Responsible Sourcing [Job/Solo]

Garret was reading a report from their Troubleshooter, Marinus Nerva. It looked like he had cleared out the larger beasts that were three meters or higher within the immediate area of the place Portsmouth would be built. This would allow the military personnel to handle any of the beasts remaining. Acius and Iulius had explained that this kind of operation would cause the balance of that area to go off by quite a bit, as all of the larger predators were removed. This was, however, in favor of the city as it would allow those that were normally preyed upon to copulate and increase in number, thus allowing the hunters to gather more game and feed those who came in to work on the city itself. Of course, farming systems would have to be put in place as well on the outskirts of the city proper, so that they would have a self-sustainable source of food and not fully reliant on imports. Acius explained that while they would certainly be a port city, their entire diet could not be based on fish alone.

Pleased at the progress Marinus Nerva had made, Garret brought his attention back to the matters that were close at hand. He had joined in on a meeting that was being held by Tacitus Sextus, the Assistant Project Manager. They were discussing the specifics of getting two guards into Lagi El Nagi's personal guard systems, one of which being somewhat obvious while the second of which was going to be a sleeper agent who had his own credentials that didn't tie him into Kou. Carmen's cell had the men there, and Garret was certain of the quality of her operatives. They would, of course, have to replace those men and bolster the number of operatives at her disposal for every day things. They were at that point working on what to do to get the other operative's identity and papers forged to give him a believable back story.

Their planning and discussions were shortly thereafter interrupted by the entrance of Aurelius Junius and Lucanus Albinus. The two brought with them some papers, and Tacitus Sextus and the others showed the appropriate respect for the two that had entered, heads of their respective departments, and began to discuss the reason for their presence in the room. It wasn't that it was unnatural for Aurelius Junius to appear himself, seeing as he was the head of that particular department, but to also see him accompanied by Lucanus Albinus held with it portents that pointed towards something that needed to be handled with haste. Garret was the first to broach the topic. "So, what brings the two of you to the operations planning room?"

Lucanus Albinus nodded to Aurelius Junius, who obtained a table and had the group surround it. They brought out a large map, and Aurelius picked out a few tacks and began tacking a location to the northwest of their Villa. Garret knew the place well; not only was it the city that held the original location of The Huang Place To Be, but it was also the base of operations for Cell Leader Martialis Lucilius. Several documents were spread out across the top of the board, and Aurelius spoke. "As you all know, King Lagi has outlawed slavery, making it a crime to buy or sell slaves, or own them if you are a citizen of Reim living in Reim. Though they do not know who we are by affiliation, we have assisted slave traders that we have had previous connections with transitioning to the new laws and re-working their business in a legal manner. There are, however, still others that refused such help and have cut off ties with us. While we aren't here to enforce the laws of the king of this land, we are still a government organization. It is important for us to follow as many of the laws as possible, and to refrain from taking liberties with our immunity to many of the laws that most people must follow. We cannot overlook others crimes so easily, and thus it is our duty to remove the sole remaining man who is using slave labor for his work, one of the metal smiths that provide basic equipment for our field operatives."

As it had been for the past few weeks, Marinus Nerva was still unavailable for such work. The group already knew that Garret would be the one following up on this mission, and they all immediately went into the run down for the details of the work that he would be performing. It turned out that there was a large-scale auction occurring, with various VIP members joining to purchase slaves at the location. It wasn't an advertised event, and it was invitation only. The department had managed to get their hands on one such invitation, and created a forged document for Garret to use that would provide him entry to the location. Garret expanded on the project, suggesting that they send a strike force to round up the slaves, free them as per the decree by King Lagi, and then subsequently offer them jobs to help build the city Portsmouth. They worked out the details further for that, setting Garret up with a team lead by the local Cell Leader, Martialis Lucilius.

With Lucanus there, Garret recalled that he had a letter to send back to the homeland. It was a request, directly to Spymaster Takahashi Sato, requesting all details they had on those with any political power within Kou ranks, as well as any military power and monetary power. The last of the information he was requesting was the backgrounds on the heads of his departments, so he could better know who he was working with. Garret knew they already knew his background, so he felt it was only fair for him to know of theirs as well. With that, he would also be in the position to know how to treat others appropriately in social standings, an important thing to keep in mind when he recalled the exchanges at the Reim Summit.

