The tavern smelled of stale ale, mold, and sex as I leave it behind, walking through the dark streets with a drunken step, it has been a good day, as I pass through an alleyway a sweet and melodic voice called for me.
"Hello handsome, would this brave knight be interested in some fun tonight?" The voice belongs to a pretty blonde lass, by the revealing clothes must be a whore, I still have some coin in my purse so I thought why not.
"Sure, how much for you whore"
"Oh my, so crass, I love it." She hugs me pressing her breasts on my chest" A couple of stags and you would be a happy man tonight."
"Sure." I grab her ass as she starts to lead me further into the alleyway.
"I have a room in the back where we can be more comfortable." We stop in front of a dark wood door she pulls a key out of her cleavage and opens the door, the room is dark with only the moonlight coming from the window providing some illumination.
She closes the door, kisses me, and throws me into bed, she might be worth the stags after all.
"Excellent work, darling, I hope he didn't cause much grief." A voice comes from the dark corner of the room, now that I look the is a pair of dark shining boots coming out of the shadow by the table, and the whore answers.
"Not at all, milord, I know how to handle a man like him"
I start to raise from the bed when something just Pushes my entire body down with crushing strength, is like all air left me, and I can barely make a sound.
"Fantastic darling, your payment is by the door, I put an extra tip, for your travel Expenses." A smile appears on the whore face.
"You're too kind milord, Hope I see you again sometime, maybe we could have some fun!" The smile on her face turns mischievous as she leaves and closes the door and the room is silent for a moment.
"Ah, sir Amory Lorth, here is some sage advise for you, never trust a pretty face, especially one so eager to be in the same bed as you." He pauses as I struggle against whatever is holding me down.
"Sigh, You are way too big for the box I brought, I have to ask myself how will I fit you in there."
The pressure on me increase and everything goes black.
...
POV: Antares
The Clegane land is a bleak place, an dark grey keep in a dark grey land, devoided of life, all the people are outside of the keep, it was stupidly easy to enter the castle because there's almost no one in the halls, which makes things a little harder because I have no one to ask where the mountain is.
So here I am walking through the keep trying to find the damn room the lord of the castle currently is in, this place is really eery, the silence is broken when I hear a door banging on and heavy steps walking away from where I currently am.
I walk with light steps to where the sounds came from on one of the hallways there is a door wide open, and as I look inside, I see a girl, a small one, 14 or so spread in the bed bruised and abused, her legs are Gone, a broken vacant look in her tear-stained eyes, it was quite obvious what happened to her, I killed before, I killed quite a lot, I saw people beg for mercy but see something like this done someone her age still fucks me up.
I approach and use telekinesis to clean her up and cover her, mass cure wounds to heal her, but still no response, I sit beside her in the bed and she flinched a little, and an idea appears in my mind.
"Hello darling, quite the situation you are here huh, you must be afraid, you have been through too much pain and is probably tired of it all, tired of feeling weak." I said in the softest voice I can "It may be a gamble but I could change that, could take away the fear, the pain, make you strong, all you have to do is to take my hand." Sure is not guaranteed that she will pass to the armor, maybe this is a dick move but what is her alternative.
A booming voice comes from the door and the girl whimpers.
"Who the fuck are you" the mountain thunder in rage, as he begins to march towards me, I turn and look at him, he is impressive, taller than me and even Robert, and by a good margin, the guy is also pure muscles and have arms thick as logs, this guy in armor is probably the terror of the battlefield...
For anyone else.
Eldridge Night fly's out my sheat on my waist and in a swift swoop cut off both of Clegane's legs, I use Telekinesis to pull his tongue out of his mouth and the sword comes down cutting it off, then it flies up and comes down in one of his arms and then the other.
The mountain does not stand taller than me now, I use mass cure wounds on him closing his wounds, after all a trophy is a good gift, but a toy is so much more fun.
I turn my attention back to the girl, she's grasping my hand lightly, I take that as a yes.
I float both of them with me and cast many walls of fire around the castle as I hear the shouts of his man approaching, after I take them away from the burning keep I take them to a cavern not too far away where I have another teleportation circle.
...
