What's up fuckers? Normally I'd chat some shit about what you can expect from the story moving forward, but I've gotten some interesting reviews that I want to respond to here.
Azazelthefallen: I thought about adding the many faced god, but decided against it. I've always considered the many faced god to be more of a man-made deity than an actual god. Hell, the origin of the faceless men outright confirms this. The whole "Every religion worships the many faced god" thing always seemed... meh to me as well. As far as the creepy voodoo face magic shit they can do? I've been doing research on how magic works in ASOIAF and one comment from GRRM about the alchemists guild in King's Landing of all things got me thinking. He said something to the effect of "The pyromancers in King's Landing have been trying to recreate the fire magic of the Valyrians and succeeded in a way with Wildfire."
That got me thinking that I could just make the magic of faceless men work in a similar way. So, instead of their powers coming from some god that just gets forgotten about after season 5 or something, I just made it so that their face taking ability is just magic that they ascribe to the many-faced god.
On the subject of other gods like the Black Goat, well I just don't know enough about them to really add them in. I'll probaby mention a few other religions at some point, but other than that, they won't be involved in any way.
Asonia99: So, we don't know much about the military might of the Vale, other than the fact that they can field an army of about 40-45000, same as the north and Dorne. That's it. We don't know the forces of each house, or how many of those men would actually be able to go off to war and how many would have to stay behind to defend the Vale, so I decided to go off the Northern houses, who we do know about. I consider House Corbray to be of comparable standing to the Umbers and Karstarks who can field about 3000 men each. The Umbers and Kastarks are some of the biggest bannermen to the Starks and are only surpassed by the Boltons, Manderly's(probably) and the Starks themselves who can field about 4000 men each. All of them along with the dozens of smaller houses underneath the Starks and their principal bannermen make up the projected 45000 army of the north.
Now, for the purposes of the story I'll just say that the Vale operates mostly the same. Most of their military might is made up of 4 or 5 houses with dozens of smaller houses adding a few hundred to a thousand each. If one of those larger houses, or even a smaller one were to suddenly gain a few thousand able bodies to add to their army it would shake things up for sure. Realistically a lot of the mountain clansmen will die and not all of them will be able combatants from the start since there will be a lot of children among them. I wouldn't count on many of them living to an age where they'd be too old to fight though.
AzureSoulReaper: Thanks for pointing that out. The vital stat think was a holdover from an earlier draft of chapter two where instead of HP SP and MP increasing with the stats they're currently tied to they'd increase with level instead. So the MC would choose one stat to increase by 10 every level while the others would just increase by 5. I decided to axe that since it would just make things unnecessarily complicated.
With all of that said, I would put the mountain clans at around 2000 able combatants and 1300 children too young to fight. It sounds like a lot for 200 men to handle until you factor in how scattered and isolated they are. I won't include women in non combatants since the mountain clans don't give a shit about gender (wow, so progressive). After Lynus's campaign? Who knows? I sure as shit won't spoil it for you.
(Heart's Home, 297 AC)
A few days have passed since I began preparing for my campaign against the mountain clans and since then, nearly 50 of the recruits have made it to Heart's home. Their training has been going better than you'd expect for a bunch of untrained conscripts. I have them practicing tortoise formations with their shields and practice blades since the other weapons haven't come in yet. Our blacksmith and his apprentices must despise me right now with how much work they're being made to do, but I couldn't care less.
Blowing the whistle in my mouth twice the men in the second and third rows drop their shields and get ready to fight. Good, they all responded this time. Normally training recruits to an acceptable level would take a few months, but once you introduce sound cues for them to remember the whole process becomes much quicker. What did you think drummer boys were for? To style on the opposition? Nah son, beats and rhythms are a good way to carry out orders across a battlefield.
"Alright, you sad sacks of shit!" I yell across the yard, instantly gaining both their attention and ire. "I think you've earned yourselves some rest for today!" I say with a smile, dismissing them for now. They've done good for only a few days training, the best part being that the more capable they become, the less I have to be here to hold their hands even when more recruits come trickling in. By the time we go off to fight the Mountain clans they'll be ready to fodderize the fuckers.
That's not to say I've been idle while I've been drilling those fuckers.
