History Main / TreacherousQuestGiver

* In Chapter 2 of ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'', a [[HonestJohnsDealership shady salesman]] named Spamton will offer [[TheHero Kris]] a deal to become a "Big Shot"; all they have to do is bring him an empty disk to [[BrainUploading upload his consciousness]] to, then place it into a robotic body that was left to rot in the depths of [[ArcVillain Queen]]'s basement. He's also insistent that they have to do it ''[[SoloSequence alone]]''. [[spoiler: After being transferred into his new body, he'll attempt to kill Kris, declaring [[YourSoulIsMine he wants their SOUL, too]]. Thankfully, [[BigDamnHeroes the rest of their party are able to rescue them just in time]], leading to the chapter's BonusBoss fight]].

** ''VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyHeroesOfLagaard'': A couple of {{Side Quest}}s are actually posted by bandits taking advantage of the noticeboard system to lure unwary adventurers into traps. The bartender who manages the request system is understandably ''pissed'' when he finds out, and warns your Guild when they take the second mission.

** Peach Wilkins in Neptune's Bounty allows you into his lair, on the condition that he is provided with pictures of spider splicers. Once you complete his task, he and his men try to kill you after [[FisticuffsBoss he makes you give up your firearms]]. [[spoiler:With the reveal that Atlas was Frank Fontaine, he was indeed correct to worry that the player was working for Fontaine]].

** In ''Heroes of Lagaard'', a couple of {{Side Quest}}s were actually posted by bandits taking advantage of the noticeboard system to lure unwary adventurers into traps. The bartender who manages the request system is understandably ''pissed'' when he finds out, and warns your Guild when they take the second mission.
** In ''The Millennium Girl'' (a remake of the first game), there are several:

*** An old man posts a mission to investigate the tales of a legendary thief's treasure, which just happens to be guarded by Golem, the first of the game's {{Bonus Boss}}es. [[spoiler:He knew perfectly well there was no treasure, but he wanted revenge upon the machine for killing his grandson. He did eventually feel remorse and tried to take down the quest, but it was way too late, seeing your team has already wrecked Golem's shit.]]

[[folder:Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'': Beatrice is a bluebird who tells Wirt and Greg to seek out the witch Adelaide if they want to get home. In fact, Beatrice was bringing them to [[MadeASlave become Adelaide's servants]] in exchange for [[BalefulPolymorph changing Beatrice and her family back into humans]]. However, Beatrice ends up liking Wirt and Greg too much to sell them out, [[TakeMeInstead and offers herself in their place]]. Unfortunately, Wirt doesn't find out the last part, and breaks apart from Beatrice.

** 'VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'': Blind the Thief. [[spoiler:He disguises himself as the maiden for the 4th Dark World dungeon and tries to prevent you from leaving. You have to trick him into a patch of sunlight to begin the battle]]. By the time you reach the dungeon's only exit and he tells you not to go that way, you've probably figured it out. When you win the boss battle, you rescue the ''real'' maiden.

* In ''Videogame/DarkSouls'' and ''Videogame/DarkSoulsII'', the people who give directions on your next course of action [[spoiler:are setting you up to be [[HumanSacrifice kindling for the First Flame]].]] In the first game, the only character who is actually honest about what will happen to you if you go through with the quest and offers you an alternative option [[spoiler:is also a lying bastard. His alternative will arguably end worse for you and will almost certainly be worse for the rest of the world.]] Lastly, Shiva of the East was originally going to betray you over the Chaos Blade but the questline was cut from the final release.

** "Rag and Bone Man" and "Fur 'n Seek" have an Odd Old Man carrying around a suspicious sack he sometimes talks to ask the player to collect bones and other items which he claims are for a museum. If you complete both quests and collect every bone and other items he requests, it turns out he is actually being mind controlled by an undead monster skull he carrying in his sack which is using him to collect bones to assemble a new body for itself.

* VideoGame/{{Undertow}}: After [[RecruitingTheCriminal forcibly recruiting]] Jason Rake into his service, Admiral Lancaster quickly turns on Rake after deceiving him into raiding the Nemonians for supplies, intending to hide his betrayal of the pact with [[Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea Nemo]] by personally killing Rake and using the ex-pirate's reputation to absolve the Iron Marines of any blame. Rake has this to say after taking out the Admiral's sub.

* Manga/EternalAlice: [[spoiler: Turns out Alternate L. Takion's grandson is the real Takion, and he wants to use the wish from The Never Ending Story to keep him and Liddell eternally young. In the manga, it's so that he can add to his collection of stories and keep the Never Ending Alice from, well, never ending.]]

* ''Comicbook/LaQueteDeLOiseauDuTemps'': Mara sends the heroes on a quest to recover [[SealedEvilInACan the conch where the evil god Ramor is imprisoned]], supposedly so that she can renew the depleted spell that binds him. Only at the very end it turns out that she actually intended all along to destroy Ramor and claim his powers for herself.

