I’ll put a bullet in your head and a sword in your heart, provided someone pays me to do so and proves to me why it should be done.
Justified mercenaries, these Knights will accept a bounty provided the cause is just.
Mien
Tolltaker Knights generally appear physically threatening, with spartan garb, steel-toe boots and flesh stained with grime and blood. Changes to their mien go a long way toward this effect, as well ― their flesh grows tough with erratic scars, and streaks of dried blood grow deep and red (and never to be washed away). If a Knight’s Wyrd increases to abnormally high levels, he may find that he leaves bloody wet fingerprints or boot prints wherever he goes ― prints that, just as the marks on his skin, do not scrub away easily
Bounty's Curse (Privilege)
When a Knight Banneret accepts a bounty for a target, that target is marked no matter where in the world he lurks. This curse isn’t obvious; not at first, anyhow. It becomes clear, however, if the target engages in combat with one of the Tolltaker Knights.
At that time, the victim of the bounty feels... sluggish. Imprecise. Even a little clumsy. Attacks land with greater frequency. His feet don’t
propel him forward as fast as they should.
Assume that, only while in combat with another Tolltaker Knight, the victim of a current bounty finds that his Defense is halved (round down), and his Initiative modifier is one less. This can, in many instances, grant the Knight a measure of advantage against his marked foe.
This ability does have its limits. First, the target of a bounty must be identified by the Knight Banneret, and seeing as how some investment of Glamour is usually necessary for this to occur, it’s not easy for a Tolltaker to abuse this power. Also, upon entering into combat with an extant bounty, the Knight must first spend a Willpower point to gain access to this blessing (well, blessing for him, curse for the other guy).
Rumor and Fact
The word around the freehold is that the Tolltaker Knights are the foulest mercenaries found among changelings. With blood-blemished blades tucked into their belts and snub nose revolvers strapped to their ankles, they offer up a single purpose in this world: to hurt people for payment. The rumors are that they’re particularly good at it, too, as precise or as inexact as one needs them to be. If one person pays the toll, another person ends up in the hospital — either in a bed, or in the morgue. They’re louts, drunkards and murder-for-hire jackboots… or at least, that’s what everybody believes.
The rumors are true, mostly. They’re mercenaries, yes. They’re good at what they do, indeed. But there’s one clause to their order’s oath that most people seem to forget or ignore, and that’s the nature of proof. The Knights won’t go after a target unless they agree that the cause is justified — and proof must be supplied toward this end. Now, justice is in the eye of the beholder; one Knight may be a tad more lenient regarding what “injustice” deserves meting out the order’s trademark brutality, while another may refuse to give into such monstrous opportunism.
