It's not too late. You speak to the man.

Your blade hovers at the man's back, then slowly falters. You can't just kill this man with all of these questions burning in your mind. The entire situation isn't quite making sense to you, and it would be foolish to **** Karl without hearing his side of the story first. Of course, you could still kill him after you've had a chat, if it turns out he's as bad as the mayor says he is. You bring your sword back and silently sheathe the blade. You take a few steps backward to be polite and not shock the poor man, and clear your throat. He doesn't hear it. You scowl, and clear your throat, again, this time LOUDER. He practically jumps out of his chair, and in one fluid motion, both whirls around to face you while simultaneously drawing a dagger from his boot and points it right at you. You blink, quickly showing him your hands to demonstrate that you mean him no harm... Yet.

The person in front of you is slim and quite elegant looking for a man. From what you can see the he's muscular, but more corded and subtle than some of the beefcakes you've seen. His constitution reminds you of a tales of house cats as big as a man, sleek, agile things, but powerful beyond expectation. His features are angular, his nose looking as sharp as a dagger, while his chin seems like it could cut cheese. The man's lips are thin and unsmiling, and even in a situation as high pressure as this, no emotion rules his features. An ugly scar runs down the man's right cheek to his neck, from a beast's claws or some horrible weapon. Surviving that must have been a close cut thing. The man's cheekbones make you wonder if he has elven blood in him, sculpted and handsome, though his eyes somewhat detract from that. One is milky white and clearly sightless, though the other stares at you with acute intensity.

The man lowers his dagger when he sees your show of non-agression, then glances over his shoulder out into the camp. You notice he does not sheathe his weapon. When his gaze returns to you, it is full of suspicion. You allow him to speak first. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?" He hisses, voice just under normal speaking volume. The noise of men shouting threatens to drown him out, but your elven ears pick his words up easily enough. You open your mouth to speak, but he silences you with a raised hand. "I can answer those questions for you, I believe. Your name does not matter, but I know _who _and _what _you are doing are at a glance. You are a paladin of some order. And you have accepted a quest from the mayor, Krenvich, to kill me. He has spun you a wonderful tale about how I have come to steal his money, or are threatening the townsfolk yes?" You scowl at the slight to begin with, but when the mercenary accurately surmises the situation, you are surprised and somewhat dismayed. Karl grimaces, then spits on the ground. Clearly he has read the expressions on your face, and they prove him right. "That worm Krenvich will do whatever it takes to wriggle out of paying me back. I should have seen this coming after I rejected his plea for a delay on payment." The man's voice takes on an edge of ice, and then he turns back to look at you. "Though I did not expect that he'd send someone to kill me... You aren't from around here, are you?" You shake your head, and he nods. "Figures as much. Only an outsider would know this little about the situation to accept this job. I am surprised you were able to get here without being detected." Karl turns and points to the fire. "That was your doing I suppose." You nod this time, and he mirrors the gesture. "To make sure you'd be able to kill me and escape undetected. Intelligent, especially for a paladin."

You scowl at that. You're content to let him do most of the talking while you mull things over. What Karl is saying does seem to make sense, and would answer a lot of the questions you had. "Can you prove what you're saying?" You ask abruptly. Karl smirks.
"Can't take my word eh? I suppose Krenvich has told you all sorts of horrible things about me. Yes I can prove it." The man walks with the grace of a cat towards a desk on the other end of the room, and rummages around some. Soon enough, he presents you with a document. You're surprised that a mercenary leader would have accurate bookkeeping. "You can read can't you girl? Or should I read it to you?" You scowl at him and snatch the document from his hands, and he allows himself a grin at that. "Alright alright. What you'll see there is an official document stating the amount, date and deadline for a loan of 25,000 gold pieces from myself to Krenvich." He says, and you follow along. "With a royal loan officer's signature."

It's all there as he says. Krenvich has been lying to you. Your grip on the document tightens in fury. "How... were you going to collect this debt?" You ask Karl, swallowing your rage. This is the one thing that has gone unaddressed. The mercenary purses his lips.
"That's the problem. We know that Krenvich will set his guards on us if we try to forcefully enter. Not that those old men and boys pose any threat. We'd have to kill them." He says matter-of-factly, as if talking about the weather. "We don't plan on injuring any civilians. We'd probably be fined or a few of my lads would spend a couple years wallowing in his own much in a prison."

"Listen to me." Karl says, and you raise your bright green eyes to match his own. "You didn't stab me in the back, despite the promise of coin, so I'm going to look over the fire you started in my camp. You can consider yourself in my debt. If you join me against Krenvich I'll be willing to pay you. Probably not as much as he's promised, but a fair sum." He's answered the one question in your mind that you had. Now it's time to make your choice. Will you side with Karl the Magpie and turn on Krenvich, probably resulting in the deaths of a few guardsmen, and perhaps Krenvich himself. Suddenly, the man is right in front of you. "Make your choice, girl."

You do notice, however, that Karl still hasn't sheathed his dagger...