Fate and Fortune was considered a high-class casino. Since gambling was banned in her religion, Kaylen wasn’t sure what the exact difference between a high-class casino and a low-class one was. Maybe it had to do with how the dealers dressed, since they did all look rather fancy in their matching suits. It certainly didn’t seem to have anything to do with the clientele, who seemed just as grubby as the patrons at any illegal gambling hall.

Andra waved away the host who tried to greet them and began searching for Fizzman. The pair passed a variety of card games and roulette wheels. A middle-aged man cheered as he collected an impressive stack of chips. His excitement was enough to make Kaylen wonder if there was something to this gambling thing. After all, if someone only put down a bet once or twice and won, they would come out ahead. And if they lost, well, they’d have to win eventually, right?

Kaylen was awoken from her contemplation by Andra tugging at her sleeve and pointing. It was impossible to tell which patron Andra was pointing at, but Kaylen followed her, slipping past a waiter balancing a tray full of drinks. Finally, Andra was able to point out a man with a patchy beard at a blackjack table, quickly losing his money. She gestured for Kaylen to stand off to Fizzman’s right and then approached the thief’s left side and tapped him on the shoulder in much the same way she had Frostwait.

“So, I heard you killed a guy,” said Andra when Fizzman looked up.

Fizzman leapt away, stopping very near Kaylen to draw a dagger in a smooth motion. The other patrons collectively gasped and started backing away. The entire mood of the room was suddenly different.

“Yeah, I guess I did. Want me to show you how I did it?” said Fizzman.

“Kaylen, restrain him,” Andra said, calmly.

Kaylen drew her mace and shouted “Die, murderer!” before bashing him on the head, sending him crumpling over the blackjack table and sending cards spilling everywhere.

Andra rushed to his side, checking to see if he was still alive. From his collapsed skull, it was clear that he was not.

“What the Hell was that, Kaylen? You were supposed to restrain him,” she shouted.

“I stopped him from moving, didn’t I?” Kaylen replied.

“We needed him alive to find out who hired him. Why didn’t you use your powers to...bind him in chains of divine judgement or whatever?”

“I was saving them,” Kaylen stated, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Andra stood.

“Well, what are we supposed to do now? Lord Prospero is going to want to know who hired this jerk.” She gave the corpse a kick.

“Yeah, plus are we even sure he’s the real killer? That whole ‘want me to show you how I did it?’ line makes it sound like he stabbed whoever he killed,” Kaylen added.

Just then a dealer approached the pair, flanked by two burly-looking bouncers. “Excuse me,” he said, “but we have a strict policy against killing our patrons, and as such we’ll have to ask you to leave.”

The records office of the Prospero Trading Company was stuffy and cramped, and run by a bored-looking man with small glasses that very much resembled Riven’s. Since Riven was too busy staring at Fiona, Fiona was the one to explain exactly what was needed.

“Yeah, sorry, those records aren’t available to the public,” the man explained.

“Are you sure about that?” asked Fiona. “Our friend seemed certain that they were.”

The man sighed. “It’s a recent change in policy.”

Fiona and Riven looked at each other, troubled. “You want me to use a mind control spell on him?” Riven asked. “It’s kinda gross using them on guys. But I’ll do anything to get you what you want.”

“What? No. We aren’t doing that,” Fiona replied.

The man sighed again, sounding more exasperated than ever, and fanned himself with a sheet of paper. “Seriously? You want this record enough to threaten me for it?”

“No, we aren’t threatening you,” Fiona explained firmly. “I want to make it absolutely clear that as badly as we need this information, using a mind control spell on you is not on the table.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” said the man, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. “Just wait here. I’ll get what you want. There’s no need to do anything that’s on the table or off the table or whatever.”

He vanished into the sea of filing cabinets behind him. Feeling her face growing red from embarrassment, Fiona selected one of a pair of chairs that occupied the small space between the door and the desk. Riven sat in the other.

“You know, you’re really cool,” said Riven. “You’re so good at fighting, and so good at threatening people.”

“I didn’t threaten anyone,” said Fiona. “And you’re just saying that because of the love potion.”

“Nah, I don’t think that thing even had an effect on me,” said Riven. “Probably because I already had a crush on you before I drank it.”

Fiona felt another wave of embarrassment. “Wh-what? Seriously?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Riven, matter-of-factly. “You’re all muscular and badass and you have those cool scars. Probably about half the people you meet have crushes on you.”

Fiona groaned, putting her hands in front of her face. Was the room getting even hotter? “I can’t wait for that potion to wear off.”

A few moments later the man returned to his desk holding a stack of papers. “It appears that the only order of stoneflower to arrive within the last few weeks went to someone by the name of Maxim Nobody.”

Fiona blinked. “What? That doesn’t make any sense. Maxim made the potion that killed the former Lord Prospero?”

Riven shook her head. “I don’t think so. Maxim’s all about ethics and stuff. He wouldn’t make something for an assassination. Besides, we would have believed anything he told us; why would he lead us right down the path we needed to take to catch him?”

