Kaldalis was surprised - and even impressed - by how calm Garyung appeared. He remembered a time that didn’t seem so long ago where the man would have been too anxious to deliver only good news.

And here he was offering the full gambit.

“Alright, start with the bad news,” Kaldalis said quickly, grabbing Garyung by the arm and leading him out of the middle of the street in front of the town gate. “And keep it down. We don’t want to start a panic, right?”

“Well, the bad news is that I lied about there being good news,” Garyung said, giving a wan smile.

“That’s… that’s really not helpful,” Balrim said as he and Myrin fell in behind Kaldalis and Garyung. “You need to hold the joke until after you deliver the bad news.”

“So then what’s wrong?” Kaldalis asked.

“Panbu and Kayore rejected our advice,” Garyung said. “They think it’s a trick to make them look bad on the global stage.”

“All we told them to do was prepare for the worst,” Kaldalis said, putting a hand to his temple, where he could feel the beginnings of a headache. “How is that going to make them look bad?”

“They think we’ll call for help,” Garyung said with a scowl. “Zara puts a bunch of soldiers on the walls, and we point it out and say that they’re planning to invade us. It makes international politics very unkind to them if they make themselves look like warmongers picking on the little guy.”

Kaldalis shook his head.

From the beginning, the Zarans had been dancing around the idea of wanting to take Cotanaku back from Garyung. Anyone paying attention would know that Zara had turned their nose up at the idea time and again when given the most favorable terms imaginable.

If Garyung actually tried such a tactic, it would be an obvious trick.

“Let me guess,” Kaldalis said, bringing the group to a stop beside a closed storefront. “They aren’t going to listen to anything we have to say because they hate us, and this was just the most convenient excuse.”

“Bingo.” Garyung grimaced. “Some of them play these bullshit political games to dance around how much they hate me, and others just come right out and say it. I’m not sure which is worse.”

“To be fair,” Myrin cut in, “they don’t hate you. They hate all of us.”

“And given what we know,” Kaldalis added in a whisper, “it’s not entirely unjustified.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Garyung said with a dismissive wave. “I get that. But them bullying PCs isn’t just going to hurt us. What if we’re right? What if the Infernal Horde comes knocking? People could die, you guys.”

Kaldalis felt a stab of regret at that.

Garyung was right. The people of Panbu and Kayore were in danger.

But shy of trying to distribute adventurer forces away from Cotanaku right before they needed to get a bunch of quests done, what could they do? Besides, sending a bunch of agents into their would-be rival towns might be construed as an act of aggression, and heighten tensions even more.

“Is there any way to convince them?” Balrim asked. “Maybe if you went over there to ask their town councils personally?”

“If I wasn’t grounded in Cotanaku, I’d consider it,” Garyung said, his consternated grimace redoubling. “But the cost of leaving down for more than a few hours isn’t something we can afford. I can’t risk the lives here for a slim chance of saving the lives there.”

“An NPC in the hand is worth two in the bush,” Myrin agreed with a sage nod.

“We’ve done all we can,” Kaldalis said at last, putting a reassuring hand on Garyung’s shoulder. “If we’re lucky, they’ll see the warning as a threat and arm up in secret. And if they don’t… Then, well, maybe they’ll listen closer to the second warning we send.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better about the people on the front lines who will die for their mistakes this time,” Garyung snapped. “It’s not going to be Cerh or Jetmorpan who pays for their own negligence. It’ll be just regular townsfolk who didn’t have a say.”

“We can look on the bright side, maybe,” Kaldalis offered. “You’re sounding like a real leader now.”

“Yeah,” Balrim cut in, “it feels good to know that the guy running the show cares about the little people.”

Garyung grimaced for a second, but it started to break into a ghost of a smile the longer he thought about it.

“I guess I have to take what victories I can,” Garyung said, shaking his head. “They’ve been few and far between for a while now.”

“Speaking of victories,” Myrin said, “someone said something about a new crop of quests? Where did we land on that?”

“Soon,” Garyung said with a firm nod. He started to point at the town’s wall. “We’re upgrading the wall another tier, reinforcing the gates on the jungle side, and adding two new archer nests along the walls away from the gates. Jenyin is finalizing the plans and scheduling the workers right now, so it’ll be early afternoon when they drop.”

“Sounds like it’s going to take a lot of materials,” Balrim said, rubbing his scaled hands together eagerly. “A lot of quests.”

“Yeah,” Kaldalis said, suddenly suspicious. “That’s a lot of upgrades all at once. Can we afford this?”

“Don’t worry,” Garyung said quickly. “I’m building a new system for them. Things will be both more and less structured. I’m honestly not sure why it doesn’t work this way already, but it turns out that questgivers can…” He stopped briefly before his grimace returned. “Sorry, this is boring, isn’t it? You don’t need to-”

“Dude,” Balrim interrupted. “If there’s anyone who needs to hear an explanation of the system, it’s the people who are going to be using it when the quests are out.”

“Alright,” Garyung said with a sheepish smile. “So, questgivers can sense how many quests you already have in your log, and how many you’ve already done in one day. With all the questgivers on the same page, they can use that information to control how many quests people can pick up at once, which will force them to come back into town periodically.”

“Smart,” Myrin said, nodding along. “It will slow people down to have to leave the wilds, and spread out quest reward payouts over the course of the day.”

“Not just that,” Garyung said with a grin, “but people who come back into town are likely to stop and take proper breaks. They’ll update their gear, buy stat buff food, restock on potions… Not only will the payouts be spread out, but people will take the time to put their earnings back into the system.”

“That’s even smarter,” Balrim said, giving his own toothy grin. “Half of the stat gain from level progression comes from gear and food buffs. If everyone is keeping their gear updated, the whole town will be stronger overall.”

“Right,” Garyung continued, “but obviously, there’s the other ability that this gives us. We can hard cap the number of quests people can do in a day. With Ikzoz’s rough count on adventurer numbers, we can be absolutely positive that we keep the treasury in the black. We can’t be broken with just one day of quests.”

“That also keeps things fair,” Kaldalis said. “People with a bunch of big quests already in their log wouldn’t be allowed to pick up as many at once as a straight-up newbie with an empty log. But if the newbie has to stop after two trips, folks like us can keep going until we’ve gotten the same amount of rewards.”

“Exactly,” Garyung said. “Obviously it’s going to be a work in progress. We’ll have to see how much it costs and how much it annoys people. Adjustments can be made going forwards.”

“We won’t pull our punches on the feedback,” Balrim promised.

“Good,” Garyung said with a smile. “That’s all I have to share, then.”

“We’ll get word out to everyone else about the quests,” Myrin said. “People ought to know about this before it drops.”

“Oh shit,” Garyung said, frowning, “uh, yes. Thank you. That is my official assignment for you, that I am giving you as town leader. Yes, that was on purpose.”

“A smart and competent leader,” Balrim observed. “Certainly the wisest of us.”

“I can count on you guys, right?” Garyung asked. “I might have dropped the ball on this one if it surprises everyone and things go to hell.”

“Yeah, no problem,” Kaldalis said. He shot the Bhogad a grin. “We’ll spread the word. After all, we gotta get Cotanaku rock-solid just in case the worst happens.”

“Great,” Garyung grumbled as he turned and headed back towards the town hall. “No pressure or anything, right?”