AN: Here we go with the next chapter. Jumping right into it.

WINTERFELL- COURTYARD

EDDARD

Despite the issue that had brought him here, Ned Stark could not help but smile at the chance to see his younger brother. He rode in on a horse, accompanied by eight of his black brothers. Each rider also had at least one child on the horse with child on Benjen's horse could hardly be called that. She was younger than Jon and Robb for sure, but one could see she matured quickly, If the ravens were true, she was the reason this was all happening.

Two other riders accompanied them, but on their own mounts. One was another girl, whose most striking part of her appearance was her hair. Some of his Bannermen had talked about how his wife and most of his kids had inherited the Tully's red hair. But this girl made their hair look like the classic Stark brown by comparison.

The other rider was the only grown man not wearing black, His hair had some red in it as well, but it was of a darker shade than the girl's, and was mostly replaced by grey. He had a long beard and wore some old tattered chainmail that was probably taken off of a corpse.

Benjen walked up to Ned and the two embraced. Ned thought it had been far too long since they had last seen each other. They both had new packs, but both worried for the other's safety.

Benjen let go and took a step back. "Brother, on behalf of the watch, I thank you for aiding us in this endeavor. I leave our Guests in your capable hands."

Ned nodded and turned to look at the Wildling Man. He knew who he was, though this was their first meeting. Tormund Giantsbane. An infamous Wildling who had been a part of many raids. And killed many Northerners. He was here to protect the other hostages, but everyone would be wary of him.

Tormund came up next. "Lord Stark." He said with an edge on his voice.

"Giantsbane," Ned replied with a similar edge. After a moment of the two staring at each other, evaluating, Ned spoke again. "So then, this is everyone?"

"Aye" Tormund said as he turned around. "The Spearwife with red hair is Ygritte. The lass next to her is Gilly, one of Craster's. My own son Dryn is here as well…" Tormund continued on, naming each child under their shared protection.

Ned walked up to the kids. Even this Ygritte and Gilly were busy staring up at the walls that surrounded them. Ned had been North of the Wall once, as a child. His father took him up there to show him how important the watch was. Considering what he saw, he imagined they had no idea such a castle would even be possible. They had mainly stayed away from castles on the way here, so no overzealous lord could do something Ned would be honor bound to punish them for.

They may have been Wildlings, but right now they were just kids. Memories flashed before Ned. Of other children who he should of hated based on their blood. Of how he demanded justice for the children of his enemies.

"Hello there." Ned spoke to the assembled children. "My name is Eddard Stark. While you are here, you shall be under my protection. No undue harm shall come to you. You have my word on that."

He turned and pointed at his sons, who were still standing where they were before.

"Those two, they are my sons. Jon and Robb. I have another son, Bran is about all your age. If you have any problems, see if they can help you out."

Ned motioned towards Jory who walked up. "This is Jory, one of the men in charge of the guards. He and his men will be showing you all to your rooms."

With that, Jory led the Wildlings to where they were staying. It was a storehouse currently not in use for the Summer, separated from the main castle. If they stayed here for Winter, they would have to be moved into the proper chambers, but hopefully they had enough time to get used to them so that by then no one would complain.

THE NEXT DAY

Ned sat in his Solar going over some papers.

The Wildlings had eaten dinner and many were slack-jawed at the food available. They had all started to devour the food the moment they could.

Catelyn and Sansa had both remarked on their lack of manners, only for Arya to point at Rickon-who in terms of manners at dinner, made the Wildling kids look like royalty. Being someone who had to eat and march during war, Ned had little problem with their eating habits.

Despite sitting in the middle of the hall, everyone gave the Wildlings a wide berth. Tormund and the older girl were constantly on edge, and looked at the entrances constantly, Ned could sense that those two had seen battle.

Ending his reminiscing for now, Ned was going back to his workload when Jory knocked and entered.

"Has there been a problem?" Ned asked worried. Had a way to peace been shattered so soon?

"Not a problem as it stands, but we sighted some Riders bearing House Reed colors." Jory explained.

Ned was then reminded of the boy Howland had told him about. He supposed that was a guard they had provided him. Seeing how the Crannogmen tended to stay in their swamps, the fact that he had an escort may have been a sign that Howland liked the boy. He did ask Ned to let him be a guest for awhile.

Then Ned remembered their other guests. A Night's Watch recruit and Wildlings south of the Wall. Nothing good could come from them meeting.

He hurried out of the Solar and returned to the courtyard. He looked around. Jon was chatting with a guard, while the red haired girl-Ygritte-was alone shooting at the archery targets, but had guards keep an eye on her. The other girl appeared to be trying to help with gathering clothes to clean.

