Chapter 44: Triggering the Quest
"Won't all this raiding affect their income?"
"The knights' holdings are scattered, and they lack the authority to tax passing caravans. As long as the Whitewalls ghosts don't attack their estates directly, they suffer little impact. If Darry or Harrenhal still held their former power, these bandits wouldn't dare operate so openly." Dorian gave a bitter laugh.
These are dark times. Unless a local lord took the lead in petitioning, the higher nobility generally turned a blind eye when minor nobles' lands were raided. A particularly conscientious overlord might act if one of their own caravans was hit.
Unfortunately, Lord Hoster Tully of Riverrun was dying of illness, and Jon Arryn, the Hand of the King, had been poisoned by his wife at Littlefinger's urging.
As a result, no one could truly deal with the Whitewalls ghosts.
"All right," Ian sighed. "Is there anything else you can think of? Anything at all."
"Now that you mention it, I remember overhearing the Mountain Weasel and my adoptive father discussing something."
"Who's the Mountain Weasel?"
"A minor captain in the company. He's the one my adoptive father put in charge of finding the Blackfyre treasure."
"Where is he now?"
"I don't know. He's been searching the Whitewalls area lately," Dorian shook his head, "but he returns to base every so often to report his progress."
"The Whitewalls ghosts don't attack your treasure hunters?" Ian asked curiously.
"Never!" Dorian shook his head vigorously. "This made my adoptive father suspect for a while that they couldn't find the treasure themselves and wanted to use us to locate it—so they deliberately let us operate freely."
"That's possible. Anyway, what did you overhear?"
"About a week ago, I overheard my adoptive father and the Mountain Weasel discussing the traitor. They seemed to know who it was, but when I asked, my adoptive father told me not to worry about it. He said it would all be over soon."
"Good thing you remembered that," Ian said, shaking his head with a slight smile. "Though I don't know what it means yet, I have a feeling the key to this whole mystery is hidden in those words."
"You think the traitor killed my adoptive father?"
"That's a simple but shallow conclusion. You can't get anywhere useful with that guess, can you? Based on what we know, we can only say your adoptive father's death may be connected to the traitor. For more than that, I need time to piece things together. But first, we need to find this Mountain Weasel."
"Even if we find him, he won't serve us. He only answers to the company commander." Dorian explained.
A company captain? Suddenly a bold thought struck Ian. Could he use Dorian to seize control of the Blackwing Company?
While he couldn't count on sellswords for loyalty, they'd still be useful until there were signs of collapse or disputes over spoils.
"So why don't you compete for command? You're the adopted son of the previous Blackwing, aren't you?" Ian decided to test the idea.
"It's not a hereditary title. There's no such thing as a son inheriting his father's position." Dorian looked embarrassed.
"But I told you before—you'll be the new Blackwing," Ian said, this time with absolute certainty.
"Ser? You mean you want to help me?" Dorian finally understood what Ser Lucien Lannister was offering, and his excitement flared.
But Dorian quickly composed himself. "But ser, you don't know—competing for commander requires nominations from at least four company captains, and I have only one supporter. I might be able to convince one more at most."
"With him, that's three." Ian pointed at Grayson. "As for the fourth, and even the Nth vote you'll need to be elected commander, the golden dragons will convince them."
"You want to sponsor me?" Dorian said eagerly. Sellswords rarely had principles. With enough coin, persuading them wouldn't be difficult.
"Isn't it obvious?"
"Then what's the price?" Dorian, no fool, asked immediately.
"Loyalty."
"Blackwing is a sellsword company, ser. No one trusts the loyalty of sellswords. Even as commander, I couldn't make the entire company swear to you. But I—if you can uncover the truth about my adoptive father's death and avenge him, I'll personally swear fealty to you and do everything in my power to keep the company loyal."
Ding! Ian was about to respond when, to his surprise, the system—which had been silent for so long—suddenly chimed.
"Deal." Ian quickly replied to Dorian, then immediately closed his eyes to check.
[Discovery: Triggered Quest - The Truth About Blackwing's Death
Quest Description: Blackwing was assassinated by military crossbow in the middle of the night in a room belonging to a knight suspected of being from House Grafton. His adopted son, Dorian, hopes you can help him uncover the truth about the murder and avenge him.
Quest Reward: Dorian will swear fealty to you.
Additional Reward: Unknown]
[Accept (costs 1 point)] [Reject]
A quest trigger now?
Ian considered it and found a pattern between the two optional quests that had appeared so far: the NPCs had formally made requests to the player and promised specific rewards.
Without hesitation, Ian clicked accept. With his current wealth, he didn't need to pinch pennies.
The quest interface quickly updated.
[Optional Quest 1: The Truth About Blackwing's Death
Quest Objective: Uncover the truth behind Blackwing's death and avenge him.
Quest Reward: Dorian will swear fealty to you.
Additional Reward: Unknown]
[Current Points Remaining: 13]
Looking at the updated quest interface, Ian felt a twinge of disappointment.
It simply converted the description into an objective, offering no clues beyond what Dorian had already told him. Furthermore, the additional reward remained "Unknown," meaning Ian couldn't gauge the quest's difficulty from the reward alone.
So the system doesn't offer any exploits.
Wait—that's not right! Who says there aren't exploits? Ian suddenly thought of a perfect way to confirm whether the Blackfyre treasure existed.
Though the quest wouldn't provide additional information, if a Blackfyre treasure quest could be triggered, that would at least prove the treasure was real, wouldn't it?
Of course, he couldn't test that theory just yet. He still needed to continue discussing the Blackwing Company with Dorian.
(End of Chapter)
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