The Tiger's Eye Detective Agency
Kuhl realized, as Sky knocked on the door of the building with the orange and black sign painted with a cat's eye, that he'd never met or even seen Vincent Trench. Almost all the other nearby business owners - the half-elf carpenter, Tally Fellbranch, the genasi blacksmiths, Embric and Avi, the elf herbalist, Fala Lefaliir, and the dragonborn bookseller, Rishaal - had come by to introduce themselves when he and his companions moved to the area, and later they became regular patrons of the Trollskull once it opened. But only Sky had ever met the mysterious detective and only because she had at first pestered him incessantly.
"He was the one who suggested Sky start her own detective agency," Dawnbringer said in his mind. "My bet is he hoped it would stop her daily visits."
Bet.
That word would now forever remind Kuhl of poor Jimjar, the deep gnome and fellow escapee from their Underdark prison in Velkyvelve - murdered on the shores of the Darklake, body left behind and abandoned without ceremony. But that was another life, another world from the one he now inhabited and he pushed such thoughts aside and focused on the present.
The tread of footsteps came in response to the tabaxi's knocking followed by the snick of an unlocking bolt. Then the door opened to reveal a middle-aged, bearded, handsome and well manicured man with graying brown hair. He wore a tailored vest under his fitted jacket of soft leather and his shirt of fine white silk contained an abundance of ruffles at the neck
"Red Sky in the Morning," he sighed. "Just when I thought I might have a productive start to the day."
His voice was somehow cultured and soft spoken, but also conveyed the hint of a growling edge.
"I know you are very busy, Vincent," the tabaxi said, tail lashing. "Too busy to take on new cases it seems. But I wanted to thank you for sending those clients to us."
"The four brothers with the genie mother?" the detective asked. "Looking for their sister?"
"Those are the ones," Sky said.
"Happy to have referred them," the man said. "You're welcome. Now if that is all…"
He started to shut the door, but a booted tabaxi foot stepped forward to halt its progress.
"Actually, she said. "I did have a couple of questions."
The detective's eyes narrowed. They were very distinct - yellow gold with black irises - similar to the sign on his building.
"I am going to very much regret sending them your way," Vincent said. "Aren't I?"
"Not at all," Sky said. "The Red Sky and Nightstar Detective Agency aims to satisfy and the way for us to do that is to find our clients' missing sister. Which will also make them satisfied with who recommended us. So, then there will be no regrets all around. Can we come in?"
"Are you going to remove your foot from my door if I say no?" the detective asked.
"Of course," the tabaxi said with a little shrug. "Eventually."
The man ran a hand through his well coiffed hair in irritation. It fell back in place perfectly, no strand out of place.
"Very well," he said.
He opened the door and gave a short sweep with his hand in invitation to enter.
"I'm Kuhl, by the way," the half-elf said as he followed the tabaxi inside.
"I know who you are," Vincent said. "Kuhl Nightstar of Evereska, part owner of Trollskull Manor, paladin of Sehanine Moonbow, wielder of the radiant sword Dawnbringer, and occasional unpaid lackey for Open Lord Laeral Silverhand."
"Well, that last bit felt a bit unnecessary," Dawnbringer mentally observed. "Even if true. He is awfully well informed."
"Awfully," Kuhl sent back.
"You live two doors down from me," the man said, in response to the half-elf's questioning glance. "I wouldn't be much of a detective if I didn't at least know my neighbors, would I?"
"I suppose not," Kuhl said.
A polished wooden desk faced the entrance beyond the little tile floored entry foyer. On it, rather than the typical expected paperwork, quill, and inkwell, was instead a scattering of little toy figures.
"I am not sure I would classify them as toys," Dawnbringer mentally observed. "Considering the detail and color of them."
They really were expertly crafted and painted. The figurines primarily consisted of anthropomorphic animals - rabbit, fox, cat, crane, and raccoon people - dressed exotically and surrounding a golden scaled creature on top of a small wooden box that seemed to be part unicorn and part dragon. Vincent glared at the desk as they passed and gave a rumbling sigh.
