Solar of the Knight of Kingspyre Tower

[The Gambler]

Where the Knight of Kingspyre Tower manages the fortress' affairs.

Current Knight of Wailing Tower: Ser Bruce Whent

[The Gambler]

As the group is led up the stairs of Kingspyre Tower they see why it took Ser Harrys so long to return. It was twenty minutes before they reached the door to Ser Bruce's solar. They passed countless rooms, full of hungry emaciated knights.

"He says you can go in and bring one with you," Harrys informed Belric. "The rest can wait outside."

[Lord Belric Blackfort]

"Jon, you're with me. The rest of you will wait out here. Keep an eye on these knights and an ear to the door, incase there is trouble." Belric walked into the room and motioned for Jon to follow.

[The Gambler]

Within the solar awaited Ser Bruce Whent himself, a man about of age with Belric. He had brown matted hair below his shoulders, a long pointed nose, a short beard, and piercing eyes used to silencing his men with but a glance. He was in full plate, His shield with the nine bats of House Whent painted upon it resting against a nearby wall, his helmet carried in the crook of his arm.

"So you're the Ravensbane, new Lord of Harrenhal," Bruce Whent stated rhetorically, no sounding impressed. He was a big man with a barrel chest, but from the bags under his eyes, it was clear he had not slept much of late and his pasty skin showed clear signs of malnutrition. "I admit, thought you'd be bigger."

[Jon Blackfort]

Jon did as he was told and followed in the shadow of the giant. He stood in silence while the knights exchanged pleasantries, but took the chance to sum up the man that stood before them. His mocking tone suggested he had little respect for the Blackforts, or perhaps it was just the hunger.

[Check Disposition - Observation 80]

[Ser Willis Blackfort]

"You see those scrawny fucks we passed on the way up?" Willis quietly asked those remaining outside the solar. "Looked half starved, the lot of them. Shit, we might've been able to win a fight. And morale can't be good."

[The Gambler]

Jun 10, 2016 2:30:48 GMT Jon Blackfort said:

Jon did as he was told and followed in the shadow of the giant. He stood in silence while the knights exchanged pleasantries, but took the chance to sum up the man that stood before them. His mocking tone suggested he had little respect for the Blackforts, or perhaps it was just the hunger.

[Check Disposition - Observation 80]

(Success. +1 Observation)

The big grim man seems indifferent, waiting to get the measure of the pair. 

[Sigfry Deddings]

"I don't think we should. These men might be good people, who'd show Belric loyalty if they knew he was their lord..." Yoren said as he looked back to the starving knights with a frown, "It'd be better then having to start from scratch in manning this castle."

[Lord Belric Blackfort]

"The stories of a man often seem larger than life." Belric said, sizing him up in return. "What has happened here Ser Bruce? Why did my King tell me Harrenhal was being looked after, yet I arrive to infighting, starvation, and the particullarly well mutilated corpse of Lady Lothson?"

[Ser Willis Blackfort]

"Right, I don't mean we should fight 'em now. But let's say this meeting don't go well. I been half-starved myself. It can be quite persuasive. We offer food and pardons, might be we got a mutiny in our favor."

[Sigfry Deddings]

Yoren shook his head in disagreement, "These people have been doing this for a long while now. If food and pardon were enough to sway them, they wouldn't be in this state now..." Yoren said as he looked towards willis, "Men like this, I think, are more loyal then they are smart...kinda like me."

[The Gambler]

Jun 10, 2016 2:45:55 GMT Lord Belric Blackfort said:

"The stories of a man often seem larger than life." Belric said, sizing him up in return. "What has happened here Ser Bruce? Why did my King tell me Harrenhal was being looked after, yet I arrive to infighting, starvation, and the particullarly well mutilated corpse of Lady Lothson?"

"She got what was coming to her and deserved far worse," Bruce seethed, slamming a mailed fist down on the desk in his solar. "After what she did to the maester...the children...after what she did to us..." He sat in his chair to compose himself, too angry and haunted to speak. "This is a place for men no longer, perhaps it never was. It is fit now for only monsters and ghosts. Which are you, ser?" 

[Ser Willis Blackfort]

"No offense, Yoren, but I think you might think too highly of your fellow knights." Willis said with a chuckle.

[Lord Belric Blackfort]

"Tell me of her transgressions. If I am to pass judgement on what's happened here, I need to know the truth. I have my suspicions, but I would hear your words, on your honor as a knight."


"And Bruce..." Belric added, "I am the slayer of monsters, and I'm recruiting."

[The Gambler]

(Belric gains 1 Disposition Level with Ser Bruce)

"It all started a little over four years ago, before the Battle of Redgrass Field, shortly after Lord Manfred Lothson was killed, leaving Lady Danelle as the last surviving member of House Lothson. I had faith in her, faith she would lead her house and us through this trying time. Then she received some troubling news from Maester Edgar. I do not know to this day what it was, as only my uncle was in the room with them, but she was never the same after. Whatever the maester said, she had the man hung by the weirwood tree in the Godswood by his own chain for the words. I watched the crows peck out his eyes while he was still alive, still screaming and choking, his feet flailing," the capable looking knight was shaking, in rage or fear, it was hard to tell. "Then the albino came, that cursed Bloodraven. Once again, my uncle was in the room with them, so I know not what was discussed, but whatever case that pale demon made must have been convincing, for the next morning Lady Danelle announced her intention to switch House Lothson's allegiance from the Blacks to the Reds. I'll have you know, ser, that my father died at Lord Manfred's side fighting the Targaryens, so this did not sit well with me or many of the men, but we followed and kept to our oaths of loyalty to House Lothson."

The knight paused again, pouring himself a cup of wine from a skin, likely the last of it, with shaky fingers. He did not offer Belric any, merely drained the goblet in one gulp before continuing.

"It was shortly after that Lady Danelle began taking an interest in the children of Harrentown, inviting them behind the walls for their own protection, offering them positions in the kitchens. It seemed prudent, for their own protection, especially after my mother was slain in a Blackfyre raid on the town. Then they began to vanish. I took little note of it at first, things and people have a habit of getting lost in this monstrous keep, and there was a war to fight. I was so blind," his voice cracked a bit, in shame and anger. "Each child that went missing she would have replaced, sending my uncle and his knights to take them by force if necessary. Then the feasts began, great feasts for the Knights of Harrenhal, to raise morale. No matter the state of the world outside the walls, there was always an abundance at our table, always fresh meat. One evening I found a copper ring in my roast, one of the trinkets I'd seen the town smith make for the children. I thought nothing of it, it probably slipped off the finger of a child in the kitchens while preparing the meal. But then I saw my uncle's eyes...staring back into my own in silent horror...his own plate empty...he knew something I did not....some horrible truth. I investigated the kitchens. There were no children...when there should have been dozens. She'd had the tongues of the remaining kitchen staff cut out. I retched for hours, then retched some more, long after nothing came up."

He looked up then, only rage remaining in his tear-brimmed eyes.

"I told my men, those I knew I could trust, then at the next feast I cut her down at the high table and every false knight I could that raised his sword in her defense...and I would do it again. Is that not what a knight is for? Is that what our oath means? Do legends not speak and songs not sing of those who slay monsters and smite the wicked? If you are here to do the same, then I am your man, I swear it on my honor as a knight, the only honor left that matters in this world. We can start with my uncle."