no, let us not be the V team.

If we can trade our airship for a Volkswagon, then I am in.

The Voluptuous V-Team of Vaguely Vengeful... Vapidity?

OK, do we want to plan our strategy here or in character?

would it not be better to do so in character. Sure, Z'phir could hunt the guy down, but hunting only does so much, and it just feels wrong without a kill at the end.

Not sure when it will come up, or if it will today while The Werefrog am at work, but Z'phir begins hunting for the culprit as the others seek clues.

Who says it's not going to end in a kill?

Alright, it looks like we skipped the in game planning and went right for the getting lost in dangerous neighborhood.

Anyway... these were my thoughts.
1. We should send word back to the Captain about what we're doing. We're doing work for another House and there could be political fallout from this. Since we're apparently all together at the gate, we should assume that we found another shipmate and sent word back with him.
2. Since we're reserving a spot on the ferry for tomorrow, and also having to send word back the the captain, we should have watched the first departure, specifically looking for the snakeskin boots. If he was there, then it would likely be because he was doing a job for a Theran House and was looking to drop off the goods.
3. Whoever we send to the captain, needs to fly back, await a reply from the captain and then return. That's at least two hours, maybe 4 or more depending on flights and what the captain has to say about things. In any case, we should return to the ferry/nearby meeting spot at the appropriate hour to get the message.

About the Victim
1. We know it is a 'she'
2. She is allied with the elf's house... can't remember the name off the top of my head.
3. She was targeted because:
a) random victim
b) specific person/item
c) random Theran
d) Specific Theran House

About the loot
1. There is miscellaneous other stuff that is apparently unimportant
2. There is a bag of 10 copper coins with water etchings
a) We're being offered 400 times the value of the copper coins
b) These may LOOK copper but actually be water elemental coins (value 1000 silver total)
c) These may be magical coins

About the thief, I'll call him 'The Eel'.
1. Purple scarf. Purple dye is expensive so this is a ritzy thief.
2. Snakeskin boots. These are also expensive and not something you want ruined. They might even be magical in some way, maybe dry boots or thiefy related boots.
3. He is targeting women and there is only enough room for ONE womanizing bandit in this town.
4. He's likely an adept, given the expensive garb and his ease of pulling this job alone. If those boots are magical, then he's at least circle 4 to weave the threads (I'll assume that Atrii explains this to us). But he's not that much more advanced because he was seen and didn't use the more advanced thief hiding techniques.
5. He's got support in the Barsaive controlled area of Vivane. Somehow we'll need to access that fact. That tends to say that he's got Barsaivian support and not Theran, although there could be some high level court intrigue going on.
6. If I were him, I'd want to dump the goods fast or get out of town. If he didn't realize the value of the coins (unlikely) then he may have spent them throughout all of the town. Either he was hired for a specific job, or it was just an opportunity. If it was specific, the buyer may already be waiting for him and he's just waiting for the heat to cool down. If not, then he needs to fence the stuff and thus he'll be looking for a buyer.
7. If he's trying to get out of town, there's airships, river, horse or hiking. We've hypothetically taken care of the airships. The river runs deeper into Theran territory or into Death's Sea. That leaves the roads, either by horse, probably heading up into the ork lands to the north, or on foot, possibly mixing in with the local farmers.
8. If he's laying low, we might be able to bait him out of his nest with a similar prize.

There's hypothetically like 30-40 other crewmembers out there. So, I propose that we use them as background characters to cut off the unlikely paths and corral the story right to us.

We could check local fences or pawn shops, but I don't know how big this city or its slum are. Like Joe says, if this was a crime of opportunity and was just about money (which is my hunch), the guy probably unloaded them with some underworld contact and is somewhere enjoying his paycheck. Taverns and gambling dens are a good guess for places to look as well.

If he stole the coins for some master, then I leave it to those better versed in the setting's lore to guess at who might want rare coins.