Planky Town

Planky Town is a ramshackle port settlement at the mouth of the Greenblood River in Dorne, the southernmost principality of Westeros. It serves as the region's principal maritime gateway, a bustling but unpretentious collection of docks, warehouses, and inns where ships from the Free Cities and the Summer Isles trade for Dornish wines, citrus, and copper. Unlike the grand stone cities of the north, Planky Town is built largely of wood and wattle, its structures rising on pilings above the tidal mudflats, giving it a provisional, ever-shifting character that matches the fluid politics of its rulers.

Quentyn Martell's Departure

Planky Town is the setting for the beginning of Prince Quentyn Martell's secret mission to secure an alliance with Daenerys Targaryen. It is here that Quentyn, accompanied by his companions Ser Cletus Yronwood, Ser Willam Wells, Ser Gerris Drinkwater, Ser Archibald Yronwood, and Maester Kedry, boards the trading galley Meadowlark bound for the Free City of Lys. The party assumes false identities for the voyage: Quentyn plays the role of a wineseller, while Cletus Yronwood poses as a merchant. The choice of Planky Town as the point of embarkation is deliberate; it is a busy enough port to avoid attracting undue attention, yet far enough from the political intrigues of Sunspear to keep the mission secret from the eyes of the Spider's informants, whom Prince Doran Martell fears are everywhere.

The Voyage Begins

From Planky Town, the Meadowlark sails east, carrying the Dornishmen across the narrow sea. The voyage is marked by tragedy: corsairs attack the ship off the coast of the Disputed Lands, killing Cletus Yronwood, Willam Wells, and Maester Kedry. Only Quentyn, Gerris, and Archibald survive. After the attack, the survivors change ships at Lys, altering their roles in the mummery—Gerris becomes the merchant, Quentyn the servant—before continuing on to Volantis. The loss of their companions and their maester, who was fluent in the languages of the Free Cities, leaves the remaining Dornishmen isolated and struggling to navigate the treacherous politics of the east. Planky Town thus marks the threshold between the relative safety of Dorne and the perilous journey that will ultimately lead Quentyn to his death in Meereen.