Elder Gaspar has told you of the severity of the threat facing Last Refuge. If the Shard of the Epoch is not retrieved there will be no way to protect the survivors in the Council Chambers, and even if they found a way to deter the Void, the absence of the Shard would signal the end of the last bastion of humanity.
You put Elder Pannion out of his misery and reported back to Elder Gaspar.