Arthur stood in front of the double doors that no doubt contained Willem and what he hoped would be Mira. This was it, this was what he had been waiting for.
He stepped forward pushed the doors open with his shoulder and walked inside.
The chamber beyond had once been a lavish solar. Luxury drapes hung half-pulled from their rods, and crates stood open with silks spilling out, and a massive desk had been shoved against one wall. Moonlight poured through tall windows. Willem stood behind the desk with a pale face, blood crusting beneath his broken nose. Karl leaned against a marble pillar near the hearth, arms folded, a moment before he straightened, a lazy smile playing on his lips.
Arthur took one step inside, he felt his foot hit something and something pricked his neck.
He slapped at the spot on reflex, his fingers closing around a tiny dart no longer than a sewing needle. The room tilted almost immediately. His knees buckled; he slammed sideways into the wall, his shoulder hitting hard enough to rattle the the wall. His vision swam and blurred, the colours bleeding at the edges, and a cold numbness spread from the puncture down his arm.
Karl laughed. "Nightshade and widow's blood," he said, pushing off the pillar. "Fast paralysis that slows the heart, death in minutes if the dose is right. Shame you walked right into the trip-wire, boy."
Willem's high, hysterical giggle joined in. "Look at him," he crowed, clutching the edge of the desk. "The great hero, swaying like a drunk on Sailor's Day. Did you really think you could march in here and take what is mine? You are nothing, farm boy. Nothing!"
Arthur's tongue felt thick, his limbs heavy as wet wool, but his eyes burned with venom while he stared at them both. He forced words through numb lips, barely audible. "You... orche... yo... own... do...wn."
Willem cupped a hand to his ear, mocking. "Speak up, hero! I cannot hear your dying gasp."
"I... said... you... orchestrated..."
+1 Poison resistance
+1 Poison resistance
+1 Poison resistance
+1 Poison resistance
"Your..."
+1 Poison resistance
+1 Poison resistance
+1 Poison resistance
+1 Poison resistance
"Own..."
+1 Poison resistance
+1 Poison resistance
+1 Poison resistance
"Downfall..." he said with a smile on his face. Arthur straightened by slow degrees, dragging breath into lungs that fought him, and pulled the tiny dart free between thumb and finger. He held it up so the moonlight glinted off the needle. "You sent me to that whorehouse," he said while his voice gained strength with every syllable. "You had me drugged on Red Sleep for moons. My body learned to live with poison because of you. Had I never been to that place, I would never have built the resistance that is burning your toxin out of my blood right now." He dropped the dart; it pinged softly against the floorboards. "You gave me the one thing that beats your last resort. You are the reason it failed."
Willem's mouth worked soundlessly, face draining of what little colour remained. Karl's lazy smile faltered for the first time. Arthur rose fully, Sunset lifting in a hand that no longer shook.
Karl's expression hardened. He drew his longsword with his right hand and a long knife with his left, settling into a guard that spoke of years spent killing for coin. "I've still got one more plan left boy," he said.
"Come on, then, hero. Let us see whose steel is sharper."
Willem stumbled backward, knocking over a chair in his panic. "Karl! Kill him! Kill him now!" he shrieked his voice cracking into a whine. "Do not just stand there, you useless bastard, kill him!"
Karl spared Willem a single irritated glance. "Shut up or I will gut you myself," he muttered, then fixed his eyes on Arthur again.
Arthur stepped forward, Sunset rising to middle guard, the leather wrap creaking as his grip tightened. The room narrowed to the space between them, only two blades, both men with everything to lose.
Arthur advanced across the solar's rug, and Karl mirrored him with his longsword in his right hand and his dagger in his left, circling slowly as they tested the distance between them. Willem retreated behind the desk, his hands trembling as he clutched the edge, but neither swordsman spared him a glance. Arthur feinted high with a quick thrust that Karl parried easily, the blades kissing with a soft ring before they separated again. Karl countered with a low slash from the longsword, aiming for Arthur's injured thigh, but Arthur stepped back and brought Sunset down in a block that turned the blow aside without effort.
They circled once more and Arthur pressed with a series of probing cuts that Karl met each time, his dagger flicking out to push Sunset wide after every clash. "Not bad for a farm boy," Karl said as he lunged with the longsword in a straight thrust that Arthur sidestepped, countering with a riposte that grazed Karl's sleeve and drew a thin line of blood across his forearm.
