Evidence suggested that the Calamity Beasts were not attacking at random. Someone had taken an enormous egg, and the resulting search carried flood, night and violent weather across communities. Returning it offered a solution that did not require defeating creatures closer to natural disasters than ordinary enemies.
Ral arrived through an Omenpath in otterfolk form, his appearance rewritten by Valley's magic. He was following Jace after seeking the Wanderer's advice and retracing the vault heist's aftermath on Thunder Junction. The local catastrophe interrupted that pursuit.
The alliance corrected both perspectives. Ral brought experience with planar threats and storm magic; Mabel and Helga understood the social landscape and the difference between a predator and a parent searching for its young. Neither kind of knowledge was sufficient alone.