Ronnel's Regret

**Ronnel's Regret** is the common title to the downfall of House Tarbeck during Durran's Defiance. Because of a grudge against his overlords, he plotted to side with the Westerlands' enemy, King Maelys I Blackfyre and with his support gain more power within the Westerlands. Ronnel Tarbeck remained at his family's castle while the other western soldiers followed Ser Martyn Lannister to the Reach, and only sent a small number of men to the front lines, in order to defend Tarbeck Hall if it was attacked.

While the other westerners were off raiding the Reach, the Lord of Tarbeck Hall proved himself to be a rather problematic figure. He summoned Lord Tytos Lannister to come and celebrate at his castle. Lord Ronnel Tarbeck's plans were more sinister than they originally seemed, as when the Lord of Casterly Rock arrived at his domain he ordered his retainers killed and the Lord captured. Confident that the Lannister forces would be crushed by the Tyrells and King Maelys I Blackfyre, he held Lord Tytos hostage in order to elevate House Tarbeck's position once the war was over. After informing the King of his actions and proposing a reward, the Mad King in fact named him Warden of the West in advance, though this nomination didn't convince the other western Lords to give up their allegiance to Ser Martyn, who was leading troops successfully in the Reach, and Tymon Lannister, who had managed the Westerlands exceptionally well while Lord Tytos was absent.

Sadly for Lord Ronnel, his plans didn't follow through, as Ser Martyn and his men returned from Highgarden unscathed. Furious with the Tarbecks but intent on securing the southern border of the Westerlands, Ser Martyn sent his squire and nephew, Perceon Lannister, who had proven his worth at the walls of Highgarden, to put down the Tarbecks. Meanwhile, Ser Martyn organised the defence at Crakehall. The bloodshed in the Reach had awoken the lion within the young man, who after arriving at Tarbeck Hall demanded their immediate surrender. However, his terms were brutal; after surrendering, the Tarbecks were to lay their heads on the blocks willingly, so that Perceon could behead each and every one of them personally. The younger children were to be hanged.

Knowing that there were going to be no negotiations with an angry teenager at the head of an army, Ronnel presented him with his grandfather's head and prepared for a siege. Perceon's men built dozens of catapults, more than necessary, and brought hundreds of boulders from the nearby mines. Once they were ready, Perceon gave the order one morning to begin slinging anything that could be thrown at the walls for as long as there was solid dirt to be pulled from the ground. The firing was said to have continued for three days without pauses. On the second, the gates opened and Tarbeck men came running out of the keep, but they were shot by archers, so no more continued to come.

By the evening of the third day they had run out of rocks to throw, and Perceon commanded a halt. There wasn't much to aim at anyway, for Tarbeck Hall was difficult to recognise from the rock around it anymore. It was a pile of broken cobblestone and stone tile and wood. When Perceon entered them and ordered his men to kill those who by some miracle lived, he came across Lord Ronnel himself lying in the rubble, stuck under a pile of rocks that had fallen on top of his legs when the remains of a tower had collapsed on him. Perceon uttered his last words to the Tarbeck, before slowly driving his steel through the man's throat; *Maelys sends his regards; the mad king rewards you with mad rewards.*

Thus ended Lord Ronnel's plot, and simultaneously ended his castle and his line. Tarbeck Hall was left a blasted ruin to remind other Westermen of how Perceon Lannister handled traitors.