288 AC

Ryam was not long awake when he started hearing yelling coming from behind the guards, familiar yelling.
All the men around him get out of their beds seeing a disheveled looking Edmure be escorted into the room being flanked by more guards and a portly man.

Edmure's face showed anger, an emotion that Ryam had yet to see on the usually jovial man.
"Everyman here who left Riverrun with me is now free to go"
Everyman now looked relieved with the notable exception of Ryam, he was the only person to join the party after it had departed.
"Ryam you are to follow me and be asked a few questions"

Edmure shot a dirty look to the man beside him, he seemed to hold authority here.

Ryam now shook the sleep from his eyes and fell in line beside Edmure, trying to make himself look as presentable as he could after a battle and not having been able to bathe.
The room they were in would scarcely be described as anything better than a dungeon that quickly had cots thrown into it, it was damp to the point breathing always felt labored and your chest would feel heavy. Hardly the welcome the party expected from Pinkmaiden

The Portly man waddled further into the room and then introduced himself coldly to Ryam

"I am Olyver Piper, Seneschal To Lord Clement Piper, and His Brother"
The rest of the men in the room now focused on the portly figure and tried to find any resemblance to their brother in arms
Edmure continued to hold his glare apon Olyver but was speaking to the room
"It seems Lord Piper has been bedridden for the past few moons and as such Olyver was acting regent as Marq was with us and Lewys Piper has not yet reached his seventh name day"

An Up jumped regent attempting to claw out a name for himself or one trying to follow the orders of a literal child, Ryam didn't know which was more dangerous.
"You See Lord Tully It is my duty to keep Little Lewys and Pinkmaiden safe but there have been increasing Ironborn aggression
and I am merely being cautious in needing to speak with Ryam"

The Man spoke down to Edmure as if talking to a child rather than a man far above his status
Edmure's Eyes went wide at the idea that there could be Ironborn reaving and raiding this far inland.
Ryam thought of Alton who nearly lost an arm fighting against reavers at Seaguard
"And You Had not thought of informing your Liege Lord?"

Edmure all but demanded an answer, his brow furrowing in anger.
Olyver started running his hands up and down against his silken robes as if trying to get the wrinkles out.
"Well Of Course Lord Edmure but I needed more evidence than reports from smallfolk of woods chopped, small villages pillaged and tales of longships coming upriver"
Lord Olyver replied easily, acting every bit the faithful servant, whilst failing to actually serve.

Ryam Finally decided to speak up, as they turned to enter the Lord's Chambers, Lord Olyver's heavy frame sat with haste and familiarity behind the desk.
His face already was turning a shade of pink from the walk. A smarter man could make a quip about him resembling his house sigil, but Ryam was not that quick.

"The men that fought us though resembled rivermen, not the squids. Riverlanders would be as quick to fight alongside Ironborn as Valemen would with the mountain clans"

Lord Olyver's Face turned a shade barely lighter than crimson before hurridly stating
"Well the Ironborn are known for trickery and fighting without honour, they must have tried hiding amongst us to prevent us from knowing it was them"

Olyver seemed to think for a second then nod
"Yes, Yes that must be it"

Edmure and Ryam did not seem so convinced
"I would know my own people and those men were Riverlanders, we had banners of House Tully and House Piper and apon finding out they had nearly slain their Heir they seemed reinvigorated, this was not some squid scheme. This was outright rebellion"

Whilst Ryam had gotten to know Edmure as a cousin, a fighter and a friend he hadn't seen much of him as a Lord, but now looking at the haggard man even at aged twenty and one there was authority and gravitas.

"Call for a rider, I must send word to Riverrun to send over men, Maester Vyman and Supplies"

Now Edmure was giving orders and Olyver could barely start sputtering in protest
"Surely Lord Edmure this is some crazed men acting alone and it is hardly necessary for such expense"
Edmure could not contain the vitriol in his words

"The Heir Of Pinkmaiden might never awaken again a man whom I consider a close friend,
and The Heir Of Riverrun would have died if not for the intervention of my Squire and Men,
I think the least I can do is help secure this area from potential bandits, or Ironborn or whoever thought to attack our host.
Your duty is to protect these lands, and you have failed, I do not care what state Lord Piper is in, I will meet with him and discuss this further, you are dismissed"

Olyver looked furious but did not have any true authority here, what authority a regent had was not a hard law and often depended on the specific regency or truly how much the regent tried to get away with.

Edmure by now started writing on parchment quickly but neatly, then handed it to Ryam.
"You are to hand this to one of our men, try Alton he is reliable and tell him this is to be seen by Maester Vyman and tell him to stop for no one. You are then to find out our numbers here as garrison, the stockpiles of food and what gold is here. We will reconvene by night fall"
Ryam Nodded and quickly ran back to the room they had been kept in.

Throughout the rest of the day Ryam's finding became surprising then worrying then baffling. It was still a fertile summer and yet the stores in Pinkmaiden barely would last the castle two moons. Barrels of salted and smoked fish made up a large portion of the stocks with surprisingly little grain. What made Ryam particularly confused was the amount of tack stored, normally used for sailors as a hard dry bread that if stored well could last longer than a winter last was being kept in a wet humid storeroom of a fertile land. It didn't add up.

The guards here were not much more than armed peasants. Whilst Ryam could not land a hit against Edmure if his life depended on it Ryam had more training than the eighty men here combined it seemed, No Knights, No Training, not even a Master-at-arms.
The guards decided what posts they were at by drawing straws and did not do some of the jobs they found too annoying. Now sure Ryam though that during the peace following Robert's Rebellion Lord's would loathe spending much on their defenses and armies as they likely would not see much use in the coming years and hopefully decades, but this level of mismanagement bordered on sabotage which Ryam now thought about "Lord" Olyver's actions and thought that sabotage might not be too far from the truth.

The men were undisciplined and barely wore their armor correctly, they would be more at home behind a plough than at the battlements.
Finally Ryam took to cataloguing the content of the castles vault, there was a decent stache of gold dragons, a few paintings and old well-made weaponry but what was most suprising was the amount of Silver Stags and Copper Stars, chests after chest were filled with them.

All houses bar the poorest of landed Knights or maybe the masterly houses of the north would deal mostly with Gold Dragons but often would keep an amount of Silver Stags for smaller purchases or to make trading easier rather than needing change, A particularly mercantile house might have alot of coppers that would get sent to The Kings mint to exchange for Silver. But House Piper was not a Mercantile House, Nor A Poor House. They were one of the strongest vassals of House Tully.

So why in the Seven Hells did they have so much copper stars?