Garret headed out, and made his way Northwest, to the underground slave auction...

OOC:

Word Count: 1035/1500

Martialis Lucilius had had time to get set up, and was moving his men around the neighborhood in order to close the net. Of course, there was a specific time that they would strike, which would be around midnight. The goal was not the capture of those individuals who were purchasing the slaves, but the defeat of the slavers and the re-appropriation of the slaves so that they could be offered jobs once freed. Likely, since they would otherwise have to fend for themselves, having an opportunity to obtain a paid job right out of slavery would be an irresistible offer to many who did not have family to return to.

Garret stood at the doorway to the slave house, wearing clothing befitting a Kou noble. The silky cloth spoke volumes of the level of wealth he supposedly had. The guards in front of the doorway carefully gauged Garret, and the guard in front of the door treated him respectfully when he spoke. "I apologize, sir, but this is an invitation-only party. May I see your invitation?" He held his hands out to Garret while another two guards watched him as well.

Garret pulled out his Royal Dragon Fan with his left hand, while searching through a sleeve for his forged invitation. Producing it, Garret placed it within the hand of the guard while fanning himself and looking around the area in a bored manner. The guard opened the invitation and read over it, nodding afterwards. "Everything checks out, here. As you know, we don't allow weapons into the party. The hosts are offering the security detail for the party. Garret nodded curtly to the man, as if to tell him to move on with it.

One of the guards came to Garret and patted him down, ensuring he did not hold any weapons on his person. Garret had not come with Kuroi Shimo, leaving that with the Cell Leader Martialis Lucilius. Finding nothing, the guards ushered him in and gave him back his invitation papers with a number '107' to wear. Once he passed through the doorway the guards closed the door. The first room he entered was fairly dark, and was designed in the manner of a hallway. There was a candlelit chandelier ahead of Garret at the end of the hallway, casting their rays of light across the two guards that were standing on opposite sides of the short hallway. Immediately as Garret took this information into sight, he noted that after the end of the hallway there was a railing to a staircase that seemed to go down to the right. It was apparent that the 'ground floor' was simply an entrance to an underground structure, just as the layout plans had mentioned.

Without missing a beat, Garret walked forward with confidence and boredom. He closed his Royal Dragon Fan and continued moving until he passed out of the dark hallway and into the bright open area. Squinting at the sudden exposure of light to all sides of him, Garret took in the sights about him. The staircase to his right spiraled around the side of the building and was about one meter in length; likely enough space for two people to walk down those stairs side-by-side. Garret saw that the ceiling above was slightly domed, and the chandelier hanging from it seemed to also be partially magical in origin; the light it gave off was much stronger than what he believed would be normal for simple candlelight. Looking below, Garret saw a gathering of nobles and merchants alike. He took the stairs down to join them, his footsteps echoing through the building. Some individuals looked up to see him descend, taking note in the finery that he wore and wondering who he was.

Stairway:

Garret had transferred his fan into his right hand as he had reached the bottom of the stairs, keeping his left hand balled up and held behind his back. This was not an aggressive stance he took, but the stance of a man who had supreme confidence in his safety and importance. His gaze took in the faces of several people there, looking for the merchant who had spurned the new laws that King Lagi had put in place. Garret could not find him right off the bat, but he wasn't in too much of a hurry. He was sure that he would find the merchant before the end of the night. Garret mingled in the crowd, for the first time in a long time he placed a mask on his emotions, only showing a pleasant yet distanced politeness to many who spoke to him. A couple had approached Garret, man and woman, with the woman's arm wrapped around the man. This woman wore elegant clothing, golden earrings, and a pair of expensive looking jewelry. The man was an extremely clean-cut gentleman, and Garret could sense the air about the man as that of a bodyguard. It was, therefore, predictable that it would be the woman who would begin speaking to him. "Good evening, sir. You look new around here, which is a little strange. This is an invitation only party, are you sure you're in the right place?"