Lyon Corbray
LVL: 3
Class: [Lord] 2/25
EXP: 364/3000
HP: 270 HPR= 2% per min
SP: 220 SPR= 1.5% per min
MP: 80 MPR= 1.4% per min
STR: 17
DEX: 15
END: 16
CON: 20
INT: 15
WIS: 14
CHA: 20
Points: 0
Not as much as I'd hoped, but I haven't really had much time to train since I've been getting these fuckers into shape. All of the EXP I've gotten has come from skill levels, but I'm not stressing about it. I recently found out that I had an observe skill and although I'm embarrassed it took me so long to realize it. On the bright side though I found out that I'm way above the average person in terms of stats. I've even surpassed Joren who's a veteran of two wars.
I can't grow complacent though, even with my high HP all it would take is one good hit to a critical spot and I'd still die. Once I see actual combat I'll earn more EXP than I can count. Unfortunately I'm at least a few months away from that, so I'll have to make due with what I have at the moment. Well, it's not all bad at least, some merchant from the north came by not long ago with ironwood of all things. I didn't bother to ask where he got it, since that wouldn't have stopped me from buying it. I bought out his entire stock, just enough to make a few shields. Shields that should be ready for me by now.
Heading over to the forge I retrieve my new shields from Gerry, Heart Home's blacksmith. I commissioned one Scutum shield for when I'm on foot and one heater shield for horseback.
Ironwood can be considered the Valyrian steel of wood, it's not only lighter and stronger than other kinds of wood, it's also flame resistant. Now I don't need to be some kind of genius to tell you that three inches of wood as strong as iron would be damn near impossible to pierce through. Never mind the fact that I had Gerry plate both of my shields with a thin layer of steel with my house's symbol engraved for style points.
Casting a quick observe on one of the shields I see a bit more than I bargained for.
Corbray Ironwood heater shield: A thick steel plated Ironwood shield emblazoned with the sigil of house Corbray commissioned by Lyon Corbray for his military campaign against the mountain clans of the Vale.
Durability: 250/250
MP: 0/1000
Effects:
+25% HP and SP regen per min when worn
+50% MP regen per min when worn
+50% cold resistance when worn
Resist 85% fire damage when blocking
Resist 90% Physical damage when blocking
Holy shit those buffs are a lot better than I thought they'd be. I expected maybe 50% fire resist, but 85%? By the time Dany pulls up to Westeros her dragons will be fucked if I can get enough of this stuff to supply an army. The regen is dope and I'm just going to chalk it up to northern magic bullshit. Now time to address the elephant in the room.
Why the fuck is there an MP bar? Do I just...
MP: 80/1000
Okay, I'm guessing something happens once I reach 500? So there's more uses for magic than casting spells? Okay, that just gives me another reason to level up my MP which I'm all for. What's the point of having it if I don't have any reason to use it? That'd just be bad game design you know?
It makes me wonder though... What other materials can I use MP on? I know I can channel my MP into heart trees, but what about the black stone that the Seastone chair is made of? Or the Dragonstone the Valyrians used to build shit? If I can channel MP into Valyrian steel what will it do? Questions for later I suppose. I'm a long way from getting Lady Forlorn in my hands, so I'll just focus on what I can influence for the time being.
Putting my new shield down I decide to stay in the forge for a while to grind my Smithing skill. Gerry and his many new apprentices were understandably confused by my sudden interest in their craft, but after a bullshit speech about wanting to know how the common man worked so that I could more effectively govern my people, Gerry was more than happy to let me learn under him in my spare time. After showing me the ropes and declaring me a prodigy in the craft (thanks, Marcy) I was quickly sent to make a few swords to start off.
One thing they never tell you about smithing in Medieval shows, books and other forms of media is just how long this shit takes. I've been working on these swords for three days on and off and I'm nowhere near done yet. It's mostly a waiting game which is why I can afford to split my attention between all of them, but the EXP is good at least.
Smithing: 25/100
Oh yeah, that's some good shit right there!
Noticing the setting sun after a few hours of pounding the blades into a shape that could almost be called a sword I head over to the library to pick up a few books on metalworking and records of battles fought against the mountain clans in the past, arranging for my dinner to be sent to my chambers by Trysta after doing so. Hopefully things pick up soon...
(Two months later)
I'm finally, finally ready to start my campaign. The last of the recruits came in about a week after I began making preparations and their training went better than anyone could have ever expected. Just goes to show the power of the whistle. Seriously these fuckers seem to know what I want them to do before I even get to blow the damn whistle! All that remains is to get them blooded.