Finally, back home, things were going nicely, I finished the Godswood by filling the huge hole that I made with water now there is a nice pond in the Godswood, Marwyn finally has our Ravens ready so that's nice, he already sent a raven to Dorne asking for a meeting, the ships are pretty much finished now, why you may ask, well yours truly helped in the making of the ships. The work for months was done in days, Telekinesis, of course, was extremely useful but the spell Woodworking was just perfect for building ships, it let me shape and mold any inanimate wood, I could create planks, fuse pieces of wood together and imprint symbols on the wood as well, unfortunately, to carve things out of wood I need woodworking skills so no owl Figureheads for now.
The warships were modeled out of a Roman quinquereme, a big ship, with two decks, three sails, but also many oars, and on the bow a metal ram, it also had a castle where two Syphon were put one to the left and one to the right, both protected by a metal shield, it will have around 300 heads on this beauty, all the oarsman and the combats will be my constructs while the sailors and the captain will be Human, it will be a monster in combat.
The thing about naval combat in Westeros is that is all about ramming and boarding other ships or shooting arrows, the show's idea about putting a bunch of ballista in ships is quite crazy, this kind of thing is fucking expensive and I would love to see someone hit something standing, let alone flying, that goes double, for the Ironborn, really if were that easy to equip an entire navy with ballista the Targaryen wouldn't have conquered the continent.
But back to my ships, the merchant ships are basically Carracks, but with a low bow and a high stern, so it doesn't block the wind, they are even bigger than the quinquereme but much less armed, they can carry a lot though.
Now I have six ships but not enough people to crew then, ain't that a bitch?
While the message didn't reach Dorne and while my sailors were learning the craft I had other things to do like more of my constructs and seeing the results of a human soul being used to make a construct.
...
I am currently in my room and I have one of my armor laying on the table in the center of the room, the armor is a little different there are small wings on the helmet not that would be a hindrance just something to differentiate the normal ones from this new ones, inside the armor a girl is pass out, I make a small cut on her hand and draw a symbol on the breastplate of the armors and them I kill the girl, quick and painless, let see if the girl is strong enough to pass to the armor.
The armor spring to life and a soft voice comes out.
"W-what your bidding, my master"
Did it work? I mean the voice changed and it did studdered, but is moving weirdly, does it have the girl's memories?
Right, there's a body inside I have to take that out and burn it.
"Do you remember anything?"
"I remember fear, anger, and then hope and relief?" The voice comes out as looking at its hands and then it-she? Continues.
"It's strange I remember what I felt, all the feelings but I don't feel them anymore."
Well time to test if she is absolutely loyal like the rest, but first let's take the body out, I gently pull the body out of the armor and put it on the table.
"That was me." She says
"Yes, but not anymore, you know no fear, no pain and you are strong, she, unfortunately, was the opposite."
"Come with me I want to show you something"
We are in one of the rooms I keep to myself, only I have access to it, two automata guard the door, inside is a box and a table, with two other automata, I wouldn't call guarding, in the table is the still alive Mountain but unconscious, we approach him.
"Do you know him?" I ask
"Yes, this is Gregor Clegane, the Mountain that rides." It does have some memories after all.
"How does looking at him make you feel?"
"I feel nothing."
"What if I were to give you the order to kill him?"
"Then he would die there is nothing to feel."
"I see." By the looks, he traumatized her enough to pass to the armor some memories, but it is still an automaton and nothing else, it seems like her gamble didn't pay after all, time to test its ability to adapt to orders.
We are in the yard, there are at least 10 of the owl guard here besides the one I made today.
"Listen to me now, this is... Do you have a name you prefer?" I ask it.
"My name is your choice master."
Huh, what about Asa it means wing, sigh I need to work on my naming skill, eh fuck it.
"Your name is Asa from now on." It bows its head, I turn to the others.
"This is Asa, until a second command you will follow her orders and only my orders shall overrule hers, is that understood?"
"As you command, master" ten voices spoke in unison.
"Well, Asa I want you to protect this yard." Is a kind of vague order without much specification, the others would stand still until something showed up, let's see how this one is different.
It stops for a moment then she walks all around the yard before the orders come.
"Three of you in the front entrance and three in the back, the four that are left will circulate the perimeter and warn the rest if necessary."
Not bad, not bad at all, there are two entrees and they are well guarded, but since the field of vision of the automatons is limited she put two patrols two check the blank areas, nicely done.
"Enough, cancel the order, back to the formation."
They march all back to the center of the yard and form back in the two rows of five, Asa in the front I look at it and begin.
