Fantasy Cursed Island

[Darkling0096]

"Of course," Naela slid the stack across the table, "This is everything involved in the creation of an account, take all the time you need." The entire stack stuck together, apparently that was just the paperwork for a single account, and it was thicker than Sinach.

 

[Fangs9090]

Emilia nodded. "We're going to be here a while." She settled down and started looking through the paperwork, reading and re-reading every bit of every page to make sure she didn't miss anything. She even checked for anything written on the backsides and meticulously checked for papers sticking together. Adran had made sure she knew all the tricks for hiding details in a contract, and she was looking for them all.

 

[Darkling0096]

The contract was dense. A large portion of it was dedicated to defining terms in the legal sense. It was a good thing Adran had also taught Emilia to read very quickly while retaining as much information as possible. There were a lot of terms that seemed very sneaky, but oddly... for once this was a contract that was exactly what the offerer stated. Some terms that she hadn't defined, like the percentages of interest, were a bit surprising, but so long as none of them took out large loans that hopefully wouldn't be an issue. It did prey entirely on one thing, though: If you didn't know anything about what you were doing, a lot of things could jump out and bite you. It masqueraded as trustworthy by putting everything up front. The size of the contract discouraged anyone who wasn't wealthy enough to benefit from using the bank or desperate enough to need its services from going through it. Hinging on that massive size, it preyed on most people's instinct to just skip to the part they sign at, not reading the fine print and all the other things they had to select. Hidden fees only someone who lived and breathed contracts like a fiend summoner, or a lawyer, would know. Because everything was visible, the onus was entirely on the customer to be aware of what they were signing, it was hardly the bank's fault the customer wouldn't read the contract, after all!

After seemingly hours of study, several things popped out to Emilia that she would definitely have to explain to the others to make sure they understood it, but overall the contract was suspicious only in how straightforward it was.

 

[Fangs9090]

While Emilia was reading through the contract, Nidia called to ask where they were. By the time Emilia finished reading things over and was ready to explain things to the party, Nidia had arrived at the bank downstairs.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Can you... let her in?", Jalin asked once Nnidia called to tell she was in the bank.

"Describe your friend."

"She's a cat, talktative, annd she's carrying at least one potion." Naela nodded and scratched that down, dropping it into a tube next to her desk, where suddenn suction took it away. Before long Nidia was being shown to the cubicle.

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia looked around as she was brought up to the second floor, potion in hand. "Ooh, fancy." She smiled at the party as she rejoined them, handing Siege the potion.

 

[Darkling0096]

'Oh, finally!", Siege didn't even question what exactly the potion was, she just chugged it down.

"As I'm sure you've figured out," Naela said to Emilia, "There's nothing to worry about!"

 

[Fangs9090]

The potion tasted oddly plain, but the symptoms of Siege's hangover began to fade shortly after. Nidia rested her hands on her ears again, humming once more as she restored her hearing.

Emilia nodded. "Yeah. It's just unusual for it all to be so up front. As long as we don't take out a loan or start some major business, we should be fine."

 

[Darkling0096]

"Mmm," Siege relaxed some as her brain was screwed on straight again and stopped telling her everything hurt. "Now, what the hell's been going on?" Naela raised a surprised eyebrow at Siege's coarse language, but shook her head.

"We're a bank," Naela smiled, "If our customers could never have monney to store with us, we'd have no business!" She looked around the room again, "So, would you each be wanting your own accounts, or one large joint account?"

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy looked at the others. "Having our own accounts would make it easier for everyone to keep track of their own allotted funds, but that would be repeated fees. One joint account would have only one set of fees, but we'd have to track our spending and earning manually."

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin seemed to be doing some math in his head, "I suspect that it will be cheaper in the longterm for one large joint account, but I do not think we can afford five extra access rings." He assumed that Katsuo, being dead, wouldn't have his own mana signature the rings could track. With everything they needed at the moment, they had to conserve resources and plan ahead. "We might need to tighten our belts..." Naela didn't even seem phased, this was a discussion she saw a lot amongst destitute families negotiating loans.

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy nodded. "We may be traveling on foot a while longer..."

Emilia chipped in. “I could probably summon something for that.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"So, seven accounts?", Jalin asked.

Not being aware of the majority of the conversation prior to hearing being restored, Siege just blurted out, "Why not?" Seeming to take this as stating that the party each wanted their own accounts, Naela reached under the desk again and pulled out six more three-inch thick stacks of paperwork.

"Each of these is all the paperwork involved in the creation of one account," Naela said with a smile. The relief on Siege's face disappeared. "We also have our own notary on the ground floor, so that is not an issue, either." Naela's desk creaked under the weight, but she didn't seem concerned. The bank's health insurance would more than cover her potion bills, and such a success as this would look good on her record within the company even if she got hurt in the process.

 

[Fangs9090]

"I suppose so." Roy looked at Siege. "You can sign papers, right?"

 

[Darkling0096]

"I'm not illiterate!", Siege snapped.

"Yes, well I cannot," Jalin piped up.

"Why is that?", Naela asked, "You can't write?"

"I am blind, and braille stamps are not legally binding i most nations." Jalin hadn't yet figured out how to make a stylus that could convert Braille into regular handwriting, yet.

"Well, if you do the paperwork in the notary, if you're present and affirm your consent, you can have someone sign for you."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy gave a nod. "That'll do, I suppose. Well, let's get this started."

