured the riders ran off leaving the exhausted Brightflame survivors to watch them leave with there allies.

## Aftermath

> *Daniel: "He said..'bring them to my father' we need to move now. Roose only has one son and he is not anyone we want our friends anywhere near.*
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> *Davon: I propose we split into two groups, one to take the sword back and another to go to Starkwood Keep and raise there army.*
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> *Zelos: They have the Sword as well, no matter what we do our end point is the Dreadfort.*
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Now numbering 15 men with the death of 3 and the capture of 2 the men were left scrambled on what to do. Daniel having recognized that Ramsey had to have lead the charge means that there friends would be put through hell if they didnt act, and if they had the sword there whole mission was a failure if it wasnt retrieved. Artos wanted to go straight to Starkwood keep immediately and raise his army though many advised agaisnt bringing an army as marching on the Dreadfort while Wildlings were past the wall would not only forever out Artos as a Brightflame loyalist it would look downright traitorous and the men wanted to avoid starting a war at any and all costs, they had a good truce with Robb Stark and the Kingdom needed time to recover from its debt and lick its wounds. Zelos instead proposed a plan that if the Starkwoods and Blackwolfs still intended to bring men to bring small parties out there while he made his way to the Dreadfort to try and sneak in, Ser Tristifer offering to go with him while the rest either rested from the battles or went tot he keep to gather the men. Davon was the first to volunteer to go to Starkwood keep marching through the snow to get them ready for when Artos was ready to lead them.

Ramsey would spend his time trying to get the secrets of the Brightflame groups mission out of Terrance and Rickard, torturing both men but never truly getting them to talk, all the while he taunted them about what he was planning to do to them and there friends if they tried to rescue them and on top of that he made sure they were close to each other forced to hear the other scream. Slowly the Starkwoods and the BlackWolf's would bring there armies together hoping it would be enough to keep any attackers at bay should Zelos and Tristifer's rescues mission be successful, with Daniel, Kylan and Mark following the two closely after they rested enough and setting the stage for the Battle of the Dreadfort.