The Plan

The scene is one of economic sabotage.  What does one get for the man
who owns all the fish, after all?

Gabriel, having peeled off from the party too early on in their
adventuring life, did so for a reason, you see.  Before having ever
met them, he saw A Coming Storm; he recognized it once as a younger
man in a port town, not of wind and rain, but of men and the empires
and alliances they build, and finally the pillars of creation shaken
to the point of collapse.  But this was not for some time, and
Gabriel, as a younger half half, for a half-elf anyway, had a knack
for the curious.  Now locally, despite the storms (literally in this
case, quite often and noticeably unnatural to the keen), one boat
would make it through.  The commoners saw this captain as a bold hero,
but Gabriel saw enough to know where he needed to be if he were ever
to get to the bottom of things, or kick off any kind of real
adventure.  With a silver tongue, a knack for disguise, and the
ability to get down the basic skills of any profession faster than
anyone he, or anyone else he knew for that matter, knew (and the
equally honed skill of garnering plenty of patience from the
establishment, with ample time to learn whatever may have directly
been required with the peripheral benefits in tow of a soothing song
or story at the end of a bitter cold day, or a rousing tune to keep
your eyes straight on task and your hands from slipping at the heights
of the storm).

After picking up a few sailor’s tricks but largely gaining insight
into the specifics of the Stormwind operation and how they were
controlling the shipping lanes, Gabriel, under the guise of Gar’ rel
the Minstrel of the Eastern Seas, made more than a few friends,
spanning the ten towns and Eastern Isles, including a storm priest
named Galadril.

They concocted a plan of the grandest of scales, spanning multiple
planes and a multitude of partnerships, then set off to set each their
own piece into action.  Galadril was to disrupt the powers behind the
planes, as luck would have it happening upon a party of noble heroes
he came to call family, already undertaking the same goal.

Gabriel’s task was of a different variety.  Setting the stage, each
domino in place, for a complete overhaul of the socio-economic powers.
If properly staged, a potent enough trap to lure not only the powers
behind Stormwood Enterprise and those pushing to use magic to overtake
the free market (and if they got their darkest wish, the free world)-
but more importantly the resistance forces that oppose them with ever
increasing voice.

After meeting the party once early on he knew they were ideal for the
coming battles, and Kal-Drel had already volunteered to aid them in
their endeavors, until Gabriel had finished in the recruiting phase.

(This phase is most accurately represented by a montage of shenanigans
and crazy schemes, typically with zany disguises, a lot of one armed
man segments, high society heists, etc).  This phase also marked where
Gabriel set several signals the various emissaries could use to
communicate with each other, and recognize him (since he would
certainly be in disguise when they would meet again).  When everything
came to a head, I would be wearing a scarlet scarf, or possibly rose.
 A scarf or a hat, but definitely not both, and scarlet or rose, I
have not fully decided, nor did I feel the need to.  The emissaries
agreed, and so the stage was set.

Through forged documents leading to legitimate trade deals, done “on
behalf of Prince Deonis of Avalon” a decent paper empire had been
built and maintained, leading to a tidy profit (the line between
legitimate enterprise and utter scam is a whisper thin veil,
completely see through from the right angle, anyone who says otherwise
is selling something).  This profit went to maintain trade alliances
and strategic/business management support of multiple independently
operated naval operations and land based...  Before I take a step past
my depth, I can’t take credit for most of this.  I had a vision, and a
knack for explaining it that could place both the image and the
twinkle I got whenever I saw it squarely in someone’s mind’s eye- I
can see it just there now, if I look hard enough!  Anyway, there were
key components to this plan, components that have chosen to remain
nameless, and whose identities I will never disclose for reasons which
I will similarly not disclose, for similarly undisclosed reasons.
These were they who aligned much of the powers behind the lesser
crowns, and galvanized the servants of the gods where it could be kept
quiet, culminating in the stage being set, for a much larger changing
of the guard than any but the innermost circle could possibly expect.
Certainly not  Lekaio, or Zhelaniya… this was going to be a good story
regardless of the outcome, so at least there was that.