It was to be expected. Those that still owned and bought slaves would be few and far between. The hundred or so prospective buyers at the auction tonight would know each other fairly well. The team, however, had already thought out this eventuality and properly prepared a back story for him. "I'm here for a friend. They're under tight watch due to their... Position." Garret shook his head, slowly, with an expression of mock empathy. "It was their hope, however, that they could get their hands on good merchandise at such an event... And here I find myself."

The woman watched him closely, her exaggerated suspicions turning to amusement. "I see. Did your 'friend' ask for anything in specific... Maybe something... Exotic?" She suppressed a smile, though the tone in her words made it apparent that she was in the process of attempting to humiliate Garret. "Perhaps I can show you to the right direction?"

OOC:

Word Count: (1035+1035) 2070/1500

Garret looked at her briefly, deciding how he wanted to respond. Only a moment had passed, and a smile threatened to flicker across his face. Garret turned his fan over and flicked it open, covering his mouth as a large grin appeared. The design that held his identifying mark was pointed towards his face, and therefore unseen by those around him. He approached her, intending to come extremely close to her to whisper in her ear. The man whose arm she had wrapped hers around moved forward as if to stop him, yet she held him back with a slight tug on his arm. Stepping half-way past her, he spoke lightly to her, one hand resting far too familiarly on her shoulder. "Everything." Garret paused for a moment, and then chuckled. He did not offer her time to turn, and continued walking past her before she could respond.


The time passed, and as it got closer to midnight the majority of the group had moved its way into the actual auction location itself. The area was open, and had a balcony level for the buyers, as well as a ground level. There were several paintings that adorned the wall, and there were plenty of seats for those that joined and their partners. There were more lights in this room, enough to give a good look at the center stage where the good would be showcased.

The Auction Room:

Garret had long since found his target, and sat directly behind him. There were still two hours  or so until midnight arrived, and the auction began underway. The auctioners started out with the average slaves to get the the crowd built up on excitement, and it seemed that the final four slaves that would be auctioned off were extremely high quality. The Auctioneer explained what the slave was skilled at, and what he was groomed for. The first slave began at 15 gold coins, an approximation of 30,000 Huang. The Auctioneer began speaking, taking bets here and there. The betting escalated in intensity until it seemed like the other participants were tapering off. Finally, the Auctioneer called what seemed to potentially be the last bidder. "We've got a 30 gold coin bidder!"

Garret took stock of the slave that was up for auction, critiquing the quality of the muscle tone that he could see from where he was at.  According to the Auctioneer this male slave was meant for hard labor. The muscles that the slave had reflected as much. The slave was adorned with expensive clothing meant to present the merchandise in much the same way a well crafted picture frame would engage the eyes of an art critic, working in harmony to showcase the slave. Garret raised his hand up, palm facing him and four of his fingers extended straight up, with just his thumb curled up. If he was going to be waiting for midnight, he may as well enjoy himself while he was at it.

"Aaaaaand we've got a 34 gold coin bidder! Anyone higher?" The Auctioneer was loud and spoke excitedly, calling out to the crowd for any other higher bids. The man was able to speak so loudly only due to the construction of the building, which kept such noises from escaping out into the surrounding city. At first nobody raised the bid, yet just before Garret had won the Auctioneer shouted out in delight as a new bid was added. "38 gold coin bidder! Would ya' give 40, would ya' go 40, would ya' bid 40 for it!?!"

Garret looked to see who had added even more to the bid and noticed that it was the woman from before. Curious to see what kind of intentions she had in regards to the increase in the bid amount, Garret rose his hand once more. This time, there were but two fingers raised with his palm still facing himself. "Fooooorty gold coin bidder! Any other bidders?! Looooookin' for 45 gold coins, would ya give 45, would ya bid 45, would ya go 45 for iiiiit?!" No new bids came forth, and the auctioneer ended it there. "Aaaaand 107 wins the first bid of the evening!" The bidders clapped quietly as the Auctioneer wrote down the winning bid and the winning bidder's number on a paper, having a helping hand take the slave to the side and keeping track of who won what sales.

