"Well, you look, uh, different, a new haircut?" I ask not Obi-wan, what a downgrade.
"Besides other things, so you are finally here, any questions you need to ask before we start." He says
"Probably, but I will only remember them after we are done here," I answer him, and he chuckles.
"I can say for sure this is the biggest boon you will receive, ready to choose." He says
"Oooh boy let's do this." I am getting excited.
"First and foremost you must know that you, just this time will have access to homebrew spells to choose from." He starts, I am of course smiling like a child on Christmas.
"You will receive 14 spells slots,6 cantrips, 9 spells under level 5, 2 of 6th level, and 7 proficiencies." My eyes bulge, holy shit, that is, is awesome, incredible, I start to laugh, I just soo fucking happy.
Some deliberation time later, I choose everything that I needed, the proficiency I put 2 into painting, it gave me so much money already, so it will be even better now.
2 will be into blacksmith tools, which is necessary for multiple reasons but the most important is the spell FABRICATE it says that I can only make complicated objects if I am proficient with certain tools, so if I want some metalworking, I need blacksmithing, is essential to my plans.
2 I will put in alchemist tools because that will help me to become king of the seas, and defeat the undead, with the last point I will experiment with Weaver's Tools.
The CANTRIPS were Inkcraft, Launch Bolt, Manipulate Hearing, Color, Scent, and Speak with Wind.
As for the spells under the 5th level I choose: Woodworking, Localized Rain, Mass Transcription, Create Construct, Intensify Emotions, Dream, Plant Growth, Call Lightning, and Mass Cure Wounds, yeah bitch I remember the healing spell.
The two spells of 6th level We're: Druid grove and Move Earth. (if you don't feel like searching the spells, worry not, I will put an explanation on what they do as they are being used, but if you want to, the homebrew ones are in the D&D wiki and D&D beyond.)
"phew, that was a lot..." I say to the smiling gremlin," you will not offer me a deal will you?" His smile widens I start to get annoyed, this little shit waited for me to choose all this, and then the answer comes.
"No"
Oh, okay then, here was i, waiting for a difficult decision.
"You will receive a gift not for me or my err, employers, but from the gods of the forest, the river, the meadow, and the grove, the old gods want to give you a blessing," he says.
I didn't think they were sentient or even aware of anything, but who am I to look in the mouth of a given horse.
"They will give you the ability to consecrate believers of the old faith, and those believers will receive certain powers in line with the abilities given by the old gods, they lose their powers if they lose their faith, or if they do something that the old gods consider unworthy behavior, like breaking guest rights, the same goes for you if you break the law of gods and men you will lose the ability to consecrate believers." He explains.
So I will receive the ability to make paladins, I am becoming the Pope of the old gods aren't I, he continues his explanation.
"They will be able to force people to tell the truth in front of a heart tree and warg in one specific animal of their choice, if the animal dies, another may be chosen in its place." That's good, pretty fucking good, ok, yeah, it's all coming together, oh boy a plan is forming.
"Well, I believe that's all for this time, Antares anything that you want to ask?." He says I don't believe there is anything I need to ask, huh yeah there is nothing.
"No, that is all," I say and he answers with a "Farewell" and then the wind hit my crow face once more, I analyze the requirement of my new spells, sacrifice is necessary for some of them, I will need some disposable people, I hear a pair of voices approaching.
"I fucking hate watch duty, why does the North have to be so cold and windy all the fucking time I can barely keep my eyes open up here. "said the first, an everyday Joe if Ever seen one, brown hair and eyes and 1,67m of height.
"Pfff, yeah right, sorry if the northern cold affects your poor sensible southern eyes." Said his companion, a little taller standing at 1,70 I believe, and black of hair, and dark brown eyes as well." It's colder out there" he nods to the wildling land beyond the wall.
"Still can't believe he did it," said the northern
"Huh, fucking idiot, I give another moon's turn before he is eaten or worse," his friend of the south said back.
"No, Mance is made of sturdy stuff, he will survive out there, and that is the problem, heard he is making a ruckus out there" The conversation was interrupted by the horn blowing once.
"The rangers are returning." Said the northern one, time to meet Benjen and Jeor the old bear, I fly some distance from castle black turn back into a human, and approach it on foot.
"Halt stranger, who goes there." Asked one of the lookouts at the gate.
"Antares Palestars, Druid, Master of the arcane, and the new Lord of the Moat." I see them talking to each other and one of them runs into the "castle", calling this a castle is a disservice to any other castle in the world, the moat is in better shape.
The wooden doors open and into the front yard I go there are some night watch brothers waiting for me with salt and bread.
