Dalgaard started to mobilize their forces, putting Kaldalis on a very tight timer to get everything explained to Balrim and Myrin. He also needed to figure out how he was going to make this whole mess end well for him. But that was seeming like it was going to be increasingly reliant on his improvisational skills.

He’d underestimated Dalgaard at every turn. Perhaps this was all part of their calculations as well. If they didn’t trust him, they’d know he was going to have to bullshit his way through anything that he didn’t have time to plan. And his track record on bullshitting his way through things did not inspire confidence in his abilities. Maybe they were letting him paint himself into the same corner he always wound up in.

His hands were tied, though. He partied up with Balrim and Myrin and tried to explain.

“Let me explain,” Kaldalis began, even as Voker’s mercenaries started to push them to keep within the prescribed range of Dalgaard as they moved around to begin the assault. “No, there’s too much. Let me sum up. What Onirioago did to the tablet we found stopped the Jormongumo from respawning after death. Once Onirioago was out of the picture, Dalgaard raised a huge raid team to wipe out the Jormongumo once and for all.

“That’s good,” Balrim ventured.

“The Jormongumo recruited me to fulfill some prophecy to save them from extinction,” Kaldalis continued. “This shouldn’t be controversial to say, but genocide bad. Especially knowing what we know about this world.”

“I don’t know if I agree with that,” Myrin said.

“The only reason the Jormongumo are evil is because Monsoon made them that way,” Kaldalis said quickly. “I don’t have time to get into the details, but the calamity messed up their genetics something awful, so they’re all women. They’ve been dependent on their infinite respawning trick to stave off extinction since the Calamity, along with their prophecies predicting when and where to find… Uh. Breeding stock.” He shook his head. “Regardless, it’s only because Monsoon decided they couldn’t be player races that they’re monsters. They’re civilized. Or, at least, they were. But that’s not important.”

“It seems pretty important,” Balrim argued. “Because I’m not seeing where you’re going with this.”

“Let me put this as simply as possible. Before Onirioago broke the tablet, the Jormongumo were immortal,” Kaldalis said, trying not to sound condescending. “Ara was here for the Calamity. Personally.”

Balrim and Myrin took a moment to process that.

Kaldalis didn’t want to elaborate further while they were surrounded by Dalgaard’s forces and Voker’s mercenaries.

Balrim seemed to catch up first.

“You really want to put all this on the line for that?” Balrim asked. “It seems a bit foolhardy.”

“Listen,” Kaldalis said, looking over his shoulder as a group of Dalgaard’s forces started to leave the clearing, filing into the jungle towards the Jormongumo camp. The raid was about to begin. “I got kidnapped, passed out, and woke up in a prison cell. Everything’s been happening really fast since I woke up and I’m just trying to land on my feet here.”

“Alright,” Balrim said carefully. “So you ‘landing on your feet.’ What does that look like?”

“Well,” Kaldalis looked over at Dalgaard, where they were hunkered down with Voker over another half-assed drawing of the camp in the dirt. “I get Ara and Dalgaard in a room and see if I can’t broker something. A little info for us. Maybe a little blood for them. And Ara gets to guarantee that some of her people get to see the sunrise tomorrow. I don’t think I can get Dalgaard to specifically leave Ara alive long-term - and I don’t blame them - but maybe I can delay the execution until I get what I want.”

“Okay. So we’re doing what?” Myrin asked. “Cut our way in to the boss, make some demands? What then?”

“This plan is fucked,” Balrim said quickly. “You have two people - both of them with armies - who are openly hostile to each other on sight. How the hell are you fixing to turn that into a peaceful discussion?”

“Considering how fast things are moving, I don’t have a lot of other options,” Kaldalis argued. “We need that information if we’re going to make things right. And monsters or not, the Jormongumo are people. As much as we are. As much as the other NPCs are. I won’t let every one of them be wiped out for the actions of their leader alone.”

“You’re playing both sides against yourself,” Balrim warned, lowering his voice. “You’re trying to betray everyone here at the same time all at once.”

“If you keep turning it so fast,” Myrin said, nodding, “your coat is gonna get pretty dizzy.”

“I know,” Kaldalis snapped, lowering his voice as well. “And I don’t like this any more than you do. Ara’s a fucking monster who tried to bully me onto her side with talk of prophecy and threats. I’m looking forward to the look on her face when I’m admitting that her execution is well-deserved to the point of inevitability.”

He lowered his voice to a whisper, self-conscious about the adventurers around them possibly overhearing. “And Dalgaard is a good kid, they don’t deserve to get backstabbed, but they’re letting their trauma take the wheel here. I know how fucking crazy that makes you. They needed the truth about what they’re doing, and they’re going to have to face the facts that they have to make things right, even if it’s a commuted sentence against their abuser.”

“You’re walking a dangerous line,” Myrin said quietly, though not at a full whisper. “All it takes is one person on either side deciding that they can kill you and still have enough steam left to survive a fight with the other.”

“I know,” Kaldalis said with a sigh. “That’s why I need you two with me here. I made it a condition of my cooperation with Dalgaard.” He looked between them. “The only way they don’t just slap me down and go back to each other’s throats is if slapping me down is more trouble than I’m worth. And for that I need the best damn healer/DPS duo on the island behind me.”

Myrin puffed her chest out with pride at that, but Balrim narrowed his slit-pupiled eyes at Kaldalis.

The Talsar, meanwhile, was thinking carefully about this, and was not being swayed by flattery.

“Ara has the information I need,” Kaldalis said carefully. “I could comb this whole island - every dilapidated ruin, every dungeon, every Infernal Horde lair - or I could mediate terms of surrender that let me pick her brain. Even if I can only get a starting point out of her, that’s infinitely more information than we have now.” He clasped his hands together, beseeching. “I can’t do this without you two on board. It’s not easy to balance what I want, what I need, and what’s right here. But it’s an act I am not going to be able to do alone.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” Balrim said, putting a clawed hand on Kaldalis’s shoulder. “I’m with you. I agree with your goals and your methods. And we’re not going to abandon you.”

“Never in life,” Myrin agreed, reaching up and giving Kaldalis a reassuring pat on the other side. Though she could only reach his upper arm, not his shoulder.

“What we doubt-” he paused, looking down at Myrin. “What I doubt, at least. Is your chance of success. You’re aiming for the impossible.”

“But it’s the right thing to do,” Myrin added, giving Balrim a pointed look. “Just because it’s impossible doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.”

“I’m not saying we shouldn’t try!” Balrim said defensively. He turned back to Kaldalis and offered a grin. “Impossible or not, we’re with you. You can count on us.”

“Not for negotiation,” Myrin chirped cheerfully. “But if things escalate, we’ll be right there beside you.”

“If things escalate,” Balrim corrected. “Oh wait, no, you did say if. I thought you said when. If things escalate, yes.”

Kaldalis nodded with a grin. He couldn’t very well argue with them about that point. It did seem pretty likely that things were going to get out of hand. And when they did, everyone was going to be extremely angry with Kaldalis.

But what were they gonna do, kill him?

It seemed likely, but Voker had apparently been dropping dead like twice a day for two weeks and he was fine. Kaldalis might have to spend some time as a ghost, but what was the worst that could happen?

As soon as he considered what the worst that could happen was, he suddenly felt slightly invested in making sure that if this went against him, that Dalgaard would win in the end. Ara’s capacity to make him wish he were dead was so much greater.

He didn’t have time to think about that any further. Dalgaard began to move out, leading the forces in a northwestern arc, circling towards the camp. And Kaldalis and friends were along for the ride, now.