It's late evening in the Terminus district of Sharn, where we all work. It's also dusty, because we're very close to the Lightning Rail.
I arrive first at the office, but I don't have any keys. I break into Melvin's office, and am witnessed by Sora Zelkah. Sora Zelkah assumes that this is fine. Man'die greets Zelkah at the door, and says that she's been waiting for us. The boss wants to see us, but we need to find the others first.
Zelkah doesn't know where the bosses office is, so she just wanders the office. Gabriel is the next to arrive, and uses the front door like a psycopath, for one of his first days in the office! Man'die greets him at the door, covered in smoke because she has a real substance abuse problem. She tells Gabriel that the boss wants to see him, and also gives him directions.
I emerge from Melvin's office and meet Gabriel for the first time. The two of us go together to the bosses office, and Gabriel says something weird about how he doesn't breathe? I'm sure that's fine. The two of us encounter Sora Zelkah wandering aimlessly, and I perform my good deed for the day and help out an old woman.
We arrive at the boss's office and Gabriel knocks. About three seconds later, the door opens, and Gabriel enters first. The room is sparsely furnished, with just a couple desks and a neat bookshelf. The desks are facing each other, on opposite ends of the room, and couldn't look more different. One is very neat, and the other looks like it's been recently ransacked. Mr Lost is sat at the messy desk, one of our two bosses. There are two other people in the room, but I am more interested by the impossible window that is behind the desk. There shouldn't be a window there, I checked them all! It must be an illusion.
Mr Found is stood near his husband (our bosses are married!), and the last individual is revealed to be Mav. Mr Lost indicated that there was supposed to be someone else but they're late. They have a case for us, Velvet, the owner of a nightclub needs our help. We don't have all the details yet, but there have been "incidents" at Velvet's club which are hella sus. Sabotage, espionage, other words ending in -age. Big stuff.
Mr Lost also informs us that we have received complaints from the Sharn Watch about the handling of past cases, in particular the use of violence. It would be better for everyone if we avoided killing anything. Mr Lost also informs us that we can draw on the agency's resources, but skycoaches are too expensive, which is fine with me because I'm scared of heights.
We make our way to Velvet's, which is in Dragoneyes. Mav notices there are people outside of the club who are scaring the customers and employee's, protestors holding up anti-changeling signs. These people seem to be hanging around the whole area, loitering (like criminals), and we avoid them. Mav tells us not to engage with them.
We go and speak to the bouncer, a shabby looking changeling. He challenges us as we enter, but Mav talks him down and he backs off. We enter Velvet's, and it's a visual spectacle. The ground seems to be flowing liquid, and lights up as he walk on it, and there are lights and sounds all around. All kinds of people are gathered here, people from all walks of life within Sharn. We are aware that all of the staff are changelings, which possibly explains the racists protestors outside.
We see a Silver Flame templar with a boob window, someone who's purchased armour from Chantalyn Sarhain!
Mav leads us to Velvet's office (she seems to know this place really well, in a totally non-suspicious way!). Velvet has a quite frankly unnecessary amount of white flowers in her office, each of which is neatly tagged and categorised. I sneeze, because I suffer from hay fever, and then we notice a dark skinned woman in a red dress (who is presumably velvet!). Velvet thanks Mav for bringing us, and then introduces herself as Velvet (as one might expect). Mav questions the presence of the flowers, and Velvet kinda dodges the question.
Velvet describes a few of the incidents to us. One of her singers had her voice cursed! What! The last guest to see the singer is present for us to question. Some oozes escaped the kitchen and caused a huge mess (it wasn't great), and the "protesters" have been a problem for some time. Several of the staff are refusing (rightly) to come in to work while they are there.
Mav asks about the bouncer, who seems to be a new hire. It seems he was hired alongside his sister, both of whom are new to Sharn. Velvet has a theory about who might be causing the issues, a bugbear named Crach an Credel (he visits every week!) who seems to be quite wealthy. Crach had to be kicked out of the club recently, but Velvet also wouldn't put it past the protesters.
Gabriel asks about the protesters. They mostly keep their distance, but they try to drive people away from the club. Velvet doesn't know what they say, but many of the customers don't return to the club after the protesters speak with them. Zelkah asks how Velvet is sure the incidents are all related, and Velvet admits that she doesn't know for certain that they are.
