Contraband

A very few things are actually banned from the city properties. These include poisons of the most toxic varieties and idols or obJects of worship pertaining to an evil cult or deity. Persons caught with such idols are dealt with as explained for members of such cults (see "Greyhawk the Religious Center," Chapter 1 of this book).

Carrying poison results in a sentence to the workhouse, in the neighborhood of 2d12 months' worth. However, one convicted of using such poison in a murder is sentenced to death. The execution is accomplished with the use of a rare venom, always lethal but killing only after a prolonged day or two of excruciating agony.

A far more common type of contraband is a bundle of goods smuggled through the gate to avoid the Cargo Tax or the Precious Metal Tax. Or perhaps an adventurer, down on his luck, seeks to avoid the Freesword Tax of three gp, concealing his blade and armor in a saddlebag.

Watchmen are prone to search about 25% of the bundles, packs, hay wagons, panniers, and other bulk objects brought into the city. Individuals are frisked only if they are grotesquely obvious in attempting to conceal contraband upon their persons. If PCs approach a gate with contraband, require a Wisdom check of each character. Those who fail automatically trigger a search of their belongings; all others stand the basic 25% chance of a search.

Penalties for such smuggling generally come down to a bribe offered to the guards to overlook the incident, as well as paying the requisite tax on the discovered contraband. It becomes a challenge to the guards to discover smugglers, for these bribes add up to no little sum for each watchman. Of course, they must take care not to delay traffic through the gates, and to avoid ruffling the feathers of an important citizen or visiting dignitary. If no bribe is offered, the smugglers are taken to the gaol (H12). They face a magistrate in a day or two, and receive a fine much stiffer than the bribe would have been. If unable to pay, the city confiscates the contraband.

The gates, their guard complements, and typical traffic patterns are discussed individually below. As with the city's outer perimeter. these are presented clockwise, beginning with the Wharfgate on the northeast comer of the city.