To follow Dotson's Detective Agency in Nivalis Nights, accept Dotson's interview, question Ma Gomba, Razlo, and Calhoun about Danny Danetti's missing donut recipe, and report your findings. The investigation continues through a deduction test, a confrontation with Razlo, a favor for Gideon, and a conversation with Mila Kalcifer. Gideon's final lead is the name The Phaze Runner, which opens the last Razlo discussion.
The two important decisions are reporting the recipe case correctly and passing the second interview. Razlo's side deal is optional, while the later conversation about his supposed criminal identity ends with uncertainty. Completing this route does not establish a confirmed arrest or prove every story Razlo tells is true.
The site uses Update #4 as its current baseline. Detailed branches are interpreted from build 25738165, without an independent playthrough here. Dialogue choices and their effects should guide your reading of the current conversation, not be treated as a guaranteed scoring script.
Accept Dotson's entrance interview
Dotson first proposes expanding your acquaintance into a professional partnership. He describes his detective agency and tells you to wait for the first task. Continue to the interview when the quest calls you back rather than assuming the friendship discussion itself awarded agency membership.
His introductory question asks what separates an amateur sleuth from a master detective. At the first interview, remembering that question brings a favorable response. Forgetting it can lead to a correction, so the conversation is not immediately over just because you picked the wrong remembered wording.
For the answer itself, the recorded dialogue responds positively to the practical husband explanation and to the observation that reality does not have a plotline. The lofty answer about seeking only truth receives criticism. These reactions illustrate Dotson's particular expectations; they are not general rules for every detective-themed conversation in the game.
Continue until he assigns the recipe case and explains the I.M.P.U.N.E. He offers a mandate rather than straightforward cash at this early stage. Accepting the job leads toward the suspects; rejecting interest in the mandate can close the exchange without taking that investigative path.
Dotson describes the mandate as allowing movement after dark in a limited area. That wording does not establish unrestricted immunity throughout the city or an exemption for every curfew situation. Treat it as the named case reward with the scope he describes.
Question all three recipe suspects
The report stage is associated with questioning all three suspects. Finding one convincing person is therefore different from completing the interview work. Each conversation supplies a different piece of context, and Razlo's optional deal should not make you skip Ma Gomba or Calhoun.
Ma Gomba's involvement
Ask Ma Gomba about Danny and his new recipes. She says they have been working on something together and expresses concern about the recipe falling into the wrong hands. Her role involves advice and collaboration rather than a straightforward confession of theft.
Her remarks about additives and corporate biscuits explain why a donut formula might matter beyond a food sale. They do not create an objective to grow mushrooms during this case. Keep this interview separate from Ma Gomba's personal growing quest and from Clem's King Mushroom order.
Razlo's commercial interest
Ask Razlo about the stolen recipe and continue toward what he would do with valuable information. You can approach him as someone who recognizes value and exploits opportunities. The conversation can then reach his hypothetical question about what you would do if he had taken it.
Choosing to report him is different from asking what he offers. The latter can lead to a side deal: he initially offers a share of the proceeds, and bargaining leads to a stated twenty-percent agreement. That agreement is not required to question him as a suspect, nor does it automatically tell Dotson that you solved the case.
The deal also does not promise a fixed percentage of every future sale in the game. It belongs to this recipe transaction. Its later reward conversation records a specific possible payment, addressed separately below.
Calhoun's debt connection
Ask Calhoun about Danny and the recipe. He explains the debt connection and says that he does not take what he cannot sell. The fishing anecdote about Danny's mother is part of the conversation, not a request to catch a fish or settle Danny's debt.
Finish the recipe topic and return to Dotson after all three interviews. You do not need to begin your own Calhoun debt repayment route to make this suspect conversation count; that is a separate task with different objectives.
Report Razlo and claim the mandate
At the report, choose the culprit you believe the interviews support. The recorded route supports Razlo as the answer Dotson accepts. Accusing Ma Gomba or Calhoun sends his analysis toward a rejected conclusion and away from the mandate reward.
Dotson's dialogue uses probability language when announcing the deduction. Those percentages are his narrative analysis, not independently verified crime statistics or a random chance you need to improve through repeated reports.
A player who initially says they have no idea can encounter a further chance to reveal Razlo while asking about the reward. The conversation even includes a route acknowledging the bribe. That does not mean concealing the answer indefinitely is harmless: other endings have Dotson abandon the result or deny the mandate.
Continue through the accepted conclusion and ask about the license when offered. The successful handover records I.M.P.U.N.E and the first case's completion. Simply naming Razlo and leaving before the handover should not be confused with visibly receiving the mandate.
