Of Kings and Commoners - Kingmaker AP

Game Master RPGGGM

"Oh, but a leash does not always have to be physical, neither shackles."

"Actually Alia, yes they do. Leashes and shackles are very specific physical things. To use those words in any other way is to use them as a metaphor, to compare someone's situation to that of a leashed animal or a shackled prisoner. It is true that I have obligations, and these obligations constrain my actions, but to refer to either of these as a 'leash' is to compare me to the sort of creature that wears a leash. I would never speak thus to someone unless I was trying to pick a fight."

"If you mean to take offense at my words, I cannot help it,"

Numalar shakes his head. "No Alia. I am trying not to take offense, as I am not sure you mean to give it. But you are not making it easy."

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"So let me be frank: Remember well the things you promised, and what they encompass. Remember more clearly what you did not promise, when people come and try to tell you otherwise."

"And what do you mean by that?"

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Numalar Auritonius wrote:

"They are charged with banditry..."

"And how convenient that is, seeing how banditry can mean so many things."

"The definition of banditry is quite specific, actually. A robber acting alone is not a bandit; being a bandit requires being part of a gang or band. A robbery could be committed on the spur of the moment, but joining that gang shows that banditry involves a conspiracy. Banditry is also considered to be when such acts take place in isolated areas, so the victims are unable to easily find help. A group of robbers in a city are not considered to be bandits."

"And you think the river means they are save from banditry? Or would that be piracy, then?"

"Yes, that is correct - it would be piracy. Piracy is a different thing, and not part of our mandate to deal with. The bandits we have encountered so far have not had the means or the skill to build themselves some riverboats, so I think we are safe for now. I do understand that river piracy is quite a problem in some parts of the River Kingdoms. It is possible that we might be offered a charter to deal with pirates in the future, but we will worry about that when it comes."

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"...others will turn to the profession. There is an unlimited supply of people..."

"Not out here in the Greenbelt there isn't. You'd be lucky to find 200 humans in the entire area. Most people are not keen to move here. And if the prosperity you speak of was achieved through strict law enforcement, people would no doubt be aware of that, and consider the risks."

"You seem to think that the choice to become a bandit is made quite casually, that people consider it when deciding whether they wish to be a baker, a carpenter, or a bandit. I do not believe this. Most bandits know that taking up that life is to pit yourself against the rest of humanity, to become an outsider to all that you knew before. That decision is not made lightly by most people. Some do it because they are already outlaws and think they have nothing to lose. Others do so because they are afraid to live in the wilderness alone and would make a bargain with these devils rather than face that."

"So no, Alia, I do not accept that opportunity alone will provide you with an unlimited number of bandits."

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Numalar Auritonius wrote:

"I have no interest in going after retired bandits, Alia...."

"And where is the justice in that?"

"You are being inconsistent, Alia. You want mercy for bandits caught in the act, but justice for bandits who have quit the profession. Your argument for mercy is on the grounds that those that are caught must have the chance to repent, yet you feel that those that have repented on their own must be punished? It seems as if you are saying that only we should be able to forgive these crimes; that others who repent on their own have not had our permission to do so."

"Our charter instructs us to deal with unrepentant bandits. Those that have already repented of their ways are not covered by it. If an injured party calls on us to deal with a person who has robbed them in the past, then this has nothing to do with our charter and we can deal with it as we choose, but our charter does not compel us to deal with them."

"Again, your two prisoners were out collecting firewood. Did they intend to retire?..."

"The relevant issue is that we offered to spare their lives if they surrendered, and they did so. We later tricked them into giving us information by posing as other bandits, but that is not relevant to their punishment. If they break their covenant with us they will hang, or more likely be cut down while on the run. But in the mean time we must honour our offer to them."

Numalar Auritonius wrote:

"No, Alia, that alone will not be enough. As I said, I am not interested in retired bandits."

"It's no fair. Those who learn that justice may come for them, can murder all those who know of them, and settle down and life unharmed, while others have to hang for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. They don't even need to repent or reform to retire, they can simply be afraid of the law, while still being proud of their deeds."

