ThisI think Storm has it right. I just hope the developers are willing to take another look at this when the complaints start rolling in after the publish.
It seems just like the saltpeter vendor on the floating dock to me. The original design will serve to annoy the players once the prices are completely jacked up across the facets and a few enterprising individuals make it their habit of bribing enough that all the NPCs are being watched by their guild shortly after server up each day.