Beyond the desk was a well appointed sitting room where a sofa faced a few matching upholstered leather chairs. An expensive looking wool throw rug nearly covered the entire wooden floor. The windows were shuttered. Kuhl had passed the building many times and could never remember seeing them open. Flickering oil lamps on table tops and the walls lit the room. Incense smoked from a pair of iron burners on the end tables on either side of the sofa and their smell heavily scented the air.
"Please, sit," the detective said, motioning to the sofa.
He retrieved a polished wooden pipe with a curving stem from a pocket while they sat, filled it with tobacco from a pouch from another pocket, and lit it using a thin piece of wood held over one of the oil lamps to transfer the flame. They waited as he shook out the fire on the stick and puffed a few times to get his tobacco glowing.
"Now," he said finally, sitting back in the leather of his chair. "What can I do for you? Because as you've already surmised, Red Sky in the Morning, I am terribly busy."
"Well," Sky said, pausing slightly to watch the smoke swirling towards the ceiling. "You can tell me what you know about the whereabouts of sister Sophiya?"
"Know about the whereabouts of the sister?" Vincent asked, raising an eyebrow. "If I knew her whereabouts it would have been an easy case and easy coin. Why then would I refer the clients to you?"
"That is what I'm trying to figure out," the tabaxi said.
"We need to clear up a wrong assumption," the detective said. "I will swear, on whatever divine, infernal, or even abyssal authority you desire, that I do not know the whereabouts of Sophiya."
He sounded sincere and truthful and Sky's brow furrowed in thought and her golden eyes went uncertain. She seemed at a loss for words and silence stretched.
"It looks like her hunch," Dawnbringer thought. "Whatever it was, was wrong, and this time led her to a dead end."
Vincent puffed on his pipe - seemingly enjoying the tabaxi's consternation. Outside, through the shuttered windows, came the muffled sounds of Waterdhavians about their day - the clip clop of hooves on cobbles, the rattle of carriage wheels, and a broadsheet cryer announcing headlines. Kuhl was just about to thank the detective for his time when footsteps announced the descent of someone from upstairs.
"Red Sky in the Morning! I didn't know you were down here."
The young woman who spoke paused at the bottom steps. She had long, black hair gathered in a side ponytail, almond shaped eyes, and pale olive skin that made her look exotic.
"Yes, that is what makes her look exotic," Dawnbringer observed in the half-elf's mind. "Her skin and the shape of her eyes. Not the fox mask. Not the tip of her ponytail being dyed green. Not even the breastplate she is wearing or the belted sword at her waist."
The tip of her hair was dyed green and she did wear these items. Strangely, she had fastened the mask up at an angle, covering her temple opposite her ponytail rather than her face. Her breastplate was curious in design - green lacquered pieces of thin metal tied together with silken cords complete with shoulder and hip plates. It looked light, stylish, but also very functional. The sword girded at her waist was narrow and gracefully curved based on its scabbard.
"Well, look who finally decided to get up," Vincent said. "What are you wearing? More importantly, Tessa, why are you wearing it?"
"This is the sacred armor of Komuku," the woman, apparently Tessa, said. "Well a replica, not the real thing of course. And I'm wearing it because Avi just finished it for me last night and I'm going to Rishaal's bookstore to show it off to her."
"It isn't enough that you commission weapons you don't know how to use?" the detective groaned, rubbing his forehead with the hand not holding his pipe. "You are now commissioning armor you don't need? And what have I told you about your outfits? You can wear them at Troll Tide or to a masquerade. Those are the times people normally wear costumes. Not everyday and not out on the streets."
"Her shop is one building away," the armored woman said, holding up a finger. "That is not out on the streets. Well, it is, but barely. Also, you forgot the clothes I have had tailored."
"Don't remind me," Vincent said.
"Speaking of which," Tessa said, as if the detective had not spoken. "I told you I was getting a ninja outfit, Red Sky in the Morning. You can dress up as the cat hengeyokai Takeya Moriteru. You wouldn't even need the cat mask or the tail I had made to go with the costume since you are, well, a cat person."
"Tabaxi," Sky said. "Like I have told you before, I'm not all that interested in playing dress up."
