Spheres of Influence: Alliance

"Right, in any case. The point at hand is that Khuln Thorjron has acquired the remnants of the last Elven artefact. So we can give them back to the Elves as previously discussed and for the time being, buy the Alliance time for any potential conflict with the Elves, either the High Elves or the Under Elves. The Announcement of the Khan of Nogroon to stand with Kor Vurneus in such an event is of course, greatly appreciated." He said, summing up the events.

"In that, unless I am mistaken I think we're all agreed on this, the primary matter of this emergency meeting."

"There was the question of what to do with the money afterwards. Which did tie into matters involving investigations and the beginnings of protective methods against, well, assassinations." The Cregit said. "I would personally prefer to split off 2 million of the gold into funds for bounties and emergency resources, and another 1 million to hire ongoing investigators and experts to use said funds. To look into either or both of the history and knowledge of elves, or other high level acts of violence against the Alliance such as assassination of leaders or threats to capital cities."

I would also say, that if none of us can agree to use the money for anything right now, perhaps simply having it ready for some Alliance sized emergency in the future. Like, the re-emergence of multiple boreholes, a plague, etc, etc. Either all of it or simply a large lump of the money. The fee for Kor Vurneus's espionage against Khorjron-" He glanced towards Rojhad. "-could be added to this emergency fund."

"We'll decide what to do with the money itself, when we get it." MkFieldan. "Right now the actual purpose of this meeting has been concluded, the matter regarding what to do with the Elven artifacts is uncontroversial and settled, the fine Kor Vurneus shall pay shall be 500,000 gold for its Censure as mentioned, and I think we can agree to add that gold to the gold the Elves offer for whatever use we'll put it to." he then turns to Rojhad. "Is there anything you wanted to discuss further, Ambassador Rojhad?"

Rojhad looks up from their notes.

"Certainly. A number of things seem to have been passed over; first and foremost, whether the elves will have any compunctions toward the money going into the coffers of the 'Alliance', by which Kor Vurneus benefits. Second, the implication inherent to the letter that the Elves will know exactly where the money has gone, no matter how surreptitious the methods employed to keep any dealing under wraps. Should this warning imply any sort of espionage or enchantment upon the currency granted, it could be worth looking into. Third, the matter of attempting to use these items and the exchange thereof to force the Elves to open diplomatic channels has not - to my knowledge - been raised? But it could be important. The isolationism of the elves is a tool you can ill afford to allow them to maintain, as it grants them a mystery to the outside world and a veneer of calm internally. Fourth, the matter of the relics themselves. They are - if the information granted to the Khan is a full inventory of their abilities - incredibly powerful. If the elves simply have hundreds of these lying around, it could spell doom for any one of us. Moreover, if these artifacts are rarer than one might assume, then a degree of leverage is held over the elves that we might not know we have - this is what I meant by isolationism being a strength. Fifth, and finally, no decision seems to have been made on how exactly the elves will be confronted in the future. To simply say 'they must be dealt with' and leave it there is, I think, a lacking plan."

Rojhad looks back to their notes, scribbling out a few observations and speaking absentmindedly. "This is, of course, said as an outsider to your Alliance, and as a friend to the Freed Bay Post, the Crescent Wastes, Kor Vurneus, Nature's Unity, Chief Bigfist, and Khuln Kaldhur. I make no pretense of dictating your policy, but only observe those things which may pose threats to my friends and offer suggestions on how to confront them."

Capra, very nervously coughs, and speaks "If I may say, in the letter we have received, the abilities of the items were not listed. Could you share it with us, if you can, so we are, ahem, clearer on the seriousness of the situation?"

"Most of these same concerns have been raised earlier in the meeting prior to its recess. Simply put, there's too many unknowns regarding the elves to safely assume anything about them, and no safe method of forcing them to open communications or otherwise finding out more about them in regard to these artifacts. It could simply be they want them returned so our artificers and mages cannot reverse engineer them, it could also, like you feared, mean they have millions of such artifacts. There's no way to know, all we do know is they cracked open the High Kingdom 900 years ago in the Dwarves war with the Elves, that these same Elves are alive today and, we can only presume they have similar or the same power but have not used it for reasons unknown. As to the reward money not benefitting Kor Vurneus, we have brought that up in the previous session also and there are ways to utilize it to benefit the Alliance without benefiting Kor Vurneus, directly. But suffice it to say, thats not something we should decide right now before we even have the money."

"More than this, the High Elves, whatever we may think of them, are isolationist for the time being and this works to our favor because we have recently become aware of other Elven nations who are not Isolationist in the Underdark beneath the Earth, who actively attack and raid other nations for slaves. The surface Elves are not the most dangerous faction of Elves currently known at least in terms of willingness to inflict violence on other nations. Of course we would very much like to research their magic and technology, but this is not the time to do so."

The cregit frowns. He looks at his own papers. He scratches his head. "I didn't... Ah, we were interrupted during the last meeting. My apologies. The sword, seems to cut through any mundane materials we tested it on and leave an edge of a strange frost. A ring that gives a measure of invisibility and silent movement. Another ring that greatly enhances the vision of it's wearer. A final ring with rejuvenating properties. A rod that seems to detect materials underground, we used it to find some ore veins but we don't know the fine capabilities of it. And the cloak that gave a lesser degree of invisibility, but was clearly more designed for battlefield protection as it was also remarkably durable."

"To reiterate from last time, kor Vurneus believes that it is most likely that one or two of these items are seen as much greater of value than the others such that the elves can not risk us beginning to understand it, considering the elves are willing to give us magical trinkets also alongside the millions of gold, and we can't see the ring of far-sight being too valuable to them. Perhaps the ring of regeneration since it could tie into their immortality. Or the ring of stealth for their espionage."

