Past the common room, into his office. There's a shelf for his gear, a rolled up mat to sleep on, a few chairs and and a well-organized desk. Two copies of the Acts of Iomedae, one very worn.

"We've been hoping for a visit from the church. Or the reclamation, I understand they're separate organizations. Any one of Iomedae's own."

"Apparently Select Artigas's pamphlet attracted some attention sufficient to alert us to your existence! What can you tell me about what you're doing here?"

"I told him not to take up any unneeded attention from anything more important the church is doing. Just offer the Select guards in case anyone went after him again."

"What we're doing. The big picture is fighting evil in Westcrown, and using the vows of a holy order to keep members to a Lawful and Good standard of behavior. Enough to get to heaven, if we can."

"The specifics are trying to keep order in this specific area, mostly patrolling the streets so the pickpockets and robbers don't try anything. A couple more complicated operations, but it's mostly the patrols. Otherwise, trying to keep our men out of trouble and out of the taverns. Enough training and attending sermons and reading scriptures to keep them occupied."

"I for one am glad to now be aware of your existence. We can't triage problems or allocate resources we don't know to exist. Almost every time an incident report comes out it scolds people for not delegating more, and an entire lay order of volunteers aligned with the Church is very much the kind of thing we'd want to know to get ahead of that a bit. Are you actually having people take vows, or just using the text of some vows as a guideline?"

"Understood. I set a policy of avoiding bothering the Church based on your attention being scarce and needing to be prioritized, took that too strongly."

"We take vows, but I tried to set them up so they don't damage men's honor on the net. Based on that part of the Acts where she's setting up the knights and... Sorry, paladin. Don't have to explain to you which part I mean. The main safeguard is that our vows have a section about being released on resigning from the order or being expelled. We've had men who couldn't keep to them, especially the water one, but we try to have them resign and leave before doing anything. So, there are actual vows, but not as strong as holy orders where it's harder to leave."

"That's very reassuring, it would have been easy to damage someone's commitment to Law that way but it sounds like you've anticipated and avoided the issue. What's the water one?"

“Only drinking water. We know alcohol isn’t evil, but it isn’t lawful either. Or, it makes being disciplined and keeping commitments harder.”

"Hm, not all orders require going without it but some do and if it was causing problems among your men that makes sense. May I see the text of the vows?"

“Of course.”

He has a drawer full of copies, takes one out. 

There is a preamble, ‘I, name here, do swear’ and an explanation that the vows are only while a member of the order. The vows themselves are:

I will not draw my sword unless given lawful orders to fight, or in immediate defense of self or another

I will drink only water.

I will be celibate except on holy days of Shelyn. 

I will not lie while representing Heaven’s Army.

“The third one is a compromise. I’m going to have to fix the first, since there’s been some trouble understanding it.”

"What is it a compromise between? Do you not have any married members?"

“Compromise between the will of heaven and the recalcitrance of humans, I’d call it. By rights it would have no exceptions, but then the order would dissolve.”

“If a man wants to get married and he’s serious about it, I tell him to resign, get a job that pays, and ask the temple of Erastil how to have a family the good way. If he wants to stay, thinks he can do right by a wife while fighting for heaven, I have him bring her in and read some from the Acts. The part where the lich took that officer’s family, and when he asked, she couldn’t spend the spells to rescue them.”

"...are many of your members having their families kidnapped by liches, here?"

“No. The most we’ve done against the lich is tearing down pamphlets from the walls and burning them. The lesson of the story is what I want to get across, not the specific threat of a lich.”

"So, it could be that this is the best tradeoff and compromise for your order, but you're taking on the role of a city watch, not a crusade, and your men would not obviously be neglecting their duties here to confront a kidnapper who abducted their loved ones, and I would expect membership to be compatible with marriage where finances allow. The Reclamation encouraged celibacy but only up until the overthrow of the infernal regime and I myself am not planning to renew my own oath of celibacy. Not because I mean to go carousing on Shelyn's holy days, but because I might want to marry."

“Understood. We’ll change the oath, but there’s another constraint. Most of us are living here, and it’s simplest to say no one should be bringing any women in. Maybe men in other places are honorable enough that something more complicated than that can work, but here I’d want finances allowing to include a separate place to sleep.”

"Ah, I didn't realize the men were resident, it would certainly be awkward to install a wife in a barracks. 'Finances permitting' should include a place to live. - is that a popular reason to sign up, free lodging? Do you also feed them? Out of your own accounts?"

“Free room and board gets us recruits, but most of those leave after hearing the vows. Out of the orders account. Some of it is my money and some is the war chest from the last organization we’ve… taken over the responsibilities of. I was praying we would hear back from the church before money runs out.”

“Guess we can’t all have the Emperor of Taldor funding us, especially if we don’t even have a lich to fight.”

"We certainly cannot. Have you applied for Crown funding?"

“I have not considered that, and would not know how to send a letter to the crown if I did try to do it.”