May 15th

Unsurprised with the ever standard result of telling someone the truth, Higaide turns and walks out the former door - "Pay the nice man for his door, Orrin." - then mutters with cold irritation once he's out of frame - "This was a waste of time."

[Let me see if I can help. I'll respond when Rory gets a read on him.]

Deception
Is he going to rat us out, or is he lying about how hard he'll work for the information he's going to give us?

The odds of him ratting you out seem pretty low, especially since there'd be no real profit in doing so. As for how hard he'll work on helping a rival organization steal an unknown artifact from a local wealthy practitioner, you get the impression they're willing to give you the time of day but that's about it.

"Oh, right. We'll discuss payment depending on what you've been able to learn. Hopefully more than us. How much to fix the door?"

Diplomacy
We're on the case as well. You wanna get paid, tell us something we haven't learned. The idea: we'll tell them what we've learned (which works since they don't plan on doing anything with it), and they'll tell us what they've learned if it's different.

'Bob' gives a short laugh. "Sure thing. Bring back with you a nice bottle of something good, and we'll call the door even."

Bottle of something good. Rory makes a mental note. I can respect that, at least.

"Heh, done." Leaving, he makes plans to look for Goratin's mansion and case it with his pals (learning about POI's too), and checks in with Javan to see how his memory's doing. Has his "condition" gotten "better" (crystals receding)?

Javan turns his face to look at Rory for a moment, followed by a sigh, "Hm. Yeah. Memory. Missing a small chunk of time but that's it. I feel fine otherwise, which doesn't say much. As for my situation... eh, I'm not really sure."

Javan then theatrically shrugs, although his tone betrays him as he isn't exactly comfortable with the implications of what's being explained next, "See, the crystals did recede a lil' bit, yes. But we know so little about the mess I'm in that the crystals receding doesn't really say anything. For all I know, they could be what's keeping me in one piece right now or they could be slowly killing me. So... 'patient' Javan Asher is under observation until he either kicks the bucket or is given a break."

"Uh, okay. Just give us a warning, let us know if you're forgetting - 'can't remember' stuff, or feeling pain."

Gather Info
Let's find Goratin's manse. Make this a combined effort on me.

The party manages to locate the estate. It's pretty close to the central commercial area, and so has a lot of foot traffic going to and fro. It appears pretty well guarded, regular patrols even during the daytime. You hear rumors of Woven traps and security alarms as well. Higaide also hears a little tidbit that the local Order post owes his family something big so any security breaches detected will probably result in some Summoners being called down to help defend. The Vault itself has its entrance in the basement, and is a separate section of the mansion.

Rory shakes his head. "Nope. Darn magic traps. And the Summoners got tons of magic. We don't want them on our tail. We need a way to get out of here real fast when we're found out. Did the V--did our friends give us anything we can use to contact them?"

We don't have the Exit materia. Perhaps there's something we can buy to do it. A scroll? A yellow mage just outside the manse? Could be costly, and we don't want him to come with us. We just need to escape to the inn, and beat a hasty retreat to the rendezvous point, if there's one in my notes...

[K or Javan: please say yes, please say yes...]

[I guess, but might as well try and buy one. Bringing an outsider along just to Exit us... i dunno. Then again, if you want to do it, i won't oppose.]

[Not buy one, I meant did either of you get anything we can use to contact the Vyeotians?]

[Sorry, no. Not that i know of. Then again, i trememdously doubt they'll afford us any more than they already have. We're supposed to take care of this thing they entrusted us with, afterall.]

[Okay. I guess we will be looking into procuring a magical consumable that can teleport or simulate the effects of Exit for four people. Alternatively...we can make our escape by sapping me over the head and forcing Thog out to rampage out of there. They'll barely have much time to react or even keep up, they wouldn't know what's going on.]

[Gonna have to disable 'em. Either that, or tusker. I really want tusker transformation to be viable.]

OOC:

While the others check the mansion's perimeter, Javan is going to look through all materia shops he can find, even the shady ones. He's also going to dress the part first so he's going to buy some gaudy clothes that fit the bill first.

Javan finds that no Materia is sold here at the moment. The Bloc is willing to think about smuggling some in for a price but it'll be a delay.

Gaudy clothes, on the other hand, are absolutely everywhere. They're a bit pricey though, depending on how gaudy he wants to look.

Javan is looking for clothing that's gaudy enough so people will be more at ease when dealing with him, he'll work with a tailor or jeweler in order to 'ornate' his crystals, make them look more like a fashion statement than something coming out of his skin. He will also try and get a more 'subdued' version for day-to-day use outside here, hoping to make himself easier on the eyes of others when he leaves here.

For the materia, he'll ask for price and arrival time for some good materia that they know they could smuggle in the city. He's not looking for specifics, he's more interested in knowing what they can bring here in a short notice.

Javan finds someone selling this:

Which is considered the latest fashion and matches his crystals quite well.

As for the Materia, depends on the specific Materia being requested of course, but if pressed without specifics he's quoted at 3 day minimum.

[Yeah, good idea. We could probably afford some materia now, having gone into platinum in our money reserves. Out of curiosity, does materia evolve with persistent slotting for situations in which it would see use or trigger?]

