Homeland Robbers (Spoiler)

[Shadowdweller]

The quest is tedious, but...
1) Other than shame and not getting the reward, there is no penalty that I know of for choosing not to attempt a quest.  Or failing to complete in in time.
2) 100 squirrel hides worth of reward is a fortune - particularly on top of the loot they already carry.

I've fought 4+ robber quest groups on one char before.  On rare occasion it is possible to find them with luck and good tracking skill on the overland map.  Beyond that, I usually try to scout out their location by stripping myself of everything heavy and valuable and then wandering back and forth over every tile in the region.  I quickly circle around in particular overland tile before moving on to the next.  Once I find them, I gather up a posse from nearby villages and head in to fight. 

[PALU]

:
2) 100 squirrel hides worth of reward is a fortune - particularly on top of the loot they already carry.
:

I'm not sure it is, give the cost of hiring a posse. Adventurers are cheap, as they generally just want some food, but old men are expensive as they often require 3 quality weapons (or even more!) plus the food. Since my experience is that none of the ones I've hired once will ever accept another hunting trip, I'm down to villagers/farmers/old men, and think I may be able to round up a final posse of those before I run out completely.
The weapons carried by a group of robbers won't cover the "cost" of recruiting a posse to defeat them, so I need to supplement that with Njerp spoils (which is not a problem from a volume point of view).

[princebunnyboy]

Adventurers are cheap, as they generally just want some food, but old men are expensive as they often require 3 quality weapons (or even more!) plus the food.

That's strange, I know choosing different options makes them want different things. Like choosing if they want to go on a longish adventure they want food, but if you chooseyou want a hunting partner they request weapons. I've just always chosen the option that only requires food.

[princebunnyboy]

Adventurers are cheap, as they generally just want some food, but old men are expensive as they often require 3 quality weapons (or even more!) plus the food.

That's strange, I know choosing different options makes them want different things. Like choosing if they want to go on a longish adventure they want food, but if you choose you want a hunting partner they request weapons. I've just always chosen the option that only requires food.

[PALU]

I've always chosen short hunting trip, as that's as close I can get to an honest "deal with robbers" choice. Thus, the differing costs are for the same task, but I guess hiring for labor and then sending them to war makes for cheaper hiring costs.