Aranor follows the elven woman, hoping to distract her from preventing Walt from doing his investigation as Tuuli blocks the way of her goons in accessing the body. He is curious about the lack of compassion she has thus far shown someone who was apparently under her protection, and her sharp tone just now is interesting as well.

"Wait just a moment, my lady," says Aranor, falling into his most courteous, well-bred sounding voice as he catches up to her. "Walt's examination will surely lend us valuable information we will need if we are to help you."

With a clumsy-but-lucky fall, Tuuli successfully intercedes.

"If you have the means to extract clues from poor Jacopo, be my guest. I am curious to see what you can learn. I will watch." She gestures to her goons to hold back, as she stands in the center of the alley with her arms folded. 

"But be quick about it. We should be discreet. We can't be jeopardizing the success of the March of Vice. We need to remove him quickly." She then orders her guards to block the entrance of the alley, to discourage onlookers or new interruptions. 

Lucky sneaks over and sniffs the woman, to try to remember her smell later, and identify anything odd about her or where she's been.

Stealth igl: 9 thump stumble, look cute
Perception igl: 19

Lucky boldly approaches Samira to sniff her fancy gown. Samira smells of wealth and privilege, of fine perfumes and fancy soaps. Clearly uncomfortable with curious cats, Samira gently nudges Lucky away with one high-heeled bejeweled boot and a flash of impatient distaste.

Lucky kind of scoots away at the nudge, but gets ready to pounce on the boot, until he stops, looks up at Tuuli, and then grumpily stalks back over to her, pouncing on her boot instead. 

Tuuli kind of smiles bashfully at the woman, then turns to see if Walt has found anything. She goes over to peer over his shoulder. 

Walt stands over the body and he’s at a loss. His previous two attempts at inspecting the body turned up no clues. As Tuuli walks up to Walt he looks over to her and says in a low voice “did Lucky find anything from the doors or Madame Arah? I must admit, I’m at a loss for what to do. Well, I guess I better try something”

Walt moves closer to the body and kneels down low. He searches Jacopo’s robes for pockets and the pouch that seemingly contained the gold pieces. If he finds anything out of the ordinary he will carefully search them looking for clues. He will search his hands for signet rings and take notes of any symbols or etchings if he finds anything. He will search the bottom of his shoes or boots to see if he’s stepped on anything or tracked anything that could be a clue or sign as to where he travelled.

Perception check: 16

As she leans in, Tuuli replies for Walt only, "Both doors are locked, one smells like food, the other like a warehouse, I think between us and the goons there's no point in looking for tracks. Madame smells posh." She peers at Jacopo. "No blood, so poison? Or maybe he was killed somewhere else and dumped here? They didn't come at him for the money..." she indicates the spilled gold. She will make to move the dwarf to see if he has any wounds anywhere, just to make sure, and will follow Walt's pat down with her own in the process.

Perception to find anything Walt missed, igl: 21
Sleight of hand to make it look like she's just moving the body, igl: 11

This girl is just not subtle. On brand, frankly.

Zartan walks over and casts Detect Magic. What does he see?

Walt and Tuuli examine the dwarven body. It has no visible wounds, a bit of dirt or powder on its face, 20 gold that were spilled from a high-quality coin pouch, and no other items on it of any particular note. His fine shoes show nothing but subtle streetwear, and his shirt has a small stylized anvil embroidered into it. 

Zartan examines the scene with Detect Magic. He sees no magic here, except for the few items your party carries. Neither Samira, Jacopo, nor the three goons emit any sort of arcane signatures.

"Well?" asks Samira, impatiently. "Anything?"

“Hey Lucky,” Tuuli gestures and the cat comes over. He sniffs at the dwarf’s mouth, at the powder, trying to see if it smells like anything different, and so he and Tuuli can try to remember it. “Poison?” she asks Walt.

Walt stands by Tuuli, watching Lucky sniff the body. “Yes, perhaps. Poison is a definite possibility. I’m at a loss here. Shall we join Madame Arah for a drink and see what she has to say?” 

Zartan brings Fang down and back into his pocket dimension. 

Tuuli will scoop Lucky up and deposit him on her shoulder (in her hair) and stand up. "Free drinks," she affirms. She'll nod at the thugs as she gracefully saunters past them to the waiting lady. "It wasn't a robbery," she says to the woman, probably unnecessarily.

Lucky sniffs the dwarf's mouth. Perception: 15

It doesn't smell very nice. Lucky recoils from the scent.

Samira replies to Tuuli's statement. "I didn't think so. We should be so lucky. Let's go."

She begins to stride down the street, looking back at you expectantly to follow. Two of her goons approach the body, while the third, the middle-aged woman who seems to hold the highest rank of the three, sticks close to Samira.

(Any further business in the alley? Does everyone intend to follow Samira for her invitation to a glass of wine and a job offer?)

Walt could use a glass of wine and maybe a snack so he’ll tag along. Assuming the entire gang tags along, Walt will stick with the group and share with everyone what he overheard Samirs telling her goons and cleaning up the body and alerting the rest of the Kings of Coin. In the same conversation he will add ”Perhaps this means there is some known threat to the kings of coming?”

In a aside conversation Walt approaches Aranor and hands him a health potion. “Here you go, Aranor. I’m not sure when I’ll get around to cooking up your health potion, so you can have this one instead. It appears we might have gotten ourselves tangled up in another mess here and we might be needing this.”

Zartan will follow with the group 

Aranor takes the health potion from Walt and tucks it in his satchel. "Thanks, Walt," he says, as they follow Samira to the restaurant. "Joining up with you has certainly brought more adventure into my life," he comments. "It seems we can't even go out for Jeli wine without stumbling into some sort of murder mystery."

Samira leads you to a small café at the edge of the city’s central market, where she seems to have her own private room in the back. A server brings out a bottle of jeli wine and some small cakes, and at Samira's direction pours glasses for each of you before departing. Her guard exits the room as well and closes the door, leaving you alone with Samira.

"I am the head of the Jewelers’ Trade," she begins, "the guild for those who craft and deal in gems and jewelry. I also act as the security specialist for the Kings of Coin, controlling the Silent Verse, three of whom you have now met."

"That murder victim was Jacopo Ain, eldest son of King of Coin Massimo Ain. Jacopo was under protective guard in response to a recent attack against the family member of another King of Coin. But he slipped past his guardians, intent on reveling amid the March of Vice."

"Last night, Zenia Ruba—the eldest daughter of Myx Nargis Ruba, another of the Kings of Coin—was attacked and nearly killed. I don't know if the attacks are related but I fear they might be."

"I want to hire you to question Zenia and discover any information about her attack or Jacopo’s murder." She lowers her voice. "Though I control the Silent Verse, it's possible that some of its agents are not entirely loyal to me, so a group of capable adventurers like you seeking information might yield results. In return for your assistance, I can offer you 200 gold each."

“And a case of Jeli wine!” Tuuli blurts. “I mean, sure, and also a case or two of Jeli wine, if that wouldn’t be too much trouble. Or, um, instead of the gold?”