"I can assess their intentions without direct engagement, perhaps?" She'd think out loud.

"Sure. Let's go have a quick chat with the Redbrands."

Zeke nods his head once and sets off down the road towards the bar where the Redbrands where frolicking the night before.

Heading down the road to the east beyond the Stonehill Inn, the old ruined manor looming high on the hill in front of them, the party spots the Sleeping Giant taphouse.  As they approach they see four men loitering on the porch of the ramshackle establishment.  One is cleaning his nails with a knife, another is sitting atop a barrel and sleeping up against the building, and another is stabbing bits of meat and cheese and feeding himself with a dagger.  The last rouses from his seated position on the front steps, wakes the sleeping man and heads inside.  The men watch the party intently as they approach.

Zeke stops about 20 feet from the front door of the Sleeping Giant and simply stares at the men who remained outside.

Tarja follows Zeke away from the miner's exchange, feeling glad to be away from the iron cage and the dragon bait. Of course, it's not like their destination is any safer. What has Phandalin come to...

She stays behind Zeke, also wearing her shield and keeping a hand on her mistletoe.

Seeing Zeke staring down the men outside the building, and Tarja keeping her shield ready.

Ethan nods and presses a stone set into his gauntlet, letting a trickle of magic flow into it.

With a clank, the top and bottom halves of Ethan's shield shoot out of the gauntlet and then the two sides of each half rotate out and lock into place with another clank.

Ethan holds his shield at the ready with his other hand resting on his Fire Caster, where it rests in its holster.

Ethan squints at the remaining men, trying to look intimidating, but just looking like he might have bad eye sight.

One of the men stares at Zeke and then asks with contempt "what are you lookin' at, freak?"  Another says "careful Max, he looks like he came here straight from the Nine Hells."  The first man replies "cast out you mean, on account of those sad wings and those nubs he probably thinks are his horns."  The second man then asks "your demon momma sleep with a drow or somethin'?"

Just then a man with a red vest comes out of the Sleeping Giant cleaning his teeth with a knife.  "Now, now gentlemen, don't be rude.  These new guests in our town have probably just come to pay their taxes.  I'm sure they mean no trouble."  He raises an eyebrow, smiles and looks at Zeke and the rest of you, awaiting a response.

Zeke ignores all of the jibes and locks eyes with the man in the red vest. 

''Taxes? I wasn't aware of any taxes for walking through town'

"For protection, friend.  We've got goblins, orcs, and all sorts of other wild beasts in this region, yet Phandalin is completely safe for all.  Surely you can spare a few coin for our good work.  We have to eat, after all."

(Fae can use her spell at any point in this conversation, even if you'd like a few surface thoughts before Zeke begins the verbal exchange.  No worries on the timing, within the minute the spell lasts, that is.)

"..." Elra looks at the man with the vest. "What makes you qualified to collect taxes on these people?"

"Ms., have you met anyone else in town who is capable of handling this important job?  Alas, until the Townmaster can find a suitable replacement and collect the taxes to pay for it, we have no choice but to assume this burden."  He pauses for a moment and then adds "do not worry, if you are new in town we will give you a break for now, until you are settled."  "If you did not come to pay your taxes though, what might we help you with?"

Ethan looks to his friends, and somewhat quietly says,

"This sounds worse than I realised. We shouldn't let these guys get away with this. They're bullying these people, and these people seem really nice."

Ethan looks like he may be getting a bit worked up and angry, his hand is fully around the handle of his Fire Caster now.

Fae would follow along a little behind the others. She'd reach into her pocket and flip a copper coin between her fingers as they approach the two men outside. When the red vested man comes out picking his teeth, the wizard would make her approach using the Zeke and Ethan as cover to hide from casting her spell. "A penny for your thoughts?" she'd mutter.

Casting Detect Thoughts.

She'd finally take her place and stand alongside the others. Fae would just listen, not only to the audible conversation occurring between her comrades and the rebrands, but to the surface thoughts of the redbrands in front of her. She's listening for their true intentions, if there's any inconsistencies in their claims and what lies they could be threading.

Fae can read varying surface thoughts of several of the men on the porch:

unknown Redbrand, 1:  'Interesting, most of our victims don't come to us.'

youngest Redbrand, 2: (Nervously) 'These guys look a bit tougher than most around here.'

unknown Redbrand ,3: 'Where'd this monster crawl out of?' (with regard to Zeke)

Talkative Redbrand, 4:  'Oh these fools are going to regret this, one way or another.'

(That would take 4 of the 10 rounds Detect Thoughts lasts for.  You can probe more deeply, or read their surface thoughts again as the scene plays out.)

Arvel steps to the front of the group. He puts his arm in front of Zeke for a moment and reaches his walking stick out to lower Ethan's firecaster.

He pulls a coin out of his pocket and riffles it between his knuckles as he approaches.

"Such civic minded-ness. It's always so heartwarming to see people of such dedication. But we've been hearing some complaints that your tax collecting has been a little too...earnest? My friends and I were hoping we could work out a deal with you. You see, my friends and I are...adventurers. We can't go into to details, but we're involved in an endeavor that has already been extremely lucrative."

The charlatan walks around the talkative Redbrand.

"And we're not just talking gold here. Armor. Weapons. Potions. Items of power. Everything a home grown militia would need to become a full blown mercenary band. So they could not only protect their hometown, but many, many others as well."

Arvel is really pouring his honeyed voice in their ears now.

"But we'd only give such favors to people we consider friends. So the question is..."

Back in front of his friends now, he flips the coin into the air and specifically clocks the reactions of each Redbrand (whether they pay attention to him or to the coin in the air). The coin lands in his palm as he plants his walking stick with a firm thud.

"...are you our friends or not?"

Fae reads confusion from the apparent leader amongst the Redbrand as he thinks 'what is this #$&hole playing at?'

The Redbrands look to their most talkative member in silence.  When he laughs at Arvel only then do the others feign a laugh.  "Of course we're friends.  We're friends to all of Phandalin.  I didn't quite catch what you want from us in return for your generous offer though, friend?"

"Oh, I thought that was obvious. The cessation of your tax collecting activities, of course. Give my companions and I time to cover our own business and square things up with the Townmaster and we can see about adequately compensating you."

Zeke gives the barest hint of a smile as Arvel drops the hammer and shifts just a bit to make it easier to draw his blade and get himself in position to cover Arvel's play.

Although Fae had enough information from her first reading to confirm the Redbrands ill intentions against them, she was hoping for more to slip before she’d attempt engaging with a deeper probe. Do they honestly have this much confidence in their own power? She was not completely convinced. What else do they have up their sleeves? Are they working with the threat?