Gabriel asks for more detail on the singer's curse. It seems the singer's voice was dramatically changed, and the singer is no longer willing to sing whilst this is case. The singer's name is Moxie, and she's around somewhere. The protesters have been around for a while, but they've been getting more numerous and confident as time has gone on. Mav asks if it's possible Mr Credel hired the protesters, Velvet won't say for certain but it's a possibility.
Trivia: Velvet's is a direct competitor of Chance, the nightclub we've visited in the past! Now, back to crime!
Mav remembers that Mr Credel was kicked out of the nightclub because he was seen sneaking around where he wasn't supposed to be, in employee only areas. There must be something more to it though, as Crach has been banned forever from the club.
Gabriel recalls stories from his youth, of an aquatic elf in the Thunder Sea who made a deal with a hag and traded their voice for magic powers. This elf then went on land and overthrew a kingdom! There are seemingly multiple ways to steal or otherwise ruin someones voice with magic. We don't think that Moxie's voice has been stolen in this case, and Gabriel thinks she may have imbibed a potion or something that damaged it. Gabriel asks Velvet about this, and it seems that Moxie does have a history of drinking on the job. Interesting.
I violently sneeze again and accidentally knock down one of the vases. Oh no! Velvet says not to worry, she'll deal with it, but I leave in shame anyway. Zelkah then proceeds to knock over another three vases because she's clumsy, so maybe I shouldn't feel so bad.
Back at the office, Del'taro, our missing partner, arrives at the office. She was late because she was looking for a donut that matched her outfit, aesthetically, on the way to work. It's very important. Man'die blows smoke at her and the snakes around Del'taro's head cough. Man'die tells her where we are, and Del'taro begins to make her way to us.
Mav suggests we go and speak to Moxie, and I think this is a great idea. Happy to follow their lead, because I lied on my resume and bullshitted my way through the interview. I take the lead though, because I am definitely a detective, and lead us into a room with a very extra chandelier that is behaving like a disco ball, causing one hell of a lightshow. This seems to be the main room of the nightclub, where the tables and booths are, and the music is a bit quieter here. I come to the realisation that this nightclub is also a brothel, and say it outloud so that everyone knows.
There is a grumpy looking tiefling sat at the bar, who looks really pissed at something. She's drinking something with a colourful gradient to it, and an illusion to makes it look like it's sparking. She's not wearing shoes, and is in a very nice blue dress. Mav informs us that this tiefling is the preferred face of Moxie (who is a changeling). We got to approach her, but then there is a commotion at the door as Del'taro arrives and gets intercepted by the bouncer. Del'taro is all like "don't you know who I am!?" and causes a scene, apparently she's a famous illusionist with House Phiarlan. She says she's here for work, with "Found and Looking or whatever".
Del'taro has a different coffee cup than she did back at the office, and another donut. She's very lavender and pink, it's a look. She's wearing glamerweave that makes her sparkle! She's also wearing sunglasses! Mav apologises for the protesters outside, but apparently Del'taro gave them autographs??
Del'taro complains that they messed up her coffee order outside, which is concerning because Velvet's doesn't serve coffee. The Darbucks is next door, Mav explains that Darbucks is a different company.
"What kind of brothel doesn't fucking serve coffee?" - Del'taro
Nyk stares into space as the eldritch entity that dictates his words and deeds peaces out for a bit. He tunes back in to hear someone make a dirty joke. We're talking to Moxie! Gabriel asks her what happened before she lost her voice. She was with a customer, and the "new girl" brought her a drink. Gabriel asks for more details.
"I don't know about you guys but that's pretty fuckin sus" - Nyk
Mav asks about the new girl. Yesterday she spilt tal on Moxie's favourite dress! What a bitch! Moxie doesn't know why Velvet even hired her. Moxie is certain her loss of voice is the new girls fault, and she thinks the bouncer is a dick too. Moxie doesn't actually know the new girls name. She also saw the bouncer let Crach into the club. Apparently Crach is also the one sending the flowers to Velvet.
I write down in my notes, Crach en Credel - potential bioterrorist?
Gabriel asks the bartender if he prepared any drinks for the new girl. He did not.
Sora Zelkah gives Moxie some advice on how to get tal stains out of a dress, which I also write down.
We then go to speak to Moxie's guest, to ask him about what happened. We enter the next room, which is nature themed and has a water feature! Inside the pool are three staff members in the form of mermaids, and look who it is! None other than Baron of Cannith South, Merrix d'Cannith, in the pool with all of his clothes on. Like a chad.