"Very well done, Asa you will be responsible for knowing all the staff of the castle, after that I Will give control of the rest of the automatons so you may create the patrols around the castle, we have about 25 owl guards but I plan to increase that number by a lot I want at later date an estimated number of how many you will need to make the castle safe, do you understand your task's?"
"I understand, master"
Another thing, for now on all of you will refer to as lord." If I am not wrong master is normally the way a slave refers to its owner, at least the people in Westeros think that way.
"We hear and obey, my lord" There are only 11 of them but The perfect chorus of voices is simply put, goosebump-inducing.
...
For the Next month, I've been producing a lot of automatons from 25 it went to 250, and now is a normal sight, seeing them patrolling the halls of the fortress, the animals I kill are shipped to the town so they can be eaten, as soon as the grain becomes abundant I will start raising animals as well, life is an important resource for me after all...
I swear to you, I'm a druid.
I of course plan in making even more owl guards but first I need more commanders, 100 per commander will be the ratio, it worked for the Romans and will work for me.
On the naval front, my sailors started to test their ships, the warships are of course not 100 percent, because a lot of rowers are missing but soon enough we should have enough to crew one or two of these ships.
The carracks, on the other hand, are sailing just fine, some already traveled as far as White Harbour so that is going well.
I finished the preparation of a big part of the land, the seeds were already put on the ground, I also made some wood automata to help in the fields, just like the horses the first harvest is free and after that, a small fee will apply to they work.
I also used the ritualistic part of the spell Planth Grow to boost even more the production of food, together with the old gods blessing the plants will give four times what they would give naturally, the next harvest we will probably be feeding a good part of my neighbors, and the next to that, all of the north will be eating on the palm of my hand.
Last but not least is the answer of the Martels is been two weeks since it arrive, and they are willing to meet me and demonstrate an interest in trade, they asked me to go to Dorne so we can discuss the trade between us, and that's why I will be traveling to Dorne, just me Asa and 20 owl guards, I have been keeping Amory on ice and the mountain fed and watered.
While I'm gone Marwyn will stay here and start on some projects I need for my hold.
First a school, kind of, with the introduction of the automatons in the fields a lot of kids don't need to work on them now so a school is a good way to point the young where I need them.
it will teach numbers to read and write, archery, seamanship, and how to treat the wounded and ill, hunting, among others, the kind of thing I need them to do when they grow up , nothing too advanced of course since is in the great part for kids and teenagers.
My second project is an idea I got while I was in Lannisport hunting for Amory, I heard two sailors complaining about having to travel through the stepping stones to reach Myr, apparently, pirates are getting bolder and bolder there, but anyway, the idea hit me, what if I made a canal in the Neck, West to East.
The Reach, The Riverlands, and the Westlands all have to go through the stepstones to reach the free cities and that is always a gamble, but now without the Ironborn in the scene, they could get let us say to Bravos and the Ironbank, or Myr and they and they glass products in much more safe way and faster too, it wouldn't be too much problem, between all my spells we could make it happen for sure, so while I'm out to Dorne Marwyn will have his hands full.
...
As the light subsides I see the little grove I made in the Kingswood, I open the earth wall of the grove and walk out, is a pretty nice day for a long flight, I turn into a hawk and fly in the direction of the desert kingdom.
The Stormlands is what anyone can expect stormy, four days flying here four days of rain, fucking hell, floods must really be a problem here, besides the weather not much to see, I mean, epic castles but there are epic castles everywhere in Westeros.
On my fifth day of travel, I have finally reached the Dornish lands, and oh boy let me tell you something... Is a desert, just that, some rocks here and there, still a fucking desert, all the places where the water doesn't flow are more of the same, and the temperature reminds me of the home, before I died home I mean, hot like Satan is breathing on your neck.
After I found a nice isolated cave, I create the teleportation circle, a quick trip to the moat and I come back with the gang and Starchaser as she's a cat now, why you ask because I also like cats and lastly I brought a carriage from the Moat so we can carry the boxes.
"Okay, I want ten riders in the front and ten in the back Asa you with me in the front of the collum carrying a banner of the Palestars, ok, now let's ride to Vipers next."
...
Sunspear, or the Shadow City to be more specific, is kind of what I expected architecture-wise, there is a very Middle East fell to it, with lots of domes and houses made out of clay and hay, many bazaars and Stables, inns, winesinks, and pillow houses, is barely big enough to call a city though.