Numalar buries his face in his hands. "Alia, you are making no sense. If two men take up a life of crime, only the first man quits this profession to take up an honest one, while the second continues in his crimes, you think that we should punish the first, but show mercy to the second to encourage others to abandon crime?"

"The people we captured were not punished because they were 'in the wrong place at the wrong time.' They were punished because they were bandits, and actively engaged in that crime. A crime that is deserving of death."

"No justice system polices the hearts and minds of the people; only their actions. So I say to you this: that if a man once pursued a life of crime, and has abandoned those crimes in favor of an honest life, then he HAS reformed."

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Numalar Auritonius wrote:

Germany after the World War 2 was even worse... but none of those are as bad as the Paraguay example. Outside of outright genocide it's the most severe one that I know about. :)

Ah, na, Germany recovered quite nicely after WW2(partially because of the third reich policy of promoting having many children...which ensured there were many kids to grow into adults after the war), France after WW1 was indeed worse off (the "empty classrooms") ;)

No, you're getting mixed up here. I'm talking about the second world war, not the first here.

In the first world war, France suffered about 1,400,000 dead, while Germany had about 2,000,000 dead, but in both cases the losses amounted to about 4% of the total population. That is serious, but hardly catastrophic. France did have it a bit better than Germany here because about a quarter of a million of its losses were African Colonials rather than French Citizens. Whatever policies the Weimar Republic and the Nazi regime instituted afterwards are besides the point; if they helped, France could just as easily have instituted them also.

But in the Second World War, German losses were much, much higher, so much that they were conscripting 13-year olds and 65-year-olds into the army by the end of the war. In the end their losses were over 8% of their population. It took a long time for Germany to recover and even a generation later Germany was not prepared to go to war with anyone. Though as I mentioned, it is not as extreme as the Paraguay example.

There was more stuff about war, but I figure it is kind of straying off-topic and I figured I would cut it short.

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"I never claimed that lack of lethal punishment would stop all crime..."

"No, Alia, what you said was that lethal punishment NEVER stopped crime. When I pointed out that this was obviously incorrect and that yes, lethal punishment sometimes stopped crime, this was not enough for you. I can only assume therefore that you are looking for a solution that will stop ALL crime. And I am saying there is none. And you have no grounds whatsoever for saying that leniency is not worse than the present solution. However they do things in Kyonin can hardly matter here. If you wish to conduct social experiments on humans to see how they behave, please do it in a manner that is unconnected to the execution of my duties."

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Actually, no, I would have expected that course of action all the same. What kind of trial could there be?

You may recall that Numalar went around getting testimony from Oleg and Svetlana and confessions from the bandits. This documentation was in anticipation that some evidence would be needed to convict the bandits in a trial. I did expect the trial to be one-sided (it wouldn't make much sense for the adventure if it were otherwise). I didn't expect there to be no trial at all. Even in Brevoy there is supposed to be some due process.

"So why have them walk towards their deaths and make a show for the crowd? Is that it? Do they long for the deaths of others to feel better about themselves? How then, are they any better in their hearts than those they hang?"

"Executions are public because the public has the right to see that justice is being done. And yes, some of those in the crowd are pleased to see that outlaws and fiends are getting their just desserts. This is perhaps more vengeance than justice in some hearts. But make no mistake, Alia. Even if it is merely vengeance, it is better to be vengeful than to be the one whose foul acts drive men to seek vengeance."

"How can people enjoy watching others die, cheer on the executioneers?"

"In any crowd I am sure that there are a few that enjoy the spectacle of death itself. But for most of them, that is not it at all. It is a kind of self-righteousness, where people who have obeyed laws without reward get to see that those that break the laws which they themselves keep get their just desserts. It reassures them that it is right that they obey the laws as they have."

"I doubt any of them even care who hangs, and for what, as long as someone hangs."

