There is no evidence of the man's passage. Either he was in and out through the fighting pits without leaving signs of his passage, or he lied to the cook (big shocker there).
"Well, if we can't find them, then let's wait for them to return to the Golden Goblin looking for us. Bruendor, can you set a snare to spring on our potential 'guests'?"
"Like a rabbit snare?" Anklebiter asks. "But won't the customers mind? Many of those who come to gamble only look at the tables and the money - and some the waitresses. They'd step into a snare without even noticing."
"Say more like a suspended net that we can use to catch the rabbit once we identify it. Or perhaps you have something more devious in mind?"
"We seem to be stuck," Calla says acidly. "Ah'm sure Clegg would love it if we did his work for him and put a trap on all our doors. That'd drive our customers away and put the Goblin out of business faster than the goblin" -- she jabs her thumb at Anklebiter -- "at a brothel."
After nearly a half hour of plotting, planning, and discussion of options, it appears that there is nothing to be done about the snake incident, unless you are willing to strike out directly against Zincher - something Saul is reluctant to do, and in fact vehemently orders you not to pursue.
That night is pretty uneventful at the Goblin, with a large percentage of the regulars mysteriously absent. Nothing comes of it, though, and the following day is business as usual. In fact, maybe better than usual, as Saul appears to have deposited a large sum in the vaults that night.
The next morning is another story, however. Saul summons you all together and looks very worried. "I won't beat around the bush. Larur has gone missing. He was supposed to be paying off Smeed last night, but didn't return. I, uh, might not have been as up front with you as I should about the source of my startup money. You see, I borrowed a good deal from Lymas Smeed, using the Goblin itself as collateral. It was a good deal, and the tourney should have brought in more than enough to pay it off, but...well, you saw how that turned out."
"Anyways, with your help we've been doing pretty good, and I sent Larur to Smeed last night with 500g of it. He ain't come back yet, and I'm worried. I'm especially worried that it might be connected to Zincher's visit the other night. Rumor has it that Zincher has more than a fair share of Smeed's business. I wouldn't put it past him to lean on Smeed to do something to Feldin as a warning to me...and to get his hands on that gold to boot."
"I want you to go to Smeed's place on Rat Street and check it out. See if anyone in the neighborhood saw Feldin last night. Talk to Smeed if you can get anything useful from the man. Feldin's been god to me, and the Goblin, and I'd hate it if something happened to him because of me."
"Yay, adventure time!" Anklebiter cackles when he hears what Saul has to say. In a flash, he becomes serious. "Bad thing, if the fat man attacks you this way. Cowardly. Bad-sneaky, even to a Goblin. Should have let me throw some boomjuice through his window."
"It's not too late for that, Poet, once we're sure who's responsible. Let me get ready."
Calla quickly heads to her room, where she dons her armor and grabs her weapons and the rest of her gear.
"500 gold?" Lefrik snorts in surprise, "And you didn't have one of us accompanying it?" He shakes his head.
Seeing her opportunity to join the gang, Kelendra jumps at the chance, "I'd be glad to accompany this group on your investigation, I've a few prayers that may be useful in our journeys? Just let me grab my things." With that she rushes to get ready, happy to shed the waitress outfit. In a short time she returns, the fake succubus wings traded for studded leather and weapons at her side.
"Much nicer!" Anklebiter says, nodding sagely. "Less likely to get stabbed if someone sees you in a dark alley."
Bruendor's eyes briefly widen as he hears that Larur is missing, and he nods as Lefrik expresses his surprise. "Aye, any one of us could have ensured that Larur would have been sleeping under the Goblin's roof tonight. We'll find Larur, Saul. I swear this." He returns to his room, straps on his armor and weaponry, and prepares to move out with the rest of the team.
Lefrik smiles at Kelendra's enthusiasm, and nods at Bruendor's words, "Your oath is witnessed. I shall endeavor to help you in its pursuit."
"If you're all done pinky-swearing," Calla snarls, shall we get started?"
"We'd probably do best not to go altogether, but rather break up into groups so we won't be quite as suspicious asking questions."
"Maybe a sneaky group and a burly group?" Anklebiter suggests. "Sneakies move forward and scout, burlies follow after more slowly; they come running when the sneakies get them or start to shriek."
Saul gave you the directions to Smeed's place on Rat Street and sent you off with a hearty "Good luck, and thank you!"
As soon as the group leaves the Golden Goblin, Anklebiter starts acting more furtively. He sticks to the shadows, his footfalls come more softly, and he does not speak much. If any of the party's other members look at him carefully - a task that becomes harder as the party advances - they might swear that the Goblin's colour changes to match that of any surface he is close to at the moment!
Kelendra stays back with the 'burlies', her lack of stealth and her haunted condition making for a conspicuous trip to Smeed's place on Rat Street.
"I find myself agreeing with you far too often for my liking, greenskin." Bruendor moves quietly down Riddleport's streets, though not with the same skill as the goblin.
