Kaldalis didn’t have much time to plan as Garyung guided him towards the front of the room. The people that were milling around in the room began to quiet down, becoming more orderly as they filed towards their seats.

Instead of panicking, Kaldalis tried to focus. “Okay. We can get through this.” He looked up to Garyung, fixing the giant Bhogad with a serious glare. “You just need to stall.”

“Yeah, but how am I going to do that?” Garyung subtly gestured towards the far end of the room. “I’m not in a position to make this crowd wait.” He nodded towards a particular group. “Especially not them.”

Along the right side of the room, in the direction Garyung nodded, there were a handful of seats. These were occupied by the Zaran diplomats. There were five of them, with the seats immediately around them occupied by uniformed guards.

The whole group looked surly and anxious.

Garyung was right. If he tried to hold up the meeting, there were going to be consequences.

“Our goal has to be appeasing them,” Kaldalis said, remembering what Reno had said on their way here. “We need to be their friends. What can we do to defuse this situation?”

“I don’t know,” Garyung said. His voice was starting to take on the clipped, stammering quality it did when the man was faced with a decision. “There’s just so much- so much we need to-”

Kaldalis had to do something before the man could start tripping over his words. “Okay, okay. It’s alright. I’ve got your back, man. We’re all in the same boat here. If we can’t stall for time, we need to find another way. Give me a minute, I can-”

“Thank you all for joining me,” Ikzoz said, interrupting Kaldalis’s train of thought as the crowd began to quiet. “This meeting is to keep you all abreast of the situation and advise you all on how we will be moving forward. Without further ado, I present the current expedition leader - as chosen by the people of Cotanaku - Garyung.”

The Bhogad stood to make his way to the stage. Kaldalis joined him.

“Just talk,” Kaldalis whispered. There was polite applause as they both mounted the stage. “I’ll be right behind you. Talk your way through the problem, and I’ll come up with something. I’ll tap you on the shoulder when I figure it out, and then you can cut to me and I’ll present your solution.”

“Thank you.” Garyung let out a deep sigh, and Kaldalis could see the tension going out of the Bhogad’s huge frame. His anxious expression softened into a much more self-assured smile. He raised his voice as he stepped up to the lectern, and repeated it - this time directed out at the crowd: “Thank you!”

The polite applause died down, and everyone looked intently up at Garyung. A few of the council members gave Kaldalis - standing just behind him like a bodyguard - sidelong glances, but they didn’t offer any objection to his presence.

“I would love to begin by extending a warm welcome to the diplomats from Zara,” Garyung said, gesturing towards the group on the right side of the room, “but unfortunately, this meeting must start off on a sadder note.”

Kaldalis followed the gesture and got a better look at the diplomats.

There were four people there who were obviously the diplomatic envoy. There were the three men he’d seen before on the dock, who were bedecked in fine clothing and jewelry. Next to them was the friendly ship captain, with his big red coat and handlebar moustache. He was holding his comically large tricorn hat in his lap rather than on his head where it would block the view of those seated behind him.

There were five guards arranged around them, and Kaldalis knew that one or more of them could be members of the diplomatic party. Their very own council included Gavinkim, a soft-spoken but fierce man who had overseen the security efforts required by the camp.

All were focused on Garyung.

“I must begin with perfect honesty, and a heartfelt apology,” Garyung continued. “During last night’s extraordinary event, I made a horrible mistake. On my first night as expedition leader, I noticed that the town was finished. The mantle of leadership that was passed to me revealed that our former expedition leader had completed every task required to make Cotanaku into a town. In my ignorance, I began the event to create the town and pay off all of our work. I imagine you all know how that went.”

A quiet chuckle rippled through the crowd. Kaldalis was actually impressed. Garyung was surprisingly charismatic. Part of that definitely came from everything he had done to be likeable enough to be elected, but even though he was a huge muscular rat-man, his words were well-delivered, and even charming, despite his serious tone.

“But there was another mistake that I made,” Garyung went on, “unprepared as I was for the task, I failed to uphold our end of the bargain for Zara’s part in this expedition. I made this town the first city in a new nation, whose allegiance is only the Adventurer’s League, not the kingdom.”

This wasn’t news to everyone. When Garyung had admitted it to Kaldalis, there had been almost a dozen other adventurers with them. In the time since that admission, the word had no doubt been spread. But there was still a surprised gasp going around the room. Most likely among the newbies.

“The Kingdom of Zara financed this expedition,” Garyung said, “and my failure represents a betrayal - however accidental - of the nation to which we owe our true allegiance. No matter how innocent or unintentional this mistake, I offer apology, both to the Kingdom of Zara, and to the people of Cotanaku. I’m sorry.” He bowed his head for a moment - just long enough to show repentance - before he looked up again. “But this mistake isn’t the end of this story. I intend, with my entire being, to make this right, no matter how challenging that may be.”

That was Kaldalis’ signal.

He hadn’t know that the Kingdom of Zara had financed the expedition - though he should have known. The crescents paid out from quests had to come from somewhere, not to mention all the resources and personnel had to have been paid by someone.

In coming up with a solution, this bit of perspective was very valuable. It might be considered sunk costs for the kingdom to send an army to occupy a town they’d already paid to build.

The financial angle was looking like a valuable direction to look for his solution.

