May 7th

Regardless of if the party decided to wait on Sethos or not, they will find him in chipper spirits. He is very happy to see the party in general, naturally assuming they are here to help the Alterationists, since why else would they be here? He starts talking about how the party can be part of a few small 'missions' he has in mind before he's veered off topic by the party asking about the Humans. Sethos is a bit puzzled at the urgency in the question, but he jovially replies that they needn't worry, the Humans are being well taken care of. Sethos has no trouble giving them directions towards the area the Humans were all directed towards, being told it was a massive effort to get the several million Humans there but their Sho benefactors footed all the bills with ease. It was dibbed a charity event, to help the poor displaced people after losing their home to the Tumerok, something most people older than 40 can understand to some extent or another.

"I'm sure this is the cynical fairy in me doing the talking right now... but that sounds too good to be true. Of course, Sho could also be this paradise on Earth. Meh. I just think it's something like politicians being politicians and using them humans to gather influence and some cheap hands for labor.", whispers Javan just loud enough for Rory and Higaide to hear it.

The dragoon then smiles and approaches the burun, exaggerating how he opens his arms to make clear how happy he is to see his friend, and may even hug Sethos if there's no sign of rejection.

"So, hey Sethos! I'm totally here to help change things for the better, in fact a few guys from the Alterationists tried to scout me, but I wanted to talk with you first, get your view about how you see things going on here in Sho. Man, I have so many things to talk with you about. So much happened in so little time... just look at you! You look so much better since I last saw you! We need to sit down and catch up some over snacks and a bottle of something flavorful."


"Anyways, more talking may have to wait depending on how things go with Rory and his personal crusade. Hopefully it'll be over quick and I'll be able to focus on helping the Alterationists.", the dragoon asserts, a hint of uncertainty colors his face as he quickly glances between Higaide and Rory, and is gone as fast.

Sethos was, naturally, very confused by Javan's new nature as what is clearly an Elemental. Even knowing the man, it took a few minutes for him to begin to believe it was actually Javan and not some kind of elemental doppleganger. He's still a bit wary of him, naturally, and questions if this... new Javan even needs to do things like eat and drink.

"I... guess." - Higaide finally manages, hinging between hesitation at one thing, frustration at another - "Tell you the truth, we kind of came here because we thought the Humans that departed from Holtburg were being hijacked and taken away somewhere."

Javan looks somewhat offended at the question, making vehemently attempts to convince Sethos that even if he didn't need to eat and drink, stopping to do so would be stupid and boring. It's as if Sethos suddenly decided to stop smoking his pipe and the only reason behind it was because he doesn't need to, instead of things like health issues and such.

As such the dragoon says he's not even willing to test the theory. Which is a half-truth, as he's going to try that out later when things calm down.

Sethos laughs openly at the idea of hijacking Humans. Who on Dereth would so willingly go to so much trouble to kidnap people who have no special powers or land or technology or magic? The Humans have nothing to offer anyone, it is we who have something to offer them, after all.

The scientist in Sethos is now insistent that Javan test this theory, as soon as possible, wondering if Javan is even fully aware of all the changes that have been going through him.

Regardless of circumstances, the GM needs to hurry things along a bit.

*doodely doodely doodely*

So the party discovers that, surprise surprise, the Humans are not at the massive plantation they should have been at. In fact they haven't been there since they arrived. Through some successfully violent and/or diplomatic checks the party quickly determines that several fairly large, unfamiliar airships had come by to pick them up and carry them off westward. There was an exceptionally small number of Humans who chose to stay behind, or to phrase this better, who got there late and as such weren't picked up by the airships. They're actually pretty upset at being abandoned back here, but after discussing it with several locals the locals say they'll contact their benefactors to get them taken away as well, probably by tomorrow.

The party also discovers that the plantation itself is 'off' somehow. A few successful detectiving rolls will determine that one of the side buildings is heavily fortified despite not appearing so from the outside, and is just sending tingles down Javan's elemental spine. The group observes no one entering or leaving this spot, it would likely require breaking and entering to deal with.

Rory is happy to see his old pal again, partially artificially so to play along. He asks Sethos how he managed to recover from his depressed, shades-of-grey-tinted glasses syndrome.

Assuming no altercations have ensued thus far, Rory asks if he may take a tour of the mansion, and begins poking around for clues, like he's on some sort of investigation(which may appear rude to the viewer). If asked to politely back down, Rory tries to pass it off as genuine curiosity (lying+persuasion), Which has about as much chance of working as you might expect. And when Sethos insists, Rory counter insists along the lines of "I'm poking at every nook and cranny, and if you thinking about casting Holy at me, now's your chance." (no skills)

Rory will wait until he feels something is off before telling the humans to get out of dodge. He'll try persuasion first, - not telling them about the conspiratorial plot details, only that the people taking them are not their saviors or benefactors, but acting on cruel self-interest and want to enslave them again - or kill them. That probably doesn't work on some, so then he tries yelling at them (Intimidation) to force them to leave before he gets violent (Higaide's intervention pending).
I should add that I will be trying to keep this low-key, so if we haven't started any fights before now, I probably won't be raising my voice too high or actually attacking them, so Intimidation may require bluffing.

