Realm of Gadigan

The Doctor studies King Bears for a moment and comes to the shocking realization that he is, in fact, King Ears! The B doesn't count, so surely this guy must be vulnerable to Sonic damage.

Twirking the Wishcarp Sounder, he rockets sideways and kingwards, planting the instrument against one of King Bears's enormous ears (now very real through the application of Chaos, the wish magic of the attack, and general Abstract shenanigans). He blows. Loud and long and colorfully. A terrible shriek sounds, ripping the King of Bears's connection to civilization away and branding him forever an outsider, a King without a throne or subjects. There's a tearing sound and his image begins to fuzz a bit around the edges as he takes massive damage.

MINICLES immediately follows this up by calling on the imposing might of Lord Higgson's Inescapable Portrait! The painting phases into reality and looms over the huge bear, peering disdainfully down on him for a moment before inhaling. There's a brief conceptual tug-of-war before the King slams down his staff, diverting the effect firmly onto the Bear which has no other buffs to steal. He looks thoroughly vexed, however; and you can to some extent actually <look> at him now, since he has diverted an effect from himself to the bear. Doing that requires there to be two things, which requires him not to be the bear. There are now two distinct individuals before you; a King in all his power and splendor, still untouched by the fight, and a Bear who has lost the right to call himself a King by merit of being stripped from his position within civilization.

MAGNUMCLES remains entranced by this story of the King Ear hearing about his radioactive honey, then eating it and becoming the hairiest bear around. Wait, no, that doesn't make any sense. With an effort of Will, he shakes out of the effect.

The Bear makes another grab for Sparrow Magnum, but is so thoroughly off his game by this point that he misses entirely again. Magnum Sparrow takes the opportunity to grab the President from the hand of the Bear and yank her partially free; she is still secured by one chain to the tower, with Magnum Sparrow yanking on that.

The King looks thoroughly vexed. The Bear is starting to glitch out somewhat, with portions of his body becoming see-through. He looks pointedly at Dr. MIRACLES, and the doctor feels a scan going off.

"This wasn't the way this was supposed to go. Not at all. Let's try this again, this time without you."

The King cracks his scepter against the wall again, and the whole world fades to black. Dr. MIRACLES is ejected from the battlespace, cast into the void of non-being, and inflicted with Vanished!

...Only that wouldn't be any fun, would it? The Doctor feels the same somewhat familiar force point in a direction he can't quite describe. He takes a few steps, stepping out of the non-space and falling back into reality.

Dr. MIRACLES is <not> inflicted with Vanished.

Dr. MIRACLES, alias Detective V, finds himself (alone) in a comfortable chair with his feet up on the desk. A sad-looking telephone is in front of him, along with papers on missing person cases. There is one door and a window looking out over a dreary city. Colors seem muted and silences are drawn out as if waiting for dramatic pronouncements or quick bursts of action. Rather than the spandex the Doctor's clothing was previously, it now takes the form of a very fine looking overcoat and accompanying boiler hat. The boiler hat has a band of rhinestones around the top and a very large feather in the band. The Doctor immediately detects that deviating too strongly from the genre he finds himself in may have consequences similar to the oozes which attacked with fire after it was banned (though he may well be able to weather them).

Moments after he gets his bearings, a flustered yet excitable looking young man with a prominently displayed revolver and similar clothing bursts through the door.

"My god! Detective M! I thought you had retired! There have been a slate of disappearances and murders throughout the city and I've found myself at wit's end trying to track down the one responsible! Are you here to help?!"

*The MIRACLES Overcoat Of MEGASPARKLE
gains
Alternate Hard-Boiled Detective Clothing Mode- Wielder may spend an action to give this item 5% Psychic Resistance as a nonstacking buff, the buff from this ability counts as a Stance for the item in question and it cannot benefit from more than one at a time, Quest Enhancement

And the Doctor gains the award-
Known by some as The Astounding Detective M

Caelzeph — Today at 10:39
[09:37] Caelzeph: Hm. Has he still got his buffs, or has it all been reset? Have the clones' equipment vanished, or are they back in his possession?
[11:53] Caelzeph: Also, does the newcomer look like Sparrow Magnum
Santooth — Today at 10:39
Ah, yes.
The items, summons, and buffs are all currently MIA, but may make their way back to you at some point and have a chance of reappearing on your person after the thread is over (you're fighting a hostile reality warper here, pretty clearly).