Decide whether to collect Razlo's side payment
If you made the recipe deal, a later conversation lets you collect money from Razlo. He reports selling the formula and hints at the buyer's intentions. You can accept the payment or refuse it on principle.
The accepted branch records 200 Lims. Refusing his money does not grant that payment as a moral-choice bonus; the dialogue explicitly acknowledges that you are passing on it. These options affect the side deal, while Dotson's investigation has its own progress.
Do not add this amount to every player's case rewards. Someone who refused the deal during the interview or declined the later payment is on a different branch. The mandate and the deal are distinct outcomes, even when the story lets you admit the arrangement to Dotson.
Answer the second interview's deduction exercises
Dotson's next test focuses on deduction. This is the part of the quest marked as capable of failure. He tallies your performance and can either congratulate you or say that you did not make the grade.
Swipe horizontally to see all columns.
| Exercise | Answer that receives the clearest positive response |
|---|---|
| A woman survives jumping from a thirty-story building | She jumped from a ground-floor window |
| A woman asks for water, is threatened with a gun, then thanks the bartender | She had hiccups and was frightened out of them |
| Identify the dangerous mastermind from the case | Razlo |
The first puzzle describes a building's height, not necessarily the floor from which she jumped. The second is about the purpose of the visit: startling someone can explain the thanks without requiring an invented android malfunction or water-grade scandal. The third connects this test to the recipe suspect Dotson has been preparing you to confront.
Other answers sometimes receive partial praise rather than outright rejection. That nuance does not establish the exact passing score, how earlier answers contribute, or a universal threshold. Use the favorable answers as supported guidance, then read Dotson's actual pass or failure announcement.
If he says you failed, his continued friendliness does not convert the result into a pass. If he says you succeeded and assigns the Razlo confrontation, that new task is the practical sign that the interview advanced. The dialogue mentions a detective stipend, but the supplied effects do not establish a guaranteed cash handover amount for every successful route.
Confront Razlo and return to Dotson
Talk to Razlo about Dotson's suspicions. Razlo reacts with sarcasm, dismisses Dotson, and can refer to your earlier business deal if you made one. That reference reflects your chosen history; it does not create a new requirement to become his accomplice now.
Finish the discussion and return to Dotson as Ava suggests. Dotson wants more evidence and proposes approaching someone Razlo may have hired as muscle. He then leaves to pursue an old friend, putting the next part of the investigation in your hands.
Ava identifies Gideon and adds a navigation point. You do not need to find another bounty hunter merely because Dotson has left the city scene. This is the intended contact transition, so follow Gideon's objective instead of waiting for Dotson to repeat the interview.
Exchange a favor with Gideon and find Mila
Gideon does not give you information simply because you offer money or appeal to protecting innocent people. The conversation moves toward doing a favor first: finding a young woman named Mila.
Speak to Mila Kalcifer before reporting back. She reveals that Gideon is her uncle, not someone collecting a bounty on her. Their awkward family relationship explains why she has been avoiding him. Do not treat Gideon's initial request as proof that she is a wanted criminal.
Mila says she will contact him and is willing to help with your need for Gideon's cooperation. Finish that conversation and then return to Gideon. You are not asked to physically escort her, capture her, or arrange an actual milkshake meeting yourself in the documented quest path.
When you return, move the discussion back to Razlo. Gideon asks you to speak to him again and gives the essential subject: The Phaze Runner. Hearing this name is the new investigative lead; another generic accusation about donuts is not equivalent to using it.
Use the Phaze Runner lead and read the final choice
Ask Razlo about The Phaze Runner. He discusses the old investigator, his death, the Razlo name, and Dotson's theory about transferred memories. His story includes claims he immediately frames as implausible or meant to be debunked, so do not flatten the whole exchange into a confirmed confession.
The final decision lets you believe Razlo and consider Dotson mistaken, or believe Dotson and regard Razlo as dangerous. Ava also acknowledges the uncertainty and warns that this may be your last chance to confront him in this way.
Neither documented ending is a verified arrest sequence. One leaves Ava uncertain about trusting Razlo; the other leaves her watching your back after threats. Complete the offered discussion and inspect the journal result, while keeping the story's unresolved identity distinct from the objectives you did finish.
If you are stuck here, check for the precise missing checkpoint: three suspect interviews, the accepted report, the deduction result, Mila's conversation, Gideon's lead, or the final Phaze Runner topic. Those are materially different stages. Repeating the first Razlo recipe interview will not replace a later name-based confrontation that requires Gideon's information.