Arthur followed with a two-handed downward strike that Karl blocked overhead, their blades locking for a heartbeat before Arthur shifted to one hand and pushed with his free palm against Karl's chest. The force staggered Karl back a step, and Arthur slashed down, the tip of Sunset opening a shallow gash along Karl's calf that made him hiss through clenched teeth.
"You have improved," Karl said in a growl, retreating behind an overturned chair that had been knocked aside during the packing. "But improvement will not save you tonight."
Arthur did not reply. He feinted left, then struck right with a horizontal cut that Karl ducked under, but Arthur anticipated the move and brought his knee up into Karl's midsection as he rose. The impact doubled Karl over, and Arthur's hilt cracked against his temple, sending him stumbling into a side table that collapsed under his weight, spilling a half-packed crate of books across the floor.
Karl wiped blood from his split brow and snarled, his casual demeanor cracking as he surged up with dagger leading. He slashed wildly at Arthur's face, forcing him back, then hooked the longsword around in a dirty sweep at the knees that Arthur jumped over. Karl pressed the advantage, stabbing with the dagger toward Arthur's gut while the longsword came down from above. Arthur parried the sword but took a graze from the dagger across his ribs, the blade tearing through tunic and skin in a hot line that made him grunt.
They broke apart, circling again amid the scattered books, and Karl's eyes narrowed as he saw Arthur favor his left side more. "Time to end this," Karl muttered, and he lunged with the dagger feinting high before he dropped low and slashed at Arthur's ankle. Arthur blocked with Sunset, but Karl twisted and drove the dagger's pommel into Arthur's sword arm where the bruises from Lunk still throbbed. Pain lanced through the limb, and Arthur's grip faltered for an instant.
Karl seized the opening, kicking a fallen chair at Arthur's feet to unbalance him further, then slashed with the longsword in a vicious arc that Arthur barely deflected. The force spun him sideways, and Karl followed with a dagger thrust that skimmed Arthur's cheek, drawing blood that ran warm down his neck.
Arthur retreated through the open doors into the corridor, his boots slipping on the blood-slick floorboards where the earlier guards lay. Karl pursued while he kept on slashing to keep Arthur on the defensive. Arthur parried a high slash, then a low stab, but Karl hooked his dagger under Sunset's guard and twisted, nearly wrenching it free despite the leather wrap. Arthur held on, but the move left him open, and Karl's boot slammed into his knee, buckling the leg.
Arthur stumbled over one of the dead guards' outstretched arms, his back hitting the wall as he fought to stay upright. Karl was on him in an instant, longsword thrusting for the heart. Arthur twisted desperately, the blade grazing his side instead of piercing through, but Karl followed with the dagger, aiming for the throat. Arthur's free hand shot up, grabbing Karl's wrist, but the tip nicked his collarbone.
"Lunk should have finished you the damn idiot," Karl hissed, pressing closer so their faces were inches apart, his breath hot on Arthur's skin. "But i will admit that I'll enjoy doing it myself."
Arthur headbutted him, his forehead cracking against Karl's nose with a crunch that sprayed blood across both their faces. Karl reeled back, cursing, and Arthur shoved off the wall, Sunset whipping in a horizontal cut that Karl blocked with crossed blades. The longsword took the brunt, and Arthur struck the same spot on the flat again, the impact ringing loud in the narrow space.
They clashed down the corridor, blades blurring as Arthur shifted to Water Dancing Style, circling Karl with footwork that turned defense into offense. He feinted low, then struck high, Sunset dancing past the dagger to open a gash along Karl's forearm that made him drop the shorter blade with a yelp, Arthur then kicked it off the second floor where it flew downstairs. Karl snarled and kicked a dead guard's shield into Arthur's path, tripping him mid-step. Arthur fell to one knee, and Karl's longsword came down in a two-handed chop that Arthur rolled away from, the blade embedding in the floorboards with a splintering crack.
Before Arthur could stand Karl grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the railing that overlooked the lower hall. Karl raised his sword high and Arthur shoved him away with both hands. Karl stumbled back and Arthur seized the moment to push off the railing and bring his blade across Karl's cheek. Karl roared and swung wildly. The steel passed over Arthur's arm and cut into the bannister.
