Stories thread - King of the Romans PBM

[Privateerkev]

The King's apartment in Rome: 1308

Jan sat at his desk working on a large piece of paper. He was in town to attend the Diet and retired to his apartment to work on something. A knock came at the door. Jan barked "Enter" and Gunther opened it and called in, "My King, sorry for bothering you, but a man is here to see you."

"Send him in," Jan called out. He pulled a large tarp over his whole desk and turned his chair around. A non-descript man walked in, sat on the couch, and put his feet up. Jan's eyebrow rose at the man's complete lack of tact. "Who are you?"

"My King, I represent the men who you contacted some time ago. The old man of the mountain finally decided to see what your query was about," said the stranger.

Jan was surprised, "Hashashins? What are you doing in Rome?"

The man chuckled, "Why my King, some of our best customers are in Rome! We would be quite remiss if we failed to have a liaison set up here. So, why did you contact us? We were quite surprised when your contacts reached out to us. Your not exactly known for dealing with our kind."

"I want to know if you know of a Dusan Kolar. I believe he works with your group."

The man's face betrayed no emotion, "and what if we did?"

"I want to know what the price would be to have him turned over to me. As you know, I have been re-appointed as King and am in a position to reward your group heavily."

The stranger told the King the Hashashins's price for turning over Dusan. The King reacted with shock. "That is absurd! I should lock you up for even suggesting it!"

The man chuckled, "And how long do you think I would sit in jail my King? No, others run this Reich behind the scenes and it would be good if you figured that out. And I know from your reputation that you won't kill me. And even if you did, your family would suffer. If I don't return from your apartment to check in, your young niece is going to die. It is well known that you don't fear for your own life but I don't think you would be so cavalier with someone else's. So, if we don't have a deal, it is time I bid you farewell." Before the King could reply, the man got up and left.

After the man left, Gunther walked in. "How did that go?" he asked. Jan filled Gunther in on what the man said.

"He was right about one thing. A group of men are trying to run the Reich from behind the scenes. Here, it is time I show you something," the King said as he lifted the tarp off of his desk. Gunther saw a giant poster with elector's names circled. From these circles, lines branched out to connect the names of other electors. On these lines, were descriptions written out of political acts and votes that the electors had in common. Gunther noticed that the elector names spanned across every house and the recorded acts went back at least three Diet sessions.

"My King, this poster is quite something. I even see Dukes on the list. But what does this all mean?"

"Gunther, this last Diet was quite strange in many ways. Some things happened that confirmed suspicions I have held for quite some time. I believe that there is a cabal of men who are attempting to run the Reich behind the scenes. The events during the last Diet were not some spontaneous expression of rage. It was a carefully crafted plot to usurp the Kaiser's prerogative for Chancellor and to take the reins of power for themselves. It almost worked too but a few of us banded together and formed a bloc powerful enough to block CA 13.3. When this cabal saw their CA would fail, many of them jumped ship in order to avoid being in the embarrassing position of voting for a failed piece of legislation that would only anger the Kaiser."

Gunther nodded, "yeah Max and I have been talking about that. Things did seem strange in the last Diet. During the first day, a whole bunch of men immediately acted out in great rage and frustration. The second day, some things quited down, almost as if they were waiting to see what would happen. Then the third day was eerily quiet. Except for Dassel."

The King chuckled at Dassel's name being mentioned, "ah yes, our young rebellious populist. Or at least that's what he wants people to think. I believe he is this group's mouthpiece. He says what others are too afraid to say. I took up a similar role years ago. And I know from experience that he can not get away with what he has without having a patron quietly supporting him. But as to your observations, I think you and Max were spot on. The group in the Diet was quite disciplined with their lack of discipline. I believe the first day was to test the waters and see how far they could push. The second day was to evaluate the situation and count their votes. And on the third day they abandoned their plan and went back underground. Except for those tasked to keep stirring up trouble."

Gunther looked at Jan's poster, "I see every person who was raucous at the Diet is on this list. Looking at these connections, it does look like these men had been working together all along. Some of these relationships go back years. However, there is one name on this list that was not raucous at the Diet. How do you know he was part of it?"

Jan smiled, "Him? Oh I am convinced he is in charge of the whole thing. Yes, that man was uncharacteristically quiet through most of the whole Diet session. Pretty smart if you ask me. He directs an attempt to overthrow the Kaiser's Chancellorship but comes out of this relatively squeaky clean."

"So my King, what are you going to do with this information?"

"Gunther, I have served the Reich loyally my whole life. I refuse to sit by and let some secret cabal take over. When the Kaiser returns to Rome, I plan on giving him a full report. I will let him deal with them."

Gunther nodded, "I expected no less from you my King. As always, it is an honor to serve you. But what do we do now about Dusan?"

Jan shook his head, "I don't know. It looks like we just hit another dead end. But we keep trying. Salier deserves to have his killers brought to justice."

Gunther left the room and Jan returned to working on his report for the Kaiser.