March 19th

Higaide suddenly realizes that AP would do nothing for his situation, but due to the rather unique nature of his Charges from his soul being ripped asunder then reformed under rather horrible conditions, that might shave three seconds off the Exit time, allowing him a standard move action in addition to the Exit.

Higaide looks in shock as the barely recognizable lump of flesh is brought before him. He stretches and squints, trying to identify the person as indeed Sareth, as he involuntarily steps forward to get a closer look. Preferably within the Exit's area of influence.

Higaide is stopped by the guards. "Ah ah ah ah... I know you stupid Humans don't know how this works, but you pay for what you get first here in civilized lands." The Lord Elf gestures. "Hand over the cash."

Higaide, thinking back to his lessons from Kolson, realizes he will have to be right next to Sareth in this case to have Exit work properly.

"Even in the civilized lands you get to inspect the merchandize before you make purchase. What you bring before me is a barely recognizable mass of flesh i can't even tell that it's breathing. I'm unarmed, you have me surrounded, with 2 crossbows pointed at my back. You can kill me in an instant, but if you do that before you get your cash, you might be walking out of here empty-handed. All i need is to check his identity and his condition. Surely even a stupid human can be allowed that much."

ooc:

Higaide gambles everything on a single roll of Diplomacy. The audience is tense... nervous... chilled... but alas, he rolls a 19 and after some thought the Lord Elf, stroking his chin, answers "Fine, check your precious master." So saying he wanders over and grabs Sareth by his hair and yanks roughly, causing Sareth to briefly yelp out in pain before the Lord Elf literally tosses him at Higaide's feet, hitting the ground with a wet thud.

Higaide chances a glance. There are about 3 people in melee range, in addition to the two crossbowers. If trying to use the spell and interrupted, it's a dice roll to succeed. They will definitely have a chance to react to you doing so in the form of attacks of opportunity, all five of them plus any casters they happen to have.

You cannot burn another charge to suppress the obviousness of Exit and simply vanish without sound or sight. As for the diversion, a Charge cannot do something on its own, it can only augment actions, thus any diversion would have to be initiated by you then Charged to amplify its effectiveness.

Teeth gritted....

Without leaving Sareth's side, Higaide pulls something out of his pocket - a platinum bar, and gives it to one of the guards for verification (and hoping he'll take it to his boss, far away from him) - "Will these do?"

Burning charge for diversion - everyone FOCUS ON THAT SHINY PLATINUM BAR!!

Activating Exit - burning charge to shorten cast time.

Not sure if Deflect Arrows will apply, but i'm mentioning i have it here just in case. If i can burn charges for fortitude/will saves if it comes to it, burn away.

Fingers crossed, for placebo effect. If this is it, folks, it's been nice knowing you.

Higaide takes four attacks of opportunity, one of which comes from one of the people across the room who happened to be a Black Mage, and takes a total of 82 damage. Fortunately thanks to his Charges the Exit does go off, whisking him and the beaten Sareth away from the rest of the onslaught, though Higaide passes into unconsciousness from the damage, Downed.

Meanwhile, Rory has outlined an excellent and detailed plan for the eventual trip south to the Republic which he feels will be fairly successful in its endeavors.

Just as a reminder: Zeiss did send with his first letter to Gretta the indications on how to enter Holtburg by using one of the secret entrances and how no navigate the Veil to reach the Lower Veil.

Biggs and Wedge hustle off, complaining about being demoted again.

The exterminators seem competent at their jobs, though mostly just in coordinating against rodents and lesser Shreths and Reedsharks. They have zero military experience, of course. They are completely unfazed by the Aspect.

The manager explains how he embezzled (it was fairly simple really) and he says yeeeeah he's totally got tons of guys he can get hired and he's totally not going to just recommend people who are his friends or people he owes a job here as spies, and Zeiss doesn't believe him for a second. He does not really seem to have any spy qualifications other than being actually pretty decent at lying.

Several accountants are interviewed. And there was much rejoicing.

The diplomat seems almost unflappable. He does not actually list his credentials, but based on his responses you're pretty sure he was fairly well positioned within the Kingdom hierarchy. He does not flinch at intimidation, but instantly responds to diplomacy, managing to convince Zeiss to lean towards his side of the discussion before Zeiss realizes what he's doing. He speaks Elven, Common, Dwarven, Serpent, and Orcish fluently though admits freely he only knows a few words of Lugian. He is only put off at all by the Orator abilities, failing against the Stall but succeeding against Persuasion.

I'll hire three exterminators. Having that kind of specialist on a squad might prove to be useful. But I make it clear to them I don't tolerate racism: nobody mistreat my employees. If they're competent enough to help Rory get my new guards in shape while taking care of their display of intolerance, that would be appreciated. If the guards don't change their attitude soon enough, I'll take matters into my own hands. After discussing it with Rory, of course.

The embezzler isn't a manager, but he could do as an informant. I would only need to find him a job in a corporation and he could start gathering informations. If he seem displeased with that offer, both Advoc and I roll intimidate to get him out of my sight.

Let's hire some accountants. Having two of them around seems quite enough for now, unless our GM disagrees.

The diplomat is hired. I bless him with a name: Qui-Gon. I also explain to him the Exchange's goals: to bring the other Blocks under its control through diplomacy or force (the former being the preferred method) and to reform Aluvia's economy. To do that, I will need to hire employees who show the level of competence necessary to achieve these goals. For now, I will put him in charge of my ten employees who are searching for such people. If he has the contacts that could get us a military commander and a spymaster whose ambitions might align with ours, now would be a good time to make good use of it. He can also convince the guards capable of defending a caravan to turncoat their current company for a lower price.

I'll make a summary in the new thread when it's up.

(Yay Biggs and Wedge. Now all we need is a Cid as an engineer and we'll be set!)

Yeah, let's put some more pop culture into the Exchange.

Zeiss is going to sleep. He probably was able to conduct these interviews because he only needs five hours of sleep now, so it's time to take a good rest. Just one thing:

Why was the diplomat without a job? Roll deception, then action point. If he doesn't want to talk about it, that's fine, but I would like to know. He's damn good at his job.

The Diplomat actually declines to respond as to what his job was, though he believes he's given hints enough.

Goes to sleep.

*snore snore*

Advoc is guarding Zeiss.

*snore snore*

Advoc betrays Zeiss for all his hidden gold...!

Zeiss takes over Advoc's mind for the rest of his elemental life.

After, or rather DURING, all the excitement the rest of the party was having, it is now about 3 in the afternoon when Javan and Kolson wake up after their adventures the previous day and early morning getting into the city and things dealt with.

After a little morning chat with Zeiss, Rory stops to ask his fellow humans a personal question: after the protective sciency-magic stuff or whatever was broken on Vesayen, and after the island was saved and after the Tumerok left, what made them leave the island?

He stops several throughout his workday to get a good sample of answers, and by extension, reasons.

To clarify, what made the Humans leave or the Tumerok leave?

Since that doesn't really answer the GM's question, the Humans will inform Rory of both answers. The Humans were evacuated en masse by the efforts of Fierneceal, Rekarg, and the Sperca and done so in a hurry while the Tumerok were mysteriously not present. In fact the ship came under fire that scared the living hell out of the Humans on board when it was leaving as the Tumerok had been returning just as they were getting the last of the refugees off island.