Luthor Clune

Luthor Clune is the son of Lorent, and Alyna Clune making him a member of and the current Patriarch and Duke of House Clune through his father Lorent and a member of House Nune through his mother. Luthor Clune would come to marry Hilma Relune with whom he was never close with, but her death during the First Lucernian Purge was a major loss for him that changed him both emotionally and politically. Luthor Clune has three children with Hilma in the form of Luthor, Eura, and Orella Clune of which his son Luthor is the heir to House Clune and is a brave young man of whom has been a constant companion of the adventures of William Lovie III., his daugther Eura went to the Lucernian Academy where she would become involved in the affairs of William Lovie III. and after this got messy her father returned her home where she would eventually marry into (Find a House), while his final daugther Orella is a growing young girl of whom is betrothed to (Find a husband).

Luthor Clune would become the Lord of House Clune the way many young nobles did during his time as his father fell during the Battle of Lyons never returning leading to his naming as the Lord of House Clune at the age of twenty two. Luthor Clune would lose his wife during the First Lucernian Purge and upon learning this he was devastated as he had been approached by members of the Yellow Dragons and had sent them away believing the king to be a good leader, but this made him doubt his loyalties. Luthor Clune would finally pick a side of the Lucernian Civil War during the aftermath of the Hosidius Affair and would protect Alice Lovie despite being given many options that were much easier. Following his protection of Alice Lovie it was his daughter Eura Clune that despite being older then Alice that would become a member of her Malatine and House Clune would follow the lead of its lordly house in House Shephard when it took part in the Journey with Luthor Clune leading them through all three of the major battles and then being at the crowning of William Lovie III. House Clune would join the loyalists in fighting during the Battle of Berne where Luthor Clune would marshal his forces showing his loyalty to William Lovie III. Luthor Clune II. would take part in the Invasion of Westbridge where alongside his father he took part in the Siege of Westian where he would not take part in the fighting but was heavily invovled. Following the Siege of Westian Luthor Clune and his son would remain in Westian where they would assist in garrisoning the region for several months before finally with Order of the Red Dragon forces in place they would head back home to the lands of House Clune.

History

Early History

Luthor Clune would become the Lord of House Clune the way many young nobles did during his time as his father fell during the Battle of Lyons never returning leading to his naming as the Lord of House Clune at the age of twenty two.

The First Lucernian Purge

Main Article : First Lucernian Purge

The Unspoken Civil War This is the price of betraying your king. Look at this man and understand the fate of anyone who thinks they may turn against the Dragon.

“He had been in that damn library without exiting for nearly a week before we left for the tournament, and it showed in his state of mind.” — Carlisle Cullen Following James Lovie's Suicide Attempt that ended in failure there were several high profile people imprisoned in the form of Catherine Bell, and Eddard Starke but for most this was seen as something that must be based in truth and thus outside of House Starke who petitioned heavily for the release of Eddard Starke there was little outcry to these imprisonments. As the Starke's made official requests for Eddard's release it was Vhloraz that was gaining a control over James that allowed him to give commands to the leadership of the Circle of Magi, and then lock himself within the Sky Tower so that when James regained control he couldn't stop what had been ordered. There would be three events that led to the eventual Purge with the first being after James Lovie traveled southward to Gulltown and hosted the fated Tournament of 5110 in Gulltown. The tournament itself went off without much a hitch, but after several of the fated knights of James Lovie lost James became openly hostile to everyone that wasn`t his sole remaining knight at the tournament in James Nighting. As the tournament went on and as all the Arch Lords of the land were there he begin shouting and acting as if insane during the dinner before the final bout of the tournament. Surrounded by loyalists to him in the Nighting`s, Jestifes, and Scorpians no one dared speak as he continued to scream, but the effects of this were terrible on his Lords who lost complete faith in him. It was only when Carlisle Cullen tricked James into leaving under the lie that William was nearby would James Lovie stumble out of the dining hall and carried by his sworn knights pass out in his room. “Halys was a good man, and for his entire life he had lived an honorable life undeserving of the end he met. James needed to pay for what happened that day, and if I was the only one brave enough to do it then so be it.” — Walter Jackson Despite the horrible ranting by James he demanded the tournament continue, and all did this as they were loyal and Carlisle had worked hard to say that the king was just exhausted. At the final joust James Nighting was defeated by Halys Forend of whom was a knight of House Jackson, and following this victory it was Halys that attended a celebration in his honor and while this happy event was going on it was Aelflynn that overheard Carlisle Cullen talking with Lord Walter Jackson about a betrothal between William Lovie III. and Walter's daughter Eadwin Jackson II. and this caused jealousy from the Magi Aelfwynn Turnidlon who would use her abilities to sneak into the room where James asleep. Sneaking into the room she woke him and gave him visions that told him that Halys Forend was a sexual predator who was planning on using his winnings to buy children for his sick pleasure. Overcome with anger over this James who was still high on opioids would give power over to Vhloraz who would agree to stop Halys. James Lovie now being controlled by Vhloraz would break out of his room and travel to where Hayls was celebrating and while everyone bowed before their king James Lovie would walk up to him and decapitate the man. Causing screaming amongst the crowd as his family watched him die the place went crazy and as the crowd begin to get angry it was Carlisle that called in the knights of House Lovie who under the command of James Nighting reacted violently. Dozens of Smallfolk were killed during the riot as the violent Nighting`s unleashed rage on those they felt insolent enough to riot in the presence of the king. Outside of the smallfolk the hedge knights family were rounded up as well and executed alongside several of the other noblemen who had dared to speak out against the violence. Watching all of this transpire from behind the stands was Walter Jackson of whom stood beside his old friend Tywin Lannister of whom also watched the King go mad. Looking at each other they both then left the tournament as everyone had been commanded to leave. Rise of the Rebellion Noble Family Loyalty Motivation House Jackson Yellow Dragons Walter would be the original founder of the rebellion and then begin construction of the Hungering Mirror which would fail but nearly destroyed Vhloraz. House Nighting Red Dragons House Nighting would be the major elements of the forces of James Lovie and supported him fully. House Swan Yellow Dragons House Swan provided support to the Starke's as they went back to Lucerne to launch the operation to get Eddard Starke out of Lucerne. House Starke Yellow Dragons House Starke would spark the actual Purge when they infiltrated the capital and recaptured Eddard Starke from his imprisonment at the capital. House Jestife Red Dragons House Jestife would be the major elements of the forces of James Lovie and supported him fully. House Jestife Red Dragons House Jestife would be the major elements of the forces of James Lovie and supported him fully. House Scorpian Red Dragons House Scorpian and especially Maron Scorpian became dire hard loyalists and stayed constantly near James as one of the few he trusted. “I knew what was right and I knew what was wrong. If I sat by and let him continue that was wrong. That evil could not be allowed to fester on the world. As I looked at the young baby that my wife had just brought into the world I couldn`t bare the thought of him living in a kingdom that was a wasteland of morals. Sometimes you had to take a stand even when it was dangerous.” — Walter Jackson Following the disastrous tournament most of the Lords went back to their holdings and tried to return to life as usual, but the simply fact was that all knew their king was mad. Of those who didn't sit idle was Walter Jackson and Charlie Swan of whom at this point aligned together but also had very different goals in mind for the rebellion that they were discussing. For Charles Swan the goal was the removal of James by any means necessary including his death, while for Walter he wanted to amass a force so that he could be given time to complete his work on the Hungering Mirror. Walter, Charles, and the leaders of this early rebel group met together in Forks several times and begin forming the first elements of the Rebels in Lucerne. Staying very silent about their leanings the two would expand themselves, and found huge support amongst the Lords of the north, and the Reach. The Tyrells became a serious supporter hoping as they always did to gain more power and perhaps their own Arch Lord position if they were able to take James from the throne and replace him with his son. As the rebellion itself was growing in strength the sanity of James Lovie was decline to newer levels as he had now pushed away most of the more controlled members of his council leaving him with an increasingly Nighting, and Jestife dominated council. Escape of Eddard Starke March on Nunendorf Main Article : Siege of Nunedorf “You come here with the idea that I have betrayed you. I have never betrayed you. I would never betray you. Today you kill a friend.” — Leofrich Nune III. With idea that House Nune had Stragglers Following Leofrich escaping the destruction he hid with different farming families before eventually fleeing into the forest where he kept his daughter and nephew alive through hunting small game and picking mushrooms. This went on for several weeks with Leofrich coming to live within an old, abandoned watchtower, and while it was a tough life, he was able to stay alive and keep his family alive. This ended with the arrival of a search party led by Horton Jestife who surrounded the watchtower but to his surprise it was Horton that let them go telling them to leave the area and never come back. Following the sacking of Nunendorf it was Horton that went on the move searching for survivors of the massacre and during this he became overcome by his conflicting emotions and when his force discovered Leofrich Nune III. hiding in the forest with his daughter and nephew it was Horton that allowed him to flee. Violence Spreads “He had been unleashed. The lies of that monster were going to kill us all.” — Carlisle Cullen Following the destruction of almost the entirety of House Nune it was the army of James that moved northward towards Halendorf where he planned to confront House Hale of whom had been implicated by House Nune. The army arrived at Halendorf where the cities defenses had been raised following being warned by a merchant who had seen the fires of Nunendorf. With Halendorf defended it was King James Lovie II. that commanded House Hale come out and meet with him to discuss the accusations made against them. Tarnide himself would not go out, and instead sent his son Tarnide Hale II. out to meet with the king and hoped the sending of his heir and war companion would calm down the very angry king. Instead of causing him to calm down seeing the Landsgrave and Guildmaster Tarnide Hale not exit the castle made James more paranoid. As Tarnide the younger and his wife came outside they were also joined by Tarnide's sister Lisbeth as they attempted to show a united front. Arriving at the camp they were shocked to not be given a chance to speak and instead were placed in the stockade outside the army camp where they were placed in full view of the castle. At this point it was Tarnide the elder that made his second mistake when instead of immediately agreeing to the request of James to meet with him he delayed things believing his councilors that this was a bluff to attempt to kill him, but that he would never hurt his son who James was friends with. “It's my father. He has decided that James is without saving. I fought him for some time Carlisle I really did but honestly. James is gone. We as his friends have to realize that before everyone else. He died in France.” — Tarnide Hale II. As the days past it was James that lost control of himself and Vhloraz would take over and in control of the situation he would go outside and pushing past his companions he would travel to the stockades. Having his army blast horns for several minutes it was the Halendorf defenders that came to the walls including Tarnide the elder. As the army and the defenders watched it was Vhloraz that decapitated both Tarnide and his wife to the horror of the defenders including the leadership and most especially a devastated Tarnide the elder. Following this it was Vhloraz that had control retaken by James who was rushed back to his tent by Kieth and his other companions, and then fell into what basically amounted to a coma. With James incapacitated it was Kieth that took charge of the siege and wanting to end things as quickly as possible he would once again demand to meet with Tarnide Hale who this time met with the army. Meeting together it was Kieth that made it clear that Halendorf would be sacked if a deal was not made to ensure that House Hale was loyal, and after a discussion it was decided that both Jasper, and Rosalie Hale would become wards of House Lovie thus leaving the new heir of House Hale in Jasper as a hostage of James. Carlisle's near Turn “I cannot do this anymore Walter. I have to make this right. I can't have all this blood on my soul.” — Carlisle Cullen The violence of Halendorf had in the mind of the Red Dragons ended the rebellion but for several prominent members of the government they came to believe that James could no longer be saved from himself. One of these government officials was Carlisle Cullen. What had happened throughout the previous months had finally pushed Carlisle to the point he couldn’t accept the things he was being asked to do. This break for Carlisle had led to starting to talk with Walter Jackson and these discussions would at first not go far as Walter did not believe that Carlisle was an honest broker. During these early talks Walter refused to admit his role in the rebellion and although Carlisle believed Walter was a rebel, he attempted to gain his trust by leaking information to Walter. Following the leaking of detailed orders with the stamp of James Lovie II. from Carlisle to Walter, it was Walter that went against his own gut feeling and revealed to Carlisle his involvement in the rebellion. With Carlisle now being brought in it was Walter and him that begin plotting to assassinate James who they believed was on the verge of losing control completely of his mind to the demon within. Going to the Lannisters “We all warned him that Tywin Lannister could not be trusted, but all he could remember was the boy he knew back in the academy. He should have known that boy died when he burned Castamere during his rebellion.” — Mace Tyrell II. The movement reached its end following attempting to gain the support of House Lannister when he contacted Tywin Lannister. Walter had known Tywin as a child and when he knew him back then he believed he knew Tywin to be an honorable man who would know what the right thing to do was and what the wrong thing was. When Walter first told the other rebels what he planned to do they all were combined in telling Walter that he should not tell Tywin as Tywin was not trustworthy, and they didn't need his sort of person involved in the rebellion. Walter was arrogant in his belief that he could convince Tywin so he ignored the rest of them and traveled to Stormwind where he met first with Brandon Starke who was on board with the action but with the imprisonment of his brother and lord of House Starke he was not willing to actually commit forces to the fight for fear of the king responding by killing Eddard Starke. Once he was done talking to Brandon he met with Tywin and the two talked for some time before Walter believed that he had turned Tywin to his way of thinking. Tywin said goodbye and told Walter that House Lannister was fully behind the plan, and that he would rally his banner houses when the time was right. And thus Walter left Stormwind believing that he had completed his dream of seeing the madness of King James Lovie removed. Tywin Lannister was best friends with Walter Jackson for many years, but in that final moment when he had to choose he chose family, and betrayed the only friend he had ever had. “I took me until I had no family left that loved me to realize William, that I made the wrong choice. I caused the deaths of thousands because I was afraid for my family. I see now that all I did was push us further into isolation and that is a threat greater then any mad king.” — Tywin Lannister to William Lovie III. The moment that Walter left the room Tywin ordered his guard to call Cersei and Jamie to him. When his children arrived he told them to take the children, and to find their brother and leave for Lannistane. Once there they were to make sure that none entered the city as he was about to tell the king about a rebellion and knowing the king there was going to be a lot of violence and he didn't want his family or the banner houses damaged by it. Jamie wondered out loud to him whether or not it might be more prudent to assist the rebels since the king was mad, but Tywin simply reminded him of what they had done to their rebels and said there was a high price to pay for rebellion. Following this Tywin left Stormwind and traveled to Lucerne where he immediately was given audience with King James Lovie. The Greymane's “I'm sorry for what happened back there. You might hear that and think me a liar. It’s the truth though. I saw your sister and everything else just faded away. I wouldn’t be allowed to have her if your grandfather was there. He had to go away. Your grandmother and brother were just casualties of that. In a way you might blame your grandfather for what happened.” — Loreon Lannister As Tywin entered the city it was only a day after that another party arrived in the form of Darius Greymane, his wife, daughter, and several grandchildren who came to Lucerne inside a carriage. Sitting beside his sister Alisson, and brother Hektor he listens as his grandfather Darius jokes lovingly with his grandmother Tara. As they enter the city its Bravin that is amazed at the size of the city, and as they travel through Lucernian Proper they make there way into Lucerne Hold passing through the fortress of Theiner they enter the more prosperous area of Lucerne making there way to the Palace of Lucerne. Entering the palace grounds, they are taken by guards to the Citadel of William Lovie I. where they are to wait to be met by a government official. They don’t have to wait at the citadel long before they are met by the Konsular Loreon Lannister of whom treats them kindly and as Darius tells him how he wants to have his grandchildren and daughter set up in the capital working for the government or a noble family its Loreon that agrees to help process this request. Loreon leaves and an excited Darius goes to walk the gardens with Tara leaving behind Olivia to watch Bravin and his siblings. The chapter ends with Bravin and his family entering the king’s throne to meet with King James Lovie II. and ceremonially accept their positions in the capital. Arriving inside the room its Bravin that notices the large contingent of men at arms inside the room and his grandfather must as well because he puts his arms out to protect them but before he can say anything he is struck in the chest by an arrow. Betrayal of Tywin “Had Tywin waited another ten minutes I had planned on ending his life. I was going to assassinate my former best friend. Had I of acted quicker how many lives would have been saved. When I think of that its difficult to just get up in the morning let alone accept the person that I've become.” — Carlisle Cullen As Tywin Lannister approached Lucerne Carlisle Cullen had come to the decision that he was going to join the rebels, and the way he would do it was by assassinating James Lovie before any violence could happen. As Carlisle prepared for this Tywin entered the Keep. House Greymane had the extremely unlucky time of having several of their members in the Lucerne Palace when Tywin told James Lovie about the rebellion. James was so enraged at the news that when he remembered that House Greymane member Darius Greymane was waiting so that his family could meet their king. James in his enraged state turned to Tywin Lannister and asked him whether House Greymane could be involved and in that moment Tywin remembered the anger he had towards Archibold Greymane about the way he had treated Tywin's father. In that moment Tywin lied and told James that House Greymane had been involved. With this lie James left the throne room with his personal guard and as Darius and his family bowed before there king James raised his sword and started slashing at Darius while his guard killed the rest of the family. Its said that James slashed at Darius for so long that there was nothing left of him but a bloody mess on the ground. Bravin would accompany his family to the capital where his grandfather planned to meet with the king and swear himself personally to the king while also hopefully gaining service for his daughter, and grandchildren in the royal court. Following a successful meeting with Kieth Schwartz it was the Greymane group that was brought to the keep to meet with the king where it was agreed that several of his daughter, and grandchildren would enter the royal families Palatine, and Malatine ranks but before this could happen they became the target of Tywin Lannister who manipulated the situation and caused the entire group outside of Bravin and Olivia to be killed by the king and his men. Bravin would be sent back to Hillsbrad with a note that this was the consequence of turning on the royal family, while Olivia would be taken into imprisonment by the Circle of Magi as a result of her turning into a Worgen during the killing and thus revealing herself. Death of the Rebellion “The sudden speed at which everything in my life was destroyed left me without the time necessary to understand the scope of everything. My wife lay butchered in the other room as all I could do was resist the man holding a bag over my head and pulling me out of the house. I could only pray to god that somehow one of my children had survived the destruction of my life.” — Walter Jackson House Jackson was painted very early on as the ringleader of the rebellion and for this reason their destruction was made to be paramount but also James wanted to know the true extent of the movement and for this reason the operation had to make sure that they captured Walter Jackson alive so that he could be tortured for information. It was decided that assassins from Ravenholdt would join members of House Nighting, and House Jestife in the destroying the rebels completely and utterly. Brandon Von Gruger would accompany the dark and twisted Terrorblade alongside some fifty men at arms from House Nighting of whom had been commanded to destroy House Jackson completely outside of the Patriarch of whom was to be captured alive. Brandon had killed innocent's before but something about the way in which this was going didn't sit well in his stomach. When they captured Walter, one of the assassins went back into the house in the pretests of making sure everyone was dead. When the assassin Brandon Von Gruger entered the room where Josh's mother had been killed he found Joshua rubbing his mother's back trying to get her to wake up. The assassin in this moment moved to the child, and whispered for him to be very quiet if he wanted to live. The assassin then proceeded to put the child behind him attached to a rope, and hidden behind his cloak. This was how Joshua traveled to Lucerne, and when they arrived the assassin brought him to the steps of the Lucerne orphanage and left him there. During the attack on Bredgooden it was also Benjamin Heard that was captured, and this was a surprise as he was not someone being targeted. The young Benjamin was visiting Bredgooden with his family to spend time with his friend Francis Jackson and thus was captured instead of killed and while his family was kept locked within the house they were staying it was Benjamin that was tortured by Nighting men. During this torture it was Benjamin that revealed the fact that his father Hektor had sworn himself to the Yellow Dragons, and this revelation shocked (Nighting Man) leading to the eventual attack on House Heard. Benjamin would swear himself to the Red Dragons and sent his son Mikael Heard to Lucerne with the Nighting men as a means of ensuring his loyalty while Benjamin, his wife and daughters were sent to Castle Cullen to remain as hostages until the rest of their family had been dealt with. Survival of Joshua Jackson “I had to watch him to make sure everything went alright. There would have been no point to everything that I did if they discovered him alive later. He had to live. He just had to live.” — Brandon Von Gruger Brandon stayed with Joshua for two weeks in order to make sure that he wasn't going to be attacked or found out about. He knew though eventually Joshua would be discovered and when this happened he knew the assassins would be forced to attack him again in order to not fail their mission. Destruction of House Heard In his recklessness James almost commanded the death of the mother of his future grandson. “For a guy who spoke everyday about how much he loved me, and how much he prided himself off looking after me. He sure went to great measures to kill the girl that would give him his first grandchild.” — William Lovie III. In the same way that House Jackson had become a major leader of the rebellion in the Crownlands it was House Heard under Hektor Heard that had joined the rebellion. Following the collapse of House Jackson it was the Red Dragon forces that moved next against House Heard moving there army to near Arryndale. At the time several of the sons of House Heard were located in Lucerne as they were serving inside the actual guard of Lucerne. The heir to the throne of House Heard in Martin Heard, along with his brother Telvin Heard were located in Lucerne and they were both summoned to their commanders office where when they entered they were attacked by the guards inside and killed. Their bodies were hung from the rafters of the Lucerne wall. As the purge in Lucerne continued the Circle launched an attack on the Heard apartment in Lucerne killing the families and servants of Telvin, and Martin before hanging there bodies outside the entrance of Lucerne alongside Martin and Telvin. The army that arrived at Arryndale negotiated with House Arryn and during this negotiation it was Byron Arryn that was manipulated into allowing the Red Dragon force to pass the city without warning House Heard. Byron believed that the Red Dragon force was going to take Hektor Heard into custody and then leave the area, but in truth they were planning to kill the entire family. Arriving at Heard Hold the Red Dragons would surround the hold fast and village before charging inside without warning or notice. Releasing Prisoners “For a guy who spoke everyday about how much he loved me, and how much he prided himself off looking after me. He sure went to great measures to kill the girl that would give him his first grandchild.” — William Lovie III. Throughout the events of the rebellion it was Catherine Bell that remained imprisoned within Lucerne and with the killings now spreading both families of the imprisoned became desperate to have them released. With the rebellion destroyed with House Jackson and the others it was Brandon Starke that arrived at Lucerne and swore and oath of loyalty to James Lovie and with Eddard also swearing the oath James Lovie prepared the release of Catherine but before he would fully release him he demanded a hostage which he got when they agreed to send their young sister Lyanna Starke to Lucerne where she would be held as a hostage in order to maintain their loyalty. Final Flames “Hundreds of Nobles Died in a few nights of murder and chaos. The King was meant to protect not to destroy.” — Carlisle Cullen Following the departure of Tywin Lannister, it was Nedrick Baratheon who was the Patriarch of the house at the time went to Lucerne with his daughter Reinhilda Baratheon and his son Edward and hoped to make the point of the rebels known to James Lovie. His arrival though was misunderstood by James Lovie and instead of seeing it as the peace offering that it was he saw the coming of Nedrick and his children as a hostile act, and had the three executed in the main square of Lucerne. Look at the world father. You were born into this land. You grew up here. These people swore their lives to you. How could you have done all of this? Look at everything you have done. You destroyed a city. Killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. Don't end it all here. Don't do this. For me father. For everything I supposedly mean to you. Don't do this. "Understand that this was nothing more then a warning. Don't involve yourself in rebellions again or you'll find it won't matter how much money you control I'll just take it all. You better understand what happened her because if this has to be explained again there won't be any of you alive to tell me that they understand." "I understand." "Who is your king?" "You are My Grace." "Excellent." In Northern Lucerne where the smallfolk had turned on the authority with gusto it was the actions of House Scorpian and House Jestife that sealed the ending of the Plague. Rounding up hundreds of rebels supporters through the use of traitors within their ranks they would execute hundreds in penguin courts held in the forests. Eventually they just targeted whoever they wanted and after weeks of this they had killed thousands across the north. Sack of Sawyer Hold “My father had sent us to stay with our mothers family for the summer. While we were away the Knights of Targ attacked my families home. Killed almost the entire family.” — Peyton Sawyer As the final moments of the ceasefire got close it was the Knights of Targ that led by Aeron Dalanis III. that would make a move south of their borders against House Sawyer. Aeron would get permission from the Circle of Magi to deal with House Sawyer who they lied was a member of the rebellion, and the Circle would give them three days to deal with House Sawyer before the ceasefire took place. Taking a force of several hundred from Dalnariat they would arrive at Sawyer Hold where they would attack the hold during the night. The defenders were overwhelmed by the sudden and surprise nature of the attack and the Knights of Targ got inside the hold but the inner holdfast was locked by the defenders. As the Knights of Targ prepared to break inside it was Robbin Sawyer that betrayed his family when he arranged with Maehagel Raenralis to keep his family safe in exchange for opening the gatehouse. During the next day Robbin would open the gate allowing the Knights inside the holdfast and following this it was him and his family that were allowed to leave safely but the the knights then sacked the holdfast. During this sack they took almost everything of value from the hold, but above that they would also kill many members of the family with the only survivors of the family being Robbin Sawyer who had already betrayed his family during the initial assault for safety, and the children of Thomas Sawyer who were away from the holdfast at the time of the attack. Another unlikely survivor was Marcel Sawyer who survived by hiding in a secret shelter in the holdfast where he would stay hidden for three days eventually coming out when the Knights of Targ had left the holdfast.

