i confronted the guy in red and his accomplices and picked up this ransom note. it refers to meeting at the copper coronet at night time and is signed welthen or something like that. this quest has moved to my done list but i never met anyone at the copper coronet by that name. anyone know whats up with this note?

If you don't release the captive you can go and collect the ransom and lose some reputation points. Otherwise release the captive and gain some experience points - then the note appears to be useless.