As the group approached the research headquarters, Kaldalis was surprised to see Garyung loitering outside the building. He was even more surprised when the big bhogad perked up upon seeing them, and made his way to them immediately. He was practically vibrating with excitement, even though Kaldalis wasn’t exactly sure why.

“Are you here for the Infernal Horde research?” Garyung asked as soon as he was in earshot.

Kaldalis nodded once. “We hurried over as soon as soon as we remembered.”

“Which was like five minutes ago,” Myrin said cheerfully.

“Good,” Garyung said, and Kaldalis hoped it was in response to his statement and not Myrin’s sarcasm. “I was hoping to catch you. The information you’re getting is really important for everyone to know. I wanted to arrange a bit of an unofficial meeting where we could distribute and discuss it.”

“That’s a great idea,” Kaldalis said, nodding again like he was some sort of bobble-headed doll. “Can you set that up for us?”

“Sure. When and where?”

“The beach,” Myrin said, way too quickly.

Balrim turned so he could raise an eyebrow in her direction. “I’m afraid to ask, but why the beach?”

Myrin stared back at him. When the idea didn’t immediately dawn on him, she sighed. “Because we haven’t had a big bonfire gathering on the beach yet. There’s no way that one doesn’t happen at some point during the story.” She waved a hand through the air. “And if we do it now, in the mid-morning, then it’s not going to be a late-night romance bait bullshit thing like in teen summer movies.”

“That sure was a bunch of words,” Haldir said with a shrug. “And all of them are so logical and sensible.”

“So, anyway. A bonfire isn’t a bad idea.” Balrim looked to Garyung with a grin. “The smoke will attract anyone we don’t grab on the way to setting it up.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Garyung said. “I’ll grab who I can and get set up. You’ll be along shortly, then?”

Kaldalis nodded. “Yeah, we have to grab the notes, and I wanted to ask the researchers some questions about things, too. But we’ll be along right after that.”

“Great,” the bhogad said with a wide smile. “See you there.”

The quartet headed inside as Garyung started away towards the beach. Kaldalis wondered if he had already predicted the request and was meeting up with folks that were there, or if he had some sort of party beacon to place. Maybe he expected them to do the gathering.

But that was future!Kaldalis’ problem.

The building they entered was new, but as soon as they were inside, Kaldalis realized it looked like it had been here for ages. It was a cross between a library and a clerical office, with shelves crammed full of books everywhere. Tables, strewn with materials, lined up neatly between them.

At the front was a desk and a few chairs arranged as a waiting area. The desk was cluttered with notes and folders, and even the waiting area chairs were all scuffed, as if they’d been well used for years instead of built only a few days ago.

Despite the newness of the building, it had a very lived-in feeling. Comfortable, if a stuffy library was your preferred aesthetic.

Kaldalis was more of a modern-library person himself.

Bangen was behind the front desk. She seemed to be poring over a book that she held in one hand while the other hand was writing rapidly in a notebook. It was a practiced art, and seemed to be one she was very coordinated at.

She didn’t look up as they came in, and so Kaldalis walked up to the desk and waited patiently for her to finish what she was working on.

Five minutes and six pages later, he cleared his throat.

The vathon researcher almost leaped out of her chair, blurting out a wordless cry of surprise.

“How long have you been standing there?” she asked, one hand on her chest as she caught her breath.

“Not too long,” Kaldalis reassured her.

“It’s been like twenty minutes,” Myrin said.

Kaldalis rolled his eyes. “It has not been twenty minutes.”

“Fine. Ten.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Bangen asked, looking over the quartet.

“I don’t know,” Myrin said, pointing to Kaldalis. “He just wanted to loom over you for half an hour. I’m not sure why he dragged us along.”

“It wasn’t that long!” Kaldalis objected.

Bangen looked past Myrin and Kaldalis to Haldir, a pleading expression on her face.

“It hasn’t been that long,” Haldir confirmed. “We just didn’t want to interrupt while you were in the middle of something.”

“Especially not if that something was what we’re here for,” Kaldalis said. “Are you finished with the research notes on the malum captains we brought in?”

“Oh!” Bangen jumped up, moving to one of the nearest shelves. “I finished that up just about an hour ago. I was wondering when you would be by to receive it.”

The researcher handed each of them an identical red folder, and Kaldalis opened it up to find it stapled full of pages of informational tables.

A lot of it was information they already knew, and information that wasn’t terribly relevant.

Like, they already knew they were Infernal Horde, and that they were the mid-tier boss level version of the malum. It wasn’t important to know that they ranged in heights from fifteen to twenty feet tall, and weighed between four and six hundred pounds.

But amid all of the redundant and useless information there was the usable and fascinating details they craved.

“Really?” Myrin said, flipping through her folder. “Anger elementals? I didn’t know anger was an element.”

