Walk away with enough grain to settle his debt and keep his own skin intact.

He needs witnesses and a clean story before the reeve arrives at dusk.

• Promise to clear his debt if he releases the workers.
• Offer protection from the dock toughs circling the mill.
• Threaten to tell the reeve about the oil and the hidden pay chest.
• Point out that a burned mill leaves him with nothing and no alibi.

• Ask for the names of the men he is keeping inside.
• Call out the smell of lamp oil on the sacks.
• Offer a fast deal with a hard deadline.
• Separate him from the armed hands and talk to him alone.
• Press the human cost: the trapped workers, the ruined harvest, the shame.

• Snaps at anyone who calls him a thief.
• Softens if the party mentions the trapped workers by name.
• Barks for his men to stand down if he thinks the reeve is near.
• Gets colder if someone reaches for the lanterns or the pay chest.