The Pale Upstart ( GOT System Fic )

 The Loyalist lords had decided to send riders to meet Lord Roote's forces and warn them of the potential trap ahead. They had opted to err on the side of caution instead of being led on a merry chase. The second army would be ordered to regroup with them at Acorn Hall no matter what and ignore the Rebels' attempts at drawing them away. 

 The siege of Pinkmaiden took precedence over everything else. They needed to take back this keep and control it with an iron fist. Through it all, Gideon saw what preoccupied the lords and even the Boar Commanders. They feared the Lion. The Lannisters could reveal their hand and attack the Riverlands, in which case all would be lost as the Loyalists could not withstand the might of the Westerlands and the Starks would not arrive in time even if warned at the earliest time possible. 

 Tywin Lannister could spin a likely tale to wash his hands of any crimes, that much all were certain of. At this point, no matter how much they would have wanted to deny it, the realm laughed at them. Whilst the Lion had dealt with the rebels on his own land in one swift motion and traumatised all of his bannermen into never having the gall to try it again, here they stood having failed to cull the upstarts for more than a decade. 

 Of course, Lord Tywin had not been fighting a rebellion supported in secret by another Great Lord, but none could silence the mockeries with such arguments. 

 Gideon could not say which he preferred. The siege or a potential chase across the northern parts of the Riverlands. From what he had heard of sieges, only the rapidly successful ones were somewhat bearable. So long as they stretched beyond even a month, they would always be a curse to live through. 

 Still, he trained. Day and night, he sought to master his sword. His Prowess had given him enough strength to work with at this point. With a certain degree of mastery– and not necessarily anything on the level of the Kingslayers of Ser Barristan– he would become a force to be reckoned with. 

 But would that matter in a siege? The archers and siege engines would do the most damage, really. He chased these thoughts away. He would see once the siege was upon them. For now, they awaited the rest of the army and he did his best to show his progress to his superiors. 

 With how often he caught Commander Oswyn and Lieutenant Constantine staring at him, he could guess the effort had not even been needed. He caught glances, both curious and fearful, without having to lift a finger. 

 Lieutenant Constantine seemed to have taken a liking to him as he sometimes observed him closely and would even spar with him occasionally. He had expected such attention to draw the jealousy of the other sellswords, but they all seemed to be strangely fine with it. It almost appeared to be a foregone conclusion to them, like he had been meant to stand in the light from the moment he had arrived. 

 Something in him bristled when he caught these reactions. For now, he could not quite point out what the feeling even was, but still,, he continued his routine. 

 The heightened reflexes his higher Prowess had given were a gift from the Seven, quite literally, too, if his assumptions were right, and he found himself falling into a sort of counter-offensive style of combat. 

 He could afford to dance around his enemies and analyze them, let them commit mistakes that he could take advantage of through said reflexes and his swiftness of action. 

 Alas, he found out that he still stood across a gap that separated him from the likes of the good Lieutenant. 

 " Your feet, Gideon. I keep telling you! Your little nods are not as welcome when they are meaningless. Do not simply hear my words, listen to them." The Lieutenant barked at him as he, for the sixth time just in this sparring lesson, trapped his foot underneath his own steel-clad greaves. Once more, a shattering blow to the side came and Gideon found himself gasping for air. 

 " You are no knight, boy. Neither will be a majority of the men you will face out there. They will absolutely use everything they can to their advantage. If only because you will freak them into taking you seriously! You will seldom have the benefit of the doubt, and no one will look down on you for your age. You look too much like some monstrous Targaryen for that," He gritted his teeth at the words but simply glared at the taller man. He was but a petulant child in that position, but he certainly wouldn't give him a reaction. 

 " Use your brain, leave as few openings as possible. Your looks will scare them, your footing and positioning will leave them with no choice but to analyze you and inevitably…" The Lieutenant's armoured leg came crashing down on the back of his own. He realized he was in the air for half a second before his head met the ground and the pain made him yelp. 

 " Their inaction will give you time to attack first. Or they will charge in, too afraid to even think straight anymore. That is also quite good." Constantine smirked at him but he only saw part of the man's face from his position, with his body twisted and his feet next to his face. 

 " Can you just stop tripping me? By now I've kissed the ground more often than I've ever kissed my own mother!" Gideon whined but only a mocking giggle entered his ears. 

 He sighed and pushed himself back into a less awkward position. He opened his mouth but closed it immediately as he noticed another officer of the Boars. 

 " Lieutenant Constantine, we have received word from Lord Roote. The Commanders have called for you. I would recommend moving with haste, they are in a foul mood." The man spoke with a hint of fear. Apparently, he had been on the receiving end of this foul mood. 

 Constantine narrowed his eyes but quickly nodded. He left with a promise to continue this at another time, but Gideon only half-listened. He was more so focused on the officer. He cleared his throat before the man could leave as well. 

