With nothing else to contribute other than lengthy theses, Tetta summons another rolling ball of fire and directs it to the line of creatures in the rear.
Between Zay and Sarine they manage to put down one of the men, its green blood giving it away as a faceless. Aurelian tosses his dagger masterfully hitting one of the men coming up the side and not in melee. As the man , a duplicate of one of the other men still standing, the group quickly notes that the blood dripping from the fresh wound is in fact crimson and not the green you've been accustomed to when fighting the faceless. While Prim heals herself Tettia conjures another ball of fire that burns some of the enemies in the backline.
The men fill in the gaps and attack either Sarine or Zay.
While none manage to connect with Zay, the three on Sarine all hit. Interestingly while the ones fighting Zay are going all out, the ones on Sarine, including the one bleeding normal colored blood, seem to be fighting more defensively.
Prim sees blood fly out from Sarine as she is attacked. Knowing she was already injured, she groans in exasperation as she runs headlong towards danger again. "This was supposed to be for my emergency use only wand!" she complains as she uses yet another charge to heal her companions.
HP 47/57; Hero Points 2/2
AC 22 (23 vs. evil), touch 15, flat-footed 18, CMD 21 (23 vs. disarm)
Fort +4, Ref +8, Will +2 (0/1 set mind; 2/4 charmed life; 0/1 defiant luck)
Panache: 4/4 (1/1 deed reroll); 0/1 inexplicable luck
Consumables: 1/1 swordmaster's flair
Effects: 3 Cha damage, +4/+4 inspiration, haste, protection from energy (sonic)
Aurelian steps up and brings his sword to bear against the red-blooded man, trying not to do anything to permanently kill him. "Don't make us kill you!" he shouts, trying to rattle the man.
Sarine is feeling considerably less inclined to take prisoners than Aurelian, and she sets into the enemy with fury.
"No, no," Aurelian calls out. "Some of these are real, Aurelian thinks. Some are more body snatchers, but others are probably just enchanted!"
"I think it counts as an emergency," Zay remarks absently to Primrose as they start drifting over the head of one of the faceless. The cloudy shape strikes downward twice, gusts of wind battering the creature beneath it.
Tettia attempts to determine which are the faceless duplicates and which are mimicked humans - directing her magical sphere towards one of the faceless.
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As the party retreats from the faceless temple on Zanas-Tahn with rescued colonists in tow, they travel back to the beach where they first landed on Zanas-Tahn. The trek back is long, and it is night before you arrive. A steady drizzle combined with the rough terrain and necessity to carry the colonists with you made the trip interminably long.
Fortunately, a relief force of colonists from Talmandor's Bounty is waiting on the beach by the time you arrive. The party's ship was sighted travelling to the island just before the storm hit, and Ramona gathered a group of volunteers from among the colonists and new arrivals to help with the rescue effort. Forced to wait out the storm, the relief force arrived at the island shortly before the party returned and began setting up a base camp.
As the newly rescued colonists started waking you find that they act savagely, straining against their ropes as they seek to escape and lash out at anyone who comes nearby. It seems they are not yet free from the control of the faceless ones.
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Zay doesn't mind the rain on the way. They never have. Primrose grumbles through the drizzle, but Zay turns their face up to it, and floats lightly in the damp sea air except when needing to check the vitals of the rescued souls.
When they see people waiting, Zay decides it might be better to resume humanoid form. They touch lightly down onto the sand with air and mist transforming into a bare, callused foot; the rest of them fills in like paint poured into a jar, and then there's one more person walking among the one party that goes to meet the other.
"Hello," Zay calls neutrally as they see fresh faces. "I hope none of you are shapeshifters. That would be awkward."
A snarl from one of the bound colonists causes Zay to peer down at the savagely contorted face. "Personally, I'm getting tired of these stalkers. Oh. I'm Zay."
The truth was, Tatienne Talbot never cared for rain. Perhaps it was years spent sequestered in the Leroung manor's attic, rarely getting outside. Or, once she finally did, that she spent years in the arid southern lands, amid desert heat and perennial blue skies. Regardless, under normal circumstances, dealing with this heat and humidity and drizzle, Taty would have been miserable. Thankfully, these weren't normal circumstances.
Azlant! Finally, after ten years and countless adventures, she'd touched down in the wilds of the shattered continent! Taty's opinion of the colony - Talamandor's Bounty - was that it wasn't much of a town, but it was exactly as expected; a flyspeck place, off the map of everything. The type of place one could make something of oneself.
