Chapter 73: Quest Clues
The most troublesome thing is that this treasure hunt conflicts somewhat with Ian's current plans.
Daeron Grafton and Roll have been waiting for Ian in Duskendale for almost a week. If Ian spends an unknown amount of time searching for treasure in King's Landing, he doesn't know how to explain what he's been doing to Daeron.
Ian can only choose King's Landing for the treasure hunt because, given his current location, if he chooses to go to Oldtown or Volantis, even if he travels to the nearest port to catch a ship, it will take almost two months to arrive.
So should he give up? Ian hesitated for a long time, then shook his head.
He couldn't do it.
Such a treasure chest might not be very attractive to Ian himself, but its enhancement to the enemy is terrifying.
A Valyrian steel greatsword is even a way to complete the second main quest for players in Westeros.
If a player obtains the Valyrian steel greatsword and presents it to Tywin Lannister at Casterly Rock, Lord Tywin could easily pay him tens of thousands of gold dragons as a reward, or even bestow upon him a small castle in the Westerlands and a baronial title.
After all, Tywin has coveted a Valyrian steel greatsword for most of his life.
Therefore, the player who finds the chest can immediately complete both main quests. If that player happens to kill one or two other players while trying to obtain the chest, Ian's position at the top of the leaderboard will instantly become unstable.
If he chooses not to compete for it, he is essentially giving up his advantage.
He must grab it! Ian made his decision.
Because it's not just the players in eastern Westeros who will choose King's Landing as their target. The players in Pentos who haven't yet found a way to open the gates of Illyrio's manor will likely also sail to King's Landing to try and seize the chest.
Pentos is only a week's voyage from King's Landing by sea, but it takes more than a month to reach Volantis; they have no choice but to go to King's Landing.
If the players from Pentos were to seize the treasure chest, it would undoubtedly greatly increase the danger Ian would face after revealing his hand to Daenerys. Therefore, even if Ian wasn't after the treasure chest reward, but simply wanted to limit his opponent's access to resources, he had to get his hands on the King's Landing chest.
With this in mind, Ian clicked on [King's Landing] in Bounty Mission Two, and the interface refreshed:
[Bounty Mission Two: Treasure Hunt
Mission Objective: Seize the treasure chest hidden by the organizers in King's Landing.
Mission Reward: A two-handed Valyrian steel greatsword, 4,000 gold dragons
Clue: Flea Bottom (Gift)]
"A clue is given after selecting a city?" Ian was somewhat surprised.
King's Landing is a city with a population of 500,000, and the qualifier "Flea Bottom" did indeed narrow down the target area considerably.
Of course, this didn't directly help in finding the treasure chest; Flea Bottom was a slum in King's Landing, the lowest of the low, a mix of pigsties, stables, tanneries, wine sinks, and brothels.
All the buildings there were built close together in narrow, unpaved alleyways, densely packed, making the entire area a labyrinthine maze.
Fortunately, there were still four clues to buy, Ian thought, and opened the points shop.
[Level 1 Shop:
Large Money Bag (containing 300 silver stags): 1 point
Medium Money Bag (containing 20 gold dragons): 5 points
Clue (Bounty Mission 2) (4/4): 1 point]
Seeing that each clue only cost 1 point, Ian's heart sank. If 4 points were enough to buy all the clues, the probability of other players finding the treasure chest quickly would increase significantly. He might not even reach King's Landing before someone else took the chest.
After all, a player only needed to eliminate one player to get 4 points.
Without hesitation, Ian clicked to buy.
[Transaction successful, Bounty Mission 2 Clue (Underground) obtained, Remaining Points: 24]
"Underground? Only one word for a clue?" Ian rolled his eyes, feeling cheated.
King's Landing was a huge place; every house might have a basement. This clue was practically worthless.
Looking back at the shop interface, Ian was surprised to find that the price of a clue had increased to two points.
Seeing this, Ian smiled; it was the first time in his life he'd felt happy about a price increase.
But he had reason to be happy; if the price of every clue increased, it wouldn't be so easy for other players to buy all the clues.
To confirm this, Ian clicked "buy" again.
[Transaction successful, Bounty Mission 2 Clue (Death) obtained, Remaining Points: 22]
This clue still only had one word, and the qualifier 'death' was much more specific than 'underground'.
Connecting the two clues, Ian's first thought was 'underground tomb'.
This is a burial custom of the First Men. Almost every castle in the North has a family crypt beneath it, but for King's Landing, a city only 300 years old and built after Aegon's Conquest, Ian couldn't yet determine whether such a crypt existed.
Perhaps it wasn't a crypt, but simply someone buried in a cemetery? That would fit both the (underground) and (death) clues.
Unable to gain a clearer understanding, Ian looked at the updated shop interface again.
[Clues (Bounty Mission Two) (2/4): 4 points]
4 points! Ian felt much lighter.
This price had stumped most players at this point.
Ian suddenly remembered a quote he'd seen online: 'Expensive isn't its flaw, it's your flaw.'
He felt this was strangely fitting here. When other players couldn't afford the later clues while he could, the high price became a shining advantage in his eyes.
He clicked "buy" again, and the third clue appeared before Ian.
[Transaction successful, Bounty Quest Clue 2 (Ruins), Remaining Points: 18]
Upon seeing this word, Ian's first thought was the Dragonpit.
It was a massive, dome-like structure atop Rhaenys's Hill in King's Landing, where the Targaryen family once kept dragons.
After its destruction during the Dance of the Dragons, subsequent Targaryen rulers never demolished the ruins, and to this day, the remains of the Dragonpit still stand atop Rhaenys's Hill, facing the Great Sept of Baelor on Visenya's Hill.
The Dragonpit was the only building in King's Landing that Ian could think of that matched the 'Ruins' clue, but unfortunately, it wasn't in Flea Bottom.
Seeing that the last clue had already reached 8 points, even the wealthy Ian didn't immediately click to buy it. He planned to investigate in King's Landing first; if he couldn't find it there, he would then consider purchasing this last one.
(End of Chapter)
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