When Kaldalis arrived at the council chambers with Brother Gnider, the people gathered within were in a noisy disarray. Most of the council members appeared to be in a state of panic, pelting Bangen with questions. For her part, she was visibly overwhelmed, unable to even process one question before the next was upon her.

“Can everyone just calm the fuck down?” Kaldalis roared into the room. “Nothing is getting done if we’re just in here making a lot of goddamn noise!”

With all eyes on Bangen when he arrived, Kaldalis’s sudden appearance shocked everyone into a moment of stunned silence. He tried not to notice Filomena trying - very poorly - to stifle a cackle.

“Garyung is missing,” Kaldalis said. “And I’m about to march out into the jungle to get him back.” He gestured over his shoulder to Brother Gnider. “This guy is here to make sure that we don’t misconstrue this as a declaration of war, but let me tell you, I’m not gonna help him talk you out of it if you want to call up whoever Garyung’s been talking to.”

“I have reason to believe that the Contender has gone rogue,” Brother Gnider added quickly, almost before Kaldalis had finished speaking. “My first priority as of now is to avert an international incident. All the authority at my disposal is yours to ensure that we remain at peace.”

The shifty Suyon who served as Cotanaku’s spymaster grumbled something inaudible, and even though Kaldalis couldn’t hear the exact words, he agreed with the sentiment. It was frustrating that the Contender’s forces had been such an active thorn in their side for so long, and now that something had finally happened that gave Cotanaku grounds to retaliate, they were being forced to be the bigger people and try to let the situation get defused rather than acting on it.

Regardless, Kaldalis didn’t want things to escalate into a war. That was, without a doubt, the worst failure state possible, especially since he only had a few more days to get back to the Lataxinans.

“Let’s just take a moment,” Ikzoz said, taking the lead among the councilors. “We need a plan of action, but to get there, we need to know exactly what’s going on.”

“I’m not sure how much Bangen told you before you started shouting her down,” Kaldalis said, walking around the table to where Bangen had taken the opportunity to back into a corner once Kaldalis had taken the attention of the room away from her. She gave him a panicked look, but he kept talking. Bangen didn’t deserve to be put on the spot again so soon. “But Garyung has been captured. There were signs of a struggle between the town gates and the jungle. He was last seen with the Contender.” He paused to gesture back at Brother Gnider. “The Contender has also been missing, along with a retinue of his guards. I think it’s safe to say that in the wake of the council meeting not going his way, he’s gone to extreme steps to retake control of the situation.”

“The Contender only has his personal guard at his side,” Brother Gnider added quickly. “Only those whose loyalty to him borders on fanatical. There will only be twelve of them, but they are the best of the best that the church has, armed for battle not just with whatever monsters they might find in the jungle, but with War Weapons as well, if they need to defend themselves.”

The whole Cotanaku council flinched at the mention of War Weapons. Kaldalis didn’t know if they knew that he’d taken Onirioago’s spear - or if they’d known that she had one at all - but it was something he’d been trying to keep under wraps.

“This is a dangerous foe, then,” Ikzoz said at last. “As an expedition previously intended only for research, we don’t have War Weapons of our own to fight back with.”

“Leave the fight to me,” Kaldalis said firmly. “All I need is my friends beside me, and the assurance that Cotanaku is still going to be here when we get back. As much as it pains me to let this kind of thing slide, we can’t get baited into starting the war we’ve been dancing around since we got here. I don’t want to get back to find out that the Zaran navy is en route, alright?”

“You shouldn’t be afraid of that,” Ikzoz said with a smirk. “The currently-active draft of Garyung’s constitution forbids us from taking that kind of action without another vote from the people.”

Kaldalis nodded. That was a good sign. So long as Garyung’s constitution blocked the council from engaging in any truly extreme measures, maybe they could come out of this alright. He’d gotten what he wanted out of the council meeting, after all. He just needed for his win to still stand after this was over.

“I was hoping my friends would catch up before I had to go,” Kaldalis said, shooting an agitated glance at the door. “But every second we lose here is a second closer to disaster. I don’t know what the Contender is doing, but I don’t think he’d do something like this without a long-term strategy.”

“Of course,” Ikzoz said. “If your friends arrive here, we’ll point them-”

The Talsar researcher suddenly jumped in his seat, as if he’d been slapped.

