Hi

I hope someone can help me with 2 questions:

The East Bank:
While The East Bank is the active location, ally cards cost 1 additional matching resource to play from hand.

If I play a neutral ally with cost of 5, do I need to pay 6 resources for it?

Saruman: Response: After Saruman enters play, choose a non-unique enemy or location in the staging area. While Saruman is in play, the chosen enemy or location is considered to be out of play.

Could I activate the response any time during the turn?, or does it need to be activated immediately Saruman is played?

In general I would like to know if "After" means immediately the card is played.

Thanks for your help

I would pay the additional resource for a neutral ally. The only source I could find to support my assumption is an unofficial FAQ (https://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/82879/comprehensive-card-list-and-unofficial-faq), which is quite old, but it says "For Neutral allies, the cost is one additional resource of the type you are already paying."

(The part about "the type you are already paying" seems irrelevant, since you can pay for neutral cards from any resource pool...)

For Saruman, "after" means immediately after. From the rule book: "Responses are always optional, and can be triggered by their controller in response to (i.e. immediately after) a specified game occurrence. "