"Never say never, kiddo. This could be the exception to the rule. Can't rule that out. But its looking likely something happened. So if you can contact those people and ask around, it'll help." Once they'd chased down all those leads, there was only one other option.

"... There's a chance they're outside the city. If you're not finding them here, they could be all the way to Galdin at this point." Five days in any direction, though if they were on foot it would limit that distance considerably.