Black Axe continued to speak his thoughts out loud, "Unless there is greater wealth to be had somehow, their motivation should be the acquisition of more power."
"Power makes sense as a motivation for cooperation. Everyone wants to advance and become more powerful, but how would eight epic beings working together help them advance?"
He couldn't think of an answer to that question, so he tried from another angle. "If there is a telepath, then the telepath shouldn't be able to secure their cooperation with the promise of power. After all, they can always pay money to other telepaths to help them fortify their minds when they advance."
"That should be the case unless this telepath has an unknown benefit that that can't get from someone else and unless they trust this telepath more than others. Without something unique and indispensable, they give up money and authority and won't work for the telepath."