This guy does in fact look somewhat like Sparrow Magnum (and has the same general mannerisms, like low-key shouting everything), though much about him is different
Hm.
That one Lunar Revelation Ooze you summoned and were carrying around in your internal space is still around

The Doctor sweeps his arms back and down, catapulting him from the chair and using his propped feet as a fulcrum to somersault clear across the desk and land with a flourish in front of the man.

"HE that is ME which is I say to you THE YES! LET'S INVESTIGATION!"


Internally, the Doctor's interest-levels have reached MAXIMUM EXCITE. He's clearly facing a reality-warper of some description, which would be the perfect target for all sorts of shenanigans.

That genre-lockdown has to go, though. It's just asking for trouble.
It's also likely something that might take a while for him to extract himself from. Fortunately, among the very, very, very many things he is, he is both an Abstract and One Weird Dude, therefore his general definition of 'normal' for anything is significantly skewed from everyone else's, giving him a fair bit of leeway.
Besides which, nobody expects The Astounding Detective V to be average.

He'll ease into it.

The Doctor begins tapping the Will-side of his powerset to key off the override-prevention of the element, and has it hook up with his existing Evolution element. The man's style is impetuous; his methods, incomprehensible. He will not be restrained thus.

In the meantime, in order to properly ramp up his Astounding Detectivity, he also buds off a couple of clones directly inside his head. This is, of course, entirely in-keeping with the Noir genre, as detectives constantly narrate inside their heads. In order to really sell the effect, the clones immediately use their Expert-Level Geomancy to Establish the internal terrain as Mindscape. They'll add a Zone of Will to the equation, too.

The Doctor takes this turn of events in stride, leaping over the table and introducing himself once again.

His erstwhile companion cracks a smile on his worry-worn face. "It's good to hear your enthusiasm again, god knows this city could use it!"

The man begins detailing how he's narrowed the list of suspects down to a mob boss, the infamously corrupt mayor, and some sort of escaped killer on the loose that recently broke out of a maximum-security prison on a small nearby island. He asks which lead you'd like to follow up first, or whether you'd like to check the crime scenes out.

The Doctor plays along, rallying his Will to the threat of this entity he's facing. He's One Weird Dude; he can Evolve to fight circumstances like these. Playing off the internal monologue theme of noir stories, he buds a couple of clones off directly inside his head which immediately establish the internal terrain as Mindscape. They add a Zone of Will on top of that.

The Doctor spins his fancy detective hat around on his head, twirling his body in the other direction. He comes to a stop with his back to Sparrow Magnum, PI (?) and arches over backwards to properly address his fellow detective.

"Let I and YOU and THE FACES OF OURSELVES be TOWARDS THE CRIMES!"

Still in that position, he takes a drink from his hip-flask.

Fortunately, Alchemy is an incredibly robust school of magic that gamely slots into just about every world, everywhere. If there's reality warping to be faced, the Doctor desires to have SIGNIFICANT BUFFS.
Also the hip flask is, in fact, the Flask of Miracles, allowing even further leeway in matters.

He'll stack Bottled Stardust, Mech-Anointing Oil: Starflow Orange and True Lunar Elixir on himself (choosing the MIN buff for the latter) to get himself revved up and ready to DETECT.
If additional genre-excuse would be required, the man is both a Chef and a Bartender, declaring that they are fancily-named cocktails with the same effects. If it seems like one or more of those would be too much of a stretch to safely use for the moment, he'll hold off until the Will-Evolution momentum has built to give him more operating room.

The Doctor loops, turns, and declares. The Crimes it is! But first, like any good detective, he begins day drinking. Whipping himself up (via Bartender) a rebranded Bottled Stardust and True Lunar Elixir, he feels their familiar warmth fill his stomach and body. Sparrow Magnum, PI (as Dr. MIRACLES has branded him) looks hungrily at the flask for a moment, but says nothing.

The Astounding Detective M isn't one to leave a thirsty friend hanging. No sir! Still bent over backwards and with no small amount of flare he mixes the man a pair of cocktails laced with more Evolution mana, leaving the mech spell out. The man's eyes light up as he drinks them and seem to have more fire in them now.

