You inform the mercenary about your quest and let him know that you'd be interested in joining his band and taking them along on your quest to Castle Frinardus.
"Hmm. A goblin invasion, eh? Thats fantastic news!"
You're face must have betrayed your shock at this exclamation.
"I mean no disrespect to you for your loss, but war is business for men such as myself! Your offer is interesting. However, I can see several problems with it. First off, being caught in a fortress like a rat in a trap surrounded by greenies doesn't sound like a good job to me... Speaking of the job, who would even pay us if we were to join in such an adventure? We can't really take the job just hoping that Duke Jarin will pay us out of gratitude! And what if the goblins don't show up at all? We'll have passed up a perfectly good chance of getting work here in Picklington for nothing!"
You offer to pay them yourself. He looks you up and down appraisingly.
"Ah. No offense, friend, but I doubt you could afford it."
You wonder if 25 copper coins would suffice. He just roars in laughter as though you'd made a great joke.
This isn't going well. What do you do? Do you have any arguments for why they should come? Do you want to leave without them? Do you want to join them? Something else?
Leather vest and riding pants
Leather boots
Peasant clothes
Battle axe
Woodchopping axe
A bag containing 60 copper coins
Waterskin 1/2 full of wine
Leather loincloth
Troll horn
A troll thumbnail "shield"
Several days worth of food
Backpack
Map
Compass
Horse (borrowed)