Well first thing is first, Rory will go find a bottle of something expensive that would cover hinge and doorframe replacement, maybe even door open-shut mechanism as well. Whiskey. Trolls like firewater, he thinks. Is that racist...?
(rolling for Intelligence or Wisdom to shop around for a good price, whichever's appropriate or higher)

The basement entrance to Goratin's mansion: is that within the mansion itself, or from somewhere else? This may sound cliche, but Rory drops down to sewer level to passively scavenges for anything of use that might have been tossed down there (rich people throw away all kinds of useless trinkets...), while patrolling for what could be an entrance to Goratin's manse.

If he comes across any patrols down here like last time, he'll test the "just passing by" tactic, using the excuse that he's just scavenging. He's currently dressed the part.
______________________________________________
Javan

Reminder for the Raiders Javan: we would be willing to pay well for one who can weave/disable traps, at least well enough for an individual. Given that they're not interested in the wealth of Goratin, the difficulty of the job should be high enough to go into platinum.

Since we're not interested in the man's wealth, tell them we would be willing to pay with our money, and we'll promise to leave the man's wealth alone to lower the heat in the aftermath.

Skills involved (for Rory)

Deception
Non-Combat AP if needed, I would be willing to wait for a refresh
Stealth
Survival
sense of direction and location
Persuasion
e.g. "Please, I won't take long. Just a few minutes longer to find something good, and I'll be outta here." Plus, "If I find something really good, I'll give you first pick!" Disguise may help here (currently peasant), blegh.

[If all that happens and works, I have to find a piece of materia just randomly by luck. Hmm, what's the diameter of a given materia...]

Javan will unironically (unlike his player) buy the clothes if he has seen at least a couple of people wearing it while he was moving around, but will not be wearing them right this moment.

He'll stops for a moment to think about which materia he'd like the most right now. Without a list, his mind came up with a materia that helps muffling sounds of the wielder's clothing or armor. Failing that, a materia that can help detect normal and/or woven items or traps from a safe distant. If such things exist, for how much they'll sell it to him and would that need extra time to be delivered?

He'd also talk with them about getting in touch with a good weaver around here that is known to keep quiet. If there's one and they are willing to work with him in a hurry, Javan wants a fake Garlean made. Since he's been in contact with a Garlean before and how unforgettable that face is to him, plus the descriptions he heard from Kolson about how it felt as a weaver, he's going to work closely with the weaver to get it done just right. This fake Garlean must have one trick: it must be able to dissolve into some form of innocuous gas (or into nothing, if that's on the realm of possibility, I guess) exactly 1 days and 12 hours (or instantly if someone starts to Scan it) after it's been 'activated'. He's willing to consider skipping the scan thing depending on how feasible it is.

Yes, he's going to see if the Raiders about getting someone with the skills to help them on his heist, and this person of course will be getting paid well if they do a great job. They'll might want to leave town after everything is said and done tho, so the payment will reflect that too.

Finally, if the fake Garlean is a go from this point on Javan will be training himself sleight-of-hand with two coin roughly the size and weight of the Garlean if he can find them. His final goal: to be capable to switch them in plain sight while going through the motions of 'activating' the one he's using as the fake coin, all that while avoiding them touching each other, just so he's ready should the need to do that in front of someone ever arise.

The GM doesn't quite understand Rory's question about evolving Materia.

After a quick perusal Rory finds quite a few expensive bottles of booze, but few actual good ones. He does finally stumble upon something he thinks a Troll might enjoy though, some Dillo-cured Rotvenom which is going for a mere 2 gold.

Rory can explore the Woven-laced sewers for a bit. There are no guards down here, though on occasion he finds a worker maintaining the scent-lines and slurry-processors which he has to sneak by. There are a few... unpleasant entrances to the basement area, but nothing leading to the Vault. Based on what he's seen and heard it's likely the only entrance to the Vault is via the basement, otherwise a closed area.

Javan is well aware that there is no Stealth Materia, but there is a Scan Materia.

There are a few Weavers in town, most on contract to local wealthy aristocrats and business owners. Contracting one to produce a fake Gaerlant right now is feasible and relatively easy and cheap. Making one that dissolves into liquid (Gas is unfeasible for their talents) or breaks apart is also possible, though a bit trickier. It'll take around 8 hours to craft and will cost Javan around 40g, and no one is willing to commit to making it until tomorrow.

Since Javan only knows of one area to find the Raiders, the GM assumes he goes back there to try and hire someone with the skills in question. 'Bob' is mildly helpful, pointing to a couple of their guys who might be able to help. Their fee is rather large; 800g. (GM note: this is after a bargaining roll)

Javan shows interest on the Scan Materia, but he wants to know how much he's paying beforehand.

He'll will also agree with the weaving of the Gaerlant tomorrow, with the trick chosen being the one that makes it harder to Scan after it's all said and done.

Next, Javan will consider for a moment, open his mouth, close it quickly afterwards then enter sudden deep thought, finally saying he's going to confirm with the others first, thanking Bob for his time.

OOC:

800g per individual.