“The Magic Shell scam ring that’s been going on throughout the festival, you’re the mastermind behind it all aren’t you? Aren’t you the great magician master of spells that Ceres told me about? I could be wrong about that you do just seem like a boring and typical fellblood the more that I look at you. I mean the more I look at you the more I realize that I may have indeed been mistaken about your identity. There’s no way that a fellblood as boring and simple as you could ever master a scheme that has taken over a thousand dollars in revenue. My sincerest apologies good fellow, it appears I have barked up the wrong tree here since you’re so unassuming and bland”, Raoul said with a very matter-of-fact and bland tone delivery himself.



He just laid down a verbal trap and hoped that the mastermind that he thought the purple fellblood was would fall for it. He had simmered down after being initially enraged and now was playing the game of verbal trickery. If the mastermind was any bit of a narcissist and self-centered than he thought they were, this would be the perfect way of getting them to admit it.



“Here’s hoping”, Raoul thought to himself as he looked down and stared at Morrigan right in the eyes awaiting their response.

The longer the man spoke, the more ensconced the fellblood grew. On the surface it was obvious bait, it had to be. They were clearly not boring and plain looking, not in colorful circus tent clothes meant to draw the eye and the plethora of designs inked into their arms. Someone only had to take one look at them to see that they were beautiful! The fellblood’s face turned a deeper shade of purple at the implication Raoul was insinuating, their pride and vanity getting in the way of logical thought. The smaller, quieter part of their voice whispered that this was a trap, the man was just trying to bait them. And yet.

In the end, their self-obsession won out.

Morrigan stepped forward, close enough that by tilting their head upwards, they could look Raoul right in the eyes, chilly gaze blazing with indigence.

“Excuse you, I am perfectly capable of being a criminal mastermind. My schemes are far greater than you could comprehend, since you’re clearly too blind to see the evidence right in front of you. And you want to know the best part? I’ve done all of this, spread my work all throughout the Crescent Isles, and there’s nothing you could ever do about it. You grope around so foolishly for Justice and condemn others, but that Justice is just that - an illusion.”

Their lips curled into a wicked smirk, any pretense of manners dropped now that their pride had been insulted.

“I am so well established that it doesn’t even matter if I confess my crimes to you, Private eye. At this point, you could not catch me even if you tried. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some money to hustle from innocent pockets and shells to sell. Ta.”

With that, they offered the man a wink and turned their back to him, sauntering away without a care in the world. Overconfidence in spades.

Raoul smirked to himself, “They bought hook line, and sinker. I knew it had to be true. My gut feeling never lets me down, well except that time in Jinfei Village. Let’s forget that ever happened, I’ve never been more wrong about a case since then”, he shuddered trying to shift his mind to the current confrontation.



He laughed a little bit at the realization of the so-called great mastermind of this whole operation failing for playground taunting.

He glared at the fellblood and said in a stern tone, “You didn’t do a damned thing trickster, you’ll be brought to justice soon. All of this will be just a small blimp in Crescent Isles business as soon as you’re brought in. I'm perfectly capable of taking on foolish criminals like you, don’t think that my analytical ability is my mind's greatest asset. Justice will be served, it is concrete and solid like my resolve you do wrong and will be punished for it”.



As Morrigan turned their head and walked a couple of feet away he went into his overshirt pocket and took a small wooden wand tipped with a bright red rose. He quickly draws it and waves it to the floor, summoning a long vine and thorn-riddled whip. He quickly cracked against Morrigan’s back, wrapping them around its grasp before pulling them back right to his face.



“Where do you think you’re going lord criminal mastermind, you’re gonna stay right here with me as we wait for the guards I beckoned on my way here”.

In all their overconfidence Morrigan assumed that would be the end of things. They might not have been much of a threat, but they were loud and shiny and talked quite the big game for their short stature, and if they were lucky, most decided against pushing their luck and figuring out whether the fellblood claiming to be able to harness the power of the dead gods in the palm of their hand could make good on that promise or not.

Unfortunately for them, the pesky detective turned out to be the more courageous type.

Pain blossomed across their back with a whip crack, vines wrapping around their torso and arms and yanking them backwards. Morrigan bit their lip to save from yelping as the detective turned them around, the two face to face once more. The big, smart detective confident he’d won this particular battle, the security of having the guards on his side made him sure of himself, and that he had victory in the palm of his hand.

Morrigan flashed him a row of sharp teeth and a crescent moon smile.

“Are you sure about that?” They asked, their voice sugar-sweet.

In a split second, though their hands were completely bound by their sides, their tail cracked with the force of a whip against the bindings Raoul held them with. The concealed blade on the tip sliced through the foliage like butter.^[1] with the tension broke, the vine tied around their arms fell slack, allowing them to free their ink-marked arms, a wicked smirk on their face.

