Dorian Barbarrow's eyes flew across the reports that had been flooding into his office all night. He was not happy. The legendary elemental monstrosity had inflicted some severe losses to his interests.

His tertiary warehouse was in ruins and would have to be rebuilt; most of the wares stored there were unsalvageable. The Diamond Goose Tavern, which he owned, had been leveled. Sticks and Bones, of which he was the largest shareholder, would need thousands of crowns sent this morning if it was going to be able to open by tomorrow. Four of his tenement buildings were now uninhabitable; fortunately and thanks to the Adventurer's Guild, their occupants had almost all survived. He set aside some funds for the families that had suffered casualties. Three of the lost ships in the harbor had cargo that was owed to the Barrbarrow Trading House. He had been smart enough to ensure all the ships he owned were far from the city before Cauldrakon attacked the Fort.

Already, requests for emergency funds from the city council had been delivered by a stream of apologetic aides. The council members were desperate to restore the city as quickly as possible before the impending celebration of Founders Day. And, of course, they did not have the required coin to perform this miracle. They knew Dorian did.

He calculated the costs. The scrappers would charge extra, given the short timetable. The Builder's Guild would be more reasonable, as they had several projects awaiting his approval and funding. A quiet word that those projects would get priority after the holiday would be all the motivation the construction teams needed to immediately get working on any buildings in danger of coming down today.

There were also payments to the clergy and physicians to cover the costs of their ministrations during the crisis. Healing, unless one was a druid or another form of primal healer, was resource-intensive. Arcane healers needed treated bandages and tinctures. Divine medics sacrificed gifts to the One Hundred. In an emergency, the city repaid those costs, which more often than not meant he and his trading empire covered those costs.

It was not all losses, though. He had gotten the authority to loot the crab spawn from both the city guard and the Adventurer's Guild. His agents were dashing through the city, collecting any loot the defenders had missed. The majority of it was crabmeat, but since tomorrow was the Founders Day festival, a massive supply of delectable monster meat could turn out to be ridiculously profitable. If life gives you crabs, make gumbo.

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He was more than a bit annoyed that cousin Myllonell and his guild had destroyed the creature's legendary core. He could have negotiated for that treasure as payment for his financial support and used the core to recoup all these expenses. Since the priceless core was now nothing more than scattered shards, Dorian would have to find another way to offset the calamity's costs.

As the tattooed business mogul set aside the repayment funds for the healers, he noticed a specific name again. Doctor Xandam Reevadah had filed a recompensation receipt for a newcomer healer going by the unassumingly simple moniker of 'Joe'. The leprechaun tycoon had already seen that name on several reports over the last few days.

This Joe had drawn the Saint of Cliffside into the city proper two days in a row. Councilwoman Yalaeth Blackgrove had reported that Joe had received divine intervention from both the patron god of Fort Coral, Mairree, and his estranged sister, Murccee, during the Cauldrakon crisis. The paladin added that two other gods had expressed significant ill will towards this individual. Somehow, this Joe had incurred the displeasure of the spiteful god Hayt and the death-bringer, Dmyz. Cousin Myllo had listed the man's name on numerous activity reports to the city council throughout the cyclonic catastrophe. The active leader of the Adventurer's Guild had not been stingy in his praise of the healer.

Trading House agents had already surveilled the young human after Mercy Suku's second visit, but this Joe had an empowered obfuscation effect concealing his identity and attributes. Dorian's teams were some of the best in Fort Coral, and while they easily penetrated the individual's false identity, they were surprisingly foiled from getting any real information regarding the newcomer.

The leprechaun's sharp mind crafted a dossier from all the information he had gained so far about this enigma and stored it in a [Memory Crystal]. After unlocking a desk drawer, he placed the new information shard in a velvet-lined case that he mentally called his 'ones-to-watch' box.

When things settled down and after the holiday, the richest man in Fort Coral would find time to meet with this promising new adventurer.

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