Second Lucernian Purge

Main Article : Second Lucernian Purge

The Second Lucernian Purge This was a declaration of war against all of us. Today he came for me in Forks. Do not question that tomorrow he comes for you in Tree Hill. The day after he comes for Hillsbrad. This does not end until we stand together and let him know that enough is enough.

“Find out who launched the attack. Find out who helped them. Find out anyone who knew about it. Find them all and kill them.” — Kieth Schwartz The Second Lucernian Purge would begin following the Failure of the Pendant of Cleansing as a damaged James Lovie II. and Vhloraz struggled with the new reality of their situation it was the Circle of Magi that went about attempting to root out the conspirators of the Griffon Roost assassination attempt. Expanding Conflict Mildred would make an alliance with Galerius Macrinus where they two would work together with the support of Galerius's ally Atilia Hosidius to gain control of both southern, and Northern Swan and through this attempt to take control of the Grand State. Invasion of the County of Scheck Return of the Devils of Nune Returning to Castle Dedekind after several months in Skane they find the castle is abuzz with movement. Meeting with Burgomaster Brandon Welechk they find out that Landsgrave Jamie Dedekind has travelled to Castle Scheck to assist there as the forces of the Gleckourds have assaulted into Scheck lands. Leaving Reimer to continue leading the main Nune forces its Leofrich that travels to Castle Scheck with Hanzal and a force of a hundred Nune men to assist Jamie Dedekind. Arriving at Castle Dedekind they are unable to enter the castle at first as they are not known men and its only when Simon Dedekind reveals them as loyalists that the tension is lifted. Following meeting with the leadership of House Scheck and House Dedekind its Leofrich and his forces that travel southeast to the fort of Scheckburg. Skirmish at Scheckburg Fort Main Article : Skirmish at Scheckburg Fort Arriving at Scheckburg Fort they discover the fort has already fallen to the forces of the Gleckourd’s and as they attempt to pull back, they are set upon by horsemen. Fighting a skirmish against the cavalry they are defeated and Leofrich flees into the forest accompanied by only four of his men and Hanzal who has taken a bad wound from a spear. The group is forced to move through the forest but has to stop almost continuesly as the cavalry of the Gleckourds continues harassing them. As night comes its Hanzal that succumbs to his wounds and Leofrich is forced to leave him while he and his remaining men of whom are now nearly twenty as they have collected men throughout the day make there way north towards Flechk Hold. Battle of Blechk Hold Main Article : Battle of Blechk Hold Travelling through the night they reach Flechk Hold in the morning but find the hold already under siege and are forced to move westward away from the fighting. Moving westward they arrive at a small Scheck village and realizing that an attack is coming sooner of later they evacuate the village and continue moving westward to Blechk Hold. Arriving at Blechk Hold the Nune forces and the villagers enter the holdfast where they meet with Burgrave Tristan Blechk of whom tells them that unless they are here to fight, they should head northward as his scouts have already seen Gleckourd men on the horizon. Leofrich and his men remain at Blechk Hold as they want revenge and gaining horses for themselves, they move south into the forest. In this move they are joined by some of the villagers and men at arms from the holdfast they prepare to ambush the Gleckourd forces once they arrive. Skirmish at Eglisheint Fort Main Article : Skirmish at Eglisheint Fort Following their defeat of the Gleckourd forces they continue southward towards the Gleckourd fort of Eglisheint Fort where the captured man had indicated a general was located. Arriving at Eglisheint Fort they wait till nightfall with the plan of capturing the general and bringing him to justice. Entering the room of the general they find him sitting at a table with several of what they assume are his commanders and only the general’s son being held by Leofrich’s men keep the general from attacking them. The general taunts them that the government of the Crownlands has given them assistance and realizing that what they did to Nunendorf they now appear to be trying to do in Forks causes Leofrich to demand more information. The general who won’t risk his son being killed reveals the extent of the deals made against the people of Forks by the Crownlands, and during this dump of information reveals that they plan on assassinating Alice Lovie to bring more loyalists to their side when they blame this killing on the Swans. The Hosidius Plot Escape of Alice Lovie While in Castle Hosidius it was Paulus that was revealed the true plot against Alice was not for her to be captured but instead for her to die, and learning this he would conspire with the Devils of Nune to take her from Castle Hosidius which both saved her but also marked her further as a percieved member of the Yellow Dragons of Lucerne for working with the Devils of Nune. Alice would be rescued from being assassinated by Leofrich Nune with the help of Paulus Yernese and taken from Castle Hosidius she was escorted by the Devils of Nune to Castle Clune where she was protected by House Clune. Battle of Arennis Hold Main Article : Battle at Arennis Hold Arrival of Matilda Lovie “I just wanted to see you Marius.” — Matilda Lovie As the siege continued it was Matilda Lovie that would arrive at the western entrance to Arennis Hold and arriving at the camp of her husband Marius Scott the two reunited, spending the night together. In the morning it was Matilda that would sneak out of the tent and with her two men at arms she would go to Arennis Hold where revealing who she was she was allowed inside the walls by Lord Maelevor Arennis. Inside the walls she was treated very well as Maelevor a Red Dragon and thus a loyalist to her father and using this loyalty she was able to convince him to speak to Marius Scott who was given the guests right and allowed to stay in a spire of Arennis Hold in preparation for this meeting. Assassination Attempt “I held her hand as she died. She was coughing up blood from the three arrows that your men hit her with. I held her hand as she died. You did that. You have to live with that once I'm gone.” — Marius Scott Marius would be targeted for assassination by Theoderic Weitlest of whom was obsessed with Matilda Lovie and had arrived at the Battle of Arennis Hold with the relief army. As the relief army settled in the northwestern area of the siege it was Theoderic that prepared his plan to kill Marius. Theoderic was told that Marius was meeting with Lord Maelevor Arennis, and then would be staying the night as Maelevor’s guest in the second spire of the Hold. Taking a group of his men they used ladders to get onto the northern wall during the night, and then waited inside the northern tower for morning knocking out the guard on duty at that tower who was not expecting an attack from the friendly northern side of the hold. Escape of Marius Following the attack by Theoderic on the spire it was the men of House Arennis that quickly retook control of the tower, and northern wall, but by this point the men of Theoderic had fled the wall and left behind the sigil of House Scott to blame Marius for the attack. Finding the sigil, it was Visenarr that arrived at the spire intent on arresting Marius, but discovered a dying Matilda, and a Marius severely injured by an arrow to shoulder. Marius would be allowed to escape Arennis Hold by Visenarr Arennis, with a horse through the northern gate, but he was not able to get to his force south of hold, or to the Swans east of the wall due to the lockdown on the hold, and so instead planned to travel north attempting to reach Kissenburg. Marius was able to purchase a horse from village of Arennisit north of Arennis Hold and thus traveled by horse to Kissenburg where he hoped to seek the protection of his mothers family in House Kissling while he attempted to return to areas more loyal to his grandfather. Captured While at Kissenburg he would be betrayed by his uncle Ernest Kissling of whom was the Edelherr and thus kept Marius's arrival a secret from Landsgrave Brandon Kissling. Using men loyal to him it was Ernest that held Marius prison outside Kissenburg for several days treating him well while he waited for forces loyal to the Circle to arrive. Willibald Guntbold would arrive and took custody of Marius taking him northward to Castle Kornfield where he was held until the arrival of Mildred Gleckourd who took him by boat to Gleckheint.

The Seven Knights Rebellion of 5123

Main Article : The Seven Knights Rebellion of 5123

The Seven Knights Rebellion It was those seven knights that showed me just how imperfect the Kingdom was. I had always understood to a certain degree that there was bad feelings among the people of our kingdom but seeing the support the seven got showed me the reality of this feeling. I had do do something. They were the final straw in showing me that.

