Ikzoz got the meeting underway quickly and efficiently, though it was pretty obvious that Onirioago not participating was throwing off the usual flow. There were awkward pauses where others had to jump in where her leadership was noticeably missing.

Kaldalis hardly realized he was being interrogated until he was already describing how Onirioago had approached him for the quest.

It had started with Sardol innocuously asking for some mundane detail, and then rapidly escalated into him telling the whole story. His retelling was unusually smooth, but Kaldalis realized that he was dramatically outside his social depth among these folks.

As soon as he realized what was happening, he started to gloss over the unimportant details. He was able to leave Dalgaard out, gloss over the ruins they’d stumbled across, and entirely omit the encounter with Ara. He kept the story to the fishing, and while a couple of the council members grumbled, they didn’t press when he again declined to disclose what bait he’d used to catch the deacon tetra. It was the one card he had that he could hold close to his chest, and he didn’t intend to let it go.

Especially not with Onirioago fuming quietly only a few feet away.

Kaldalis also conveyed to them that an entire team of fishers had been sent into the woods only a short time earlier, and did his best to provide descriptions of a few members of the group. He avoided implicating Dalgaard, though. The kid was going to get swept up in this eventually if the council got their hands on anyone from the group who could finger them as a co-conspirator, but this might buy them some time to get their affairs in order.

Once his part of the story was done, Ikzoz moved directly to Bangen, who described Kaldalis coming to her for help with a mysterious and unknown fish. She described her horror at being presented with a deacon tetra, and vouched for Kaldalis being entirely clueless about the fish’s illicit use. She continued beyond that, describing Kaldalis’s meeting with Onirioago, and the expedition leader’s explicit demand for fifteen more deacon tetra.

He was grateful that her description of the encounter wasn’t detailed enough to make him relive the more unpleasant parts of the experience. Though he could have done without the explanation of events being quite so accurate to how he got the information.

Bangen also disclosed Kaldalis’s compromise. He grimaced at her revealing his willingness to let her off the hook, but kept quiet, letting her explain that he’d offered Onirioago a way to save face. She detailed her turning down his offer - confirming that she sought to use the deacon tetra for her own ends - and fleeing into the night, swearing vengeance by explicitly threatening the use of Geas Venom.

Through the whole thing, Onirioago stood quietly, though from his position behind her, he could see her hands balled into white-knuckled fists.

Just because she was staying quiet didn’t mean she was accepting this.

“I believe that’s all we need,” Ikzoz said at last, when Bangen’s story was done. “Thank you all for your honesty, integrity, and intelligence. Without your bravery in coming together and bringing this plot to a swift and safe conclusion, there’s no telling what horrifying outcome we may have reached.”

“Are we not forgetting an important part of protocol?” Onirioago said in a venomous voice. “Am I not entitled to defend myself?”

It was the first time she’d spoken since the meeting began, and all the council members in the room visibly stiffened at the sound. Her silence had allowed themselves to remove her from the equation, but now that she had sat quietly while they spoke their peace, they couldn’t very well shut her up now.

“Onirioago,” Ikzoz said calmly, though he still declined to look at her. “There are only two ways to defend yourself. You can prove the accusations incorrect, or you can prove your actions justified.” He gestured to Bangen and then to Kaldalis. “These accusations are eyewitness accounts of actions you personally took. This is not thirdhand evidence, or a haphazard paper trail.

“We have the man who was roped into your scheme with a deacon tetra in hand, and a member of my handpicked research team in good standing with the League who personally witnessed you requesting more.” The talsar stood, casting his gaze around the table. “And not one of us here is going to accept any argument in favor of the usage of Geas Venom. Every word of this tale points towards that being your ultimate goal. An unforgivable crime. Unjustifiable.”

Now he saw Bangen’s need to disclose his offered compromise. It had made him look soft on Onirioago, or fearful for his own life as a hostage, but it ultimately confirmed her guilt. Without that offer on the record, she could have claimed such a thing to be her plan all along. But her on the record as having slapped that justification out of his hands?

Kaldalis’s moment of bargaining, described by Bangen - at Ikzoz’s direction, no doubt - had turned what could have been a near miss into a definite checkmate.

“You dare,” Onirioago snapped, but bit back whatever she was about to say. Her face twisted for a moment, a mask of rage. “You’re here because of me. You all are here because of me. You act like you don’t know what I did to get this job. What I did to get into a position to give you all the fame and acclaim this expedition will bring you. I picked each of you out of obscurity for this expedition, and that was no accident.” She cast her glare over the table. “Every one of you I picked from dead-end positions in your respective fields.