Taty smiled and shifted her hat, pulling a wet black curl of hair back under it, and ran a soaked sleeve under her chin, a poor excuse for a towel to be sure, but fooking glorious none-the-less. She stood back and grinned - her tent was set up, she would dry-ish soon. And most importantly, surely, there was but a handful of people that had set foot on this island in centuries, and that feat alone made any discomfort worth it. And, judging by the commotion from the colonists, some of those handful of people approached now.
One of them, a slim human with sun-browned skin speaks first. Zay. Shapeshifters? Stalkers? Fascinating! Eying the straining restrained one, the explorer tips her hat.
"Tatienne Talbot, of Almas by way of Osiron, Leiptstadt, Magnimar, and the Belzken Tribes, and not a shapeshifter last time I checked. Nice to meet you, Zay. What's the matter with your captive?"
"Also, do you need us to find you some shoes?"
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"Hello!" Aurelian greets the group with a flourish and wide grin. "Aurelian Fache is at your service, as long as you are here to join our colony, and not steal our colonists!"
He briefly allows Tettia to explain the situation, likely in more words than necessary, about how their friends disappeared and Aurelian led the group in a rescue attempt. They were somewhat successful, but more needs to be done, so Tettia and Primrose plan to escort them back to the colony (especially since this new boat is so handy), while Aurelian Fache and Zay will remain to continue to look for more people and determine what exactly is going on.
"I do hope just the two of them will be OK on their own," Tettia says, eying up Aurelian and blushing furiously.
"Almas?" Zay echoes, a pair of vivid blue-green eyes glancing up from the bound colonist to more fully take in Tatienne. "Almas. Hello, Tatienne Talbot the well-traveled.
"Our-- captive, as you say-- shouldn't be one. He's a colonist. Or was. He is not in his right mind. None of these people are. They were captured by creatures called faceless stalkers. The experience seems like it has been..." a pause, Zay shifting position to stand in the position that is most comfortable for them, which is one foot's sole resting against the inside of their other knee, balanced accordingly on one leg, creating an effect rather like a shorebird-- "...bad for them, I think. I'm not the best at knowing what's wrong with people, always."
Zay's gaze slides back down to the bound men and women. "They haven't done anything but try and attack us since we rescued them from the stalkers, anyway."
Zay clasps their hands before them and twists their wrists until their palms face outward, a restless gesture. "Are any of you healers? They might need such. Healers of the mind, maybe."
Almost as an afterthought, Zay shakes their blond head once at the question of shoes, and then sinks down into a one-legged crouch, gazing down into the maddened eyes of the nearest bound cultist.
"What IS wrong with you," they mutter.
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Tipping her hat to Aurelian in greeting, Taty watches the exchange between the blond woman and this Aurelian Fache. Lovers, probably.
"Indeed. We just arrived. My library is back at Talamandor's Bounty - I intend to stay awhile, and every burgeoning settlement needs knowledge. I admit to being a restless sort, however, and when I heard there were some colonists in trouble... well, it was an easy choice to head here, to... Zanas Tahn, is it? How can we help?"
Turning to Zay, Tatienne watches them crouch and gaze into the eyes of the maddened colonist. The explorer's mouth turns down in a small frown, her expression pensive, and Taty drops down next to Zay and colonist, one knee - clad in worn but well-kept leather breeches - landing with a plop in a muddy puddle.
"Almas, yes," Tatienne says, her voice far away, her eyes searching over the colonist. One gloved hand reaches up and turns the colonist's head to the right and left, and then lifts the man's chin, showing his neck.
"Thirty-four years ago, in Caliphas, in the accursed lands of Ustalav, over a period of a month, thirteen residents of that city were admitted to Wellsworth Sanitorium. They were mad - beyond the ability to communicate - and they were gripped with a fever of almost feral violence. Each one was given a padded cell, and wrapped in a straightjacket, lest they harm themselves or the Sanitorium's workers. And yet, they were also seen within the city, identified by neighbors, family, and friends, people who were aware they had been committed, seemingly stalking their old haunts - their neighborhoods, pubs, churches. Thirteen murders happened that month, each ascribed to one of the mad, who seemed to be in two places at once. There's no record of the mystery being solved, but as to their affliction..."
A young woman approaches carrying one of the bound prisoners. Though wearing a breastplate and carrying her gear kit alongside, she doesn't seem particularly burdened after their long trip, speaking to a physical strength greater than her size would suggest. She sets down the prisoner carefully in the sand before coming to greet the newcomers.
