Sylvia answered honestly, "This is not a trick, nor a lie," She was not really surprised when he asked his next questions. She answered Shortfang, "My friends and I are in a position where we need as much help as we can get, and someone suggested I try asking you. Plus, you seem like you could use a friend or two right about now. I'll try and talk to the guards and see if I can't convince them to let you out,"

“Hmm. Yes! Need friend! Butt!” The kobold moves closer, beckoning to to come closer so he can whisper to you. “If humie guard no let me free, get spikes ring from fat humie. Shortfang just need spikes ring to escape.” He drew what this “spikes ring” looked like, and it was obvious he meant keyrings. “Or, better! My stuff! My stuff in humie chest there, big tent. Get Shortfang stuff, Shortfang go free!”

Sylvia moved a bit closer and she listened to his advice. She nodded and answered quietly "OK. Got it. Let's see what I can do first. If I can't convince them, then I'll get your stuff to you at night," She then stood up and told Shortfang, "Hold on a sec,"

She then decided to try and talk to one of the guards. She decided to try and talk to the fat guard with the key rings first. She approached him and called, "Excuse me, Sir?"

The fat guard sputtered awake, holding onto his helmet as he sat up. “Harum, Yeah, What’s all this then? Eh? You don’t like like an adventurer. You a merchant or sumthing?” The guard asks as he tries to look a bit more composed. His breath reeked of booze.

Sylvia had to make sure that a disgusted look didn't crawl onto her face when she smelled the booze on his breath. She just hoped that the fact that he had been drinking will be making it easier to convince him. When he asked, she answered "Actually, I am an adventurer. And I am looking for other adventurers to hire for a caravan heading to Gransys," She then pointed to Shortfang and she asked the guard, hoping to appeal to their lazy as well as logical side, "I would like to take the kobold off of your hands. Since the caravan will be leaving this camp, you don't have to worry about him lurking about anymore, and the caravan can have a bit more protection. It's a win-win proposal! What do you say?"

“Aye well, as much as I’d like to keep riffraff outta this place, he’s been accused of stealing valuable equipment from a couple of adventurerers. Gotta Wait until the next city patrol can take em away to be judged, unless those stolen items show up again.” The guard took out a note scrap and looked at it closely. “Let’s see... Seemed that a magic amulet, a steel shield, and a silver tipped spear is what’s gone missing. That adventurer is mighty surly bout it, but if you can somehow get those back to em or prove that kobold didn’t steal it, can’t let em go. Sorry.”

When the stolen items were mentioned, Sylvia immediately realized that Dirk was definitely not the thief. None of those items were at his camp. So this was a different thief this time around. Thinking about what was stolen and looking at Shortfang, she asked out of curiosity, "Hmmm...Were all of those things stolen at the same time?"

She hoped that was the case, because if so, then the kobold's stature would be evidence in of itself. She highly doubted that a kobold would be able to carry a spear and a shield at the same time without making noise.

If it turns out the three items were stolen at different times, then she would have to figure out a different way to prove Shortfang's innocence.
She could mention the witness who saw the thief...

“All from the same adventurer. Some lass back at the camp. Go y’all to her if you wanna know more, I’m just suppose to wait till the next patrols show up.” The guard looks at you with a bored look before taking a sip from his hip flask. He burps a little, waving the stank from his face before going back to doing nothing.

With a deadpan look, Sylvia politely thanked the guard before going off to find the adventurer. She would have asked for the adventurer's description, but she had a feeling that the guard was not going to be of much help. She might as well try and prove Shortfang's innocence.

So she headed to camp to try and find the adventurer who had her stuff stolen. She just hoped that she could find this woman...
Plus it wouldn't hurt to find the witness she spoke to earlier. If he saw the thief then he could help prove Shortfang's innocence by giving a description.

Finding the man who spoke out about the true thief was easy enough, as he was still there playing with his dog. The pup found you first and alerted him of your arrival. "Hoi. Much luck with that kobold?" As you ask about the adventurer who had her items stolen, he would point you in the direction of a larger training area. "Aye, I vaguely remember seeing her. Some noble lass if I had to guess. She had the airs of someone who's just doing this work for the adventure and not the money. Last I remember she was talking to the leader of this camp and trying to organize some search for the thief. As for the thief, I honestly don't know where he went aside from outta the camp. I don't remember seeing him leave with anyone though... In hindsight, he might've just been a bandit."

She greeted him politely and answered, "Hey there. I've got some luck. They'll let him go if I prove his innocence," She then asked about the lady adventurer, and from his answer, she had a feeling that the...rich adventurer, might not be easy to talk to. She commented thoughtfully at the man's answer to where the thief went, "...Perhaps the thief's still in the camp? It's dangerous to travel alone..."

She then asked the man, "Since you saw the thief, I don't suppose you caught sight of any other defining features the thief might have had? Any details might help in proving the kobold innocent,"

The adventurer shook his head. "Fraid not. I mean, I saw him carrying off a silver spear and a shield. When I heard what went missing, I put two-and-two together and figured out it was him. But all I saw was a dark cloak which," As he demonstrated by lifting his his considerably dark cloak. "Pretty much every adventurer wears. I did see him leave camp but suppose there's nothing that'd stop him from coming back." Thinking more on it the adventurer turn to look directly at you, clasping his hands together.