Edit: "Oh, and yes, a clasp that protects from ranged attacks."

The Orc blinks.

"If your alliance is satisfied with those answers, then I suppose there's nothing more to be said. That said, let it be known that our promise does not extend to some sort of war begun against... elves underneath the ground. It would be impractical for orcs at best, and suicidal at worst - and that's setting aside the... well."

They take a breath and shrug. "Regardless, as I said, if those enchantments do not immediately concern you, then there is nothing more to be said."

"Oh they do concern us, its just we do not have the time we would like to investigate them further." MkFieldan replied. "In any case you are correct, there is little more to discuss. Until, or if, we ever get word back from the elves, money or no money, I think it'll be best if we have Kor Vurneus hold onto the agreed upon fine fee with assurences they'll set that money aside until then so that it may be added to the total. If the elves do not hold up their end, then we'll simply come to an agreement about what to do with the fine money before the end of the year."

"Unless there are any further objections, we can adjourn this emergency meeting for now, transfer the scraps of the cloak to the keeping of the Freed Bay Post with the rest, until the artifacts can be returned in full."

"If you need somewhere to store the Alliance funds," Hammerhead said. "Then we could offer to do so. Verdaral is quite secure at this point, and will only become more secure with time. We'll build the money its own vault, keep it well guarded, and we'd allow accountants and what-not from other Alliance countries to help oversee it if they so wish."

"A Dwarf hold would be the most secure place to hold the fine... Very well, Ambassador Alardhun. We'll entrust the fine to the keeping of the High Kingdom until the elves reply." Díuc MkFieldan said.

"I can't say I would have thought of Verdaral over Kalduhr but very well, we shall prepare the fine and send it over." Said the Cregit. It wasn't worth arguing about. The people seemed tired from all this and getting back to business free of all this tip-toeing and diplomacy could be better. He made a motion to prepare to leave.

"Besides. Irregardless on how this all goes, I wish you all good luck. We out." He pushed himself up, leaning on his aid slightly and let her clear up the papers as he stepped over to Rojhad. "Thank you for your words young speaker. An outsider's view of things is good to have around, and I am grateful for your presence. May have helped smooth some things over actually." He said, scratching at a visible unbandaged patch of skin by his nose. "Mention my personal appreciation in your report, yes?"

The Deputy was getting tired because a distant god in a far off universe certainly was. He asked about Díuc MkFieldan's phrasing, as it implied that there was some reason they shouldn't give it back immediately, and he wanted to make sure that this was settled since (and he did not say this) the entire point of this thing was supposed to be to formulate a plan or something about, I dunno, the emergency.

Díuc MkFieldan confirmed they could indeed send it back as soon as possible. If the members of the alliance were willing, Tiranóg will dedicate an expedition to take the artefacts back to the Elves.

Hammerhead, alternatively, suggested they could just use Kor Vurneus's fine to fund a expedition to give the crap back. If people were short on ships, that is.

Since, you know, 500,000 gold was JUST enough to fund such an expedition.

"That... Would negate the costs of the expedition almost to the last coin. Alright, Tiranóg will do the expedition to send the artifacts back to the Elves, using the fine money to foot the bill."

It'd probably just be an Alliance cooperative expedition in that case. No reason for it to be explicitly Tiranog.

FRIENDSHIP!

... The Postal service actually, shockingly, already had this whole thing dedicated to mail in new regions. Maybe instead of another bunch of Roughs going in, the Post could deliver the mail and would be happy to do their jobs so as to not have to transport the darn things more than is strictly necessary. IE: taking everything over to Tiranóg so that Tiranóg could take it back and then to the Elves, which seemed inefficient.

"That works too," Hammerhead said, smiling with a nod. "Fine money could pay the delivery costs for the Post getting it there. In either case it gets there."

"I find this acceptable." MkFieldan said.

Cool, the Post would take the scraps of the cloak and the fine back home then, and Corn would write up a Sending Things Back PM, and... was that it, at this point?

Kor Vurneus publicly announces their support for the rule of the future Duke Jacob de Cazou of Des-Accor in this trying time for their nation. They will pledge to defend them from any external threats and support any internal issues the Duke requests aid with. Leadership has been thrust upon him in a perilous situation, and we would ease some of that burden if we could.

The Merchant Confederation of Tourma, after significant lobbying, has been granted status sufficient to create an official International Bank of Nova Kalla.

This institution will handle loan requests from other Alliance powers, so that the government of Nova Kalla can get on with actually governing.

All the head honchos in the Alliance (and also that dashing Khan) got issued a letter stating that the exchange had gone through. The money had already been sent to Verdaral for safekeeping, as discussed. The initial delivery had been a success, with a human envoy of the Elves completing the route. A copy of the letter which had accompanied the money was also delivered with the missive.

The letter concluded with news of a less expected development. One of the human representatives of the Elves had offered to stay in Bras-Tendues as a means of emergency contact, to prevent further miscommunication. The Post had taken her up on it, and there she would be for now, if something should come up.

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Copypasta of the letter
The elves have made good on their promise of a reward - somewhat. They have given us 5 million gold in the form of ingots, but no magical trinkets. The letter included is fairly clear on the fact that the damage the cloak suffered was not something they were happy about, and they were as such reducing the reward. Reading between the lines, it seemed that they were saying humans could not be trusted with any amount of magic items.

There was also a reminder not to allow Kor Vurneus to benefit from the reward in any way, though it seemed almost like an afterthought. Honestly, looking through the letter with a keen eye for the written word, the elves seem pleased with how things had gone, and mostly just seemed to be using the destroyed cloak as an excuse to get out of giving the full reward.

Thedrin replied that the gold had been secured in the strongest vault available with the best guards available. Whatever the Alliance would end up using it for, it'd be good and ready when that time came.