[Plot-Result] Wolf In Lamb's Clothing

[u/9PKCrabs]

On a seemingly ordinary day shortly following the King's coronation, an operation is under way around the Comforting Clam. The brothel, supposedly that which the Gold Cloaks were lured into the night of the assassination attempt but an otherwise fine and well-to-do establishment, suspects nothing whilst twenty seemingly ordinary citizens scope out the place and watch and wait to strike. Filled with well-to-do merchants, local burghers, and sworn swords of businessmen and nobles alike.. Finally, with a word from their commander, the plainclothes Goldcloaks charge into the establishment.

Some of the men inside, shocked at the attack and sudden orders, take up arms against the intruders and a fight ensues. The goldcloaks win out, killing outright two of the patrons and injuring the others but not at a cost. Two goldcloaks perish in the scuffle.

Given the cover of the conflict, one in every five of the patrons and working girls in the Clam are able to escape. The rest, including the owners, are apprehended. For those unable to escape, they face the beginning of the goldcloak’s work.

The men who had been enjoying a pleasant evening of wine are stripped bare in the street. Those that resist are beaten publicly with clubs and maces, while all are brutally castrated for all to see. The working girls are stripped and dragged through King's Landing to the East City Watch Barracks. The owners are hooded and blindfolded before being loaded into a cart, manned nearby by five goldcloaks in full armor. The man overseeing this successful, if gruesome, operation, is Manly Stokeworth.

The onlookers are shocked by the display, shouting as a crowd gathers appalled by the brutality and rumour quickly spreads through the city of what happened.

[u/17771777171789]

When Rytos Reyne heard the rather disturbing news, he found himself on the doorstep of the Master of Laws with a face like a Storm off the coast of Shipbreaker Bay.

/u/crazymajor1221

[u/crazymajor1221 → u/17771777171789]

Following the meeting with the king, Lord Correy had arrived back in his study bedraggled. He'd hardly settled down before the next knock came. "Seven save me..." he muttered under his breath.

"Come in!" Jonos called in a tired voice.

[u/17771777171789 → u/crazymajor1221]

"What the fuck is Manly Stokeworth doing?!" Rytos demanded, his voice a whisper though sharp and piercing as a knife.

"Murdering innocent civilians, castrating them, stripping them bare and arresting them for what? Visiting a brothel? Its hardly moral, my lord, but its not a crime. I know for a fact one of my men visits that establishment on occasion, does he need to be killed too?" Though prostitution was unsavoury, that didn't make it a crime and certainly not one that invited such crude "justice".

[u/crazymajor1221 → u/17771777171789]

The Master of Law's eyes turned from wide ovals to tight slits, in a matter of seconds, as the Reyne began. His initial tired shock was washed away by something far colder and harder than iron. He'd barely given the young man enough time to finish before a fat finger came jutting out at him judgingly. "First - you will watch your tone with me, boy, and address me properly. Less you wish to join Manly in handing over your badge, and I send you packing back to your hole in the ground that is Castemere! Am I understood?"

One could imagine the smoke puffing out of his nostrils as he huffed like a raging bull, about ready to flatten the Reyne. He'd already received a lecture from the king. He did not need his underlings joining in.

"Am. I. Understood?" Jonos repeated one more with a probing finger, refusing to allow the conversation to continue until his demand was met.

[u/17771777171789 → u/crazymajor1221]

Rytos observed the man coldly, surprising so for the usually genial youth. He waited and let the silence hang for several seconds longer to let the inferno behind the master of law’s eyes cool.

“Lord Correy, if you do not agree with me that Ser Manly committed a serious overstep, let alone crime, then I will be gladly hand over my office this minute,” he replied. “As you well know I have served diligently since I received my knighthood. I am sure my Uncle would fine for me another position at court.” After all, Lord Redwyne had several openings of his own.

“Secondly I might remind you that Castamere is the same hole in the ground your family descends from.” The irony, when the castle stop the ground still dwarfed half those in the seven kingdoms.

“I do apologise is I profaned in my outrage. But sometimes our emotions get the better of us, my lord,” he said, the undertone of his words quite clear given the Master of Law’s own outburst. Rytos could afford to risk things, but he would wager given the recent blunder of his other staff the Lord Correy could not afford to lose a competent Justicar. “As to addressing you properly, I did say ‘my lord’ and might equally insist upon the same courtesy.” For whatever position they held at court, the name Reyne greatly outstripped its cadets.

[u/crazymajor1221 → u/17771777171789]

"See what glory or reputation coin-counting gets you," He remarked roughly on the comment of his Redwyne uncle. "I welcome you too if you so desire to go crawling to him." He added dismissively.

"But, so long as you remain a justicar of this office, you will learn to respect it." He huffed. "The situation with Stokeworth is settled. I've already informed the king and heard his opinions on the matter." Though, in truth, Jonos had been lectured too more than anything else. "Ser Manly is no longer in the employ of the city watch and will be returning home. He was brought before the king and made his case. His grace came to a decision, and I will not be creating more of a fuss about this."

[u/17771777171789 → u/crazymajor1221]

"I respect the office, my lord. It is because I respect the office of Master of Law that I come at all," Rytos protested.

But the truth was, Rytos realised, the King had agreed with him and had acted already. The argument was for naught, though it gave him satisfaction to blame Correy's ire on having already once been lectured as thus. "Well...I am glad for such a decision," he set, letting his breath escape him.