Gearing up (Moore, Ithea)

[Anastasia]

"Really?" Gold chuckles, a sound like a drum being thumped. "Few come for anything but treasure and far fewer for altruistic reasons. You speak from the heart, pixie." Which he means isn't clear, but he says, "Lord Crystalle would greatly appreciate the return of Mineral's stolen goods."

[Nephrite]

"Then it shall be done." Moore says, adding finality to that.

He pauses. "Then, I suppose the next step would be to ask if there are any immediate and pressing concerns that you or Lord Crystalle would like to have handled. It can be the first official step after our ties have been formalized, so to speak." Moore says with a nod.

He intentionally leaves out making any requests, still, because he wants to see if they'll make any offers on their own.

[Anastasia]

"Your generosity sets you apart from others who come to Mineral," Gold says finally, "Archomental Crystalle approves of your attitude." He stands, as a swirling blue portal appears before him. Light spills from it, the endless radiance of the Positive Energy Plane familiar to the party now. "By the Archomental's will, this will take us to before Aurora's gates. Go and bring forth the stolen treasures."

[Nephrite]

Moore nods. "Let's get that taken care of before any further negotiations, then." He looks to the others for confirmation, as he doesn't want to just lead them since he's still pretty new.

[Anastasia]

Mei nods firmly and smiles at Moore, while Crystal merely nods. "It's the right thing to do."

Hanna cuts in, "We will. It won't be long, the treasures are put aside." She promptly rises and goes through the portal, Mei and then Crystal following.

[Nephrite]

Moore will head to go after them unless Gold stops him for some reason! It wouldn't be polite to make the others all do the busywork after he's the one that agreed to it!

[Anastasia]

The path leads into the light and Aurora's gates. Hanna's already talking to a few guards nearby, "...as soon and quickly as possible. As little noise and fanfare as possible, too." Once that's done, she turns to the others and says in a low voice, "Let's do this before Baleruk catches wind of it. We can deal with an angry prismatic dragon afterwards."

[Nephrite]

"If it comes to it, let me take responsibility." Moore says. "He doesn't know me, so there's no friendships to be ruined." He nods to the others. "But we might be able to offer him something even better in exchange if this goes as well as it seems to have thus far."

[Anastasia]

> roll 1d100 Baleruk chances you want low here
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 7 > [d100=7]

Getting the treasure is blessedly easy. It's in a bag of holding, passed over to Hanna. No sign of Baleruk at all. Hanna smiles at this, "Good thinking. Make sure whoever had that idea gets rewarded properly for it." She takes the bag and heads right back now, hurrying along. Mei follows with a content smile, Crystal falling in with Moore.

"It seems fortune favors our choices," she murmurs to him.

[Nephrite]

"When it comes to this sort of thing, I have it on good authority that the pieces are already in place, we just have to move them." Moore says quietly back to her. He's certainly called on divination enough to have someone's attention.

He'll fly back with the others at that, thankful still that they've at least gotten this far!

[Anastasia]

Returning to whence you came is mercifully without incident. You return to Gold, Hanna simply opening the bag of holding over the silver table. All the recovered treasure spills out onto it, a few pieces clattering to the floor. A great big heap of riches. "This is all we recovered from the wrecked ship. There may be more that was taken by others, as slaad had found it first."

Gold peers about at it all, checking it over, "This is from Mineral," he announces, "You have our thanks for doing the right thing. Of the few who seek to gain our favor in this way, fewer of them live up to their words."

[Nephrite]

"We want to make sure you do not mistake our motives." Moore says, surely speaking for them all. "It does us no good to start relations off with deception or trickery -- we want for both of our sides to benefit, not just one." He says, taking a seat again.

[Anastasia]

The others sit as well, now a king's random between the party and Gold. "You speak of aiding us, but what do you wish from this? It is not the nature of creatures to give back our treasures lightly. Even your kind can feel the pull of greed, angel, lest there would be no Fallen in the Realms Below."

[Nephrite]

"That is for you to determine." Moore states firmly.

"We cannot put a price on what goods Mineral values as we do not live and breathe -- ah, metaphorically of course -- as you do." He starts. "We could put an arbitrary amount on trade between us, but that would do us no good as our understanding of wealth and value is too different. I would like to, in time, learn more of your way of thinking, but I think overall, what would make the most sense is for you to provide to Aurora what you feel you can. Whatever it is, mundane or not, we can put it to use." He takes a breath here.

"We want what you are willing to give. There is a saying I heard -- one man's trash is another's treasure. Our aid has no price tag." He concludes with that, letting the ball roll proverbially back to Gold's court.

[Anastasia]

That's worth another diplo check real quick. +5 still in effect since you gave up loot.