“Things are a foot in the land. Those who moved against Tree Hill are once again stirring. It is time we struck back.” — Brandon Floren The Seven Knights of Aerene would first be formed in response to the work of James Nighting of whom as a member of the Circle of Magi wanted to assist his only family above all things and saw opportunity for his family to expand into the lands of Eastern Lucerne and specifically the lands of House Ongrill, and in this way he begin planning the idea of starting a banditry conflict in Eastern Lucerne to extend this plan. James Nighting would conspire with Circle of Magi operatives in the area to find individuals who they knew would work alongside them, and in this way they planned to have these leaders form individual knightly orders that would control swathes of land in Eastern Lucerne. While originally told that they were doing this in order to end corruption and greed in the area, but while the leadership was doing this the Circle of Magi would commit atrocities in the area sparking the coming of the Kingdom of Lucerne and through this they hoped the land would be ravaged leaving it more open for invasion. The Circle of Magi would send Kieth Schwartz of whom approached Alester Floren to become the leader of what they saw as the banditry force and Kieth would convince him that James was unable to send troops for fear of reprisals from the other nobles and thus needed Alester to save the land. As the Circle of Magi sent correspondence back to King James Lovie it would be Catherine Bell that would intercept one of these letters and discovered that the rebellion would be happening but also to her horror she discovered through reading the writing that James was not simply aware but was in fact orchestrating these movements. Realizing what she had discovered she knew that this was the moment where she could finally find out whether or not William had what it took to take control of the situation. “I don't care what happens to me Cuthwin. I won't be a part of this anymore.” — Werner Schinkel While Catherine busied herself with planning what would become the first part of the eventual Journey it was an exhausted James Lovie II. that would be completely possessed by Vhloraz who was able to sneak a command past Kieth and to Cuthwin Mountain. This command would order Cuthwin to have James Nighting II. send Alice to Dunten where he wrote a letter to Lord Maeger Duneria telling him to capture Alice on the road and then execute her. When Cuthwin left to deliver this message he was accompanied by Werner Schinkel his personal lower enchanter. While Cuthwin had lost himself to the darkness following their actions in the Ambush on the Eyes it was Werner that felt shame over what had happened and vowed to never allow such evil to happen again. Having remained at the tower for his time since the ambush on the eyes it was Werner who only left for the first time for this event and thus realizing that the plan Cuthwin was doing was evil it was Werner that prepared to turn on him. Traveling northward to Dunten after meeting with James Nighting II. it was Werner who's hatred of his long time best friend reached its peak but despite this he lacked the courage to act and they arrived and met with Maeger Duneria and told him of his command to capture Alice. The Lies of Ghelen “I was in the Temple praying my prince. I come out and my men tell me my betrothed and his family are in pieces. While I'm burying them and trying to get to the bottom of what happened Lord Ghelen is at the walls with an army accusing me of the crime. What was I to do?” — Elsa Hosk As the forces of James Nighting moved against the Province of Eastern Lucerne they would come to target Arryk Ghelen of whom was an honorable man who had fought with the Lucernian army at Lyons and lost his father there, and it was in this connection to the king that James Nighting would arrive at the town of Ghelen and would meet with Arryk. The goal in the area was to cause a conflict between House Ghelen and their vassal House Hosk and thus open up House Hosk's lands for being free to be taken over by someone loyal to the Circle of Magi. James knew that in order to move forward with that he would have to convince Arryk with more then just a letter telling him to rebel and so he would send his knight Tristin of Nighting to Castle Hosk where the brother of Arryk was staying with his family while they prepared to leave there young son there with his eventual betrothed the also young landsgrave Elsa Hosk. Tristin of Nighting would arrive at Castle Hosk and discovered that Elsa was close with her future betrothed and thus it was going to take more then he thought to turn perception towards her being the eventual killer of the Ghelen at Castle Hosk. Tristin would travel to the farming estate of House Poskentrin a vassal of House Hosk nearby and arriving there he would blackmail Conrad Pokentrin into assisting him and in this Conrad and Tristin would be joined by Conrad's baseborn son Alwin Snow of whom was also brought along but Conrad did not reveal that Alwin was his son instead convinced Tristin that Alwin was a training Maester. “I just need someone of nobility to give proof that I was here. Its a very simple thing your going to do here. Just tell my truth.” — Tristin of Nighting The group would arrive at Castle Hosk where Conrad and Alwin were made to believe that they were only needed to act as proof that Tristin was actually in Castle Hosk and not somewhere elce and after they did this Tristin would release there family and everything would go back to normal. While Alwin and Conrad waited in the tavern for Tristin to return it was Tristin that into the home that Ellion Ghelen II., Alice Ghelen, and Ellion Ghelen III. were staying and he would kill the one guard they had from House Ghelen and then entering the home he would brutally kill the three while they were eating lunch together. Desecrating the bodies he would leave them where they lay and then returned to the tavern where he quickly forced Conrad and Alwin into the alleyway. In the alley of the Tavern he told them the truth of what they would need to do when he revealed they needed to say that they had seen Elsa Hosk covered in blood leaving the house of Ellion and his family. Horrified at what had happened and what they were going to have to do they quickly fled the castle and moving down the road they would travel several hours to reach Ghelen where they would meet with Lord Arryk Ghelen and tell their story causing Arryk to raise an army to bring Elsa to justice. Arrival of William Lovie III. “You may not have faith in Glaurung my prince. You may not believe he exists. All you need to remember is that whatever you believe. Whatever your faith is. Glaurung believes in you.” — Elsa Hosk William Lovie III. and the Lucernian army would arrive outside of Castle Hosk several weeks into the siege of Castle Hosk and arrived just before the increasingly enraged Arryk Ghelen was preparing to launch an all out siege against Castle Hosk and Elsa Hosk who was refusing to admit guilt in the deaths of the Ghelen family members. While they waited for the Maester witness for Elsa it was William and Elsa that would have sex in chambers of Elsa and following giving into to having sex with Elsa the two would talk over many things and even discussed how Elsa hoped their sex resulted in a child of which if it did she revealed she would not ask anything other then legitimization for the child from William. The Floren Movement “Your father is a monster Brandon. He's got your beloved Erica locked up in the temple. He's sponsering bandits all over the area. He needs to be stopped.” — Tobin Aven If House Trachtenburg was the most powerful house of the area it was House Floren that was the second most powerful and in this importance they were seen as a very important group to turn to the Knights of Aerene and in this way it was Tobin Aven that was sent to Brightwater to convert them. Tobin would convinse Brandon Floren that his beloved Erica Steinmare had been imprisoned by rebels in the Great Temple of Brightwater and that these rebels had been aided by his family, and while he didn't believe Tobin at first it was Tobin that showed him a letter written by James Lovie the king which said that he was to take control of Brightwater through the imprisonment of everyone involved in the rebellion. Brandon would confront his father on Erica Steinmare and not knowing what was going on behind the scenes it was Wendel Floren that made mistakes when he refused to let Brandon see Erica - he had been asked to keep the two apart while Erica was in Brightwater as she had been asked to pray for three days before seeing him - and in this mistake it was Brandon that left his father and swore himself as a Knight of Aerene. With Brandon Floren as their man it was Tobin Aven that provided him with several dozen mercenaries and alongside this Brandon was able to gain the support of almost half the forces of House Floren when he was able to convince his uncle Alester Floren to support him. As the coup was in its final moments it was Tobin that further sparked the fire within Brandon when he showed him evidence - evidence that he had created - that showed that not only was Wendel dead set against allowing Erica and Brandon to marry but was planning to murder Erica after she left the church where Brandon was convinsed she was imprisoned within. The Coup of Brightwater “At the start we were told we were fighting to take these lands from the corupt nobles who controlled them. I honestly believed we were doing good.” — Brandon Floren It would be Eddara Floren that would be within the walls of Brightwater when her brother and uncle took control of the town in the name of the Seven Knights of Aerene and she would be the only person who Brandon would admit to his involvement as the entire time the members of the knights of Aerene would wear masks covering their identity. With Wendel imprisoned and unable to defend himself it was Eddara that came to believe her brother and came to support him in his campaign to control House Floren, and it was in this effort that they found a lot of success as the loyalty that Wendel had showed to Bill Lovie had left him very unpopular among the people and it was only the escape of Benfred Floren from Brightwater that gave them any sort of pause in their celebration. Benfred Floren would escape Brightwater supported by Adelar Eichler and his son Janik Eichler of whom as vassals of House Floren controlled Castle Floren and would bring Benfred there to plan for the resistence against what they believed was the madness of Brandon Floren. Having gained control of the city it was Brandon Floren that attempted to enter the Great Temple of Brightwater but was barred entrance due to Erica being still at prayer and the priests refused to let him in and with his strong faith he placed guards on the temple to make sure no one tried to kill Erica which is what he believed was going to happen and then went about finishing his move to gain complete control of Brightwater. Realizing that Benfred Floren had escaped the city it was Benfred that summoned all the House Floren vassals to Brightwater and was surprised when most did not answer the call and from those who did he learned that Benfred had gathered to him almost all the vassals to his side at Castle Floren where he was preparing to lead his forces against Brightwater. The Taking of Castle Ongrill “We are here to not harm you. We are here not to steal your food or gold. We are here to show these nobles that there is a different way to rule. Remain calm, and do what we say and I guarentee you that not a single person will be harmed.” — Robert Snow In Castle Ongrill the Seven Knights of Aerene would send Robert Snow of whom as the bastard of the former heir to Castle Ongrill and House Ongrill was extremely bitter over his treatment following the death of his father Robert Ongrill at the Battle of Lyons. Robert Snow's desire to rise within the realm and his loyalty to the crown were manipulated against him by James Nighting of whom begin using the seals of House Clegane, House Morgill, and House Lovie to make Robert Snow believe that the crown wanted him to gather a force and take control of Castle Ongrill, and that once this was done to hold it no matter what happened and then wait for the arrival of more orders. Daryn Ongrill the Lord of House Ongrill and baron of Castle Ongrill would travel to the Riverlands with his wife Tamyra leaving his son Morgan as the acting lord of House Ongrill while he was away and unfortunately while he was away the Seven Knights of Aerene rebellion would be sparked but while this was happening he and his wife were visiting her family in the Riverlands. At the time of the rise of the Seven Knights of Aerene it would be the wedding between Candice Anthor, and Morgon Ongrill that would lead to the Knights having there opening in the town, as having spent nearly three months and significant gold gathering to him nearly two hundred men at arms Robert Snow would begin infiltrating Castle Ongrill using the wedding as shield to his movements. Robert Snow would begin to have a relationship of sorts with Candice Anthor at this time as she was growing quite frustrated with her husband over his lack of physical time with her, and in this way Robert Snow was able to menipulate Candice Anthor into joining the Seven Knights of Aerene and using her only assisted him more. Candice Anthor now effectively having an affair with Robert Snow would become the central figure of the Knights of Aerene in Ongrill as she recruited another fifty plus men while travelling north of Castle Ongrill with Robert Snow, but also at this time Morgon would depart Castle Ongrill as with their wedding only a month away he traveled to a temple nearby where he would pray at for the final month before their wedding. The forces of House Clegane, and House Morgill would arrive at the outskirts of Castle Ongrill, and realizing that he had been betrayed Robert Snow would prepare the castle for a siege, but now realized that the letters he had been receiving all along had been a lie and he was now effectively a traitor to the realm. The Duel “Whatever happens from this day forward that you will never touch me. You will forever have nothing but bastards if that is what you want. I will never give you a thing.” — Candice Anthor Completely surrounded and having come to the conclusion that he had been betrayed it was Robert Snow alongside the other knight in the form of Candice Anthor that put up a white flag and would engage in negotiations with the besiegers in the form of Hedrik Clegane III. and these negotiations went slowly but were coming to fruition of having Robert Snow surrender the castle and the safety of his men. As the negotiations were reaching a conclusion the arrival of Morgon Ongrill at the walls with his forces having returned from his month long prayer would cause major problems as Morgon Ongrill would at first want to continue the arrangement and have Robert surrender peacefully with no punishment but this changed when Robert refused to give up Candice Anthor during one of their meetings horribly embarresing his brother Morgon. Reacting very badly to this embaressment it was Morgon Ongrill that Robert Snow would engage in a duel against his half brother Morgon Ongrill and to the suprise of everyone Morgon would defeat Robert and the religious fanatic would not wait for any decisions to be sent to him instead executing Robert on the spot causing the destruction of his marriage to Candice who had fallen in love with Robert. Tristan Arrives in Ongrill Main Article : Tristan's Attack on Rachel Wood “I had gone to the streets trying to survive hundreds of times. It was each day of my life, but something about that day felt different. If it wasn't for the fact that I would have died without food there is no way that I would have ever gone out that day. The entire time that I was handed bread over the day, I felt this aching in my heart that didn't stop until I felt his hand grab me from behind.” — Rachel Wood It was following the end of the siege that Rachel was out in the streets of Ongrill attempting to beg for food, when she was approached by a man who appeared to her in very expensive robes. This man was Tristan Lovie, and he would proceed to brutally attack and rape Rachel. Tristan Lovie had entered Ongrill with a group of his men and used the chaos of the siege to commit atrocities as he had done elsewhere, and it was while he was raping another young women, that he had felt a pull towards Rachel. Tristan would believe this was because of her hair but in fact it was the work of Lornax to bring her to his eye. With his eye fixated on her he begin to formulate plans in his mind of what he would do to her when he finally caught up to her. Tristan by this point had completely lost himself after his corruption by James had basically turning him into a serial rapist that had been traveling across the Lucerne valley raping and killing any women that struck his eye. The brutality of the attack was what was truly the worst part for Rachel, as before this she knew of emotional neglect, and cruelty from the head lady at the orphanage, but after this she lost all faith in what humanity was capable of. Tristan on top of raping her for some time would also severely burn her hands after he placed them into a bucket of scalding water that he had brought into the alley for the purpose of the attack. The attack and rape then were followed by Tristan attempting to strangle her to death. He would have succeeded if it wasn't for the work of Glorinex of whom could not accept what Lornax was planning to do and warned a group of nearby soldiers led by Hedrik Clegane III. about what was happening. Hedrik, Meinolf, and several of his men were walking back to the fort they had constructed from the Ongrill Keep when he is stopped on the road by Glorinex who tells him that he needs to go down an alley and save someone, and before he can stop the woman she disappears back into another alley. Moving to the alley she had told him to go he and his men find several men guarding the entrance to the alley but he is able to see past the men and realizes a woman is being raped by a man they are clearly guarding. No words are spoken instead a fight breaks out with Hedrik charging past the men leaving his men to handle the guards and he barrels into the raper knocking him off the girl. The two groups would briefly scuffle in the back alley, but Tristan would throw dirt in Hedrik's face in a very cowardly manner and this would allow Tristan the time he needed to make his escape. With Tristan gone the remaining men were either killed or ran with him leaving Hedrik and his men to turn to the girl to see the mess that the man had left her in, and was shocked at this amount of brutality. Her clothes were all ripped apart and her body was nearly completely exposed, and despite the circumstances he couldn't help but have his eyes linger as this was the first time he had ever seen a naked women. He checked her for a pulse and when he found it he knew she was alive so he wrapped his cloak around her and carried her back to the fort. “Carrying her back to my room was a reckless move that was so outside of everything I had ever done before that. I knew that since we were in Forks I would be able to get away without my parents finding out, at least until I was forced to return to Lole. I just wanted for some unknown reason to help her. Maybe I loved her even then.” — Hedrik Clegane III. he brings the girl inside the Fort where he takes her to his lodgings which are on the top level of the tower they had constructed. When he put her down on his bed to rest she became hysterical and only when he raised his hands in submission and then left the room did she calm down. While she begin to calm down it was only the start of her problems as Lornax, and Telemerix arrived at the fort and attempted to continue their next moves despite the fact that she had not died. Hedrik waited outside the room for a time as she screamed at the top of her lungs, and whether her screaming was due to the heavy burns on her hands that she had kept hidden, or the brutal rape wasn't clear to Hedrik, but she continued to scream which caused Hedrik to panic fearing she might die or attempt to escape. Hedrik went to the outside of the room on the roof and was able to secure the lock on his window so that she couldn't escape through the window but he was unable to see in as she had apparently closed the blinds to the room. After a good hour she stopped screaming so he returned into his room and he didn't see her so he quickly ran to his window but it remained locked so she couldn't have escaped that way. Feeling hopeless he was given her location when he heard sobs coming from his study. He opened his study and found her cowering in the corner crying wrapped in what he thought was one of his blankets. Saving Rachel “She seemed to be comforted by my presence but I just couldn't manage a way to get her to talk to me. I would listen to anything she had to say, I just didn't want her to cry anymore. It broke my heart, and warmed me at the same time that every time I entered my room, she immediately opened her arms for me to hug her, but then she would break down into tears.” — Hedrik Clegane III. The Dunten Rebellion “If you actually look at what happened in Dunten. How close we came to violence. It was entirely about your father trying to kill Alice. He moved all the pieces on the board towards that simple goal.” — Edward Cullen With the Seven Knight Rebellion spreading in its scope it was the Knight Maeger Duneria that would become involved in an added layer of the workings of James Lovie II. when James Nighting arrived in Dunten. Arriving in Dunten it was James that told him that soon a commoner girl named Alice was meant to be arriving in Dunten where she would have been executed but instead she had been rescued by rebels in House Vuneria. Maeger would be commanded to send an army to Castle Vuneria and capture this girl by any means necessary and to capture the city before the arrival of more rebels to the area. With Maegar still injured from battle it was his child son Taegar Duneria II. that would be sent with the main Duneria army against Castle Vuneria. Accompanying Taeger was Alexander Hesnel a Circle of Magi Senior Enchanter who having been sworn to the service of James Nighting was ordered to make sure that the Duneria attacked Castle Vuneria or he would be killed. Alexander did not know who Alice truly was but was told by James that if the girl survived then the whole kingdom might fall, so an already fearful Alexander was desperate to make sure this girl died. Arrival of Edward Cullen “The distance between me and the rest of my friends was more then I could even fathom. I was riding right beside them but I wasn't really there. Jasper, and Leven despised me. Emmett, and Will seemed too uncomfortable to even talk to me. This was rock bottom.” — Edward Cullen As they march Edward can't ignore the distance between himself and the Shadow Council and this is only made more clear when he William, Leven, Christopher, and Catherine are riding together and he listens as they discuss that he will be joining Christopher in meeting with the forces of House Shephard and joining that army. Edward is screaming inside to resist this but refuses to embarrass himself and also wants to show he is loyal to William and thus agrees without disagreement to go with Christopher Bell. As Christopher says goodbye to Catherine its Edward that tries to talk to William but he is blocked by Leven and although he watches William attempt to let Edward talk he almost starts crying out of embarrassment and decides to leave saying a quick goodbye and following Christopher. Arriving at the meeting point with House Shephard it is Edward that is shocked by the size of their forces, but has little time to think on it as a small group of cavalry break off from the main Shephard forces and ride towards them. The group arrives and Christopher greets several of them revealing Jack Shephard, Evangeline Shephard, Reginald Kane, Sargon Gurse, and as the group talks one girl who had been in the back gets off her horse and greets Edward who recognizes her as Eura Clune a girl who he had went to the Lucernian Academy with. Edward has a long conversation with Eura while the nobles talk and during this conversation he quickly realizes that Eura is obsessed with William following a sexual relationship they shared while Edward was away in Hogwarts and while Edward attempts to tell her that the chances of them getting together are slim she refuses to hear this and hints that she plans to seduce William when she sees him. The conversation ends and the group leads the force led by Edward towards the main Gulltown army and the now combined forces begin marching towards Castle Vuneria where the castle is held by loyalists under Edrik Vuneria but is under siege by rebels under the command of Taegar Duneria II. Arriving at Castle Vuneria the group sees the large force from House Duneria placing the castle under siege and discusses what strategy they want to do with most under the lead of Sargon Gurse, and Evangeline Shephard wanting to just destroy the rebel force without discussion, and Edward argues for negotiation but Edward is unable to convince the group and it appears this will be the strategy until Eura steps in and is able to convince them to allow her to go and speak with Taegar Duneria. “None of this is as it seems Lord Shephard. If I am wrong. If the Dunerians are actually traitors then why not find that out. You lose nothing by letting me and Lord Cullen go in there and get answers.” — Eura Clune Eura Clune after gaining the permission of Jack Shephard to meet with Taegar walk towards the Duneria forces carrying a white flag, and while walking Edward is scared but is calmed down by Eura who is driven by her desire to impress William to feel no fear. Entering the camp of the Duneria force they are restrained and taken before Taegar of whom when they see they are shocked that he is a young man maybe thirteen years old. As the talk starts Taegar is not the one who does the talking but instead a man comes from the main tent and as soon as Edward sees him he feels the Magi coming from him, and the man introduces himself as Alexander Krutzwalder an advisor to the king. Surrender of Dunten “I went to the prince's eighth name day. The King was kind to me then. He has sent me letters for years continuing our friendship. Why would I betray him now?” — Maeger Duneria The Trachtenburgs “Where the hell is my mother?” — Sasha Snow House Trachtenburg as the main power of the area would become a focal point of the rebels and Bill Lovie knowing that Frank Trachtenberg was a coward who had already allowed his wife to be imprisoned without a fight realized that House Trachtenburg was ripe for rebellion. Seen as a coward and a failure Frank was not approached but instead it was James Nighting that would approach the bastard children of Frank Trachtenburg in the form of Sasha Snow of whom had been unofficially adopted by Katia Lovie several months before her imprisonment and because of this it was known that the bastard children were extremely loyal to Katia. The girls had been told like everyone else that Katia Lovie was in Lucerne visiting with her family but when the letters had stopped coming there was a lot of worry about her safety but it had been Frank that had lied and told them he saw her weekly and that she was fine. It was this lie that Jamie would play on when he revealed that Katia had been imprisoned and lied stating that she was imprisoned beneath the walls of Castle Trachtenburg by Frank himself and that only if they took control of the house themselves could they get Katia released. Battle of Castle Trachtenburg “I don't care what the reason. I don't care that her death was an accident. I don't care who you say her real mother was. She was my cousin.” — William Lovie III. Sasha Snow would be killed while defending the gatehouse of Castle Trachtenburg alongside her fellow defenders and her shocking death would become a major point of contention as shortly after this William Lovie III. would arrive ending the conflict for fear of the deaths of his other two baseborn cousins in House Trachtenburg.

The Journey

Main Article : The Journey

Third Battle of Minus Tirith Tomorrow is the moment we stand as free men of Europe and say in one loud voice the truth that we have always known. We will scream out our truth, and when were done the Dark Lord himself will know that the men of Europe will not stand for evil anymore. Tomorrow we strike. Tomorrow he will know pain.

