Full Names

Mako Foksten

Known Relations

Sharik (partner)

Background

Mako was a member of the Nosteramean people — a race indistinguishable to humans — until one day he was transformed into a Theryan, a half-man, half-beast.

— — —

One, two, and three turns of the spoon. Mako lifted his rapidly cooling coffee and took a long, slow sip before getting up from a bench and balancing the cup carefully in a nearby tree.
”A Night Owl will enjoy this tonight” he smirked then sighed dejectedly. “Time to start the day and solve yet another insignificant case…”

— —

Several minutes later, in the northern Furui city of Victoro Mako entered a small brick building with large windows, left his hat on the coat rack and went to his office. Like every day the receptionist greeted him with a grimace, her eyes rested on his shirt, like every day.

"Don't you have any more clothes?" she inquired not quite as politely as intended.

Mako combed his mustache nervously, shrugged his shoulders and trudged up the stairs. He opened the door to his small office, raised the blinds that had been broken for months, tying a makeshift knot. He shifted to his desk and chair, grabbing a dark wood pipe from the soft cloth it rest upon and sprinkled a light coating of amber dust upon the end of the pipe. He muttered a spell causing the dust to flare like coals on a fire as the pipe began to crackle causing a magical calm to flow over him. He lay back in his chair, flicking his feet to rest atop the desk and started his daily ritual of waiting for the newspaper to arrive while he played with a small nine-sided dice. He studied each face in deep thought, observing the regions of Nosteram in all their splendor through the emblems they’d elected as their own. Wondering if he stared at any one side long enough, if the dice would reveal a small portal view into these far off lands.

The doorbell rang. Mako walked slowly down the stairs and opened the door. 

"Here, your five bronze coins." Mako said looking down at the floor. He noticed it wasn't a Theryan. Looking up he found it was his partner. "Ah biska, it was you." He put the coins away and leaned against the wall. "Is something wrong Sharik? You look nervous." 

"There was a big incident yesterday. There's an unidentified corpse and the offender still hasn’t been caught. He used some kind of potion and fled quickly, the Furuian police couldn't act in time..” they both rolled their eyes and nodded in unison, “as usual." they finished the familiar saying together.

Mako grabbed the newspaper. He raised an eyebrow. Reading it gave him a certain... curiosity. It was something different from the usual mundane crimes that occurred around The Lucky Frog Tavern, bar fight this, drunk hitting the bard with a bottle when he had sung something about politics that.. Mako put down his pipe and put on his hat.

"Are there any more clues?" Mako asked earnestly.

“This isn’t just a one off. I-I’d-” he stammered. “I’d been trying to tell you, but you’ve seemed so busy I wanted to make sure it was worth your time.” Sharik admitted anxiously. “Another just like this happened last month. Same place, always after close.”

Mako’s mind was already racing too fast to be annoyed. "I'll leave alone at nightfall for the tavern. If the two of us go it will be very obvious that we're going there to investigate, besides... I'm the one who looks drunk here eh?" Sharik let out a small laugh and went inside to journal the weekend’s events.

“Hope you’re on the right side of the frog this time.” Sharik jested as Mako walked out the door.

“I make my own luck, no frogs about it.” and he was gone.

— —
The twin moons of Nosteram soon rose.

Mako went to the outhouse near his hut — a small room with a hole in the ground and a crystal in the corner that reflected his face in a distorted way. He combed his hair back with a magic fir cone, put on his hat and locked the door with a latch on the outside. The detective put his fingers to his mouth and emitted a high-pitched whistle. A stealthy trot could be heard across the mountain, it made the trees move with the wind it generated. Finally a Semperkin took a huge leap from just out of view and landed beside him with a thud and a crackle as the cacti on its back scrape together.

"Easy Mr. Spikes, we've got a long ride ahead of us." Mako put the mount on his symbiotic cacti friend and rode eastward along the road leading to the outskirts of the great city Victoro he called home.

The sky darkened over the course of the ride until just before dusk when the day seemed to reactivate preemptively. The tendril-like cacti on top of Mr. Spikes began to light up causing the mount to show his toothy, derpy grin, tongue dangling out as he galloped along. Mako snickered and glanced upward to find the annual migration of the Lumoth from Furui to Botea had begun. The ritual had resulted in a calm golden dusk that interrupted the otherwise silent night as inhabitants of the small surrounding villages took to the streets to watch the great spectacle.