The next bidding began, and it was another male slave. He didn't seem much better than the prior one, and so Garret watched the bids once again. The same individuals that started out the bids last time were continuing on the bids again. Garret took note that the Metal Merchant was one of the individuals bidding on the slave. On two occasions, Garret intentionally increased the price to force the man to pay more for the slave. Instead of bumping the gold coin amount to 34, this time Garret stopped at 31, and the merchant purchased the slave at 32. How many does the man need? Garret idly thought to himself, curious as to what the goals of the individual bidders were.

The next slave that was brought out was a female slave, who was obviously groomed for other purposes. Her revealing clothing only served to accentuate those very purposes. Various bidders leaned closer, and when the bidding began it was a much more heated competition than the past two were. This slave had ended up selling out for 63 gold coins. Garret occasionally placed bids of his own, increasing the bids sometimes just to force people to pay more, and on occasion to actually win a few himself. There was a certain level of euphoria that came about in winning an auction, which was only augmented by the fact that it was humans that they were buying. Garret was careful to not let the emotions grasp a hold on his core, and reminded himself that he was only doing this for amusement. After all, when the day was over the bidding truly meant nothing.

Garret had just won his fifth slave. Two of the slaves he had purchased were pleasure slaves, and the other three were laborers. It was getting close to midnight, and Garret felt the start of their mission was close at hand...


OOC:

Word Count: (1070+2070) 3140/1500

Garret idly noted a guard hurrying up towards the auction stage in the middle of the bid. Several bidders began speaking, slightly disgruntled at the interruption while also slightly concerned about what it meant for such a thing to happen. The ambiance quickly changed from having overtones of excitement with undertones of competition to having overtones of anger and undertones of worry. They soon found out why the auction was interrupted, and Garret grinned inwardly. The Auctioneer spoke to the clientele. "I ask that everyone remain calm and leave through the back areas prepared for the event we are experiencing even now. There is currently a raid being conducted on our auction."

The reaction was predictable enough to be almost comedic. At first, a majority of the people were able to contain their fears and anxiety, showing a strong composure, however there were a few that were unable to do so. These few were the ignition for a wide-spread panic, as once they began running and pushing others out of the way before even being asked to stand, the rest of the people began to stand as they did not want to be left behind. Garret was quick to react as he stood up. He moved to be between the row of chairs that the Metal Merchant was facing towards, intentionally tripping the man while staying out of the way of the stampeding bidders. Garret simply stood still, perfectly calm during the rush of individuals jumping off of the balcony and the rush of individuals running past him on either side. The merchant was unable to stand during this time, covering his head and scrunched up against one side of the isle of seats as his cane slid under the chairs next to him. When the group finally passed by, he began to stand up, panting and slightly scared of the situation. With the exit of the other bidders, that fear started to die down, and the merchant looked about him as some of the Guards approached the two. "Sirs! Please, this way. There are carriages awaiting your arrival, so that you will be able to escape. We've documented who won what, so we can deliver the slaves at a later date, but your safety comes first!"

Garret nodded to the man, walking forward towards the speaking guard as well as the guard that stood next to him. With no warning, Garret attacked the two with River Styx Style: Raging Current, sending a punch to the first Guard's chin, and a knee to the second guard's gut. The two of them passed out from the pain, and Garret took note of the other guards around the area that drew their weapons. It was at this point that everyone there knew that Garret was not simply a man who was there to participate in the auction. The Metal Merchant picked up his cane and charged at Garret, attacking him with his Longstaff. Garret reacted quickly, bringing his arm up and at an angle while performing River Styx Style: Redirecting Blows. Garret believed that with this technique, he would be able to redirect the blow to the side and prevent himself from being harmed. He was instead, however, caught unawares as the Metal Merchant pressed into the cane head and the cane separated into a third part section that made use of Garret's defensive technique to send a new attack towards Garret's head, a 3-Section-Surprise.

The blow struck Garret's Borg, bouncing off of it. He noted that the Metal Merchant was using a three-section staff, hidden as a cane in order to get it past security. In an attempt to change the flow of battle into one that would be beneficial to himself, Garret performed the River Styx Style: Crescent Whirlpool with his right foot, attempting a crescent kick to the man's temple. This technique ended in failure as the man brought one of the three sections up to defend against the attack with a 3-Section-Defense, keeping Garret from landing a powerful technique to the man. The Metal Merchant attempted to whip his staff through the air to hit Garret's head. Simultaneously, an Archer let loose an arrow from the balcony to the side, hitting Garret's Borg with an Aimed Shot. Garret was able to dodge the staff, but the arrow he did not see coming.