“Sorry to disappoint you, Master Inquisitor. But sometimes Justice just doesn’t win. I’ve been in the game far too long to be duped by a green inspector. And you’re awfully confident in the guard’s love of upholding the law trumping their greed for all that glitters.” They raised their hand, spinning a gold coin along their knuckles with the ease of someone who was more than accustomed to someone handling money. In the distance, they could hear a few shouts - two guards approached them. The detective truly hadn’t lied about alerting the guards, then. This must have been the first responders, but Morrigan assumed there were more on the way.

“Observe.”

They flicked the potion-covered coin towards the ground in front of the guards, one splitting into two and two splitting into three until a pile of gold - pure, glittering, solars - appeared in front of them.^[2] Both guards immediately came to a halt, deadly avarice glinting in their eye, immediately forgetting their quarry as they dove to grab as much of the fake money as they could. In that moment, the mad cultist Scern himself could have stood in front of them and they wouldn’t have given a shit about anything save gathering as much of the riches as they could.

Morrigan cast a sweeping hand over them.

“See? Avarice trumps all. Money talks. People are always willing to look the other way for a cut of the profits. You can report me all you want to officials… but you have no way of knowing whether they’re righteous or corrupt, do you? A valiant attempt, Master Inquisitor. Truly.” They swept into a low bow, mock congratulations. “But I’m afraid you’ll have to try a little bit better if you want to apprehend me next time. Here, though - a gift for your troubles.”

They unhooked one of the shells from their belt, tossing it to Raoul.

“For your mother.”

The words spoken with a haughty laugh, telling Raoul they were all too aware of the deception that the detective had pulled to get the information he wanted. In this game of truth and lies none of them were free of the sin of lying to others. The taller man had just as much taken advantage of others for his own gain as Morrigan did. The only difference was that Morrigan did not delude themselves into thinking it was for a just cause.

“Now, is our business finished here? Or do you have any other grievances to air out, my friend?”

---

1. Knife, attached to prehensile tail
2. Greed - Transmuter (1 gold coin consumed)

Raoul turned his head curiously letting his grip loosen a little as the fellblood seemed so confident that they were the ones in control of this encounter.





Raoul pulled back on his whip wand as its long vine wrapped around Morrigan was cut apart by their sneaky-bladed tail.





He quickly placed it back into his coat pocket before glaring at the fellblood feeling confident about their capture as he could already hear the footsteps of some guards judging by the rattling of their armor.



His eyes widened as suddenly the fellblood had tricked and distracted the guards with a pile of solars, “Damn it, ugh don’t think you’ve won so easily thief, looks like I have to take you in myself. Don’t think that I’ll be privy to bribery like those poor excuses of filth. I have a couple of more trump cards in my bag to take you down so don’t worry about me”, he points at the guards swimming in solars.





He catches the shell before rewinding and throwing it as hard as he could at Morrigan at the fellblood stood there to give himself a quick moment of opportunity.





He removes a bladed whip from his waist and cracks it glaring at Morrigan before raising his weapon to the sun and then into Morrigan’s eyes blinding them (^{1. Shimmering Scorpion Blade}).


He then once more charges forth getting close enough to wrap his bladed whip around Morrigan and pull them to the ground with great force.



“I’ll take you in myself, justice must be served no matter what. You’ve hurt innocent people, people who don’t have any better sense”.

Now, “Is our business finished here” was the question Morrigan meant to ask. But the moment the detective caught the shell, he lobbed it back at Morrigan’s thick skull, beaning them right in the side of the face with a loud, hollow BONK where it hit their head. Morrigan hissed, recoiling. “Oi, watch the face, that’s my precious moneymaker -“

They didn’t get to finish that sentence either, because of course the pretty detective chose that moment to pull out a bright whip, catching the light of the harsh, summer Crescent Isles sun and reflecting it straight in their eyes.

“Ack!” They shrieked, inelegant, hitting the ground and getting sand in their mouth. Their eyes watered with unshed tears from the sting of the light. Still, they managed a laugh at the detective still spitting off his naive ideologies of Justice and righteousness. What a crock of bullshit.

“Justice doesn’t help anyone, Detective. It merely warms your bed at night with the false sense of security that you’ve brought peace to the wronged.” They reached into their pocket with their tail, left unrestrained once more - but rather than cutting off the whip, they grabbed a small, lavender stone, one they threw on the ground. The stone immediately shot up to the full size of a stone golem, a gargoyle of colorful, shifting rocks and wings and fangs, standing between Morrigan and the detective.

