There was silence for a few moments as everyone digested these intimate details about a man who stood at the very top of the food chain in Westeros, but Jon didn't stop for too long before starting again.
"In the large and black shadow of this man grew up his three brothers, they had to struggle fiercely to get even a little of the sun. Tygett tried to be his own man, but he could never match the reputation of Tywin Lannister, and that just made him angrier as the years went by. Kevan Lannister saw how things stood early on, so he made himself a place by Tywin's side and almost became his subordinate."
"But the youngest of the brothers didn't care for any of it, he made japes of it all, better to mock the game than to play and lose. That obviously displeased the Lord, who only saw the shadow of his father in him. This resulted in a stormy relationship between the brothers, making the estranged younger brother spend more of his time abroad on trips than at home,"
"And when you take a man like Gerion Lannister, with his rebellious, unfretted and free-spirited personality, and place the name and wealth of his family at his disposal, you get a great explorer in the making. And like every other great explorer, he too had an end goal, an achievement he wanted to conquer to cement his name into history."
"But the place he chose to achieve his goal was one that even the bravest of seafarers were terrified to explore. It was a place that was once called the centre of the world, a place that every ship captain in the world dreams of exploring one day, a place filled with enough treasure to make one richer than Braavos, that place is—"
"The Lost Kingdom of Valyria," Oberyn murmured with a frown on his face.
The Dornishman had been quite comfortable while listening to all these personal details of the Lannisters... it made them seem normal as if they were human and not monsters that he wanted to kill after giving them the taste of the cruellest torture known to men.
But, then again, if there was one Lannister that he didn't mind surviving in this world then it would have to be Gerion Lannister.
While he did not know the man too well, in the short time that they had been acquainted during his stay in the Westerlands, when the marriage talks between his sister and Jamie Lannister were held, he had gotten along well with the man with all his crass jokes, and all the travel stories that he had to tell.
In fact, he was one of the reasons Oberyn had gotten so interested in roaming the Free cities... not that he would ever admit it out aloud.
"That is right. Gerion Lannister has his name in history as one of the few who were brave (or rather suicidal) enough to lead a trip into the smoking sea, in search of his family's ancestral Valyrian steel sword, The Brightroar. But of course, like all the others, he too failed in his quest, and never returned to the land of the living," Jon finished with a sigh as if disappointed in how the story had ended.
"But... if he and his entire crew died there, how exactly did you manage to get a hold of his diary?" Gared asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, I got this diary, because it previously belonged in the hands of the late Pirate King, Ravager," Jon answered with a shrug, "And as for how he got it... I think the advisor is more suited to answer that,"
At that statement, all eyes curiously turned towards the well-groomed ex-pirate who nodded without a change in his expression, "I actually do know how he got it,"
"How?" all of them asked simultaneously.
The Advisor cleared his throat and without getting phased by the attention began speaking calmly, "While I did not know all these details about him and his family, the man named Gerion was actually quite well known among the pirates as a particularly juicy target with a rich backer behind him,"
"But no one managed to get their hands on him as the man was always too cunning. He only stayed with well-established local noble families who would not give him up for a few bags of gold, and also made his travel plans randomly, never giving the pirates any opening,"
"Nonetheless, they never took their eyes off of him which meant that when he made public his intentions to travel into the Valyrian peninsula, everyone's interest was immediately peaked, as they wanted to see what came out of it,"
"But while they were curious, none of them were stupid or greedy enough to go along with him, not the rich merchants, not the countless ship captains he urged, not even the few pirate captains he reached out to, no one was willing. In fact, I heard that even the men he brought from Westeros abandoned him in his foolish quest,"
"Alas, the man was nothing if not determined and instead of giving up like any sane person, he decided to purchase slaves from Volantis to cobble together a makeshift crew to man his ships and then rushed headlong into the smoking sea."