"Lord Palestars, welcome to castle Black," said the old man with a sweet big white beard and a sword on his hip, Longclaw, beside him is Bejen Stark, smaller than his brother but the looks are as stark as it gets, dark hair grey eyes and that brooding quality that can match any statue around, I approach them and accept the guest rights.
"Lord commander, first Ranger, I would like to say is a pleasure to be here but hard to be, this place is in a state of disrepair that rivals Harrenhall, but maybe we will be able to change that together," I say, they look at each other and me, I guess I hurt they crow pride a little, then Benjen says.
"We welcome any help you can offer my lord, but didn't you just become the lord of the moat, Don't fixing your castle take precedence, and of course organizing the lands, the small folk, it's seen to be a lot, to add aiding the nights watch on top of everything is quite a heavy burden," he says.
"We talk inside, "the old bear said, we start to move to the main hall, and as we arrived we sat at the main table, and some drinks were poured.
"Don't worry about it, the aid will not be immediate and in the beginning will only be supplies, food, clothing some weapons, when I am in a better position I will send some soldiers to help in your arduous task," I say
"Very kind of you my lord, what brought forward this solidarity with the watch?" Asked the old Bear.
I look around us at the others on the table and cast Manipulate Hearing, it changes what other people hear as long as we keep in the same tone and volume.
"To be totally honest with you Lord Mormont, first ranger, is in the interest of the realms of men, to have the wall, well-mannered and well-armed, dark times are ahead of us, the long night approaches again, a dark shadow is stretching its fingers out of the frozen lands, and walls Will not hold the winter."
A silence falls between us all, they seem to be thinking or remembering something, I speak again.
"I do have something to sweeten even more the deal and make life a little easier here for now."
"And what it would be my lord." Asked Benjen
I take a knife, it's the first time I do this, I cut my hand and think about a weirwood tree, the blood instead of falling out of my hand forms a small pool and then solidifies in a small red seed, I give to Benjen, he looks at it with widened eyes.
"seven hells" he muttered examining the seed.
"This is a weirwood seed, I would like to be planted inside of castle Black it will help with the cold and will have a calming effect for those around it."
"That's is quite a lot you throwing at us now, magical seeds and the long night coming back, is frankly hard to believe all of that."
"That is the best part, is a win-win for the watch, if I am just talking crazy you get supplies and soldiers to rebuild your order to an acceptable state and to help defend the wall against the wildlings, if I am not, well we are already ready for the worse, but I would like of something in exchange," I say to the two.
"It was too good not to have something attached to it," Jeor said.
"Oh nothing so terribly, all I ask is some workers for myself," I say smiling at him.
"Right, and you came to the watch wanting workers," Jeor said gruffly.
"Well, the deal is this, when you send your wandering crows around the kingdoms to search for... Recruits, I want the worse of them, the cold murderers, the rapist, the traitors, all of that fun crowd will be left at the Moat with me and you take the worthy ones to yourself, a good deal if I have ever seen one."
"What will be done with them," asked Benjen.
"Nothing too terrible, I am no Bolton after all, they will help me in some projects, but I guarantee that they will not be a problem anymore."
"it seems a little too shady and there are a lot of unknowns there lord Palestars, we need more explanation..." Benjen was saying but was interrupted.
"it a deal," the lord commander said
"Lord commander are you sure about this," said Benjen
"Yes, if what he is telling us is the truth then we need to put the watch back in shape any way we can, if he is lying we need to do it anyway, we have some news from Craster." he sips his drink
"Mance is trying to unify the wildlings in one big tribe, it will take him a lot of time for sure, but by the time his ready, we will be a lot weaker if we continue on this path, if the lives of some murderers and rapists are all that takes to make us able to stop a horde of wildling murder they way to the north I said is worth it." he finishes leaving Benjen in a pensive state, after that, we discussed a little more about the quantity of supply and how many soldiers I will be sent when the time is right, the watch First Builder Othell Yarwyck, and Lord Steward Bowen Marsh both were included in this part I spend another day in castle black ironing the details.
After visiting the wall I flew back to the moat but make a stop at Winterfell, as a falcon this time took me 2 days to reach the castle, I land on one of the towers in the courtyard of the castle, it was the middle of the day and I take my time to observe what is going on the castle, I see servants moving around, I see Jon, Robb and Theon training on the yard, I see lord Stark stop by the Godswood to brood, everything is as I expected to be, but what I forgot that even existed is that sept that Lady Stark is talking Sansa in.
Is a very small sept but it's a problem, the ruling house of the North can't have a sept in the heart of the north, I want only one religion in the north, the one I know the gods or their followers will not try to kill me, besides the influence it will have on the children, I know that Robb and Jon are now firmly on the old gods' team, they saw my ritual, but Sansa didn't and none of the peasants either, I have to show that the old gods won't stand for other gods around here but how, I look at Lord Stark brooding on the Godswood and I idea grow on my mind.