“We did know that the Infernal Horde could be manifestations of abstract concepts,” Balrim said, “so it’s not entirely out of nowhere.”

“Still seems pretty weird,” Myrin grumbled as she flipped back and forth between the pages.

“It’s interesting,” Kaldalis admitted. “But not as much as these other details.” He flipped to the rear of the stack of documents and pointed to the page. “This tells us about their stats. Their affinities and weaknesses. It’s not hard numbers, but still very useful.”

“I mean, useful how?” Myrin asked. “We already know they have good fire affinity and dark affinity from their attacks.”

“Fire, yes, dark, no,” Kaldalis said, looking over the sheets. “Their fire affinity is listed as high, but dark is just average.”

“Water is low, which makes sense for like… cooling them off,” Balrim said, looking over the same stats. “But so is poison. What does poison have to do with anger?”

“The poison debuff is elementally affiliated with water,” Bangen offered. “Usually the two affinities are correlated for monster weaknesses.”

“Alright, that’s sensible,” Kaldalis said. “I didn’t know the debuffs were attached to elements. It also says here that malum are vulnerable to seal? What’s seal?”

“Another debuff,” Bangen said in a chipper tone. Kaldalis had a feeling she liked to explain things. “It’s associated with the light element.”

Balrim closed his folder first. “Awesome. Well, we could stay here all day talking about this stuff, but we have an appointment to spend all day talking about it somewhere else.”

“Right,” Kaldalis said, but he wasn’t done here. “Hey Bangen, I did want to ask something… Could you tell us anything about our progress on upgrading the town?”

“I wish I knew more,” Bangen said with a frown, “but all I can tell you is that there is a series of criteria that must be met. Once those upgrades are done, supposedly the encampment can be established as a town through an event.”

“And that’s done by the leader, right?”

“Yes,” Bangen confirmed. “The Expedition Leader is the local authority who should have the ability to complete that. She should also be able to see the requirements and should be directing efforts to get there.”

“But you can’t tell us what the requirements are?” Balrim guessed.

“It varies.” Bangen grimaced and smoothed her hands along her clothes. “Based on location, accessibility of resources... all that. There’s no way to predict what will be needed until the menu is there.”

“Of course,” Kaldalis said, the words sticking in his throat.

“If you have any further questions about the process,” Bangen finished, “the Expedition Leader is the one to talk to.”

“Or,” Myrin said, hitting Kaldalis on the arm as she spoke, “I have another suggestion: we don’t do that. Maybe instead just nose-to-the-grindstone on the quests. It’ll have to happen eventually.”

“An enticing offer,” Kaldalis said, with a frown.

Balrim mirrored his expression. “You know, as much as I hate grinding, I think I’m with Myrin on this one.”

“Hear, hear,” Haldir said.

“Sorry I can’t tell you more.” Bangen offered them a thin smile. “We didn’t bring any records of past town establishments for me to suggest. I can ask around if any of the other researchers remember anything.”

“No, no.” Kaldalis laughed, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. “It’s fine. I’ll have to talk to Onirioago eventually. This is my project, I’ll do what I gotta do for it.”

“That’s Kaldalis for you,” Haldir said, patting him on the shoulder. “So heroic.”

“If-” Bangen started, looking around the group. “If that’s all?”

“Yes, sorry,” Kaldalis said with a smile. “We’ll let you get back to work. Sorry to disrupt your flow.”

“It’s fine,” Bangen said, “I should probably have stopped for food at some point, so you may have saved me from going hungry.”

“It’s like, eleven,” Myrin said. “What is your metabolism that you need to-”

“It’s what?!” Bangen shouted, her eyes as wide as saucers. “I haven’t had breakfast yet!”

“Then we’ll leave you to that,” Kaldalis said. “Do you… Do you need us to stop by in the morning to make sure you eat?”

“No.” Bangen sighed, pushing away from her desk. “I just… Got caught up in things today. It doesn’t happen more than two or three times a week.”

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” Balrim said. “Skipping it hurts your productivity, you know.”

“It’s also the best meal of the day,” Myrin said as she started out the door. “I’d eat breakfast three times a day, if I could.”

“What?” Haldir asked, incredulously.

“I like eggs,” Myrin said, throwing a look over her shoulder at her companion. “And all the traditional breakfast meats are the best kinds of meat.”

“That checks out,” Kaldalis said. “Bacon, ham, sausage... All the best ways of preparing a pig.”

“Also steak,” Myrin said. “Don’t forget steak and eggs.“

“Okay, now I’m hungry,” Kaldalis said, “and I actually got breakfast already. Let’s stop torturing Bangen and get back to work.”

Bangen thanked them for stopping by and hurried off to get her breakfast. The rest of them headed down towards the beach, where a column of smoke was already rising from Garyung’s bonfire.