As we pass through the murmurs and finger-pointing starts, we are hardly discreet after all we are trotting in the main street, some children run along by the side of the street, let's test the waters.
I use a Silent image to create a small winged cat that flies over the children's heads and does small loops in the air, Starchaser is not amused, but the children seem to love it and the adults around have some mixed reactions some seem spooked for a bit and others take it as a show.
As we enter the Palace gates we see awaiting us quite a big group of people but in the front is a man and a pregnant woman and Four girls.
He is a tall, slender, and fit man, and has a lined and saturnine face with thin eyebrows, black eyes, and a sharp nose, pretty obvious who he is, a shame he doesn't look more like Pascal but oh well, and besides him is Ellaria pregnant, I believe by the time canon begun he had like 8 or 9 kids, all women.
"Welcome, welcome to Dorne lord Palestars, we were not expecting you so soon, you must be tired of the travel and the heat so here's bread and salt."
"Thank you, Prince Oberyn, and please don't worry I barely felt the travel and the heat is an old friend," I say smiling at him.
I partake in the usual ritual and turn to the family.
" Well let me present to you, Ellaria my paramour."
I make a light bow" My lady a pleasure to meet you, congratulations on your pregnancy, if you don't mind me asking have you both thought of a name for the girl?" I say smiling.
" Could be a boy," Oberin say's
"It could, but it's a girl," I say back.
Ellaria smiles and says to him " I told you my love you are cursed to only make girls."
"Well, We just have to keep trying then!" He gives her a sultry smile, then he turns serious for a moment. "Perhaps, Elia, that would be a good name, it belonged to a great woman."
"Well, I brought the best gift possible then, but we gonna need your brother as well so we can open it."
He smiles again"You have my attention then, but let us finish the presentation first, these four beautiful desert flowers are, Obara, Nymeria, Tyene, and Sarella."
"A pleasure to meet you all"
"It's true that you are a sorcerer?" Tyene
" Why yes I am known for dabbling here and there in the mystic arts." Oberyn snorts at that, the girls are looking intently a me.
I put my hands behind my back and start to cast localized rain, I smile slightly "Well unfortunately we don't have time for me to demonstrate such magic, your father, uncle and I have much to discuss after all, very serious business, with leave no time for fun." As I finished the little speech rain starts to fall on the four is a very hot day so it goes very appreciated.
"Oh my, and here I thought we would have and nice sunny day, raining who could have known."
"Hah, raining in Dorne, only magic could make this happen," Oberin said his children playing in the rain. "Well, girls now go change and prepare for dinner we do have an important guest after all" Ellaria said," My love I will go with them to guarantee that they will dress properly." She kisses him and gives me a small courtesy" I look forward to seeing you at tonight's dinner my lord "
"As do I, my lady" I bow to her as she leaves
"Come... Can I call Antares? never been much for formalities before."
"Only if I may call you Oberyn" He smiled.
"I think I would like that, come to my brother await us, I see that your err..." He looks at the horses but this time really looks at them.
"Don't worry about it Oberyn, they will be just fine, just give a place for them to stand, the same for my household." I signal to them and they bring out of the wagon two big boxes.
"Those are the gifts I believe, quite big both of them" Oberyn observed as we started to walk.
"They used to be bigger." An answer him
"Should I ask what it is?"
"It's a toy and a trophy" I smile at him.
"Fine I will let you keep the surprise then, Doran in on the tower of the sun, is gonna be hard to drag such boxes up in there"
"It won't be for them"
"If you say so."
...
As we climbed the final steps of the tower Oberyn took the front to open the well-decorated doors, as he opened we see inside a Dornish man sitting behind his desk, he resembles Oberyn in a less athletic way, this of course must be Doran, sitting beside a girl who had the look of someone looking for trouble, she was 13 or something, Arianne Martell.
"Antares let me introduce to you, my brother Doran Martell and my beautiful niece Arianne," he whispers but not really, and with a smirk on his face said," The sour-looking one is my brother, the other is my niece."
"Thank you Oberyn for your extremely useful observation," I say in a sarcastic voice, which triggers a smile in Arianne and Doran.
"We should change our house words to that," Doran says, well, ice is officially broken.
"Please be seated, we have much to discuss." Doran gestured to the chairs in front of him.
"Indeed we do, did I mention that I come baring gifts?" I say as I smile.