As for me? Well...
Lyon Corbray
LVL: 5
Class: [Lord] 4/25
EXP: 840/5000
HP: 330 HPR= 3.64% per min
SP: 330 SPR= 3.64% per min
MP: 140 MPR= 3.465% per min
STR: 25
DEX: 24
END: 26
CON: 26
INT: 21
WIS: 21
CHA: 31
Points: 4
Perks:
Boon of The Seven Who Are One: +20% additional increase to all forms of EXP. Choose 7 major Skills to gain an additional 7% EXP increase. Every level gained in a major skill grants an additional 7 EXP. Major skills will start with +7 levels.
Heir to a noble house: +5 to all Noble skills. +15 REP with members of lesser noble houses. +10 REP with members of all noble houses of equal standing. +5 REP to all great Noble houses.
Blessed By The Seven: +20 REP with those Faithful to The Seven. The Faith of The Seven are willing to overlook any minor crimes and acts of sin you commit. Members of the faith are more likely to listen to you. +70 HP and SP, -70 MP.
Skills
COMBAT
One-Handed Swords: 55/100 * 7
Two-Handed Swords: 15/100 *
Daggers: 10/100
Armor: 46/100 * 7
Block: 30/100 *
Mounted Combat: 20/100 *
Archery: 28/100 *
Unarmed: 10/100
Physical Resistance: 40/100 7
HUNTING
Tracking: 12/100
Stealth: 13/100
Skinning: 12/100
CRAFTING
Smithing: 53/100 7
Cooking: 23/100
DIPLOMACY
Speech: 47/100 * 7
Acting: 17/100
Writing: 26/100 *
Negotiation: 18/100 *
WARFARE
Commanding: 45/100 * 7
Geography (Westeros): 39/100 *
Geography (Essos): 10/100 *
MISC
Disease Resistance: 37/100 7
Etiquette: 40/50 *
yeah, big gains were made in the past two months. The bonuses to regen from the Ironwood shields will make a lot of difference on the field during long battles, not that I expect to find any among the scattered Mountain clans, but you never know; expect the unexpected and all that bullshit.
Stat gains seem to slow to a crawl after they hit 20, which is a bummer, but I'm about to gain fucktons of EXP from mercing mountain men, so I'll be leveling up quite a bit from now on.
I've been completely saucing on Joren and Lyn in the training yard with live steel lately so I'd say these past few months were well spent.
In other news more than a few notable houses in the Vale have sent their sons to accompany my men and I on our campaign, no doubt looking for glory or some other bullshit. Most notably among them is,
"Cousin!" Harrold fucking Hardyng, "I've been wondering where you've been." I'm exactly where I said I'd be, who would have guessed? "I suppose we're ready to move out then? About time, I was starting to think you had gotten cold feet." This motherfucker.
"Well excuse me for wanting to be as prepared as possible for MY campaign." I say to the fucker. "In case you haven't realized it yet I'll spell it out for you. We're about to go up against a foe that has plagued our lands since the coming of the Andals." Truthfully the only reason they haven't been eradicated by now is because there's never been a dedicated campaign against them.
Sure, the lords of the Vale have knights ride out to look for them every now and again, but never for longer than a week or two and that's nowhere near enough time to find the slippery fucks.
"Of course cousin, I know better than to treat something as serious as this like a game. We're representing house Arryn after all." and there it is! Harrold is a good enough guy I guess, a bit of a dick, but I'm the one who can stop an entire continental war from popping off, but won't, so I have no room to judge. What really irks me about this fucker is how he can't go five god damn minutes without mentioning his blood ties to the Arryn's. He even has their sigil covering half of his shield! Yeah, no joke his personal coat of arms has the sigil of a house that he's only distantly related to.
If I wasn't ahead of him in the line of succession I wouldn't feel so uneasy being near him, hell I might have liked him, but I'm pretty sure he wants to be the next Lord Arryn and I'm one of two people standing in the way of that.
Fuck it, if he tries anything I'll gut his ass.
"Fine, just go make sure the men are ready to march for now." I say with a sigh, dismissing him for now. Right then, back to checking my equipment.
Corbray Ironwood heater shield +3: A thick steel plated Ironwood shield emblazoned with the sigil of house Corbray commissioned by Lyon Corbray for his military campaign against the mountain clans of the Vale.