"Oh, no, Alia. If the crowd believed we were executing an innocent man, there would be great anger towards the establishment. Unrest, likely a riot. Possibly turning into a revolt, if the condemned man were well enough known or popular enough. It is not simply death the crowd is looking for."

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"And if you just picked up a traveller, tortured him until he confesses to banditry, and deliver them to the magistrate? How would that be different from punishing an innocent man?"

"No different at all. In addition, it would be false arrest, kidnapping, assault, battery, obstruction of justice, and also murder, since you would be using the justice system as a weapon to kill an innocent man. But unless you are suggesting that this is what we have done, I don't see what your point is. I have no doubt that the people we captured were guilty."

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"So if we cannot inflict much worse sentences, then maybe we would do well to lessen the severity of punishment for crimes less severe...so that there is a difference not only in theory, but also in practise-"

"That makes no sense, Alia. The fact that we are incapable of inflicting sufficient punishment on person A does not mean that we should grant person B leniency, on the grounds that all people should be insufficiently punished by the same proportion."

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@the BP cost: I don't quite buy it. Spellcasting services for singular castings is one thing, but spells without material components should not cost the employer every time they are cast. Same thing if you were to pick up a cohort. Would you need to pay them each time they cast Cure Light Wounds on you?

If you manage to get a 7th level wizard as a cohort and put him in charge of such a project (casting lesser geas over and over), then perhaps we wouldn't have to pay for such a program. But otherwise, the kind of people that are considered "employees" under the Kingdom Building system are meant to be low-level NPCs mostly with NPC classes such as commoner, expert, warrior, and maybe a few aristocrats and adepts. If we get a 7th level caster working for us we will probably be giving him/her a major post in government, which would be time-consuming enough to prevent this kind of duty.

@Forced Conscription: I am not sure I would be happy with that...hand them a ton of weapons and trust they don't rebel or turn sides in the heat of battle?

Obviously, a military formation composed of nothing but convicts would be a bad idea. But if a regular military formation is given a couple convicts and told to get them into shape I imagine the result would be generally positive, and if it doesn't work, the convicts are subject to military justice instead.

How about the Mines? Enforced workforce, no way out, and not a very popular job (while a classic occupation for slaves up until today).

Numalar isn't too thrilled about slavery, and while slavery as a punishment for a crime seems a bit more reasonable than other forms of slavery, it still seems pretty rough. A job in the military means the chance to be of visible service to your country; the chance to return from a war as a hero would more than wipe away the stain of a crime on one's reputation. The mines, on the other hand, well, the classic image is that you are just throwing people into a hole to be forgotten forever. Numalar would have a hard time with that; execution seems more merciful.

"Glibness ... It is, however, also a great utility spell to have a partially charged wand off(about 1575 for 5 charges)"

Well, having partially charged wands easily available for purchase is a good way to break a game. I know because I did so and broke a friend's 3.5 game, in which I played a high level paladin with a huge UMD. So I was using buff spells meant for rangers, druids, and wizards all at the same time.

And we are still talking about an NPC who has 1500 gp to spend on lying to us.

Personally, I also limit the usefulness of Detect Magic on such occasions,

How you run it isn't relevant unless you're the GM.

but by RAW, that takes a casting of Misdirection and you're golden. (which, btw, should by ITSELF work against truth-detection spells.

Abadar's Truthtelling is a truth compulsion spell, not a lie detection spell, so glibness could beat it, but misdirection would not have any effect. Misdirection would defeat detect magic if it is cast after the glibness spell. But misdirection allows a will save by the detector, and glibness allows a caster level check. Neither are foolproof.

Numalar Auritonius wrote:

"Assuredly, but humans do offensive things all the time. If this was required of you before you could enter a city, would you comply? Or would you turn around and walk away? No, if they knew about such a thing, I expect they would do it, offense or no."

"But why so? Would they have so little trust in others that they would feel a permanent need to control them?"

"Who said anything about controlling anyone? We are simply talking about a way to prove that you have or have not been caught in banditry. Once you show your armpit or wherever, you would no doubt be free to go, assuming there was no mark."

