Something seems off... But fine.

You purse your plump lips. Your bright, perceptive elven eyes gaze into the mayor's inscrutable face. He wears an expression of unusual seriousness. It seems this business is too grave, too important for any veiled mockery or joking. You wonder if he's hiding anything from you. Memories of your Matron flood back. "Nobles, sisters, are men you should always be wary of. Their interests are always interwoven with both reputation and wealth. And they guard both with the savageness and the duplicity of a dragon. Minor nobles tend to forget the former and emphasize the latter." Still, the mayor hasn't given you any particular reason to distrust him. Perhaps you should give him the benefit of the doubt...?

"I accept, Sir." You say with a polite smile. "Is there anything else you wish to tell me before I leave?" You enquire, taking another sip from the tea cup, maintaining proper etiquette in the presence of nobility, as you'd been taught. The mayor makes an exaggerated show of thinking, running his hands across his beard and staring at the ceiling. It seems he's back to his theatrics, your acceptance draining his seriousness like sucking poison from a wound. "Well, my scouts say that his band is around 30 trained men. I'd advise against fighting them head on." He pauses to take a sip of tea. You notice several breaches of etiquette. "Their camp is half a mile east of here. Once you see twin hills on the horizon, you'll be close." The mayor said, giving you another smile. "Now. I've finished my tea." He hasn't. "If there's nothing else, I suppose you should be getting on with it, hm? Those magpies won't fly off on their own!" He stands. You hear the opening of a door behind you. The meeting is over.

You see two familiar faces as you exit Barrowden. Kesten, the old, moustached guard captain, and Matteau, the gormless teenager. You turn up your nose at them, remembering your previous encounter. Matteau openly ogles your body, and the older man scowls. You pass them by without word or gesture. You have much more important things to concern yourself than those two. You center yourself, turn east, and set out on your newest quest. Though you don't feel the same measure of pride and righteousness as previous.

10 minutes later, you see the twin hills that the mayor mentioned. And soon after, the camp. Taking care to keep yourself hidden, you hide in a dense part of underbrush nearby. It's a far cry from the disorganised, haphazard chaos of the orcish camp. This is clearly well maintained and structured. A breast height palisade wall surrounds it, made from the Barrowden dark oak, with a single entrance, where a guard is posted. Inside, there are a collection of tents, one bigger than the rest. Which, you assume, is where the Karl resides. In the middle of all the tents lies a cookfire, where you spy 8 men sitting around. They seem to be drinking merrily while a deer roasts on a spit, gradually rotating. Your sharp elven eyes spot four other men, one sitting just outside his tent, sharpening a weapon, and three playing cards on a tree stump. There's no way to tell if you've spotted Karl or not.

You purse your lips, thinking. This tale seems unfinished to you. Out of nowhere, a mercenary band turns up and threatens to destroy a fully fledged town under the king's protection? And the mayor doesn't immediately call for royal help? Strange... But at the same time, these Magpies don't seem the most honourable types. Perhaps this is just an advanced shakedown, and the mayor is correct to employ you to get rid of a problem instead of trying to contact an army.

You resolve to make a decision. Either you could resolve to finish violently, as the mayor so clearly wishes. Killing their leader worked for the orcs, perhaps when the magpie's head is removed, the body will die. It's got to take some kind of magnetism to convince 30 some misfits into threatening a mayor right? Or... You could try a different path. Place trust in the honour of these mercenaries and request an audience with their leader. Perhaps there is a wrinkle to be uncovered in this story. And if there isn't... Well, you can still kill him.