Sparrow Magnum, PI leads Detective M on a winding path through a city dreary enough to crush the hope out of a man. The pair pass pawn shops, unfriendly transients, several street thugs, two used car dealerships, and many homes before reaching an apartment complex. The front door appears to have broken in by something brutally strong. Walking up stairs, Sparrow Magnum, PI points out scratch marks on the walls and occasionally ceiling (which is 10' up) before coming to another door on the third level that has been similarly forced in off its hinges. Behind a do-not-cross police perimeter the apartment looks like an unrestrained bull rampaged through it. Furniture likes broken this way and that, and several spots of blood stain the floorboards.

Sparrow Magnum, PI looks sick.

"Whatever did this can't be allowed roam the city! We need to find it and bring it to justice before any more innocent people are taken!"

"AGREEMENT!"

The Doctor takes in the scene! Something certainly did a number on this place. Something possibly, or even probably bear-related. Or some animal, in any case. Perhaps the reality-warper is weirdly fond of them.

Regardless! The Doctor, boosted as he already is, also possesses a Superior Intellect! Not only that, but with himself (and himself, and himself) all possessing the same, he can channel that dizzying mental energy in triple-stereo to properly puzzle out the WHO, the WHAT, the WHERE and possibly the OTHER THINGS about this terrible crime!
Should he start hitting stumbling blocks, he'll pull a spray bottle out of his coat and begin spritzing Water of Truth around, luminol-style.
There's also the Revelation Ooze. That guy might help, too.

He's having Sparrow Magnum, PI involved in all this, too. Whatever this reality warper's plans are, they involve facing (and presumably, defeating) the guy, so the more experience Sparrow gets, the harder a time the warper will have of it.

The Dectective's Investigation begins!

The Doctor and Sparrow Magnum, PI start in on the scene, using his Superior Intellect to assess what they're facing here. Well, going by the evidence it's something large and strong. The blood is a clear sign that it's violent, too, though there's not enough of it to indicate the person living here was actually killed. Lack of a body supports that; the thing took them. The Doctor checks the other rooms out as well. A window is broken outwards from the inside, that's probably how it left. It's three stories down to the ground; whatever did this was able to jump or climb down holding the body. The window is also not enormous and there are no signs of something having squeezed its way out. Hard to say exactly what the thing looks like without using divination.

Based on all of this, the Who is not a normal human. Either someone incredibly large and strong with multiple knives or claw-gloves or something more sinister. Could be a bear, yes. The What is equally ambiguous. Where is here as far as the crime scene, though where the victim was taken is hard to determine. Why is also quite nebulous; this looked like a fairly ordinary individual.

Is the Doctor using divination to get more results here?

More results are required!

However, unless the Doctor thinks his Will-Evolution mixture has progressed enough to shrug the genre-convention, he's going to have to go about it in a roundabout fashion.

The Doctor spins on the spot! His eyes dart to and fro! He attunes himself to his environment! That's a thing detectives do when it comes to their cities (and crime scenes), after all!
Within his head, the Mindscape shifts as the clones work on forming a copy of the apartment (assisted via the Expert-level they have with Geomancy), enthusiastically narrating (with the help of the Revelation Ooze) as they do!
Scenes are reconstructed down to the last detail and, once complete, the clones get to work.
Mindful of that weird anecdote-tangent the last scan caused, the Doctor isn't actually doing the Divination himself. His clones are, rebranded as his Superior Intellect and Dectective abilities flawlessly reconstructing events as they happened within his mind, assisted by temporary localised Zones of Truth!

The Doctor, meanwhile, is observing all this (and narrating his findings aloud to Sparrow, as is the traditional method of all detectives to their fellows), and shoring things up through application of Will to prevent any untoward shenanigans from going on while it happens. Through Will, he is also certain to find the Truth. His determination will prevail, fabulously!

