Just before the service in the main Rocksport Sept the visiting Kinnemeve Septa, Tanda Stone, takes you to one side and asks you how much you know about the Kinnemeve family and their cousins the Kinnemorne. When you answer that you are the Kinnemorne Septon she smiles knowingly. She then asks if you would accompany her to Castle Lance, the Kinnemeve castle after the service as she does not like to see families divided.

You accompany her in the service and then back to the Kinnemeve lands after the service. Kinnemeve lands are twice the size of the Rocsly lands, a mixture of light woods and rolling grasslands, littered with small farming hamlets a mixture of arable and grazing land. The Rocsly soldiers that Gwint reported on the Borders are not there but as you get to Castle Lance you find out why, they are now waiting outside the castle gates.

You check the Septa's reaction which is her reaction is surprise and stifled anger. As you feel that she is not setting you up so you greet the guards and ask if there is danger and ask where their commander is. The guards say there is no danger (with a muttered 'yet' and a laugh from somewhere in the midst of the Rocsly guardsmen). Their commander is a short but powerful looking man who introduces himself as Ser Jellicoe Flagg. He assures you there is no trouble he is just acting on the orders of his lord and 'their' (said with much disdain and a pointed thumb over his shoulder to the Castle) Liege Lord. You ask Ser Jellicoe if we can bless his men as they missed service telling him that his lord has allowed me permission to minister to his people. He says that he recognises you from your audience with Lord Hal and is happy to let you bless his troops, but reminds them no talking in the ranks, and then let you and Septa Tanda through into the

castle.

You bless the soldiers at their posts, counting about 75-100 men, mostly trained infantry with some guardsmen to bulk out the ranks who've never done more than the occasional drill before. It is difficult to gauge their feelings but you think a mix of apprehension, confusion and keen anticipation. There are no siege or engineers here so it's difficult to see how they could take the castle if it was actively defended however there are enough men here to subdue a green garrison if they got an opening. Throughout your blessings you do not give any indication that they are doing anything wrong. whilst blessing the Rocsly soldiers you prepare a sermon on the Warrior giving strength to those defending their homes and the Mother turning her back on those who are greedy and take stuff earned by others. After the blessing you try and get any more information out of Ser Jellicoe but he is not being talkative.

You drive your wagon past the Rocsly soldiers with Septa Tanya sitting beside you and into the Castle. Like Rocsly's it is small, a hexagonal wall with Drum towers surrounding a Double Tower as the keep with a small Sept embedded in one of the walls. The Septa is greeted warmly by the soldiers wearing the emblem of a mounted knight rampant on a green field with a counter-ermine per chevron. Some of the soldiers obviously feared she would be prevented from returning to the castle. The Septa makes here excuses and leaves, saying that she has to prepare for the service here for the soldiers and the waiting smallfolk, but invites you to wander round until it is time for you to come and assist her. She doesn't stop to do any introductions herself but you get the feeling that the Septa wants to get the service done as soon as possible in case there's trouble.

As you cross the small courtyard you see soldiers streaming out of the Sept and onto the walls and can feel the atmosphere change. Gone is the nervous energy of the garrison soldiers to be replaced with the wary and watchful readiness of veteran soldiers. You are stopped at the gate and challenged to state your name and purpose. You announce yourself as Septon Garrick Webber, Septon to Lord Urquart Kinnemorne and ask to see Lord Kinnemeve. You are quickly escorted into the Great Hall. It is slightly larger than the Rocsly's but more threadbare lacking both the badges of honour of an old house and the touches of luxury of a rich house. In the far corner of the Hall a well dressed, healthy-looking, young boy in house colours is running around sturdily a wooden sword in one hand. Standing watch over the boy is a veteran of many battles in house colours and armour his one hand resting on the pommel of his sword.

You wait looking out of the windows at the Kinnemeve and Rocsly forces. A quick reckoning and you think they are evenly matched in terms of numbers though the professionalism of the men inside the keep is not matched by anything on the Rocsly side. The men on the outer walls however look very green and nervous. A few moments later you are joined by a man of about your age with close cropped white hair and a long moustache, resplendent in plate armour and Kinnemeve house colours. He introduces himself as Ser Robert Shekyl, captain of Lord Stirling Kinnemeve's personal guard (and 'uncle Robby') and friend to the Late Lord Gostt. He says how pleased he is to see someone on behalf of the old family here in Castle Lance and asks if Lord Urquart himself is nearby as his Master-at-Arms Cadfael turned up earlier today to give them just enough warning that Rocsly's soldiers were marching towards them.

When you regretfully have to tell him that Lord Urquart has not made the journey but Master Tyrion has he looks pleased enough that the 'old house's' heir is in Rocksport defending the house against Lord Rocsly. Ser Robert says that since their Maester disappeared he has been acting as head of the house but he has to remain with Lord Stirling and so is effectively tied to the castle unable to protest to Lord Hal about the behaviour of his guardsmen towards the Kinnemeve smallfolk or of his soldiers trespassing on Kinnemeve lands. He then tells you what has been happening to House Kinnemeve recently and then gives you two Gold Galleons and four tiny sealed parcels, two with green wax and two with red. Ser Robert asks you to get them to a Maester as soon as possible, the red ones are for King's Landing and the green ones are for Highgarden he explains. They contain letters telling the King and Lord Martell that they are under an unprovoked attack by

their Liege Lord and asking for aid in the name of justice, which may be preempting things slightly. If the attack doesn't come he asks you to destroy the letters.

