Location Konrath's Detective Bureau

[Estrellir Konrath]

The Detective Bureau founded by an ambitious Konrath daughter is built on Fire Island, one of few businesses between shrubs growing untended and otherwise unrestricted. The building fits into the scenery, a modest house with walls of a dull grey and specks of magenta indicating the windows and front door. Towards the back, a small brick chimney reaches for the sky and sometimes spits out smoke when the residents cook simple meals. Upon opening the door, the visitor enters the office, a spacious room more elegant than expected after the modest exterior. The room is dominated by a desk of polished dark wood, around which a few chairs and soft cushions are arranged for the clients' comfort. Most of the time, everything smells of dust, ink and brackish water, a mixture created by the swamp beyond the windows and furniture inside. The walls are covered with shelves in which scrolls and books about Kenash matters rest among a collection of trinkets and talismans collected on previous investigations and trips. Clearly, those shelves need tidying up, like the desk itself. Usually it is covered in a mess of parchment, half-empty ink vials and ruffled quills. The detective does not care for keeping her work space in visible order for she insists that she knows how to navigate it. If she is absent, there is usually a clerk in her place, a shy girl with long brown hair hiding half of her face, but still capable of answering the simplest questions and leaving notes for her superior if the request is important. Visitors who are lucky get a glimpse of a striped tail or a furry ear belonging to one of the two black and white tiger striped cats kept at the bureau. They tend to take naps on shelves, chairs or the desk at any time of day or night. Nobody can tell them apart as they look exactly the same, some even suspect there is only one cat and wonder how it can be in different places at the same time. To the left is a grey door adorned with the warning 'MIND THE GAP' in yellow letters and leading to a storage room with rough walls and unfinished floor. In it more shelves can be found filled to the brink with spare notebooks, stacks of parchment, vials of ink and old reports of investigation and accounting. Those are organized by season at least since the clerk is in charge of keeping the archives in order at all times. Right behind the desk another grey door is situated with another yellow sign saying 'NO ADMITTANCE'. Behind it lies the tiny kitchen utilized by the shop owner and her clerk during long bells of research and evaluation. It features a stove, small pantry corner with tins and pots hanging on nails from the walls, a washing basin in another corner and a tiny broom closet. Surprisingly, a brown couch takes up an entire side of the room. Sometimes the owner can be found napping on it if the way back to her plantation suite seems too long. The faint smell of burned food wafting about does not seem to bother the residents.   NPCs Name: Mell Race: Human DoB: 15th of Winter, 496 AV PoB: Kenash, Cyphrus Title: Slave clerk & assistant Skills: Writing 20, Cooking 20, Research 10 Gnosis: None Additional Info: Mell is the child of a personal slave and has always been a shy young girl. When Estrellir claimed her for her bureau, she was taught reading and writing and slowly gathered a bit of self-confidence. Her tasks at the shop include customer service in Estrellir's absence, taking notes, making tea or simple meals during long nights. She still seems premature and doesn't talk much except with Estrellir whom she looks up to in childish admiration. Behind the shell of resentment, she has an analytical mind and sharp instinct though. Slowly, she learns to use the skills she was gifted with to her advantage, her cute looks among them.   Services Searching for lost person/item/pet: 15/10/10 gm Research (includes library trips, interviewing people, picking up gossip): 20 gm Tailing person: 20 gm Divination: 30 gm or +10 to other service if used during it Special services: 10-100 gm depending on scope, only available to Kenash Dynasty *Above prices are daily (except for Divination). The second day adds 50% to the standard price, the third and above 25%. *All services within Kenash only.