I wait for everyone to fall asleep I go to the wolfswood, and standing on the branches of the tallest tree I can find I sit and I cast Dream, it let me enter someone's dream and control it, I can control the dream environment the way I want, speak with the target, and cause damage by turning the dream into a nightmare, I target Lord Stark.
Change Pov: Eddard Stark
I am on the godswood but there are chairs, no thrones, white weirwood thrones with wolf carvings, all around the forest as far as my sight can see, it's night and the golden leaves and snowflakes are falling gently around me.
"Admiring the view young wolf," I hoarse voice says behind me, I turn and see a gaunt man with long black hair, steel grey eyes, and a skinny beard, he is holding a greatsword with its tip on the ground, its Ice my house ancestral sword, my hand goes to my hip to my sword but there is none.
"Who are you old man and what are you doing with my house sword," I say with irritation in my voice.
"The young wolf has fangs after all, I am Theon Stark the one who became known as the hungry wolf," he says with a small smile." as for what I am here, I came with a warning from the old gods of the forest,
the druid made their influence strong enough to make their message clear," he pauses a bit and the hearts tree shakes as the wind blows" they will not tolerate the treacherous seven in the North or any other deity, only them and them alone are to be worshiped in this land, fail to so and, well like I said their influence is strong enough to make the message clear." he gave me a hungry smile and murderous gleam passes his eyes, the wind picks up hundreds of leaves and block my vision of him for a moment and when it dies down he is gone.
"He always was an intense one, even among us all." a second voice appears on my back, this one clear, powerful yet friendly, I turn and see another man sitting on a throne in the center of the godswood, a mane of black hair and a big black beard, grey eyes, soft ones, full of wonder but tired as well, on his hand Ice and on his hip a hammer with runes on it.
"I am Brandon Stark, more known as Brandon the Builder, and I also came with a warning and some advice if you would have it," he says with a smile.
"I-I, of course, I would be honored by your advice," I say to the founder of my house.
"As comical as it may sound my warning is, winter is coming, the old enemy, the cold ones, will wake and spread their terror once more, and you need the strength of the first man, the giants, and the children of the forest, all of them, to survive the incoming danger," he said
"All of them, that would include the wildlings as well no, we can't have them this side of the wall, they are too violent and wild, our bannerman will not stand for it either, we may share ancestry but we are not the same people, the giants, and the children are gone from this world," I say.
"Violent and wild, that is the definition of the north Eddard, but you do have a point, not all can be brought from the other side, but letting the cold ones claim more bodies is quite the stupid move, take the more amenable ones, and burn the rest"He pauses for a bit.
"Eddard we did not keep our position as rulers of the north for thousands of years, by being docile or being passive, our bannerman will obey as they have for thousands of years, if not is your job to remember them why they are OUR bannerman and not the other way around, as for the giants and the children they are out there as well, you need to reforge the pact that we once had," Brandon said in a calm cold voice.
"Burn them?" That specific phrase struck me, it brings me terrible memories.
"The fire destroys the bodies making it impossible for the cold ones to bring them back to life, so yes Eddard, burn them all."
"That seen quite severe and brutal, we talking of maybe thousands of lives."
"The Winter you are facing will be more than severe and brutal, and those who bring it will be a thousand times worse, Honor has its place, and mercy as well, but in the cold and darkness they will both be useless, so this is my advice, save who you can and burn the rest." his voice was colder and firmer this time and echoed around the forest, my vision starts to fade to black and I wake up.
Change of POV: Antares Palestars
Maybe I got carried away, I want the Starks and the whole north firmly behind the old gods and aware of the threat, but I can't set Lord Stark on a warpath, not yet, oh well, if it becomes a problem I will solve it later, I have a thousand other things to do, I turn into a falcon and fly to the sept.
Inside is quite simple there are the images of the seven in stained glass with must have been expansive, I cut my hand with a dagger and let it form three weirwood seeds,
I put them between the tiles on the floor and Planth growth, there are two uses for this spell the instant one that makes all normal Plants in a 100-foot(30m) radius centered on that point become thick and overgrown, and the ritual that makes you enrich the land. All Plants in a half-mile(804m) radius centered on a point within range become enriched for 1 year. The Plants yield twice the normal amount of food when harvested.
When I cast the first time the two seeds started to bloom and grow but it is far from what I wanted I was more like a sapling, so I cast it again and again until they were the side I wanted I had to cast like 12 times, they merged into one big tree coming out of the windows and the roof of the sept only the broken walls remained, the vegetation around the sept was also really tall and overgrown, I tried to contain it but at least 50ft(15m) around the sept was a fucking jungle, well message delivered, back to the Moat it is.