"And like everyone knows, neither he nor any of his ship ever emerged from there, which wasn't particularly surprising for anyone... but what people didn't expect, was that one of Gerion's loyal men somehow managed to survive the trip and reach a nearby ship in a half-dead state,"
"The surviving man didn't have much on him except for a few gold trinkets as well a diary that he had been entrusted with to bring back to his Lord's family in Westeros, but sadly for him things didn't go the way he had envisioned as the captain of the ship was a pirate and immediately had him killed after taking away all of his things,"
"But while the crew was disappointed with the meagre loot, the captain was one of the rare pirates, who knew how to read and the moment he realised what the diary he was holding in his hands was, he got unbelievably ecstatic. He knew that if he managed to bring this diary to the right people, he could earn more than he would in his lifetime,"
"So without wasting any time, he immediately took off towards Stepstones, after sending a letter to his brother who worked on a ship under the Pirate King, Salladhor Saan, hoping that he could make a deal in his stead for a great deal of gold,"
"But sadly, the journey was too long and boring, and one day the Captain got drunk and loose with his tongue, and let out the importance of the diary to a few of his crew members. And as you can imagine, that immediately resulted in a betrayal, mutiny and the leak of the news to other parties,"
"This meant that by the time this ship reached its destination island in Stepstones, the diary had changed quite a few hands and the captain of the ship was a completely different person, but it did not change his fate in the end as waiting for him and surrounding his ship on all sides were the pirate fleets of all three great pirate kings of that time, the Lyseni sell-sail, Salladhor Saan, the crow's-eye, Euron Greyjoy, and of course, Ravager."
"Rarely, do all three of them gather together in one place and in such great strength but that time they did. I could still clearly remember that day, when you could see ships floating in Stepstones as far as the horizon, all of them filled with pirates that were ready to tear each other apart on a single order from their captain."
"But wait! How is Euron Grejoy counted among these pirate kings," Oberyn suddenly interjected with a confused expression on his face, "I thought he was expelled from his family for doing something to his brother, so how did he have access to so many ships and subordinates,"
"He was indeed expelled," Jon answered with a frown on his face, "But with half the ships from Iron islands constantly reaving and raping the shores of Essos year around, it must not have been too hard for him to gather them under his command. After all, while the man is insane and dangerous, he is someone who is not too greedy for gold, and the captains who are willing to follow him are never lacking in loot,"
"Oh..." Oberyn nodded with an understanding look on his face and turned back to Advisor who continued with his story.
"Anyway, in the end, it did not come to a battle between the three because Salladhor Saan, a man who is more a merchant than a pirate, got hold of the ship first and wasn't too stubborn about keeping the diary for himself. Instead, he presented a solution that satisfied everyone,"
"What solution?"
"He proposed that each of them send one of their men forward to copy the content of the diary word by word so that, they would all get the chance to read its content without any bloodshed. And that was how this diary managed to reach the hands of Ravager and the other two great pirates..."
There was silence for a few moments before Oberyn suddenly snorted, "What a captivating tale... it will be the perfect bedtime story for children when I go back,"
"But wait, is that it?" Gared abruptly asked with a frown, "Is that the end?"
"What do you mean?" The advisor asked with a confused frown.
"I mean, what happened after the pirate captain got their hands on their diary?" He asked with narrowed eyes, "Did anything useful come out of it? Quite a few years must have passed since that incident, right? So did someone manage to enter the lands of Old Valyria?"
"Ah, No. I do not think so," The Advisor shook his head, "I was the one who copied this diary for Ravager so I am quite familiar with its contents. And while it was a very interesting read, I can say with certainty that it did not contain any shocking information that could help one safely navigate the smoking sea."
"The only details it contained were the mundane daily life of Gerion Lannister on his ship, how they lost their way a few days after entering the smoking sea, the numerous ways in which his crew succumbed to death one after the other while they were trying to escape, and oh, also his last will, left for his family and a man named Tyrion... that is all." The Advisor said shaking his head, "So I do not think, this diary would be any help in unravelling the secrets of Valyria."
"That is where you are wrong, my friend," Jon quietly interrupted with a small smile.
"What? What do you mean?"
"Did you know that one of those three great pirates, Euron Greyjoy, and his infamous ship Silence, has not been sighted in these waters for at least four years,"
"Oho," The eyes of Oberyn and Gared lit up with interest at this new information as they immediately understood what Jon was implying.
"I had heard about it... but that does not mean that the man went to Valyria, does it?" The Advisor asked with a frown, "He could be in any part of the world like Quarth, the Slaver's Bay, or even Asshai, that man was well known to travel all over the world,"
"Oh, no, I know for sure that the man is either already in the Smoking Sea or preparing to enter it," Jon replied with a frown on his face.
"But, why would he do that? Entering the Smoking Sea is suicidal even for someone insane like the Crow's Eye. He must know that the chance of him surviving is very small,"
"That is only true if he did not manage to find the method to traverse the lost kingdom from this diary,"
"But how... I read this diary front to back, and I am sure that I would have known if there is such knowledge in there,"
"Oh, the information is certainly in here," Jon said raising the diary with a gleam in his eyes, "You just need a specific skill set to read it,"
The Advisor was confused for a moment before his eyes widened as he realised what skill Jon was talking about.
'Magic.'
...