Story: Jürgen Bosch - Misconduct

*Main Article: Jürgen Bosch*

55th of Ihyll's Summer, 1227 AW

Jürgen paced around the entrance hall of Weisshalle Castle. He had returned to Schinnberg only a couple days ago, yet he had been summoned by Grandmaster Kluge himself. This was not odd; Bosch was a Master within the Knights after all. What was weird is that this meeting was supposed to happen some twenty minutes ago. Jürgen gazed at the ornate clock once more and briefly considered just storming in there, but he was ultimately saved by another knight.

"*Master Bosch,*" he said, gesturing to follow. Together, the pair went through the hallways and up the stairs to a small office on the first floor. "*What does the Grandmaster want from me?*" Jürgen asked, but the knight couldn't answer him. He would find out for himself soon enough as the two men arrived at the office. The knight went inside and shortly returned. "*The Grandmaster will see you now,*" he said before taking his leave.

Bosch stepped into the small office. It wasn't luxuriously decorated, having only a desk, some chairs, a fireplace, and lots of places to store endless paperwork. Dieter Kluge sat at his desk, writing something on what appeared to be some report of some kind. He didn't bother looking up or saying anything or even acknowledging Jürgen's presence. "*Grandmaster, you summoned me?*" Jürgen said, finally breaking the silence. Kluge didn't look up from his writings but gave the knight a simple command: "*Sit.*"

Taken aback, Bosch sat down on the chair opposite his Grandmaster, who took the initiative of the conversation. "*You returned from the Crimson Bog. How did it go?*" he asked. Bosch briefly considered why he asked such a simple question that some report had undoubtedly answered, yet he responded anyway. "*It could have been worse, Grandmaster. A few of the Plagued attacked us, but, overall, things went well,*" he said, confidently.

Kluge looked up, his brown eyes gazing into his soul. As usual, the expression of the Grandmaster revealed nothing, but Jürgen could've sword that he saw the slightest twitch. "*The Purple Bannermen seem to disagree with you,*" he said, opening the drawer of his desk and pulling out a report. Dieter opened the folder, flipping through some of the pages, looking for the one he needed. Bosch waited anxiously, a bad gut feeling gradually worsening. Kluge finally stopped at a page near the end and began to calmly read aloud.

*"Ultimately, it can be concluded that the Knights of Nordelver under the command of Master Jürgen Bosch behaved themselves like bandits while peacekeeping in the Crimson Bog. They involved themselves in racketeering, charging protection money from the local Plagued, which they pocketed. When one of the civilians refused, he was dragged into the streets and killed as an example to the others. Purple Bannermen under the command of Lieutenant Sauer raised protests, at which point they were waved away as inferior to the Knights, instead of equals.*" Kluge closed the report, sliding it across the desk towards Bosch, who had become remarkably pale. "It goes on for quite some time," he added before returning to his paperwork. The silence was overwhelming for Jürgen, only occasionally broken by the crackling of the fireplace. He knew he had to say something, anything, but couldn't find the words.

*"Grandmaster, I-*" he began, "*You,*" Kluge interrupted, "*Will be punished accordingly. Your men have already been exiled, sent back to Fühlgart. However, you, as the commanding officer, will receive a swift death,"* he said, once again looking up with a blank expression. Jürgen was as pale as a ghost and placed his hand on his empty belt as a reflex. However, he had been forced to give up his weapons at the door. A thousand thoughts raced through his head, and he didn't even notice when two knights entered the room, one of which had escorted him earlier. He was lifted out of his seat and escorted out of the room.

*"I had such high hopes for you, Bosch,*" he heard the Grandmaster say behind him before being dragged off.