The Third Battle of Minus Ithil Main Article : The Third Battle of Minus Ithil “My father had relented despite his strong vocal anger towards what I wanted to do, and with his resistance no longer present the few forces of Lucerne that were not involved in some way begin to come out of the word works. I don`t forget loyalty though, and those houses that only came after the choice was gone are not the ones who I trust in the same way as those who joined me when it was still in doubt.” — William Lovie III. With Aragorn`s success in gathering the forces of the Sindar Elves of High Forest he would send word to William Lovie III. of whom had succeed in gaining his father`s permission to lead the forces of Lucerne into Gondor and drive away the Mordor Orcs so that they could then relieve Tree Hill. In terms of the Sindar Elves of High Forest they would travel by boat from High Forest to Osgiliath where they would land north of the port city and meet with the overall forces in the area just north of the Battle site itself. The Orcs for there part had recently sent a smaller force through through the Morgul Pass of which had been moving southward towards the fortress of Narvine of which they would as usual most likely raid the already barren farmland north of Narvine and then retreat when they were opposed. William Lovie III. would lead the Lucernian army alongside his main commanders in Lucerne in the form of Charlie Swan, Renault Scarlet, Jack Shepard alongside many others of whom the main ones they would be meeting east of Stormwind in the Rhunian province. Army Leadership Other Noteables Strength House Shephard Jack Shephard Maron Scorpian Evin Scorpian House Swan Charlie Swan Brody Swan Thomas Vindale Bernd Von Yernese Billy Black House Mountain Vaelor Mountain Derek Mountain Baelor Mountain House Tyrell Garlan Tyrell Dustin Bardwyn Thomas Roses Sasha Roses House Lannister Jamie Lannister Daven Lannister Tyrek Lannister Tygett Lannister Lancel Lannister House Starke Eddard Starke Robb Starke Jon Snow Brandon Starke House Greymane Liam Greymane Liam Greymane II. Clarke Greymane Gregor Voner House Scarlet Alexandros Scarlet II. Darion Scarlet Saiden Scarlet House Highmore Draco Highmore Johan Highmore Freddie Highmore House Highport Natalie Highport Robin Highport House Ordos Dennis Ordos Franklin Brent Coyle Ordos Kieth Darkwood Kyle Darkwood Andrew Garfield House Hale Orton Merryjones Linda Merryjones Rickar Kortend House Clegane Hedrik Clegane III. Rupert Clegane Brandan Clegane Gregory Stillwood Mikael Stillwood Appius Dalmatia Lords of Tree Hill Orival Crane Kaven Elric Egbert Elric Walrod Gaimen Jost Gaimen Eddard Starke led the eastern forces alongside the Lannisters of whom were behind the attack surprisingly even before the acceptance of Bill Lovie and these two massive forces would send most of their forces to Lamedon but the leadership remained at Stormwind where it would meet the main army as it came through. The western forces of Lucerne led by the Greymane would lead their forces as well eastward with their army being the furthest behind but using ships from Highgarden, and Fogtown the armies were moved eastward towards Lamedon. The Gondor forces would begin to marshal under the command of Aragorn Elessar III. and while the vast majority traveled to Osgiliath to prepare a smaller force traveled to Lamedon where they would meet William Lovie III. once his army had gathered and was preparing to cross into Gondor. “This is all about faith young prince. On one hand I see the future of my Kingdom ending unless something is done about the monsters at my door. On the other hand despite everything you`ve done I have heard that your father was once honorable and just. You decide the fate of Kingdoms and Men with the decisions you will make in the coming days so make sure you are better then your father has been.” — Aragorn Elessar II. Aragorn Elessar II. would watch with silent fright as the nearly sixty thousand Lucernian troops would mass themselves on the west side of Lamdeon, and it was only upon the arrival of the flags of House Lovie signalling the arrival of William Lovie III. that Aragorn crossed the bridges of Lamedon and met with the Lucernian leadership. William Lovie III. would be awaiting him alongside nearly his entire leadership of whom had arrayed themselves as much as possible inside a massive tent that had been brought for this very occasion, but knowing the importance of this conversation noone outside of William was to speak and it was in this way that Aragorn entered the tent of the Lucernian King and the two would speak one last time before going to war. Look at the world father. You were born into this land. You grew up here. These people swore their lives to you. How could you have done all of this? Look at everything you have done. You destroyed a city. Killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. Don't end it all here. Don't do this. For me father. For everything I supposedly mean to you. Don't do this. ``My prince the King has entered the camp and will be here momentarily.`` ``That is good. Thank you Ser Percy.``Despite my fears Hayden Percy was one of, if not the most loyal man I knew and he deserved to be treated with respect. I could hear them through the tent, and it made me sick. I could remember the days when it was me that made him feel that way, and I hated her for it. Sometimes I thought to myself in moments like this how different my life would be if I had gotten pregnant during one of the hundreds of times we were together, but for whatever reason the gods didn't want that for me. I would be in that tent right now holding him close, and knowing with every fiber of my being that I was loved. I was noble born, and on the same level as Bella, and yet she had so easily eclipsed me in so little time that it just didn't seem fair. I felt a hand touch my shoulder, and immediately grabbed for my sword before laughter slowed me and Emmett's head appeared from beneath the helmet as he pulled up the helmet. "I didn't mean to startle you Levia." A fool wouldn't have believed him as he continued to laugh and I struck him in the chest right beneath his breast plate, causing him to stop laughing. As he stopped laughing the sounds of Bella from within the tent grew momentarily louder, and I couldn't stop myself from looking at the tent for a second before answering. "You didn't startle me." I felt his hand go back to my shoulder as I stared at the tent, and as I looked back to him I saw the understanding in his eyes, but also I could feel pity and that was something I didn't want. "It's fine Emmett." His eyes didn't believe me for a second, but I didn't have time to deal with this right now. "I'm going to catch some sleep make sure he doesn't stay up too late we have to be ready for the morning." I said it more harshly then Emmett deserved, and as I walked away from him leaving him with nothing more then a nod of my head I felt terrible. Emmett just wasn't a person you should ever be rude too. Born of commoner blood it was his kindness that had pulled him into our group, and it was that same kindness that had led him to becoming the gentlemen he was now. I would have to make a point to bring him something as an apology after the battle, but I couldn't think on that now I just needed to get away from that tent that I wanted to be in more then anything. I found myself searching hopelessly for Obella when I overhear a Starke man talking about how Robb Starke is with her. Going to the Starke part of the camp I see her sitting with him outside their tent rubbing the hair of that giant wolf of his, and as I watch them I feel happy for my sister. She deserves that kind of happiness, and I know that Robb Starke will treat her well. I turn around and walk to my own tent, and as I move through the seemingly endless ranks of tents, and men that we have gathered I feel a sense of dread wash over me. I have never been in a battle and yet here I am walking through camp thinking on Will, and hoping for a good life for my sister, and yet I ignore the fact that tomorrow we wade into the unknown with nothing more then a hope. I'm glad that me and Jasper will be by Will's side tomorrow, as I don't know how I could handle the fear of not knowing what was happening with him throughout the entirety of the battle. I reach my tent and open the flap revealing my sleeping sister Dorea within, and I smile as she jumps up holding a small dagger. "There is no threat from this direction dear sister." She put her dagger away with a smile before sitting up in the bed. "You can never be too safe. Uncle told me once that when your surrounded by enough men you need always keep a dagger near you lest you find yourself pierced by things other then steel." She laughed as she said it, but I saw how hard she had clenched that dagger, and I knew her well enough to know that she was afraid. I didn't blame her for fear, for I was afraid too. "Oh my god Dorea when did Oberyn tell you that?" I didn't need to even think on which uncle would tell her such a disgusting thing. "It matters not for Oberyn always speaks the truth of such things." She smiled at me once more before laying back down, and pulled the blankets up to her shoulders. I moved to take off my armor and piece by piece put it on the stand. Each piece of armor had been intricately crafted, and designed for the every whim I had when I was thinking of my armor, and yet looking at the armor now I wondered whether I had ever really thought I would be in a situation where I would need it. "Levia?" Looking to the sound of Dorea she looked so small under the blanket, and I went to her now clothed for sleep and sat at the edge of her bed. "Whats wrong Dorea?" She shrugged at me, and the way she did it reminded me of how truly young she was. Less then sixteen name days and here she was standing on the edge of the world sleeping one more time before we entered a battle with strange monsters. "There is nothing wrong with being afraid. I would be scared for your mental health if you weren't afraid." "I'm not scared to fight tomorrow." I tilted my head at her, and she pushed me playfully. "I'm not I swear...its just." "Just what sister?" "I just wonder about something Melessa Vaith said when I was leaving." "What did she say to you?" "She didn't say it too me, but I know it was actually about me." I nodded at her to continue. "She was talking about Elize Scorpian. She was saying how no man would ever want to marry Elize because she was constantly armored, and that men hated that." The moment she said it I felt terrible for her. Here she was on the eve of battle not afraid of dying, of which I'm sure she was, but she was more worried about her marriage possibilities if she did fight. "Let me tell you a story Dorea." She grabbed my hand and I rubbed her hand with my thumb as I begin. I knew the story wouldn't hold up to close examination, but as I watched her eyes close and open I knew her sleepy mind wouldn't put it together. "Once there was a prince of a great kingdom, and this prince was beloved by all that he met. He had ladies fawning over him at every turn, and yet one day the tough lady of another land came to court, and he looked at her with a smile that melted her heart. This lady thought as Melessa did. She believed that her love for swords, armor, and horses would turn him away. But the prince smiled at her, and each day he saw her he smiled again. One day the lady would be walking with her horse by the stables when the prince appeared in all his beauty and splender, and once again he smiled at her. The lady was lost in his eyes, and the smile he gave her melted her heart away. The prince told her she was a beautiful girl, and took her hand walking alongside her and the horse." I looked down as I felt her move her head onto my lap, and I watched her fall chest move up and down, and felt such peace watching my sister sleep. I don't know why but I felt the need to keep telling my side of the story. I didn't want to wake her so I begin whispering it to her, and perhaps it was selfish but I wanted to hear it for myself. "From that day forward the two shared a secret smile between them, and whenever he smiled at her she knew in her heart that he loved her. It didn't matter that they didn't marry, and it didn't matter that he was promised to others because she knew she was loved." After speaking together it was Aragorn that would lead the Lucernian army across the bridges of Lamedon and the Lucernian marched eastward towards Osgiliath and the eventual battle that everyone had been waiting for. The now combining forces of Gondor, and Lucerne would meet at Osgiliath with their two forces gaining immense numbers after aligning together, and this led to a serious escalation in belief on specifically the side of the Gondorians of whom had been spending years watching the Orcs overwhelm them. With both forces combining plus the eventual assistance of the Sindar Elves they had almost ninety thousand human troops and nearly ten thousand Elven troops of which would be opposed on the other side by the main orcish army of more then one hundred thousand. The Attack “I was shocked that they didn't even check their flanks. I was shocked because all I knew of Orcs was that they wiped us out at Leon, and at Tree Hill. Were those Orcs somehow more intelligent then the idiots we met on those fields?” — William Lovie III. The two armies crossed the river and made their way to the hills west of the location of the Orcish Army, and from there pieces of the army begin to separate and move to their positions with heavy cavalry moving into the south, and north while the forces of Cair Andros, and Dal Imnil met them south east of Pelagir in the forests that the Sindar Elves had hidden themselves in adding another five thousand troops to the alliance. With one night before the assault the Shadow Council would meet and spent time together, and throughout the night they were joined by other young nobles that William had befriended, and this was the way they spent the day before the assault. During the night the armies would move into a closer position to the Orcs with the Gondor Army arraying itself directly before the Mordor Orcs in an attempt to get their full attention while the Lucernians and Sindar Elves would hide themselves as close as possible and once battle was met they would charge. At this point the besieged forces of Gondor inside Minas Ithil still had no idea that relief was coming and it had been decided that they would not make any attempts to alert the defenders as it was possible the Orcs might intercept the attempt and then everything would change dramatically for the plans of the attack. By this point the Magi Commander of the Lucernian forces in the form of Edward Cullen would group together with the Gondorian Istari and would discover to their great happiness that Ren the Unclean the Nazgul commander of the Orcish armies was not present on the battlefield. Despite the the fact that Ren the Unclean was not present the Kingdom of Orthanac was present with a force some five thousand troops and led by the Magi Sa-Uluos Thelvhian of whom also had some five other Magi with him and thus realizing they would be facing a significant Magi threat Edward Cullen would gather the Magi in the Lucernian army and alongside the Gondorian Istari would prepare a plan to attack the Orthanac forces and crush the Orthanac Magi swiftly. “I was shocked that they didn't even check their flanks. I was shocked because all I knew of Orcs was that they wiped us out at Leon, and at Tree Hill. Were those Orcs somehow more intelligent then the idiots we met on those fields?” — William Lovie III. With the forces in place the armies of Gondor, Lucerne, and High Forest moved into their positions in their corresponding areas, and prepared for light to signal what they hoped was a blind charge by the forces of Mordor into the Gondor army. The day would break and at this point as the Gondorians had moved into the open of the field west of the Orcs they were noticed quickly, and it didn`t take more then a few minutes before the Orcs did exactly what was believed they would do. The Orc commander Urgreek Madd ordered his forces to charge the Gondor soldiers and in this way the entire Mordor army except the few thousand archers that moved in behind the charging Orcs. The Orcs that were sieging the city itself would remain mostly still there but there was a sizable amount that broke from the siege upon seeing the larger army fighting and were now moving away from their position outside Minus Ithil, and towards the Gondorians, which meant the plan was going perfectly. The Gondor archers opened up on the orcs but the numbers were immense, and the Orcs kept coming and coming. When the orcs finally reached the lines, the Gondor soldiers used delaying tactics and simply held the Orcs in place. Aragorn and his leadership would fight like men possessed in the center and Aragorn himself during the early moments of the Battle would kill two of Urgreek`s sons of whom had both wanted to sway their father by killing the King of Gondor but found him out of their league. Also during the initial assault Ildarion would be struck by an arrow, and despite this fact he would remain in the battle and for the rest of the battle had an arrow sticking out of his right shoulder. While the moment the Orcs had moved against Gondor the Lucernians, and Sindar armies had begun slowly moving it was the moment the orcs engaged with the army of Gondor the Lucernians and Sindar launched their full out attacks. The Ambush The Lucernian Cavalry preparing to ambush the Orcish forces. The Lucernian forces were decided into two main parts attacking from both the north, and south and hitting all over the rear, and flanks of the completely exposed Orcish army. “After they charged it was a simple ticking of the clock before we massacred them. Though they didn't know it yet the Orcs were dead the moment they entered that field without looking. It was almost disappointing to see these creatures of tales, and nightmares be so foolish.” — Jamie Lannister With the Orcs embroiled in combat with the Gondorians they were completely focused in front of them and missed the Lucerne army, and they definitely missed the High Forest trees as they charged out as well. The first signs the Orcs had that things were changing was when the cries of battle appeared behind their lines, and the Lucernian cavalry along with the Ents of High Forest slammed into their rear, while accurate archery fell into the core of the Orcs. During this initial assault Jamie Lannister and the Lannister cavalry would overrun the center of the Pitghost Tribe and during this overrunning of the Pitghost Tribe their overlord Ghorgauth, and all his warchiefs would be killed leading to a complete route of the Pitghost tribe who fled eastward. Moving past the Pitghost tribe the camped army was cut down in their hundreds during the initial assault the forces of Gondor as well would switch themselves and become more aggressive as they realized the trap was on thus the Orcs felt pressure from all sides which only increased the desperation of the Battle. William Lovie III. alongside his Shadow Council and many other noble young men were in the thick of the main cavalry charge and William himself got into a fight with a large Troll of whom had killed several others around him including Lord Osgood Elbertson, and Davin Percy II. and fighting against the Troll he was pushed back and nearly killed by the Troll before his personal guards would mass around him and murder the giant Troll. Ugreek did not have a lot of strategy to himself but he did clearly understand that the battle was turning into a massacre and would make a straight line for the command flag of the Gondorians trying to end the battle in one fight. “I was pulling my sword out of the last Orc to fall to my blade when I felt the air around me calm, and then the subsequent slash towards my head had me flying backwards to avoid it. When I turned around I saw what could have been an Orc, or could have been a giant staring at me. In the end it mattered not what it was, because it had to die.” — Aragorn Elessar II. As the Orcs realized they had become caught in a trap Ugreek Madd would meet with overlord Ugled of whom with his warchief Ghaddish rallied their elite troops and followed Ugreek Madd as he looked along the battle line for the commander of the opposing force hoping to end his enemy and route the army in one fell swoop. Ugreek would become distacted by the arrival of several Sindari Elven wareagles and thus Ugled led his Nightshred elite guard alone towards the Sindari lines abandoning Ugreek. Fighting his way through the Sindari lines Ugled would come to face to face with Taflarion Stormrage of whom accompanied by the Treekin Ashthorn would resist this charge and after a brief duel between the group Ashthorn would crush Ugled and with Ugled dead Ghaddish would retreat from the field of battle alongside the remainder of his forces. Located near the front lines Ugreek would see Aragorn Elessar the king of Gondor slashing and killing all along the line, and would smile before making his way towards the King. Ugreek had been alive for many many years and as an Orc this meant that he had grown to impressive size and his power was something beyond which most had ever faced. The two would come face to face, and despite Aragorn's superior skill he was pushed back and fell to the ground seemingly defeated. As the men around him watched their King seemingly defeated the entire battle line just stopped, as the men and Orcs watched the titanic fight between Aragorn would be nearly killed by Ugreek but the battle would end with Aragorn Elessar II. Killing Ugreek and cutting the head off the Orcish army these two amazing fighters. “Like every Orc in history his downfall was his arrogance, and stupidity. Had he of kept the advantage up instead of laughing and hollaring he would have killed the King of Gondor and most likely routed the entire force in one fell swoop.” — Aragorn Elessar II. But as Ugreek reached him and raised his mace, Aragorn suddenly lunged up and stabbed the Orc through the chest before swiping across and nearly cleaving him in two. Ugreek coughed out blood before falling backwards dead. Aragorn looked around at his men who seemed to be still shaken, and without another second thought he screamed out a battle cry and flew back into the Orc lines followed by the rest of his force behind him. The Orcs for their part were now broken as a force, and all along the line begin to realize they were defeated. A renewed cavalry charge led by Jamie Lannister alongside the Reynes would finally smash the only surviving leader in the fourth and only surviving child of Ugreek leaving the army completely leaderless. Massacre “I had told Arwyn I would come home. I had promiced her in all truth. The real truth was that in my heart I thought it would go wrong. I thought perhaps the Lucernians would betray us, or perhaps the Orcs were tipped off like at Lyons. It didn`t matter what actually caused our defeat I just truly believed we would lose, and yet here I stood on the field of battle and all the eye could see was the corpses of dead Orcs.” — Aragorn Elessar II. With the Orcs realizing they were surrounded and Aragorn having killed the Orcs leader the nature of Orcs led them to a full scale retreat. The defeat was hopeless as they were utterly surrounded, and as they ran they were cut down in their thousands by the vengeful attackers, and those that managed to break the line were taken down by the accurate fire of the Sindar Elven archers. The few hundreds of Orcs that managed to escape the main battle found themselves cut down by the Lucernian and Gondorian cavalry of whom had attacked the besieging Orcish army and had been preparing to assault the remaining Orcs. “This was the moment where my great gambit would either be revealed as genius, or madness. Would Gondor now honor there part of the arrangement and join with High Forest and our own forces to destroy the Orcs that had overrun Tree Hill. If they made an excsue ” — William Lovie III. Nearly fifty thousand Orcs were destroyed in the battle with the loss of just under fifteen hundred in the Gondor Army, and less then five hundred in the Lucernian Army meaning the battle was far more then just a victory. The Battle cemented the alliance between the three nations and in this way led to the continuation of the Journey which would not lead the alliance towards the Lucernian city of Tree Hill where they would lead their army in the liberating battle of the Second Battle of Tree Hill. Commemorating the Losses “I did not know your father as well as I should have Varian. The Orcs have taken so much from us, but it is the loss of these great people that darkens our hearts the most. We shall have our vengeance against these monsters. We shall have our vengeance for every conversation that goes unspoken because of these beasts. Our vengeance will brighten the sky. Our vengeance is coming.” — William Lovie III.

Second Battle of Tree Hill Today my brothers we right a terrible wrong in the history of this kingdom. We all know what happened here, and there isn't a thing that we could do to take it back. We may not be able to change what happened, but right here and right now united together we can make sure the people of Tree Hill are finally given the rescue they have long deserved. Today don't fight for vengeance. Don't fight for revenge. Fight to save the lives of the innocent. Fight so that a betrayed city may finally awaken.