“Research assistants with decades of top-notch experience, slaving under tenured researchers who will outlive you by centuries by virtue of their race alone,” she snapped, looking right at Ikzoz. Her eyes moved to Sardol. “Talented managers who would never be taken seriously in the League because of one cowardly day their colleagues can’t shut up about.” She turned on the bhogad woman Kaldalis recognized as the lead architect. “A prodigy in their field, overlooked and disparaged by an institution shackled to tradition.”

“Don’t try and flatter your ass out of this,” one of the council members scoffed, interrupting her tirade. It took Kaldalis a moment to recognize the Captain Filomena, the Persimmon’s captain without her characteristic gaudy pirate outfit. She was dressed much more plainly now, presumably with whatever she could throw on on her way to the meeting. “You built your inner circle out of those most desperate for recognition. You think that helps your case? Surrounding yourself with people poised to be transformed into grateful sycophants is almost as damning as the testimony we just heard.”

“You chose us well,” another said. It was the shifty suyon Kaldalis had seen in these meetings before. He’d never caught his name, though. “We were all competent in our fields, and eager to be recognized. But none of us were loyal to you at the start.” He paused with a smirk. “If you think this event to be the catalyst that endears you to us, you have made a deadly miscalculation.”

“No more threats,” Ikzoz said quickly, cutting off three more voices chiming in. “In either direction. This discussion is over. Unless Onirioago has some miraculous defense that can give us all pause, I would not be surprised if the severity of this crime led to a unanimous vote to remove you as expedition leader.”

Onirioago opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted as a bhogad slapped his greatsword onto the table with a loud and disruptive thud. Kaldalis recognized him as the council member who had raised some security concerns before.

“I said no threats,” Ikzoz said with a resigned sigh.

“No threat,” the giant of a man said. “I only want to remind the council that this crime is not just one against the League’s policies. And not just against the laws of the Kingdom of Zara, to whom we all still owe allegiance. But against the freedom and safety of all living people everywhere.” He met Onirioago’s glare without flinching - making him the first to do so. “Keep that in mind when you consider if your defense is even worth raising. If it looks for a second like you might slip out of this on a technicality, I am not above throwing myself on the sword of justice to ensure that a monster does not walk out of this room unbound.”

“That sounded like a threat to me,” Myrin grumbled.

Bangen, Kaldalis, and Balrim all immediately hushed her.

Onirioago kept her glare fixed at the bhogad, staring him down for a long time.

Despite the harshness of his words - and his commitment to an extrajudicial murder - Kaldalis was grateful to him. Onirioago was a political creature, and if there was a way to get out of here through some clever wordplay, she could find it. He’d just sworn to uphold the spirit of the law that she had outright admitted to violating, even if she could wiggle through the letter of it.

That the silence wore on without anyone objecting to his threat was very telling. As Myrin had warned, her behavior had rubbed everyone the wrong way from day one. Despite the value she put on power and appearances, she hadn’t earned anyone’s loyalty through anything but fear. Her being bound and accused of unforgivable crimes against humanity undercut any authority she’d wielded against them.

“In the absence of any defense,” Ikzoz said at last, pausing just a moment more. “I believe we can put this to a vote. All in favor of Onirioago’s removal as expedition leader effective immediately?”

Every hand at the table went up.

Between Onirioago and the bhogad with the greatsword, she blinked first.

“All opposed?” Ikzoz asked. Every hand snapped back down in an instant.

“It seems that by majority, supermajority, and unanimous standards,” Ikzoz said after a brief pause, “we have a consensus. As such, this decision cannot be contested. Onirioago, it is with great regret that I must inform you of your removal from office. I would wish you luck in your future endeavors, but I’m afraid my first act as your former second in command must be to order you held in custody indefinitely, pending your successor’s decision of what should be done with you.” He gestured at the bhogad with the greatsword. “Gavinkim, take her away.”

“With pleasure, sir,” the bhogad said. He rose, sword still in hand, and went to Onirioago. It took a moment for the trio of adventurers to unfasten her bonds from themselves and hand her over, but once he had a hold of her he made it very clear that she wouldn’t break free of him. He wrapped her leads around one of his hands tightly, and put his other hand on the back of her neck. Onirioago was not a small woman for a vathon, but as a bhogad, the size of his hand compared to her body meant his fingertips rested on her collarbone with his palm firmly on the back of her neck.

He dragged her out of the room with a roughness that was perhaps unnecessary.

Kaldalis knew, deep down, it wouldn’t be the last time he ever saw her. But he hoped the time between this moment and their next meeting would stretch on as long as possible.