"...we could well make it activate only on a certain trigger, which would be unlawful to possess for any mage not working for law enforcement."

"Only then you find yourself being forced to punish those who break the law simply because they wish a means to protect themselves from criminals."

If you want to talk about spell research then we are getting way into the realm of the hypothetical here. It may be possible but it certainly has no bearing on our current situation.

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"So, what do you do when your sense of right and wrong, of justice, comes into conflict with something you promised? Is honor or integrity the more important value to you?"

Finally a good question! I'd been waiting for this one.

Remember the story of King Herod? He was so smitten with Salome that he offered here anything she wanted, so she asked for the head of John the Baptist, and he was trapped by his sense of public honor into giving it to her. I'm sure Numalar would have a version re-themed to occur in Valdralee. :)

"In the end, an honorable man cannot break his vow without casting aside his honor, but a wise man does not make vows lightly. Would I be willing to give up my honor if following my oaths led me to evil? We would have to see. Most likely, but... something like that could very well be the end of me."

"But there is no hidden writing in my charter that could be used against me in this way. I have read it carefully and understand what it entails. It cannot be used to compel me to evil."

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You are right that SOMEBODY should have done that (spoken to the prisoners), I only felt that Alia is the least suited to the task considering the experience...

Still it was well within your ability to make a suggestion to Celyne or one of the others, in or out of character. I am not saying you are alone here, but I find it irritating that you seem critical of Numalar when you did nothing to offer any alternative. And remember that while I may seem to be the spokesperson here, we did vote on what would happen to them. I was not the only one who voted this way.

Numalar Auritonius wrote:

"...But it's hard to get that reputation without actually killing someone."

"Which is exactly what I claimed. ...most bandits will never have had to take someone's life..."

"If you are saying that most bandits haven't killed anyone, then you are saying the exact opposite of what I am saying. I am saying that sooner or later a bandit must kill to prove he is a bandit; it is inevitable. Most bandits have participated in a murder, and the longer they have been a bandit, the more likely that is the case."

"Do not try to minimize their crimes, Alia. This is not a band of merry men stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. These are evil men and women, who prey on the poor and outcast because they think nobody cares if their victims live or die. They know that doing so basically pits them against all other men. Career banditry is one of the most serious crimes that ordinary humans can perform."

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My Survival is at +0, ...

So Alia is a "city girl" then. Numalar is also a city type, really, though that may change somewhat over time.

Point was rather that a trained Wilderness Guy(especially Rangers) would have the ability to Track a mere "Farmhand" with no such experience easily...

Actually, your typical peasant supplements his diet by setting snares and traps for rabbits and other small game, gathers berries and mushrooms from the forest, and grazes their pigs in the forest (as pigs like to eat acorns). Survival will be a class skill for a peasant and a typical level 1 peasant will have a rank in it. So with no wisdom bonus they would have a +4. That would be considered "average" for country folk. Thus Zokon's +6 is simply "above average" but hardly extraordinary.

And as I mentioned, wading in a creek for a while, walking on rocks, or making your escape during the rain would give someone good enough cover to make it very hard to track. The DC to track someone who is covering their tracks and using streambeds and rocks to avoid leaving a trail is 25. +1 for every rainy hour that has passed.

So yes, if someone wanted to leave the bandit group, and timed it right, it would be reasonable to expect to be able to get away.

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"I don't want to tell Brevoy how they should run things in their country. But here, in Te..he stolen lands, it is us who get to choose."

Numalar looks at Alia curiously. "But this is Brevoy, Alia, and not only am I a Brevoyan citizen, but I am also an agent of the Brvoyan government, charged with fulfilling their will within the Greenbelt. The people we have encountered have for the most part been Brevoyans. How can you say that I get to choose? You, of course, are not bound by our charter. But then, you are not required to do anything about banditry at all."

"The thing you can do is listen to your heart. Do you truly wish for their death?"

"I have no personal malice towards them, but yes, Alia, I think the world would be a better place without them."

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"And that is fair enough, your Highness. I am already happy to see that your fallen forefathers possessed much greater Wisdom than these Swordlords do."