 " Ah Ser, would it be possible….to…well, I find myself quite curious as to what Lord Roote reported. What could've happened to warrant this reaction?" He asked. He could easily guess the man had not wanted to deal with him, but even as an officer, he seemed like the type who did not take pleasure in throwing his weight around. A most rare case, especially amongst this company. 

 In the past days, he had been barked at like some street urchin trying to steal a loaf of bread in the crowded streets of Oldtown. And he had certainly not done anything to deserve such treatment. 

 The officer turned to him, words to deny this request already on his tongue, but he hesitated. He looked around, and when he confirmed that no one else would hear them, he relented. 

 " If you share this with the others, I will not take the blame for it. Do you hear me,, boy? And my words will outweigh yours quite heavily." Gideon swore on the Seven themselves that he would keep this a secret, but the man appeared as non-religious as they came. Still, he spoke in a hushed tone. 

 " Those fucks burned our supplies. They quickly noticed that Lord Roote was not falling for their bait, but instead of turning back and retreating to the Twins, they followed the cavalry and burned the supplies during the night. We've lost more than we can easily replace. This will push back the siege until we can replenish our stocks, s'why the Commanders have been yelling in their tent. No one's been brave enough to approach yet." 

 Ah. This would indeed explain the reaction.

 " How did they even pull this off without being seen? I assume Lord Roote expected them to at least try an ambush or something. I have only been here for a short time and I already know these rat bastards do not give up easily." He questioned the officer who gulped. That reaction sounded some warning bells in his mind. 

 " They pulled a strategy they haven't used since the early years of the war. Apparently, they took some corpses with them when they retreated from that battle. They dressed up their men to fool our own in their camp and covered some tents and a good number of horses in some tree sap or something, don't know what this was all about really. Then…" Something in the officer's eyes told him that the description of the events Lord Roote had given must have been quite horrid. 

 " They left a trail of the sap behind them and set it on fire. By the time the camp turned into a fucking Dragon's wet dream they had crossed more than enough distance. No one saw it coming and none could chase after them. Lord Roote wrote that the fire was hellish to deal with and the sap just wouldn't come off." 

 That was worrying, to say the least. What kind of tactics were those? He could easily guess that none of the lords on the other side could have thought of that. No, this sounded like….

 " You said this was something they already attempted earlier in the war? Did their sellswords come up with the idea?" 

 The very same who had already turned a supposedly decisive victory into something disgustingly bitter with the number of loyalist men they took with them during that hail of arrows. 

 The man nodded and he noticed how the fear turned into blazing hatred. Just the mention of those sellswords was enough to get the man's blood boiling. 

 " The Copper Brotherhood, these fucks….th-these fucking snakes! Always with the scheming, always with those dirty tactics!" 

 So, this was a recurrent adversary for the Boars. Perhaps even one they had crossed steel with outside of this war? Then again this specific officer did not seem old enough to have participated in any war before this one. 

 The man excused himself, still positively shaking in fury, and left Gideon alone with his thoughts. 

 Whilst the Rebels themselves were bound to have a few competent lords at the very least, it was disconcerting to hear that they had vicious sellswords on their side. With the rebel houses providing the manpower and this Copper Brotherhood coming up with this sort of tactic, it was no wonder the Loyalists could not easily crush the rebellion. 

 He would have to get more information on them whenever possible. It would have to wait until the tension came down, however. If the Commanders and this officer were of any indication, the whole camp would be bristling in anger by the time everyone became aware of what had transpired. 

 Their supplies, burned in the dead of the night by an already vanquished. That had to sting. In fact….

 He had been there for a short amount of time, and despite having been born a Riverlander he felt no deep love for this land….and yet. 

 " I couldn't get an easy victory as my first-ever conflict, eh? You damn rats will make a good sharpening tool at the very least…."

 Something flashed atop him. 

[ The Champion has received a Side Quest! ]

Quest: Turmoil for the Fish

Side Quest: The Siege of Pinkmaiden

Objective: Take over Pinkmaiden for the Loyalists. 

Additional Objective n°1: Be instrumental to the siege's success. 

Additional Objective n°2: Take Pinkmaiden before Rebel reinforcements can arrive.

Additional Objective n°3: Defeat ??? in single combat.

Reward: +2 Martial, +2 Artisan, +600 Silver Stags, +30 Reputation, +2 Prowess.

Additional Reward n°1: +30 Reputation, +20 Relation with House Tully, +400 Silver Stags. 

Additional Reward n°2: ???

Additional Reward n°3: ???

 Defeat…who?

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A.N: Hey y'all, just wanted to say comments and reviews will be appreciated as like many authors, I function with interaction be it positive or negative. And it also helps me know what I'm doing right and what I'm completely messing up. 

Anyway feel free to follow the fic or whatever, I will try to update whenever possible as the schedule will still be a bit random until I get a new PC.