"He seen in Shadowshore," said the kobold. "He meet with human named Penkus. Human Penkus known as smuggler, often binge drink, very angry, not nice man. Penkus not seen much lately, but he seen with brother Vanthus few weeks ago, at boat shop."
"A lead! Excellent!" said Liona, clapping her hands in excitement.
"Snickers already follow up on lead, visit boat shop," he declared proudly. "Snickers bribe boat woman, boat woman say she sell boat to Vanthus and Penkus. Say they seem excited when buying, load lots of lanterns and rope and barrels of lamp oil into boat, leave, head west."
"What would they be doing with barrels of lamp oil?" asked Kala. "I can't imagine they're aspiring lamp oil traders."
"I mean, it has to be arson, right?" Liona offered.
Snickers nodded. "Snickers agree, arson best use for much lots lamp oil. Which remind Snickers, Snickers need to buy more lamp oil. No reason."
"Then let's hope they are aspiring lamp oil traders."
As the others talked, I felt my magic drawing my attention to their mannerisms and body language. Kala was even more uncomfortable in social situations than I usually am, and I could tell by her occasional glances toward the door that she wanted to go outside. Liona was full of a sincere, cheerful optimism that, based on the way she habitually touched her holy symbol when she smiled, had its origins in her faith. And Snickers...I thought I noticed subtle inconsistencies in his speech patterns. He was more fluent in Common than he was letting on, but I couldn't figure out why he would hide it.
"So where do we go next with this information?" said Kala.
Liona started to respond, but trailed off as a dingy-looking half-elf entered the bar and made a beeline for our table.
"Hi," said the man. "You the guys looking for Vanthus Vanderboren?"
