2018, 01-24 Game of Dreams – Gunslinger Takedown I am in the tower with Bran, I am Catelyn Stark. Bran is unconscious in his bed. There is an idiot trying to talk to me about numbers. I tell him I don’t care about the numbers. He’s trying to talk about money, and the daily running of the castle. I don’t care. I tell him to go away. Robb comes in and tells him that he will take care of the details. I turn back to Bran. I focus healing energy on him. I see a faint blue glow around him. Robb is talking to me now, about how he is worried that my other children, him included, need me. There is a lot of commotion outside. Wolves howling, dogs barking, people yelling. Robb looks out the window and says there’s a fire at the library. He leaves to go tend to it. The next thing I know there’s a strange man in the doorway. He has a dagger, and look surprised to see me. He says I’m not supposed to be there. I said it’s too bad for him, I am here. I know right away he’s come to kill my son. I focus on forming my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade, I will remove his head. Nothing happens. I cursed myself briefly, wondering how I would expect Catelyn’s arm to turn into an Alex Mercer blade. The guy comes at me. He apparently intends to get rid of me first, it looks like he thinks I will be easy. Not so easy. I might not be able to form Alex Mercer weapons, but that doesn’t mean I’m helpless. I look around for something to use as a weapon. I dodge his attack and it puts him off balance. I plant a kick to his backside and knock him sprawling on his face. He scrambles to his feet as quick as he can. He turns back towards me, and then looks behind me. He drops a curse word, and then quickly goes out the window, a wolf grabbing at his heels as he goes. We are in a tower… I wonder where he thinks he can go. I run to the window and look out, and he’s climbing down the building like an Assassin from Assassins Creed. All the guards are helping with the fire, but I see a man down below my window. I call to him to stop that man, he tried to murder my son. The killer has reached ground, and is running across the courtyard. The man that was below my window responds. I looked closer, and he looks familiar. It looks like Roland from the Dark Tower books. My thoughts are confirmed when he pulls something from his side, and there is a deafening blast as he shoots. The killer falls to the ground. I am wondering what Roland is doing here. I look down again, and Roland is gone. Where did he go? I don’t get a chance to figure it out, I wake up.
2017, 08-29 Game of Dreams – Mountain Fortress I am riding on a horse. I am Catelyn. I am riding with a small group of people into the mountains. Right now we are hiding. One of our people spotted horse riders heading our way. There are roving bands of bandits around here. We have already lost a couple people to them. We don't want to meet another attack. I can see Tyrion Lannister nearby. He is sharpening an axe. We are waiting with trepidation for the riders to arrive. I am hoping they pass us by, but I don't know how much chance there is of that. Then one of our people calls out. He has cited a banner being flown by the riders. It is the sigil of my sister’s house. These are not enemies. I am relieved. One of the visitors is my uncle. He has the symbol of the black fish on his cloak. He says we should've let them know we were coming so they could meet us with an escort. He says it's very dangerous on the roads. I say yeah we found out the hard way. He is here to escort us the rest of the way. He has about 12 people with him. We proceed into the valley. We passed through gate that is guarded, but the guard lets us right through. We continue down into the valley, and I look back to see Tyrion riding right next to Braun, one of those sell swords, and feel suspicious. I know he didn't try to kill my son, but he might still be up to something. Now I have to clean up the mess that Catelyn has made while I was away. I know that tear Tyrion is innocent, but she wasn't convinced. I talk to my uncle about what happened. I tell him about my son’s fall, about the attempted murder that I interrupted, and about how someone is trying to set Tyrian up. I tell him that we made like we were taking him prisoner so that maybe the actual perpetrator would feel complacent and get careless. He thinks my tale is rather strange. He says that's not what my letter said. I tell him that I did not want anyone to possibly intercept that letter. So we have had to behave as if Tyrion was our prisoner. Soon we reach a gate house at the base of a mountain. Most of our group stays down below. However, my sister has requested that I come up immediately. It is night time now, and that is a dangerous climb at night. A girl says that she has made the trip up the mountain many times in the dark. We will ride mules. We take the mules most of the way. We make our way up the mountain at a slow but steady pace. The girl and I have some small talk, but nothing really important. We finally get to the farthest point where the mules can go no farther. Now there is a steep climb that is more like a stone ladder instead of a stair. The last part has to be done on foot, or to ride up in a basket that is used to raise goods and supplies. I remember earlier Tyrion said he has his pride and therefore would not ride up with the turnips. That seems silly to me. I say I have more sense than Tyrion, and since I’m tired I will ride up in a basket. I am lifted up to the top where there is a castle. They take me to see my sister. At first she seems happy to see me, and give me a big hug. She's a bit chubbier than I remember. But as soon as we are alone, she starts yelling at me for bringing Tyrion to her castle. She says she didn't want to get involved with the Lannister's. I told her she's not going to be able to avoid them. She says no one can get in the Eyrie. As she was yelling she woke a child in the next room. A little boy comes out asking what's going on. This is the new ward of the Eyrie? He's only six years old. I try to talk sense to my sister about preparing for a possible war. The kid gets scared. My sister is coddling him. To my surprise, my sister pulls her nightclothes down over one breast, and the six-year-old boy begins to nurse. What the fuck? My three-year-old no longer nurses! It is all I can do not to say something. But I don't want to make things with my Lysa even worse. The boy asks if Tyrion is a bad person. My sister says he is. I say someone is setting him up, he didn’t do anything. Lysa ignores me. The boy asks if we can make TTTLY. She says that might be just what we do. I am feeling a bit annoyed at her now.
