What it takes to get the D&D group together sometimes

What it takes to get the D&D group together sometimes...

 The stars need to align.

 You need to pray for nachos.

 Make a deal with the devil you know just so enough people show up.

However if it all comes together, you get to have a cold drink together.

 Preferably with a bar brawl.

Five Predictions for Season 7 of Game of Thrones

SPOILER ALERT!

The new season of Game of Thrones started last night and like any diehard Thrones fan, it is now a good time to speculate on what is going to happen during this season.

#1. The Wall is Coming Down

The Wall is magical, we know this because Benjen Stark cannot pass beyond the Wall due to the Wall's magical properties.

According to legend the Wall cannot be destroyed except by the Horn of Winter, which is also a magical object. When the horn is blown it is supposed to cause vibrations within the ice that will cause the ice within the Wall to shatter. (This is similar to the Biblical story of horns being used to cause an earthquake in the city of Jericho - Joshua 6:20.)

Sam Tarly way back in second season found a horn along with a stash of dragonglass. Hint hint. The horn is likely currently at Castle Black.

#2. Jon Snow is going to Dragonstone and will meet Dany and Tyrion

It will not be the first time Jon Snow and Tyrion have hung out together. Both shared a friendship during Tyrion's visit to the Wall in Season 1. But it will be the first time Jon has met Dany, and this grouping of all three together will put all three Targaryen's on the same island together at the same time.

Jon Snow will go to Dragonstone after he receives a raven from Sam Tarly, telling him that there is a giant amoung of dragonglass on the island of Dragonstone. If he is smart, Jon will also try to convince Dany that the real threat is in the north and that the White Walkers are coming.

And if we are lucky, Jon will get attacked by fire or dragonfire, and we will learn that he (and possibly Tyrion too) are all immune to fire. Dany will then realize that all three of them are Targaryens.

The end game of this will be Dany, Tyrion and Jon all riding dragons together.

#3. Cersei will ally herself with the Starks, but secretly plot to kill them

In the ever-shifting alliances of Game of Thrones, Cersei needs more allies. Jon Snow / Sansa Stark will offer her a deal to end the war in an effort to get more people to help fight the White Walkers. But Sansa will know that Cersei is not to be trusted.

During this Cersei will take her army north, including her beast-zombie the Mountain.

When Cersei does strike and betray them, Jaime will have to choose between letting her kill thousands of people - or killing Cersei. But the Mountain will stop him...

Cersei could eventually get captured by the Night King and become a White Walker - the Night Queen.

#4. Brienne and the Hound killing Wights and White Walkers

The Hound (Sandor Clegane) is heading north and now knows the Fire God is real. He has also seen a vision of the undead wights in the north, and knows they are heading south. Clegane vs Wights? Bring on the wights because Clegane is going to be awesome at killing them.

There is only one problem, Clegane doesn't have a Valyrian steel sword and will break any weapon he currently has when fighting a White Walker.

Enter Brienne - who does have a Valyrian steel sword, Oathkeeper. And she is equally awesome in combat as the Hound.

Now put those two together, fighting back to back vs a horde of White Walkers and wights. That is a fight worth watching!

#5. Sam Tarly will become a Wizard

Magical learning is one of the things maesters sometimes get into while at the Citadel. In the books Sam meets other students at the Citadel who have learned that magic has come back into the world with the birth of dragons, that dragons essentially emanate magical power that can be tapped into. Sam will realize that what Jon Snow and everyone else really needs is not a maester, but a wizard.

Which will fulfill what Sam said back in Season 1: "I always wanted to be a wizard." to which the other guys laughed, because at the time it was a silly idea.

And there is a line in a later season in which Gilly says to him: "You are like a wizard."

Bonus Prediction #1. Gendry will forge a Valyrian steel sword for Arya

The smith who taught Gendry is the same smith who made Oathkeeper and Widow's Wail by melting down Ned Stark's huge sword Ice. This means that smith knows how to melt down and reforge Valyrian steel.

Which means Gendry probably knows how to reforge Valyrian steel.

Add dragonfire to this mixture, and Gendry might someday be able to make new Valyrian steel blades, without the need to melt down old Valyrian steel blades.

Eventually Arya is going to realize the real threat is also in the north, and her sword Needle will end up breaking if she tries to use it against a White Walker. At some point she and Gendry will meet up, and Gendry will make her a new sword which will be useful against White Walkers.

Bonus Prediction #2. The Reappearance of Dark Sister

There is a Valyrian steel sword which Arya mentions in an earlier season while talking to Tywin. The sword she mentions is "Dark Sister", a Valyrian steel sword which had once belonged to a Targaryen woman. The sword was small and slimmer - like Needle is - and designed for the hand of a woman.

It is possible that Arya could end up with the sword Dark Sister instead of Gendry forging her a new sword, or it is possible Dany could end up with the sword instead, as it makes sense that at some point Dany should start wearing armour and learning how to defend herself. She won't always have her dragons handy so she really should have a sword to defend herself with.

Either way, someone will end up getting Dark Sister and Arya and Dany are the two most likely candidates.

Bonus Prediction #3. When Arya heads north, she will reunite with her dire wolf Nymeria

And Nymeria will be big enough that Arya can now ride on her wolf.

But first she needs to head south to King's Landing.

Bonus Prediction #4. Cyrio is not dead and neither is King Stannis

Cyrio is alive. Somewhere. Stannis is alive too, but now missing a leg.

