No, it's not the level, because I was level 20 when I did the quest. It
sounds like it's random. OR, if you did the quest before they started
boosting the rewards, that could explain it.

I tried luring the deputy away with critters.... he'll graciously attack
anything you bring near... I started a train (hard to do cause I almost kill
the little crap with 1 swing, hehe) and lured him away. He got back before
I could run back, up the ladder and hit Bronin. I'll try it with help
luring him away, and I'll wait upstairs and hit him. I've been jumping off
the tower to try and get away from the Deputy and guards. Also, the first
time I did it, nobody else helped. Was just me and Bronin. The second
time, I was being hit by Bronin, 2 other weasels, and the Deputy.... Guess
this is definately group strategy time. My "Reputation" which preceded
"Slaythe" to the captain musta been wrong. : )

>From: Dudley Stewart <dud@...>
>
>You don't, you need to attack the little thug with several PC's and just
>sacrifice one of them (you) to the Deputy's wrath. An alternative is to
>attack mister deputy yourself, then run his little butt across the entire
>zone. You zone, he starts trudging back, you zone back and speedrun past
>him to the now alone thug. (Good roleplay there huh? ;)
>
>I can't believe you got a Dwarven Axe for this. I was maybe too high level
>when I did it (17th?) but I remember being really surprised as to how
>especially crap the reward was. Literally something like 3 sp's.
>
>Dud