There was some anxiety about how the Panbu council would react to his presence at this meeting, but Kaldalis forced it down. Garyung wanted him to be there, and more than that, Kaldalis had done his part for the work. Even if he wasn’t officially attached to the construction effort, people had been viewing him as a leader. If neither council was going to have anyone present act as a representative for the boots on the ground, Kaldalis would.

Despite his conviction on that account, he still felt a bit unsure of himself as he took his seat at the table between the two ship captains. Even though he’d worked hard to try and mitigate their negative opinion of him by keeping his head down with the work, their glares were no less intense than they had been at their last encounter.

As much as he hoped bygones would be bygones eventually, apparently not enough “by” had been “gone” yet.

“We’ve kept your deadline,” Garyung began. Kaldalis noticed, now that they were inside and seated, that the Bhogad had bags under his eyes. “I hope that, despite our rocky start, you can see that we are being honest with you at every turn.”

“I can’t deny that you’ve kept your word,” Cerh said. Despite the agreement, his tone was far from friendly. “The event is indeed prepared, along with the further upgrades this council deemed mandatory.”

“Excellent,” Garyung said, letting out a sigh of relief. “Shall we begin making plans for the final raid, then? My guard forces obviously can’t be deployed outside of Cotanaku, but a number of my workers and other folk with combat experience can-”

“That won’t be necessary,” Cerh said, raising a hand to interrupt Garyung. “This council has the matter under control.”

Kaldalis wasn't sure what the Talsar was talking about, but he didn’t want to speak to draw attention to himself. He found the confusion was mirrored by everyone else on the Cotanaku council, and Cerh’s smug look made it clear that the confusion was the anticipated reaction.

Garyung didn’t say anything immediately, but when Cerh didn’t clarify, he was forced to ask: “What do you mean? Do you feel you have sufficient forces here? The safety and preservation of both our people is my top priority. I think it’s important to field all the resources we can in this fight.”

“It is being handled,” Cerh said, waving his hand dismissively. “It’s none of your concern.”

“I very strongly disagree with that,” Ikzoz said with a wary look. “Given your feelings about Zara’s wasted resources, I’m sure you understand how unwilling we are to walk away from this meeting without answers.”

“Considering you cost us those same resources,” Jetmorpan snapped, “I don’t feel-”

Cerh raised a hand for silence again, and Jetmorpan almost bit his tongue mid-word.

Kaldalis didn’t miss Demriv beside him rolling her eyes at him.

“If we want to have a positive relationship going forward,” Cerh said, “then open and honest communication is necessary. Especially if Cotanaku is going to have close, friendly contact with nations like Cornix.”

Garyung flinched, and Kaldalis knew someone had set him straight on how much information he’d given up by mentioning his contact with President Eileen. Kaldalis didn’t know what the relationships were between Zara and the other nations, but he knew that there was a reasonable chance that simply confirming that he had contact with other nations was too much to say.

Hopefully Garyung hadn’t picked the worst possible name to drop.

“In response to certain revelations,” Cerh continued, folding his clawed hands together on the table, “this council elected to make contact with the capitol and seek advisement. King Amelda Kulov-Zara and the Council sent instructions quickly and decisively. Success in the establishment of Panbu as a town is of paramount importance, even above waste of resources. As such, the kingdom is sending a Company of Zaran troops.”

It took Kaldalis a moment to figure out the weight of what Cerh had just announced, but he had a good idea given the stunned hush that fell over the Cotanaku council. It was obviously a big deal given Cerh’s attitude, but the realization came all at once.

Cerh had just announced that the Kingdom of Zara was deploying its military into the region.

“I don’t understand,” Garyung said, audibly stunned. He cleared his throat for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. “What do you mean?”

“King Amelda has made their will clear,” Cerh said, shrugging a way that suggested that it was out of his hands, no matter how certain Kaldalis was that the man had worked very hard to reach this outcome. “Two hundred soldiers are on a ship bound for this location as we speak. Once they have arrived in about two weeks, the Captain in charge of the unit will be in command of the defense to ensure there are no further mishaps.

“Beyond that, there are some announcements that must be made,” Cerh continued. He gestured dismissively, as if he wasn’t saying anything of consequence. “We will need to bar any activities that might draw the attention of the Infernal Horde before the Company arrives. This includes deep exploration of the jungle that might agitate them, as well as any access of the nearby dungeon.” His smug expression narrowed in on Kaldalis. “Thank you for your understanding in this matter.”

Kaldalis pressed his lips together to keep his agitation from forcing its way into the conversation.

Apparently it wasn’t enough that Cerh was effectively fielding an army in order to threaten Garyung, but he was also using the opportunity to fuck over Kaldalis and his friends. Even if he hadn’t known about their plans, specifically, the move was obviously intended to attack the adventurers in the area.

And it was unnecessary. With Garyung’s support - and the knowledge they had after the first failure - the battle would have been manageable, if not trivial. Cerh and his council were throwing away a lot of time and progress all for the sake of their petty feud with Kaldalis and the other PCs.

Well, not all of the council.

Despite her silence, Captain Kensah was vibrating with rage. Kaldalis guessed that she felt as insulted by this as he did - perhaps more, since her job was the security that these reinforcements were meant to shore up. Either that, or she was even more incensed by the wasted time than he was.

“Of course,” Garyung said, yielding to Cerh’s superior position. Kaldalis was impressed that the hogad managed to not grind his teeth. “And how long can we expect this delay to last?”

“The ship will have left Baimer this morning,” Cerh said, tapping his chin. “Unless there was a delay. In any case, it will have left by the end of the day.”

Positioned between the two ship captains, Kaldalis sensed the sudden tension that struck the both of them.

“And how long might that take?” Garyung asked, a note of frustration in his voice with Cerh’s evasiveness.

“Considering the trip is between Baimer and the camp of Panbu,” Cerh said, unable to hide the serrated-tooth smirk that took over his expression, “it will arrive in two weeks.”

The sudden intake of breath by the entire Cotanaku Council made Kaldalis’s head spin.

Two weeks?

Garyung spoke the words aloud. “Two weeks?”

“That is an unnecessary delay,” Sardol managed to stammer out. “Cotanaku is a town barely more than an hour away. You could have had them ship out to us and arrive in only a couple of days.”

“I attempted to suggest that,” Cerh said, every syllable pronounced in a careful and precise manner to convey that it was a big fat lie, “but the Council of Zara was uncomfortable with that idea.”

Kaldalis saw Demriv wince at that comment, her mouth turning down in a grimace as if she’d just taken a bite out of a lemon. His dishonesty bothered her. That was useful to know. If he could use that to turn her against Cerh and Jetmorpan, he might-

Was he really thinking about that? Was he going to plan a coup?

Kaldalis shook his head. It was ridiculous. Sure, Cerh was actively fucking over everyone to be a petty asshole. And Kaldalis hated the way the Panbu Council was run with Cerh being the beginning and the end of every discussion. But the man wasn’t being destructive, and his management style was the business of the council, not Kaldalis.

Also, if he was attached to another change in management at a camp about to become a town, it was very likely that any authority from Zara that arrived would take a very close interest in Kaldalis.

The kind of interest you send assassins for, not investigators.

It seemed the only reasonable option was to admit that Cerh had them all over a barrel.

“If that will be all,” Cerh said, making a shooing gesture first towards Garyung and then towards Kaldalis, “the Cotanaku council - and attaché - is dismissed. This council has local matters to discuss still today.”