Second Battle of Tree Hill Main Article : Second Battle of Tree Hill The armies of the alliance would land around all sides of Tree Hill intent on retaking the lost city. “For a warrior waiting years for something to happen, he didn't seem to care much that the army he was waiting to arrive got destroyed.” — Saiden Scarlet As the Lucernian/Gondorian/High Forest alliance destroyed the Orcs that had held the Gondor siege of Minas Ithil for many years immediate plan became the movement of portions of this army towards the besieged city of Tree Hill. Jurden over the decade of the siege had become obsessed with maintaining his own power, and had basically become uninterested in actually ending the siege through conventional means. Alongside this he also had a growing belief that the humans were completely useless and for all of these reasons Jurden Hardaxe made no effort to double his scouts or anything that might have assisted him in stopping the coming ambush. And if all of this added up wasn't enough he was also still being whispered to by Morrigan who was telling him that the crisis was the other Orcs in the area. Following the gathering of the forces of the alliance in the area they would organize themselves into seven main armies. The 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 7th armies would travel towards the port of Klausburg. Landing at Klausburg they would meet with the local leadership there and made their decisions on the direction of there forces. The 1st, 3rd and Fourth would move up the Oakheart River and land near Castle Prennig where they would move from there towards Tree Hill. The 7th army would be sent up the Bresklo River where it would land at the ruins of Glendt Hold. The seventh army would be joined in this campaign by forces mobilized from House Brentfurd as well as House Winklebock. The 2nd army would land at Vinterbold Hold north of Tree Hill and joined by forces from the area they would prepare to move to Castle Interbold and then to the north side of Tree Hill. The 5th army led by the Westerlands Arch Lord would land at Castle Hackenholt where they would move against Tree Hill from the west. The final army in the 6th army would be formed from the southern vassals of the Stormlands and led by House Crane they would move themselves to the city of Leiblinshire where they would attack towards Tree Hill form the south. Army Name Leaders of Army Prominent Noble Families Size of Forces First Army William Lovie III. Marcel Lovie II. Christopher Bell House Lovie House Shephard House Faraday 49,000 Light Infantry 15,000 Heavy Infantry 4,000 Light Infantry 1,000 Heavy Cavalry Second Army Charles Swan Hedrik Clegane III. Mildred Gleckourd House Swan House Clegane House Kohne 49,000 Light Infantry 15,000 Heavy Infantry 4,000 Light Infantry 1,000 Heavy Cavalry Third Army Eddard Starke Dickon Tarly Robert Baratheon Jamie Lannister Tyrek Lannister Hanzal Reyne House Starke House Baratheon House Tarly House Lannister House Reyne 28,600 Light Infantry 7,000 Heavy Infantry 6,000 Light Cavalry 4,000 Heavy Cavalry Fourth Army Tari-Aragorn Elessar II. House Elessar 8,600 Men at arms 1200 Knights Fifth Army Liam Greymane II. Andrew Garfield Dennis Ordos Franklin Brent IV. House Greymane House Brent House Crowley House Darkmore 43,000 Light Infantry 8,000 Heavy Infantry 12,000 Light Cavalry 4,000 Heavy Cavalry Sixth Army Natalie Highport Robin Highport Atharid Grondahl Orival Crane House Highport House Crane 17,000 Light Infantry 500 Knights Seventh Army Timone Swift House Swift 27,000 Light Infantry 3,000 Heavy Cavalry The arrival of the vast armies of William Lovie III. would have major effects on those forces already around the Stormlands. The first major effect was following the news of victory at Minus Ithil. House Guntbold who had been named the Arch Lord of the Stormlands following the collapse of Tree Hill realized that with the goals of William becoming clear they were going to have to pick a side in the coming conflict. It was Lothar Guntbold that would push his nephew Edric Guntbold who was at the time the Arch Lord of the Stormlands to see the error of the side they had picked and to call a council of House Guntbold. Following this call it was Lothar that left Guntbold Hold to return to Lucerne and be at the side of his friend James Lovie II. The council would be attended by all members of House Guntbold except for Winfred Guntbold, and his wife Ophellia who remained at Klausburg but sent their son Winfred Guntbold II. to act in his stead. At this meeting it was decided that House Guntbold would change sides to William Lovie III. and would send both Winfred Guntbold II. and Athilda Guntbold to William Lovie III. to open this dialogue. The pair would take a ship from Guntbold Hold and travel along the rivers of the Valley of Lucerne where they would eventually stop at Vindale Hold which they knew would be the eventual crossing point of the armies of William in their move back west. When the fleet of William arrived Vindale Hold it was Athilda and Winfred that would meet with the leadership of the army revealing details of the area. “For a warrior waiting years for something to happen, he didn't seem to care much that the army he was waiting to arrive got destroyed.” — Saiden Scarlet The night was spent with Athilda meeting with William, and members of the Shadow Council and it was during this meeting that Edward Cullen discovered her Magi abilities and confronted her on why she did not reveal this before meeting with the prince. Telling them her fear of reprisals she was forgiven by the group and continued to tell them about the situation in the Stormlands. Athilda would let the group know that the Guntbolds were willing to assist William despite what was a top-down command from King James Lovie II. to not assist his army in the movement against Tree Hill, but she wanted assurances that the Guntbolds would not be punished following the campaign. Needing more forces, and not wanting resistance from human forces as they moved against Tree Hill it was William that made the decision to agree to this arrangement. With this agreement in place, it was Winfred Guntbold II. that would travel back to Guntbold Hold with the Guntbold ship to tell the Guntbold leadership about the agreement. Athilda would remain behind in part as a hostage of sorts but her good impression on the Shadow Council had led to her joining them as an advisor of sorts. Clearing the South “Three kingdoms working together for the common good. It was inspiring to finally have a king I could believe in. For my entire life I have followed a king who while he may have been good once, I don't think I even remember that. From this moment forward son I will die to protect William Lovie III.” — Eddard Starke Clearing the West Clearing the North Clearing the East Retaking the Capital Leven Martell arrived on the field only a day before the battle would happen with a large force of House Martell and her father's writing of support. “The closer we got to night the more I came to understand that the world would be much different after I liberated Tree Hill. Without a single doubt in my mind I now understood that my father had done this. My father was responsible for all of the wrongs in Lucerne, and once this happened there would be no more quests to keep me from the simple fact that he had to die. My father had to die for what had happened here.” — William Lovie III. Waiting for the night to come William would be able to watch for the first and last time the Orcs setting off their massive drums and horns in order to force the defenders to be unable to sleep during the night and thus exhausted during the day. Hearing this many among the attacking army grew even more angry at the fact that the defenders had been forced to endure this for all this time without anyone helping them. William would spend the night with Leven, Jasper, Emmett, and Edward as the Shadow Council as they were not openly to each other calling themselves spent a few last hours with each other before they all knew everything was going to change. Finding themselves greeted throughout the night by every lord who not wanted to speak to William they couldn't help but see how different things had become for the naive group. During one of these meetings he would talk with Charles Swan who by this point he was beginning to view as a father of sorts, and discussing with him his relationship with Isabella he would bring up the idea of a betrothal. Charles was happy about this and agreed on the spot, and following this agreement it was Charles and William that would meet together with many of the remaining nobles and this betrothal was brought up during many of these meetings thus spreading word of its agreement. The Orcs by this point had no contact with their scouts, and yet they still remained completely unaware. Morrigan would at this point make her final step towards sealing the fate of Jurden Hardaxe when she would convince Jurden to host a large party for his Orcs which made them all drunk and even less prepared. The Massacre “I hope they felt in their final moments all the pain of those who they had so cowardly killed years before, and tormented for years since. I hope they face an eternity of pain an anguish for what they have done.” — Charlie Swan As the night neared the Orcs would begin their party and the loud noise would alert the alliance that this was underway, and also awake most of the defenders of Tree Hill of whom were prepared for what many believed was the final attack. The party continued, and the alliance moved itself completely into position against the now scout less Orcish force, and pushed in many places all the way against the wall with the entire Orcish force within the city itself or dead outside. The night came and the army would move on their predetermined signal of which moved everything forward. The infiltration of House Scarlet into the under tunnels of the city begin as Saiden Scarlet led a large force of hundreds into the tunnels in the goal of reaching the estate of House James and once the attack was underway they would spring upon the already ambushed Orcs. From the west the forces of House Greymane, and House Ordos would move themselves through the broken shattered western gate and encountered hundreds of Orcs in differing stages of drunkenness and the fighting wouldn't spark any concerns from the Orcs as it was all believed still to be a part of the party. Seeing the ambush was underway it was at this moment that Morrigan finally ended the charade and came upon Jurden while he was standing in his residence. “Sometimes Brooke you play the long game. You see if you lie to someone for so long he eventually believes that it is truth. For how could anyone keep up a lie for as long as you do. Once they no longer believe you lie, they believe everything that you say. You can whisper the most dangerous of things to them, and they will drink everything you give. Then finally when the moment is complete you may spring. Spring the final trap on the fool who allowed himself to die.” — Morrigan Aftermath “Its one thing Leven to win this battle. Once we win this battle, because I believe we will. Once that happens the time to return home is upon us. You know what we will find in Lucerne. You know what victory here means. It means the death of my father.” — William Lovie III. The battle would end with the complete destruction of the Orc army and the liberation of Tree Hill. When the armies of Lucerne and Gondor entered the remains of Tree Hill, they found the sad remnants of a once truly mighty city. Food, aid and supplies were rushed to the city, but before the true rebuild could begin Andrew Lovie would take the reigns of the King of Lucerne following a duel with his father.

Nortburg Tournament of 5125 Look out there Alice. Did you ever imagine we would be hosting men, Dwarves, and Elves for what is quickly becoming our honeymoon.

Nortburg Tournament of 5125 Main Article : Nortburg Tournament of 5125 “A tournament signals that the reign of the new king will be one of great success. I know that there is much to do, and no one understands that as much as I do. But we must also look to consolidate our holdings. You have a lot of goodwill and this will only help us later your grace.” — Jacob Vorn IV. Following the crowning of William Lovie III. as the new King of Lucerne he met with his council within the Lucernian capital and they went bout devising there next steps of action. Following some of the more extensive plans he met with the Shadow Council, and Jacob Vorn IV. of whom now stood as the King's Archbishop and the group would decide they needed to know more about the regions around them and also repair damage and they would do this by planning a tournament at Nortburg and invite foreign dignitaries to the tournament alongside the most influential of nobles of Lucerne. Also invited to the Tournament would be the Trachtenberg family of whom were the blood cousins of William Lovie incluing his uncle Frank Trachtenberg, and two cousins Michelle Trachtenberg, and Kristen Trachtenberg all of whom William wanted to repair relationships with most specifically with Michelle who he came to understand had been treated quite terribly by his father. The Trachtenberg side of the family had become distant due to several instances, most notably the imprisonment of Bill Lovie's cousin Katia Lovie the Matriarch of House Trachtenberg in the city of Berne. True Sons of Lucerne “William you need to understand that Berne is hell itself. Your brother is losing control more and more every day. We are attempting to control the situation but its a tinder box waiting to explode.” — Hanna Arryn A large force under a white flag and led by Kieth Schwartz, and Alistair Bedregen arrives at the tournament ground carrying also the flag of the True Sons of Lucerne. The arrival of these True Sons would cause William himself accompanied by the Shadow Council and Charlie Swan to confront them and while at first wanting to bar them from the tournament as they were basically traitors the arrival of Hanna Arryn, and Aria Arryn would lead to William speaking privately with Hanna and Aria. Speaking to the two alongside Leven Martell, and Charlie Swan he would discover that the situation in Berne was growing completely out of control and that was why they had agreed to all the demands of Sean Lovie and had come here. Seeing that his friends were in grave danger he would agree to play along with the plans of the True Sons and allowed Danzal to take part in the tournament. Following this meeting with Hanna and Aria he would meet with Kieth Schwartz who was like an uncle to him during his childhood and the two would talk over everything that had happened with Kieth admitting to everything and for the first time giving William a true glimpse at what Bill had been going through and why he had chosen to do all the things that he had done. Another of the members of the group to come under the flag was Harrold Hardyng of whom as a dire hard member of the rebellion against Sean Lovie would sneak himself into the force with the help of Alistair and when he arrived he met with Teri-Jacob Vorn IV. and together in secret the two worked out steps for Harrold to take to help with the eventual retaking of Berne. Look at the world father. You were born into this land. You grew up here. These people swore their lives to you. How could you have done all of this? Look at everything you have done. You destroyed a city. Killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. Don't end it all here. Don't do this. For me father. For everything I supposedly mean to you. Don't do this. "Tell me about Amber." "She is safe but misses you dearly." "I know you may not feel the same way, but I want you to know how truly amazing it is to see you again Will." His face rose with a smile as he looked at me and it brought me back to thinking about the man who had helped teach me how to swim when I was a boy. He was a constant throughout my youth taking on my fathers role for those months when he could barely leave the tower. "You know I cannot same the same. And you know why." "I want you to know that I am sorry. I want you to know that he is sorry." "Do not speak of him here or this conversation will end." "That hatred that you feel. That's what drove him William." "I know my friends would never let me do the things you let him do." "Your friends love you. As your fathers love him." "Love doesn't mean you let those you love go mad with no attempt to stop them." "You look at it now and believe that if you started talking about killing your own daughter that what Jasper would stop you. Leven would stop you." "They would. As you fucking should have!" I knew I was being too loud. The tournament was not even close to starting so the numbers here were low, but this was all so fresh. I could not be seen as being my father. "They would do as we did. They would speak to you like I spoke to your father. I told him of the madness of what he was thinking. I told him that he had lost himself in that damn book. I did everything your friends would do. The only further step I could have taken was the one thing I could not do." "They would." "Look me in the eyes William and tell me that you truly believe that one of those people hovering outside this tent would ever raise a sword against you." Following the conversation between Kieth, and William Kieth would leave the tournament as he was a soldier of Bill Lovie and not Sean Lovie and did not care if the plan of Sean succeded or not, and thus he would return to Orleans where he would report to Bill Lovie about the conversation that he and William had. With the departure of Sean Lovie the remaining elements of the True Sons of Lucerne were mainly William loyalists and in this way he would meet again with Hanna but this time she introduced them to House Krinner and House Dorin of whom led by Harrold Krinner, Trailen Dorin and accompanied by prominent heirs in Danzal Krinner, and Trailen Dorin II. they would be shown to be loyalists who were more then ready to assist when the time came to destroy the forces of Sean Lovie. The Riverlands Meeting the Elves Following the Second Battle of Minus Ithil the Elves of High Forest would come to understand that the alliance between Gondor, Lucerne, and High Forest was something that they should work towards and as they followed the Lucernians into the relief of Tree Hill they would also send a large force to Nortburg to celebrate at the tournament. Alongside sending a force led by Taflarion Stormrage, and his wife Helian Stormrage, and their daughter Tonlia Stormrage, alongside her husband Cadwyr Winterdew the High Forest government back in the capital would also make several large movements for advancing the alliance itself when Malfurion Stormrage would contact the forces of the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas, and the Atmer Empire and told the two forces that they needed to send forces to the tournament as the new king of Lucerne was someone who truly was willing to try and change things for the better. The Sindar Elven Kingdom of Quel'Thalas sends representatives in the form of Alleria Windrunner, and Marinda Oakwhisper to the tournament as well with the purpose of arranging a stronger relationship with the Kingdom of Lucerne's new King. The Atmer Empire would send members of the Atmer Elven great house in the form of the House of Finwe to the tournament and these Elves used Magi portals to enter the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas and then travelled into Lucerne alongside the force led by Alleria. These Atmer Elves would be the first of the High Elves to enter the Kingdom of Lucerne in an almost uncountable time and led by Elendil Finwe III., his daughter Alais Finwe, and sons Talais Finwe, and Anar Finwe IV. of whom have come to discuss an alliance with William and Lucerne. The Elves appear very honorable about their intentions and the talks go well, with Hedrik Clegane III. leading the negotiations with the High Elves, and despite eventually leaving it would be so successful that William would make his intentions known to them by inviting the Elves to found a small settlement in Frosthelm. The Elves like the idea and Elendil sends his sons back to Ulthuan to make the arrangements while he will accompany William for the next while. End of a Betrothal “He's a monster.” — Sansa Starke The Starke's had come on mass to the Tournament of Nortburg and during this time it was believed that Sansa Starke, and Joffrey Lannister would get a lot of time together to get to know eachother, and while this was true with Joffrey, and Sansa going on a walk together and having a good time, this would alter dramatically later that night. The Manderlys As the tournament is only a few days from starting the final invitees arrive in the form of the Manderlys of whoom William meets with several representatives of the Manderlys who control the White Knife and during this conversation he and his father in law Charlie Swan are able to arrange a marriage between Winfred Manderly, and Miley Black. In this arrangement he and Charlie Swan decide that they will send Lucas Scott of whom is deemed by many to be the hero of the Siege of Tree Hill and thus someone they want to remain close too, but also William has become obsessed with Brooke Scott and thinks on her constantly believing that this will give him a chance to see her again. Arrival of Brooke Scott “Our being together was not a mistake William. Our being together has led us to this moment. No matter what way you look at this our child will be amazing. Our love guarantees that.” — Brooke Scott Following the end of the tournament William and the group prepare to return to the capital where they will plan out the reconquest of Berne, but this changes with the arrival of Brooke Scott of whom breaks down crying in front of him as he stands with Leven, and Jasper and William quickly takes her away from the two into a back room where before he is able to say anything she reveals her stomach showing she is nearly four months pregnant from the time they last saw each other. Realizing in that moment she appears more pregnant then Bella he ponders the consequences of this but she doesn't demand anything just wishes him to help her with her grandfathers funeral.

Battle of Berne

Main Article : Battle of Berne

The Battle of Berne This is where this divide ends. After we take this city there is nothing stopping the Kingdom of Lucerne from becoming exactly what we always dreamed it would be.