After hours of following the road, they arrived at the famous tavern. A big racket resounded from the entrance, as usual. A whiff on the air alerted Mako that the delicious Pygma steaks made on the back spit were nearing completion and felt his stomach rumble. Mako tied his furry, prickly companion to a nearby fence and trudged towards the gathering point of thousands of travelers day by day.

Upon entering, a sweet smell of caramelized meat flooded the olfactory, though it faded quickly when the stench of spirits joined with the off-key chanting of those who had been in the place since noon. A short, sharp eared waiter approached Mako and politely asked if he wanted a drink, Mako declined and flicked his hands in a gesture to mean not now. Keeping his senses alert, he sat at the bar near a stage filled with magically suspended light bulbs and looked around. There was nothing suspicious at the moment, people were chatting, sharing songs through small music boxes, some were tasting the delicious food the place had to offer and others were enjoying some card games. A loud stomping on the wooden boards of the stage startled him from his delicate observation. A huge toad with big dark circles under his eyes hopped up to the limelight.

"Ladies, gentlemen, Theryan and Racs! Are you ready for the show?"

The audience present shouted in excitement, and rallied towards the stage. Mako was impressed by the speed at which they assembled given their condition, from one moment to the next the whole crowd had moved from where they were sitting to the stage’s standing pool. A blue-haired woman walked out onto stage, smiled and blew kisses towards the audience. Some old men whistled at the young woman, "How disgusting." thought Mako, still he was interested, she looked famous in the tavern, that made her a suspect. The woman rummaged in her bag for a moment, Mako observed her movements carefully and kept his hand near his back pocket, in which he carried a gem revolver.

"Here it is!" She pulled out a white wooden lute with colorful strings. Mako relaxed. She coughed to clear her voice and began to sing a hushed melody as she moved dramatically around the stage.

Legends tell

that a hero without equal

a legendary dragon

wanted to tame, ha!

---
Listen carefully

this is the story

of a legendary being

made of cards!

…

"Huh. She’s not half bad." thought Mako. THUD. At that very moment, a man rested his hand on the detective’s shoulder. Mako reflexively snarled towards the culprit and flicked towards his revolver before thinking better of the idea. The culprit was an adult in his forties, aqua green hair and strikingly bright yellow eyes.

"A couple of glasses of vahrain over here!" shouted the mysterious fellow, who took a stool and sat down next to Mako. "How’s your evening going, gentleman? Haven’t seen you around this place before, have you come to see Geisha?"

"I'm visiting, heard a lot of stories about this place." Said the detective as he pulled his hat down so that his eyes were not visible. "It's a great show, I didn't know there were voices this good out here."

The bartender poured a couple of glasses and garnished them with a strange fruit that emitted a faint bluish light.

"Mhm! It’s a pity there’s so often trouble in this wonderful establishment." the mysterious man shook his head and began to drink.

"I heard a rumor that something happened last night, is everything all right around here?" Mako glanced towards the stranger suspiciously.

The man smiled. "Sure. See how people enjoy themselves, something is always happening here." He moved the detective's head to look out into the crowd. Mako froze as he detected with his keen hearing a liquid being poured into his glass. He detected a wispy smell of lilac.

"Yes, it's curious." He fingered the cup, made as if to drink while keeping himself from breathing or swallowing, trying not to let the liquid touch his lips.

"Let's play something to pass the time while enjoying this fine music." He said smiling. The mysterious man, surprised, agreed. Mako pulled out several cards from his back pocket and placed them on the bar. "Here are ten cards, there are two of each number up to five, some red and some black. If you guess the color correctly, two points will be added to your score. If you guess the number correctly, four points will be added; if you guess both, ten points will be added." The detective pulled out a bag full of coins. "I'll bet one hundred and fifty bronze coins."

The man smiled and added forty to the bag. "I'll start the guessing." said the mysterious fellow. "Let me think... I got it! A red two." Mako took out the card and put it under the bar.

"Well then, let’s see how you did! See for yourself if that's the card." The man slowly lowered his head glancing over where he was greeted by a revolver aimed directly at his forehead under the bar.

"Don't make any noise. You're coming with me." Mako pulled out some electric stone handcuffs. The man twisted quickly. A cloud of pepper spiced the air around Mako as his eyes reflexively snapped shut and his head winced away. A not too distant slam rang through the music, as the man dashed from the tavern. The chase was on.

