Law and Honest Work¶

Settlements remember crime, taskmasters keep local work ledgers, and travelers pay for a safe road. These systems share a world, not one universal reputation score.

Town law¶

Each watched region keeps its own roll of wanted names and its own criminal history. A witnessed theft or repeated violence after a watch warning can put a character on that roll for a limited time. No town can see or enforce another town's record.

While wanted in a region:

ordinary merchants there refuse trade and appraisal;
a regional constable can arrest you where that town's law is in force;
arrest places you briefly in a holding cell before the bench calls your docket;
the magistrate closes the local book by coin, time, or town work;
SETTLE COIN, SETTLE TIME, or SETTLE WORK chooses how the docket closes;
a work settlement issues a local duty chit, marked with DUTY once per minute on protected town ground;
waiting beyond the notice's life also clears it.

Another settlement does not automatically inherit the charge, and wilderness ground has no town watch. A fence remains willing to trade and is the only merchant who buys goods marked stolen.

LAW, LAW WARRANT, and LAW RECORD inspect only the current jurisdiction. HELP LAW gives the live warning and docket rules.

WRIT: the settlement ledger¶

A taskmaster offers work drawn from the surrounding region. Use the same command at every stage:

WRIT                  take work, read progress, or turn in a filled writ
WRIT REMOVE           abandon the current job
WRIT EXCHANGE         see what ledger marks can buy
WRIT BUY <item>       spend marks at a taskmaster

Only one writ may be active. Completing one starts a short seven-minute pause; abandoning one uses a shorter pause. Writs remain unlimited—the pause controls cadence, not a daily quota.

Kinds of work¶

A desk can author any mix of:

Cull — defeat several local creatures.
Pelts — bring skins from named quarry; SKIN before SEARCH.
Gather — forage local plants or materials.
Angling — land fish from suitable water.
Locks — open locks through PICK.
Escort — see a named traveler to the road's end.
Rescue — clear captors, then escort the captive home.
Named head — defeat one dangerous local leader for premium pay.

Creature work prefers targets reasonably near the hunter's level, but a small local desk will still offer the work it actually has. Peaceful and service callings can progress the ledger without being forced into culls.

Payment¶

Turn-in awards three things:

ledger marks for the exchange;
permanent experience credited immediately;
silver paid directly.

Payment grows with character level, the size of the job, and the work's danger. Rescues and named heads pay a premium. The turn-in message prints the actual values, so the wiki does not need a solved payout grid that goes stale every balance pass.

Weekly mark¶

The fourth completed writ in an ISO week earns one extra package of marks and experience. Meeting the mark in consecutive weeks grows a capped streak bonus.

The week gates only that bonus. It never prevents another writ, reduces ordinary payment, or locks a hunting area. Missing the mark resets the streak when the next week is first checked.

The exchange¶

Every taskmaster can offer the core services:

Exchange	Use
edgekeeper's oil	a temporary Attack edge
wayfarer's table	restores health, stamina, and spirit
thawing cordial	removes grave-chill
open-seal chit	waives the pause before the next writ

Individual settlements may add authored equipment, tools, or supplies to their own shelf. WRIT EXCHANGE is authoritative for the current desk and your mark balance.

Escorts¶

Travelers sometimes offer work outside the formal writ ledger:

ESCORT <person>
ESCORT
ESCORT STOP

The traveler follows each step until delivered, released, or timed out. Completion pays silver and experience. Terrain, weather, hostile rooms, and the traveler's patience all matter; one charge at a time rewards attention rather than convoy exploits.

Some escort or rescue targets also appear on a writ. In that case the traveler may pay for arrival and the taskmaster separately settles the ledger's promised share.