After I left Lord Stark, I went into the port to look for materials. I know precisely where Robert's weakness lies, but I need to do some crafting first, so I need materials, specifically lead, malachite, and flowers of diverse colours.
I found the first two quickly enough, and then I stole them using telekinesis.
I turned into a bird and stole from the Mallister's maester paper and ink as well, and for the flowers, I could create with Druidcraft.
I also searched for a good tree trunk. I used Fabricate to create a 3m(10-foot) canvas out of wood, which is not very intricate.
Still, it's smooth; after I finish my search for materials, I direct myself to the ship Lord Stark pointed me to with materials on my satchel and carrying the canvas with telekineses. It looks like I am carrying over my head. Still, it's too heavy for me as I go up the plank with the canvas and pass through Lord Stark, he says with a raised eyebrow.
"It is really necessary to carry that with us. We are going to war, as you may know."
"You told me that I had to convince King Robert to turn me into a noble. Well, this is part of the plan. Actually, you may help me with the plan unless you have something better to do while we travel at sea." I smiled at him, and he raised an eyebrow at me.
"I have an invasion to plan, and you don't seem to be taking it seriously enough," he told me seriously enough.
"I already have an invasion plan ready, Lord Stark," I said as I put the canvas onto a cabin. When I returned, he asked.
"And can I bother you to share your plan with the man who leads said invasion you have plans about?" he asked me with mirth in his voice. He looked like he could use sarcasm.
"Well, I enter the gatehouse of the castle we sieging, I neutralize the guards, I open the gate, you march your army inside, and now the best part, we PROFIT," I explain to him.
"And you by yourself can do all that", he voiced his doubt.
"Oh ye of little faith, I find it insulting you think I can't," I say with a false offence.
"Well, we shall see if your words are true, but they sound absurd enough to actually be." he sighs and rubs his eyes.
We find ourselves in a comfortable silence until I decide to break it. "Lord Stark, I have an odd request". I cast Detect Thoughts with my hands behind my back.
"Could you describe your family, the ones who are still here and those who are gone?" he frowns and asks.
"I would like to know what for," he says in his usual tone.
"For a gift, it would not be ready for some time, but before the war ends, you will receive it for your patience and for listening to me and my suggestion." I smile.
"That's unexpected. What are his purposes for this?" he raises an eyebrow and says back.
"I require no such thing. Besides, your future is yet to be determined. You could fail to impress Robert," he says as we hear the captain of our ship yell to raise the anchor; it's quite an impressive sight, so many ships are leaving port.
"We both know that me impressing Robert ain't in question here," I say with some cheek.
"Indeed, well, I can't occupy all the travel with just planning; it is an entire week; I might as well fill some of the time with your gift project."
As he starts to describe his family and late family, I make detailed notes on a paper and complement them with the images he has in his mind.
One specifically, I take more detailed notes than others; he seems depressed talking about some of them, but it was expected.
"I thank you, Lord Stark. I am sorry if such memories bring you grief, but I assure you it will be worth it in the end," I say with real sympathy for him.
This guy lost a lot of people and still managed not to be a total dick or a disaster like Tywin or Robert; that's something, especially in Westeros.
He took a deep breath and said, "It's good to think and speak of those who we care about, those we lost, to remember their faces, and what is important." That's deep, as expected from a brooding Stark.
"Well, I shall start on the project right now." I bow slightly, go back to the cabin, and close the door.
I used FABRICATE to create the paint I needed from the materials I had; I used some horse hair I got from the horses that came with us and created paint-brushes "Damn, I will need another canvas," I say as I pick some of the brushes with telekinesis.
Pass a week, and we see the island of Orkmont, where House Orkwood and House Tawney live. They had some tin and iron and used to have a forest, but they used all the wood to make ships.
At least, that is the information I received from our captain when I managed to talk to the man. The entire crew is waking on eggshells around me since they found I have the Magic; they don't have a problem with me having Magic per se, the sailors saw some weird shit at sea already, and the soldiers are northern.
The problem started when I was singing Downed and Drowned while painting on our third day of sailing, and some of them thought It was bad luck to have a sorcerer singing about sunk ships on your ship.
Like I was going to sink her just because I was singing about it, Lord Stark asked me to stop my singing because it made the man nervous.
But back to Orkmont, the island is rugged and mountainous, and it looks very unwelcoming. We disembarked some distance from Orkwood Castle, and some other lords were starting to come to strategize with Lord Stark when I say.
"We don't need the entire army to take the castle, Lord stark; it's just a waste of time to disembark them all just to put them back into the ships again, disembark enough men to deal with the defenders and to garrison the castles after" I advise Ned it's not going to be a siege after all.
"Only half of the army will stay here; the other half will lay siege to the seat of House Tawney. The bigger part of their men was lost fighting against the Royal and the Redwine fleets, so the garrison inside those castles is not big," Lord Stark said when we heard a booming voice.
"Finally, we going to get back at those cowards, ironcunts. Lord Stark, let me take the van!" The voice comes from a large man, nearly seven feet tall, with a long dark brown beard and hair with, a greatsword strapped on his horse and a warhorn on his hip.
I can tell just by his size that this is Jon Umber, the Great Jon Umber, by his side riding. Another obvious character is also present. Why obvious, you ask? Well, he looks like an anaemic vampire.
