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Tannen does his best to suppress his trepidation, having never spoken under this kind of stress before. It was amazing how having several crossbows pointed at you makes it hard to find the right words...

"I am Tannen and this" Tannen gestures to Nivek "is Nivek.

We are in these woods seeking to kill goblins. Yesterday, we defeated the tribe that lives in the caves to the west." (Tannen does his best to sound nonchalant about the group's recent success)

"We slew their shaman, but their chief, whom we understand wears a horned helm, was not there. This goblin took something that does not belong to him and, therefore, we seek information as to his whereabouts.

...we saw evidence of a recent battle near their cave along with the corpses of a goblin and a large wolf and the old man with the bear that lives in these parts thought you might know something about what happened."

The chaimail-clad warrior eyes Tannen shrewdly. "Hmmm, the whereabouts of a goblin with a horned-helm ..."

He turns to his colleagues. "Do we know anything about that, lads?"

His cronies snigger with one another. "Aye boss, I think we may know something about that", chuckles the dwarf.

The leader continues: "You mentioned payment. Fifty pieces of gold and I'll tell you what I know about the wheareabouts of this goblin chief."

He raises one eyebrow at Tannen and Nivek, awaiting their response.

Tannen looks the leader in the eyes, attempting to determine whether the man seeks to pull some kind of deception. After a short moment, Tannen responds:

"50 pieces of gold is more than the bounty we'd make on two-score goblins. I offer you 10 pieces of gold in advance and another 10 if we deem your information worthy." Tannen then yells out (first over his left shoulder and then his right):

"SENTRIES! HOLD YOUR FIRE! REPEAT. HOLD YOUR FIRE! It seems we can reach a bargain with these men."

Birthright wrote:"50 pieces of gold is more than the bounty we'd make on two-score goblins. I offer you 10 pieces of gold in advance and another 10 if we deem your information worthy."

The leader looks Tannen up-and-down and then snorts derisively. "I'm wasting my time here, lads," he announces, and with that he turns and starts to walk back into the cave.

"You heard the boss," shouts the crossbow-wielding dwarf at Tannen and Nivek, "You best be on your way now."

The five guards renew their crossbow aims ... three on Tannen and two on Nivek.

(OOC: Tannen must have really blown his reaction roll )

Tannen curses under his breath, but hoping to salvage the best from this southerly turn of events, he yells after the retreating pony-tailed figure:

"Wait! You'll have your 50 pieces of gold. My father always told me I had no head for business."

(Tannen hopes that his lame attempt at humour will compensate for his lack of bargaining skills!)

Doughbert tenses and draws back on his bow . This is starting to look exactly like he expected it would go down. His target is the ponytailed leader, but he isn't anxious to actually let the arrow loose. He hopes Tannen can bring everything around.

The pony-tailed man pauses in the cave entrance, and then turns back around to face Tannen. He stares at Tannen straight-faced.

The dwarf meanwhile lowers his crossbow and thrusts forward an open palm in anticipation of payment.

Tannen turns to Nivek, whispering:
"I'll wait here. Can you go back to the others and get the coin?"

Turning back to the bandits, attempting to return the man's stare although his gaze inadvertently keeps wandering to the crossbows trained at him:
"Nivek, will fetch your gold if you would be so kind as to indulge us for a few moments more?"

Birthright wrote:Turning back to the bandits, attempting to return the man's stare although his gaze inadvertently keeps wandering to the crossbows trained at him:
"Nivek, will fetch your gold if you would be so kind as to indulge us for a few moments more?"

"You've got until noon dwarf," Pony-Tail instructs Nivek, "After that we take your friend here hostage and it'll cost you double to get him back."

((That gives you around 15 minutes to gather together the necessary coinage, or hatch any other plan.))