”Good to see new hands around here. Welcome to the farthest you'll get from home. I'm Sarine. Did Ramona send you?” she asks.
After hearing about Tatienne's assessment of the prisoners, Sarine looks about the shoreline. ”We'll probably need a base camp on Zanas-Tahn, then. I'm not sure it is a good idea to bring these people back to Ancorato while they remain enchanted. Some of us should stay behind to keep watch and maybe do some hunting while we're here. If Desna graces us further, more of our people will still be alive in that temple and we can bring them here until it is safe to go back to Talmandor's Bounty.”
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"That sounds horrible," Aurelian says to Tatienne. "It is too bad for them that Aurelian Fache wasn't there. He would have solved this mystery, but perhaps after we have finished colonizing this place. We still have missing friends, so Aurelian must get back to finding them!"
"Do you want to set up this camp here, Sarine, and keep them safe? Perhaps Prim and Tettia can help, or they can go back to Ancorato and work to find a solution to help them."
”I'll stay behind and keep the area clear then,” Sarine agrees as she surveys the beachside again. ”There's no telling when we might be attacked again.”
Farthest you'll get from home. Huh. The more distance I can put between my childhood home, the better. Taty declines to offer her thoughts up publicly, instead asking a question to Sarine. "Who's Ramona?"
Turning to Aurelian, Tatienne smiles, a smile that it at once winning and bemused. "Aurelian Fache would have been welcome I'm sure, were he more than a glint in his mother's eye at the time. Perhaps, some day you will solve the mystery, which is still outstanding, as far as I know."
Her expression turning more serious, Taty shifts her hat back. "I'd be happy to help find the colonists. Let me know when and where I can help. As for the enchantments these colonists are bound by..."
Tatienne recalls...not much about domination spells. She hadn't brushed up on them lately and her references were back in Talmandor's Bounty. She knew that the most classic domination spell was Dominate Person and she couldn't remember hearing about any domination spells that were permanent, but she also knew there were more powerful ones in existence. Who knows what those could do?
"I say we make a quick camp for the night before we try and explore the watchtower. We can learn more about our new faces. You and Miss Tettia both seem to know... many things... about many things," Zay says vaguely to Tatienne. They flick a glance over at the other woman, and offer the same neutral "Hello, I'm Zay," that they gave to Tatienne.
"We should adjust the bonds of our unfortunate prisoners for comfort now that we're not having to move with them. We can wait until they run out of energy to struggle in order to see if we can get them to take a little food and water. If the magical control is so thorough that we can't even do that, then we'll have to rush to break the control affecting them... the body cannot survive past about three days without water," Zay says, and unfolds from their crouch in order to start walking for the treeline and immediately gathering brush for a beach camp-- both to serve as firewood and to serve as a breakwind for the ocean air.
****
Later, when fresh fish that Zay has caught bake over the coals of the fire, wrapped in broad leaves from the trees, Zay lies flat on the cool sand and stares up at the starry sky overhead.
"My favorite river in Almas was the Tamuth," they remark to the night sky. "But that's several years now since I saw it. I suppose I likely won't again."
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So much for a quiet semi-retirement.
Kassiani jumps into the small boat headed out from Talmandor’s Bounty to the probable cause of all the trouble. She hadn’t arrived to find a place like she expected at all.
Instead of a small, sleepy outpost where colonists were busy building a place where they could begin anew to scratch out a living, she found chaos. The colonists were fighting off and attack, and apparently the colony had been under siege from practically the very beginning. The town was on fire, even the ship she arrived on was almost lost to fire.
When she finally made it to shore, the situation was so confused it was hard for her to get a handle on what was happening. Before she’d left Almas, Kassiani had been given the name Carver Hastings, another Pathfinder agent who was supposed to be among the earliest colonists to arrive. At the time she’d been disappointed since she’d hoped to have some newly opened territory all to herself. But now she was glad there might be someone she could get a situation report from.
Finding Carver didn’t take too long. He was able to give her a very brief summary of events. Aside from the hazardous bumps and snags one could expect when founding a settlement in the wild unknown, Talmandor’s Bounty had been the target of a secretive campaign waged by shape shifters since almost its founding. The most recent violence and destruction was the culmination of a period during which the shape shifters, apparently a whole tribe or clan of them, had eliminated colonists and quietly replaced them so they could rise up and strike from within.
