Not Today, Death!

1.5 HOURS HAVE ELAPSED

THE GUILDED LILY
An infamous den of iniquity, the Gilded Lily is operated out of the old Casten House, a mansion that covers an entire city block. Cards, dicing, roulette, and more happen on the main floor, which also boasts four bars. One wing of the house hosts dancing, vaudeville acts, and the
like, while the other houses spectacle sports such as bear baiting, pit fighting, and brawling. Day or night, the Gilded Lily does a brisk business. The Lily attracts the usual lowlifes found in this city: pirates, sailors of dodgy disposition, thieves, killers, and worse. Along with them, one finds merchant dandies eager to gamble the coins in their bulging purses. About a hundred people work at the Lily, thirty of whom are guards.

Approaching the sprawling mansion of ill-repute, a pair of human guards approach you before you can reach the front double-doors. The taller one speaks. "Well met. The owner was expecting you and has extended an invitation to meet with him. If you accept we will escort you to him."

THE STAR AND CRESCENT
It takes some searching to locate the Star and Crescent. You find the place at the end of a narrow alley formed by two tenements, the tops of which lean against each other. The alley reeks; scraps of paper, bones, parrot guano, and other detritus cover the muddy track. The Star and Crescent has a single door on which someone has painted a horizontal crescent with a five-pointed star above it. There is a sign that hangs from the door reading: OPEN AFTER SUNSET. It is currently half past noon.

THE GUILDED LILY
You are escorted up a flight of stairs and into a windowed office overlooking the main gambling hall. A clearly inhuman male sits in a leather chair inside his office. He has two heads, each atop a different long, serpentine neck. Small blue flames burn over his heads. He has long, black talons at the end of his fingers. He wears a fine, tailored suit in charcoal gray. When he speaks, he does so from both mouths, one speaking one word, the other speaking the next.

"Welcome to the Guilded Lily. Please have a seat."

He points with a taloned hand to two tan leather chairs facing him.

"What have you come to ask me about the robbery?"

THE STAR AND CRESCENT
There is silence for a handful of minutes before the door slowly opens up. On the other side is a youthful woman with long brown hair and brown eyes dressed in a nightgown with a robe thrown over it. She also looks very unhappy.

"If someone is not dead or dying I will curse both of you before you can say 'no, wait, please, don't'!"