 

[Darkling0096]

Naela smiled and scribbled something down on a slip of paper, dropping it into the same pneumatic tube she'd dropped the invite for Nidia in. "Well, then," she stacked up all the contracts and picked up the stack, fortunately being tall enough to lift with her knees as she got the heavy pile off the table, "The elevator is waiting~", she sang as she led them back to where they'd gotten up. With the addition of Nidia and paperwork, it was even more cramped on the square than before, but they managed to fit as the plate formed to take them back down to the first floor, where Naela led them past the tellers to a section of the building closer to the vault.

As Jalin, Katsuo, and Emilia got closer to the vault as they passed, all three of them felt the white magic protecting it start to warm against them, rejecting the black magics and "dirty" mana they used. It didn't seem to set off any alarms. If anything it just seemed like another barrier designed to keep unsavory types out of the vault.

 

[Fangs9090]

Katsuo and Emilia subconsciously walked a bit further from the vault, as much as they could without straying from the group. But they otherwise did show any signs of reacting to it.

 

[Darkling0096]

Jalin moved with Katsuo, more to keep close with the group than anything else, focused on feeling out the world around him through his feet and his cane.

Siege and Katsuo being in full armor with their weapons across their backs got several looks of concern from bank employees who promptly drew screens down as they passed. The notary was filled with several more elves, dwarves, humans, and halflings running about pushing papers and stamping things. The human woman sitting behind the counter as the party approached raised an eyebrow at Siege and Katsuo, "If you're here to rob the place-"

"They're here to open accounts, Samantha," Naela set the stacks of contracts down, "These need to be signed, notarized, and processed." She was looking at the party as she said that. She peeled one of the giant contracts off, asking which party members would be opening accounts. Katsuo ended up being the odd man out, the explanation given by Jalin to avoid suspicion of Katsuo's nature being that Katsuo was his servant. It wasn't far off, but Jalin made a mental note to apologize to Katsuo later.

With Emilia's help, and her handwriting neatened by years of writing contracts, in the case of Jalin's the group account's contract, the group managed to navigate around all the surprises hidden in the contract. The opening fees and starting balance left them all with but a shadow of their former coffers. Even the few extra gold Jalin had acquired in his sideshow earlier was eaten by fees.

"Well," Samantha snapped her fingers and ann enchanted stone was tossed to her, which she ran over the contracts to make sure nothing had been altered, before placing the contracts in a box under the desk, one at a time. The box would buzz, then light up green to tell her that it was legit and everything was correct, at which point she would stamp it, have the signer sign another form that somehow translated a signature through onto all three sheets of paper, stapling one of the sheets to the contract before she sent it down the conveyor belt, handing one to Naela as the officiator, and handing the remaining sheet to the account owner with instructions to keep it safe.

When Naela wasn't looking, Samantha leaned over the counter to whisper in the party's ears, "Listen, if you lose that sheet you're never going to get into your account in a timely manner again, this system ain't built for species that don't live forever."

And the Naela looked back over and Samantha was back in business mode, stamping contracts, "All clear."

"Good," Naela put her businness smile back on, "Accesses?"

"Right, I'll be right back." Samantha vanished back into the inner workings of the notary, giving the party a few minutes to process what just happened.

 

[Fangs9090]

Emilia let out a sigh. “And I thought dealing with demons was complicated...” She shook her head.

Roy nodded. “This is certainly more time consuming than I thought it would be. With far more strings attached.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"It's all for legal purposes," Naela explained, "Unlike demons, for our contracts to be binding all terms need to be defined, legal statutes cited, terms and conditioned stated..." she went off on a tangent about why such a complicated contract was necessary.

"Whatever, just...", Siege put up her hands, "Quit giving me a headache!"

 

[Fangs9090]

Nidia spoke up. “At least we seem to be almost done.”

 

[Darkling0096]

"Almost," Naela smiled.

"Alrighty," Samantha came back with a tray on top of a wide box. "You've got some options, as far as your Access." She pulled out a ring similar to the one Naela had used to demonstrate how the bank transferred funds, although this one looked more plain than Naela's ebony demonstration piece. Then she pulled out a wristband that had several discs mounted around the stone, an amulet that was the size of the largest pad on Nidia's palm, a bracelet that looked to Emilia like Adran's improved version of the timekeeper stone band, with one large section and a single thin band leading off of it, as well as a part that looked like it would clip to something, and a brooch pin like one might find on the throat of a wealthy lady or on the lapel of a wealthy man. All of them were made of simple grey iron, although the discs that controlled the transfer of funds were silver, and the stones beige.

"These are all demonstration pieces," Samantha explained, "You can have your pick of the base metal or any designs you'd like etched into it, but you have to follow these guidelines," she passed a pamphlet over the counter that had a lot of detailed information about designs. Right away, it was clear this was another moneymaking opportunity for the bank, as everything that didn't look like a demonstration piece costed extra.

"I don't think we're gonna be doing all that," Siege said out loud.

"Your choice," Samantha shrugged, "Take your pick. Ring, wristband, medallion, watchband, or brooch."

 

[Fangs9090]

Roy considered it for a moment before going for the wristband. Nidia and Emilia both looked distressed. The demonstration pieces wouldn’t match any of their outfits, so customization was extremely tempting, despite the price.

 

[Darkling0096]

"Wristband," Samantha scratched that down, before setting a base wristband aside. "Take all the time you need, girls, you've got all day."

"No, we don't," Siege replied. it felt like they'd been doing this all day, she just wanted to get this over with so she could go to sleep. "Medallion." The medallion could be hidden under your shirt, Siege was skipping the fashion issue entirely.

"A ring will suffice," Jalin said in turn.

"Medallion, ring," Samantha scratched that down and set those aside and looked to Emilia and Nidia, "If you girls are having any trouble, you can come back later and have your Access altered, you're not stuck with what you choose for the rest of your life."