With the other two guards quickly closing in on Garret, he knew he needed to make quick work of his current opponent. As such, Garret immediately covered his right arm in Magoi, shooting it forward towards the Metal Merchant, who attempted to block the technique with his 3-Section-Defense. Unfortunately, Garret's River Styx Style: Ikken Hissatsu: Deep Sea Harpoon was too powerful for the defensive technique, and the attack simply brushed the defense to the side while piercing the Metal Merchant, crushing his heart. Next, Garret looked up to the Archer who had loaded what looked to be a special arrow onto his bow. As the other two Guards approached Garret, it seemed as if the archer decided to change out what type of arrow he was going to use. Garret used this opportunity, jumping high into the air and straight to the balcony with River Styx Style: Water Falls in Reverse. He landed in front of the Archer, who was quite surprised for the last moment of consciousness he had before Garret performed a spinning elbow strike to the man's temple through River Styx Style: Tranquil Strike. At the end of the spin, Garret jumped back down with the second part of the Water Falls in Reverse technique, landing in front of another one of the Guards and performing River Styx Style: Water Corrosion, dropping the newest of the opponents he engaged with. The flurry of movement and battle that Garret had participated in during the past half minute had him sweating and breathing hard. In an attempt to catch his breath, Garret breathed in deeply through his nose, regulating it through the breathing techniques that Hasan had taught him.

Garret began to hear a clash outside of the room, back by the stairway. It seemed as if his reinforcements had finally managed to handle the guards out there. Most of the guards from within the room heard the commotion as well, and many of them began moving towards the door in an attempt to stop the operatives from getting to their guests and merchandise. There were still a few behind that looked as if they wanted to oppose Garret. Quickly gauging the strength of his opponents, Garret believed that they were defeat-able through simple martial power, instead of using the more stressful techniques directly from the style. One of the Guards charged at him with his blade, and Garret brought out his Royal Dragon Fan into his right hand, intercepting the blade and striking at it with the hidden strength of the object. The man did not note the cracks in his weapon, one that was likely mass produced for guards such as him, and as such was completely shocked as the next clash of weapons destroyed his blade. Garret whacked the defenseless man on the top of his head with his Royal Dragon Fan, knocking the man unconscious.

His operatives had finally broken through the defenses of the rest of the remaining guards, and Martialis Lucilius approached Garret. When he got within two meters of the Spymaster, he bowed deeply with a devoted respect. "Come now, stand. Report the situation." Garret appreciated the gesture of respect, but they were in the middle of an operation and he wanted speed of report over the following of decorum.

Martialis stood and began speaking. "Sir. We've surrounded the building, and we've also got our operatives waiting outside the hidden exits. Slaves being the highest priority, we're aiming for their carriages over those of the buyers." The man spoke succinctly, and expressed how his men were applying themselves to follow the mission plan. He took pride in the station he now held.

Garret nodded to the man. There were a few reasons he wanted to aim for the slaves more than the buyers. The buyers were all influential people within Reim, as this was a VIP auction. Simply apprehending the guests would give Garret too much trouble, as their influence was strong enough to make it an almost worthless gesture. In fact, such an action could have potentially created powerful enemies who would work to fight back. Instead, they would attack the slavers directly by confiscating their slaves. This would cause a monetary hit to the group that would be difficult to recover from, while simultaneously providing them an opportunity to recruit the once-slaves, but now free men and women, into honest work for Portsmouth. While some of the VIP guests would certainly be upset that they were unable to get their slaves, a large majority would not care too deeply about it as they were able to escape without losing any of their gold.

Pleased with the results of the mission, Garret walked down the hallways with the operatives spreading out ahead and behind him. They would measure the degree of success once they reached the end of the escape exits...




OOC:

Word Count: (1566+3140) 4706/1500
Magoi|Stamina: 130/300

Royal Dragon Fan:

Abilities used: