>>FROM:@AEGONNER >>TO:@ALL >>RE:ARANEAN LEGENDS | >>TO:@SOME

[northerndragon]

>>TO:@ALL

They have their legends here of the Watcher and the Hunter. What do you know of them?

Has anyone mentioned the King Killer?

--

>>CLOSED TO: PEOPLE WHO ARE IN A LOT OF CONTACT WITH DANY.*

If I fall in the arena, look after STORMBORN. And keep her from retaliating, if you can.

[*This is certainly the group Dany sent her last locked network post out to, but it can also include anyone whose player thinks they'd be included. I tried to make a list and ultimately didn't want to accidentally omit anyone. If there's reason to think either of them would consider your character friendly or a friend, your character got this.

Also, this entire post isn't really on any specific timeline; could be at any point in the last couple of weeks.]

Comments

[northerndragon]

If I have any wisdom to give, I don't think it's the kind they'll appreciate here.

So aye, I'm going to charge into the arena. What sort of cleverness are you suggesting? My sword is light and strong.

[... But it's only been a few years since he nearly lost a fight to being stabbed in the thigh and disarmed, and less time than that since he was laid low in the dark by a group of men and their knives. He can lose; he has lost. He's selective about his opponents, typically offering a fair fight but leaving the ones he doesn't think he can win against to people who have a better chance, but the fact that he thinks he can win against an opponent doesn't mean that he will.

None of this is very good for his mood.]

[widow_of_the_crag]

No, but I should like your wisdom.

A blade is a good thing, but these creatures fight with poison. If you're going to use a weapon against them, then why not use their own?

[More than anything she is tired of seeing those she care for die. Underhanded methods were against Robb's code, she knew that. But as she had seen with her family, underhanded methods beat out honor. Whether it could last or not was one matter, but this was the playing field they entered and there was no use in trying to keep to certain standards would it would only lead them to being killed.

If she was going to fight, then she would win. Whether it made her a good woman or the sort of wife that Robb might want, she wasn't going to linger over it. She was exhausted with losing and being weak. For once, she knew how to even the odds.]

"but... honor!"

[northerndragon]

I'm not fighting Araneans, in the main. In most circumstances, it would be wrong to use poison. It's cheating.

I know that the rules are different here. If the rule is to cheat, then it's not cheating. But I'm not going to do it in a fight that seems clean.

"honor gets people killed, Jon"

[widow_of_the_crag]

There is no cheating in battles or war. Honor is an admirable quality, but I think we need to be realistic. We won't survive this place unless we are willing to think the way the others do and conform to their games.

Coating a weapon with poison is no different than sharpening a sword. It makes it more deadly and useful in battle. At least consider it, if only to ensure you come back alive!

can you breathe in here with all the excessive nobility in the air

[northerndragon]

No, but there is treating your enemies with respect and giving them a fair fight. If they've taken an advantage, I'll take one too. If they haven't, I don't need tricks to kill a man, and I don't need to kill a man when I can hurt him and keep him down. It's enough.

If I see an opponent cheating, I'll think it over.

Hard to say what's a cheat and what's just a different choice of weapon anymore.

She can't hear him over his self righteousness

[widow_of_the_crag]

I know this isn't your way, Jon. However, we have had to adapt for the sake of surviving in these places. We've had to do things we normally wouldn't and try different outlooks that we wouldn't have been exposed to. These are not honorable creatures and they will cheat.

If you change your mind, I have something that can be effective, as well as antitoxins.

You knew Tyrion Lannister once, didn't you?

r u d e

[northerndragon]

What do you have?

As to the Imp, not only once. I know him now.

Rude but right

[widow_of_the_crag]

I have created various poisons from both what the Araneans produce but also from the plants and animals at BASE. I've mixed them and created different poisons that are lethal in different ways. One will cause the joints to swell up and paralyze them. Others when they enter the blood will eat away a person's strength.

I found a plant that purifies poisons as well, I've distilled that and mixed it into a potent antitoxin.

I had asked Danielle about his council during war meetings, but she didn't have much to offer. He was said to be clever, but I know very little about the strategies he concocted. Do you know any?

cw Game of Thrones

[northerndragon]

Did you learn that from your septa? Your brother's maester?

I know that the Imp didn't want her to attack the capitol. His sister is the queen now, his brother is

not the king, but her lover and her general —

Danielle didn't trust his counsel, not fully. She thought he might be trying to protect his family, but apart from that, he made mistakes.

He's clever enough, but I don't know if he'd do much better here than the rest of us have so far.

Oh Jon, the things you'll learn

[widow_of_the_crag]

No. My mother came from the East and her family knew many methods for healing and other types of...potions. She never taught me directly, but I remember some of her methods. Her grandmother was thought to be a witch.

That is disappointing. I had hoped to understand some of his strategies, as there was talk about how clever he was.

You have fought wars before with fewer men than your enemy? It doesn't have to be men that win wars but tactics, right? Your brother never let me attend council meetings, but I know that must be true.

[northerndragon]

The east of our lands, or the east across the sea?

Tactics can win, number can win. Numbers with poor tactics can lose. Low numbers with good tactics may win, but it may be a narrow thing. You capitalize on your enemy's mistakes. The last time I was in a pitched battle, numbers defeated tactics.

[Because somebody made an emotional mistake, throwing his own tactics out the window for the sake of his youngest brother.]

[widow_of_the_crag]

The East across the sea. My mother's family was called 'Spicer'.

[For all that might mean to him.]

I could use your help. I think it would be better for us to persuade the princess to our side, but she wants numbers, more men. I think with the right strategy, we could sway her away from the Regency.

There has to be a way for her to succeed without risking too many lives.

[northerndragon]

[What it means to him is that they might have had something to do with spices. They have a family name, the way a cook or a smith might not.]

It might be that we can.

Also might be that she'll use us courting her to find out where we're weak. They say she's done that before. How much of this is real knowledge and how much of it is just tale-telling? If the Queen is COST's ally, we know of the Princess what she wants us to know. I don't know how much more we know.

I don't know of people from across the sea named Spicer, but did they come dealing in spices? From one of the cities?

[widow_of_the_crag]

My mother's grandfather was a trader who dealt in saffron and pepper. They came from Essos to Lannisport and their son was ennobled, creating House Spicer. My mother was fortunate to marry into a noble family.

[But it was always a bone of contention to her that it was to a poor nobleman and a crumbling House.]

My mother doesn't speak of her father's family. As far as she is concerned, she is Westerosi.