* Literature/TheNameOfTheWind has Kvothe [[WrongGenreSavvy tricked]] by his [[GenreSavvy Ruh knowledge of stories]] into assuming that one of these is a SecretTest from the mentor. In the following book, he ''knowingly volunteers'' for one of these, playing up the drama of the [[CallBack first example]] to his bemused teacher for all it's worth.

* ''WebComic/EightBitTheater'': Sarda sends the Light Warriors on a quest to collect the Elemental Orbs. That way he can use them to become all powerful, let them rise to the height of their power [[spoiler: and then take it all away to make them suffer.]]

* Bambi "Buck" Hughes, a [[AwesomeAussie former Australian soldier]] turned mercenary, sends PlayerCharacter Jason Brody all around the Rook Islands in ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' to find an [[KnifeNut ancient Chinese knife]], in exchange for reuniting him with his friend Keith, [[IHaveYourWife who Buck's holding captive]]. [[spoiler:When Jason finally finds the knife, he also finds out that Buck is a DepravedHomosexual who was subjecting Keith to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil abusive rape]], and now that Jason's done his job, he plans on [[IHaveYouNowMyPretty adding him to the collection]]. Their confrontation ultimately ends in a KnifeFight. Thankfully, Jason wins.]]

** There's one that requires a ludicrous amount of work. In Searchlight, a completely irradiated town that everyone warns you to avoid, there's a storm cellar with three people in it. Talking with them reveals that they're planning on looting the town since it was a former [=NCR=] base, but they can't do it without radiation suits. One of them, Jason, offhandedly says to check the computer for their location. Doing so reveals that the shipment of radiation suits got waylaid in Nipton, so Jason tells you to go get them. In Nipton, its sole remaining resident tells you when directly asked that the cargo crate with the suits in them got moved north somewhere. Exploring the mountains north, there's a cave with an Average (50) lock that has the suits inside. Once you return with the suits, Jason's crew agrees to split the scavenged loot with you. You then go to the Police Station (that only Jason can unlock) and grab all the old [=NCR=] gear while Jason and his crew mill around. They won't let you leave until you pick up everything labeled [=NCR=] as well. Then you all travel to the Fire Station, and the process repeats.[[spoiler: Finally, once you grab all the gear there, Jason says, "Good. Time to die, loser." and attacks you. Chances are, you'll be able to kill them all in about 2 seconds.]]

** This happens all over the place in the various ''Videogame/{{Fallout}}'' games. A common setup is for one NPC to give you a quest to work against a personal enemy, the enemy to give you their side of the story if you stop to talk to them about it, and leaving it up to your conscience, playstyle, and desired position on the KarmaMeter / {{Alliance Meter}}s to decide which of them you believe. Taking any quest at face value is a mug's game, as it often depends entirely on which NPC you happened to bump into first.

!!Non-videogame examples:

[[folder:Anime And Manga]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'': One dungeon has an EscortMission with some ObviouslyEvil CreepyChild girls. Needless to say, they're the dungeon's boss.

* Played with in ''Film/FiftyFifty'': when [[UsefulNotes/{{CIA}} Martin Sprue]] hired [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Sam French and Jake Wyer]] to help [[LaResistance Akhantar]] overthrow General Bosavi, he is completely sincere, and genuinely wants to help the people of Tengara. Then Bosavi cuts a deal with the US government, and Sprue gets ordered to sell out Jake and Frenchie.

* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'': The Bats' Tower chapter begins as a group of catfish ladies ask Conker to retrieve a money that is guarded in a safe, but unapproachable due to an angry bulldog-like fish; the reward, they say, is 10% of their fortune for him. After several hardships (including defeating a boss), Conker succeeds and retrieves the money... which consists of 10$, meaning that he'll only gain one dollar for having risked his life scaling a tower full of vengeful bats, dealing with a pervert cog who was sexually abusing other cogs, traversing a dangerous underwater maze, ''and'' fighting a living boiler piloted by fire imps who wanted to bully him. [[FormBadToWorse And then the bulldog fish breaks free and proceeds to eat the catfish ladies, aiming at Conker next]]. Only after barely escaping the hungry monster, does Conker receive a ''real'' reward (300$).

** In [[VideoGame/BaldursGateII the sequel]], [[spoiler: Jierden Firkraag]] sends the player on a side quest to kill some monsters menacing his land. It turns out he's actually trying to ruin the player's reputation, and the monsters are actually some paladins on the same fake quest under a disguise spell.

* In ''Videogame/DarkSouls'' and ''Videogame/DarkSoulsII'', the people who give directions on your next course of action [[spoiler:are setting you up to be [[HumanSacrifice kindling for the First Flame]].]] In the first game, the only character who is actually honest about what will happen to you if you go through with the quest and offers you an alternative option [[spoiler:is also a lying bastard. His alternative will arguably end worse for you and will almost certainly be worse for the rest of the world.]]
** Like the ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' example, Shiva of the East was originally going to betray you over the Chaos Blade but the questline was cut from the final release.

