It was 1250 of the lord Christ that I arrived at the docks of Konigsberg. Relief was the emotion that rippled across my body and mind as I stepped onto dry land....well almost, it was mud, soaked with the days heavy pouring rain. I found the nearest tavern and took hold of a roaring pint of my kindred's finest ale. Remembering the trip all too well as it was barely suitable for me and my men. The waves pounding against the rotting wall of wood that the captain and his crew called a hull, and the smell of rotting fish that haven't been eaten in days. We spent a good long week on-board that reeking boat they called a ship of the Teutonic Navy. I spent my long hours of agony inside the captains quarters just waiting for dry land to peer over the horizon. The taste of vomit still dancing around in my mouth, even after a hardy meal and frothy drink. I began to ponder on thoughts of my men and what challenges lay ahead of me. My men lay asleep not knowing what fate is hiding around the corner on the next days dawn. Tonight would be my last deep sleep.

Morning came with a thick haze of wetness in the air. The fog was still hiding in the distant forest as if the sun was hunting it. Only a short time after Dietrich had received his orders, the fog cleared, leaving the scenery open for all to gaze upon.

"If only we could hunt these damned pagan dogs so efficiently as the sun does with the fog." Dietrich thought to himself.

Suddenly the sound of heavy splashing of footsteps quickly making its way to him in the broken ground.

"Dietrich! Dietrich!" , a bodyguard yelped.

He quickly spun around loosing his balance in the process. It was too late, before he realized what had just happened to him, he was tackled to the ground. The burly creature of a man faceplanting the smaller figure into the thick blood soaked mud. The two wrestled as bodyguard after bodyguard tried to maim the gargantuan monster. Dietrich hearing the guards thrashing about, the bells ringing nearby, and the mud making its way into his ears, he started to hear a sound, very faint, like a small child whispering in his ear to get up. Dietrich, mustering all of his strength, struck a blow with his chain-mail encased fist into the man's side knocking him over making him moan in pain.

Dietrich attempted to get to his feet and pull out his hidden blade in his sleeve, but heard another sound, this time it wasn't so soothing as a childs voice. But was the sound of a blade scrapping against hard, cold steel. The very sound made Dietrich go pale knowing what fate lay before him. The man swung his weapon out, which seemed to be a rusty short sword. Another sound, a thud against Dietrich's back. Seering pain followed as the blade busted through his armor and into his cold wet back. Another thud, planting Dietrich to the ground with enough force to knock him down. This time the sword penetrating his chest making a crackling sound as ribs were shattered as the rust ridden blade tore through him like a hot knife through butter. He could feel the blade being twirled around in him, left and right, up and down as the man tried to destroy whatever he could inside him in the short amount of time he had. Now blood was spewing out of Dietrich with hast. He felt as if he was soaring above his own body watching him being hacked into oblivion.

The man also suffered a similar fate if not worse. A spear driving into his groin making the man seem like a little boy screaming because he fell down a flight of stairs or broken a finger. Another spear ripping through his chest but not making an exit out of the other side as his chest was thick with muscle. Two other swords impaled him one through his neck almost decapitating him and the other driving him to the ground. As the giant of a man hit the ground, the mud, water, and blood splashed into a wave of vileness and covered Dietrich. Dietrich then faded away into a dark abyss of silence.
Until he heard a voice similar to that of a child............."Arise, Arise, Arise."

He continued to hear the strange echo in his head. It seemed to come everywhere and nowhere at once for what seemed like an eternity.
Dietrich then started to feel life being poured back into him as if god had rejected him, then hurled him back to earth to accompany his motionless body. He started to see a white spot in the middle of the blackness that was the abyss of unconsciousness.
Then in a flash of white light he awoke from his trance like state, just standing in the middle of the cobble stoned street of Konigsberg. He noticed that he was outside of his commander's quarters and had a few parchments with him that had scratchings of what seemed to be his orders. Along with a personal note from the Hochmeister Gunther himself. He just stood their for a brief second and thought to himself:
"Damn I really need to rid my self of this mental torture..." He said quietly to himself, although wishing someone had heard him to offer some kind of comfort.
He was shaking and was filled with adrenalin as if he just finished a glorious battle which almost took his life. Just as he began to shake off his dread and anger, a rather tall man with thick, wavy, long, blond hair that came down to his shoulders, peered from the side of his sight.
"Maybe you should rid yourself of the habit of drinking so much before you meet with Gunther!" said the blond man with a slight mocking tone to his statement.
"What?" Dietrich said clueless of his actions. "I wasn't drinking at all"

"Yeah AND you didn't crash in the middle of the tavern either...Do you know how sloppy that makes you look..let alone the bad drinking habits and these blackouts you have going on."

Dietrich grew steadily angry with him as he continued to nag about his mishaps of last night. Quickly thinking of an excuse, he sly-fully came up with: "I was just making the best of my night here before I set out to my men."

The man, pausing for a moment, thinking of something else he could throw at his former general. He decided not to.
"Well lets get you sattled-up, then we can head out to Bialystok"

"Listen to me Phillip, I know what you did to get the Hochmeisters' attention, but that doesn't mean you can walk around pretending you have power over me, which you do not." Dietrich said calmly "First I need to gather all the men I can muster in a days notice so we can be ready for the assault."

"Good, I'll go to Bialystok to ready your men for your coming." Phillip added

"Expect me to arrive in about one week, Then, we march to Hrodna." Dietrich said with determination and righteous anger.

Gathering men was a days work indeed. He persuaded the Governor Hans to lend him as many troops he could muster without leaving his own defenses abandoned. The Halbrudder joined ranks with the rest of Dietrich's already massive host of knights, pike men, Prussians, and the renowned Ritterbruder whose reputation seems to effect all in the order and brings fear to the name of Teutonic.
Dietrich spent little time observing the massive army that lay before him waiting for his command. His captain sounded the bugle, the gates opened.

The Baltic Crusade had begun for Dietrich.

A couple of days pass as we travel down the large road southeast to my camp whose troops awaited for me and my host of at least 2000 strong. During the trip I kept drifting in and out of consciousness, but gave no sign of my suffering as I quietly sit on my large steed. None of the blackouts seemed to feature a visage of pain and suffering as the one that had me standing alone in the cobble street of Konigsberg. I can't imagine what I looked like. Though in reality I was only in that state of mind for a fraction of time it seemed. Rumor has reached my ears that another general of my stature has set off to do his part in the war against the godless pagans. By the sixth day of traversing the large dirt road, we reach camp. As promised Phillip had my men ready for the next move. Phillip was just a captain under me, although he had recently been assigned by the Hochmeister to watch over me due to my condition. He was also a good friend, though at times he can get on the nerves of many men with his irrational behavior. That night I found no rest as my mind was set on the thoughts of death. The dream came back to me as I started to remember some of the gruesomeness that took place in my head that day in Konigsberg. It hit me that I also had something similar when I was only a boy being taught the art of war. I went to a local priest for guidance to rid me of this curse. He simply said, "should you find the need to cleanse your soul of the sins you have brought yourself, there the path of the cross can take you to redemption." At that time I had the slightest idea of what he meant. Now it is all too clear why I am here, to rid myself of a life long curse created by my sins of the past......