“The fact that Sean was able to escape was a black eye on the Kingdom of Lucerne, and no matter what anyone said as long as he lived there would be no improvement for us. He had to die or else we would be nothing more then a joke to the rest of Europe.” — William Lovie III. With the valley clear of Bill, and Sean Lovie, William went about attempting to gain control by eliminating those that were loyal to his father, but most of all he declared war on his father's supporters and very soon after doing this he came to understand that Sean Lovie had taken control of the city of Berne which he didn't even know existed. Under Alistair Bedregen the loyalists loyal to William were sending word to William outside Berne for the first bit of the control by Sean and thus for this early time they knew many of those loyal to Sean or at least to afraid to resist Sean. With this knowledge William rallied the Order of the Red Dragon, alongside a large force of House Lovie and sent this large force to besiege Berne. When his forces arrived there he they saw that Berne was a death trap, and that while they could feasibly attack the city the casualties would be horrendous and on top of that they might not even succeed. Knowing this William ordered them to dig in, and make sure no assistance came from land, and they were forced to live off the small parcel of land within Berne, and to burn through their internal supplies. With the front door shut for the moment William went about his plan to take control of Berne which would revolve around building a tunnel from Lucerne into the rear of Berne and fighting inside from that direction, while also hoping to starve out the defenders so that they would surrender. As William devised his plan where they would complete the underway in its route to Berne and thus they would break in behind the defenses and take the city from within, the Order of the Red Dragon begin having difficulties holding the main entrance as the Orcs in the region were a constant problem. Knowing they needed to be somewhat quick with their siege they were in trouble as unfortunately the tunneling behind Berne would take some time, and so he needed to block the front of Berne without having his army sitting there for the four years the underway would take to complete. “The Kingdom of Quel'Thalas could either close the gap that existed, or leave it open. It all depended on the whims of Elves, and they had never showed themselves to be willing to take chances in order to help others so I wasn't exactly betting on their assistance.” — William Lovie III. In order to do this William sent emissaries from the Order of the Green Dragon to meet with the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas whose forest extended close to the boundaries of Berne and thus would be able to assist in blocking them in if they so chose to do. The Order of the Green Dragon was sent and led by Demi Hill of whom was accompanied by Franklin Brent and his wife Karyl Reyne who led a force of some six hundred House Brent forces alongside three hundred men led by Dexter Hill to act as guards for the mission. When his emissaries arrived they were greeted by Legolas, and Alleria Windrunner of whom were accompanied by nearly three hundred Sindar Elves, and they would greet them with friendship and take them to Darnassus. Traveling through the woods of Quel'Thalas its Franklin, Karyl, and Demi that discuss the current situation in the area and discover that the Quel'Thalasian Elves are not the only major Elven power in the area as Alleria tells them about Lothlorian. While being there to make an alliance with Quel'Thalas its Demi Hill and Franklin that both make mental notes to discuss also furthering the Lucernian presence in the area by also forming a relationship with the Kingdom of Lothlorian. In Darnassus they would be treated to a beautiful feast and Alleria took Franklin and his wife around the capital before they would have the meeting later that night. Seeing the size and beauty of Darnassus, and the kindness of the Windrunner siblings Franklin would have a very high opinion of the Sindar Elves, and he took this opinion into the meeting that night. At the meeting they found that Quel'Thalas was willing to do this in return for an alliance with them which Demi Hill was quick to give them, as William was more then willing to make an alliance with the Elves. Not just happy with an alliance the it was Alleria Windrunner that would offer Franklin and the members of the Lucernian entourage a chance to visit the Dor'Danil Barrow Den where they would be able to enter the Emarald Dream if they so choose. “Enter the Emerald Dream, and discover who you really are.” — Tular Windswift After discussing what would happen there its the groups decision that they will all accept this gift except for Demi Hill, and outside of Demi they are then taken by Clintar Dreamwalker of whom is the Arch Druid of Quel'Thalas, and Saelar Dewwalker of whom is the Guardian of the Claw and leader of the Dor'danil Barrow, to the Dor'Danil Barrow Dens which are located on the edge of Darnassus. While the group spends several days in the Barrow Dens a letter arrives from William stating that a revolt has broken out in Hillsbrad and since they are closer Franklin is tasked to travel there with all speed and end the revolt. The Quel'Thallasians reveal that they can portal Franklin and a small group to near Hillsbrad as there is a forest there with a way stone and Demi Hill agrees that once he wakes from the Emerald Dream he will go there through the portal and gives the letter to Alleria who will give it to Franklin. Following the agreement its Legalos that would lead a force of some two thousand fighters to a forward forest that they would fortify and from there they would be able to adequately block the Orcs from being able to interfere in any real way. So with the front door closed his forces returned to Lucerne while a small contingent remained along with a larger force of the Elves of Quel'Thalas. Franklin Brent and his group wake from the Emerald Dream and with Alavanna holding a visablly shaken Franklin of whom is in tears as he wakes from the Emerald Dream, and taking him by the arm she leads him to a meeting room where Clintar, and Nylindia wait inside. The group sits together and as Franklin slowly recovers from waking from the Emerald Dream they discuss that Tular, and Alavanna will be joining him as he travels not back to Berne, but instead travels through a portal formed for them in Darnassus taking them to a small forest east of Hillsbrad where Franklin is told William Lovie III. has sent him a letter which after reading Franklin nods and asks for them to take him to the portal. As Demi Hill was leaving to return to Berne it's Alleria Windrunner that said that she would be joining them with some two hundred heavily trained and equipped Sentinels at the main Lucerne camp, and this was once again quickly accepted by Demi Hill. Meeting Ezio Ederiz See Also : Ezio Ederiz “There were two option when it came to Ezio Ederiz. Option one was that he was a trap. Sean had sent him to make us believe him and we would be caught in a trap of his making. Option two was that he was telling the truth. If this was correct then we couldn't just ignore him, but the real question was how would we ever know until it was too late to turn back.” — William Lovie III. As things were happening outside the city and making the siege move positively inside the city there was chaos as Sean Lovie lost his mind and was the source of madness and chaos for the citizens. Ezio after saving the life of Thomas Lovie and watching Allison Arryn die would decide to move aggressively to allow William into the city, and thus would make his way to the western tower and prepare to send a message to the Lucernians sieging the city. Ezio enclosed in the message the entirety that he knew about the defenses of Berne, and a message that the city was ready to be joined with William's forces. He had hoped that if he gave as much information that William would still attack even if he didn't believe Ezio, but he also understood the distinct possiblity that William wouldn't believe him and would just continue to siege the city. Ezio waited at the tower for some time alongside the rebels that he had gained control of, and waited patiently for a response. He got his anwser when a Lucernian messenger approached the tower, and sent a letter up to Ezio. In the letter William told Ezio that he needed to come down from the tower so that they could discuss this, and that no harm would come to him if he did this. For all Ezio knew William had become his fathers son since the last time he had seen him, and thus suffering from the same madness as his brother, but he knew he had to do something so he trusted the devil he didn't know over the mad man that he did. Ezio gave command of the tower over to his top man in the form of Martin Arryn of whom had snuck his way into the tower and convinsed the men to join the rebellion. “I felt fear being pulled alongside those golden armored men. This whole thing just reminded me why I didn't get personally involved in these political matters. As I regretted my decision to put myself in this kind of danger I remembered the brave look in Amber's eyes as she surrendered herself to save her child. If she could have that kind of strength then I could, and would do everything in my power to save her.” — Ezio Ederiz When Ezio got to the bottom of the tower he was grabbed by some five men all clad in golden armor, and these men escorted him to the Lucernians camp. One of the men identified himself as James Junnsworth and told Ezio that if he planned to harm the king he would be doing it over all of their bodies. When he arrived at the camp he immediatly knew which one William was when he saw the golden haired boy walking up to him in his magnificant armor. Restrained by the men around him he saw how little he was trusted by the arranged forces, but he wasn't bitter as he could understand their fear. He spoke as best he could and told William of what was happening inside the fortress, and that every day they delayed the citizens inside were being killed in ever increasing numbers. As the conversation continued Ezio accompanied William inside his tent with Jasper, Leven, Marcel Lovie II., and Draco Highmore and then spoke openly of the murder of Allison, the rapes, and for Andrew the most horrifying news that Amber Heard was captured and now held in a cage beside Sean's throne. Ezio would at this point tell William about much of the things he had done for his father, and would make William understand that he had done all he could to help him after he had learned how brilliant and how much potential William had. Leven would suggest that during their initial attempts to clear the gatehouse that much of what Ezio suggested he did made sense as to why they found it so easy in certain places to get what they wanted. Infiltrating the Tower First Tower of Berne Peak “For whatever it was worth I believed him. I looked in his eyes and it told me that he was being truthful. In this world you really have to trust your gut, and my gut was telling me to go all in on this.” — William Lovie III. With Ezio done telling him what was happening William told him he needed some time to think and that while he trusted him, he needed to plan on the best way forward. Ezio told him that he had control of the first tower, and thus he could get some of William's men inside that tower if that would make him feel better about the whole thing. William liked this plan, and it was then that he asked whether or not Hanna Arryn, and her sister Aria were safe inside the city, and Ezio told him that House Arryn was now in hiding in the city outside of Byron Arryn who was being forced to sit and watch Allison's body be violated by Sean Lovie. Andrew was thankful that Hanna was fine, and because of this he told Ezio that he would have his anwser in an hour. With that William called in his commanders and they discussed their options about how to move forward. After talking for some time it became clear that they needed to gather more troops, and especially Andrew wanted to have some of his up and coming leadership involved so that they would feel important to him. He planned to travel to Forks where he would meet with these leaders and make them aware of their involvement and then they would launch the attack. He got Ezio back in the tent, and he told him that he needed to allow his men to take control of the first tower, and that this would amount to his test of loyalty. Ezio agreed without hesitation and left with Jasper, and Leven to make the arrangements of which Franklin Brent would volunteer to command the first forces into the tower. Emmett was left in command of the siege while William was gone alongside the commanders, and this would be the situation that was left as William left for Forks. Franklin Brent would lead a force of men alongside his friend Dexter Hill, and several others of whom they would enter the first tower using massive ropes hung down by the loyalist Arryn rebels within the tower. Meeting in Forks “It took days to travel to Forks, and days to travel back to Berne, and thus it's hard for me not to wonder what might have been had we of just moved against the fortress with just House Lovie's forces. Atleast I got to see Bella, and it was in the comfort that she offered me that I knew exactly why she was the one for me.” — William Lovie III. After talking to Ezio and having silently infiltrated the first tower with his help William accepted that this was the only plan that had any quick hope of success, and he now felt incredibly rushed due to the threat to the people inside the city of which there were many that he cared for on a deep level. In order to do this he needed the most elite force he could get, so he begin calling his banner houses in, as well as commanding several houses travel to Forks to meet him. All the houses that had been called clearly had to send representatives but when they arrived this mission clearly could be seen as a silent attack that didn't require huge numbers. House Crane, House Swan, House Scarlet, and House Lovie were the houses that would be leading the attack along with leadership from many other houses in Lucerne. Alongside this House Skane, and House Starke were sending numbers led by Robb Starke, and Torgon Skane of whom would join the other forces in entering through the main courtyard once the towers had fallen, or in the worst case even if they didn't fall. As William waited for Bella to arrive so that he could see her, he spent many hours talking with the leadership of the houses that were going to be involved of which included Orival Crane of whom he wanted to one day be a very important figure in the Kingdom of Lucerne, and he made this very clear to Orival as they talked. The Arrival of the reinforcements also brought news that House Jestife had started a revolt taking control of Brill, alongside a spreading rebellion elsewhere which were being handled by loyalists in House Clegane, and House Tyrell. In his talk with Orival Crane he and Hedrik discussed how William was trusting heavily in this traitor of the True Sons of Lucerne, and also discussed how his older lover Amber Heard had been captured likely as a last minute threat to William in order to make him turn back. It was late when Bella arrived in Forks, accompanied by Freddie Highmore, and Wilhem Martell - alongside a large force of House Martell, and House Shephard of whom were also sending forces to join the attack - and when they did he said his quick hellos to Freddie and Wilhem before he and Bella made their way to stay in room in the House Swan estate of which he was technically a member of House Swan. After being together romantically he talked openly about how scared he was of seeing Sean there, and also he feared that he was going to be made to make a choice in that final room between killing Sean and keeping his old friend Amber alive. Bella already knew of the old relationship between the two, as Alice had told her of this long ago, and because of this she understood that he didn't simply care for this girl, but he in fact loved her. Bella tried to make him feel better about it, but there really wasn't much you could say to that horrible of a situation so she just held him while he went through it all with her. That night he left Bella who was sleeping and went outside to speak with Leven of whom brought him a response letter from Brooke of whom had quickly sent a letter after William's had reached her. William would read the letter with Leven and Brooke sent her emotional support and told him how much she loved him, of which Leven at that moment didn't believe but didn't want to upset William. Discovery of Betrayal “I saw you once Your Grace. It was at the Battle of Minus Ithil. You were slashing and stabbing at the monsters and for a moment I stopped. Just stopped and watched you. All the fighting surrounding me and there I was watching you move like a god. I knew then that you were my king.” — Edric Nighting It was at this point that Edric Nighting would arrive in Forks where he had made the decision to turn against his family and reveal the plans of his family. Edric Nighting had several weeks before this begin hearing talk from his father and older brother that they planned to rise against House Scott and murder the Scotts in the city before taking control of Tree Hill itself. He would watch his brother in secret as his brother James Nighting II. followed Brooke Scott watching her movements, and watching her himself he discovered that she was the mistress of William Lovie III. through listening in on a conversation between Brooke and Haley Scott. Learning of this relationship between William and Brooke the loyal Edric Nighting would depart Tree Hill by horse with his friend Hanzal Grightling heading towards Forks where they had heard William Lovie III. was meeting with his wife and the leadership of Forks. Arriving at Forks the two would quickly gain an audience with the king of whom was surrounded at the time by Charlie Swan, Leven Martell, and Bella Swan, and seeing how influential the group was Edric would immediately tell the king what he knew which horrified the group of whom had already rallied their forces and was planning to move out the next day to Berne. Realizing the main forces still needed to go to Berne he would command Jasper Hale to lead a secondary force to Tree Hill in order to defend the Scott's once the Nighting's moved against them, and after discussing it was decided that Jasper would move south through the province of Rosten where he would summon a force from that province's lord in House Elric alongside Northern Tree Hill's lordn in House Guntbold and then lead them southward to Tree Hill. “Tell me Jasper how it is fair that your love for him is more valuable then my own. He doesn't love you any more then he loves me. So tell me the truth why you must always stand by his side?” — Leven Martell Following the breaking up of the meeting Jasper, Leven, and Bella would follow William back to his tent where Jasper would convince William to take him with him to Berne and instead send Leven to Tree Hill. Making up excuses about why she needed to go instead of him Leven was left shocked by what Jasper did and thus limply accepted this change of plans, and with a kiss to her forward she and William would say goodnight and following this Jasper and Leven left the tent. Leaving the tent Leven would follow Jasper trying to get him to explain himself, but he refused until she became quite agitated leading to an argument between the long time friends. Fighting loudly forced Jasper to take the argument into his tent where he would reveal that he did not trust her abilities to protect William considering how in love with him she was, and following this she would punch him in the face before returning to her own tent. The next day William, Jasper and the larger force from Forks would leave the city leaving Leven and a few hundred men at arms and knights to move south towards Castle Elric where she would go to defend the mistress of her beloved. Sneaking Inside “This was the moment thousands had been waiting for. The moment my brother's madness would finally come to an end.” — William Lovie III. When William Lovie arrived back at Berne flanked by the forces of House Swan, Scarlet, Crane, Starke, Martell, Skane, and many of their vassals he entered the command tent and prepared alongside his commanders the method by which they would do this. Ezio told them that the only real way into the valley of Berne was to take control of the towers defending the passes, and this was possible since they controlled the first tower. From the first tower they would attack the second tower, and then the third, and fourth control towers which would allow them to bring the entire army into the Valley where the defenders would be unprepared for their entry. Once this was achieved they must take control of the fifth tower which was inside the City of Berne itself and was connected through a long tunnel which could be locked from the inside meaning if they failed to take it before they were noticed it would be shut and they would have to attack the main walls. “I felt fear being pulled alongside those golden armored men. This whole thing just reminded me why I didn't get personally involved in these political matters. As I regretted my decision to put myself in this kind of danger I remembered the brave look in Amber's eyes as she surrendered herself to save her child. If she could have that kind of strength then I could, and would do everything in my power to save her.” — Ezio Ederiz With this plan in place William Lovie would send the forces of House Scarlet led by Darion, and Saiden Scarlet to enter the First Tower where they would push their full forces and they alone would be responsible for working alongside the rebels in order to take control of the towers. They would be assisted by the Order of the Golden Dragon of whom was forced to follow William Lovie of whom was going to assist here alongside Edward Cullen and several members of the Order of the Blue Dragon, as well Orival Crane would convince William to let him join the forces attacking the towers. Entering the tower and joining the Arryn loyalists, and Franklin Brent and his forces that had initially taken control of the tower from the rebels and had held it while the main forces gathered. At that final moment Robb, and Jon Starke joined the assault group and this would force William to also take Wilheim alongside with him as Wilheim now wouldn't take no for an answer. The Battle “The Towers all held so many moments where everything could have gone terribly wrong. It was by the shere luck of the dragon that we were able to sucede as easily as we did.” — Saiden Scarlet With the main force now preparing to enter the first pass into Berne they only needed to see the response from the second tower to know when to move in, and they would get that call the first night as they would be signaled by a flag hanging from the wall set out by the tower forces. The Tower forces would wait until night, and that night as they moved forward the few guards meant to make sure such infiltration of the towers were not possible were rebels and thus they allowed the tower forces to infiltrate the towers, and within they found the mercenary forces of Sean Lovie in the form of the Stormblown. The fight for the tower was swift as with most of their forces asleep the few on sentry duty found themselves being attacked by a huge number of troops flooding into the tower. As the Stormblown moved to raise the alarm they found the alarm room locked, and when they finally broke inside they found inside several rebels of whom killed the Stormblown that tried to enter the room. With the tower taken Orival Crane would raise the flag thus giving the main force the safe call to enter the first pass. Torgon Skane alongside the other commanders would move their forces alongside the Elves and reached the very edge of the first pass as the attack move forward, and during this they also moved forward with the siege machines that everyone hoped they would have no need of using. At the third tower they would basically be allowed in as the rebels had taken complete control over this tower, and the few members of the Stormblown that were present inside the tower were barely able to get out of their beds before they were killed by the vengeful rebels and the incoming Lucernians. “I watched each flag go up and each time a piece of me felt better as I knew my king was safe for yet another moment. It was his bravery that made people love him, but in these moments his braveary was horrifying for those of us who were forced to watch from afar.” — Joshua Jackson The fourth tower was the true test of the attack as while it was held by the forces of House Krinner who was a member of the rebellion the tower held the largest contingent of the Stormblown outside of the city itself. Robb Starke, and Wilheim Martell alongside Robb Starke would lead a contingent of forces east of the tower to cut off any kind of relief once the main attack went forward, and with that the main assault could begin on the fourth tower. As the Lucernians made their way into the tunnels approaching the fourth tower they were spotted by a Stormblown soldier of whom alerted the rest of the force to a betrayal, and with this becoming clear the forces of House Krinner would assemble under the command of Danzal, and Benjamin Krinner of whom defended the tunnel route heading towards the fifth tower so that none of the Stormblown could warn their comrades, and inside the tower House Krinner under the command of Oskar Kinner the defenders would block the gate into the alarm room thus preventing for a time the forces of the Stormblown from gaining entry to the alarm. A fierce battle would commense between the defenders in House Krinner and the Stormblown. As the forces of Lucerne attempted to enter the fight they were forced to attack through defended barriers quickly set up by the forces of the Stormblown in order to resist the attackers. During the fighting here Darion Scarlet would become famous for defeating the Stormblown second in command in single combat after they entered the last room of the tower and it was held by the Stormblown second in command. With his death the rest of the Stormblown slowly surrendered, and with that the flag was raised and the main army understood that the way into the valley was clear. The Final Tower “The Sound of that horn going off could have meant the massacre of our entire force. It could have meant the deaths of thousands but the bravery of the three Arryn brothers. They could have stayed hidden and not risked death but instead they did what was right and resisted a tyrant and they saved thousands. History may say that I won that day but I know the truth of who was responsible for our victory.” — William Lovie III. As the main army moved into the valley silently in the darkness of the night the tower forces moved into the tunnels approaching the fifth and final tower. Ezio had told them that they had to get to the other end without being stopped or else the way would be blocked and there would be no way in except a truly viscous fight for the valley. As they entered the tunnel and were only two minutes away everyone including the main force heard a massive horn go off, and the rebels told William that someone had set off one of the alarms of the towers. With this all sense of stealth went out the window and the tower force charged into the tunnel in the hopes of reaching the gate controls before it was shut. As they ran down the tunnel they watched as the massive portcullis gate was slowly shutting, and then suddenly as they were getting closer it slowed and then stopped and they could hear the cries of battle at the other side, and as they reached it they entered a brutal battle between members of House Arryn and the Stormblown who were trying to shut the gate. With the entry of the Lucernians the battle went away from them, but the Stormblown survivors were able to retreat in good form and make their way towards the Berne Keep where they would blow the alarm horn again and the Stormblown throughout Berne would retreat to the keep alongside those still loyal to Sean Lovie although that number was very slight now that House Arryn was in full rebellion. With the stormblown in full retreat the defenders that were on the wall moved completely into the rebellion allowing the main force to enter through the front gate, as the rebels opened the gate letting them inside. The rebels, and the tower forces would move throughout the city, and kill or capture anyone still flying the colors of the Stormblown and as well as this making sure that everyone knew that the city was Lucernian again and they had nothing to fear. Battle of Krinner Main Article : Battle of Krinner “As the Stormblown mercenaries, and the other True Sons were pushed back more and more the call from Sean was not for them to pull completely back, but instead it was for them to attack the estate of House Krinner where much of the women and children alongside nearly all of the nobility of the city had fled too. Thousands fleeing into the estate were never under the belief that they would be under threat, but that was proven wrong the moment the forces appeared near the walls.” — Paul Arryn As the Lucerne forces took the final tower before the wall there were some who suspected something was wrong, but all orders were that everyone stayed inside so no one was allowed to leave the inner fortress to investigate, and in order to occupy the forces he had at alert (and in order to further make sure the defenses failed as was hinted at by Sean Lovie during the final duel with William) Sean would command that they attack the House Krinner estate of which was the site of the retreating nobles of Berne. While the commoners and the vast majority of the population had fled into the deeper sections of the city, and to the walls where the more Lucernian houses guarded it was the nobles that fled into the estate of House Krinner. Other then the nobles and politically far more important then that was the fact that Alistair Bedregen had retreated into the Keep alongside Thomas Lovie of whom was the true target of Sean Lovie this late in the fight. News reached them late that Alistair had gone there following the attempt on his life and Thomas and when it became clear this was where he was Sean would send basically everyone available including most of the defenses of the tunnel in order to try and kill Thomas. The estate itself was a sort of mini castle that was built into a large cave deep in the northern section of the city and was defensible from one large tower that covered the entire entrance, and from the ramparts built into the gatehouse. “Massing on the walls I could make out the hundreds of attackers that swarmed all around the courtyard. I knew what they would have to do to take us, and I just prayed we were strong enough to resist.” — Paul Arryn It was this spot that the forces of the Stormblown, and the other True Sons loyalist houses would move towards in heavy numbers in order to try and complete the commands of Sean Lovie. Some three hundred Stormblown (including many of their most elite members, and two of their top three commander) alongside some four hundred more True Sons loyalist (of which only the fifty from House Ignirt would actually take part in the battle while the rest simply miled about faking interest in the siege. House Ingirt would be this only truly loyalist element due to the fact that Lord Beren Ingirt's daughter Lia Ingirt, and heir Harren Ingirt were captives of the prince and he was basically blackmailed into supporting Sean Lovie's forces out of fear for his two children. The forces of the True Sons would charge out from the shadows and attack without even a call for surrender, as they were commanded to destroy them and thus no surrender was neccessary or warrented. Charging the walls they suffered accurate and deadly archer fire from the large tower that surveyed the courtyard, and the archers on the ramparts. During this charge Lord Beren Ingirt would fall with an arrow to the neck and with his death the forces of House Ingirt fell under the command of Beren's brother Brandon Ingirt of whom would silently slip away with most of the relief forces moving them towards the prison where they would take part in the taking of the prison. With no cover the Stormblown and others got to the walls much diminished but still with high strength, and once at the gate they bashed at it with quickly made battering rams and climbed the sides of the wall to get to the ramparts, while hoisting a large ladder against the tower. “I could see Trailen Dorin`s heir, and Danzal Krinner standing on the ramparts, and from their position they were able to shoot anyone that came up the ladder to the tower without any cause for fear from the ground. On the tower they were just massacring those on the ground with a nearly endless stream of arrows into their ranks. At the gate I stood with my shoulder against it alongside my men as we tried to buy more time for the archers to thin their numbers even more.” — Paul Arryn   The men attempting to get up the ladders and climbing the walls suffered terribly as the tower was able to hit the men climbing with ease while the ramparts were hitting the men climbing for the tower, and thus it all came down to the gate. During this initial fighting the defenders on the walls were joined by Alistair of whom desperate to make sure that Thomas survived would take a bow and fight on the walls where despite his age he would fight bravely before being hit by an arrow from the ground, and fell dead at the age of nearly seventy three. It was near this point that Vaedin Stormblown`s next brother Sordin Stormblown was also shot through the chest by Danzal Danzal Krinner would make a further name for himself during the battle as he led the tower in its attacks and coordinated the fire very well. Krinner of which led to the final Stormblown son in Tolin Stormblown fleeing the field, and taking several other high level commanders with him as well. By this point the other houses of which had been milling about watching the siege, would retreat and pull back to their respective estates of which they decided was the only logical thing they could do as they would be most likely targeted by the Krinner estate for their believed betrayal. The battering at the gates was shattering it, and it was only a few more minutes before it finally came crashing down. Moments before it went down, Paul Arryn would gather with his most elite men, and forces of the loyalist houses, and prepare for a charge out of the gate. Warning the wall and tower that they were charging out, they opened the gate and smashed into the unsuspecting attackers outside the wall. Pushing them back the force fell back and was cut down from behind, killing nearly the entire force attacking but the loyalist forces returned into the keep to repair the gate and didn`t persue believing the larger force was incoming. At this point as the line melded together Hanna, Aria, and other noble ladies would move into the front and do their best to relieve the men by bringing water, and other supplies while helping to repair the gate. Taking of the Prison Hunting a Beast Morrigan would serve for the final time Bill Lovie in his command of her to go to Berne and murder Forder Braxton and stop him from killing several of the prisoners. By this point she was till under the directive of Flemeth to assist Bill Lovie and using this directive she would be more then happy to serve Bill Lovie who was beginning to attempt to silently assist his son one last time before he lost himself to madness completely. “I don't have much time before my mind is taken over again by the monster. Go to Berne and stop Forder Braxton. The monster in my mind has ordered him to kill as many people as he can in Berne, and I need you to stop this from happening.” — James Lovie II.   