You ask Ser Robert about smuggling and he chuckles saying that with two small houses, one antagonistic to the other and the other figuring out how to survive, upholding the King's Law has been difficult for both of them especially through a civil war. When house Kinnemeve catches smugglers the get the King's justice but that is very rare. You mention the idea that Rocsly may be smuggling to boost his income below the line and ask if he has any info to back that up. Ser Robert replies that he has got no evidence at all to back that up but it wouldn't surprise him in the slightest. Rocsly has been spending money training up his Garrison and Personal Guard and re-equipping a naval force so the money has to come from somewhere. Rocsly and Kinnemeve share the market income which doesn't leave a lot spare for the Kinnemeve's after keeping the current level of forces.

You ask whether Ser Robert wants to get rid of the soldiers outside and what the punishment would be for trespass. He replies that as Lord Rocsly is the Kinnemeve Liege Lord it is possibly not much of a trespass depending on the circumstances. The punishment for an unwarranted entry or crossing of the Kinnemeve lands would be a telling off from Lord Tyrellwith a commensurate loss of standing and possible payment for damage. If he attacks Castle Lance though the punishment could be Death or Taking the Black if he fails. Ser Robert tells you he is confident that he can hold the Keep at least and possibly the whole castle for a long time. You get the feeling that he doesn't want Rocsly's men cleared as he is itching for a fight. If Rocsly attacked then his enmity is out in the open and Ser Robert can appeal in Lord Stirling's name for justice.

As your conversation winds to a close, shouting starts from outside the castle walls. Ser Robert leaves in haste, calling almost happily for his shield, saying that he is needed elsewhere and reminding you of the packages. He orders a couple of the personal guard to escort you to the Sept to assist their Septa in the Seventhday service. As you cross the courtyard, sheltering under the shields raised by the two guardsmen you here the whistle of arrows flying and a shout from Ser Rocsly himself that those were warning shots, and that the next volley would not be if those in Castle Lance continued to defy their Liege Lord. You see Ser Robert climb up to the castle gates shouting that Rocsly shall never have him.

In the Sept the tension and even fear is rife. There are many empty pews where the guardsmen have returned to duty and where the smallfolk have been too scared by the Rocsly soldiers to come into the castle to the Sept. You deliver your dedication to the Father and the Mother and then Septa Tanya delivers a brief sermon on the importance of family and the divine right of Kings to rule you hear the slam of great gates being forced open and the rushing of many armoured feet and shouts of soldiers.

A few moments later as Septa Tanya is just finishing her portion of the blessings Lord Rocsly, in blood splattered armour with his sword at his side, walks into the Sept along with several of his personal guard his face thunderous. He walks up to the Septa, ignoring the smallfolk still waiting and demands to be blessed as he has done the work of the Seven this day in reunifying a divided and fractious land. She looks pointedly at the blood on his tabard and gauntlets then refuses to bless him in this house of the Seven or indeed any of them. With a gesture he orders her seized, he then turns to you asking the same question. You give Lord Rocsly the blessing, then take him aside and tell him that you have been told that Kinnemeve mercenaries are to attack his town. The defence of the keep was meant to keep his troops occupied while his town was razed. He does not seem terribly convinced that this is a real possibility but thanks you for the warning

and offers you a place in his household.

After the blessing you go out into the Courtyard to see a squad of Rocsly men holding five times their number of the Kinnemeve garrison prisoner whilst a pile of bodies and the moaning of the injured shows that Rocsly's troops had to fight their way in. The Rocsly banner, an argent sun rayonne above an orange field with a red chevron, flies above the castle gates but, looking up, the Kinnemeve knight rampant banner still flies above the keep. As if to answer your unspoken question you hear the twang of crossbow bolts and three of the men guarding the defeated soldiers collapse, sprouting quarrels. Now you know why Lord Hal looked furious instead of triumphant.

Several of the captured soldiers take the opportunity of the guards deaths or injuries to run to the gates of the keep and several more run towards the castle gates. Those running for the keep just about make it to the base of the steps before they are spotted. A quick sally by both sides and a clash of arms later and four of them make it inside with three dead as well as one of the Kinnemeve soldiers from inside. Rocsly loses three with several more injured. The Kinnemeve soldiers that ran for the castle gates are filled full of arrows passing under the murder holes.

Only half consciously you find yourself gravitating towards the sounds of the injured. You see a roughly equal number of Rocsly and Kinnemeve wounded though the dead are predominantly Kinnemeve. You treat the wounded for the rest of the day trying to minimise the number of Rocsly soldiers in the field by over exaggerating the injuries of the walking wounded slightly. During your conversations with the wounded you are able to pick up from the snatches of conversation what happened.

Ser Robert had left you and was on his way back to the gatehouse when Lord Hal appeared and ordered the Kinnemeve children handed over for fostering and the gates to be opened. Someone's nerve broke amongst the Kinnemeve garrison, unless it was treachery, and they opened the gates allowing the Rocsly troops to surge in. Only a sally from the tower right into the flood of charging Rocsly men and a the sacrifice of a good third of the doomed garrison allowed him and a few others to escape to the tower to be with Lord Stirling, though half the Kinnemeve men fighting died or were injured saving him.

You spend the night with you injured charges with most of those who were in the gravest danger living through the night. The following morning you are preparing to take your leave from Lord Rocsly when you hear the sentence that he has passed on those still in Castle Lance, with the exception of the two children are all to be put to the sword unless they surrender. Septa Tanya, for publicly defying her Liege Lord, is to be publicly whipped out in three days time and all the men of Ser Robert's company that Rocsly's troops have captured are to be offered the chance to swear fealty to Lord Hal Rocsly. Those that do will either swell the ranks of his soldiers or be dismissed, any that do not swear fealty will be hung for treasonously disobeying their Liege Lord. You drive your cart back to Rocksport in the company of Lord Rocsly, Ser Jellicoe, the Rocsly injured and the Kinnemeve injured and prisoners.