For Dieter only:

Spoiler

Rudy gives you a sideways, slightly amused look. "Relax kid," he says, in a slightly condescending tone. "Why would I pay you to do a job and then not tell you everything you need to know?"

He gives you the name Josef Tödenhofer and an address in the wealthy Kaufmann District. "He travels by hackney carriage and he's got two bodyguards. Oftentimes he'll have a clerk along with him too."

He slides a couple of karl's across the table surreptitiously. "You'll get the rest tomorrow. I'll meet you here at noon. Remember, doesn't matter how it's done, as long as he misses that appointment! Any questions?" He finishes off his ale, clearly getting ready to leave.

Spoiler

"No, that's enough. It's as good as done." He discreetely takes the money and pockets it as he rises.

Dieter rises from his seat and walks back towards the bar, resuming his seat next to the dwarf.

"So, Ironbreaker...", he says, suddenly ingratiating, "do you have a name?"

"Moibur Wolfhame," the dwarf says in a conversational tone as he wipes the froth from his mustache from his recent tipping.

"Wolfhame, is it", Dieter continues, "I am Dieter Jundt, private gentleman of fortune, at your service." Dieter grins. "You talk and carry yourself like a true soldier, if you don't mind me saying so. Between engagements, are you?" Dieter orders another mug for himself, throwing a curse and two pence at Big Jim. He leans closer to Moibur and speaks in a lower voice, "Fancy earning some easy money with, let's call it, a bit of unconventional warfare?" Dieter drinks of the red ale and waits for Moibur's response.

Hugo pipes up, "Did someone mention an opportunity to make some coin?"

Quote from: Dodger;540092The debate over who should pay to secure the Altdorf road continues, with some people claiming that it's the responsibility of the Countess, while others claim that the Emperor should pay. One outspoken chap asks what the roadwardens are for, if not to keep the roads safe but others point out that the roadwardens can't be expected to deal with large groups of bandits or mutants.

Marcus is quick to point out that while Roadwardens do a lot to keep the roads clear, hunting down the various threats requires finding and destroying their camps, which would take more then the few wardens that tend to travel together.  Roadwardens being a loose collection of drifters that rarely band together in large numbers.

Quote from: Warboss Squee;540186Marcus is quick to point out that while Roadwardens do a lot to keep the roads clear, hunting down the various threats requires finding and destroying their camps, which would take more then the few wardens that tend to travel together.  Roadwardens being a loose collection of drifters that rarely band together in large numbers.

"You're a roadwarden, are ye?" someone queries.

Quote from: Dodger;540188"You're a roadwarden, are ye?" someone queries.

"Sure am, hail from Solland, or what's left of it."

Clearly Marcus is one of those Wissenlanders that still hold out for a new Count of Solland.

Dieter turns to Hugo with a scowl. "What do you know about fighting, little fella? I need men who can handle themselves when the blood begins to run."

He also looks at the Roadwarden out of the corner of his eye, and listens peripherally to what he says. Roadwardens are an honest but underpaid and underappreciated lot. Perhaps he's not averse to a bit of less-than-honest "moonlighting" as it were.

After which he turns back to Moibur, still waiting for the proud Ironbreaker to respond.

"Oi, I've seen things in the woods that would shake you to your core!  I've seen men with the bodies of beasts...horrible things born of the Ruinous Powers.  The fact that I'm alive to tell the tale says all you need to know.  I can tell you this, though...my arrows fly as true as the Emperor's cock and I can be a silent as the farts that slip from your mother's arse."

Dieter turns back to halfling, his face contorted in a nearly caricatural exaggeration of his trademark "tough guy" scowl, and he rises from his seat, towering over the little Mootlander, his hand on his dagger.

"You have quite a big mouth for someone so small. A little fella should watch what he says around big folk." He drops the scowl and flashes a shit-eating grin. "You have grit, though, I'll give you that." At very least, Dieter thinks, this halfling can make for a nice distraction.

Moibur was about to respond to Dieter's query, but refrained when the halfling spoke up and joined the conversation.  He decided it wise to let Dieter talk some more to assess the man's character, and intentions.  

The dwarf soldier chuckles jovially as he says with a wink, "well, it seems that we all talk the talk.  However, I'll only walk the walk for the right amount of coin, if ya know what I mean."

Moibur's face and tone sobers considerably as he finishes, "aye, I'm a soldier and fighter, but will not doing anything that involves women and children.  Now, you put me up against an armed man and I've got no qualms about spilling blood."

Looking the halfling over, Moibur says to Dieter with his former casual and conversational tone, "they are good marksmen, and I'm a halberdier myself. I've got my axe for close work, but ranged work is not my forte."

Dieter seems satisfied with Moibur's reply, and beckons the halfling to come closer as well. He eyes one, and then the other, and says, "very well, gentlemen. It is a simple matter, really, but if anything goes wrong, I'd rather you be prepared for it." He looks around to make sure no one's listening or paying too much attention to them. "All that's been asked is to delay a certain merchant and his retinue, which includes two bodyguards, for at least an hour, tomorrow morning. A gold mark for each is what I can promiss after it's done. Of course, if the merchant and his henchmen have any valuables with them, we can split them up. What say you?"

Dirty Hugo tilts his head as if in thought, but he's clearly someone who doesn't think for long; he blurts out, "I'm in."

Moibur thinks about it for a moment and then casually nods his head slightly in agreement before covering the motion by tipping his tankard back and taking a long draught of the Red.