Kaldalis needed a plan. He had been gifted a minute to think as he followed the council towards the meeting room, and he didn’t intend to waste it.

It was late in the evening now, perhaps around eight or nine o’clock, but the fuss created by the Infernal Horde attack had drawn everyone out and got them energized and alert. As they were dispersing back into town, they were chatting and laughing and carrying on. Morale seemed high, compared to what they’d experienced after the infernal horde attacks on Cotanaku. Near as he could guess, it was likely due to them not having a half-dozen bodies to bury after all was said and done.

More than anything, he wanted to hold onto that.

He just had to figure out how.

The group filed into the meeting chamber, taking their seats. Kaldalis tried to follow his previous example, sitting along the side of the table next to the ship captain as he had before.

“This will not be an official meeting,” Cerh said. Despite his words, the group at the table sat up straighter. “As such, we will dispense with formalities. We are here to discuss two matters and two matters only, as was demanded by Envoy Kaldalis. First, survival. Second, safety.” He gestured to Kaldalis. “The floor is yours.”

He’d anticipated some sort of lead-up. It seemed natural to him that the council would have a conversation about what was going on, and that the delay that would give him more time to think.

But Cerh wasn’t Garyung. This was straight to the point.

Merciless, in fact.

He also didn’t miss that Captain Kensah visibly bristled at Cerh’s words. She was, technically, supposed to be in charge of the camp’s security. The responsibility being passed to Kaldalis was an indirect insult. He was going to have to handle her very carefully in the coming days.

And in the coming minutes.

“Let me begin,” Kaldalis said, hoping that it wasn’t obvious that he was stalling for time, “by giving you the whole story of what we experienced in Cotanaku.”

He tried to run through how much to tell them before speaking again, but he had already arrived at the end of the sentence. The worst move he could make right now would have been to let a long silence hang in the air. He needed to be in the driver's seat right now, because if the Zarans had time to stew on what had happened before he could reframe it, he could kiss his newly-recovered approval bar goodbye.

“The first attack happened without warning,” Kaldalis said, trying to meet eyes with the council members one after another, going left to right and then back to the left. “An adventurer out in the woods was spotted by one, and after being brutally slain, that beast gathered a raiding party and attacked the camp. In that attack, the dungeon entrance was uncovered by damage to the surrounding area by the attackers.

“The second attack came after running the dungeon for the first time,” Kaldalis continued. In his mind, he knew he would be more comfortable standing and pacing around the room as he spoke, gesturing wildly with his hands. But he was terrified of the message that would send to the council. Instead, he kept his seat, steepling his fingers. “As soon as we exited the dungeon, the attack was underway. The Infernal Horde presented more of a threat in that second attack, bringing much more power to bear, but we had used the time to prepare and fortify ourselves.”

He took a moment to gesture towards Captain Kensah. “Your counterpart, Gavinkim, was instrumental in prioritizing and employing those defenses to keep everyone safe. I imagine you will be no less vital in giving Panbu the same protection.”

His memory was fuzzy on whether or not Gavinkim had actually been involved in that process, but he needed to offer her an olive branch. From her smoldering glare, he imagined she would be the biggest threat to his approval rating no matter what he did.

No step taken to placate her would be a waste if it stopped her from jumping up on the table and beating the shit out of him.

“There was a long delay between the second and third attack,” Kaldalis went on, trying to push down the introvert inside him that was insisting very emphatically that he was at his limit for social interaction for the day. “But the third attack was very clearly labeled as the final one. It was triggered by upgrading the camp into a town. Combined with the additional defenses brought on by the upgrades to the walls, guard towers, and barracks, I believe that at this point, the town can be considered safe from further attacks.”

He tried not to let surprise show on his face as soon as he said the words out loud.

That was his solution. He had a way out now.

Kaldalis knew how to get the council what they wanted.

In the moment’s pause, Cerh inhaled, obviously about to speak, but Kaldalis didn’t let him. For the sake of his approval rating, he couldn’t let the council start talking until after he’d put his plan on the table.

He only hoped he could talk them into following through on it after that.

“Because of that experience,” Kaldalis said quickly, trying not to wince at the obvious shock on Cerh’s face for being preemptively interrupted, “I strongly believe the proper course of action is to push to make Panbu into a town - a proper town of Zara, of course - as fast as possible.”

Cerh opened his mouth to object, obviously still aggravated at Kaldalis’s attitude, but the Talsar stopped before he formed a whole word. Instead, he steepled his clawed fingers and furrowed his brow. He appeared to be glaring, but his eyes were unfocused, not direct at Kaldalis, but directed inwards instead.

The rest of the council seemed stunned by Cerh’s reaction.

Big Mike, the ship captain, was nodding at Kaldalis. With the man seated directly next to him, it probably helped him seem more reasonable that someone close at hand was visibly agreeing with him.

