The noble house with the green dragon banner gave me the contract to take over the Ancient City from the southeners when they owned it. The place didn’t flip after I accepted the job, they just gave me the quest whilst it was still theirs.
Also, killing one of the Gilder raider armies during the settlment defence contract and then not instantly going over to face the other will fail it. If that’s intended to prevent cheesing (kill 1 group, rest overnight, kill other) that’s fine, but please make them chase us to force a confrontation if the other group gets wiped out. Otherwise its a complete “got you” moment, a message warning that the contract will be failed if the other group isnt handled in short order too would also suffice.