Session XVII: Code of the Army

The party was handed over to a detachment of Hellknights under the leadership of paralictor Hildegard Seratolva, who briefly informed them that their only role in this part is to supervise the party's movement in Tarentan, but she showed an interest in talking after the group had gone through the arrest procedure, which was conducted at a temporary office staffed with uniformed members of the same military force that had detained them. Unusual machines with visible sheets of paper inserted into them seemed to be the main method of documentation for these people, who conducted lengthy individual interviews with each member of the party. At the conclusion, a specially-designated official took them to a dark room and had them stand still whilst they produced device which emitted a bright flash; which later turned out to have created perfect image replications of the adventurers. These images were attached to the front of thick folders, and the party was informed that their arrest records would remain sealed for a period of ten years, after which they could be individually requested to be opened by a judge. When this process had finished, paralictor Hildegard escorted them to the Griffon & the Falcon, Tarentan's sole inn and the location of the party's supervised arrest. They inquired with Hildegard about some much-needed context about the situation, who said that the Akkonian-led administrations around Greyhyx had been expertly toppled by an alliance consisting of homegrown rebels and the military outsiders, who had remained out of view until recently. The revolt evidently decapitated the means of communication available to the Akkonian stewards, including the disappearances of their Arcanist envoys and messenger birds; when local garrisons moved to quell burgeoning unrest, they quickly saw their chain of command break down, and in Tarentan, the garrison chose to quickly surrender to the rebels. Hildegard also explained that her chapter elected not to take sides due to the Hellknights' principle of non-affiliation, and have thus continued to work as mercenaries under the new regime, contracted to organise the local militia. Afterwards, her and Baldur talked in private about Hellknight affairs: they agreed that the Crown was blatantly seeking to exploit the apparent uncertainty of these events as a pretext to purge the remaining influence Hellknights wield in Akkon and elsewhere, and that it would be ill-advised to report the full truth about the Hellfire Chapter's current status to Baldur's superiors. Upon finishing their conversation, paralictor Hildegard told the party that their legal counsel would arrive here in the morning, and her detachment left the inn. The party talked some options if things were to go awry. Del'Gado noted that the windows were relatively easy to open, much unlike Enkitan's state-of-the-art window back in Akk-Ur, and invisibility was also touted as an alternative. In the end, they went to bed, and during the night, Jacqualine managed to focus on one of the recurring visions.   In the early hours of the morning, a black-uniformed man entered the inn and presented himself as sergeant Dorian Rykenval, adjutant in the Signal Battalion of the 55th Storm Division and their legal representation at the upcoming military tribunal. He requested that they relocate to one of the rooms, and he gave a brief overview of what to expect from the prosecution: mainly charges of state-sponsored subversive activities and membership of a criminal organisation, namely the kingdom of Akkon. Jacqualine would also be specifically charged with unauthorised possession of an imperial military unform. The sergeant initially recommended that they let him speak on behalf of them at all times during the tribunal's proceedings. Del'Gado and Jacqualine asked how one could justify criminalise an entire realm, and if so, who would be empowered to make that decision. The sergeant responded that Akkon exercised the practice of slavery under a different appellation, systematically targeting people on an economic basis by trapping them in endless cycles of indebted servitude, and maintained a fundamentally arbitrary judiciary; this was the basis for the criminalisation. He did not directly answer the second query. During their discussions, the party frequently challenged Dorian, at times almost personally, and he on several occasions stressed that he was there to represent them before the tribunal and was seeking to get most of the charges dismissed. One thing that already marked something in the party's favour was the fact that the squads that apprehended them went against orders when they terminated commander Davke and her ancillaries; but apparently, the mark of an imperial officer was that of disobeying direct orders. They managed to craft a reasonable defence: Caerlin was ill-informed and unaware of the rest of the party's clear and unambiguous intent to not carry out the assassinations. Baldur was going to be charged with not reporting paramilitary activities to the relevant authorities, but Dorian was convinced that this would be thrown out immediately as it was absolutely unreasonable to expect him to be aware of this in the first place, and the same reasoning would clear Jacqualine's particular charge. Some time