Casterly Rock, Seat of House Lannister

"Not at all." Tristifer replied breezily, folding his arms. "It seems to me that both our overlords have left us to decide on a course of action by ourselves. Any suggestions, my lord of Lannister?"

10,000 Westermen, combined with his 5,000 from the Iron Isles...that was a more respectable host, but still not one likely to be able of handling the Reach's might, unless it was divided. "I for one thought we might have two courses of action open to us," Botley began his pitch, "Either we head east to directly reinforce the King, or strike south and force the Reach to divert at least part of their strength against us. I would not advise marching on Oldtown, for obvious reasons, but if we harry their northern borderlands and occupy some castles they'll surely have to respond, and any soldiers they send our way will not be able to help defend the capital or support the mummer's dragon in the field." He just hoped to the Drowned God that those soldiers wouldn't be too many for them to overcome.

"That's perfectly fine by me." Tris answered, nodding. Between Lord Edmure, the North, the Vale, and the sellswords, he decided Stannis probably had more than enough troops to fight the pretender head-on, and Highgarden would make a fine prize to wash away the failure at Oldtown with. But it wouldn't hurt to scout ahead, and see if they had any chance at all of seizing the capital from right under Aegon's nose.

"I must admit, Lord Lannister, that like most Ironborn I am not an expert at land warfare. And yet at the same time, the strength of the Isles - naval and otherwise - is so depleted that independent operations may be a dangerous option at best." For either of us, Botley thought, recalling that Lannister had just told him the West also only had 10,000 men standing. As pale a shadow of Tywin's hosts as his own was compared to Euron's. "Should we strike southward toward Highgarden, I could sail for the Shields and the mouth of the Mander while you march overland, though as I just said, splitting our forces carries its great share of risks. And if we march eastward, well I don't think the longships would be of any use on the Goldroad - it'd surely be best to assail the capital as a unified host."

"It seems to me as though we'd best march on King's Landing, then." Botley answered, one hand idly scratching at his chin. Some stubble was growing there, which he'd have to shave later that day or the next. "If we can snatch the city from beneath the pretender's nose, we could win the war for Stannis in one stroke." Such a prize would surely elevate the esteem of both the Iron Isles and the Westerlands, long bitter enemies to the iron Baratheon, in the King's eyes.

"The only concern is the power of the Reach, of course. Even if we don't storm on down to Highgarden to throw ourselves against this 'sizable host', they could come up on our flank while we're on the march, can't they?" Much like how Stannis and his clansmen had gotten the jump on Botley and his fellow Ironborn outside of Deepwood Motte, while they were attempting a desperate retreat to Asha's beached longships. Only Tris wasn't sure he could survive another such experience, considering the Reachmen had already shattered the Crow's Eye when that man had four times his number.

"As a diversion I could detach a small force, maybe two to two and a half thousand men, with the longships to harry the Reach's northwestern shores and besiege the castles of the Shield Islands. The distraction they provide could buy us valuable time on the Gold Road. But they won't last if Highgarden should come at them in force, and if we're intent on attacking the capital, we may need every man we can get for the assault." Besieging the capital was not something they could chance, Tris figured, considering the outcome of the battles in the Crownlands was still uncertain and if Stannis were to lose, Aegon could come on down to smash them to splinters against the walls of King's Landing. No matter what they did, their paths forward all seemed fraught with risk. The Lord of Lordsport thus took a deep breath and asked, "What do you think, Lord Lannister?"

"Well. That does change things." Botley answered, sourly musing on the suddenness with which the West and the Iron Isles had lost their chance for easy glory. Ah well, now it seems they would have to have their mettle put to a true test by the Reach instead. If, indeed, Highgarden opted to do battle with them rather than turn cloaks once again, now that the cause of the false Dragon seemed to be on the precipice of complete collapse. "Alright, I see no fault in this new strategy. Do you think a thousand men will suffice for the raiding party?" A smaller number than the two or two-and-a-half thousand he had originally proposed. If they were going to sit on the Roseroad and wait for the Reach to come at them now, Tris surmised that he and Lannister should minimize the division of their army and keep as many soldiers with them as possible.

"Sounds good." Botley affirmed with a simple nod. With a wave of his hand, he sent Lord Merlyn away to gather the thousand raiders and make ready to depart from Lannisport, while he himself would continue to command the majority of the Ironborn troops on land with the Lannisters. "I trust we can quickly march to interrupt any attempt by the Reach to relieve the siege of the capital from here, Lord Lannister?"

The Lady Lefford appeared at the summons later than was customary for her. It seemed that a passing ailment had taken hold of her usually steely visage, causing no small hinderance to both her ambitions and lordly duties. However the woman was the last one to mark herself out as one with weakness, so garbed warmly, she made the best effort to hide her obvious condition.