Not long after my talk with Sally I slipped away from the palace. The guards had kept it locked down for a short while but at Lucas’ insistence they eventually began allowing people to leave.
He had argued that since they’d all seen the killer flee, there was little to be gained by holding the party guests against their will.
No one was under suspicion, after all. The unknown quantity was the killer themselves. Lucas and Sally had seen them running from the scene wearing a full-face mask and hood.
None of it made sense to me. Why assassinate the king now? I didn’t understand Havar’s internal politics well enough to fully grasp the situation, but it just didn’t add up. How was Bell involved and why did they take her.
The natural conclusion was that she was taken because she was an outworlder, but she’d seemed to have kept that secret to herself much better than I had, yet I hadn’t been a target.
I needed to know more and I wanted to get her back. So, after leaving the palace, I headed towards the red-light district, guided by Panda.
It was dark out as we passed through the deserted streets of the noble district. It felt almost like an entirely different world from the adventurer district I was used to.
We rounded a corner and that world changed once again.
Bright neon lights lit the walkways, mansions and stately homes turned to dive bars and window-shop brothels like the ones in Amsterdam. It was quite the culture shock to say the least.
“I think when they built this place they took the term red-light district a bit too literally.” I said to Panda as we stood at the brightly lit entrance.
Streetlights glowed red casting the pavement in a scarlet glow as purple and green neon signs added to the cyberpunk-fantasy hybrid atmosphere in the district.
“Yeah.” Panda replied slowly. “It’s a bit of a step away from the fantasy setting you were expecting huh?”
I gave him a curious glance which he answered with a simple: “I spent some time reading up on your culture whilst I was in the waiting room.”
“So you did more than just chat up the nurses then?” I replied with a smile.
He nodded and we walked down the bustling hub of sexual depravity and debauchery. We passed by large glass windows, each with their own occupant.
In one, a slender catonid pranced around on all fours wearing a spiked collar and not much else. In the window next to her, a male lycanid stood in a Superman pose wearing nothing but a golden G-string.
Unsurprisingly, most of the clientele roaming the streets were humans in expensive clothing with flashy jewellery adorning their necks, wrists, and fingers.
“I told you all humans are furries.” Panda sniggered as a timid looking man approached the catonid’s window and began swiping his finger in the air, likely conducting a system bank transfer.
“Any idea where we should start looking?” I asked.
“Oh honey,” a seductive female voice chimed from the side of me. “You can start by looking right here.”
I turned to my right and saw a latex clad lycanid woman leaning against a dark, wooden wall. She had lipstick on her muzzle and enough eyeliner to make you think she was cosplaying Panda.
My eyes went wide as she stepped towards me and began lightly stroking my arm with her clawed fingers.
“No thank-” I began but was immediately cut off.
“What a cute little familiar you have there. I know a nice little bar just down the ways. We could drop him off there with a few bottles whilst we… get to know each other.” She leant up and whispered the last line in my ear and I shivered, not in a good way.
Panda was in full blown hysterics at this point, clutching his stomach and wiping tears from his eyes as he laughed. I turned towards him, hoping to convey my need for urgent assistance through my gaze.
He shook his head slightly and approached the lycanid woman, patting her lightly on the leg. She looked down at him, raising an eyebrow.
“Thank you for your interest in this Kaleb.” He began. “However, we are going to go in another direction. We thank you for your application and wish you all the best going forward.”
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What the actual fuck.
She looked down at him and then slowly removed her hand from my shoulder. Looking back at me, she shrugged and moved back towards her spot against the wooden wall muttering: “your loss, hun.”
I turned sharply and began walking away before she changed her mind and Panda had to shuffle-run to catch up.
“I am so confused,” I complained when he finally caught up.
“What’s so hard to understand?” He laughed, “this is a business for them, it’s really not that difficult.”
I didn’t reply as we walked a little further into the district, passing all kinds of weird and wonderful things. It was not my idea of a good time. I felt awkward just being in the vicinity of so many brothels, let alone actively looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack within them.
I pulled up the quest in my HUD to see that it had been updated.
A Good Time, Not A Long Time
You’ve been marked as a guest of The Morningstar Hotel and Spa. I wonder what mayhem and fun awaits behind its doors.