“And you really need to learn more tricks.”

The gargoyle swiped at the whip, allowing Morrigan to wrench themselves free of this grip. With yet another haughty laugh, displaying all the flavors of insufferably smug they could manage to cram in their tone, Morrigan gave the good Detective a two-fingered salute.

“Nevertheless, it’s been fun, Detective. Why don’t we call this one a draw?”

And then, with the gargoyle standing sentinel between Morrigan and the taller man, the charlatan grabbed another potion from their bag. Clutched the rounded phial in the palm of their hand, sparing a glance for the sparkling contents, they grinned.

And then they threw the glitter bomb on the ground.^[1]

Sparkling smoke wafted around them, obscuring the charlatan from view. If Raoul were to scan his surroundings, though, he’d spot a purple, running figure in the distance, having retreated from their wall of smoke and started booking it for the city.

---

1. Smoke Flask

The Astraphir grit his teeth in frustration as Morrigan parried his declaration of justice with haughty tauntings, the fellblood truly vexed Raoul, “Oh it does it helps everyone who needs it, I’ll sleep perfectly fine with the knowledge that I made this world a better place instead of playing tricks on old people and dumb kids like you”, he tightened his grip on the Shimmering Scorpion Blade.

He jumped back at the sudden appearance of a stone golem that swiped at the whip and loosened Raoul’s grip completely, letting Morrigan escape.

He glared at the criminal and sighed, “No way I won’t let you get away from here without answering for your crimes against the innocent”.

He cracked the shimmering scorpion whip and took out the wooden wand cracking it, summoning its full thorn whip length again.

“I don’t need tricks to stop fakes like you, I’ll take your golem down here and then you so don’t think you’ve won just yet”.

He closed his eyes as the sudden appearance of smoke and sparkles was apparent; he ignored the faint purple figure confident in his plan.

He glared down at the golem with determination and shouted, “Let’s dance big guy let's not keep your boss waiting”, he cracked both whips on the golem’s arms wrapping them around it and sprinting towards the nearest tree and wrapping his ends around it to try to keep the golem in place.

He then bolted forth where he thought Morrigan was headed and whistled as loud as he could before shouting, “Basker, it's time to put our plan in motion and chase them down”.

Suddenly from one of the stalls, an eel hound appears behind Morrigan and barks loudly behind Morrigan with a small gnome fellow in uniform riding on top of him.

---

1. Whip Wand & Shimmering Scorpion Blade
2. Eel Hound

The golem, quickly subdued by Raoul’s clever plan with his whips, did not pose much of a problem - which was more than fine. Morrigan had thrown it down as a diversion to escape, and it had served its purpose dutifully. The purple, clawed creature scrabbled its claws at the bark and the whips, attempting to break free, all while the fellblood gained distance, confident that they’d managed to put enough space between them and the detective until they were finally safe.

That was, until the detective played his hand and revealed he had some pets of his own.

Morrigan flinched at the sound of barking, risking a glance behind them in their dead sprint. “He sent the hounds after me?”

The baying of the eel-dog and the gnome guard perched on top of it only served as a silent answer to their question. Morrigan grimaced. If that creature had caught their scent, it would make this escape a hell of a lot more difficult. Whirling around with a circus dancer’s grace, the ring on their finger sparking, Morrigan called on Kvasir’s strength to protect them - and Solaria’s light reluctantly responded, as if Kvasir himself were rolling his eyes and saying, alright, my dearest enchanter. Just this once.^[1]

And a wall of light sprang forth from the ground with a wave of Morrigan’s hand, coy laughter on their lips in response. And you are far too good to me, my medic.

Morrigan’s handle on magic, even when borrowed, was clumsy - the light wall jutted from the ground like a rock splitting the seas, hopefully putting a hurdle between themselves and the hound. But it wasn’t enough. In the distance, Morrigan could see the good detective had finally shrugged free of Clawdius’s trap, which meant that Morrigan had to deal with that particular problem in play once more. The chemist pulled an elixir from their bag, hastily downing it like a shot with fumbling fingers and letting the glass smash behind them. Their features instantly began to change, from a plain fellblood to something more draconic in nature, scales covering their arms and a pair of wings sprouting from their back.^[2]

No longer bound to the ground, Morrigan began their ascent, whirling around to cast a glance at the detective.

“No hard feelings, friend! But like I said; why don’t we call this one a draw?”

With a farewell salute and a kiss blown in the air, they turned back around and began their flight.

---

1. Kvasir’s Eternity Ring - Wall of Light
2. Beist’s Transmutation Tonic - Wings, Drake Gland (Fire)

Raoul rushed forth after binding up the beast that the purple clown had placed against him.