He swims over to us, accompanied by two plates that are "swimming" on the water. Rad. Del'taro sneaks one and drink it, and I use my psionics to pull another one to me. These drinks are extra as fuck, wow. It makes me shed a single tear, the drink is called a Double Rainbow! What does it mean!?
Merrix asks us what's up and asks us to keep it brief as he has very important business to attend to. Del'taro asks him why Moxie is such a bitch, but apparently that's not what we wanted to ask him. Mav asks about the voice problem, as Merrix was the last customer she saw before she lost her voice. Merrix says that the new girl interrupted them, her name is Soma. Soma brought Moxie a drink, and then left, and next time Merrix saw Moxie her voice was different.
Merrix saw Mr Credel talking to the protesters! Merrix told Moxie that he could handle it and dick punch him, but he was told not to. He never told Velvet about it though. Del'taro calls him Merbear, and he goes back to the mermaids. I collect some of the pool water in a jar so that I can sell it at a totally legal market later.
Del'taro and Gabriel have an illusion argument. Artists, man.
Merrix interrupts by calling repeatedly to Mav. He says he's been working on something and wants to show her. He yells "Cannith Time" and all the changelings briefly transform into Merrix and do a little dance, then go back to their jobs. Wow.
Mav composes herself, and we go in search of Soma. Myself and Mav are still distracted by Cannith Time. Those who suck less at detectiving notice a red haired gnome sneaking around, what a creep. Sora Zelkah walks past a booth, and hears sounds of an argument. She drops her eaves and just happens to overhear the argument. They're arguing about losing someone named Skin. Who the fuck is named skin? Zelkah goes and knocks on the door, and the argument immediately stops.
A voice asks who's there, and Sora Zelkah introduces herself. The voice claims there is no one on the other side of the door. Zelkah disagrees, and then the changelings open the door, revealing a female changeling and the bouncer. They say this is employee only, and Sora Zelkah says she works here and manages to pull it off.
"Maybe some people are into elderly bugbears" - Sora Zelkah, no judgement.
Soma asks if Zelkah has seen her little brother, who has gone missing. Zelkah goes back and informs us of this, and Del'taro just points at the gnome. We approach the gnome, who says "you can't see me if I don't move." Mav informs them that she can, in fact, see him, and he denies this, but then gives up.
Mav asks the gnome why he's sneaking around a brothel, and he says because it's boring backstage. This way he can drink cocktails. The gnome introduces himself as Skin, it is the little brother! He says I look weird and ask if I'm sick, to which I say yes, I am very sick. He backs up, but I inform him that being a loser is not contagious. Skin complements Del'taro's voice and asks if he can pat her snakes. He can, that's nice.
Skin asks us not to take him back to his siblings. He said he's from the Lhazaar Principalities, but he won't say more unless we give him sweets. Del'taro gives him finger guns and then goes to fetch sweets. I teach him how to say "fuck" and to emulate Del'taro by asking his siblings "why are you such a fucking bitch?"
I don't know how to deal with children, I ask if he likes swords and shit. He does, of course. He says he needs the sweets though, he has low blood sugar or something. Del'taro returns with marshmallows, and we play chubby bunny, and then ask for more details. His brother was a pirate! A criminal! Such a bad influence on children, unlike a brothel, I guess. He got in a conflict with a vampire pirate, a vampirate, and the changelings had to flee. They came to Sharn to make a new life, one free of crime.
Mav tries to wrestle control of this situation, and asks Skin about Moxie's voice. Skin says she is "a fucking bitch", and I give him a thumbs up. Sora Zelkah says she would wash our mouth's out with soap. Skin asks me to buy him a cocktail, but that would be a crime! He transforms into an elderly halfling and claims to be an adult man, which is good enough for Del'taro. Whilst I debate the morals of this, Del'taro goes and steals a cocktail from Merrix. Gabriel yells out "hey Merrix! They're stealing your drinks!"
Merrix calls out, and Del'taro begins a tug of war for the cocktails and they fall all over Merrix. I'm prepared for this! Baking soda!
Skin vanished while we were all distracted. Fuck!
