The flying elephant detective quest is just bad writing.
When you arrive in Act 3, there are murders happen all around the city. One of the first murders you see is the murder of the head of the church, investigated by flying golden elephant.
You can find that the dead guy (surprisingly) didn't murder the head of the church incredibly easy by simply using speak with the dead spell (or one of thousands scrolls lying around), which the elephant detective just refuses to do, just as everyone else for that matter.
But it seems like only PC can use magic.
While Faerun is incredibly generic world, it is still high-fantasy setting and magic like this should be every-day thing.
The way everything plays out just feels like trying to make the elephant look incompetent and dumb, refusing to do even most basic things, rather than just lazy.
