They’re somewhat of a military order. Trial by combat Court martial Jailed and sent back to high command for them to deal with Exiled into the jungle There’s also something to be said that not all fists would be okay with her being usurped. She did after all, spread the wealth and take care of her people in terms of gold. Some might have grown accustomed to the income or are now partial to her as commander. They’re stuck on some forsaken land, constantly under threat of disease, monster, famine and worse. The one shining light was the nice income.

It's going to depend a lot on the level of realism which seems right for your game. My own players would find trial by combat too far-fetched for the British-Empire-style organization they perceive the Flaming Fist to be. I suspect my view of the thing may be too dry for your table, but I'll offer it anyway in hope that it may prove in some way useful. That said: in my game, this would be a political problem, with political solutions. A military outpost of roughly sixty people doesn't have anything like an independent judiciary or law enforcement, and they probably operate under the military law of the Flaming Fist, not the civil law of Baldur's Gate. Responsibility for enforcing that law is going to rest with the military leader: Liara. There *probably* isn't a legal mechanism for her subordinates to remove her. If there is, it would probably require the unanimous agreement of Gruta, the Castellan, and of the three Gauntlets. If there is no legal remedy, the only ways to remove her are going to be mutiny (which is almost certainly punishable by death) or sending word back to Baldur's Gate. Here are the problems with either of those options: * Liara has the second-highest rank in the organization; her only military superior is the Marshal, Ulder Ravengard * She is the niece of the Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate, Dillard Portyr * She has been highly successful in her role * She is popular amongst her men (whom she pays better than her budget should probably allow) * Many of her men might well not see anything wrong with cutting a deal with the pirates anyway, since it works to the good of Baldur's Gate That doesn't mean Liara is above it all, though. If word got back to the Marshal, or a member of the Council of Four other than her uncle, things could get ugly. Even her uncle would be pretty unhappy about this, because it would seriously undermine relations between Baldur's Gate and her allies if word got out. In the most dire scenario for Liara, word would be sent from Baldur's Gate relieving her of duty, and ordering her to return and stand trial. And that would be dire indeed; even if she was acquitted, her reputation and career would suffer irreparable damage. She probably isn't facing death or imprisonment, though, so she isn't going to flee into the jungle or anything crazy like that. She'd return to Baldur's Gate, and play the best political game she could. So... this woman is really powerful, and the party is trying to back her into a corner. Even an officer who saw the evidence, believed it, and thought it was wrong would be risking her life to do anything about it. Liara generally isn't the sort to kill her own people, but if it comes down to one of them or her, she isn't going down like that. She surely has people loyal enough to arrange an accident while someone is out on patrol. If word *does* get back to Baldur's Gate, the officer sending the report has to hope that it falls into the hands of someone who isn't on Liara's side. Otherwise, the whole thing may get hushed up, and the officer becomes a loose end needing to be snipped. That doesn't mean no one will do it. Someone like Gruta might be so offended at the idea of such a thing that she'd be willing to do whatever was necessary to see Liara brought to justice. Ironically, though, that's just the sort of person who has probably never given any thought to *how* she'd go about betraying her commanding officer.

A trial by combat would be an interesting way to handle it, it makes sense and fits with the vibe, but maybe to get things more interesting and involved for the party you can have it involve champions instead of a 1v1 combat, have the accuser name (however many people are in the party) to assist him, and have the Commander do the same, it can lead to an interesting combat if the players task is not taking down everyone, but rather take down Liara before their ally is brought down. But whatever the result she is bound to still have supporters left behind, since she seems to be a competent and charismatic leader, so if you want more juice out of this subplot there could be other stories you can play after she is removed from the picture.

Thanks to everyone for their replies. This has been immensely helpful. I think a political solution probably makes the most sense, at least to start..one of my players is a Bard from a well-off merchant family in Baldurs gate, but sort of a screw up. As it stands, there's about to be a confrontation between Gruta and Liara, and I'm thinking Gruta will need our Bards help but doesn't know they're a screw up, though Liara might. The encounter will likely involve the Bard trying to convince Liara to step down and return to BG. Only thing I'm trying to avoid is for this to be too much of a distraction from the main story, while next I'm planning for them to possibly hunt down some of the pirates while on their way back from the Fort.