I prepared for this too! We hear Soma yell "who taught you to say that!?" Soma and the bouncer are yelling at him for swearing. Del'taro walks in and tries to hand Skin the cocktail, but Soma takes it and pours it on the floor. Del'taro is like "but he's clearly an adult!". Soma lectures Skin about lying. Mav asks her about Moxie, and she passes Skin off to her brother, the bouncer, and then comes out to speak to us.
Soma introduces herself, and says she doesn't know Moxie that well. Mav explains that Moxie implicated Soma, saying that she gave her a drink. Soma claims that she didn't bring Moxie a drink, and Nobody (her brother) can corroborate. Soma claims she was fighting her brother when Moxie was poisoned, and Del'taro points out that this doesn't set a great example for the kid. She explains that she always dreamed of moving to Sharn, but things haven't really worked out. She wanted to be an actor!
Del'taro puts her arm around Soma and says she can sort something out, she has connections! Soma only began working for Velvet recently, it's only her first week, and things haven't really worked out the way she expected. She swears that she didn't do anything to Moxie.
There is another verbal conflict between Del'taro and Gabriel about the use of illusions.
Soma doesn't know anyone who might have done this, she can only think of the protesters.
Changelings can impersonate other changelings. Somebody could have impersonated Soma! Mav asked if Soma saw Crach, as Merrix saw him with the protesters. She doesn't recall seeing him, and Mav reminds everyone that Crach is banned from the club. Mav thanks Soma for her time, and tells her that she can talk to Velvet about her work troubles.
Soma goes back into the room, and we see Skin and Nobody playing chubby bunny. I'm so proud. We decide to go and speak to the protesters, but when we walk back into the main room of the nightclub the lights flicker. Sus. The whole room goes dark as the illusions in the room are dispelled. Mav is very concerned, and calls out for Velvet as she is the one who casts the illusions. Gabriel looks around, and sees Velvet with a weird orb in her hand. She drops it to the ground, a shocked look on her face, and then she shifts into a red haired man with a pink jacket. He yells Cannith Time, and all of the staff turn into Merrix d'Cannith, and "Velvet" runs away.
A few moments later, customers and staff create light using magic and the customers start to leave. Gabriel asks us if we saw that, but none of us did. We go over to where we saw "Velvet", and look for the orb she dropped. Gabriel finds it, it seems to be made of some kind of metal, and he hands it to Mav. Mav doesn't think it looks like anything Velvet owns, but she identifies it as a magic item that can produce an anti-magic sphere. Del'taro notices that her glamerweave got turned off, wraps herself in a tablecloth and yells "nobody look at me!" which is very attention grabbing.
"There are only wet Merrixes" - the DM
We see Velvet, presumably the real Velvet, emerge from her office and try to calm the crowd. She tries to restore the illusions, but it doesn't work (y'know, antimagic sphere and all). Mav explains what Gabriel saw to Velvet, and shows her the antimagic sphere producing sphere. Del'taro has put a bag over her head, as her mental health rapidly declines. She's a trooper though, and re-commits to the mission, saying we should go check on the real Merrix.
Gabriel and Del'taro go to check on Merrix, who is still in the pool. He's wearing a crown of sea shells, and has taken off his shoes (finally). They leave immediately.
The rest of us go outside to investigate the protesters, but my eyes are irritated from the hay fever and I don't see shit. There is some kind of argument going on, and Mav notices Crach is in the crowd, yelling at someone. Zelkah notices that Crach is yelling at a dwarf. We approach, and Crach notices us and makes a speedy exit. We call out to him, but he doesn't come back to us for some reason.
The dwarf says "look what the cats dragged out", and Zelkah says she likes cats. What a nice young man. He calls us stiff butts and asks if we have a problem with him, but Mav says we don't even wanna talk to him we wanna speak to Crach. Mav asks why Crach was yelling at him, and he says Crach was saying they were menaces to society. The dwarf says he doesn't want any trouble, but Mav points out he brought a weapon to a protest. He says everyone does that.
Sora Zelkah tries to intimidate the dwarf, saying she's raised 7 children and knows that fights don't happen for no reason. She isn't angry, she's disappointed, and I feel bad for the dwarf. The dwarf folds, realising his life is in danger, he's so intimidated that he loses his accent! He says he thought we were all in character.
He's a paid actor! They're real! What the fuck!