“What do you think we should do next?” asked Fiona.

“Whatever you want to do,” Riven replied.

Fiona sighed. “I guess we should meet up with the others. Maybe they found something useful.”

The two groups arrived back at House Prospero at the same time. Deri let the adventurers in and led them to the drawing room to ask them about the investigation. Riven had taken to wrapping her arms around one of Fiona’s, and made sure to pull Fiona to a couch so that she could continue to cling to her when they sat down.

“How did it go? Did you manage to find anything?” he asked.

“Sort of,” Andra explained. “We found the killer, but Kaylen the Fool bashed his head in before we could find out who hired him.”

“You… killed him?” Deri asked, stunned. “Without finding out who was behind the assassination?”

Andra shrugged. “But we got the actual killer. So, I mean, we did our job. The fact that we didn’t find the person behind him shouldn’t have any bearing on our reward.”

“I will pay you nothing,” said Deri, raising his voice. “Unless the person behind him is caught, they could just send another assassin after me.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Kaylen replied in a soothing tone. “Maybe Riven and Fiona found something.”

“That’s right. They were following up on a very promising lead that—” Andra paused, staring at the pair. “Why are you clinging to Fiona’s arm?”

“Because I like Fiona,” Riven replied, grinning.

Andra’s eyes narrowed. “What is going on?” she asked firmly, directing her glare at Fiona.

“Oh, uh,” Fiona stammered. “You see, she sort of drank a love potion, boss.”

Andra rolled her eyes. “I guess that could work to our advantage. If she’s actually loyal to you now, she won’t be jumping in front of charm spells any more.”

“Oh, there’s an idea,” said Riven, looking up at Fiona. “Have you ever thought about learning magic? I bet you’d be really good at it. Especially charm spells. I mean, you’re already so charming as it is.”

Despite her mood, Andra was actually starting to grin. “How long does this last? Is this forever?”

“Gods, I hope not,” said Fiona.

“Did you find anything, at least?” asked Kaylen.

“Nothing that made any sense,” Fiona admitted.

“Just some evidence that someone tried to frame Maxim, of all people,” Riven added.

Andra thought about this for a moment. “Your alchemist friend? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Kaylen said soothingly. “We aren’t even sure if our guy is really the killer.”

Deri gaped at Kaylen. “Are you saying that you might have murdered an innocent man?”

Kaylen waved a hand dismissively. “Oh, no he definitely killed someone. It’s just that he stabbed whoever he killed.”

“He was definitely the killer,” Andra said firmly. “The timing, the fact that he got paid so much, it all fits. If he said anything about stabbing, it’s just because he was panicking and trying to come up with a good line.”

Riven gasped suddenly and everyone turned to look at her. “What if he did stab Lord Prospero? And then later someone else came and used the potion to turn his body into stone dust.”

“That seems highly unlikely,” said Deri. “It would mean that a second person would have broken into my father’s study.”

Suddenly Fiona realized where Riven was going. “You mean someone who would have been able to purchase the ingredients quickly. Someone who would have been able to change the records at the Prospero Trading Company when he realized the potion was being investigated.”

“Right, but he needed to change it to the name of an alchemist, and the only one he could think of was one whose name had been mentioned in front of him today.”

As one, the party turned to face Deri.

“This is ridiculous,” Deri sputtered. “What reason would I have to desecrate my own father’s body?”

“I’ve got it,” Kaylen said suddenly. “He’s the one who hired the assassin.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Andra said, idly tracing the pattern on the arm of Deri’s couch with a finger. “He hired us to find the killer. Why would he do that if he hired the killer in the first place?”

“So he wanted us to find the assassin, but he also destroyed a bunch of evidence?” Fiona asked. “Why?”

“You must have been trying to hide something,” Riven concluded, eyes not moving from Deri’s face. “Something on your father’s body.”

“Like a tattoo marking him as a member of a hidden society that secretly runs the world?” asked Kaylen, eagerly.

“More like a mark showing his allegiance to a demon,” replied Riven.

Andra grinned viciously at Deri. “Looks like we’ll be getting paid after all. And we might even be getting a bonus for our amazing investigative talents.”

Deri scowled at Andra. “You can’t prove any of this.”

Andra sighed in feigned resignation. “I suppose we can’t. I mean, Riven’s theory makes sense but it’s all just guesses. And if there were any evidence, you would have destroyed it already.”

Deri nodded. “In that case, I think you’ll be leaving, now.”

Andra stood, gesturing for the others to do the same. “I suppose we will. It’s a shame that you weren’t marked by a demon like your father, otherwise we could just have the guards search you.”

Deri stared silently at Andra from his chair.

“Of course, it’s not like the guard is paranoid or anything after discovering another demon spy. Otherwise, we’d be able to have them over here in less than an hour.”

There was another tense silence while Deri stared first at Andra, then Riven, then Andra again, desperately trying to think of a way out. Finally, he made a frustrated noise, then took a deep breath and sat back. “Fine. I think we can come to an arrangement that will satisfy all of us.”