"Did they? Sometimes I wonder. We always glorify our own heritage no matter who we are. Perhaps they were fools."

"But they did value wisdom. I suppose that must be important, that they understood its worth."

"Perhaps that is simply a reflection of the time involved. Valdralee stood for thousands of years, which adds up to a lot of experience. And you know what they say: 'Good Judgement is usually the product of experience - which is usually the product of bad judgement." Numalar laughs.

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"...best not to bet on any of those Territories ruled by short-lived races..."

"Humans have ruled these lands for thousands of years. They may not live as long as elves or gnomes, but there is no sense dismissing them because of that. They compensate by having many children to ensure their legacy. And it has worked. If I was going to bet on a race, I would bet on the humans. No offense to elves. Us gnomes... we are not even in the running. I doubt there will ever be a 'Mighty Gnome Empire.' Heh."

"...The stolen lands are also large...there may well be time for others to establish strongholds of their own..."

"The Stolen Lands aren't that large... if there was a decent road through it you could ride across it in 3 days. Nevertheless, if multiple nations set up colonies here, well, good for them! Pacifying these lands would be something that is good for all the nations around. And if they feel like fighting, well, as I said a responsible ruler must be prepared for war, even though they should stay out of wars if they can."

"...I am certain Kyonin would at least secure the Elfgate in this region, lest it is misused."

"If they lead directly to Kyonin, that would be prudent... in fact, it surprises me that they haven't done this already."

"It is but a single point, but from there, this land floods out into all directions. And that single point is much easier to access from within those lands than the overland travel all the way to Brevoy. It may be more focused, but I think that is actually an advantage."

"I don't think your sense of geometry is very good, Alia. The Stolen Lands is a narrow strip of land with Brevoy proper along its entire northern border. It is roughly 100 miles wide at its widest, and 250 or so miles long. So Brevoy proper is never more than 100 miles away from any point in the Stolen Lands. Even a centrally located point will never be nearer to more than a fifth of the Stolen Lands."

"But more importantly, there are thousands of ways from Brevoy proper into the Stolen Lands. You couldn't keep Brevoyans out of the stolen lands if you wanted to, not without a massive army. On the other hand, keeping Kyonin out of the Stolen Lands requires blocking a single site. Without your elf-gate they would have to travel overland, a long way."

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My mistake, a language thing. The Narlmarches, on the map, directly connect to the swamps, and in my language, a "Marche" would be overgrown wetlands just short of being a swamp. So I figured they are called that because...

Ah, I see. I was beginning to guess that English wasn't your first language with the 'leash' remarks. What Language?

For the record, in English what you are talking about is a "marsh," not a "march." A "marsh" is a grassy wetland; different from a "swamp" because a swamp would typically have trees whereas a marsh wouldn't. A "march" is basically a border district and they are called that because soldiers have to march to them.

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Well yeah, thats the thing. From what she has seen so far, Alia is not convinced she's in "a civilized country". Can't really blame her can you?

Well, that's not what I meant, and I think you know that. If Numalar was in a given country where uniformed guardsmen were present, he would have a big problem with attacking those guards lethally since they are "in the right" and only doing their duty, no matter how enlightened the society is. Numalar would have to see that such guards were acting against the public good in some way before offering lethal violence. If the guards attacked without calling for the surrender of the group, then that would likely be a different story. Numalar knows that not all guards are honorable or good but would want to give them the benefit of the doubt unless they prove otherwise.

As said, she does not trust the lawful side any more than the unlawful one here.

It should be noted that the Lawful side never killed any of your friends or took you prisoner.

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Numalar Auritonius wrote:

That's fine, but you stuck that in there. Let's spoiler the rest.

Sure, it was mostly stuck in as...

I know what your point was... I'm just saying that it was you that brought the argument back out into everyone else's space instead of spoilering it to keep it between you and I.