Durability: 750/750
MP: 330/4000
Effects:
+40% HP and SP regen per min when worn
+65% MP regen per min when worn
+65% cold resistance when worn
Resist 91% fire damage when blocking
Resist 100% physical damage when blocking
It's just a Soulsbourne type equipment upgrade which I find neat, but that's not all folks!
Corbray Longsword +2: A Longsword Forged by Lyon Corbray for his campaign against the mountain clans of the Vale. Featuring an ironwood grip with magic used during it's forging this blade is a cut above any other castle forged blade, though it's not on the level of Valyrian steel.
60+1.5x(STR+DEX) slashing and thrusting damage
MP: 140/10000
Effects:
+15% rust resistance to blade
+15% chip resistance to blade
It's amazing that I was able to pull this off so soon after getting here, but it's nothing compared to the real thing. I didn't even get any kind of spell forging skill for it. My sword has a bit of rust and chip resistance, but Valyrian steel doesn't rust, chip or need to be sharpened at all. I'm slowly getting there though. I can feel it. Even still this sword is probably comparable to the Forrester Greatsword, another strangely valuable Non-Valyrian Steel sword.
"Lyon!" My uncle greets, breaking me out of my thoughts. He and my father both come up to me, not at each others throats for once.
"Father, Uncle, here to see me off?" I ask, walking up to them.
"Something like that." Lyonel says, "There's a bit more than that though." He pauses for a second, before continuing "I was hesitant at first to let you go off to fight this campaign your grandfather decided to send you on, but your uncle convinced me that It'd be good for you. I've seen you grow into a man these past few months and seeing as you insisted on heading off before your 16th nameday your uncle and I decided to give you your gift a bit early." At that he lets Lyn take over.
"I've seen you in the forge working on that sword of yours for some time now and I must say, you've done a very good job," Where is he going with this? "But your father and I decided that you would need something a bit... sharper for when you're out dealing with those savages in the mountains." There's no way this is going where I think it's going. "As your father has already said, you've grown into a man. So it's only right you go off to fight with a man's sword." he says, taking Lady Forlorn from its place at his hip and presenting it to me.
I take the sword from Lyn almost reverently, gently holding on to it's wooden scabbard as though I were afraid I'd break it. I rub my thumb across the ruby in its pommel before gliding my hand over the black leather grip to the black claw shaped crossguard. Finally I draw it from it's sheath beholding the smokey grey and black rippled blade.
While I was stuck in my reverie Lyn began to speak once more, "Now, I won't be marrying, so I won't have any heirs to pass this sword on to. For now I'll let you borrow her, but when I put her down for good, she'll be YOUR lady to hold." He told me with grin. I was barely paying attention though, too focused on the sword in my hands.
Observing the sword, I get way more than I ever thought I would.
Lady Forlorn: The ancestral Valyrian steel Longsword of house Corbray. It's name is derived from an older blade owned by house Corbray during the coming of the Andals. Generally passed from lord to heir, there have been cases of lords lending the sword to family members for a lifetime.
100+ 2.5x(STR+DEX) slashing and thrusting damage
MP: 0/500
Effects:
Complete Rust Resistance
Complete Chip resistance
Bypasses all resistances
Blade never dulls or degrades
+1000% damage against undead
Gains +1 base damage for every undead slain.
Bypasses- The Fuck?! That can't be how Valyrian steel can kill white walkers in canon. There's no way. And is that the fucking Dawnguard Rune enchantment from Skyrim? HOW?!
I've taken some liberties with the properties of Valyrian steel in this world. Feats like this are within my power now that you've grown in strength, master.
And no one had a problem with that?
Not at all. Valyrian steel was mostly known to cut through armor and the like as though it were butter before and no one knows of it's capabilities against the undead yet, not even the white walkers, so as far as anyone is concerned this is just what it's always been able to do.
Marcy I am officially declaring you best girl from now on. Still though it seems like you're spoiling me a bit too much. What ever happened to not giving me too much power too quickly?
I stand by that sentiment, sir. However, you have exceeded my expectations by quite a bit. I expected you to be nearing level 3 at this point with only two of your stats at or above 20. I feel confident enough in you to give you a hand every now and again.
Wow. I don't know what to say Marcy. I mean on one hand you really thought I was gonna act like a total scrub, but on the other hand I'm touched that you'd end up having so much faith in me.