Jetmorpan mirrored Cerh’s thoughtful expression, though his eyes darted between the Talsar and Kaldalis. Despite the red-purple Vathon having been the first one to demand politics be set aside, he certainly seemed very attentive towards the political fallout that might result from this meeting.

Kaldalis found that he couldn’t actually look at Demriv right now. Her resemblance to Onirioago was particularly disturbing now as she regarded him with undisguised interest.

Captain Kensah, however, appeared to be even deeper in thought than Cerh. The angry Suyon was glaring at Kaldalis. But her expression looked conflicted in a way that he had never expected to see. The anger and bloodlust that clung to her every movement was still there, but what joined it was agreement.

Perhaps even respect.

Kaldalis tried not to do a little happy dance in his chair as his Zaran Approval Rating started to climb.

Just before the silence grew long enough to become awkward, Cerh turned to Kensah. The movement of his head was enough to snap everyone’s attention to him.

Despite Kaldalis taking command of this meeting, the man still had a presence that demanded attention.

“Captain,” he said slowly, flicking his eyes to Kaldalis once before he continued, “does this plan seem reasonable in your estimation?”

“Having seen how these monsters operate,” she said, brow still furrowed, but now in thought rather than a glare, “I am unsure. The fight was easily handled, and all the work to make Panbu a town is a heavy investment. I shouldn’t need to tell you how much Zara sank into Cotanaku that it may never recoup. It seems unnecessary.”

“With all due respect,” Kaldalis said, trying to keep his voice even and authoritative, “I disagree on both counts. For your second matter, making Panbu a town was the investment we were here to make already. You came here for that in the first place, unless you’ve been disingenuous with us since you arrived.

“For the first point, though,” Kaldalis continued, rolling right over the outrage at the accusation that was clear on Jetmorpan’s face, “this fight was easily handled because it was only the first raid. The Xorn were easy to manage because we met them outside the walls. They were powerful, but slow. We ran circles around them because we were prepared, but if they got into town, they’d demolish this place in seconds.

“There is a complication to come that we didn’t face here today,” Kaldalis pressed on, trying to direct his words towards Kensah rather than the whole council, hoping that showing her proper deference might stall her anger. “In the first Infernal Horde attack on Cotanaku, we only faced beasts called Syncoresi. In the second attack, we faced a second variety, the Malum, who we were unprepared for.”

He tapped his finger on the table, looking around at the whole council again. “When we next see the Infernal Horde, there will be another threat, one we can’t predict. You can bet on getting lucky, and having the second variety be just as manageable, but you all seem too responsible a group to take that kind of gamble.”

To his surprise, despite him being a PC attempting to boss them around, the council seemed to like that from him. Cerh and Kensah were outwardly irritated, but his approval rating with the whole group was still climbing.

They were impressed by his take-charge attitude, even if it chagrined them.

The bar was actually sliding up past the point he was at before missing the second meeting, reaching the halfway point and still growing.

“I remain unconvinced,” Cerh said at last, but his tone was uncertain. The claw of one of his index fingers tapped at his scaled chin. “But I am willing to hear you out. What is it that you propose this council do?”

“We don’t have to make a decision now,” Kaldalis said, turning his attention to Cerh, before steepling his fingers. He found himself doing the same thing Garyung had done - pretending to be an anime boardroom villain. “All I’m asking you to do is what you were already going to, but on an accelerated timetable. We can ramp things up for a couple of days - especially focusing on walls and defense - and you can discuss this matter without me.”

Cerh seemed mollified by that, nodding along in much the same way Big Mike was.

Kaldalis was making good progress. He just needed to avoid another disaster like the second meeting.

“I’d like to delay our next official meeting,” Kaldalis said. “At least for a few days. I’d like to take a trip back to Cotanaku in the morning and meet with Garyung. With Cotanaku’s resources behind this, I am confident we can prove that this is well within reach of our resources. Three days? Five, maybe?”

“I believe three will be sufficient,” Jetmorpan said, though he paused and looked to Cerh. As soon as the Talsar nodded, he continued: “after three days of progress, we will be able to evaluate your speed and determine if this course should be continued.”

“Thank you,” Kaldalis said, not missing at all that his approval bar had finally stopped rising at seventy-five percent. “I promise, Cotakanu won’t disappoint you.”

As he left the meeting chamber, his confidence was at a similar high to the approval bar. It had taken him some doing, but he felt he’d figured out how to manage them. They were a bit more finicky than his managers back at Monsoon, but the principles were shockingly similar. All it took was being a motivated go-getter, taking on as many responsibilities as he could reasonably wrap his arms around, and stroking their ego whenever it was in reach.

All he had to do was get this place put together at a high enough speed to keep up with his own hype machine.