Santooth — Today at 14:02
You're getting some blockage in the scan result (partially from not having enough detail in the mindscape and partially from this thing pushing back) that you think you can break through by having the clones/ooze concentrate on it more and pour more effort into
Doing so, or avoiding that?
Caelzeph — Today at 14:03
Hm. It's probably noticed him, then
Santooth — Today at 14:04
This feels more passive
Caelzeph — Today at 14:04
Ah
Santooth — Today at 14:04
Pushing through might attract attention
It might not
You aren't really sure what you're dealing with
Caelzeph — Today at 14:04
Well, let's keep the element of surprise for now and investigate MORE THINGS
The apartment-recreation will be kept hanging around in the Mindscape for later investigation.

Doctor MIRACLES opts for caution and to avoid too many fireworks here and continues his investigations internally. The Mindscape within his head shifts to conform to a rough copy of the apartment, and the Clones and Lunar Revelation Ooze set in with divinations within a localized Zone of Truth. Initial results are coming up blank, as the remote mindscape is too far removed to get proper details on with their level of divinatory proficiency even with the powerful spells. They sense they can pour more effort into this to make it more real and break through with their scans, but decide not to. As such, there's not a ton to say and the Doctor directs Sparrow Magnum, PI to the next crime site.

The pair head down out of the apartment. The next place is a couple blocks to the west, through a shadier part of town. A group of six Hardened Street Toughs (Level 26) accost you insisting you hand over your valuables. How are you dealing with them?

The Astounding Detective M will not be cowed by mere street thugs! And neither should Sparrow Magnum, PI. Both detectives need to spend a bit more time anyway (The Doctor to wind up his Will/Evolution genre-break more, Sparrow to gain power, momentum and experience, not that he knows it), and so FANCY CHOREOGRAPHED COMBAT is joined!

The thugs are laughably below the Doctor's level, so he'll opt to let Sparrow get the lion's share of the experience through beating them by instead distracting, disorienting and defending (where necessary) through elaborately-flamboyant (and Astounding) dance-style martial arts! He is, after all, a Monk and a Dancer (with both Fancy Dodging and Astounding Grace While Dodging)!

He's also going to use this excerise to better figure out how to work with Sparrow in a fight, subtly push him to key into his prior-genre-self's martial arts, and let the buffs and Evolution-effect on him get to work.
If it looks like he's struggling despite the Doctor holding the thugs off into a manageable queue, Astounding Detective M will sweep in to save the day with a dramatically-timed punch, kick, or flying headbutt.

Post-combat is also an excellent excuse for more day drinking from the Astounding Detective's stash of 'cocktails'. This time: Expert Alchemist's Eternal Restorative (being a cocktail with a long and storied history involving chemists who took to bartending, got far too drunk and dubbed themselves Alchemists through slurring 'Alcohol' and 'Chemist' together), constantly inflicting Fortified.

Santooth — Today at 14:37
Eternal Favored is likely to draw some degree of ire, as this place tends to beat people down and the effect in general is kind of magic-y
Less than much of the other stuff
Caelzeph — Today at 14:37
Hm
Santooth — Today at 14:37
Still proceeding with it?
Caelzeph — Today at 14:38
Let's switch it to Augmented, then.
Santooth — Today at 14:38
Still drawing some ire. Less, again.
Caelzeph — Today at 14:38
Hrm.
Santooth — Today at 14:38
It's the "endless buff" thing that's doing it, more than the status effect
Caelzeph — Today at 14:38
Hah
Fortified! Fortified alcohol is a thing, after all
Santooth — Today at 14:39
Let's see. You can, with your alchemist abilities, make it last for the next hour and avoid the ire
Caelzeph — Today at 14:39
Let's go with that.
Santooth — Today at 14:39
Ok

The Doctor scoffs at these thugs, directing Sparrow Magnum, PI to show them what's what. He is able to duck and weave around their blows, very dangerous to the average citizen but no threat whatsoever to one like him. The Astounding Doctor M cannot be hit by entities such as these! His subtle efforts at influencing the young detective are rather unsuccessful; his own style is too unconventional for most entities to pick up, and frankly he's a bit bad at communication.

That doesn't matter, though. The PI doesn't need the help or even his gun. He dusts off his fists and within under a minute has laid each thug out on their ass.

"Consider a change of career, boys! Now get out of here!"

That little scuffle provides the man with just what he needed; enough XP to reach 39. The pair celebrate their victory with a stiff drink, as many choose to within the walls of the city! They'll have Fortified active on them for the next hour.

"That hit the spot! You always have the best stuff! Come on, Detective M! The next spot is right around the corner!"

