Aside from the gaping hole in Calaila’s neck, everything seemed to return to normal after our meeting with the Lord Corbray. My Lady mother was away in meetings while the rest of us enjoyed the lingering celebrations from the previous night’s wedding.

Our festive banter was interrupted when Lord Royce approached out tent area. He announced that Lord Arryn was meeting with my Lady mother and requested the presence of our group. The maester, handmaid, and bard composed themselves quickly to prepare for such an honorable summon. When we enter the Lord’s chambers, he and I exchange pleasantries and our group is complimented for our service to the rebellion in recent weeks. We have been asked to provide input on and execute an important espionage mission! We are to secure the secret support of a house in the Reach to provide the rebellion with information and political leverage. Lord Arryn takes a moment to make clear that it is mine and the maester’s opinion that he seeks. The efforts of the bard and the handmaid have been invaluable to the greater cause, but their uneducated minds are not suitable for making such important decisions. #ArrynBurn

We are told that Robert would return a house’s loyalty with titles, land, or gold. And further, the rebellion would do its best to prevent harm to their armies in the field of warfare. That being said, the choice of which house to turn belongs to the maester and I. Lord Arryn presents our options:

1. House Footly of Tumbleton – A minor house that is easy to get to, but has little value to provide
2. House Fossoway of Cider Hall – Valuable ally, but could be challenging to gain an audience
3. House Caswel of Bitterbridge – Another minor house that is nearby, but has little value to our cause
4. House Tyrell of HighGarden – Would be a valuable ally, but unlikely to happen
5. House Tarly of Horn Hill – Very loyal to the crown, no likely to turn
6. House Hightower of Old Town – Their loyalty to the king is all but secure
7. House Redwine of the Arbor – Their navy holds a blockade against Robert’s brother, Stannis, at Storm’s End. They would be a powerful ally in to the rebellion

Initially, I proposed we start trying to turn one of the minor houses and then pursue a more valuable house afterwards. The maester counters with a compelling argument for trying to turn the Redwines of the Arbor. With the challenge of providing high value to the rebellion, we set course for the Arbor! Lord Arryn provided gold for us to charter a vessel, so we set off due west to Lannisport and set sail from there.

Our vessel arrives in Ryansport a few weeks later, and we are greeted by the harbor master. We tell him that we are here to discuss the position of house Jasper in the rebellion, and he points us to the castle, the seat of house Redwine. On the way to the castle, Dolin’s is drawn to a tavern where he might perform and win the hearts and coin of Ryansport. Calaila joins him, and we agree to meet back at the tavern around dusk, if we are able…

The maester and I are allowed into the castle, and it is a damn nice place! Seeing how the Redwine’s have nice things, maester Thad suggests we play the money card in trying to sway them. We don’t wait long in the receiving hall before the rotund Lord Redwine comes into the room. His appearance seems fitting for the Lord of a house with such wealth, and he comes across as very kind and welcoming, offering us bread and salt. He is surprisingly receptive to our proposal, and we ultimately agree that his house will provide information to the rebellion, and in return, I promise that King Robert will capture the city of Old Town and give it to the Redwines.

BOOM! A door slams open and a man who appears to be of the noble house yells, “MEATBALL! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” The man we have negotiated with jumps off his chair and rolls around laughing. It soon becomes clear that we just negotiated a spy agreement with the house fool…

The man at the door asks who we are and I introduce us. Meatball butts in and exclaims gleefully, “They promised to capture Old Town for us in return for secrets!”

“That’s ridiculous. Is this true?” asks the man, who is the son of Lord Redwine. I try to present our offer in less blunt terms, but he has none of it. He loudly touts the loyalty of his house and other nonsense, then commands his guard to throw us in the dungeon!

The tavern may have to wait for us…