It would be Forder Braxton, and his son Markus Braxton that would be sent to Berne by James Lovie II. to represent the dealings of the Circle of Magi and a believed loyalist faction, although Bill Lovie had no intention of ever assisting Sean as he wanted William to gain victory, but this was not known by Fordor of whom arrived in Berne to find the city in Chaos and surrounded by the Lucernians. Traveling into the city through Magi he would meet with Sean Lovie and at this point he would join the upper tier of the leadership of the True Sons of Lucerne executing several loyalists alongside his son, but it would be only a few weeks before the city came under assault by the Lucernians. During the battle Fordor and Markus would wander the city of Berne killing at random as was their command by James Lovie if/and when the city fell, and reaching the prisons hoping to kill as many valuable hostages as he could before leaving Forder would be shocked to find Morrigan his old Circle of Magi partner waiting in the gallows before the prison entrance surrounded by the dead bodies of the Stormblown mercenaries guarding the prison. “You think you understand what Bill Lovie truly wants of you? Do you think you even have the slightest idea what that madman wants of you. This great king of yours killed hundreds for doing nothing more then asking why they should serve a madman. You stood by...I stood by as he murdered these men, women and children, and then we did it again...You come here because of reasons you could not even hope to understand. He commanded you to come here and murder innocent men, and women, and children, and at the same time he ordered me to come here and stop you. What kind of king do you follow? What kind of man do you worship at the feet of? What kind...I'll tell you now that you shouldn't follow a man who gets your son killed...” — Morrigan Confused why Morrigan was resisting him he told her he was only doing the work of James Lovie, and at this she would retort saying that so was she and then launched a killing spell at Markus, but it was deflected killing the two guards accompanying them, and then fighting Forder, and Markus who barely managed to resist her strength. As the three fought Forder, and Markus were no match for the more powerful Morrigan and Forder dropped his wand surrendering, but after surrendering he expected to be allowed to leave but Morrigan instead slew young Markus and then prepared to kill Forder but he unleashed a Magi blast at her and was able to escape through hidden tunnels. Duel with Sean Lovie William carrying Amber “Forgiveness is never easy. Bitterness is easy. Hatred is easy. But forgiveness, that's a tough one. Sometimes, people say things they don't mean or do things they can't take back. Sometimes we do things we can't take back. So we feed ourselves to starve the pain. I have to believe that's what happened to Sean.” — William Lovie III. With the civil war all but over the moment had come for the final confrontation with his brother. There wasn't really a doubt in anyone's mind who would win in a fight the difficult part of the coming fight was the fact that Sean had the emotional advantage through his capture and hostage taking of Amber Heard the first love of Andrew.  The room before the throne room was gaurded by James Nighting II. of whom laughed at them for not realizing that House Nighting was truly on the side of the True Sons of Lucerne. James and the three House Nighting men that were with him charged William and his group, and after a brief fight the four were killed by the far superior forces of William. Jasper held James down, and with a wave William commanded his death and Jasper ended his life. Surveying the rest of the room there were bodies stacked in the corner, of which not all were adults, and the the scope of the atrocities in this city were becoming clear. William before entering the throne room ordered Wilheim Martell to return to the camp at all speed and send word that House Nighting had betrayed them. They all knew that if House Nighting turned then who knew what sort of alliance might be present outside of Berne and with a large quantity of the loyalist forces besieging Lucerne they could be open for a betrayal. Amber Heard never thought she was going to survive to see William again, and the sight of him caused her to leap up and great pain as the chain around her neck kept her stationary. Before entering the final room William would also command Robb, and Jon Starke to lead forces to make sure that no holdouts would cause them any problems, while he briefly met with Alleria Windrunner of whom would wish him the best in the next room as she knew something about fighting siblings. She attempted to one last time make sure he understood that his brother had made his choice and that no amount of sympathy from his side would change what Sean had become. When Andrew entered the throne room of Berne flanked by Jasper, Edward, Emmett, Faye, and his elite guard they found Sean standing alone with nothing but the bound and strapped form of Amber Heard keeping him company. Looking around the room briefly he could see the ruined corpse of what he assumed from the words of Ezio was the poor Allison Arryn, and all along the wall he could see broken corpses of men and women that had obviously fallen victim to Sean's madness. “He sat the way you would expect any psychopath to be sitting when they were idle. He just had nothing in his eyes, and I had to try to force my mind to even remember a moment that he didn't look that way. My brother was gone. He was lost into madness, and no matter what he said he couldn't leave this room alive. After all the years and the pain he was going to pay for everything he had ever done.” — William Lovie III. As he entered the room Sean remained silent but the look on his face told Andrew that Sean had a plan and whatever happened this plan was something he believed could work. Amber Heard never thought she was going to survive to see William again, and the sight of him caused her to leap up and this led to great pain as the chain around her neck kept her stationary. Laughing at what had happened to Amber through the fact that she was crying and holding her neck the situation turned as William charged forward only stopped by Sean holding his sword to Amber`s neck. Look at the world father. You were born into this land. You grew up here. These people swore their lives to you. How could you have done all of this? Look at everything you have done. You destroyed a city. Killed hundreds of good men out of fear. Is this how you want to be remembered father. Is this the world you want to leave behind? I know you were a good person once. Don't end it all here. Don't do this. For me father. For everything I supposedly mean to you. Don't do this. ``Really brother. If I were you I would take a couple of steps backwards.`` Everyone stopped as he held the sword to Amber`s neck. I held my hands out to make sure he knew I was willing to atleast talk this out. As I did I noticed the windows in the corner of my eye which I noticed had archers in them. ``Thats right you listen to me now.`` Everyone just stood in place and I hated having him control even an ounce of anything in this world. ``Now that I have your attention tell everyone to leave. This is between me, you, and the bird.`` I looked behind me at Jasper and his eyes told me there was no way he was going to leave, but I knew he had to if I wanted to try and find a way into his mind and to somehow save Amber. Knowing about the windows I had to hope that there was some kind of back entrance into the throne room, and from there perhaps they could infiltrate the windows and gain the upper hand. Moving closer to the men I whispered to the group so lowly that poor Emmett with his poor hearing was forced to come nearly to kissing level. "We need to do what he says.``Seeing the rejection in their eyes I stopped it immediatly. ``There are windows all along this room, and I need you to get in them so that we can get a handle on this. Emmett, and Edward I can`t tell you what to do. If you want to go with Jasper and the windows then so be it. I would prefer if you saved as many innocents as you could. The rest of you wait in the last room and give those poor souls a cleaner end....they deserve better then to be piled in the corner like garbage. If I should fall.``Edward stepped forward``If I should fall you all must make sure under no circumstances does he leave this room. He cannot be allowed to survive this no matter what happens. Now go. We have little time.``Relunctantly they begin filtering out of the room to the sound of laughter from Sean behind me. ``Yes Sean you have us exactly where you want us, now tell me what you want.`` His laughter was the first thing that happened before he grabbed a key from behind his back and undid the chain around Amber`s neck. Pulling her farther away it took everything in me to not move forward and attack him on the spot. ``I don`t want anything brother. You see that`s the trick. You had the same repository of books that I did, and let me tell you something about the villians in a story. Sometimes the villians want something. They want gold to build a mighty castle. Or maybe they want a women." He swayed as he spoke flayling his arms about like a mad man. " In the end brother It doesn`t matter what they want, it just matters that they want something. You see its important that they want something because for this reason these villians you see, they can be bargained with. They can lose.`` Knowing where he was going I interupted him. ``And let me guess. Your the kind that wants nothing.`` Standing up taller before he spoke he pulled Amber closer to him, and I could see the tears flowing from her eyes. I tried my best to comfort her with my eyes, and her eyes followed suit with mine, and I could tell I had calmed her down. He pushed her to the ground holding the sword so close to her neck I could see a bit of blood fall before raising his face to me again with a twisted look to his face. ``I don`t mean to interupt your longing towards the Arryn whore. " He stared at me clearly trying to make sure that I got the message. "Good. Now that I have your attention again I'll tell you the secret." He looked so excited to say it, as if its was some secret. "I'm not the villian brother. That honor is for you.`` ``In what twisted world do you live where your not the villian. You are the same man who sits on a throne covered in the innocents that hes killed. Your the same evil that tried to molest his own sister, and now dares to threaten such a innocent as Amber Heard.`` "Its all a matter of perception." He pulled Amber back up to stand in front of him, and he begin to pet her hair causing a whelp from her. It took every piece of my control not to burst forward and kill him where he stood for touching a hair on her head. Controlling my increasing rage I spoke to the monster standing before me. "And what perception is that?" ``The perseption that comes from knowing the anwser to this question." He stopped and stared at Amber before looking back at me. "What makes her innocent my brother. Is her innocene borne from the fact that she opened her legs for you whenever you pleased...`` ``How dare you...`` "It is an honest question. I want you to tell me how this girl. This piece of meat. I want you to tell me right here, and right now what makes her innocent. " "She hasn't harmed anyone. She hasn't done a thing in this world other then be a good person." "And that makes her innocent, does it?" "Yes it does." "Your a fool." "You wish to brandish words around like a bunch of fish wives then do it your way. Or do you want to finally become a man and face what you've done." ``I get this moment brother. You forgot through your youth, that unlike you the rest of us out here in the world have things happen to them. Your the villian along with this whore because of what you have allowed to happen. One does not blame the virus for infecting its victom. You blame the monster who created the virus, and you my brother are the reason I am the way that I am.`` ``You want to find a way to escape the person that you are you need to find someone who cares for even a moment for whether or not you live or die.`` ``There it is right there. Don`t you see. It was that uncaring neglect. Outright hatred at times that left me utterly alone.`` ``You don`t get to blame becoming a monster on the fact that you and I weren`t best friends.`` ``I have the sword. I have the damsel. Those mean I get to say, and do whatever the fuck I want to do. Do you understand what I`ve done. Do you have any idea the scope of the things I`ve caused.` ...Continued Death is the End “As the minutes went by my brother fell into a darker and darker place, and despite knowing I should be pulling him back, I hated him so much in that moment that I basically pushed him off.” — William Lovie III. Watching his brother implode in front of him, and basically throw him in front of the bus for everything that had ever gone wrong for him in his life, wasn`t something that William was able to accept. William would begin badgering Sean and insulting him to the point that his brother begin to reveal to him certain darker acts then anything anyone had ever thought he was possibly involved in. Sean told him how he had become obsessed with seeing the death of this particulary noble girl of whom he refused to name but said she unimportant in the grand scheme of things, and that this obsession had followed him for years. Finally one night he had been invited to dinner for the first time in months and was told by Bill to not criticize anything throughout the meal or else he was never eating with them again. Tasting something horrible in the meal he ignored it and kept eating, and following this he said that a dark entity would offer him assistance and when he accepted he begin hearing terrifying voices in his mind. After going through all the terrible things he had done throughout this time he finally got to Berne where he told William that he just wanted to die. He just wanted to Amber watched as Sean appeared to fall apart in front of her, and all she could think was that she just wanted to live. She just wanted another chance with William. It didn`t matter that he had remarried. She just wanted to be with him again. escape all the pain that he was constantly bombarded with, but that as time went by nothing he seemed to do incited anyone to kill him, and this annoyed him even more. Sean would tell him that he had broken and abused Hedrik Clegane's now wife in Rachel Wood, and that he was responsible for the rape of countless other noble girls, and that he was specifically attempting to escalate it so that he could die, but no matter what he did he continued to escape justice. Sean would reveal to him how that night he had attempted to kill Alice it was as if this voice in his head was literally screaming, and it was screaming to ravish Alice. He had honestly been incapable of stopping himself, and despite trying he found himself constantly moving towards her room, and he had been glad that William had assaulted him. He told William that he had been forgotten by their father when he made the spell removing Alice and that he had followed her to Forks where he had watched her for months but was stopped by men of Bills from revealing anything to her. “I watched the first archer fall and in that moment I saw Jasper nod at me from the window followed by Emmett standing in the window with his own bow prepared to launch an arrow at Sean, but foolishly I believed I could talk him down. I also knew that any attempt to fire at Sean would most surely end with Amber`s death as Sean was too much of a coward to go down like that. I did know one thing though, with the one window down, it was only a matter of moments until the other three went down as well, and when that happened their would be an opening.” — William Lovie III. William watched as Sean devolved and saw Jasper kill one of the archers in the window thus revealing to him that they had found a way into the windows. Seeing there were only three other windows he waved away Emmett`s offer to kill Sean from the window as he knew it would end with Amber`s death. Sean seeing the look on William`s face would demand to know what was so interesting that his brother was ignoring him, and when William could not appease him enough Sean slashed Amber across the shoulder with a blade narrowly missing her head, but still causing serious damage. Seeing this Sean would pull a lever behind him which the moment after he did all the windows slammed shut with Stone portcullis, and the gate they had entered from also was barred with portcullis. Rushing to Amber he knocked Sean to the ground, and picked up Amber. Picking her up he realized instantly how bad the wound to her shoulder was as it had cut far too deep for anyone there to heal her, and he panicked knowing she was going to die. She held him tight, but he could feel her grasp on him loosening as her life left her. Closing her eyes he let out a cry as he believed she had died, and he held her tight crying into her shoulder before kissing her hard on the lips and then gently laying her down before moving towards Sean who was slumped against a post nearby. “As I walked to him, I knew this was the end. He would die in this moment. I didn`t expect him to be crying.” — William Lovie III. Grabbing Sean by the shoulders he found his brother crying, and Sean grasped onto Williams arms as if to try and hold onto him. There was no resistance, and as William held the sword to his chest he held a moment and looked into Sean`s eyes waiting for his last words. Sean in that moment would tell William that Bill still lived and had gone west to France, and would begin to start an apology when William stabbed him through the chest and covered his mouth with his hand. Looking behind him at the lifeless body of Amber he would proceed to be overcome with rage and strangle Sean as the last of his life left him. Getting up he walked back over to Amber, and ignored the sounds of crashing as his men attempted to break there way through the gate, and the windows. Kneeling beside Amber he ripped some cloth from his tunic and covered her wound not wanting her to be seen like this. As he wiped her wound her arm would move up and grasp onto his, and her final grasp for life would continue and it gave the two former lovers one last chance to talk to each other. The Rise of Lucerne I saw the destruction of the world, and knew I had to stop it. There was nothing left to do but become bigger then everyone else. The Empire was never going to be the beacon the world needed it to be. Westros was on fire. The Bretonians had reached for the stars and been burned. And the old shadow of Numeron was fading far too quickly. It was left to us in Lucerne to change the fate of all those who wished to reject darkness. We were the last hope for a world who had long since given up on believing. I could almost feel her leave me as there was a lifelessness to her eyes, and when I did I gently let her down to the ground. I left a kiss on her lips before closing her eyes and taking a moment to stare at the girl I had loved first in my life. She was the innocence of youth. The kind of person who is always the victim of monsters like my brother and that sad fact just left me more angry then any other death I had seen in my life. I had seen good men die in battle, but to look down at Amber and realize that she was just innocent, and had still died hurt me deeply. Hearing a sound come from Sean I gave one last kiss to her lips before letting her go, and turning around to find my brother. He had moved himself into the corner and was shaking while holding onto a large flag. As I went towards him I couldn't make out what he was saying, but to be frank it was not going to matter what he said. Sometimes men are just guilty and words cannot escape that fact. Reaching Sean I grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him to face me, while I took out a knife and held it to his throat. Turning him had revealed what the noise was as his face was covered in tears, and the sight of the sword made him pull himself towards it. ``Please William. Kill me now. I cannot live the things in my mind anymore.`` ``You murder someone as innocent as Amber and you dare to look for pity now.`` ``No pity brother. I want mercy.`` ``You do not deserve mercy. The things you have done are beyond imagining.`` ``Then punish me William.`` At these words I threw the dagger away and a look of sadness went to his face, before being quickly replaced by understanding when I pulled out my sword and aimed it towards his chest. ``No punishment in the world would ever be far enough to be justice. You deserve so much worse then I could ever give you.`` ``You are right brother.`` Sean begin to shake, and I swear I saw somesort of cloud come from his body towards the roof above us, and as it did he looked up at the roof of the room and a look of peace went over his face that just horrified me. I didnt want him to feel peace while she lay dead. He didnt deserve to feel anything even close to that. The things he had done were too much. ``I think its gone.`` ``No more talk.`` ``Perhaps just one more thing brother.`` ``Say your last words and be done with it.`` ``Our father went west. He went into the ruins of France.`` ``I will find him and give him the true death I will soon give you.`` ``I hope that you do William. I hope that you avenge everyone who has been hurt by him.`` I felt such overpowering rage as I looked at him that my eyes must have been showing it as he looked at me with a realization that it was over and he closed his eyes. ``Goodbye Will...`` Before he got the words out I stabbed him through the chest piercing his armor between the plates and he let out a sigh before going limp in my arms. I let him down with a loud bang as his body hit the floor, and leaving behind his body I went towards Amber wanting to just hold her one last time. Kneeling at her body I pulled her closer and held her tight to me. As I held her in my arms crying into her hair I felt her arms clasp themselves around mine and I looked into her face hoping beyond hope that she would live. I held her face with my hand and begged her to wake. My other hand held her wound with everything I could trying to somehow stop it. I pleaded with her, and I watched as her eyes flickered open. I hugged her tight knowing in my heart that I would want to always remember the feel of her life, as she was perfection, and it was a tradgedy that it had taken all of this for me to realize that. ``William... ``It`s alright my love. Just rest my sweet, Edward will come and...he will...he`ll find a way...``I hadn`t realized that I was crying until I couldn`t see from my eyes anymore, and I felt her hand wipe across my cheek clearing me of the physical signs of my sadness. ``William I love you...Thomas is your son.`` I didn`t understand. She had left, and no one had ever said a word. How many lies had been told to keep this from me. ``It was my doing. Don`t blame anyone but me for keeping it from you.`` "They all lied about where you had went...I loved you with everything in myself. I would have protected you from everything.`` Her eyes closed as the pain must have overwhelmed her. Looking at her shoulder the blood was smeared all across my hand as it was too large a wound for me to keep from gushing. ``I thought I could protect you. He told me he would kill you...he held a knife to your throat and bid me to leave. I`m so sorry William. I`m so sorry you never got to see him grow.``She stopped and coughed out blood, and I knew she was going quickly. The shoulder just kept bleeding through and I couldn't even bear to look at it knowing there was just nothing to fix this. ``You must promise me that you will protect Thomas from everything. Protect him the way I never could.`` ``He lives Amber. You saved him. My brother would have killed everything to have killed any son of mine.`` I kissed her on the lips gently carressing her hair before looking into her eyes again. ``I tried my...`` Her eyes closed and her arm went slack for a moment before I shook her gently and she opened her eyes again. ``It doesn`t hurt anymore. You have to promise me William. Promise me.`` ``I promise you Amber I shall protect him. I shall love him, and cherish him as the son that he is. He shall never know pain, or anguish, or sadness. I shall love him as I love you.`` Her eyes begin to once more close, and I selfishly shook her again. ``Stay with me Amber...just hold on please...``I shook her again, but this time her eyes didn't reopen and just staring at her I could see that I had failed to save her. She coughed one more time and her eyes opened somewhat and she looked at me again. ``I`m so sorry Will...I`m so sor...``Her eyes remained open, but she just never blinked. Holding her I couldn't feel anything as I knew she had died. I would never hear her voice again. I would never know her touch again, and I let out a scream which I could barely control. Following her grasping of his arm the two would talk briefly as she bled out but she held on for long enough to make sure William knew that Thomas was his child, and the two would heart sadly say goodbye to each other before finally she bled out from the horrible wound on her shoulder. It was several minutes of banging on the door with William crying into the hair of Amber before the rest of his men were able to get into the throne room, and by this point the Battle of Berne was over with the remaining forces of the True Sons of Lucerne either dead or having surrendered, but for William it felt increasingly like a hollow victory. As Faye, Jasper and Emmett tried to console him and help him with Amber he would refuse without words picking her body up and carrying her out of the throne room before collapsing outside of the inner keep where he would be helped up by Faye. He whispers to Faye that he needs to take her out of the fortress so he can bury her, and Faye goes ahead clearing the gatehouse, and letting the front gate open where William carries her all the way out of Berne and reaches the Valley of Berne where the large Lucernian army awaits and it is at this point that Alice meet him and he finally surrenders Ambers body to Jasper and breaks down in Alice's arms. Meeting a Son “You are too young to understand my son, but know that I have loved you, and I will always love. The world will be tough on you because of how you were born, but understand this. You shall always have a place at my side. You will always be a member of my house. You are my son. You are our son.” — William Lovie III. With Thomas sleeping William gathers with the Lucernian army leadership and following a long discussion on their next steps he commands his friend Hanna Arryn be brought to him, and then the meeting breaks up and joined by Jasper, and Edward he returns to his tent where saying goodbye to them he goes into the tent and finds Alice sleeping on his bed holding a sleeping Thomas. Looking at the scene in front of him he starts crying as he thinks about the loss of Amber, and at the sound of his crying Alice wakes up and gets out of bed gently leaving Thomas in bed and the two siblings hug. Thomas eventually wakes up to the talking of Alice and William and Thomas at first only wants Alice, but William goes to him and talks to him about his love for Amber and when Thomas reveals that Amber had talked about William to him almost every night William tells him the story of how he met Amber of which was a story that Amber had told him a thousand times before. Control of Berne “I would name you the Arch Duchess of this place if you would let me.” — William Lovie III. Meeting with Hanna Arryn the two old friends discuss a more personal view of what happened in Berne, and Hanna reveals to him the depths of some of the things that happened, but also refuses during their conversation to come with him back to Lucerne telling him that Aria needs her more. Discussing Aria, and her father Byron it becomes clear that he needs to speak with Aria and asks Hanna to bring her to him something she agrees to if William agrees to be lenient on her father of which William agrees to out of love for Hanna. The conversation ends with Aria and William agreeing that in one month it will be the leadership of Berne that will travel to Lucerne to meet with William and the Kings Council who will decide the future of Berne. William Lovie III. leaves Berne with the majority of the army but leaves behind several thousand as a garrison of the city under the command of Dylan Steinmare, and this garrison is under orders to further the control of the crown over Berne who at this point there is still fear may be mixed in its loyalties.

