Café de Nuit

A fighter class character of a character with Weaponsmithing NWP will recognize the Watch polearm as ranseurs.

ewancummins wrote:Incidentally, if you are wondering about how the city gov't investigates serious crimes:

Magistrates are empowered to look into crimes. They are mostly political appointees. A minority have investigative skills of their own, and for important cases many employ skilled hirelings.

Given that half the party members are thieves, I think this knowledge falls under the " stuff you are at least somewhat aware of, despite not being natives."

In this setting, what I have described above is not uncommon.

Hmmm... I thought that if you wanted something investigated in the setting, you HAD to hire someone to do it. I didn't know they had people appointed that could look into it.

Tom tries to take most cover possible before opening the door.

alhoon wrote:

ewancummins wrote:Incidentally, if you are wondering about how the city gov't investigates serious crimes:

Magistrates are empowered to look into crimes. They are mostly political appointees. A minority have investigative skills of their own, and for important cases many employ skilled hirelings.

Given that half the party members are thieves, I think this knowledge falls under the " stuff you are at least somewhat aware of, despite not being natives."

In this setting, what I have described above is not uncommon.

Hmmm... I thought that if you wanted something investigated in the setting, you HAD to hire someone to do it. I didn't know they had people appointed that could look into it.

1 It says "serious crimes." Street fights that end with one of the victors ROBBING a loser are not the sort of thing the winners should go report to a magistrate.
Fild doesn't know Gertie robbed the man she stripped and bound. Or maybe he does, if he sa the leather armor she took off him, which would be harder to conceal than the money.
But she is a criminal and a magistrate might punish her for committing the same crime the alleymen seem to have been aiming at. Why would Aldron turn in a woman who helped him?
Of course, Fild may have missed important facts here.

2
A successful WIS check would remind Fild that hiring the party as " unknown allies" to go after the ruffians was the party's idea, not Aldron's. You guys laid it on thick about how he could have enemies he does not know about.

3
The magistrates may hire people like you. That's the " skilled hirelings."
Even the city gov't contracts adventurers. It isn't just private persons, although that is the main source of such employment.

Generic law enforcement and justice info (particulars vary by location, sometimes quite widely. Not being from POVERO, you won't know all the local specifics)


NIGHTWATCH/ MILITIA/ BAILIFF'S MEN/BRUTE SQUAD

Some group of armed men that enforces public order, stops crimes on the spot, and may do other duties like helping tax collectors, guarding buildings, putting out fires, etc.

MAGISTRATES
The judges and officials of the city, provincial court, etc.
Accused wrongdoers are summoned--or dragged---before the judge or judges.


TRIAL/INVESTIGATION
Everyone takes oaths. Refusal to swear is taken as proof of dishonesty. Interrogations follow.
Torture may be ordered in some jurisdictions, or magical (clerical) methods of divination might be employed. Objects might be seized and examined.

More weight is given the the testimony of persons of higher status.

(Trials by combat and by ordeal may also be used, but only these are not universal.)

The job of the magistrate is to render justice. There are no defense attorneys or prosecutors in most places.
Accused persons are considered suspect until determined to be innocent or guilty.
Juries aren't widely used. It is mostly " bench" trials.

GAOL/DUNGEONS

Where you await trial, not ordinarily where you serve a sentence.
Jails may require you to pay to be jailed. You want to eat something more than stale bread and "mystery" soup? Pay up. If you are rich, you might get a pretty nice upper level cell. If you are poor, you may be fighting the rats for crumbs in a dank cellar.

PUNISHMENT

Mostly, criminals suffer corporal punishment and pay fines. (Laws may exempt aristocrats and the gentry from physical punishment for any petty crimes, natch). Forced servitude may be imposed for limited periods.
Actually selling a criminal into slavery may be a possibility.
Execution or mutilation is handed down for grave offenses.
Some jurisdictions punish grave political crimes with death by torture.
Long imprisonment in a dungeon is the sort of thing that might be done to a noble whose family will get pissed if he or she is hanged or beheaded.

So the magistrate alone is the one that decides if someone is guilty or innocent right? Since there are no juries.

Time for some more failed bluff checks.

[dice]0[/dice]

VAN wrote:So the magistrate alone is the one that decides if someone is guilty or innocent right? Since there are no juries.

Yes.

Of course, in most places, the magistrates are operating according to an established system of law. There are various standards of proof required for convictions.
It might be as simple as :

MELON THIEF DRAGGED BEFORE JUDGE
OATHS TAKEN

JUDGE:
''What is this man accused of?"

WATCHMAN :"Stealing a melon."

JUDGE to ACCUSED:
"Did you steal the melon?"

ACCUSED: "No."

JUDGE to WATCHMAN:
"Did you see him steal it?"

WATCHMAN:
"No, but the melon sellers and three other people did."

JUDGE to witnesses:
You saw him?"

WINESSES, all confirm.
JUDGE CONSIDERS their social status, credibility, etc. They are respectable people. The accused is a guttersnipe.

MELON SELLER displays broken melon dropped by fleeing thief.

JUDGE, after brief deliberation:
"I find this rascal guilty of melon theft. Sentence is one hour in the public stocks, one penny paid to the melon vendor for damages and trouble, one penny paid to the court, and he must wear the rind of that broken melon as a hat for three days--always wearing it when he appears in public view."
Smiles.
"And ten lashes for lying to me. If he cannot pay the fines and damages, then he must serve as the vendor's drudge until such time as he has made good on the debt. See my clerk for details."

Adam wrote:Time for some more failed bluff checks.

[dice]222365:0[/dice]

Not too bad. But not good, either.




He missed his earlier bluff attempt, but their reaction (roll result) to him was friendly.

So they don't really seem ready to dash off from this area at his faux-hysterical prompting, but they are humoring him. And, because they like this excitable but possibly sharp-eyed dude, they will bring him along on any search.

chance guards discover activity in the cellar, by hearing a faint noise or seeing a light


1 in 6

[dice]0[/dice]

number of rounds it takes them to discover busted arrows, footprints, picked locks, whatever

[dice]0[/dice]

Intimidation or bluff. Tom has fast talking but I don't know if it applies here, I will roll it anyway.

He is giving the man the chance to surrender or flee but he has ready action to attack if the man gets closer and tries to attack.

Intimidation: [dice]0[/dice]

Fast talking: [dice]1[/dice]

[dice]0[/dice]

Whip to scare not attack the man

Man action:

Attack Tom with club, protecting his brother and the bag.

[dice]0[/dice]

Blow bounced off shield.

Now actual combat round:

Man with club

[dice]1[/dice]


Tom, Gertie, Fild, Gem
[dice]2[/dice]



Titus
[dice]3[/dice]

Man with club attacks again[dice]0[/dice]

Blocked again.

Note that his position and attacks prevent Tom from getting out and thus letting Gertie and Fild out, unless Tom either strikes him down or bull rushes him. Or somehow convinces him to give way.
no clear shot for anyone behind Tom in the tunnel.