Stealth:
Rat Street is dark and narrow, with random buildings jutting out into the path. It seems an unlikely location for a high-end loan shark to occupy, but then most of Riddleport looks like this. The advance team sees a sign out front showing a stack of coins above block letters that read "Rat Street Loans". A sign on the door itself reads "By appointment only".
"Well, let's go see about making an appointment, shall we. Lefrik, follow me ... try to look ... well, like yourself."
Calla, assuming Lefrik is following, will stride up to the door and knock three times.
"Somehow I'll manage that." he says drily.
Kelendra looks about the narrow confines of Rat Street and decides that sticking close to Lefrik is a wise decision. As he moves forward with Calla, she moves with them, keeping an eye behind the small group for anyone that may have been trailing them.
At Calla's knock, a sliding plate in the door slammed open and a pair of green eyes stared out. The eyes widened as they saw those on the doorstep, and the plate slammed shut. From inside the building came an angry shout. "Go away! And tell that idiot Saul if I ever see any of his thugs come round here again, I'm gonna double the interest on what he owes me!"
"We've come to talk about Saul's payment. He's concerned you may not have gotten the money you're owed."
Calla tries to keep her voice level, resisting the urge to simply kick open the door.
"It would be hard for me to get what's never been sent. Now, begone with you!"
Kelendra steps forward, hoping her charisma provides a bit more success with the abrupt moneylender. "Mr. Smeed, please a moment of your time, it regards a payment that was sent to you and we fear it may have been stolen. If we could just speak with you for a moment, we promise to be quick and it does concern gold that should rightfully be yours."
"Hmph," Calla mutters, not necessarily loud enough for anyone else to hear unless they're listening closely. "Should've worn that succubus costume. Then he'd probably have opened right up."
Kelendra gives a sideways glance at Calla, a slight smile on her face. "You're welcome to borrow the costume anytime, on condition that you don't return it."
"If you need a costume to make a man do what you want, you're doing something wrong."
"Trust me honey, that succubus costume never made a man do anything that I wanted."
Kelendra stops and considers the tip money she made in those first starving days of working at the Golden Goblin, "Well, almost nothing that I wanted."
"Get lost, or I'll set my guards on you!" He listened to the conversation going on on the front porch and shouted once more. "Although if you two are going to have a catfight on my front steps, wait until I get some snacks and maybe take some odds."
Lefrik hears the talk of the guards and snorts. He fingers his axe lightly in case they SHOULD come out.
"It's very strange, Mr. Smeed, that you don't want to cooperate with our efforts to locate your 500gp, but it is your choice, good day to you."
Stepping away from the door, Kelendra speaks in a low voice to her companions.
"Saul asked us to see if anyone in the neighborhood saw Larur Feldin last night. If he didn't make it to Smeed's place then where might he have stopped on the way?"
Anklebiter looks at Bruendor and Lefrik, and whispers: "Any tracks? Big Dwarf tracks, I mean?"
"I'll take a look. Calla, Kel, you two keep playing good succubus/bad succubus, and see if you can turn up any leads."
With that, Bruendor looks around to see if there's any evidence of Larur's passing.
Perception:
Following Bruendor's lead, Kel steps away from the sight line of the sliding plate in the door and continues the 'girl fight' dialog in a loud voice.
"No Calla, you devilish minx, don't tear my top off, I've nothing underneath it!"
Calla steps back as well. She hestitates for a moment, then, rolling her eyes and not very convincingly: "Of course you don't, you tarted up trollop! I'm surprised you bothered with a top at all."
Lefrik blinks at the commentary by the ladies, and mutters "I'm sorry, Anklebitter, did you say something?"
The absolute silence from behind the door indicates that Smeed has lost interest in you and has returned to whatever he was doing before you came. Though Bruendor searched all around the front of the shop, there was no indication of Larur's presence.
"You look for big Dwarf tracks!" Anklebiter whispers, poking Lefrik in the side. "And stop thinking about Kelendra's top! You don't need to think about what she's hiding underneath; she works for money at the Golden Goblin, so there's not going to be gold necklaces and things, just her boobies."
"Well, that was productive," Calla mutters. "Let's see if we can confirm Larur didn't make it here before we kick down the door."
The Calistrian priestess looks around, hoping to spot anyone who might have been around long enough to see whether the dwarf ever arrived at the moneylender's.
Calla found no one that had seen the dwarf, but when she walked around to the rear of the house, she noticed a scrap of green cloth hanging out of a rubbish bin. The cloth matched the color of Larur's cloak. Pulling the cloth from the bin, the cloak was easily recognizable and just as obviously was drenched with blood.
"Seems almost a bit too obvious doesn't it, the bloody cloak of the man we are looking for conveniently peeking out from the rubbish bin behind the place he was headed. Surely Smeed is more crafty than that."