Siege of Westian

Main Article : Siege of Westian

Siege of Westian Lord Shephard I command you to take Westian.

1. House Kane Landing 2. Battle of Whestianol 3. Gurse Capture of Esthiol 4. Lucerne Main Camp 5. Clune Capture of Queltiol 6. Violet Dragon Capture of Tower of Westian 7. Battle of Westian “Westian was a large town, but from the very beggining they were finding themselves locked in a harder and harder position.” — Jack Shephard House Shephard took the lead on the invasion of Westian during the Invasion of Westbridge, and this was an important moment for them as of the major towns south ofWestbridge the largest by far was Westian. Westian was a large town of nearly 47,000 people which was much larger then the other two towns that were required to be taken before Westbridge fell, and with most other houses committed to other things the task fell to House Shephard and its vassals and sworn houses to take the town. Christian Shephard gathered his family alongside his vassals leaderships and they met inside the House Shephard estates as they knew they were going to be late to arriving to the town as there forces were west near Castle Stragnarax and thus would be delayed. While they planned it was deemed by Christian that he would take charge of the attack, and that Jack, and the younger Taylor would form the next tier of the leadership planning. When John Shephard asked what his role would be the powerful Christian took the chance to take a shot at his brother when he told him that he would remain behind and stand as the regent of Gulltown until he returned. Noble House Leader of force Size of Forces House Shephard Christian Shephard 13,000 Men At arms, 670 Knights House Kilgor Poldi Kilgor 4,300 Men At Arms, 120 Knights House Scorpian Maron Scorpian 6,700 Men At Arms, 320 Knights House Kane Reginald Kane 5,900 Men At Arms, 220 Knights Westian Rebellion Christian Shephard 8,000 Outside City, 3,500 Inside City Order of the Violet Dragon Thaleon Von Proveer 3 Cloaks, 32 Whelps The call from Willaim for involvement had meant that nearly every house in the area was more then prepared to join with House Shephard and their forces massed for several weeks at Gulltown where the plan was to have everyone leave together. When the forces of House Shephard and their vassals were finally gathered together outside of Gulltown they left nearly four days after the rest of the Lucernians but due to their control of Gulltown they were able to use ships to move most of their forces eastward landing south of Stormwind and then making their march north. While the forces of House Shephard were marshelling and moving north it was Thaleon Von Proveer that was moving among the ranks of the Westian nobles and non-nobles forming a rebellious element within the area with the help of his cloaks Annelie Westheimer, Ernst Havenstein, and Mikael Fichtner. The Malfoy commander in the area was a man named Xavier Delcroix and had followed the commands of House Malfoy when he took the position and had forced extreme taxes, and punishments on the people of the area, and only the corruption of Lord Francis Gripper who allowed the excesses of the Deatheaters in return for being made quite wealthy, and due to all this the people of the area were very open to the words of Thaleon and his men. While Ernst and Mikael worked on expanding the rebellious forces of the area it was Thaleon, Annelie, and ten Whelps that moved against the Tower of Westian which located in the mountains north of Westian had to be taken in order to stop Westian from being able to warn the Westbridge forces. Attacking the tower they found light defenses and killed all those with malfoy colors but imprisoned those with non-malfoy colors and then entered the tower where they found a Death Eater in the form of Renaud Couturier and ambushing the Magi they took him hostage which signaled the capture of the tower which they then made as their base of operation in the area. Preparing the Siege House Kane “It was shocking the level of rebel support we had in the area. Considering that House Gripper wasn't a tyrant I wondered immediately how many rebels would be waiting at Westbridge.” — Jack Shephard When they arrived at the outskirts of Westian the forces of House Shephard outside of House Kane would begin their planning for the surrounding of Westian, and in this regard they begin sneaking small groups of troops to locations north and west of Westian while they awaited House Kane to arrive in the east. While surrounding Westian it was Sawyer Shephard that would take a small group of knights and dressed as merchants they would enter Westian where they would stay in the Estate of House Tarin of whom under Orival Tarin III. had turned against the Malfoys and had through this joined with the forces of Lucerne. Mistaken Landings House Kane While doing this the first mistake of the siege would begin when the sworn house in the form of House Kane who had used ships to move along the coast landed too far north, and while attempting to march south towards their objective of eastern Westian they were spotted by scouts from Westian. Reginald Kane following the mistaken landing by his forces at the Siege of Westian would suffer a nervous breakdown and without his sister to advise him on what to do he would order his forces to attack the town of Whestianol but after this he handed command over to his son Hargon Kane II. and returned to the ships where he remained for the remainder of the Siege of Westian. Now under the command of Hargon Kane II. he commanded they send cavalry against the scouts but a close chase they were unable to stop the scouts who entered Westian warning the town of Lucerne's arrival. Hargon despite seeing no value in attacking Whestianol he would follow his fathers command and launched the Battle of Whestianol, while at the same time he sent word to the main force about what was happening in the area of Whestianol. Rebel forces had been concentrated at Whestianol and thus the town fell with relative ease but its capture was not meant to have happened but with their discovery House Kane believed they had to block the port and the road of which both were easy access for Whestianol. This moment through the entire operation into jeopardy and could have foiled the entire attack on Westbridge if not handled properly. Because of their discovery during the preparation for the siege they had been forced to set sentries all across the outside of the town stretching their might throughout the entire breathe of the town so that they could shoot down any ravens that attempted to warn Westbridge that they were coming. The fact that they were overstretched meant that the defenders could see this and over the course of the first day the defenders begin making sorties out of the gates to which became a larger and larger problem as the day went on. It was at this point the sorties would discover the large number of vassals of Westian that had joined the Lucernian attack, and this was reported back to the defense commander in Goren Doer of whom would begin executing people on the walls as a sign to not betray the Malfoys. “They continuesly throughout the day tried to break our encirclement, but they were hopelessly outnumbered.” — Jack Shephard Towards the end of the day the siege machines were finally completed and where the attack was not supposed to damage or kill to much of the city and its people they now no longer had a choice in the matter. Doren Doer attempted two sorties against the main concentration of siege machines, but he specifically used those forces that he worried were not loyal to the Malfoy's and while the first attack got close before being repulsed the second attack would surrender to the Lucernians and lose without causing anything close to a hit against the siegers. First Salvo Noteable Attackers Affiliation Jack Shephard Sawyer Shephard House Shephard Evin Scorpian Maron Scorpian House Scorpian Poldi Kilgor Menno Kilgor House Kilgor Thaleon Von Prover Order of the Violet Dragon “I watched the Scorpians, and they were nearly giddy as the siegmaster came and told us the gates were going down within minutes.” — Jack Shephard The first shot fired by the siege machines changed the way in which the battle was meant to go as no longer was this a peaceful annexation this was a full blown siege that was happening. The siege machines fired for the next three days and then paused during the night of the third day and while they paused the Lucernians looked at the fact that their were several holes in the walls now and two of the gate, along with several towers were close to collapse. It was decided by Christian that they would level the southern gate, and towers and then overwhelm that area with their forces. While this was happening the rebels that Thaleon Von Prover had cultivated inside of Westian begin to openly attack the defenders during the night in coordinated attacks all across the town. Thaleon Von Prover would lead his Order of the Violet Dragon forces in infiltrating the personal keep of House Doer of whom was one of the staunchest House Malfoy houses in the entire region, and thus couldn't be allowed to survive the fighting. Thaleon Von Prover and the other assassins would murder their way into the compound using the rebel attacks as a distraction, and they would be able to capture the compound and kill the entire Doer family. Following this the rebels would take control of the compound, and barred the gates shooting anyone that came near causing a huge problem for the defenders. The fighting would continue for the rest of the night, and the next day when the sun begin to shine the outside Lucernians were greeted with the southern gates opening and a single man walking out. Things Change “We had no idea what the point of the messenger would be, but after the success we had already had I couldn't see a scenario where they kept fighting.” — Jack Shephard The defenders led by House Gripper sent a messenger to the defenders in order to discuss what was happening, and when he arrived Jack Shephard was the one to speak to him alongside his cousin in Charlie Shephard. They told the messenger that they didn't want to damage the city they simply wanted to take control and that nothing would change for them except they would be under better rule without House Malfoy. During the conversation they learned that House Gripper's only son and heir to his house had been killed during the early breakout attempts and that the Lord of Westian was now prepared to have the whole city burn down before he gave it up to the murderers of his son. Jack Shephard would attempt to see if there could be any compromise made and he learned from the messenger this was impossible as the Lord of House Gripper was commanding the setting of barrels of oil that he was going to light in his plot to burn the city to the ground.  “We had been commanded to have House Gripper remain in command of Westian, but the death of Horen Gripper had ended their will to survive it seemed. The Lord of Westian had lost himself in grief and was ready to burn the city down by all accounts. From inside the city we had destroyed House Doer and due to that the main ones who would have been able to resist the madness were now wiped out, creating a scary situation.” — Jack Shephard With this in mind they delayed for a time while the command of House Shephard got together to plan how they were going to proceed. Knowing they were going to be in serious trouble if somehow House Gripper survived this they knew first and most importantly during the fall of the city that entire house had to be killed, and as they discussed who would be responsible for this Maron Scorpian stood up and said that his house would take the lead on this. Thaleon Von Proveer was contacted along the wall using flag messages and from this he would organize the rebels and his assassins to be prepared for the attack to come that day. House Kane was commanded a special mission as well as they were commanded to find and protect the members of House Tarin inside the city as House Tarin was decided to be the next Lord of the House since House Gripper refused to be reasonable. With the plan in place the next day the armies of House Shephard watched as the siege machines tore apart the gate, and towers of the south and left a giant series of holes throughout the southern half of the town. While there were some defenders still on the wall the rebel attack the previous day, the large number of defections and the retreat of House Gripper into their personal compount meant that the walls were a skeleton crew. With the gap open they moved through it and while taking casualties getting through they broke the defenders and made their way inside the town where they found most of the resistence was now formed by House Gripper's personal elite gaurd and the rest of the houses, and defenders were throwing their weapons down and surrendering of which all were accepted. Ending of House Gripper “Bloody business was House Gripper. One of those times where you knew what had to be done, but it didn't make it easy to do it.” — Jack Shephard While House Shephard and House Kilgor moved throughout the town securing its main locations, the two other houses in House Scorpian and House Kane went about their specific missions. House Kane located the members and leadership of House Tarin very quickly and arriving at the estate they would be greeted as liberators of which led to the easy taking of the estate and it being brought under heavy guard to protect them thereby quickly finishing their task. House Scorpian moved directly towards the House Gripper estate where they met heavy resistance from the last of the House Gripper military who appeared to be engaging in a last stand to protect their lord and his family. Making their stand at the gatehouse leading into the estate they were slowly picked apart by the massive numbers brought to bear by House Scorpian, and finally defeated as Faril Scorpian led a group over the walls behind their lines and fell on the gatehouse killing the last members of the guards. The last stand having now failed and with his orders to follow Maron Scorpian led his soldiers inside the estate where they proceeded to go room to room killing every member of House Gripper including women and children. “I don't know why I did it. I know it was the right thing to do, but this was war. I had killed many men that day, and yet here I was staring at this broken young girl and I couldn't stand the thought of killing anymore.” — Evin Scorpian As they prepared to leave the estate the young member of House Scorpian in Evin Scorpian discovered a beautiful young women hiding beneath a bed, and when he approached her and asked her name she begin crying and he knew she was a member of House Gripper. He knew she must die but he didn't have the heart to do it so he told her to stay quiet and hidden and then he left quickly to another room where he found a body of a House Scorpian soilder and dragged him into her room. Seeing the dead body she wanted to cry more but he covered her mouth and told her to change into his clothes so that she could escape. She relunctantly followed his words and changed, and then once changed she followed him out of the burning estate, and through the wreckage of the family she loved. Unknown to Evin Scorpian was the fact that while he was changing her they were being watched by Tobias Henkel of whom would report back to Thaleon that Evin had allowed a member of House Gripper to survive. This would be kept as silent information as they wanted to make sure that she was wanted dead or whether she could be married and thus kept alive as further ammunition for the control of Westian by Lucerne. Wading through Death With the estate in tatters and believing with sadness that the killing was done Faril went outside to meet with Evin of whom he proceeded to insult before telling him that Maron their father had told him to make sure that he checked inside the estate to see what the real family had done. As he entered the estate he walked from building to building seeing the endless parade of dead bodies he was horrified at what his family had done, and as he prepared to walk into one of the last houses he felt a hand on his shoulder. When he turned around to look he saw that it was Elize whose hand was on his shoulder and while her face was somewhat covered with blood, and her personal armor was covered with it as well she looked at him with a smile that made him feel loved, but at the same time sad for how disturbed she had become. She pulled him into a hug which made him forget for a moment where all the blood that covered her had come from, and he allowed himself to simply enjoy her embrace and forget the violence. As she hugged him she whispered in his ear and they had a conversation that would prove critical in their later days of which was encircled by her final words. "Don't get to upset that you can't go in that house. Don't dwell on that because when your pained by that your ignoring the more deadly question which is what kind of person could go into that house." -Elize Scorpian Maryl Gripper As they prepared to leave the estate the young member of House Scorpian discovered a beautiful young women hiding beneath a bed, and when he approached her and asked her name she begin crying and he knew she was a member of House Gripper. He knew she must die but he didn't have the heart to do it so he told her to stay quiet and hidden and then he left quickly to another room where he found a body of a House Scorpian soilder and dragged him into her room. Seeing the dead body she wanted to cry more but he covered her mouth and told her to change into his clothes so that she could escape. She relunctantly followed his words and changed, and then once changed she followed him out of the burning estate, and through the wreckage of the family she loved. As she followed him out of the wreckage he saw his sister Elize walking quickly towards him, and he knew that she knew that he was up to something. She walked over and pulled Evin and Maryl into a small house that was nearbye. She attempted to find out for what reason Evin would protect this girl, and he couldn't give her an anwser but when Faril entered the house to find out what they were doing she lied to Faril and told him that she was just congratulating Maryl - of whome she passed off as a random soilder - on her work during the massacre. When Faril bid Maryl to speak Elize spoke up again and said that she had cut off the soilders tongue during an argument, and this was enough to finally get Faril to leave the house and give them a chance to talk about things. Despite her obsessive love for Evin Elize promised to keep the girl safe and make sure they were able to get her back to Lucerne but once there she made sure that Evin understood that she couldn't stay with him or else her kindness would be overriden by her love for Evin. With that she walked up to Evin and gave him a passionate kiss before walking back out. When she left Maryl spoke for one of the first times when she asked Evin who that women was, and she was shocked when Evin said that it was his sister.

Garrison Duty

Following the Siege of Westian Luthor Clune and his son would remain in Westian where they would assist in garrisoning the region for several months before finally with Order of the Red Dragon forces in place they would head back home to the lands of House Clune.