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Numalar Auritonius wrote:

This is really the human approach, and has nothing to do with Brevoy specifically.

see above. If it was the general approach, then Chuck and Wilbur should sway gently in a light breeze, weighing down a tree. Also, what's human approach to you... you're a gnome, not a human.

It really mystifies me why you are so hung up about granting mercy to Chick and Wilbur. There are important differences between Chick and Wilbur and the rest of the group:

* They were 'new' members of the bandit gang, and hadn't participated in any banditry yet that we know of.
* When we called on them to surrender, they did so. We called on the other group to surrender and they all chose to fight to the death, even after their leader had been brought down.

From a legal sense we had a strong case against the bandits we captured when we found you, and a weak case against Chick and Wilbur. And again, we voted, with only Zokon thinking that Chick and Wilbur should be executed.

And as far as being a gnome, I don't see how that is relevant. Numalar is an agent of a human kingdom. He has lived among humans nearly all his life. Gnome communities tend to be small and don't have elaborate systems for dealing with violent offenders.

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Numalar Auritonius wrote:

GGGM didn't give us the details of their confessions. I think our characters might know, but we don't have details as players.

Yeah, same thing with their repentence. Or cooperation. We simply don't know because we didn't go there.

Oh no, I disagree with you there. I expect the conversation where the bandits beg for mercy would have been important enough plot-wise that GGGM would have brought it up. And there never was any cooperation, because we never asked for any. But GGGM did tell us that they confessed.

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As charter holder, after all, it is YOUR decision wether someone is guilty of banditry or not.

Umm, no, not at all. Whether someone is guilty of banditry or not is an empirical fact, not a matter of anyone's opinion.

It is also YOUR decision wether someone is repentent enough to have earned a second chance.

I'll concede that, but how is that relevant? There was no evidence that the bandits that were hung were repentant at all.

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As a matter of fact, I think you have further-reaching authority. If you come across someone happily slaughtering a family, ... you can still bring him to justice, even if the letter of the charter only refers to banditry.

Okay, I have news for you. Everyone has this authority. The right to deal with someone comitting a crime, to make a "citizen's arrest," is pretty much universal. There is no such thing as a police force here; the town guards exist to collect tolls, maintain order, and to defend the city against attack, not to police lawbreakers or investigate crimes.

What the charter does is give us responsibility. If we discover bandits, we must act; we cannot run away on the grounds that our lives are in danger. Those without a charter have the option of running away to protect their own lives.

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Applying any of the nations law in those as if they were a part of that nation is a far stretch.

Except this is exacly what we were contracted to do.

I understand your decision to back Brevoy,...

No, it doesn't sound like you do.

That the characters would be working for Brevoy is a premise of the module itself. When the original party for this campaign was generated everyone was required to take a campaign trait; these traits tie them to Brevoy in some way. This was worked into the stories for our characters. At present, we have not chosen to "back Brevoy." We are in the employ of Brevoy as agents of her government. It is a part of the premise of the module, and we were not given a choice in the matter.

I know that GGGM has shoe-horned you and Scarlet in as a separate group not bound by this, but understand that if the group of us decided to renounce our allegiance to Brevoy and tear up our charters at this point, the AP would essentially be at an end. We could continue to have wilderness adventures but much of the rest of the material in the modules would have to be thrown out.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

The reason for this is that relatively soon the party is given a new charter, again by Brevoy, to govern the Stolen lands, and is given a large body of resources, mainly in the form of colonists and materials, to begin this new 'nation.' The important thing about this is that the number of colonists willing to move from Brevoy to the Stolen Lands is basically unlimited, because internal discord within Brevoy is making it a dangerous place; it is on the brink of civil war.

Brevoy was designed by the creators of the AP specifically for this purpose and no other canon nation on Golarion has the same kind of pressure (except perhaps Galt). Without some terrible catastrophe in Kyonin, the elven land will never have the kind of exodus required to support the new country created in the second module. The same applies to the small River Kingdoms that are nearby.

