The Auctioneer

The Auctioneer, also known as Tolliver, is an NPC played by Griffin McElroy in The Adventure Zone: Ethersea. They ran the Abyssal Auction, as well as Crescendo.

Appearance
When the Coriolis crew first meets the Auctioneer, they are wearing an avatar in order to hide their appearance, much like everyone else at the Abyssal Auction. They are dressed in a white holographic vapor suit with a white pyramid for a head.

Later, when Devo meets them again at Crescendo, he is described as a young man not much older than Devo, in his early thirties. He is wearing a golden mask, which hides the scars running the length of his face; Griffin describes them as "not claw marks, but three long scratches," one of which goes over his eye, which is missing. There is something uncanny about the way he presents himself; he remains standing after an explosion knocks Devo off his feet, and "shimmers like light through water."

The Abyssal Auction
The Coriolis crew first meets the Auctioneer at the Abyssal Auction. As their name suggests, they emcee and oversee the event, including the actual sale of the items up for auction. Griffin describes them as "running a tight ship."

When the group of Cubes attacks in the auction hall, the Auctioneer disappears into a back room and is not seen again until Episode 18, after the bleached Brinarr ship has begun destroying the station. Although everyone else is understandably panicked by this, the Auctioneer is described as being unusually calm. They settle up with the attendees of the auction, and express regret over the way things panned out.

Their hologram suit begins to disappear, revealing a cube-shaped sprite underneath, which falls to the ground, inert; it is implied that they were never physically present in the first place.

The Menagerie
Devo meets the Auctioneer again after charming his way into a viewing room at Crescendo. Although most of the other people in the room flee the room after Devo warns them that the authorities are coming, one individual in a golden mask appears unusually calm and remains seated. Although they are not "wild" about having "uninvited guests," they offer to show Devo the way to the jungle (where Amber is trapped) if Devo participates in the hunt.

Devo recognizes them as the Auctioneer; the Auctioneer suggests that Devo instead call him Tolliver. Devo is unamused and disparages him for poaching the missing animals. They converse until Zoox destroys Dreams of Deborah, which in turn destroys most of Crescendo; although Devo is knocked to the ground by the explosion, Tolliver remains standing—which Griffin describes as "very still" and "not physically normal."

Tolliver tells Devo that the loss of Crescendo is not a big deal because it has served its purpose. They go on to explain that they believe "this world is over," and that they are a "fan of the world to come." Devo calls him a pessimistic asshole.

Much like how they disappeared from the Abyssal Auction, Tolliver's construct collapses into a puddle, which splashes onto Devo and gives him a vision of a sunset over an ocean; he feels Tolliver's conviction, but remains unimpressed.

Benefactor's Folly
After Devo splits the timeline, Tolliver visits him in his office (formerly the Hand of Guidance's) in Timeline B.

Tolliver explains that although he is the "embodiment of the will of magic," what Devo did is so unprecedented that even he has no idea what the long-term effects will be. He goes on to explain how this new timeline differs from the original, and is surprised when Devo seems to take it all in stride. He is amenable to working with Devo as Devo plans to figure out how to fix magic and kill Benevolence, although he is taken aback by Devo's many "hidden depths."

Trivia

 * Tolliver is also the name of Declan Cern's son.