Around the table, the other councilors had similar reactions. The shifty Suyon’s mouth dropped open and his face went pale. The smirk was suddenly wiped off of Filomena’s face. The Bhogad architect slapped the side of her face in shock.

“What?” Kaldalis asked. “What happened?”

“You need to leave,” Ikzoz said sharply. “Right now.”

Kaldalis looked around the room. The impact of whatever unseen change had everyone else too distracted to look up at him. At the very least, Brother Gnider and Bangen looked as confused as he felt.

“Control of Cotanaku has been transferred,” Ikzoz said. “The Contender is our leader now. And he is taking actions now to neutralize you. The sooner you get outside of town, the better.”

“What?” Kaldalis said. His head was already spinning. “How? Is Garyung… Dead?”

“First of all, that’s not possible,” Ikzoz said quickly. “As an adventurer like you, he cannot be permanently killed.”

After what had happened to Voker, Kaldalis wasn’t sure that was accurate. But he didn’t want to put that knowledge into hands that might be in the process of becoming his enemies.

“Second of all, Garyung’s constitution protects from that,” Ikzoz continued. He grimaced and put a pair of clawed fingers to his temple, as if he was having a headache. “In the event of a leader’s death or retirement, control of the town will revert to the council, so that we may hold a new election for the next leader.”

“So then what happened here?” Kaldalis demanded.

“He transferred leadership,” Brother Gnider said, his face screwed up as if he’d just bitten into a lemon. “Core system features will supersede any government. The only way for this to happen is for it to have been Garyung’s choice. Though certain… Unsavory methods of coercion may have been employed.”

“He has access to the leadership menu,” Ikzoz said. “And while the constitution will put limits on his power, the Contender can still take a lot of unfriendly measures.”

“Like what?” Kaldalis demanded, finding himself taking a step back to put his back to the wall. “What’s he doing now?”

“A curfew,” the shifty Suyon said. Unlike Ikzoz, he seemed to be having an easier time adjusting to whatever was happening before him on his UI. “But only for your type. The direction is already going out to the guards. They’re probably rounding people up and dragging them to the cells in the sheriff’s office already.” He shook his head with a smirk. “I hope you all are friendly with each other, because it’s going to get crowded in there.”

“That’s bad news,” Kaldalis said, trying to plan his way through this. They probably had Balrim and Myrin already, if they were on the way to the town hall.

“It gets worse,” Filomena said with an uncharacteristic frown. “Your ass is ‘kill on sight.’”

“I’m what?” Kaldalis demanded.

“He can’t do that,” Ikzoz said sharply. “The constitution clearly demands a fair trial before execution.”

“Yeah, but he sure as fuck tried it,” Filomena said, her frown reversing into a smirk. “You’ve been marked as guilty of capital crimes. Basically every piece of shit thing he can accuse you of doing on there. Murder, arson, larceny, treason… the fuckin’ works. A real asshole of a guard might take some initiative if he sees you out there, and he’d be within his rights to defend himself from your crazy ass.”

“Is-” Kaldalis began, but stopped himself. After less than a second’s thought, though, he knew he had to ask. It would inform his next course. “Has he taken any actions against Heluna?”

Heluna’s smirk turned into a brief leer, but she restrained herself from comment. “Nothing yet. But there’s no telling if that’ll stay the case if he doesn’t have you in custody by the end of the day. You’ll have to move fast if you want to save your better half.”

“Enough of this,” Ikzoz said before Kaldalis could shoot the captain an indignant comment. “You either need to submit yourself to arrest, or leave here immediately. Every second you’re here, we’re at risk of being branded treasonous as well for aiding and abetting.”

He gave a gesture to Bangen, and she grabbed Kaldalis’s arm and switched places with him. When he gave her a confused look, she nodded to the corner behind her.

There was a hidden door.

Kaldalis had never noticed it before, but there was a panel built into the wooden interior wall that slid aside to reveal a crawl space. Peering within, he could see that there was another panel at the other end. From his mental map of the building, Kaldalis guessed that the other exit went to Garyung’s office.

A few things started to make sense.

The Contender hadn’t made an undignified exit through the window after the meeting of the council of councils. He had gone to Garyung’s office to discuss the specifics of the raid in private.

Also, Bangen hadn’t been trying to vanish into the wall. She’d instinctively moved towards the nearest exit.

“What a fucking mess,” Kaldalis grumbled as he squeezed into the narrow passage. “I should have known something like this would happen after literally one thing went my way…”