Sack of Duskendale

After the defeats at Harrenhal, Fishfeed, and Stonehedge, Aegon II stripped Otto Hightower of the Handship and gave it to Criston Cole, until then the head of the Kingsguard. Cole wasted no time setting the tone: those who had bent the knee to Rhaenyra needed to be punished.

House Velaryon and House Celtigar were out of reach, shielded by the sea, but the mainland lords who had sworn to the princess had no such protection. Cole gathered a hundred knights, five hundred men-at-arms, and three times as many sellswords, close to two thousand four hundred men in all, and rode out of King's Landing with the king and the dragons at his side.

Along the way, Rosby and Stokeworth surrendered without a fight: their lords, held prisoner since the coup in the capital, agreed to submit to save their lives, and their men joined the royal column, which reached Duskendale nearly three thousand strong.

Duskendale had walls and a harbor, but no garrison ready for an army at its gates. The town fell with barely a fight, and the sack began at once: houses and storehouses stripped bare, and the ships moored in the harbor set ablaze on the water.

Lord Gunthor Darklyn paid for his loyalty to Rhaenyra with his head; Cole had him beheaded as a traitor. Most of his knights chose to swear to the king rather than share his fate, though a handful chose to die alongside their lord.

With Duskendale subdued, Cole marched his men toward Rook's Rest, the seat of House Staunton. This time there was no surprise: word of the advance had already arrived, and the defenders barred their gates.

The siege settled in while the Greens ravaged the surrounding countryside, waiting for surrender or battle. The standoff wasn't resolved by the siege itself: it broke out into the battle of Rook's Rest.