“It wasn’t easy to come up with a way to make things right,” Garyung continued. Kaldalis could sense the tension coming back into the man with the little white lie, but the Bhogad managed to sound calm and confident as he spoke. For a moment, even Kaldalis believed he was just talking through the problem for the benefit of the audience, like a detective at the climax of a mystery story. “There are many unique challenges here. Simply handing the town over to Zara will not work. That puts even more demands on the resources of the kingdom. It’s not an acceptable course, given what we have already cost them.

“We need to find a way to make good on the Kingdom’s investment,” Garyung said, “without costing them even more than they already intended. Beyond that, there is the matter of my leadership here. The kingdom placed trust in the Adventurers League to reflect the Kingdom’s values, and my holding the position of expedition leader is a tenuous adherence to those values, at best, and yet another betrayal of them, at worst. The solution needed to, above all else, show that I - and those like me - can be trustworthy in positions of leadership.”

Garyung paused for effect, making sure everyone knew that he was talking about the kingdom’s deep distrust for PCs before softening the comment by adding: “it is important that the kingdom know that this was a simple mistake, and not an act of malice.”

Kaldalis already knew this part of the problem, but hearing it reiterated reinforced the importance.

The Kingdom of Zara had something against those it could identify as PCs, and Garyung’s leadership was indeed going to be a problem in their eyes.

Garyung was right. The solution had to be one that could inspire trust. Not only was it important to the expedition itself, but if they accidentally proved that the kingdom’s distrust was justified, everyone playing the game - no matter where they were - would suffer.

The consequences would be unfathomable.

Garyung paused for a moment, and Kaldalis feared that his time was up. He didn’t have his solution yet. Yet, he was close. He could feel the wheels turning in his head, but he just felt like he was forgetting something.

Something critical.

Kaldalis looked over at the diplomats, and saw that they appeared engaged and interested in Garyung’s speech. The finely-dressed trio had looked to be ready to pick a fight when Kaldalis had seen them on the dock, and it spoke of Garyung’s skill as an orator that they had been calmed so much.

Unfortunately, if Kaldalis couldn’t come up with a solution to the conflict, all of that pacification was likely to have been for nothing. Perhaps he could hope that if the friendly captain was among them, he might-

That was when inspiration struck.

The missing piece clicked into place, and the solution - it was so obvious! - came into focus.

Kaldalis reached forward and tapped Garyung on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” Garyung said, making a production of turning towards him. “Is something wrong?”

“I know you’re proud of your solution,” Kaldalis said, following his lead, “but I think you’ve drawn this out enough.” He gestured to the lectern. “May I?”

Garyung chuckled low, playing the part. “Sure, sure. I suppose I’ve set the stage more than enough.”

“Thank you,” Kaldalis said, stepping up as Garyung got out of the way, crossing his arms like this was all part of the planned production. “I’m sure we can all appreciate a leader with a flair for the dramatic, but we’re busy people. At this point we need action.”

Kaldalis looked towards the diplomats, who were smiling thinly.

“Zara made an investment in us, and we need to make good on it. As those who just arrived can attest, the kingdom planned on establishing another settlement in the immediate area before they’d even left Baimer.”

Kaldalis looked over at the captain he’d met on the dock. He’s said that the reinforcements were set to resupply and immediately ship out to find another site to form a new camp.

“That investment was already planned, with the assumption that another Zaran town would be in the area to support. We must facilitate in establishing this second town as if it was our own. We know how long and difficult the struggle was to build up Cotanaku, but we now have the tools and experience to make repeating it that much easier on the kingdom’s resources. To make this first step to pay back what they’re owed.”

There were murmurs from the crowd, and Kaldalis held up a hand to stop them. “This won’t be an end to our debt by any means. But it represents a valuable beginning, and an opportunity to prove the trustworthiness of the League, and its members.”

Garyung immediately broke into applause, and the other adventurers in the crowd joined in at his prompting.

The diplomats didn’t join in on the applause. But they also didn’t look openly hostile.

It would obviously still be an uphill battle to earn their trust, but his plan wasn’t immediately leading to a declaration of war.

That had to be enough.

Kaldalis stepped back to let Garyung take the point position again, but the man only thanked the crowd and ended the meeting. As the people started to stand up to leave, filling the room with the sound of chatter, footfalls, and scraping chairs, Kaldalis pulled Garyung aside.

“Thanks for your help, Kal.

“You’re welcome, and hey, listen,” Kaldalis said as he raked his fingers through his hair, purposefully avoiding his horns. “I’m glad to help you with stuff like this, I really am.”

Garyung nodded, keeping his voice low despite the cover of the commotion in the room. “I couldn’t be doing this without you.”

“I know.” Kaldalis grimaced. “But next time, can you give me more than two minutes’ warning when you need a fast solution to a big problem?” He gave the man a friendly punch in the arm, trying to put on a smile to hide his aggravation at being cornered like this. “You can count on me to cover your back, but you have to give me what I need to help you. If I had ten more minutes to think, I could have gotten some choreography planned and done a big musical number instead of just blurting out a half-baked idea at the last second.”

Garyung returned the smile, only his seemed to be genuine. “Don’t worry. Next time I’ll give you the time to Be Prepared.”

“That’d be A Whole New World.”

The Bhogad put a giant hand to his shoulder. “Let It Go.”

For not the first time today, Kaldalis felt like punching his expedition leader.