[Jack Simth]

The specific talk about the economics of hiring mercenaries was on March 12 (log attached).

We settled on 2 sp * level^2 for each mercenary, 6 sp * level ^2 for a leader, food for the duration (5 sp per person per day), minimum duration of one month (30 days); at that rate, a band of 20 level-1 mercs with a level 3 leader ran to a little under 600 gp (6*3*3=54 sp/day to pay the leader, 20*2=40 sp/day to pay the grunts; 21*5=105 sp/day to feed them all, so 162 gp for the leader, 120 gp for the mercenary grunts, 315 gp for the food for a total of 597 gp; rounded to 600 gp for miscalaneous expenses)

As a side note, each of those 20 level-1 warriors is getting roughly 6 gp for the action (2 sp a day, 30 days - a month's salary), in addition to getting trail rations suffiecient for the month. As trail rations are 5 sp a day, the food is more expansive than the Mercs, at that level. Likewise, over 1/4 of the money spent is profit for the mercenary commander.

Edit: Of course, we are raiding a fortress to retrieve a rather pretty penny for - what was the name of that town - which will presumeably cover the expense, and then some.