"Is pretending to be a male character the problem?" the dark-haired woman asked. "Because you can be vampire-hare-princess Kaneko Toma if you prefer. I have a kimono and a mask for her too."
"A vampire-hare-person?" the tabaxi said, wrinkling her nose and shaking her head. "A rabbit person? No. A tabaxi does not pretend to be a rabbit person."
"We're missing something," Dawnbringer thought in Kuhl's mind. "Something important that explains this bizarre conversation."
The half-elf agreed.
"Your armor and the mask," he said. "Are you dressed up as someone?"
He was not prepared for the partly horrified, partly admonishing look Vincent gave him.
"No, no, no," the detective said, voice panic stricken. "He did not just ask that. He doesn't really want to know."
"I am so glad you asked!" Tessa said, voice excited. "Though I am very disappointed you couldn't guess. I am the fox hengeyokai samurai, Chikusa Kiyonari, last of his kind. Hero of the whimsically painted storybook series Blessed Blades of the Kirin."
"Of course he couldn't guess," Vincent said in a mumbled aside. "No one has ever heard of it, much less read it."
"Well, in Kozakura everyone knows about it," the young woman said with a dismissive shrug. "It is very popular. Very popular."
The repeated phrase was accompanied by a narrowed-eyed glare at Kuhl. Apparently, she thought he needed further convincing.
"I believe you," he said, a placating gesture showing his willingness to surrender the point.
Considering he didn't know where or what Kozakura was, he had no reason to doubt her.
"Yes," the detective said, resignedly. "Apparently it is very popular in Kozakura. And if we were there, on the other side of Toril, it might make sense to dress up in that costume. But not here. Here, in Waterdeep, it makes you a weird eccentric, and not in the good way."
"Just because it has whimsical paintings does not mean it is for children," Tessa said, still staring at the half-elf and ignoring Vincent. "I can see you think that, but it is not true."
Kuhl had actually not been thinking that. He could not even imagine what a whimsical painting storybook was.
"There is death," the armored woman said. "Like a lot of death, gruesome death with beheadings, blood, and dismemberment. Does that sound like a story for children?"
"No?" the half-elf said.
He wasn't exactly certain what she was expecting for an answer, but she seemed very fervent in her desire to prove her point,
"It starts with Kiyonari's whole village being slaughtered by the oni warlord Otakemaru," Tessa went on. "And there is forbidden love - Princess Toma is both cursed with vampirism and a hare hengeyokai, enemies of the fox hengeyokai by long tradition. Imagine the pain, the sweet agony she must feel. I mean you can tell from the drawings, just the way she reaches out towards him with an anguished expression when his back is turned, that she desires to show him that just because he is the last of his kind does not mean he is truly alone."
"Ask her if the vampire hare-rabbit person still has a pair of buck teeth," Dawnbringer said in Kuhl's mind. "Or a pair of sharp fangs."
"Sounds very interesting," the half-elf said instead. Because Tessa kept staring he added more. "And intense."
"Oh, it is," the woman assured with a nod.
"A pair of buck teeth that together sharpen to a single point," Kuhl's sentient sword decided for herself in his mind. "That makes the most sense."
"Well, Rishaal said the next book might be coming soon," Tessa said, finally stepping off the last step. "So, I'm off to see if it arrived. If it did, she better not have started reading without me."
She started towards the door.
"Look," Dawnbringer thought. "Her costume even includes a fox tail. I don't know whether to admire her commitment, or find it overly obsessive."
"Both?" the half-elf offered.
"Wait a moment," Vincent called after her. "If Rishaal is reading this as well, why am I paying merchants from here to Kozakura to get the damn books shipped here? She should be sharing in the cost."
"Cost," Tessa said over her shoulder as she walked into the entry foyer. "That reminds me. I probably need you to pay for more Comprehend Languages scrolls. Since neither of us can read Kozakuran without it."
There was an uncomfortable moment of quiet after the door opened and closed as the armored woman walked out onto Saerdoun Street and the three in the sitting room exchanged looks. Then the detective noticed his pipe had gone out, groaned, and started the process of lighting it again.
"Sounds like Tessa has an expensive hobby," Sky said, tail lashing.