Before he could do anything to get the Wildlings out, The Reed Horses came in, between them was….

'THAT is the son of RANDYLL TARLY?' Ned thought at the sight of Sam.

Lord Tarly was well known and respected by any man with military knowledge. To think he would have a son who...was the complete opposite of that, it was the last thing he expected.

Ned was instantly proven wrong.

The real last thing he expected was for Sam to try to dismount the horse, only to slip and get his leg stuck, dangling him upside down while the Reed men tried to calm the horse before it trampled the young Tarly.

While Ned watched in shock, the Wildling girl-Gilly was her name- ran up and tried to help. Once Sam was off the horse, he looked up at her.

"You alright?" Jon asked as he and Ygritte both came running over to see what was happening.

"Oh, nothing too bad. Can't really blame the horse for it." Sam said gently. He then looked back at the person who came to help him, only to go slack-jawed with nervousness when he saw it was a girl. Meanwhile Ygritte seemed to stifle a laugh as Jon helped Sam up.

Ned looked at the scene before him. Something about it made his heart filled with hope, while another thing about it simultaneously filled his mind with worry.

KING'S LANDING- STREET OF SILK

BAELISH

Baelish walked out of Chataya's brothel, feigning a look of defeat.

He had just been refused in his offer to buy the brothel from Chataya, even offering to let her keep running the day-to-day issues. But it was no matter. He may be known for his wealth, but what was public was only a fraction of his true worth. He could afford to buy her out, but to do so would be to foolishly reveal just HOW much money he had access to. Which would then draw unwanted questions as to the origins of such money.

'How things have changed.' Baelish mused to himself. He had started out as the poorest a noble could be, and now he was almost ready to start climbing the ladder of Chaos once again.

That was not even getting into the cards! NO ONE could have predicted those. But he made it work for him. He now owned several shops that sold them, and he made sure to get first pickings when new ones appeared overnight. Some cards he just took, not to use them, but to keep others from having them. That had eventually led to him crafting two decks at once. He kept both on his person, but only ever used one. It was filled with powerful monsters he would have a hard time summoning, making it almost guaranteed he would be dismissed as a non-threat.

He was walking back to the Red Keep. He suddenly heard a commotion when he reached the Street of the Sisters. On the southern way, which he had been planning on walking down, there was some yelling and a crowd forming. He overheard that one of that Septon's followers had returned to the capital, and was either fleeing or fighting the Gold Cloaks. He had apparently persuaded some more of the less fortunate to the Septon's cause. Someone muttered that the man's head was bleeding.

Deciding he did not want to be caught up in the confusion there, he would have to make a quick journey through Flea Bottom in order to reach Aegon's Way, then head to King's Square, and then the Dragon's Way to reach the Red Keep.

It would not be the first time Baelish had gone through there, but it was the most dangerous section of the city. He would have to be careful.

He made his way through the maze of alleys that made up Flea Bottom. He passed no less than five shops selling Bowls of Brown.

He had enough spies even here that they were able to warn him. One saw him and jerked his head to the left, so Baelish took the left path, another faked a trip when he was about to walk down a certain alley.

In only a few minutes, he was almost out of Flea Bottom.

That was when he was tackled.

He felt a sudden force hit him from the side, and they both went flying into a doorway. The assailant ran up to the door and closed it, blocking the only exit big enough for use.

After a moment of catching his breath and feeling blood drip from his cheek, Baelish looked up at the man who deigned to strike him.

He was a man of average size, hair that could be called blonde if not for all the dirt in it, and some rags that could barely be considered clothing.

It took him a minute, but Baelish recognized him. He was another brothel owner, who styled himself Pate the Generous. He called himself it, because his was the cheapest brothel in King's Landing.

Which might have been a good business strategy, if not for several flaws: It was a brothel in the middle of the poorest section of the city, so the locals could barely afford it. It also meant that the men not from Flea Bottom would have to risk being robbed on their way-something that many of his own clientele had complained about when looking for it. Either that or being unable to even find it in the maze. There was also a grand total of four whores: His daughter, his wife, his sister, and his mother. None of them had wanted to become whores, but Pate was violent enough that they had no choice.

Baelish had once briefly considered buying his place, but the above reasons made him decide against it. It would be unlikely to make him enough money to be worth the effort.

"Nowhere to run you little lord." Pate said with a grin, which only showed how many teeth he was missing- ten by Baelish's count.