* In ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey II'', a couple of {{Side Quest}}s were actually posted by bandits taking advantage of the noticeboard system to lure unwary adventurers into traps. The bartender who manages the request system is understandably ''pissed'' when he finds out, and warns your Guild when they take the second mission.
** In ''Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl'', there are several:

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has one that requires a ludicrous amount of work. In Searchlight, a completely irradiated town that everyone warns you to avoid, there's a storm cellar with three people in it. Talking with them reveals that they're planning on looting the town since it was a former [=NCR=] base, but they can't do it without radiation suits. One of them, Jason, offhandedly says to check the computer for their location. Doing so reveals that the shipment of radiation suits got waylaid in Nipton, so Jason tells you to go get them. In Nipton, its sole remaining resident tells you when directly asked that the cargo crate with the suits in them got moved north somewhere. Exploring the mountains north, there's a cave with an Average (50) lock that has the suits inside. Once you return with the suits, Jason's crew agrees to split the scavenged loot with you. You then go to the Police Station (that only Jason can unlock) and grab all the old [=NCR=] gear while Jason and his crew mill around. They won't let you leave until you pick up everything labeled [=NCR=] as well. Then you all travel to the Fire Station, and the process repeats.[[spoiler: Finally, once you grab all the gear there, Jason says, "Good. Time to die, loser." and attacks you. Chances are, you'll be able to kill them all in about 2 seconds.]]

* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' has Hulas of the [[MurderInc Genoharadan]]. The player will know going in that it's a Dark Side quest, but that Rodian is just using you to kill off the other guildmasters and take control of the whole thing himself. Of course, a Dark Side player can just finish off the job... and the guild.

* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' one dungeon has an EscortMission with some ObviouslyEvil CreepyChild girls. Needless to say, they're the dungeon's boss.
** Another ''Zelda'' example is Blind The Thief in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast''. [[spoiler: He disguises himself as the maiden for the 4th Dark World dungeon and tries to prevent you from leaving. You have to trick him into a patch of sunlight to begin the battle.]] Of course, by the time you reach the dungeon's only exit and he tells you not to go that way, you've probably figured it out.

* Pretty much [[spoiler:the entire plot of]] ''VideoGame/MortalKombatDeception''.

* VideoGame/{{Ratchet and Clank|2002}} spend the first half of the first game trying to contact [[TheMole Captain Qwark]], who sends them to his hidden base planet in order to demonstrate their heroic worth. [[spoiler: Or, y'know, kill them on the orders of the BigBad he's been working for in exchange for [[MoneyDearBoy corporate sponsorship]].]]
** ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankGoingCommando'': It turns out the whole time, the man the duo have been working for was [[spoiler:Captain Quark]] in disguise.

* There are so many examples in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' it's pretty much become an expectation. Standard adventure design seems to be "Johnson gives the team a mission, the team makes a plan, the plan goes wrong so the team shoots their way out, Johnson double-crosses the team."
** The general assumption in all cyberpunk games is that whoever's hiring you has huge ulterior motives and may decide to shaft you. Some GM's have started throwing ''non''-treacherous quest givers at their groups just to watch the expressions of total incomprehension on the faces of the players.
*** Outright lampshaded by the cover of one supplement, which showed an employer's palm pilot displaying a "to do" list. The last item on the list was "Betray shadowrunners".

** Closer to EvilVersusEvil, given that [[spoiler: Jack Noir would relish the opportunity (being AlwaysChaoticEvil), and Terezi said as much to Karkat, who was blinded by the fact that he considered Jack a surrogate father, despite the fact that Jack stabbed him in multiple instances.]]

* Perseus was sent to kill Medusa by king Polydactes, who wanted him out of the way so as to marry Perseus' mother Danae. Perseus ended up bringing the Gorgon's head back on his shield, which was so ugly Polydactes turned to stone on seeing it.

* Happens in ''StarWars: Scoundrels'', when it is revealed at the end that the man who hired Han Solo to break into a Black Sun crimelord's vault was actually [[spoiler: Boba Fett trying to get two bounties with one stone.]]

Often overlaps with [[ThePlan multiple kinds of plans]]: BitchInSheepsClothing, FalseInnocenceTrick, TheCakeIsALie, MacGuffinDeliveryService, UriahGambit, and, clearly, requires an UnwittingPawn, or someone who [[ObfuscatingStupidity acts like one]] to [[GambitPileup further their own plan]]. If the QuestGiver is someone who CannotTellALie, expect [[FromACertainPointOfView the truth to be bent unrecognizably]].

* In the original Literature/ArabianNights version of Aladdin, the evil sorcerer was this to Aladdin, promising him riches in exchange for the lamp and trapping him underground when he didn't get it.

[[folder:Mythology]]

* VideoGame/{{Undertow}}: After [[RecruitingTheCriminal forcibly recruiting]] Jason Rake into his service, Admiral Lancaster quickly turns on Rake after deceiving him into raiding the Nemonians for supplies, intending to hide his betrayal of the pact with [[Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea Nemo]] by personally killing Rake and using his reputation as a pirate to absolve the Iron Marines of any blame. Rake has this to say after taking out the Admiral's sub.