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Post by Lord Lyonel Vikary on Apr 15, 2015 8:23:51 GMT -5
Highgarden is girded by three concentric rings of crenellated curtain walls, made of finely dressed white stone and protected by towers as slender and graceful as maidens. Each wall is higher and thicker than the one below it. Between the outermost wall that girdles the foot of the hill and the middle wall above it can be found Highgarden's famed briar maze, a vast and complicated labyrinth of thorns and hedges mintained for centuries for the pleasure and delight of the castle's occupants and guests....and for defensive purposes, for intruders unfamiliar with the maze cannot easily find their way through its traps and dead ends to the castle's gate.
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Post by Lord Lyonel Vikary on Apr 15, 2015 8:31:15 GMT -5
Ser Harys Farman, the nominal commander of Highgarden stalked the city walls. He had given orders that the surrounding countryside be stripped of supplies and foodstuffs and stored in the city. Far below him, the tens of thousands of men camped outside begin preparations to defend the city, as news of an approaching army reaches Highgarden. The walls bristle with men, preparing cauldrons of boiling pitch, assembling piles of stone to rain down on the enemy, fletching thousands of arrows and building mangonels that can be fired at any attacking force.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Apr 15, 2015 14:19:54 GMT -5
Mid February, 382.
Lord Jaymes Lannister's army, reinforced by traitor Reachmen and northmen, arrives at Highgarden. King Brynden Lannister's force was delayed by a strike on their supply lines, and men had to be detached to secure them, but it will arrive within three days.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Apr 20, 2015 14:10:09 GMT -5
///
After two weeks, with supply lines restored, the Western army lays siege. Trebuchets are assembled, catapults, siege towers, the like, all bent on assaulting the castle.
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Post by Lord Lyonel Vikary on Apr 20, 2015 15:45:39 GMT -5
Ser Harys Farman and his men, having reached Highgarden, finally see for themselves how the Lannister army has surrounded the city. Making no effort to disguise themselves and making it clear they come from the north-east they move down into the army seeking Brynden Lannister.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Apr 20, 2015 16:07:47 GMT -5
The knight is escorted to a tent set up near the largest of the trebuchets. King Brynden and Lord Jaymes, as well as the giant Clegane and Tomas Serrett are present. The king looks to the man. "Who are you, ser? I hear you've been seeking me out."
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Post by Lord Lyonel Vikary on Apr 20, 2015 16:15:57 GMT -5
Harys bowed in respect. "I am Ser Harys Farman of Fair Isle, my lord. I come as an emissary of King Rycherd, to discuss the possibility of our two sides reaching terms."
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Post by Queen Joanna Lannister on Apr 20, 2015 16:26:58 GMT -5
"State your terms," said Jaymes.
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Post by Lord Lyonel Vikary on Apr 20, 2015 17:07:34 GMT -5
That a bannerman should speak for King Brynden took Harys aback momentarily. He raised an eyebrow in query, but then shrugged his shoulders.
"King Rycherd asks that you withdraw from Highgarden peacefully and in return he will cease hostilities against your forces." he began.
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Post by The Forgotten God on Apr 20, 2015 17:27:53 GMT -5
Stifled laughs. "How generous of him," the king said. "But if is going to joke then I am afraid I shall have to insist on the last laugh."
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Post by Lord Lyonel Vikary on Apr 20, 2015 18:17:47 GMT -5
"But will you have the last laugh?" replied Harys. "The Ironborn ravage your coasts, This Bryce Dayne and his son have Dorne, the Stormlands and now sits upon the Iron Throne in Kings Landing and seeks to gain more. He will look next to the North or maybe to the Goldlands. And then there is this 'Emperor' Vhagus and reports of a dragon in the skies over Westeros. The High Septon regards King Rycherd as his anointed and will bring many of those that worship the Seven to his side. If King Rycherd thinks he has nohing to lose, then he will go on fighting to the last. And I need not tell you that King Rycherd is a commander of some renown. Defeating him will not be an easy task and may indeed cost you dearly in lives and resources, leaving you weak and vulnerable in fighting Dayne."
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Post by The Forgotten God on Apr 20, 2015 18:38:08 GMT -5
"Lord Rycherd may bend his knee and spare his life," brynden said, "because I have no desire to slaughter my own banner men in battles, and for my sisters sake." He looks to the knight. "But the Seven found the High Septon's judgement wanting at kings landing, and until he submits his castles will burn." He looks to the blackened walls of Highgarden. "My terms are simple. Bend the knee or I shall break it."
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Post by Lord Lyonel Vikary on Apr 20, 2015 18:45:04 GMT -5
It was as he expected.
"And if he does so, Rycherd and his line will be confirmed in all his existing holdings with all his existing bannermen?"
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Post by The Forgotten God on Apr 20, 2015 19:30:18 GMT -5
"Lords Redwyne, Rowan, and Oakheart will pledge to Lord Jaymes and myself," Brynden said. "We will require...guests at Casterly Rock, and Lord Rycherd is responsible for paying the Starks for their own prisoners, taken at King's Landing." He taps a finger.
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Post by Lord Lyonel Vikary on Apr 20, 2015 22:23:10 GMT -5
Harys shook his head. The man clearly did not want peace.
"That is not acceptable, unless there are to be political benefits to the Reach. The only way King Rycherd would even consider such terms would be if you were to also recognise the Reach as independent of your own lands." he replied. "Free to conduct its own affairs, both internal and external."
He swallowed.
"My lord, I speak from my own own perspective on this. King Rycherd will fight to the bitter end in defence of his lands and his faith, if he thinks he has nothing to lose. Both are more important to him than his life. He still has a considerable force and support amongst the Reach lords. Think of the cost to not only the Reach but to yourself. You may win but the cost to you and your lands will be high. You will rule over little more than burnt land cities of ash. Recovery make take generations. That is, if Bryce Dayne allows it at all."
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