Roose Bolton, the Leech Lord, has pasty white skin and no beard. He looks quite normal, nothing out of the ordinary besides his pale grey eyes. He has a sword and a dagger,
The friend zone knight himself is here as well. He is not a knight yet, but the joke is made. I recognize him by the bear on his green tunic, Jorah Mormont. He is black-bearded and balding but still strong and fit.
None of these guys looked like in the show, so I thought I would not recognize them, but with so many banners and clues, that became relatively easy.
"And who would this be?" came a calm and low voice of the Bolton lord. Before I was able to answer, Ned did for me.
"This is Antares. He will be responsible for opening the castle's gate."
"And how the fuck one man will do that? He barely looks strong enough to wear armour", boomed Umber. This time, I answered myself.
"Magic, of course, Lord Umber, but you don't have to worry about that. All you have to know is that you will not be sitting on your arse waiting for the ladders to be built. You be fighting the ironborn hiding in that castle before the next dawn comes," I assert firmly, ending with a confident, predatory smile.
"Magic! Ha, right. I don't care, lad. Keep your secrets. If you open that gate before the next dawn, I will share my ale with you," he boomed once more.
"Well, it would not do to pass on such an opportunity, as soon as the night falls I will take the gatehouse and open the gate, I will take any man on the front walls as well but you should only advance when I give the signal." I describe my idea to them.
"Right," Jorah said slowly, a bit unsure. "And what would be the signal exactly, Ser?" he asked.
I smile and say, "Three pale stars illuminating the darkness."
CHANGE POV: Jorah Mormont
It was a moonless night, and here we were, waiting for the signal. We tried to make it look like we were making camp, but we were watching the walls, armoured and armed.
The torches on the wall and the guards patrolling, along with the lights on the keep, were all in plain view. It's clear that they're not expecting an attack right now. And who would? We've just disembarked. We currently have no means of scaling that wall, and the castle still has food, so surrender is definitely not an option for now.
That fellow Antares—he's weird, unnatural in a way. When you describe him, he sounds normal—a redhead man tall with greenish-blue eyes—but once you put him beside anyone, his colours are unusually vibrant, creating an odd and unsettling impression.
He claims that he can use Magic, but I think that is a mummer tale. I mean, magic users don't come out of the woodwork and offer you their services, but as Greatjon said, if he opens that gate, I will share my drink with him.
Strange, where are the lights on the wall? Where are the patrolling guards? The thud, thud, thud of the sounds makes every conversation die.
As I look at Lords Stark and Umber, they seem to be trying to listen to something else, so I also attempt to listen. There's a "clek clek clek" sound, a mechanism being used. I remember that sound; it's a portcullis rising! The man actually did it!
And then it comes to a stop, just the silence of the night. The talking we have been having until now has turned into an eager silence, and in the pitch-black darkness in front of the gate, three small points of white light brighten the night. They grow stronger and show us the open gates and the way to victory.
"FOR THE NORTH!" I heard the Umber scream so loud that the entire camp might have heard it, and then he charged. I pulled my blade and did the same.
CHANGE POV: Antares Palestars
As night fell, I went a little far from the "camp" and turned into an owl but tried to change the colour of my feathers to black, and it worked; I needed to test my powers more.
I fly over the castle wall with Starchaser and look at how many are out here patrolling; it is at least eight guys.
The torchers gave them away—they were short-staffed indeed. I fly into a shadow between two torchers and, turn back into a human, and then use Gust to stuff out all the torches 9m(30ft) away.
Starchaser lands on my shoulder, and I start to see through her eyes. I don't want to trip in the dark and fall off the wall.
As a guard turned a curve on the end of the wall, he brought his torch to try to light the one on the wall and said.
"what the fuck, must have been the wind," did he really just say that?
But then he stopped and looked directly at me.
"WHAT!...aghhh!" I choke him and then snap his neck, and throw his lifeless body over the wall. I hear a loud Thud soon after.
I extinguished his torch and kept doing my job.
The other seven had the same fate as the first: take the light out and then take them out, of course. The last three were more attentive and tried to run for a warning bell. They could have screamed, but that's panic for you. It's time to clean my path to fame.
First, I remove the bars of the gate and open it, easy enough, and now the last part, I reach the gatehouse and, using the telekinesis, I start to open the portcullis; it's fucking loud, especially at night; the metal is not well cared for as well, but it soon opens anyway.
I then make three Dancing Lights appear in front of the gate and put the brightness at the maximum that should do."FOR THE NORTH!" I hear that and then the roar of thousands of soldiers—that's an Umber for you.
I hear screams from the keep as well, and I see some Ironborn start to pour out of the keep. If they reach the gate, it will funnel the northern soldiers, and that is a problem, so I have to do something about it.
I cast the spell WALL OF FIRE and used it as a spear. I cast on the doorway of the keep, and I stretch onto the inside.
Like a fiery serpent that entered through the doorway, it made its way through the hall and burned everything and everyone it came into contact with.
Ironborns rallying in the hall screamed as the fire licked their flesh and burned their hall. The warriors preparing for the last stand suffered a crippling blow soon after the northern soldiers poured through the open gates, and I snuffed the fire out. They take the last pitiful resistance, and the castle is ours.
I came down from the gatehouse and walked to the keep's front. I found Stark, Umber, Bolton, and Mormont. They all looked at me, shocked. Correction, the Umber and the Mormont looked shocked, Lord Stark brooded, and the Bolton looked intrigued;
I looked at Umber and said, "I believe you owe me a drink." He pulled his head back and laughed.