For one of the few times in his life, Sampson was reluctant to fight. Not because he believed he couldn't take the guards on, a few deft axe strokes to the wizards would eliminate any<em>serious</em>threat, but it was what those foes represented. Guards, even corrupt ones, were still hired lawmen, and being known as someone who slaughters authority figures does a number on your job prospects. Defusing this situation would take guile, something Sampson didn't exactly possess an abundance of, but hopefully cunning won't be needed when an appeal to the Guards' self-interests could work.<br/><br/>"<strong>Look, you and I both know what happened here</strong>" Sampson said, slowly lowering his axe as he supplicated his free hand , "<strong>some noble's kid got a bit too frisky with the local wildlife, and discovered a bit too late that sometimes the wildlife's got teeth. Now we can go through procedure and waste everyone's time, yours included, on account of some brat, or...</strong>" Sampson gave a smirk as he looked over to the others in the party, "<strong>We could push some gold your way and take the girl that caused all this. You walk away a few coins richer, we leave with the troublemaker, everyone wins.</strong>"<br/><br/><em><strong>Unless you're one of those "honor before the self" types, in which case you'll be dead.</strong></em>