2017, 08-24 Game of Dreams – Shadow Attack Tyrion: I am riding on a horse. There is a wet bag over my head and my hands are tied in front of me. We finally come to a stop. When they remove the bag I look around to see where I am. None of it looks familiar, but somehow I know it's not where I'm supposed to be. I see some people around me that I recognize. There is a woman here with us, Catelyn Stark. I am angry at her because when I was playing this game as her I set a plan in motion. She has totally screwed it up. When I was playing as her I had clearly put into her mind that Tyrian Lannister (who I am playing as right now) did not try to kill her son. But she threw that out. When we start moving again they leave the bag off of my head. And then they untie my hands. Am I supposed to be grateful? A couple times when I have a chance to talk I try to tell Catelyn I'm not the one that tried to kill her son. I even try logic. If I was the one that tried to kill her son, why would I use my own blade? That would be stupid. I tell her I just left Winterfell after having given them a plan for making a saddle so that her crippled son could ride a horse. Why would I want to kill him and then make him a nice saddle? And then there was the story of how I supposedly got the dagger in question. I'm interrupted at this point, however, because we are under attack. We are hugely outnumbered. We need every single fighter we can get. I am there, with two of men loyal to Tyrion. But none of us are armed. I tell Catelyn that we should all be able to flight. She doesn't want to trust me. I tell her that if some of us lose here then we all lose. These bandits will kill everyone regardless of family, we are in this together. Finally she gives us weapons. She gives my companions a sword at a bow, and she gives me a big ass axe. A big old battle axe. Now I feel more like a dwarf out of Lord of the rings. The enemies are approaching, and our archers attack first. I see that there was a minstrel with us who is hiding behind a rock. I looked out into the line of fire and I see that the arrows aren’t actually doing anything to the enemies. They are just bouncing harmlessly off some strange energy field around them. It looks like dark energy. But what would they be doing with dark energy? I know if someone doesn't charge our weapons with light energy then we're screwed. I don't know how I will explain it, but I have to do something. I focus on the song Battery by Metallica to charge everyone's weapons on our side would light energy. There is some lightning and sparks pass to all of our side’s weapons. Everyone pauses, but there isn’t time to question now. They have to go back to fighting. The next arrows that our archers loose cut right through the dark energy field. I have also charged my own axe with light energy. That means we are able to hit the enemies, but it doesn't mean we can't be hurt by them. I am doing my best. It seems a bit awkward handling such a big weapon when I'm so small. I jump up on top of a horse’s head, not realizing I could even jump that high, and bury my axe in an enemy’s head. I take out another enemy that was right next to the first from the back of the first enemy’s horse. I jump down to the ground and the two horses run off to get out of the violence. I am about to go after some more enemies when I hear a woman scream. I turn around and look and see that Catelyn is surrounded by enemies. It only vaguely crosses my mind to not do anything. Instead I go over there and bury my axe in the back of one of the enemies. A second enemy turns away from Catelyn and starts coming at me. That leaves him wide open. Catelyn has a dagger and it is charged with light energy. She slits his throat with it. The other enemy that was attacking her, and all of the others that are still alive, have decided not to stick around. They were probably figuring they were completely protected. But they weren't. At least not protected from me. I look around for a bit, several people have died. I wasn’t able to save everyone. Tyrion’s own people are among the dead. They weren’t really warriors, Tyrion hadn’t expected to have to fight. One of Catelyn’s people is injured, Sir Rodrik Cassel. I am thinking I can heal him, but I don't want to make it too obvious. I look around and then pick up some dry leaves. They are harmless. I tell the Sir Rodrik and Catelyn that I have something that can help his wound. At first they don't want me anywhere near him. I finally convinced them when I tell say that if we get attacked again, we need every single fighter we can get. So they finally let me try. I put the harmless but useless leaves on the wound and tell him it’s a special herb that will help with healing. I also focus healing energy. The man says that he can feel the difference right away. This is the pain is going away. After I am done with that, one of the other people thinks that I should give up my weapons, but Catelyn says I am to keep them, we may be attacked again with little notice. I finish my previous thought. I couldn’t have won the dagger when my brother lost the joust because I never bet against my family. I lost considerable coin on that match. It is here I wake up.
