Emerald Spire Letter of Warrant

[NewXToa]

Hello! I recently began GMing for an Emerald Spire campaign. My group had it's first meeting last night. One of the requirements for an adventuring group to go adventuring is a Letter of Warrant, which means that they donate 30% of all income to the Hellknights.
How does the Letter of Warrant actually work? What does it cover?
After reading it, I think it applies to everything you get in Emerald Spire. However, how do you pay the 30% tax on equipment and items acquired in the Spire?
Just to make sure, this probably doesn't affect quest rewards, such as that you get from the Sage for exploring each floor, right?

[Hmm]

Hey there!

I'm a player in a group going through the Emerald Spire, and here is how our GM handles the warrant:

1) We pay for all treasure and bandit loot we pick up within 3 days ride of Fort Inevitable. The Hellknights are claiming that as their territory, and with so many of them, who are we to argue?

2) We have to declare all treasure at the gate. We negotiate totals with them, and come to an agreed gold piece value for all treasure acquired.

3) Some of the taxes we pay in goods, by handing over a few expensive items. If the treasure that we hand over is more than the tax, the Fort gives us an IOU that is a discount on taxes next time.

4) If we don't have enough money to pay the taxes, the Fort gives us two weeks to pay up. Given the penalties for being a debtor in this town, we've never been late. We had at least one scary tax moment at second level when we found a wand of stone shape. It was our biggest single treasure item -- nothing was equal in value to it -- and we thought we might need it for the Spire. We had to sell off almost everything else we found in order to keep it as a group.

5) Certain things are tax-free:

• Selling Maps to Wizard Royst;
  
• Selling Maps to the Order of the Gate for levels they haven't explored;
  
• Selling information to the Hellknights about the local bandits;
  
• Any quest stuff;
  
• Job rolls we do in town. My character is a Maestro Sorcerer and the town's only resident "bard". Her performance rolls at the town's two taverns generate tax-free income. But that might be because the Hell Knights like her songs. I've gotten quite a few local commissions from them to sing songs that list all their glorious battles.
  

6. Certain things are cheaper -- broken items which we later fixed, etc.

Anyway, that's how our GM runs it. I hope this helps!
Hmm

PS I'm not sure why our GM allowed job rolls in town to be tax-free. He was probably being nice to us. If you decide that the warrant includes income from jobs in town, that's your call.

[NewXToa]

Alright!
Thank you for the advice, I will likely adopt those policies into our own campaign.
Again, thanks a bunch! It all sounds reasonable, and I appreciate it.

[Hmm]

You're welcome. I'm glad that you are doing stuff with Fort Inevitable. The subtle nastiness of the town is the best part of the game, roleplay-wise.

I'll tell my awesome GM that his policies proved helpful to you! I'm sure Kris would appreciate it.

Have fun with the Emerald Spire!
Hmm