Westerlands, Silas' Flagship - 296 AC
It has only been a month, and already, more than half of Westeros already are vassals of the Eternal Throne: after his dealings with Lord Lannister, Silas was able to secure the Westerlands, providing a direct base of operations in the mainland instead of having to resort to using what remains of the Iron Islands. And his friend, Vortena, has taken the North with just himself and his personal warship, a prototype designed specifically for the capacity of carrying legions of soldiers, while trading weapon power for more durable shields.
Vortena's report of what happened were vague, but what Silas understood was that on the third day after Vortena entered the North sector, the late Lord Eddard Stark arrived and bluntly told Vortena that the North will only bow to one king. Silas was surprised by what happened next, but Vortena apparently let Lord Stark go, and allowed him to gather his army; Silas thought that was foolish of Vortena as he could have ended the threat then. Regardless, Vortena and his command waited outside the gates of Winterfell, allowing Lord Stark to take the initiative. On the second week, Lord Stark attacked with an estimate of 22,000 men: by the end of the day, 22,000 men lied died in the vast tundra in front of Winterfell. The "Battle of Winterfell", many of the locals called it, which made Silas and Vortena laugh, as there were no casualty on their side: hardly what they would call a battle.
When the "battle" was over, the newly appointed Lord Robb Stark immediately surrendered, and gave up the position of Lord Paramount of the North in exchange for his remaining family's lives, his home, his father's remains, and was made Viceroy of Winterfell. His Immortal Majesty was most pleased with this, and made Vortena the second Knight-Commander of the Zakuulan Invasion Force, making him and Silas the two in charge of the invasion - not that that truly changed much of the dynamics between them as Vortena was always just accepted as the secondary leader.
With the North and the Westerlands under their control, both Silas and Korvo decided to look further south, specifically, the Riverlands. They had hoped that with news of Winterfell's defeat and Viceroy Stark's connections to the Lord Paramount Hoster Tully, that the Riverlands were surrender. So far, they have yet to reply to any of their messengers, and what's worse, King Robert I has called for a crusade to liberate the North and is marshalling his army at a location called Harrenhal.
"Harrenhal isn't just an ordinary fortress," said Asha Greyjoy. "It is THE fortress of Westeros. It has the largest garrison, best fortifications, and has many towers and secret tunnels that makes a ground siege impossible." Asha has quickly proven to be a great asset for the invasion force. After Silas and Korvo met Asha, they made a deal: they would allow Asha Greyjoy to rebuild the Iron Islands in exchange for fealty and for information on the rest of Westeros, including its rulers, customs, and history. Currently, Silas, Korvo, Knight-Captain Delothrea, Asha, and Korvo's new right-hand man, Knight-Captain Atrus, were in the command center on Silas' flagship, plotting on how to end King Robert's forces before they can march out of Harrenhal.
"Then how do we siege the castle than?" asked Knight-Commander Vortena.
"There has only ever been one successive siege on Harrenhal, about 300 years ago, when King Aegon the Conqueror burned Harrenhal with his great dragon, Balerion," answered Asha.
The room fell silent, before someone finally responded.
"Did you say… dragon?" asked Delothrea.
"Yes, dragon; as in a flying beast that can breathe fire and eat men whole," said Asha.
The Zakuulans looked at each other, but said nothing.
"Well, since we don't have any dragons with us, we will have to use our warships instead," said Vortena.
"Knight-Commander, with all due respect, our warships are running dangerously low on fuel, especially with three months without finding any potent energy source that run our ships," said Knight-Captain Atrus. "With your permission Knight-Commander Tirall, I can gather my best Shadows in my command and we can infiltrate the castle and takeout the leaders before they even know it."
"With 100,000 men in the same castle as you? Not to mention those same leaders probably has their best soldiers guarding them as well? No, Knight-Captain. Our only choice without sacrificing the fleet is to draw them out," replied Knight-Commander Vortena. "Look at the schematics of the castle; there are currently two entrances of which we can see: one main entrance facing the north, and an eastern gate. If I had to guess, the last stragglers of Robert's army will be entering through the east gate as it is less defended than the main entrance."
"When the greenlanders see your army, they'll close the gates and rain arrows on you before you can even get to either of the gates," said Asha.
"What about the walls?" asked Delothrea. "The schematics shows that they are no taller than 50 feet, small enough for our skytroopers to scale the castle, while the rest of the Knights cut down the gate."
"You forget about the secret tunnels," said Atrus. "When our attack happens, any number of soldiers could easily escape from the castle. We should have some scouts first find tunnels and block them, so none could escape."
"We don't have enough time for that, Knight-Captain," said Silas. "The Emperor is growing impatient with our progress and if we don't end this soon, then we will all be punished for it. Knight-Commander Vortena, I want you to take Knights divisions S-1-1 to S-1-5, C-2-1 to C-3-1, and SC-1-1 to SC-1-2. You will be positioned to the rear, near the south wall. Knight-Captain Delothrea, you will take divisions S-1-6 to S-2-1, C-3-2 and will take the skytroopers to scale the castle. When the attack begins, your objective is open the gate from inside, allowing Vortena and the rest of the army to break through. Knight-Captain Atrus, I want you to take SC-1-3 to SC-1-5, and stay in the rear. There, you and the Scions will use battle meditations to make the rest of us invulnerable. I will lead the rest of the divisions through the main gate. It's time to show these primitives just who we really are."