"Alright, I got a deal for you kid. See, I'm something of a... Hunter, I guess you could say. My dog here could likely sniff out some of those lady's items. If you could bring me something that belongs to her my boy here could find those items too." He put his hand up to stop you from interrupting him, as he had something else to add. "But I ain't gunna do this for free. You're nice, and I like ya, but I'm a professional with standards. Can't be going around doing pro-bono work for every novice who comes asking. Now I can tell you're a greenhorn, likely don't have much coin to your name. So here's the deal: when you go talk to that noble lass, make sure she offers a reward for whatever got stolen. And whatever that reward is I want half of it. I'm sure you have other mates you want to share the pot with, but promise me half and I'll let my boy Jackson here help you find those missing items, and maybe even that thief too."

He extended his hand out to you. It was hard to see his face due to his helmet completely obscuring his features. "How bout it? Not too bad right?"

Sylvia was a little disappointed at the answer. Of course every adventurer was wearing a dark cloak. Come to think of it...she probably stands out with her long yellow coat. She then blinked at the proposal, surprised that the veteran would offer her his help even more so than he already had. She had to admit, she also thought it was impressive that he was able to tell that she was a greenhorn to this adventuring business. She smiled at him happily, and she shook his hand and she said, "You have a deal! I can't thank you enough for your help. And don't worry, I'll happily hand over half of the reward,"

And this time, she was going to make sure she actually asked about a reward. Though she wasn't confident in her money negotiating skills, but she would do her best. Again, a rich lady might be stingy with the reward.

She then told him, "I'll be right back. I'll go and find the victim and talk to her about what was stolen," She then heads off to go and find the victim.

After the deal was sealed you go off to find the victim. She was pretty easy to spot; she was the indignant woman speaking to a disgruntled giant of a man. In fact, you're quite certain that now that you're closer, this man was no human; he easily stood over seven feet tall, with a sword bigger than you. He wore a uniform similar to the other soldiers here, however his uniform was much more organized and impressive looking. He was no doubt the commander of this camp. He seemed to pay little heed as the woman continued to nitpick and demand his men to go looking for her items, saying that she had paid good money for safe keeping and is absolutely distraught at how quickly and easily a random thief could have stolen her precious items. If you didn't bother to interrupt, she seemed to talk in circles about the subject as the man did order his troops to go... Somewhere.

Sylvia had a deadpan look on her face when she finally found the indignant woman. After letting out a quiet breath, she decided to interrupt the woman and talk to her. Not just to get the information she needed, but to also spare the poor commander from her. The woman reminded her of an angry customer in a store, venting her anger on a poor cashier.

She walked up to her, and tapped her shoulder, "Excuse me, Ma'am? You don't have to bother the good Sir anymore," When the woman turned to her Sylvia introduced herself, "Hi, I'm Sylvia. I'm more than willing to help you out and find your stolen items. However, it won't be for free,"

The woman turned towards you, still indignant and fussy. "Good! I'm glad someonehere has some initiative! I've paid good money just to make sure my belongings are safe and this dunce of a man can't even bother getting his men to open their goddamn eyes!" She was still fuming, but your distraction gave the man the opening he needed to slip away while she focused on you. "I've already offered a 100 gold reward for each item that I stolen. My family's spear, my husband's shield, and my holy amulet were stolen just an hour ago." She glared over in the direction of the cages where Shortfang was at. "I don't know where that thief stashed it, but I won't let anyone rest until it's found!"

Three hundred gold total. Nice. Sylvia thought to herself. Though she had to admit, when she heard that the shield belonged to the woman's husband, she immediately felt sorry for the poor guy who married her...

She spoke up, "Alright, three hundred gold for all three items. Sounds fair," She then told the woman, "Before I go, I just need something of yours. See, I have a friend who's an expert hunter with a dog. If we have something of yours, he can have his dog track down your items,"

She also mentally noted that she would bring in the actual thief as well. But she didn't say it out loud to the woman who might not listen to her reasoning.

The woman crossed her arms and seemed loathe to hand over anything belonging to her, but she does reach into her breast pocket and take out a small embroidered cloth with the letters “Mariam” stitched onto it. “This is my personal handkerchief. I always keep it on me. That should be enough for the dog. Make sure to bring it back to me!”

Sylvia accepted the handkerchief and she nodded answering politely, "Of course. Thank you, Ma'am. I'll be back," She then left the woman with the handkerchief in hand. She was glad to get away from the woman, Mariam, for now. She headed back to the adventurer with Jackson, eager to start the search for the thief and the three missing items.

When she finds and reaches the adventurer she greets him, "Hi! I'm back!" She hands the handkerchief and she informs him, remembering the deal, "The reward will be 100 gold for each item. In total, it'll be three hundred gold. I hope the handkerchief will help?"

The man took the handkerchief and held it out to his dog. “300 total eh? So that’s 150 for me. Good deal. Alright Jackson, get this scent and look for more.” Jackson, a rather large mutt, took the scent and started sniffing the air before running off. “Looks like he’s got a trail. Follow him and watch his back. He’s a fighter, so if things get hairy he can take care of himself. Good luck, kid.”