"Oh, you have no idea," Vincent said. "That dragonborn is making a fool of me. Apparently I am funding an addiction she shares with my assistant. An addiction she probably passed on to her."
He was so busy getting his pipe smoldering again and grumbling to himself he didn't seem to notice the predatory look in the tabaxi's eyes. Her whole demeanor had changed with the coming and going of Tessa.
"So," Sky said. "Why then did you turn away obviously wealthy clients, their mother being a genie and all, when my hunch tells me you know something about where Sophiya is?"
The detective looked up and his lips pursed in thought, then a slight smile played on his lips and a snort of a laugh streamed out a twin trail of smoke from his nostrils.
"Your instincts are good, Red Sky in the Morning," he said. "But you still aren't phrasing it right. Let's go through what we know, shall we?"
He continued in response to her nod.
"We have four brothers, looking for their missing sister," he said. "How did they seem to you?"
"Seem?" Sky asked.
"Their disposition," Vincent said. "Emotional mood."
"Worried," Kuhl answered. "Concerned."
The detective popped the pipe from his mouth and used it to point at the half-elf in affirmation.
"Which is to be expected," he said. "But how worried? Distressed? Distraught?"
"Distressed and distraught are too strong," Dawnbringer observed in Kuhl's mind. "Worried and concerned fit better."
The half-elf agreed and indicated it with a shake of his head to Vincent.
"And yet distressed and distraught are what you'd expect from those missing a family member," the detective said. "So, either something similar like this has happened in the family before or they know how to stay calm in a crisis. Likely both, given what else we know."
The pipe popped back in and Vincent drew in a few red glow inducing breaths before he continued.
"Sophiya is something called a Lorehold Seeker," he said. "Which I gathered is some sort of relic hunter. So, we must ask ourselves, what would draw a relic hunter, an obviously experienced adventurer given the response of her brothers to her disappearance, to Waterdeep?"
Kuhl did not like where this line of reasoning was headed, but Sky did.
"Undermountain!" she said, with a sharp toothed smile. "How did I not deduce that? Vincent, you are brilliant. Really smart."
"I did have something of an advantage," the detective said, with obvious forced modesty. "I have an informant who I pay to give me the comings and goings down the Well of the Yawning Portal for just this reason. One such descending group around the proper time frame, The Fine Fellows of Daggerford, included a female genasi. I do not believe they have returned."
"An informant?" the tabaxi said, with a disapproving shake of her head. "That is cheating."
"If you really want to be a detective, Red Sky in the Morning," Vincent said. "And not play at it, like Tessa with her costumes, you will have to commit. And developing your own network will be part of it."
"Not an entirely accurate statement," Dawnbringer said in Kuhl's mind. "As Tessa certainly did not lack in commitment where her costumes were concerned."
"Hard to afford paid informants at two copper pieces a day," the half-elf observed.
"Which again relates back to playing at something," the detective said, punctuating the thought with a puff on his pipe.
"Something still doesn't make sense," Sky said, ignoring the slight. "Just because you know she is in Undermountain…"
"Suspect she is in Undermountain," Vincent interrupted. "As I said, I don't know that. I know she is missing. I know it is probable a Lorehold Seeker, if I understand what that is correctly, might come to Waterdeep specifically for Undermountain. I know that there was a genasi who went down the Well with a group of adventurers and that group has not returned. But all this doesn't prove my suspicion to be true."
"You suspect she might be in Undermountain," the tabaxi amended. "Why refer them to us? Why not just tell them your suspicions?"
"As detectives, Red Sky in the Morning, we're not hired to pass on our suppositions," their host said. "We're hired to investigate and pass on the facts."
"And you don't want to investigate this lead," Sky said.
"I do not," Vincent confirmed.
There was a certainty in the way he said it that indicated he was not tempted, not even a bit.
"Why?"
The tabaxi accompanied the obvious question with a raising of her palms, showing confusion.
"Why do I not want to investigate a lead that would bring me into the Dungeon of the Mad Mage?" the detective said. "I think that should be self explanatory."
"It's not," Sky said, with a shake of the head. "You never struck me as a coward, Vincent."
