[X] The Emperor oversteps. The Archduke deserves a fair trial under the law, and his peers in the Reikland Diet are entitled to hear the evidence and have their voices heard. To depose a vassal by force of arms absent such processes is nothing more or less than tyranny.
Justice without evidence or a trial is not justice at all.
[X] The Emperor has the right. The action is legitimate, and if the proper forms were not followed, you can only trust that Karl-Franz had good cause to bypass the Diet and enact such a summary judgement upon his wayward vassal.
[X] The Emperor has the right. The action is legitimate, and if the proper forms were not followed, you can only trust that Karl-Franz had good cause to bypass the Diet and enact such a summary judgement upon his wayward vassal.
[X] The Emperor oversteps. The Archduke deserves a fair trial under the law, and his peers in the Reikland Diet are entitled to hear the evidence and have their voices heard. To depose a vassal by force of arms absent such processes is nothing more or less than tyranny.
Scheduled vote count started by Maugan Ra on Aug 17, 2024 at 7:31 PM, finished with 75 posts and 57 votes.
[X] The Emperor oversteps. The Archduke deserves a fair trial under the law, and his peers in the Reikland Diet are entitled to hear the evidence and have their voices heard. To depose a vassal by force of arms absent such processes is nothing more or less than tyranny.
[X] The Emperor has the right. The action is legitimate, and if the proper forms were not followed, you can only trust that Karl-Franz had good cause to bypass the Diet and enact such a summary judgement upon his wayward vassal.
[X] Ours Not to Reason Why. Regardless of your own thoughts on the matter, it is not proper for the affairs of high nobility to be banded about by a common barge master and his crew. You cannot stop them from gossiping, but you can at least refuse to encourage it.
[X] The Emperor oversteps. The Archduke deserves a fair trial under the law, and his peers in the Reikland Diet are entitled to hear the evidence and have their voices heard. To depose a vassal by force of arms absent such processes is nothing more or less than tyranny.
IX - Aboard the Berebeli
You have grounds to quash this discussion utterly, to uphold the social order and not speak of that which you do not know. You have grounds to support the Emperor's actions here, for he is the heir of Sigmar with a proven track record of strong rule and wise judgement. None could fault you for either of those decisions, and yet in the end your allegiance is not to the man nor the hierarchy that places him on top, but rather to the law and the god that you all serve.
"Even a traitor has rights," you say grimly, shaking your head as your conviction settles, "If the Archduke truly was guilty of such crimes, he ought to have been summoned to trial, and his misdeeds laid out before his peers in the Diet. To bypass such processes is to undermine the very structure that grants the Emperor his rank."
Your companions exchange glances at that, perhaps surprised at your judgement or your willingness to voice it where they can hear, but even the most cynical among them understands the truth of it. A noble cannot be treated this way, cannot be so thoughtlessly abused; that is, in a very real sense, what makes them a noble.
"This is about Ubersreik, right?" Max interjects with a frown, scratching his bearded chin, "Where even is that? Not been outside Altdorf myself before."
"It's down south, near the Grey Lady Pass," Josef explains, copying the legbreaker and stroking his own, much thicker beard in thought. "You remember the Parravon wars, where all them soldiers came back after being hacked up by Bretonnian knights? Ubersreik was right on the front lines."
"Well, the laws being what they may, milord, it seems the Emperor has done it anyway," Wolmar the boathand says, looking worried, "So what happens now?"
"Nothing good," you say, shaking your head grimly, thinking of the outrage this will be stirring at home and abroad. "It may be that the Emperor recants or finds some way to make up for this, but until then… as Josef says, interesting times lay ahead."
Nobody much likes the sound of that, but there is little anyone can do except return to their stations and set the Berebeli on its course. Broken laws and civil strife or not, the cargo still needs to be delivered.
-/-
The Weissbruck canal runs for some sixty miles on most maps, and all told it takes you a little under three days to traverse. The issue is not one of speed but rather space, for much of the canal is simply not wide enough to permit two vessels of the Berebeli's bulk at the same time, and indeed there are stretches where the fat old barge barely seems to squeeze through with mere inches of clearance to spare on either side. Small harbours and other passing places have been carved out at regular intervals to compensate, but even they can do nothing about the backlog of traffic that builds up as whole stretches of the canal are rendered one-way only for hours at a time, and the profane invectives you hear from some of the other barge masters during those three days rival the vilest of hexes. It would be enough to put an orc off his lunch, but Josef just bears it all with a cheerful grin and a series of ritual blessings on those who share the water with him.
"Who, Bögenauer?" he chuckles when you ask about the name you heard him invoking, "God of the River Bögen, he is, and a right grumpy fellow he is too. Nobody's entirely sure if the canal comes under his fief or that of old Grandfather Reik, so I pay homage to both of them just to be safe. Speaking of, there's some turnips in that box there - pitch one of them over the side, there's a good lad."
Bemused, you do as he asks, because while you have never heard of Bögenauer before that is no reason to deliberately spurn him. The Empire is home to myriad lesser gods and spirits to whom man pays homage, and while the Heldenhammer is mightier than all, your service to him no more frees you from such obligations than service to the Emperor renders you immune to a baron's displeasure. There are templars who believe otherwise, of course, but they are rarely so effective as those willing to invest the time required to distinguish between a local river deity and a dark cult hiding behind an innocuous name.