Sora Zelkah claims she's forgotten her lines. Del'taro pulls out a script (?) and hands it to Zelkah, and Zelkah says that the dwarf should really speak to his union rep. Someone (I didn't hear who) asks the dwarf who's paying them to be here, and the dwarf produces the nicest piece of card that I've ever seen, which says "If you want more where this came from, stand outside Velvet's and look menacing." The card has perfume on it, which doesn't match any of the performers that Mav knows. Del'taro laments a waste of good perfume.
Gabriel asks Mav if she recognises the hand writing on the note. Mav doesn't recognise the handwriting, it's not Crach's. Mav seems very stressed, maybe she should go and visit Velvet's after this. Velvet comes out and signals Mav to come over, and only Mav. Velvet explains that she doesn't think this is working out, the guests are all scared. Mav explains that the protesters are paid actors, before she dismisses everyone. Mav also mentions that all the people she heard leaving were grumbling about going to Chance's. Could it be possible that Chance is sabotaging their competitor?
Zelkah goes over and without a word, gives the note a big ol' sniff. She has a theory that it might smell like Moxie, but she takes too deep of a breathe and sneezes. Del'taro comments on how bad everyone's allergies seem to be, which reminds Mav that the flowers had notes on them! Velvet doesn't really want us to investigate further, and asks us to leave.
Del'taro has a suspicion that this isn't actually Velvet. The vibes are way off. She produces her business card case, and "accidentally" blows glitter in "Velvet's" face. She then calls Velvet a fucking liar, saying she's way too rough, Velvet is smooth (it was a double entendre). Gabriel sends his shadow behind "Velvet" and intimidates her, causing her to shift into the form of a male changeling with a purple vest on.
It's Chance! What are the chances!
Mav finally loses it and yells out "I knew it! You motherfucker!"
Chance wants to work with Velvet, but she won't return his letters! So he did all of this to try and get her attention. Gabriel's echo restrains him, and then Gabriel bares his fangs. Mav casts Enthrall on Chance, and then leads him into Velvet's office.
Chance asks for a snack, so Del'taro gets some marshmallows. He remembers playing chubby bunny once, so we decide to play it now! Del'taro shoves some marshmallows in his mouth, and he can still say it, so I force feed him some more marshmallows until he stops talking.
Mav emerges from Velvet's office and is shocked to see us playing chubby bunny with the enemy. Mav gestures to Chance McFullCheeks and explains everything. Velvet thanks us for delivering Chance to her, and for solving the crime. She'll send payment to our agency.
Time to de-stress cos holy fuck.
Me and Del'taro go to Darbucks. Del'taro orders for both of us, I doesn't know anything about coffee.
Mav goes to the bar. Gabriel orders a drink at the bar in Velvet's. He gets two shots, with assurances they hit hard but he'll get back up. He downs one, whilst his Shadow downs another, and then some changelings come over and ask to sit with him.
I reveal that my moustache is fake. Del'taro asks what I'm sick with, and whatever I wrote on my hand has been rubbed out and I'm stuck. Mav has her head to the table so I assume she's dead and tell Del'taro that my name isn't actually Nyk, nor am I sick. I'm actually an alien named Kyn.
The changelings ask Gabriel who he is, what he's up to, where he's from, and he says he's a nobody. Nobody was the other guy! She doesn't think Gabriel is a nobody. He says he's from "All Over", which sounds fake to me. He ended up with a circus and eventually found his way here. The changelings are very clearly flirting with him but he's a bit oblivious until one of them explicitly asks him to dance.
He's a pretty good dancer!
Merrix comes over to us and laments that the mermaids left him. Mav is drunk enough to dance, apparently! Merrix goes over and tries to steal the mermaid from Gabriel, but Gabriel spins him round and shifts him over to Mav. Merrix asks Mav to turn into a mermaid, and she asks how much he's paying. He says he must've lost his money in the pool, and Mav says "let's go look for it!"
Merrix runs back into the pool and yells Cannith Time!
Mav stays with Merrix til he falls asleep. She makes sure he doesn't drown, pulling him out of the pool, and then leaves. Gabriel stays late with the pretty ladies, and then finishes up the paperwork he promised to do. Del'taro stays at the bar, going on and on about her career and giving out autographs. Sora Zelkah goes around showing people pictures of her grandkids, asking if they've seen them.
I transcend my physical form from the combination of coffee and booze, and then wake up on a roof somewhere in the city with hand prints all over my sword. Wtf the fuck!
Case Closed.