Their host's golden eyes narrowed, but he tightened his lips around his pipe and sucked in a smoke filled calming breath, then released it.
"I will follow a lead into the worst flop house in the Field Ward, where the cost of snuffing out a life is balanced against a few paltry coppers," he said. "Send Tessa there as well. Oh, my assistant is more capable than she might have seemed, rest assured. It is also not an issue if one of my investigations puts me cross purposed with the wealthy and powerful of the city. But enter Undermountain? The realm of Halaster Blackcloak? Where rumors say he managed to entrap an archdruid and even a celestial planetar as pawns to pit against adventurers in his mad game? No. I will not risk becoming a collectible curio for the Mad Mage nor risk Tessa either."
"We are still new to Waterdeep," Kuhl said. "So I may be wrong. But I thought that while adventurers do disappear down into Undermountain, many also return."
"They do," Vincent said. "Blackcloak must allow a trickle back out - with riches, treasure and tales - to attract a constant stream to descend."
"Why then are you so convinced you, or your assistant, wouldn't make it back out?" the half-elf said. "You almost made it sound he'd want you to become part of his dungeon. A collectible curio I believe you phrased it."
"Did I?" the detective asked. "I meant bone curios of course. Our skeletons laid out as ornamentation however Halaster saw fit. Call me cautious. Call me cowardly, I care not, but the Tiger's Eye Agency takes no cases that lead into Undermountain."
"Well no one has ever called Red Sky in the Morning cautious or cowardly," Sky said, tail lashing as she stood up.
"That is certainly true," Dawnbringer thought.
"Thank you for the referral, Vincent," the tabaxi continued. "We'll be happy to investigate."
"So I suspected," their host said, getting up to escort them out.
"Sky…" Kuhl warned as he joined them in standing.
"Oh, relax, Kuhl," his friend said with a dismissive wave. "I meant we know someone who has been to Undermountain. Many times. We met him at Renaer's party, remember? He was planning an expedition when we met him, but is probably back by now."
"Meloon Wardragon," the half-elf thought aloud as they walked to the door.
Of course he remembered him. It took the collective will of himself. Jhelnae, and Aleina to keep Sky from joining the expedition.
"Ooh, the one with the magic axe," his sentient sword said in his mind. "Azure's Edge."
"By investigate I meant we're going to talk with him," Sky said.
"Just talk?" Kuhl said, part question and part giving his condition to searching out and speaking to the seasoned adventurer.
"Just talk," the tabaxi assured as the door was opened for them.
"Best of luck with that," Vincent said when the half-elf turned to give him a nod of farewell.
His lips curled around his pipe in what could only be described as a knowing smile and his golden eyes glittered with amusement.
"Just talk," Dawnbringer mentally said as Kuhl followed Sky through the morning foot traffic, "Yeah, right."
Those of you who know the module are thinking, "What is up with this Tessa character? Why did you waste our time with her?"
Let me explain. I have an anime obsessed teenager. A very obsessed anime teenager. And one of the ones we have watched and enjoyed is Darker than Black. I jokingly mentioned to her that a detective scene was coming up and that I should put an anime obsessed girl as his assistant in there (like in the anime). And my daughter was like, "Yes! Please dad! Please!"
So I did. And then I read her that part and she was cracking up (only that part because no one in my family wants to read my writing). After I was done she said, "I like it. But your readers probably won't. But keep it in anyway."
Note I skimmed references for the much maligned Oriental Adventures for references to Kozakura. I am half-Asian and I tried to listen to the podcast where they explained why Oriental Adventures was horribly racist. I made it like 5 minutes in before I shut it off. I just couldn't get into it.
Now despite being the son of an immigrant I always played characters who were based on western fantasy tropes. My friend and DM always did the same even though his dad was from South America. Interestingly enough our other childhood friend, white as could be with red hair, was the one who owned Oriental Adventures and liked to be a ninja or a samurai. Looking back, that is a bit odd, but we just didn't think about it too much at the time. It never crossed our minds.
So I just used the stuff in Oriental Adventures even though it might be problematic because I never had a problem with it (or even really interest in it) growing up…