I'll cover them all if I have to, but I'm getting dangerously low and would like it if someone could cover at least one of them.

Also, how is the courier getting the gold to us? Will he be lead straight to us here in the Basilica, or will we be informed via radio and allowed to go get it?

I'd be willing to front a FATE point, although I'm not sure exactly how many I have left.

More than I do, most likely. I've been handing them out like candy.

If memory serves I've got two fate points left after convincing someone that magic exists, so I'd rather hold onto them in case something like a fight breaks out. Also, if we've got iron and gold in the same mine then it's hard rock mining anyway; the miners can simply have hit a seam.

However, if I do have more than 2, I'll kick in one.

I htink I probably have the most, except for maybe Sam. I'd be fine footing the bill so you guys can keep yours.

I'll take two points from Roger and one from Nate, both of whom have plenty.

Current FATE point totals, after the above:

Arkady: 2
Felix: 4
Nate: 8
Roger: 6

I'm going to hold off sending anything to the Patriarchs until I get a radio report from Nathan telling me how much gold we have for bribery purposes.

Is Felix contacting Arkady or doing this with the folks present?

Might not be a good idea to include Arkady since he's so close to Raven. Raven might hear and guess as to what we're doing.

Though we could send text messages via tablet. That might work.

It seems highly unlikely that Raven speaks English. You could always discuss things among yourselves and use the language barrier to your advantage.

Starts choking.

Is that really impressive, considering all the spending Raven has been doing recently?

David has no idea how much all of this bribery actually cost Raven. He's estimating how big the Elene treasury would have been before Raven started making unscheduled withdrawals, based on things like the average tax rate and whether the previous monarch was known for his sensible financial policies (he wasn't).

And yes, you now have once-off access to a lot of gold. Don't spend it all in one place.

So we can spend a whole lot on a large number of bribes, but after this is over the remainder goes to Chyrellos as part of our tithes?

As far as David knows, it's all going to tithes, and he may have Words with you if he finds out that part of it is being used for bribery.

You can spend it how you want, but if you can't explain yourself to David and/or Captain Argent after the fact, there may be some diplomatic repercussions down the line.

Arkady is going to break land speed records to see if the bribes can be considered as part of the tithe too...

Btw, are we talking kilos of gold or tons of it? Just how valuable is gold around here, anyway? Historic 'gold coins mass 4 grams and only greater nobles and merchant lords ever see pounds of it' rates, better, or worse?