Karl's next movement was a forward kick that struck Arthur square in the chest. Arthur lost balance and fell down the stairs. His body struck each step and rolled until he hit the floor of the lower hall. He lay on his back for a moment with the air gone from his lungs. The pain in his side spread through his whole torso. He was tempted to activate novocaine but that would force him to end the fight within five minutes, if he didn't do it the pain crashing back into him might make him pass out. He gripped his sword with trembling fingers and forced himself onto one knee.
Arthur surged up with Sunset thrusting for Karl's chest as he ran down the steps, but Karl parried, then countered with a punch that grazed Arthur's jaw. The fight spilled into an antechamber, furniture shattering as they slammed into a sideboard that collapsed under their combined weight. Arthur pushed Karl back with a series of rapid cuts, each one aimed at the same weakened spot on the longsword's blade, the metal groaning under the repeated stress.
Karl adapted, using his free hand to grab a fallen candlestick and swing it like a club. It connected with Arthur's ribs, driving air from his lungs in a gasp, but Arthur trapped the arm with Shibukawa-ryū, twisting it until Karl dropped the improvised weapon. Karl headbutted back, stars exploding in Arthur's vision, and in the opening he retrieved his fallen dagger from the floor.
He stabbed at Arthur and the blade sank into his side, just above the hip, causing hot agony that made his vision tunnel. Arthur staggered, blood soaking his tunic, but he grabbed Karl's wrist and yanked the dagger free himself, the motion sending fresh pain lancing through him. Karl grinned through the blood on his face and kicked forward, boot connecting with Arthur's chest to send him tumbling backwards.
Arthur hit the ground hard, luckily Sunset wasstill bound to his hand but his body screaming in protest. Karl descended after him, longsword in one hand, dagger in the other, stepping over debris from the earlier fight.
"Stay down, boy," Karl said. "Make this easy."
Arthur pushed up on one elbow, blood dripping from multiple cuts, and spat a mouthful of red onto the floor. "Not until you are dead," he rasped, forcing himself to his feet.
They met in the center of the hall, Karl slashing with both blades in a way that Arthur parried desperately, Sunset ringing against steel as he gave ground step by step. Karl feinted with the dagger, then thrust with the longsword; Arthur blocked the sword but took the dagger's tip across his forearm. He countered with a Water Dancing spin, Sunset whipping to slice Karl's thigh, blood spraying ass he did, but Karl ignored it and bulled forward, shoulder-checking Arthur into the wall where a portrait crashed down around them.
Plaster dust filled the air as Karl pinned Arthur, brought his arm with the dagger up only to plunge toward his face. Arthur twisted, the blade sinking into his shoulder instead, pinning him momentarily as agony exploded. "Die already," Karl grunted, twisting the hilt.
Arthur screamed but grabbed Karl's collar with his free hand, pulling him close while he headbutted the bridge of Karl's nose. Bone crunched; Karl reeled back with his dagger pulling free in a gush of blood. Arthur followed, Sunset thrusting for the gut, but Karl parried wildly, the blade clashing again at the same spot.
The fight spilled toward the main doors, Arthur pressing despite the blood loss that made his vision swim, each step a labor. Karl kicked a fallen chair into Arthur's path; Arthur jumped it but landed badly on his twisted leg, stumbling. Karl slashed down; Arthur blocked, pushing back with Demon Back's strength, and struck the longsword's flaw once more.
Karl adapted, using the dagger to hook Arthur's guard open, then kicked him square in the chest. Arthur flew backward through the main doors, crashing them open, and tumbled into the heavy rain outside. Water sheeted down, turning the courtyard mud into a slick wet surface. Arthur slipped as he tried to rise, falling face-first into the muck.
Karl followed, rain washing blood from his face as he advanced. "Pathetic," he said.
Arthur lay in the mud, rain hammering his face, blood and water mixing into pink streams that ran from a dozen wounds. His sword arm trembled as Sunset's point was buried inches deep in the muck. Karl loomed over him with his longsword raises and a malicious smile on his face.
"I have seen hundreds like you," Karl said. "Wannabe knights with pretty stories in their heads. They ride in thinking honour and love will carry the day, that if they just fight hard enough for what is right the world will bend for them. I have killed dozens of them. Then I took their women, I fucked them right over their corpse while their bodies cooled. That is the way of it. The weak suffer under the strong. Always have, always will."
He stepped closer with every step his boot squelched across the mud, and smiled down at Arthur.
"When I finish here, I am going to find your wife," he continued. "I am going to fuck her bloody, put my seed in her again and again until she forgets you ever existed. That is the true nature of the world... hero."
Karl drew the longsword back for the killing blow.
"Maybe..." Arthur mumbled, lips barely moving, "...you're right."
Karl's smile widened.
"But you're forgetting one thing," Arthur added.
Karl paused. "What's that?"
Arthur lifted his head, rain streaming from his hair, and gave a small, exhausted smirk. "Out of the two of us who is really the weak one..."
"Willems bitch..."
Karl paused for a moment "RAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" he screamed in fury and brought the sword down in a killing arc.
Arthur surged up from the mud, Demon Back igniting every remaining fibre of strength. Sunset flashed upward in a single, perfect stroke, meeting Karl's descending blade at the exact weakened spot he had hammered all fight.
Steel shattered with a sound like a breaking bell.
Karl heard the snap before he felt it. His eyes flicked down to the jagged stump in his hand.
"What—"
The word never finished.
Sunset plunged forward, meteoric steel sliding between Karl's ribs and into his heart with a wet squelch. Arthur twisted the blade once for good measure.
Karl's mouth opened. "Oh..." Blood poured over his lip, mixing with the rain. His knees buckled. The broken sword fell from nerveless fingers and clattered into the mud. He toppled sideways, lifeless before he hit the ground. Arthur stood over him with his chest heaving, rain washing the blood from Sunset's blade. Lightning forked overhead, illuminating the courtyard in white for one heartbeat.
Karl son of whoever the fuck cares, lay dead in the courtyard.
Not a single person in Westeros or even the wider world would miss him.
Arthur limped across the ruined courtyard, rain still sheeting down in heavy curtains that turned the mud to slurry beneath his boots. The stable fire roared behind him, throwing wild orange light across the walls, and distant shouts told him the Gold Cloaks would arrive soon to investigate the fire. He had ten minutes at best. He needed Mira, and he needed to be gone before the city watch poured through the gates.
He climbed the front steps again, each one sending fresh pain through his stabbed side and torn shoulder, and pushed through the splintered main doors. The entrance hall lay in wreckage; broken furniture, blood-slick floors, bodies sprawled where they had fallen. He ignored it all and dragged himself up the stairs, using the banister for support, leaving bloody handprints on the wood. At the top he turned toward the solar. The double doors stood ajar. Inside, Willem cowered beneath the desk with his knees drawn to his chest, his ugly face streaked with tears and snot.
"Karl?" Willem called in a hopeful voice. "Karl, is that—"
He saw Arthur and the hope died. The blood-soaked cloak, the sword still dripping, the eyes that held no mercy. Willem scrambled backward on his elbows and heels until his spine hit the wall.
"No, no, no, wait!" Willem babbled, hands raised. "We can make a deal! Anything you want! Gold, a house, women I can give you anything!"
Arthur kept walking slowly, Sunset dragging a thin red line across the rug.
"You want to know where your sister is, yes?" Willem's voice pitched higher. "I'll tell you everything! I lied to Mira I told her you were rotting in the black cells so she would stay obedient. But two weeks ago... she grew close to Princess Rhaella, and started asking questions. Rhaella found out the truth that I lied to Mira. That is why the Gold Cloaks are coming! Mira is safe she is in the Red Keep under the princess's protection. There is no reason to hurt me! Please, Arthur, please!"
Arthur reached the desk. Willem's trembling hand fumbled a fat pouch from a drawer and hurled it onto the polished surface. Gold dragons spilled across the wood in a glittering cascade.
"Take it!" Willem sobbed. "Take all of it! Just let me live!"
Arthur stopped in front of the desk. He looked down at the coins, then reached out and picked up two dragons, turning them slowly between bloody fingers.
"This…"
"This was how much my life was worth to you…"
Willem's sobs grew louder, excuses tumbling over one another. "I had to I needed coin! I had to climb the ladder! Everyone does it! I never meant anything personal, I was going to make Mira my wife and honour her, I swear—"
Arthur set the two coins down roughly which made Willem jump and walked around the desk. Willem tried to crawl away, but his legs tangled in the chair and he fell backward into it, sprawling helplessly.
"It is strange," Arthur said as he loomed over the cowering man. "You are the one who nearly ruined my life. You sold me, lied to Mira, turned me into a thing to be used. Yet when I look at you now, I do not see a clever mastermind... I see a coward... you are a pitiable man..."
Willem clutched at the arms of the chair, nodding frantically. "Yes! Yes, a coward! A fool! I am nothing, please—"
"Thank you, Willem," Arthur said softly, "for showing me this side of yourself."
Willem blinked, confused hope flickering in his eyes. "You... you will spare me?"
"You have made me resolute in my beliefs." Arthur leaned closer. "I would rather die the naive farm boy who wanted to be a knight than live as whatever King's Landing turned you into."
Arthur put his hand on his shoulder. "Maybe one day I will learn to forgive you... I hope I do..."
Willem's mouth opened with a smile. "You will forgive—"
*Squelch*
Arthur's dagger slid between his ribs and into his heart with a wet sound.
Willem's eyes widened. A thin, reedy scream escaped him, more animal than man, and he clawed at Arthur's wrist, legs kicking feebly. Blood bubbled at his lips. His hands fell away. The scream dwindled to a gurgle, then silence. He slumped sideways in the chair, eyes staring at nothing.
Arthur looked down at the corpse and felt... nothing. No triumph, no relief, only a hollow certainty that one chapter had closed on his life. He turned, swept the scattered gold dragons into the pouch with one motion, and tucked it inside his cloak. Mira was not here, but she was safe in the Red Keep. That was enough for now.
He limped downstairs, each step a fresh agony, and found Lunk still tangled in the net on the entrance-hall floor, breathing slowly but at least awake from the sleeping poultice. The giant's face was streaked with tears, but his eyes fluttered open when Arthur knelt beside him.
"No... no hurt Lunk..." Lunk said as he tried to move away.
"Don't worry Lunk I'm not going to hurt you anymore," Arthur said gently, sawing at the ropes with his dagger, "Willem is gone. He left for Pentos without you. But Alys is waiting for you, Willem said to go back with her. Come home with me."
Lunk stared, slow comprehension dawning. "Home... Alys?"
"Yes. Home."
Arthur cut the last cord. Lunk sat up slowly, cradling his broken thumbs, and nodded. Arthur tried to stand, but his vision greyed at the edges; the poison, blood loss, and exhaustion crashed over him at once. He caught himself on the wall, swaying.
Lunk rose and offered one massive arm to help him. Arthur took it without pride, leaning heavily as they moved toward the back door.
"Gold Cloaks are coming," Arthur rasped. "We have to go now."
Lunk supported him without a word, and together they slipped into the rain-soaked night, two broken men limping away from the burning manse, heading for the only place either of them had ever truly been wanted.
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[QUEST COMPLETED]
THE MANSE OF CHAINS
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Description:
Willem's manse has fallen.
You carved a path through the men who stood between you and him. Eighteen sellswords could not stop you.
Karl's blade could not break you. Willem's gold and lies could not save him. And in the moment where rage could have claimed another life, you chose mercy—Lunk walks away alive.
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Main Objectives:
➤ Find where Mira was being held ✅
➤ Kill Willem✅
➤ Kill Karl✅
➤ Kill Lunk ❌
➤ Kill Sellswords (18/18)✅
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Optional Objective:
➤ Spare Lunk ✅
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Rewards Earned:
• +5,000 XP
• Otherworld Token
• Random Skill Token
• Skill Upgrade Token
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Optional Reward Earned:
• New Title: Fledgling Hero
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Failure Avoided:
• Death
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(AN: So there we go Karl and Willem are dead and his princess is in another castle. I know some of you will be annoyed by that but honestly how realistic would it be for Mira to get close with the princess and not ask about Arthur? Honestly she'd have to be brain dead. But yeah don't worry the reunion is coming. Plus this will be a good set up for Arthur and a canon character.)
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