“Crap, crap”, he thought as he ran through the festival jumping over stalls side stepping people pushing people out of the way for even just a second of saving time.



The head guard that Raoul had confided in and left his trusted pet to had done as he asked and listened to his partner’s instincts and for that the detective was grateful. Everything had gone to plan and even the things that had been underestimated or not planned for like meeting Ceres and Bubbles either were easily maneuverable or easy to move past. It had all reached this moment, this singular moment as he saw a faint purple figure in the far distance only a couple of feet away from Basker and the guard’s chase.



“I’m so close, just a little more and they’re gonna pay”, he whispered as he increased his pace giving it everything he had inside of him to catch up to the fiend.



Basker and the head guard were tailing behind Morrigan but as soon as the fellblood summoned a crude wall of light the hound stopped for a second unsure of how to proceed before the guard decided to walk around it, unfortunately, that led to them losing a lot of ground against the charlatan only able to faintly see them activate their draconic transformation.



Raoul, now only a couple of feet behind, sharpens his eyes as they meet the end of the town’s entrance.



He shakes his fists at them and yells, “Damn you, you fiend, I promise you that I will find you. I will be the one to bring you in myself one day so you can pay for your crimes against humanity. I will be here acting as Lady Justice’s knight in shining armor ready to defeat any foes of virtue like yourselves”.

Frustrating, so frustrating, to have one’s quarry within their grasp, and watch them slip through their fingers like a slimy eel. Such was the feeling currently being experienced by Raoul O. Ardelean, the detective who had cracked the case on the conch shell scam, who’d found - and subsequently lost - its ringleader. The kiss of Justice had been so close… almost within his grasp. Unfortunately for him, Morrigan Moonweaver was a slimy bastard. Coward, liar, cheat. There were many names one could refer to Morrigan as. And yet, there was always one constant to the charlatan’s schemes. No matter what hot water they landed themselves in, they always knew how to slip out of it. Their tally with the devil would perhaps, one day, come back to bite them when it was their time to pay the piper.

But that was neither here, nor there. That was between only Morrigan and whatever deceitful ghost god had spurned them.

Today, Morrigan escaped on dragon’s wings and with a haughty, triumphant laugh on their lips. Their scam had been unearthed, and within hours all the conch shell vendors would likely be rounded up, their goods confiscated, and Morrigan’s face plastered on every guard’s watchlist within miles of starlight city (and cemented itself thoroughly on Raoul’s shitlist). But without the maestro themselves, the day had come to a solid draw. Morrigan had lost their product but kept all the money they’d made - and Raoul had prevented them from scamming any more coin out of others, but lost his chance at capturing them.

Perhaps one day he’d get the chance to apprehend Morrigan and lock them behind bars for good. Perhaps one day Morrigan would get the chance to show that stuffy detective exactly who he was dealing with. But for now, as Morrigan had so succinctly said earlier - the sum of this encounter had been tallied and collected, with neither side coming out the victor.

Always one for the last laugh, though, Morrigan spun around once more in the air and left Raoul one final parting gift from the sky. A single conch shell, dropped from their hands to the ground, covered in glitter and lacking any real enchantment to give it power. And with it, a challenge.

Come and find me, if you dare.

Raoul caught the glittery conch shell and quickly placed it in his jacket pocket, his gaze sharpening as he shook his fists at the fellblood mastermind.



“I won’t let this happen ever again you hear me you bastard, wherever you may hide, wherever you may go and think you’re safe I’ll be there ready to bring you to justice”, he shouts one final time declaring his determination.



He glances over the head guard as he too watches over the faint purple figure he turns his body and shrinks completely feeling as if he failed him. The guard named Pebble Stone Talk was the one to entrust him with figuring out who was running the operation, and in Raoul’s eyes, he failed him. He failed to bring them in and let them get away, he was ashamed to call himself a detective.



The gnome fellow waited for a second before chuckling, “Don’t worry about it boyo, fiends like them are hard to bring in, you tried your damnedest and that’s what counts. Operation ended that’s all that matters”, he said petting a sitting basker.



“Here take your payment”, he hands the dhampir astral blood a bag of the medium weight solars, “You earned it".



He couldn’t believe it, his eyes wide with surprise and shock,” B-but I-i f-failed?”.



The gnome only responds, “Eh don’t worry about it you stopped it and that’s enough for little old me”.



The dhampir detective can only bow his head in gratitude and leave accompanied by his pet leaving the festival once and for all.



As he walked he tossed up the conch shell thinking about what had occurred picking himself back up from the shame and regret and now with a new mindset, “This is only the beginning, mistakes happen here and there. This will be a mistake that I swear to myself not to repeat”.