Kaldalis took just a moment to look around the table at those assembled. He tried not to let his eyes linger too long on Brother Gnider.

The moment was to buy him time to silently open his own menu and shut off his stream as well. He was going to get pretty creative here to avoid handing the Zarans anything that their confirmation bias could weaponize, but he couldn’t imagine that Monsoon was going to be happy about what he was actually going to reveal.

“It is time for the truth,” Kaldalis began. “No more dancing around it for comfort. I believed that the lives at risk would be reason enough to react, and it has been made obvious that it was not.” He fixed the Contender with a glare, daring him to interrupt. “The Lataxinans are coming back to the Isles of Ulun. I have spoken with them, and they want to come home.”

Kaldalis let that hang in the air. Right before the Contender started to speak, Kaldalis continued. The man’s fluster as Kaldalis interrupted him before he could truly begin was satisfying.

“I don’t care what any of you say or do,” Kaldalis said sharply. “I will be helping them in any way I can. The original purpose of this expedition was to uncover what we could from their ruins, and we have an opportunity to retrieve the collected knowledge of their whole civilization.”

“And how are you going to do that?” the Contender snapped, interrupting as quickly as possible before Kaldalis could start his next sentence.

He clearly had more to say to try and bog Kaldalis down with questions, but Kaldalis wasn’t alone here. Big Mike’s hand hit the table with another slam, and the man almost lunged to his feet. Kaldalis quickly raised a hand to stop him.

“Please,” Kaldalis said, giving the Contender his best withering glare. “That’s not what this is about: it’s about the Infernal Horde. Please try and keep things on topic, alright?”

The Contender seemed about to snap something back, but Kaldalis didn’t give him the opening. He just kept talking.

In order to get a word in edgewise, the Contender would have to blurt it out and try to talk over him. It would have shattered the illusion of him acting in good faith that the Talsar had tried to cultivate. He couldn’t keep pretending to be ‘just investigating the matter’ if he had to raise his voice to try to dominate the conversation when it didn’t go where he wanted.

“The Lataxinans don’t have long to make their way back,” Kaldalis continued. “And I will admit fault in that. They didn’t want to be discovered yet, and my visit to their vessel made their presence known. It drew the attention of the source of the Infernal Horde.” He carefully looked between Jetmorpan and Cerh. “That’s how I knew they were coming. The Lataxinan’s warning. As the source moves on them, more Infernal Horde were generated here, putting us on the defensive.”

“The…” Garyung began to say, though he cast an anxious glance at Big Mike before continuing: “The source?”

“Yes,” Kaldalis said, trying to wordlessly convey to Garyung that they needed to have a private conversation to clarify what was and wasn’t okay to reveal in front of the Contender. “The source of the Infernal Horde. The source of the Calamity itself, in fact.”

Nothing could stop the murmur that went around the room at that. Even Big Mike’s fury seemed to cool at that shocking statement. Kaldalis could tell that the Contender wanted to capitalize on the pause to form some objection, but this was such an outlandish turn in the conversation that he took just long enough to come up with what to say that Kaldalis had already started talking again.

“They call it the Great Shovel,” Kaldalis explained before anyone could form a question. “It’s a powerful tool - or perhaps weapon - that allows an extraplanar entity to create tunnels in the Paths Between Paths. That entity’s approach of this world is what caused the Calamity, unleashed the Infernal Horde, and introduced the System to this world.”

The crosstalk in the room turned from murmurs to a cacophony now. Even on Kaldalis’s side of the table, Ikzoz and Sardol were trying to ask questions about the Lataxinans.

At the far end of the table, Jetmorpan and Cerh were trying to speak over each other to ask about the extraplanar entity.

One of the attendants was demanding details about the Great Shovel.

And at the far end, the Contender was seething.