"Pate the Generous. I did not expect you. I take it the flesh peddling business has been less lucrative for you than for me?" Baelish responded, his normal tone returning once he had an idea of what was going on.

"It's all your fault Littlefinger! My wife took all the ornaments that were worth something, and ran off with the others." He yelled at the lord.

"How is any of that my fault?" Baelish asked. Would he steal whores from other brothel's? Yes. Had he in this case? No.

"If you weren't in the business, then me and some others would be getting rich. Instead you are taking all the coin for yourself." Pate said, readying his duel disk.

Several other brothels had closed down. If Baelish saw potential, he would buy it up, but if they were failing, then he would stay away. Obviously he was referring to those whose owners he had either failed or he had removed.

"So then, you are going to kill me, then the other owners will try to buy up my brothels. They all get more money, and I'm guessing they will reward you for getting me out of the way?" Baelish reached into his left pocket of his breeches. He pulled out the deck that he had kept hidden. This would be its first official use. Before, he would have to play against himself, using his public deck as the opponent.

"Aye, you made my job easy. I was gonna stake out your place on the Street of Silk, then ambush you when I saw you be alone. Did not expect to see you here." Pate explained his luck.

Putting his deck inside the disk, Baelish activated it at the same time as Pate. "Well then, apologies, but that will be the last instance of luck in your life."

"Oh please, even down here, we all hear about how pathetic your deck is." Pate said with a laugh as the Duel began.

B:4000 P:4000

"My move then." Pate said as he drew a card. "I summon Headless Knight!"

A suit of armor appeared on the field. Despite its name, it was not just headless, but lacked any flesh at all, instead it glowed as if possessed.

"That's it for now." Pate ended his turn. His face smug as if the monster he had summoned had already killed him.

'I see why his business failed.' Baelish thought at the sight of such a simple turn.

"My turn.' Baelish drew. He looked at his hand: Zera the Mant, Big Eye, Graceful Charity, Invader of Darkness, Samsara, and Angel Trumpeter.

"I play Graceful Charity, I can draw three cards by discarding two."

He discarded Zera The Mantand, Big Eye.

"Now I play the card I just drew: Pre-Preparation of Rites! Now I can bring Final Ritual of the Ancients, and Reshef the Dark Being to my deck from the hand. Now I play Final Ritual. By sacrificing Invader of Darkness, I can bring forth Resef!"

A tablet appeared on Baelish's side. When he placed the monster card in the Graveyard, light went from the card and into the tablet. It caused the tablet to glow in a symbol, only for the light to turn solid as something resembling the symbol appeared to float out of the tablet.

Resef was a being made of golden metal. Three orbs: Blue, Yellow and Red, separated his arms and head from his body. He had no legs, but he floated over the ground.

"Now then, I activate his ability. By discarding my Spell card Samsara, He can force your Headless knight to come to my side."

Resef fired a beam of light from its three orbs. The white energy around Headless Knight turned gold to match Resef's. It then jumped onto Baelish's side of the field.

"Now then, If I attack you right now, I can bring you down to 50 Life Points. Luckily I have this: Monster Reborn! It allows me to bring one monster from the Grave to my side of the field. And I choose my Invader of Darkness!"

The ground below the field broke up, as some man-like creature cloaked in black climbed out. It had a golden body and its head looked more like a skull.

"It's unfortunate really. After I heard your story of betrayal, I considered finishing you off with Headless Knight. Unfortunately the math does not allow for that. Resef attack!"

Once again Resef fired light from its orbs. The blasted off Pate's legs and right arm. He screamed in pain.

B:4000 P:1500

"Now Headless Knight, attack as well!"

The ghostly Knight went up to its former master, and cut off the left arm that held the Duel Disk.

B:4000 P:50

"Now then, Invader, go for the kill!"

Invader walked up to what was left of Pate. It opened its cloak and ripped of Pates head. It then sucked Pate's head inside of it. His chest and limbs also were sucked inside of the darkness,

After the monsters faded from existence, Baelish walked up to the Duel Disk. The building repaired itself as the duel ended. The only proof of Pate's presence was his disk and deck.

Baelish picked up the disk and removed the deck. He skimmed through it before putting it in his pocket. He removed his own Duel Disk, returning it to wherever it went, and then put Pate's on. He walked out of the building. No one was in sight. If they had been, then they may have tried to watch the duel.

Baelish walked out of the building and continued on his way to the Red Keep.

'Looks like I must be more careful. And I have some people who need to disappear.' Baelish mentally began making a list of which brothels were doing bad, and whose owners would likely be the ones Pate would work with.