The two proceed to a small, run down brick house sandwiched between the taller buildings in the middle of the city. The walls are dingy and the gate at the front creaks horribly as they pass through and duck under the police line. The place has eight windows, three doors, a chimney, and a slowly leaking water spout hookup. Each entrance to the house has iron bars over it which is a conventional enough security measure in this neighborhood. The place seems locked and there's no immediate sign of forced entry.

"Oh, gosh! This wasn't locked last time I came here and I don't have a copy of the key! Do you have a way to get us in?!"

"I say to you THE YES!"

The Doctor is many, many things. Due to his being Not Bees, that much is obvious. He is also, however, a Thief, an Artificer and an Engineer. Locks such as this cannot hold him back!
Should this not be quite enough, as it turns out some of the reagents in his 'forensics kit' are also very acidic, allowing him to simply burn through the lock if needs be.
Should that not be enough, he'll use his Expert level of Geomancy to attune himself to the place and have all the prior things act as impetus for the doors to just 'happen' to unlock through his efforts.

And if absolutely all else fails, he'll use a combination of his gymnastic excellence, Ninja Wall-Running skills and considerably boosted stats to get both of them onto the roof, and then it's Down the Chimney!

Down the Chimney!- (Passive Ability, Wanderer) Possessor pierces 2,000 Defense when targeting Large Structures

Yes indeed, The Astounding Detective M has options.

The lock on the door is not particularly complicated for a seasoned Thief like Dr. Miracles. He has it open within a few seconds of starting on it and they're through.

He cases the place, noting the different avenues of entry and egress. The scene is very different here; nearly nothing is disturbed, and the only real absence is the occupant themselves. He does find faint shreds of papery material covered in greenish-yellow goo in the bathtub that defy identification. He looks all throughout the house and, due to his own thoughts on how to enter, decides to check the chimney as well. It's small and would be uncomfortable though possible for someone of an average size to squeeze through it. Being wise in the way of forced entry, he sees clear signs of someone having recently scrambled down, then two entities scrambling back up this way previously.

Troubling.

The house is added to the Doctor's Mindscape, and the three Superior Intellects (and one Ooze) get to work as he once again narrates his observations and findings to Sparrow!

He examines the papery shreds and goo, and collects them in one of his Empty Bottles. He turns it over in his mind. He sprays the remainder with definitely-forensic-and-genre-appropriate Water of Truth to reveal its secrets.

The first impression that comes to him is something akin to something unpleasant hatching from whatever it was that caused the shreds and goo. Perhaps the invader entered through the chimney, did something to its occupant and transformed them (or hatched something from them) which then exited after them.
Both crime scenes having no body is suspicious enough, all the more in this instance for the evidence to suggest the victim left in the same obviously-weird way its presumed-attacker came.

Does this genre-world have things that could do that? He pokes the Lunar Revelation Ooze for details on that front.

The Doctor adds the details of the house to his interior mindscape. What a curious case this is. He suspects the killer might not be a killer after all, and may in fact be creating or hatching things out of its victims. So far as he can tell, that doesn't fit the genre of this place very well unless he's misjudged it. That said, an acrobatic human could have crawled up or down that chimney. This wouldn't explain the scraps, though. The Ooze's divinations are on the fritz in here, even with the level of abstraction, so it's less helpful than usual.

The doctor sets his jaw. Figuring out what's going on here is the priority. He collects some of the papery shreds and goo in an empty bottle.

He gets-

Bottle Containing Suspicious Papery Shreds and Goo from Noix- (Item, Antiquity, Physical & Acid, 60,000 Gold)

Steeling himself, he takes his spray bottle out and spritzes the remainder with it. Through a clearly-forensic analysis, he determines that the papery stuff are scraps of human skin and the goo is very much not human. Seems more like a reptile. Both have bits of the other on them. They probably came from the same creature, a creature capable of squeezing itself through a small chimney yet also capable of breaking a door off its hinges and reaching a ten foot ceiling. Something with claws. And inkling of recognition tickles the back of the doctor's mind. He's close to cracking this, he just needs a bit more information.

He shares his thoughts as he determines this. Sparrow Magnum, PI looks worried.

