Now that the halfling has had a chance to wash down his nerves with some ale, some of them have left, but he is still clearly shaken. "Not so much me as my master. Yesterday, my master, a minor nobleman whose name I would prefer to not say so as to protect his reputation, and I, his loyal servant, were on our way to the house of a gentleman who had prepared a fantastic feast a week ago for my master's guests in order to pay him and see if he could sample a few of the cook's other recipes. On the way, we were accosted by a gang of ruffians, who injured my master, and stole the money. A friend of my master's suggested that he seek redress here rather than the guard as the timeliness of the resolution would be much better here. To that end, he sent me to see what I could find."