was also spent on the definition of "war crimes," and Del'Gado was aghast that mass reprisals against a civilian population counted as one: after all, this was an accepted measure in the name of establishing order. A few hours passed, and the sergeant informed them that the tribunal would be held at 1400 hours, leaving them some spare time. This time was spent hounding Dorian: first by contacting Varkallin and loudly requesting an envoy from the Crown to be sent their way, which was met with some consternation by their liaison, and then about the practice, or rather non-practice, of magic in the military he belonged to, a line of questioning that almost seemed ridiculous. Upon hearing that he put his trust in the chain of command and his own good judgment, Baldur and Imaros were possessed by some spirit of mockery and the Hellknight cut open the satyr's wrist, only to heal it with his oath-given powers, in an apparent effort to humiliate their legal counsel.   The tribunal was held in another converted office and was filled with presiding officers. Seated behind them in the room were a number of locals, mostly orcs, half-orcs, and hobgoblins, who observed the proceedings with mixed disinterest and indifference. Lieutenant Sylas Iren was the designated judge advocate of the tribunal, and after many rounds of deliberation, decided to dismiss all formal charges except for two: Del'Gado, Imaros, Jacqualine, and Caerlin were found to be members of a criminal organisation and Baldur was found to have been in association with a criminal organisation. The result: a spatial injunction forbidding the convicted from leaving the defined territory of the Unitary Mandate of Kaedra. A sullen party returned to the Griffon & the Falcon to drink their immeasurable disappointment away.   A day after, Del'Gado and a few of the others decided to explore a particular location, a metal structure on a hill, outside the village's boundary. However, they were met with a detachment of soldiers who passively prevented a closer inspection. Afterwards, he decided to utilise his well-hidden theatre ternion to contact his well-connected adoptive mother, urging her to spread information about the truth of what has happened in Greyhyx. In the early evening, a woman came to visit the party, greeting them as corporal Estrid Falk of the 30th Military Intelligence Brigade. She offered the party some information and a chance "to be useful," and first informed Baldur about the fate of the Eradicator, Fiendbreaker, and Disciplinator Chapters: Irmtraud Hydrawood's Eradicators and Kerdorn Il-Vinaz's Fiendbreakers had made valiant, albeit futile, acts of resistance during the uprising and were all killed in action, whilst most of Reginald Daygleam's Disciplinators were unaccounted for, seemingly having abandoned their headquarters. The corporal then asked the party if they had ever encountered the term "New Akkon," and when they stated that they had not, offered to show them something in the village that likely related to this. They were shown to the local holding and interrogation cells, and led into one of the rooms there. It was guarded, and the back wall had been torn open by some force, leading into a tunnel; the path took them below ground to a small antechamber which had also been forced open. It led into a massive space filled with boxes and crates, with gold and silver bars on display. Estrid explained that in addition to all the valuables, the sealed crates contained food that had been artificially preserved. Further, there were two other floors below this one which were just as full. She speculated that this was related to the term New Akkon, which had evidently been extracted from some higher-ranking prisoners, and let the party have a look. Del'Gado opened one of the crates and ate some of the bread. After a few minutes, the intelligence officer also threw out another piece of terminology: Project Chimera. Which, again, the party did not recognise. Nevertheless, she encouraged them to look into it on their own, as they had the contacts to do so. And it was supposedly only a matter of time until Estrid and her military's analysts would manage to uncover the truth about both New Akkon and Project Chimera, so it could be construed as an implicit challenge. Still, when this discussion had ended, Jacqualine commenced another, by writing on one of the walls with her stoneshaping ability, showing symbols and maps she had witnessed from her vision. She also asked the corporal if their military used green uniforms, and if she recognised the name Helionen. Estrid confirmed that some light infantry units used green, and that Helionen was the name of the major general of the 9th Light Infantry Division. However, the 55th Storm Division and its high command were not in contact with this particular unit. Estrid then inquired with Jacqualine about the uniform she had procured, which apparently belonged to something called a paratrooper, and wished to know why she seemed to consistently run into their forces. The cleric evaded answering directly, but managed to convince corporal Falk of her market-bound right to keep the uniform, a legitimate purchase; it would first be stripped of its insignia and Jacqualine would be granted special dispensation to retain it in active possession.