2017, 08-17 Game of Dreams – A Knife in the Dark Catelyn: I am in a room that looks like a bedroom in a castle. I am sitting in a chair beside a bed. There is a boy lying unconscious in the bed, I know he is my son, Bran. I am carefully feeding him a mixture of honey and water in a desperate attempt to get some hydration and nutrients into his body in a time long before intravenous drips have been invented. But this is too little I know, and if he doesn't wake up soon he'll... but I don't let myself think the word. I stop the feeding and hold his hand, little more than a skeletal hand now but still warm to the touch, focusing on healing him. I don't know if it's doing anything. A man comes into the room and starts talking finances. I don't care about money. He is also talking about positions that need to be filled because of people who have left town. I don't care about that, either. All I care about is Bran... I tell him to leave. A boy comes in... this is my older son, Rob. He tells the man he will discuss the finances and positions to be filled tomorrow. After handing my son a piece of paper, the other man leaves. Rob is now talking to me about other responsibilities I'm ignoring. My younger son is crying for me, he's only 3 and he needs me, especially with dad away. He pauses and then says he needs me, too. He says he can’t handle everything all on his own. I want to turn to him and be there for him, but I have the persistent thought that if I let go of Bran's hand he will die. There is a commotion outside. Rob says the library tower is on fire, he will take care of it. He rushes out and takes a guard by the door with him. Shortly later a man enters the room. I don't recognize him, but he is holding a dagger. He starts towards Bran and then sees me. He says I wasn't supposed to be here. I say that's too bad, because I am. Just what was he intending to do with that dagger? He looks at Bran and says he would be doing the boy a mercy, really. I tell him there's no way he is killing my son! He comes at me with the dagger. I change my right arm into an Alex Mercer blade and block his blow... but then I realize my arm didn't transform! Of course not... Catelyn Stark is not infected with the Mercer Virus! The blade cuts painfully into my arm. I grab his wrist with my left hand and twist it until he lets go and then I push him away, he falls onto his back. I am about to move in when there is a blur and then there's a wolf on top of the man ripping his throat out. Rob comes back and asks what happened. I tell him that the dead man tried to murder Bran with the dagger. Rob sees my arm and says someone should take care of that. I agree to that, starting to notice the pain more with the incident being over. I leave the room with Rob and then I wake.
2017, 08-05 Game of Dreams John: I am in a large room full of tables and a lot of people. There is a procession of what look like VIPs going down the center aisle towards a raised table at the front of the room. First a stressed looking man with a distracted looking woman, then another woman with a really fat man, followed by a little kid on his own then two more pairs of kids, two boys and two girls. Next comes a nice looking man standing alongside a short guy that looks more like a dwarf than a human. But I don’t see any other races around so I assume he is a short human. And then a feast begins. I am eating various meats and breads and drinking a sweet wine when something brushes my leg. There is a wolf pup down there so I give the pup some of the meats. A man comes over and we start chatting about various details we have noticed. The name Uncle Ben comes to mind. He says they can use observational skills like mine in the Knight’s Watch. This idea immediately appeals to me, but in spite of the fact Ben is the one who brought it up, he keeps saying I can’t do it because I am just a boy. If I am too young then why did he suggest it in the first place? I get mad and then realize I’m making a scene and that gets me even more upset so I run outside. I see the short man from the procession earlier and he says he drank too much wine and it’s considered rude to vomit on your brother. I don’t want to talk to anyone right now so I keep going and then everything fades. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catelyn: I am in a bedroom of what looks like it might be a medieval period. I am a woman, and I spot that immediately because I am naked. I am lying in bed naked while a man in the room is standing by an open window and apparently enjoying a cool breeze that is blowing in. He says he doesn’t want to leave Winterfell. I tell him if he doesn’t want to go just say so. A man knocks on the door with an urgent message, or so he says. The message is for me. I open it and at first it looks like gibberish, but when I look at it in a slightly different way I can see what it means. Ned’s (my husband) friend is dead, but he was murdered by the Lannisters. I tell Ned that is another reason not to go. He says this letter changes everything, now he has to go south with Robert to find out the truth of what happened to his friend. He says Robert may even be in danger. There is a bit more talk about where the kids will stay, he is expecting I will stay behind to run Winterfell while he’s away. I’m not feeling good about the conclusions we reach, but then everything fades to black. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Arya: I am in a classroom working on arts and crafts. I look at my work I am not pleased. For some reason I have been sewing a very crooked line of stitches. I hear a group of girls not far from me whispering… about me? They say they were talking about a Prince who is so handsome and gallant. There is another group of girls with the teacher. I am sitting by myself as happened throughout my actual school years. The teacher comes over and looks at my stitching. She says it will never do. She says I have the hands of a blacksmith. The other girls are all staring, some are laughing… even my sister looks amused. I am embarrassed. I want to leave. I get up and head for the door. The teacher asks where I think I’m going. I’m mad about the blacksmith comment and I tell her I have to shoe a horse. I leave the room and slam the door behind me. I go down some stairs and find my wolf pup at the bottom of the stairs tied up. I untie her and decide to look around. I walk for a while and find a covered bridge with a boy gazing through a window into the combat training yard. I look there and see some kids practicing with wooden swords. One boy is saying he wants to use live steel, and another boy is saying to bring it on, but the instructor won’t allow it. I am still watching when everything fades.
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