Mako stumbled out the tavern in a daze and released Mr. Spikes. The aqua-haired man ran and shouted a spell that generated a ghostly horse. He leapt on and galloped into a thick forest south of the tavern at high speed. Mr. Spikes lunged after the apparition, his tendrils twisting in the wind behind them as Mako tucked against the soft fur of his neck. The man's spectral horse seemed unimpeded by the thicket of trees and seemed to occasionally clip through them as if they didn’t exist. This gave him some advantage but Mr. Spikes was just as fast. Mako drew his revolver and fired into the man's cloak. The gems of the revolver activated all kinds of elements and increased in effectiveness the farther they went, accelerating towards the speed of light as they disintegrated in air. One, two and three shots were all it took to bring the sorcerer down with a hefty, rolling crash to the raw forest floor. Mako got down from his Semperkin and pulled out the handcuffs again.

The mysterious criminal began to laugh. "I was right." He said slowly getting up with his arms raised. "You're a detective, I knew that face didn't fit in such a wild place. You're too good..." His voice changed, a word that didn’t make sense came from the sorcerer’s lips causing a pounding echo to ring in Mako's head. The thudding of the word separated like the creak of a door closed slowly, but with the intensity of a dragon’s roar. The sorcerer now loomed over Mako who had been reduced to kneeling by the pain, and pulled out three cards.

"Blue, red or green? This is your chance to change the ending of your story. What will it be?"

Mako threw the handcuffs but a bubble shield stopped them. His ears pounded so hard they threatened to rupture.

"Ah, I'll have to choose myself it seems. Earlier I said the card was going to be a red two. What a coincidence, the second card of the night is also red..."

The sorcerer disintegrated into cards that burned in mid-air, then reappeared behind Mako and threw the red card, which split in two impacting Mako and Mr. Spikes in a blinding flash. THUD.

The flash had put an end to the performance of the mysterious criminal. Mako’s eyes slid shut as the man walked towards him combing his hair forward and taking out a purple apothecary jar from his bag.

— —

Mako stirred to consciousness. Pine needles dangled from his beard.

He was dizzy and saw everything bigger, his senses were heightened, even beyond what he was accustomed to. He got up slowly and noticed that most of his body was numb, only then realizing he could not stand upright on his two legs. He hobbled frantically towards a river that sounded nearby and saw himself reflected as a... Fox? He couldn't see Mr. Spikes so he ran back to the office, at first on two and then on all fours through the woods. His mind was racing, though not nearly as fast as his new legs were. Soon he found himself outside his office just after noon the following day as the receptionist was about to start her shift.

"Wait! It's me, Mako!" he shouted in desperation. The woman turned around and was startled to see that it was a small fox wearing a huge hat. "Lucky Frog Tavern..." His head fell ashamedly. “You should have seen the other guy.” The receptionist picked him up and placed him on the desk in his office. “You smell. I’m glad you’re safe.”

— —

"There has to be some solution... Do you think the blacksmith could forge me new legs and arms?" Mako inquired. The woman, still stunned into not believing what she was seeing, nodded with uncertainty. Mako glanced over to the crystal mirror in his office’s corner. His forehead overly scrunched from his extreme expression.

“So much character in such a tiny body.” He thought to himself holding out his small hands. “What am I going to do with this?”

The front bell of the office dinged as Sharik walked in, holding a newspaper. Without saying a word, Mako rushed for Sharik’s newspaper causing a startled ‘EEK!’ to escape the otherwise smoothly spoken partner’s mouth. The newspaper and Sharik’s breakfast hit the floor, spraying cheese and debris as it clattered.

“Nope. I’m not awake enough for this.” Sharik declared, walking into his office and slamming the door.

Mako picked up the paper. There was a news item related to the other night.

"IS MAGIC A THREAT? Mysterious Vial Appears at The Lucky Frog Tavern During Geisha Appearance”

Mako crumpled up the newspaper and threw it out the window. He looked back to the crystal a mirror and smashed it with a punch. Shards chimed as they hit the ground revealing a typewriter he had forgotten about near the mirror. For the first time in his life, he pulled the typewriter close, a piece of paper already inside it and began to draft a document…

Case #001: The Mysterious Vial.

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