I did a "test run" a while back of the kingdom building system in Ultimate Campaign using the Stolen lands map, and even though I handicapped myself in starting BP (I started with only 20 instead of 50) and without any character activity to drive things I still got my kingdom up to a population of 1,100,000 in five game years. Kyonin is underpopulated itself (at least by comparison to human nations - the elves probably don't see it that way) and could not afford to send even a fraction of this many colonists to a new nation.

She is, however, convinced that Kyonin as a backer would allow a lot more freedom to the local administration than Brevoy seems to do.

I'm not sure why... the only thing that Brevoy dictated specifically about our mission was the penalty for banditry. Everything else is up to our discretion. Kyonin, being a lot more organized, would probably have more concrete ideas about what they want their representatives to do.

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Numalar Auritonius wrote:

At the moment, this is what Alia's arguments seem like to Numalar: "you should do things like they do in Kyonin!"

Not quite... What she's telling you is to use your OWN judgement...

Sorry, but this is not coming across at all. Everything Alia has said sounds like she wants Numalar to do things the way she would do things, and most of her arguments make her sound rather naïve - which I suppose is in character - but as such is not very compelling to Numalar.

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Numalar Auritonius wrote:

My apologies if I misunderstood. Though you wouldn't normally use the word "trust" in this way. That implies some kind of personal faith that is not based on experience.

Interesting. Because in my language, that personal faith can well be based on experience. Most anything where there is no "rational" reason to believe something will work out, but you believe it will, you can "trust" that things will be this or that way. As matter of fact, it seems to be mostly used in such situations. Where there is no tangible reason to believe something, but previous experiences indicate the likelyhood of a certain outcome.

What would be the proper word to use for this? (as for the personal faith not based on experience, I would have used "belief" rather than trust)

Well, firstly I would argue that if you had previous experience with something then you do have a tangible reason for believing something or expecting a certain outcome.

But if you use the phrase "I trust the system" then you are saying you trust that system to make the correct judgements without any input from you, only your compliance. For example, when an innocent person is charged with a crime, you might hear that person say: "I trust the justice system so I don't need a lawyer," or perhaps "I trust the justice system so as long as I just tell the truth everything should work out fine."

In most justice systems, even ones that are not corrupt, this trust will normally be rather misplaced. Putting that kind of trust in the system in Brevoy would be very dangerous.

Numalar knows how the system works, but he certainly doesn't trust it.

Riding Dog 150
Bridle for dog 2
Military Saddle for dog 20
Saddlebags for dog 4
Leather Barding for dog 20
Heritage Book 50 (+2 to knowledge: nobility regarding local nobles)
10 small cold iron bolts 2 Decided not to bother with masterwork as it's still kind of expensive
Silver Weapon Blanch 5
Courtier's Outfit 30
20 doses of Saltpeter 20

301 gp - 10 % discount (-30.1 gp) = 270.9 gp

40 new arrows 2 gp
20 Cold Iron Arrows Cost 2gp
Silver weapon blanch for 40 arrows Cost 20 gp.
Masterwork Darkwood 16 STR composite longbow 730 gp (optional)

754 gp - 10% discount = 677.6 gp

Cold Iron Masterwork Longsword 330
Flask of Holy Water 25
Flask of Alchemist's Fire 20
Silver Warhammer 102

477 gp - 10% discount = 428.2 gp

Sell:
Longsword. -7.5
Studded Leather -12.5
Warhammer -6

Total -26

428.2 - 26 = 402.2

207 - 10% discount = 186.3

Sell old Studded Leather -12.5

Total 173.8

212 - 10% discount = 190.8

Sell:
Leather Armor -5

Total 185.8

84 - 10% discount = 75.6

Sell:
Old Longbow -37.5 Alia if you are not selling your old bow let me know

Total: 40.1

301 gp - 10 % discount (-30.1 gp) = 270.9 gp

754 gp - 10% discount = 677.6 gp

477 gp - 10% discount = 428.2 gp

Sell:
Longsword -7.5
Studded Leather -12.5
Warhammer -6

Total -26

428.2 - 26 = 402.2

Sell old Studded Leather -12.5

Total 173.8