"What could have caused this? How many of them are there? We have to find out before it, they find more victims!"

The Investigation continues.

Sparrow Magnum, PI suggests they investigate the Park (from which there have been several disappearances) or the Asylum (where this Killer character seems to have escaped) next.

"To the PLACE of PARKING and ABDUCT! EXCITE!"

The Doctor has Sparrow Magnum, PI lead the way to the Park. If the abductions are indeed transformations, there's likely to be more evidence to piece things together left at the crime scene(s) there!

The pair, somewhat shaken but still EXCITE, head to the park. The journey across town is uneventful. The park itself is reasonably nice, with bridges over steams and pagodas here and there, fountains and walking paths and trees. It's much larger than a city like this would normally support. Almost too large, in fact. It feels like a small chunk of The Woods, right in the center of town. That intuition in the back of the doctor's mind is back again, like a word he almost remembers, telling him answers to this puzzle are in the center of the thickest section of trees. Something dark is hiding in there, something that has been preying on the innocent citizens of this dreary city. Something that needs to be found and stopped before it can cause more harm.

Sparrow Magnum, PI is visibly shaking as you approach it. The sun hangs low on the horizon; you might have another hour of daylight left today.

"D..Detective M, are we ready for this?"

The Astounding Detective M is confident in his abilities! He will, however, internally confer with himself and also himself, pooling the collective, massive intellect to consider things.

Is he missing something obvious, here? This place is obviously, suspiciously out-of-place, and he's faced the bear-involved reality warper before. It's probably in there. Is there some trick to its genre-defying convention he's missing that he could exploit?

Sparrow Magnum, PI gets given a shot of dutch courage in the form of a Restorative Concoction to steady his nerves. That Astounding Detective M, what a mixologist he is.

Is the Doctor missing something here? Well, probably. There's something about this whole thing that isn't adding up. The crime scenes were like a puzzle, with piece after piece falling into place. Thankfully, he has been able to trace the clues so far and reach this place. The answer's in there, he just knows it is. If he's ready, he can head in and fix this mess.

The nervous, slightly paranoid doctor gives Sparrow Magnum, PI a shot of Dutch Courage. He looks a little steadier. Feeling the urge, he takes one himself. The liquid feels good, going down smooth and warming his belly.

Then, with an effort of Will, it hits him. This whole setup has been a Mystery, with a capital M. The Doctor has heard of these entities. King Bears is an Enigma Man, and he was being drawn progressively further into the guy's orbit here.

An Enigma Man! Of course!

Well, that makes things make sense, after a fashion. As they gain powers depending on what people think about them and rumours created by the plot hooks they dangle, the clear and immediate counter to that would be to utterly discard all prior assumptions and clues as utter, fabricated nonsense keyed to give them more power.
The Mindscape is immediately swept clear of the previous scene-constructs. The clues thusfar? Fragile reality-warping (or fabrications) trying to cement some sort of secret lizard-person conspiracy powerset. Possibly trying to create one of those Identities those Enigma Men are so fond of.

But lizard people? Really? The Doctor has VERY UNIMPRESSION at the lack of creativity.

The imposing-a-limited-genre is probably down to the Enigma Man trying to force things to go the way they want, which is a far cry from the subtlety the Doctor hears they're supposed to use.

Don't they need multiple people to follow up the clues they make to gain those powers, too? The Doctor looks at the concerned Sparrow Magnum, PI.

Perhaps it's time to shake things up a bit.

"We have been ON THE RUSE!" The Doctor says by way of explanation, and gives Sparrow Magnum a forehead-flick to bring him to his senses, infused with pure Will to provide the same shot of clarity he himself arrived at.

Meanwhile, the clone-Doctors consider, pooling their intellects once more. What would be the best way to utterly derail an Enigma Man's schemes-in-progress and throw them completely off-kilter?
Destruction of evidence, perhaps. Ruining their carefully-staged-and-set scenes and setpieces they worked so hard on for that dramatic reveal.
Refusing to play into their enforced genres, certainly.
Performing a large, unexpected disruption to events.

And perhaps...
The mental image of a little daemon-girl pops into his mind, and the invisible fire she holds.

The clone-Doctors mull this over while the Doctor himself checks to see if Sparrow Magnum has been shaken from his Mystery-induced rut.