"Would they be - effectively unskilled entirely, or would they be able to do things like take notes, summarize written material, be trusted with money..."

"Effectively unskilled. Most around here did get letters beaten into them, but not well, and they're not inclined to do it unless someone's threatening them with a whip. There's a couple skilled, one is a merchant's nephew and the other tried to make wizard track. Wouldn't trust either with money, though, at least not more than a few gold."

"I don't think the church can absorb more than four or five of those, at least not at this specific location."

"Understood. I can find the best five, and try to keep the rest out of trouble."

How far away is the noble's house.

Not too far. It is currently empty of nobles, missing a door, and occupied by squatters. 

Oh for crying out loud.

"Do you know who the noble was," says Elorri, gazing despairingly skyward. "Anything about his accent, how many people he had with him, etcetera."

"I'd call it around eight people. A brother, a manservant, a few maids, a handful of guards. No wife or children, at least no children he'd claim. No accent, he's a Westcrown man at least. There's a couple merchants he met with regularly. If he fled to the countryside, one of them might know where to."

"...well, if he's a noble from Westcrown that fairly well rules out that I'll be able to find him at the convention. I guess we'll have to hold this till we can track him down." Trudge back to the temple.

"Guess so. Hope he did flee to the countryside, and isn't dead. Though if he died, I think the watch would be poking around. So it's unlikely... Would it help any to clear out his house? I don't think the woman living there is causing problems, but if we're to act like we owe him, that'd be a place to start."

"We owe him what was stolen for the church's benefit. I am not at present inclined to take on the task of investigating the disposition of his house; I'm mostly supposed to be concentrating on politics. I'd be inclined to recommend that you get yourselves aligned with the Crown's forces keeping order or the Reclamation command before taking on any tasks outside your historical remit."

"Understood. So, next step on getting aligned is a letter to the crown, and your report to your commanders about us?"

"Right. Do you want my help with the letter or do you have it in hand?"

"I don't think I'd mess up a formal letter too badly, but I also haven't interfaced at all with the crown before. So I'd appreciate the help, but not if there's more urgent politics for you to get to." 

"I haven't interfaced with the crown directly either."

"Ha, we're on the same page, then."

"Do you have any recommendations on how to explain our situation to the crown without confessing to a dozen crimes that we are all then arrested for?"

"I don't know what will in fact work, but what I would try is something like, you are operating an informal Iomedaenism-inspired neighborhood policing outfit in thus and such an area, you are interested in continuing this work more officially to supplement the existing efforts of both Reclamation and Guard, you would like copies of applicable regulations and letters attesting to your powers of arrest and search and suchlike if they are willing to have you aboard."

"Understood. We'd rather end up under the command of the Reclamation than the city watch, but might not say that to them directly."

"The Reclamation operating in this capacity is temporary. I don't know if the Reclamation will still exist in its present form at all a few years from now."

"Unfortunate. Most everyone in the areas you patrol will be sad to see the paladins go. But I suppose there's worse evils to fight than the ones here in Westcrown."

"Well, that and some of us were pulled off what would normally have been mandatory downtime. Keeping civil order is not a classic paladin occupation and cuts against the grain of the typical range of personalities pretty badly. If you're suited to it so much the better."

"They took you off your downtime? I thought that was sacred for paladins, that you had to have a feast once a month. Like Iomedae did."

"...it's 'have fun once a month', feasting isn't fun for everyone - and many of us don't in fact have rings of sustenance. Assizes are stressful and risky and require much greater periods of recovery between fairly short stints. The convention, at least, is - not unstressful but it's mostly less morally injurious."

“I may be getting several different things confused. Anyways. If you all are here when you were supposed to be resting, and generally not suited for this, we can prioritize expanding to the point where we can take over some more responsibilities. If things go well with the crown, regarding official sanction to keep order.”