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Message: <blockquote data-quote="epithet" data-source="post: 6685332" data-attributes="member: 6796566">Another consideration is whether these will be bench trials (where the judge is a finder of both fact and law) or jury trials (where the jury is the finder of fact, the judge is the finder of law.) A medieval jury, unlike a modern one, was usually comprised of 12 members of the community who were most familiar with the persons and events at issue.A jury instruction from the judge (the inquisitor) that is manifestly unfair or is a conspicuous violation of the court's charter or the common law might be a clear way to communicate to the party that the inquisitor is not interested in a fair and impartial trial. It might also serve as the basis for an appeal of the inquisitor's legal ruling to the magistrate's court, if you want to give him appellate jurisdiction over the matter.If the PCs have become attached to certain townsfolk (girlfriends, benefactors, etc.) then the inquisitor might target one of them for inquiry, and have it made plain to the PCs that the hostile inquiry would end at the same time that the adventurer withdrew his testimony against the evil priest.Another tactic the inquisitor will be likely to employ is the plea bargain. If an innocent townsperson stands accused, the inquisitor might threaten her with execution but agree to assess the lesser penalty of confiscation of all of her goods and possessions if she confesses to whatever she's been accused of.In the end, the inquisitor can leave town much wealthier (and hopefully quite vulnerable on the road through the nearby forest) while one or more good honest townsfolk are left penniless and the evil priest stands acquitted of all charges.  The townsfolk, including the magistrate, all know what really happened by this point, so the evil priest would be strongly motivated to get out of town. The townsfolk would also be inclined to not ask very many questions when they received word of the inquisitor being waylaid by brigands, and would smile and nod when each of their neighbors forced into false confessions spoke of the inheritance they received from their aunt or uncle in a far-off province, which came just in time to allow them to re-establish their livelihoods after the inquisition left town. Certainly no one would suspect the PCs had any hand in those events, nor would anyone feel the need to comment on why these adventurers drink for free at the local tavern thereafter.</blockquote>

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