Updates:
You have discovered that The Morningstar Collective are a syndicate who run a racketeering operation in Havar.
You suspect that The Morningstar Collective have kidnapped another adventurer and are holding her at The Morningstar Hotel and Spa
It is possible that The Morningstar Collective are involved with the regicide of the local king.
Objectives:
Enter The Morningstar Hotel and Spa 0/1
Uncover the secrets of The Morningstar Hotel and Spa 0/1
Rescue the kidnapped adventurer 0/1
Find out if The Morningstar Collective are connected to the regicide 0/1
Reward:
X1 Skill Upgrade Potion
X1 Weapon Upgrade Potion
It had updated significantly since the last time I’d checked it. It now included finding Bell and investigating the king’s murder.
I guessed the reward was pretty good. It made sense this quest wouldn’t be quite as straight forward as it originally seemed to be. Still, it begged the question, how was I going to find this damned hotel?
“How are we going to find this place?” I eventually asked my daemon familiar.
The red-light district was pretty big and I had no desire to walk into every building in the immediate area.
“Why could try asking around?” He offered with a shrug. “There’s a bar I know a street over, it’s a venerable mecca of gossip. If anyone around here knows how to find this place, you can bet your ass they’ll be in that bar.”
I shrugged and followed Panda around another corner to the front of an unassuming crimson door in between two high profile brothels. He knocked on the door with his paw and took a step back.
A slit slid across the door with a clank and two beady eyes peered out at us.
“Password.”
“Jazz is for losers,” Panda offered the voice.
The slit closed and I heard multiple locks click out of place before the door swung open. A dwarf in a spiked leather jacket stood in the opening, politely holding the door for us.
We stepped inside and he immediately locked it up again. We stood at the top of a sticky staircase the led down into the ground.
“Jazz is for losers?” I asked Panda incredulously.
“You’ll see,” he teased as I followed him down the stairs.
Upon reaching the bottom, I did see.
The underground bar thumped loud with the raucous tones of medieval metal music – at least that was the best description I could give it. It sounded like Amon Amarth mixed with Dandelion the bard from The Witcher 3. It was actually pretty good.
“Is that an electric lute?” I asked, looking at the slender Svartalf on the stage. He had long purple hair and a bushy black beard with a plethora of earrings in each ear and a studded bracelet on his right wrist.
“It sure is,” Panda smirked, hopping onto a barstool as a svartalf bartender approached him wearing a leather vest with various runic patches on it.
The musician on the stage launched into a speedy lute solo as the small crowd gathered in front of him screamed and someone threw their underwear at him. He caught it deftly with the headstock of his lute and twirled it as he continued playing, garnering even more vigour from the excited crowd as distorted notes rang out.
“What is this place?” I asked, a smile tugging at my lips as I sat next to Panda.
“It’s a speakeasy,” he replied nonchalantly. “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”
“Don’t quote Star Wars at me,” I chided, “besides, the Cantina Band played jazz.”
“Jazz is for all those pretentious noble pricks in their palaces,” the bartender said, butting in on our conversation. “Down here we play real music. Our tunes are by the people, for the people.”
“I thought that was more of a punk thing?” I asked jokingly.
It seemed to go over the svartalf’s head as he shrugged and grabbed two glasses from the bar.
“Drinking?” He asked.
“Sure, what do you have?”
“Oil.”
I shot him a poignant look and he sighed in an overly dramatic way.
“It’s dark ale. The most metal drink around, it’s our own brew and it’s the only brew we sell.” He explained in an exasperated and practiced tone.
“Ok sure, we’ll take two of those then please.” I said, dropping a few gold coins onto the bar. I deftly sprinkled a few more on top of the pile and pushed them towards him. “We’re also looking for some information. Do you know how to get to the Morningstar Hotel & Spa?”
The entire bar went silent. Even the lute playing rocker on stage stopped mid song as everyone turned to look at us.
“This isn’t a detective movie kid,” Panda said. “That is not how you ask for delicate information in this part of town.” He rubbed his temples as if trying to dispel a sudden headache, and I gulped.
I turned back to see the bartender pointing a loaded crossbow at my face. He didn’t look pleased.