Between/after fighting guards from his possible violent outbursts or being turned on by Sethos(who probably isn't Sethos), Rory will express immense fervor for the idea of getting help from "Him" to plow on through to the inside of the reinforced building.

If Sethos really is the real Sethos, Rory will go on to heap fault upon him for their current predicament.

Ok, this is a rather broad set of actions.

In the general sense, Higaide will step in whenever Rory starts badgering Sethos or the Humans. Especially if he starts making accusations or rousing panic or generally destroying our already crippled credibility.

Main point being, we're out here making a spectacle of ourselves when all our evidence doesn't even amount to circumstantial, making the worst investigation ever while burning every bridge in sight because RAWR.

More than that, i'll need specific actions to RP off of.

Counting on everyone else being distracted by Rory's attempts at doing his thing, Javan will try to conduct an mini investigation of his own, specially the side building that's giving him the creeps. He'll just be looking around and try to extrapolate what's going on with using his elemental knowledge and sight from outside.

Rolls:

Rory's attempts to convince the Humans they shouldn't go along with whatever they're after sadly ends in failure, which means he would, per his actions, resort to violence. Thus Higaide has a chance to interact, though not Javan since he's off elsewhere.

Sethos, for his part, seems completely nonplussed by Rory's actions and admits he's completely confused. If confronted, even passively, he will rebound that right back at Rory, wondering what Rory is up to and if he's decided to throw in his lot with one of the more underhanded organizations out there. Sethos will then further insist that whatever skullduggery Rory is up to that he leave Sethos and the other Humans out of it.

It takes Javan very little time to figure out that what's bothering him so much about the building is it's absorbing Elemental energy from the nearby surroundings. Mostly Earth energy, given the location, but leeching a bit off Javan himself, making him feel weak the closer he is to it.

In short, anyone Rory wants to rough up, he'll have to get past Higaide.

[Rory was going to "get violent" in the sense that he would try to throw them out of the mansion, so assuming we haven't already roused the guards on us, this is not an option.]
When Higaide intervenes, Rory grows even more frustrated and dismisses himself from the human drama. If they won't listen to him, he'll have to show them somehow. Would that work?

When Sethos pulls a reverse on him, Rory's outward negativity starts to crumble, and he silently turns his frustration and anger in on himself for what was truly his fault. However, the way Sethos mentions this organization suggests he has knowledge about the people that Rory doesn't, so after dropping the finger-pointing, Rory asks him to explain everything he knows.

When Javan mentions the elemental drain involved, it reinforces Rory's motivation to tear down the side of the building. He doesn't care if anyone sees him change, in fact if anyone is nearby he doesn't take care to keep quiet about it, or pull anyone aside to tell them what needs to be done. But the only way to bring Thog out... He turns to Higaide and asks a favor of him. "I need you to knock me out." How ironic.

[Let's assume my helmet is in my bag of holding right now.]

Higaide looks at Rory for a second, then shakes off the temptation - "Not yet."

Higaide gets some information about the building from Sethos. It's for stockpiling food, and people go in and out from time to time. Has some kind of weird weaving on it, to help keep the food stored. Being that it's not actually barred from entry, he decides to go and check the place out. "No need to bust down a door you can just open. Javan, i'll need you to tell me what you sense from it."

"It's siphoning earth elemental energy mostly, specially because that's what's in abundance around here... 'It' also took some of mine as I approached so uh... Please tell me that's not where we need to go next, please. Also... are you guys feeling alright?"

From now on Javan will be going to closely monitor everyone's elemental state until they are done with this place.

Higaide nods sympathetically, but "It's where we need to go next. You can hang back, but try not to be too far away, in case we need you."

Javan feels that the GM is going to be upset with him if he splits the party a third time.

"Fine, but if the door's locked, we're doing it my way. If I see something I don't like, I'm tearing this place to the ground."

Open sesame-seed!

Sethos opens the way for your curious party. The inside of the building is surprisingly plain looking, with large cargo crates for perishable storage. Each crate is Woven with heavy stasis magery, drawing on the nearby Elemental energy to power them, which is causing most of the issues nearby.

Javan, observing from a distance, realizes that such a device is not only brilliant in its own way since it effectively requires no maintenance, but would also mask any other things that might set off magical sensors in the area.

Javan turns to Sethos, looking a bit confused, "Hey... buddy... you wouldn't know what is in those crates, would you? Because that's a lot of effort to keep just keep food fresh... and very well hidden from people that can use magic."

He asks Sethos "Mind if we open one up?"

Sethos has no problem opening one of the crates for the party. Inside they find some corn, coffee beans, barley, and various other foodstuffs.

He asks Sethos "Your benefactor supplied this technology too?"