We went through the door and arrived outside the Imperial City. We were allowed in by display of the invitation that served as the job request then led to the palace where we met Tzar Behter, who greeted us by listing everything he knew the Navigators had done against his empire. Despite this, he seemed impressed and questioned us on why we were fighting alongside the Khans instead of his empire. He listed the many atrocities of the Khans and spoke of how he believed their reliance on animal husbandry would ultimately starve the steppe. Ultimately, the conflict comes down to the fact that both leaders want each other dead, and Behter would rather we join him. His strategies seem to push the Khans out, even in the most blindly optimistic, “peaceful” resolution to the fighting.
We were invited to court the next day, and made to sentence what was doubtless a curated group. They were, in order; a woman who stole bread sentenced to community service, a child who tried and failed to hunt a deer (all of which Behter claims as his own) who we gave an apprenticeship, a mage who had actually committed a violent crime (I wouldn’t have chosen execution, but passion won out), an embezzling old moron who was made to count beans in prison for the rest of his life, and lastly the party of Khans led by Odval. Despite my input, they were sentenced to be strapped to the side of the mountain and loaded down with gold to die of exposure.