MEANWHILE- STILL KING'S LANDING

Varys

Varys took the note from the child. He gave him some candy that he kept in his robes as payment.

Once in a safe place he opened the note. It was a message from Illyrio. Varys had been forced to lower their rate of contact, but he was aware of Illyrio's situation.

Illyrio opened the note, it was written in a code they had made when they started working together. Expecting a regular update, he began translating only to be shocked by what it truly said.

'This must be a mistake.' Varys thought. He reread it, only to get the same thing.

Desperate, he wrote down the code and translated it piece by piece. He was right the first time.

After taking a few minutes to get over the panic attack he was having, Varys began coding his reply

'HOW EXACTLY DOES A DRAGON EGG CHANGE COLOR?'

Varys found another boy working in the Red Keep, and gave the child both the new note and some more candy-he had to remind himself to pick up some more-and returned to his room.

He pondered what work was happening. One of the three dragon eggs Illyrio had bought for Princess Danaerys' wedding had changed color. They had gone from white to red. The other eggs remained Black and Green.

STORMLANDS-STORM'S END

BRIENNE

Brienne had purchased a horse once she reached land and started making for Storm's End. She had reached there after only a few hours. Once she was at the gates she announced herself and soon Ser Cortnay Penrose was standing before her.

"Lady Brienne, to what do we owe your visit?" He said with an amiable smile. While her attempts to be a knight were seen by many as foolish, several lords and knights had gotten used to her, and as such treated her somewhat better.

"My father sent me. We have been dealing with pirates and in the past, Storm's end would often at the very least respond. Yet this castle has been silent." She explained.

Cornay's face went pale for a bit and then he cursed under his breath.

"I was afraid of this. In truth, or Maester had mentioned a few days ago how we received fewer ravens than usual, and some had never returned."

Brienne took a moment to absorb this news.

"Are you saying-"

"That someone has likely been shooting the ravens out of the sky? Aye. Given that none are reaching us, we can only assume they are nearby. If it's as serious as you claim, then we have no choice but to ride out in force to find them. Hopefully it is just one, but given the directions ravens fly in, its likely multiple foes."

AN: So I hit my first snag here.

As I stated at the beginning, I had not played in awhile. When I did, I did not use Ritual monsters very often. As such, I originally had Baelish use Monster Reborn on Zera, and then had Zera eat Pate, but I double checked and it would not have worked unless Zera had already been summoned. So if Invader of Darkness' sucking Pate into the void seemed weird, it's because I had to dispose of the body somehow.

Speaking of unique summonings, I have been meaning to mention this, but I keep forgetting to do characters that would actually use it.

EXTRA DECKS

The way I am handling extra decks are as such: If a fusion has specific monsters needed, then having a fusion card plue said monsters will grant you ownership of that card. Example: Jon has the fusion material cards for Flame Swordsman, and he has Polymerization. So if he plays Polymerization, Flame Swordsman's card will be spat out of his Duel Disk.

If a fusion has a more general requirement, then you need the physical card. So just because you have a bunch of dragons in your deck does not mean you automatically get Five Headed Dragon.

Thinking of handling Synchros and XYZs the same way. So Junk Synchron will let you get Junk Warrior, but Stardust Dragon is out somewhere in the world. (These are just examples, I may never introduce them to the story).

XYZs do not require specific materials, so they will all be physical. (I know Utopia has several additional forms, but it's been awhile so I will have to do more research into them to make a decision).

Regarding the Chapter:

Ned has welcomed the Free Folk into Winterfell. Everyone is on edge, but wants everything to work out. Sam finally reaches Winterfell, and immediately meets Gilly. How will Ned react to his tale?

Baelish gets a OTK to show how dangerous he is when he wants to be. Also, the monsters were about the same size as people because they were indoors. Had the duel taken place outside, then Resef would have been larger.

Varys gets some news almost as strange as if the eggs had hatched.

Brienne finds herself involved in a larger issue than she had thought. An intentional attack on the ruling house's ancestral home.

Now for the deck review: ARYA: I normally stay away from archetypical decks, preferring to combine different cards that can still work well together but I thought this one made too much sense for her.

Arya's extra deck does not follow much of a pattern, instead being made of spare cards Theon, Robb, Bran and Jon gave her. So it can be considered an amalgamation of those four.

Notable Cards: Berserk Gorilla, Ante, Armored Starfish, and Des Volstgaph

Her real deck however, is an Amazoness deck, with some additional beasts or warriors

Notable Cards: Sky Scout, Amazoness Tiger, Skull Mark Ladybug, D.D Warrior Lady

Next Chapter: We check out how the Westerlands are doing.