“No one can answer your questions more effectively than the Lataxinans,” Kaldalis said, raising his voice almost to a yell to be heard. “Once they’re here, all of their information will be available to us. Not just about this, but all the research we were originally sent here to retrieve. What’s more, once they’ve returned to this world, they can destroy the Great Shovel and dispel the Calamity and all its effects once and for all.”

That seemed to calm the questions a bit, though both Cerh and Jetmorpan were quietly conferring with their attendants. But in the moment’s lull, the Contender struck.

“And how do you intend to bring them back?” the Contender asked. “You said before that this question was unrelated, but it seems to be the central objective of your entire argument.”

“I said it was none of your concern,” Kaldalis said, enunciating each word as if he was talking to someone in their second language. “If you were interested in investigating anything about the Lataxinans, it might be prudent to involve you, but try as you might, your actions speak much louder than any of your words.”

That sent a deathly silence over the room. Even as Kaldalis and Big Mike had managed to shout the Contender down for a moment, he was still a terrifying authority here to the Zarans. Slapping him in the face with such a blatant accusation was tantamount to heresy. Kaldalis had, in effect, crossed a line.

But the way Jetmorpan face paled and Cerh’s slit-pupiled eyes went suddenly wide, Kaldalis knew that they’d been in on the plan Brother Gnider had warned him about, and were just as stricken by Kaldalis figuring it out as they were for his brazen attitude.

Over the Contender’s shoulder, Brother Gnider proved to have a good poker face.

And Kaldalis could see that all of his advice had been good. Kaldalis had ignored details. The councilors didn’t need to know about Aaron Stevenson and Jordan Carver. They didn’t need to know about Monsoon. They didn’t need to know about anything. They needed to know the big picture. They just needed the idea of what Kaldalis was selling. And as soon as Kaldalis was selling an extraplanar threat and a bunch of supernatural otter-people who could answer all their questions, the Contender’s side of the argument looked as small and silly as Kaldalis’s had just a day ago.

And the Contender’s red scales were growing redder by the second. His reptilian features made him hard to read, so Kaldalis wasn’t sure if it was fury or embarrassment. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a smooth deflection and redirection of the group’s energy. That was all Kaldalis needed.

“My proposal is not to make my problem your problem,” Kaldalis said at last, “Zara and the Adventurer’s League have long been partners in protecting this world and furthering the cause of research and discovery. I only ask this council for two things. First, I need you all to take the threat of the Infernal Horde seriously.” He nodded at Big Mike. “Obviously, we mourn the loss of someone who ought to be seen as a Zaran national hero. But we can’t let her sacrifice be in vain. We have to shore up our defenses, take these sieges seriously, and prevent all the unnecessary loss of life we’ve been suffering from.”

“And the second thing?” Cerh asked, firmly and clearly, cutting through the uncomfortable silence on that side of the table.

“I need access to Dymythrae, Tomb of Ghosts,” Kaldalis said, looking at Jetmorpan. “The piece of the puzzle the Lataxinans need to return is inside the raid outside of Kayore.”

Despite all that had just gone on, the Vathon turned and looked to the Contender, deferring to him. It seemed that his authority was too deeply-rooted to be dispelled with just one meeting.

But before the Contender could speak, Garyung cut in.

“I move we put it to a vote,” Garyung said. “As a group, we leaders must come together and agree on the proper course, especially for something so large as this.”

“I second the motion,” Cerh cut in before anyone could respond. “With the caveat that only we leaders be present for the vote, so as to keep our counsel private.”

“At once,” Garyung said, making a gesture towards the council members present. Sardol and Ikzoz seemed almost eager to get out of the room. The others were a little more hesitant, especially Kaldalis. It seemed dangerous to leave them alone with the Contender, after so much work had gone into undermining his authority here.

But when he saw Big Mike heft himself out of the chair and move carefully towards the door, keeping his glare locked on the Contender the whole way, Kaldalis acquiesced and left the room.

If nothing else, he knew the large ship captain wouldn’t let the Contender run back all the ground Kaldalis had gained. Not without a fight at least.