Whichever god it is that claims dominion over the canal is clearly pleased with your offerings, for aside from the traffic your journey is peaceful and sedate. Josef ties the barge up each night and leads your little group off to one of the many inns dotted along the canal's length, and with a stiff drink and warm fire even you cannot find it in yourself to be grim or solitary. Soon you are trading stories and sharing gossip with the rest of them, jeering and jesting as Max regales you all with tales of his neighbours in the worst parts of Altdorf's east end. The story about the gang boss who cut scales into her skin and clipped off her own nose to scare off her rivals is probably bullshit, but you can't deny that the rough-spoken legbreaker tells it well, complete with dramatic recreations of the fools who tried to court her anyway.
Nor are you alone in listening to such tales, for riverfolk gossip worse than soldiers and there are always new faces in each inn to share tidbits of news and rumour from further up the river. Apparently the Riven Bögen has been plagued by mutants of late, bands of pirates and brigands hidden from view in thick banks of unseasonable mist until it is too late to run or rally for a fight, but most seem confident that Duke von Saponatheim's recent investments into the river watch will sort that out soon enough. You make a quiet note to check in on the situation once your work in Bögenhafen is done, but right now it doesn't seem terribly pressing. There are a thousand and one problems in the Empire on any given day, but far fewer are those that demand the attention of the Templars to resolve.
Weissbruck, when you arrive there near evening on the third day, is more or less exactly what you would have expected; a bustling market town enjoying a surge of expansion as the profits from the canal continue to roll in. You see fresh fields being measured out and new warehouses being erected along the shore, and the voices that wash across your barge in a wave come in a dozen regional accents. Josef guides the Berebeli into dock with an eager grin, and as Wolmar begins tying up the ropes they're already talking about which tavern to patronise tonight and where to get some food that the little babe in the cabin might be willing to sample.
Nose for Trouble! Markus makes an average (+20) Intuition test, skill is 62, roll is 32, clear success!
Something prickles at the back of your neck, and without quite knowing why you find yourself scanning the waterfront with a frown. There are hundreds of people out and about at this hour, merchants and labourers alike looking to enjoy the fruits of a hard day's work, but something draws your eye past such common folk and towards the shadows pooling around a pile of empty cargo crates at the end of the pier. There is a man standing there, his heavy leather coat stained with mud and dust from a hard day's journey, and with a faint start you recognise him; this is the stranger those two men at the Königsplatz were drawn towards, the one who looks vaguely like a shorter, stockier version of you. The men who approached him that day are dead now, their corpses rotting in an alleyway off the Altdorf riverfront, but he has followed you here.
For a moment you wonder if it might be a coincidence, but no. The man's dark eyes are clearly studying the Berebeli as Wolmar ties it up at the dock, and there is no mistaking the predatory nature of his intent. Then your eyes meet, and with a silent oath you are too far away to overhear, the stranger steps away from the crates and disappears through the front door of one of the nearest taverns.
"Trouble?" Max asks, picking up on your sudden wariness and sidling up beside you.
"Someone in that tavern wants me dead," you reply, frowning thoughtfully. Most people freeze up when they realise someone has noticed them staring, if only for a matter of moments as they decide how to respond, but not this one. He responded immediately, breaking line of sight as quickly and thoroughly as he could, like a hunter retreating from the wary gaze of its prey. "A professional."
"Huh," Max grunts, resting one hand on the pommel of his long knife, "Alright, guess we're playing for real, then. How'd you want to do this?"
Article:
Choose one of the following approaches:
[ ] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
[ ] Defend. Remain aboard the Berebeli and be ready. Keep the boarding plank raised and agree to a watch rotation with Max.
[ ] Evade. Order Josef to skip his planned stop at Weissbruck and carry on up-river. Even if the stranger follows, he'll be much easier to see coming outside town.
[X] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
[X] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
WHF is a system that tends to benefit whoever gets the first shot in pretty heavily iirc, so I'm partial to seizing the initiative.
It also means inviting less trouble on the people who did us a good turn.
Furthermore, tracking him might allow us an easier follow up investigation. What Inn he stayed at, under which (probably fake) name, all of these might be easier if we track him rather than having to start work from a corpse on a boat.
[X] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
[X] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
[X] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
No guarantee he'll come for spooked prey, and no guarantee he won't bring something nasty if allowed the time to prepare.
[X] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
[X] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
@Maugan Ra boss since we have gotten a good look at our enemy would it be possible to call on the Town's Authorities as certified member of the Order of the Silver Hammer for assistance in tracking this man down. The town guard would be very useful to have if we are trying to find this guy in a growing town that is full of people or help guard the ship.
I am more in favor of defense or better yet simply moving on as we don't know how long this tracker has been in the town and what allies he has to call upon as if he is competent he would not want to risk fighting a Templar Witch Hunter on his own.
The only issue with that is a a most likely Chaos aligned agent he has all kinds of monsters he could possibly send at us which would be easier outside of town.
[X] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
This puts the focus of the enemy's response off the giant unwieldy barge and continues to take advantage of their momentary surprise instead of giving them the opportunity to really plan something out, like those mist-bending river pirates or something.
[X] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
[X] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
Don't see why we would want to give up the initiative.
[X] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
I don't think we can safely give up the initiative, we've seen he doesn't mind killing other people and is be worried about what collateral damage he'd accept
[X] Pursue. Take Max and track the stranger through Weissbruck. He has a distinctive look and is clearly a new arrival in town, so you should be able to track him down.