You still have to break the Level and stat cap on your own so don't even try it.
Fuck it, I'll keep doing things your way.
Turning back to my Lyonel and Lyn I find that only a few seconds have passed since I observed the sword. Which is neat since I don't want to explain why I just stare off into space whenever I observe shit or talk to Marcy.
"Thank you both, for everything. I'll be sure to treat Lady Forlorn with the respect she is due, uncle and I'll do our house proud, father." I say to them both. We exchange our final goodbyes before I head off to join the rest of my men, Lady Forlorn on the left side of my belt and my longsword on my right.
There are around 215 soldiers with us, but there's around 275 people here ready to move out including carpenters blacksmiths and a few whores that decided to come along to ply their trade. I expect the numbers to swell in the coming weeks as we pass towns and villages, but for now this is what we have.
Saddling up and getting on my horse, I turn to address my men one last time before we head out.
"Today we put an end to the threat of the Mountain Clansmen that have plagued our lands for centuries. In only a few years we will see what may be the longest winter in living memory! Starving mountain clansmen will come in droves to pillage YOUR homes, torch YOUR towns, take YOUR families! Let's get ahead of the fuckers and take everything from them instead!" I yell out to the cheers of my men. Wow, I'm really good at this huh?
+2 Commanding
+114 EXP
I'll take that as a yes. With that out of the way we finally set out to get me an army of savages. Not that anyone else knows that of course.
(POV change: Lyonel Corbray)
Now that Lyon has gone off to fight he can begin the next phase of the plan. When Lord Arryn had begun their correspondence he thought nothing of it. Brushing it off as gandfatherly affection at first. Then Lord Arryn had dropped what may as well have been a barrel of wildfire onto him. Revealing to him the suspected infidelity of his wife and the potential bastard status of his heir.
It made enough sense he supposed. Petyr Baelish goes to King's Landing, spends a lot of his free time with lady Lysa and nine months later she gives birth to a child that's nothing like Jon OR Lysa. The child is very much like Petyr baelish in his youth if Lord Arryn is to be believed.
So, they begin to put plans in place to have Lyon thrust into the public eye. Despite what he told Lyon about his reluctance to send him off, the whole thing had been his idea in the first place. There's a high chance of a war breaking out in the Vale once Jon tells the world of Lysa's betrayal. Lyonel has no doubt that Lady Waynwood will put forth Harrold Hardyng as a potential heir to the Vale, even if he sits lower on the line of succession than Lyon.
The Tully's might even get involved if they feel insulted enough by the accusations against Lysa, which they almost certainly will.
All of these factors are why he and Lord Arryn decided to pit Lyon against the Mountain clans. It would serve to garner support for Lyon while also allowing him to gain experience for the inevitable fallout that will come to the Vale.
Truthfully he doesn't even know whether Robert Arryn is actually a bastard or not. The boy could very well be the child of Jon Arryn. Traits like chronic sickness and eye color have been known to skip generations in some cases. Lyon himself has grey eyes owing to Lyonel's grandmother who was a daughter of Jocelyn Stark. He wasn't going to share such thoughts with Lord Arryn though. Why would he? His son was going to be the next Lord Paramount of the Vale. What sort of fool would such an opportunity in jeopardy? Certainly not Lyonel Corbray.
Okay, that was chapter three of A restrictive game. This will be the last pure prep chapter for the time being. Shit's actually going to happen now. I noticed a lack of dialogue in the last chapter and decided to add more during the latter portion of this one. I'll add more dialogue to chapters as I get used to writing it so bear with me for now. I think I dragged the whole "heading out" part on for a bit too long though. I didn't want to do a timeskip so early on, let alone in the middle of a chapter, but I figured it was about time to speed things up a bit. If I didn't do a timeskip of some kind there would probably be 10+ chapters of just prep and that would be about as fun to read as it would be to write, so I just bit the bullet and went ahead with it.
Normally in gamer fics/stories the MC is in the hundreds in stats at this point, but I made things a bit different here. Don't get me wrong OP bullshit is the name of the game with these stories, so the MC will become broken as fuck eventually, but that's going to be toward the end of his time in this world. Maybe in the middle if I see the story going there. As always, feel free to point out any mistakes in my writing you spot or ask any questions you may have.
Get Creamed On~