My prediction is Cyrio will pop up in the north east, roughly west of Braavos.

I predict Stannis will pop up during a plot twist involving Brienne, in which she explains that she realized Stannis was the rightful king, that he was only doing his duty as king, yada yada, and that she realized she needed to punish him but not kill him.

Bonus Prediction #5. Podrick Payne is one of King Robert's bastards

While everyone knows Gendry is one of King Robert's bastards, I have a hunch Podrick Payne is also one of King Robert's offspring.

The revelation probably won't be revealed until after Gendry and Podrick meet, and they will only learn they are half-brothers thanks to Bran.

This will become important because it will mean that they are the rightful heirs of the Baratheon family, which is why keeping Stannis alive for now becomes important.

It also should be noted that the Baratheon family are relatives of the Targaryens. So both Gendry and Podrick do have a bit of Targaryen blood in them.

Random D&D Stuff on the Beach

I didn't write this. I found this on the blog: http://elfmaidsandoctopi.blogspot.com.

d100 flotsam and jetsam 
01 Mountains of sea weed

02 Spectacular driftwood with barnacles
03 Hundreds of jellyfish
04 Hundreds of sea urchin
05 Hundreds of dead fish
06 Hundreds of dead starfish
07 Hundreds of dead cuttlefish
08 Dead dolphin with shark bites
09 Dried rotting dead mermaid horror from the deep
10 Several giant slimy tentacles
11 A dead rotting whale covered in crabs and gulls
12 A rotting sea serpent
13 A unconscious sailor from far off land
14 Dozens of shipwreck victims (possibly some live) and several sea chests
15 Dozens of murdered bodies and empty sea chests left by wreckers
16 A huge sand castle built by crab men as temporary base
17 Remains of a boat smashed up
18 Intact small fishing boat with fishing nets and rods and rope
19 A wooden pulley with a short length of rope
20 Barnacle covered float with small section or torn net
21 A bottle with a letter requesting help d100 years old
22 A bottle with a treasure map
23 A bottle with a will for property far away
24 A bottle half full of rum
25 A tiny chest with some small jewelry with semi precious stones
26 Carved wooden prow of ship with mythical creature
27 A fancy captains hat
28 A ship flag on length of rope
29 Long length of hemp rope
30 Man o war jellyfish with stinging tendrils
31 A gasping turtle tangled in a net
32 Hundreds of tiny crabs eating a huge strange unrecognizable creature
33 A piece of amber
34 A battered tree
35 Gigantic eyeball of some marine creature
36 Dead albatross (possibly alive helping it brings good luck)
37 Huge crab claw
38 Dead trilobite or sea scorpion
39 Beautiful badly hurt mermaid
40 Huge shark tooth
41 Cluster of sea sponges tangled in weed
42 Rusty key
43 Gigantic bones possibly from whale
44 Unhappy lost seal pup 
45 Wooden pegleg
46 Wooden box with d6 bottles of rum
47 Large block of seasalt
48 Rotting baby shark
49 Huge giant squid carcass
50 Huge shell
51 Strange symbol made from arranged stones, weed or sand
52 Baby of marine race d4 1=crabman 2=mermaid 3=squidman 4=mantaman
53 Dried puffer fish
54 Human skull with barnacles
55 Rusty old breast plate
56 Dead marine crocodile
57 Angry sea snake with deadly venom
58 Block of melting ice
59 Biological sacks of fluid some kinds of egg 
60 White cuttlefish bones useful crafting material or good for birds
61 Remains of wrecked ship long buried on beach exposed by moving sand 
62 A small anchor covered in barnacles
63 A wooden barrel with d4 1=grog 2=water 3=body 4=sea biscuits
64 A battered locked book, mostly illegible but tantalizing hints
65 A strange creepy wooden idol of squat spirit
66 A strange green stone idol of a squat sea demon 
67 A elegant noble looking native idol
68 A whale or elephant tusk
69 A blob of ambergris
70 A narwhale horn
71 A leathery corpse in shredded clothes actually a marine zombie
72 Intact skeleton with bandanna and seaman's clothes holding cutlass leaps up to attack
73 Monkeys playing on beach
74 Wax tablet dedicated to ancient evil sea demon by a cult, causes dreams if kept
75 Strange chunk of gold resembling drift wood, cult treasure of vindictive fish folk 
76 Crude wooden raft recently arrived
77 Clay pot decorated and sealed with wine or oil
78 Corroded copper coins scattered in sand all over beach
79 Lump of copper or silver coins fused into mass covered in barnacles
80 Human finger with ring
81 Single gold or silver coin in good condition
82 Pretty smooth worn glass pebbles once bottles
83 Interesting looking semiprecious stone
84 Large crystal
85 A bone dice
86 Ring shaped stone reputed to offend elves
87 Huge shell actually hermit crab looking for snacks
88 Carved wooden figurine like a duck
89 Cowrie shells strung together a form of currency in some places
90 Leather boot with crabs inside
91 Stray dog with collar
92 Ship's steering wheel or wagon wheel
93 Ships rudder or mast
94 Chunks of burned boat scattered along beach
95 Ships canvas sail, tattered but repairable
96 Green sealed bottle with occult symbols, contains soul of evil sea captain
97 Green eyed stone idol, whoever finds it becomes possessive and paranoid
98 Disgusting mass of twitching slime with eyes trying to ooze back into sea
99 A wax coated wheel of cheese possible edible
100 Erotic idol carved from tusk of marine creature in unrecognizable style