The news wasn’t all bad though. Carver also told Kassiani of several Azlanti buildings on the island showing extremely advanced knowledge of engineering and magic. There had also been a small number of still functioning constructs from that time discovered as well. All in all, the little island was far more tumultuous and richer in finds than she had ever imagined.
When word reaches her about a boat leaving for a nearby island thought to be the source of the shape shifter troubles, as well as where some of the missing colonists may have been taken, Kassiani volunteers to go with it. She quickly stashes her belongings in a building and gears up like she hasn’t done in more than a year.
Kassiani is pleased to find Tatienne aboard as well. She’s grown fond of her during the time they spent aboard the resupply ship. It started as an experiment on Kassiani’s part, socializing, making friends again. That was another thing Kassiani hadn’t done in over a year, have a social life. Kassiani had chosen Tatienne because she was also half-elven. She figured it was at least a conversation starter. As it turned out, they had lots more things in common.
On the boat over to the other island Kassiani braids her hair then pins both braids up to keep them out of the way. Lacking a hat, she takes a piece of fabric and wraps it around her head like a turban. It’s not as good as a brimmed hat, but it helps some in keeping water from dripping into her eyes. When they land Kassiani helps beach the boat.
She lets Tatienne take the lead on greetings and introductions with the colonists making up the rescue party there. Kassiani offers only her name and a brief smile that betrays some nervousness when greeting people.
An ancient, square stone tower stands in the sand at the water's edge. The tower's battlements show few cracks and little wear despite the construction's apparent age, but the tower's upper stories have crumbled away, and only a broken stump and piles of rubble remain.
The battlements of the tower are 20' tall, but a steel ladder in the accessible inner courtyard seems to be intact.
"My favorite river in Almas was the Tamuth," they remark to the night sky. "But that's several years now since I saw it. I suppose I likely won't again."
Tatienne groans, inwardly and silently, when Zay reveals they're from Almas. A lifetime of pretending she wasn't Chelish taught Tatienne to be evasive, but in this case, there was very little chance that Zay was an assassin sent by the Leroungs. And they were right - she likely wouldn't see the Tamuth - or Almas - again.
Tatienne leaned back, laying in the sand, and licked her fingers. The fish was good - not unlike skate she'd had off the coast of Osiron - light and not too oily as some sea-caught fish could be.
"Honestly," Taty says, picking out constellations as she talks - The Warrior. Cayden's hound. Wailing Mother. "I'm from Almas in spirit, but I wasn't born there. My childhood home was an unpleasant place, and I prefer to not dwell on it." Adopting the tactic she always uses when talk turns to Almas, Taty steered the conversation towards things she knew intimately from her travels and readings. "I miss the Longshank Cafe. Finest chocolat in a city steeped in fine chocolat. Have you been?"
------
"Amazing," Tatienne murmers, nudging Kassiani with her elbow. "Azlanti, I assume? Late period?" The half-elf had shown an interest in architecture, it was one of the ways they'd whiled away time on the journey to Talamandor's Bounty.
Moving forward, Tatinne runs a gloved hand along the tower wall, looking up towards the sky, scanning the tower for any reliefs, unusual stonework, or other identifying information.
"Aurelian, I noticed you can fit a lot in that pack. A magic haversack, perhaps? Can I load it up?"
Zay doesn't stir from their flat-on-the-sand position at Taty's answer. "No, I never went," they murmur to the question of the cafe. "I didn't... it wasn't... my sort of place. I stayed on the water. You probably know the city better than me... at least the land part of it." A quick flick of a smile, white teeth in the night, then gone again.
Zay peers up at the tower musingly, balancing again on one leg. They chewed at a long stem of grass and squinted for a bit. "As always, I don't mind scouting inconspicuously. But I -- hm, hang on."
They slung their sailor's sack around by its straps, and started rummaging through it. After a few seconds they held up a heavily tarnished brooch, shaped like a beetle, with little pits of rust forming. The other hand held a wand made from a driftwood twig.
"In case we run into bugs. If you put this on, you can actually fight vermin piles. And this stick has healing magic from Gozreh in it. If we get into a fight, someene other than me should be holding them."
[b]"On that note.... if we do get into a fight, I'll probably, um, change, into something else, sometimes an animal. Please don't stab me and call me a freak. Or even one of those two thingsm by itself. Neither is nice."
There's a pause, Zay staring steadily at the two new women with eyes that are very blue-green.
"--where was I? Oh. Right. What is your own experience in fights? Do you want to stay in the back behind Mr. Fache and myself? Should I expect anything strange?"
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Kassiani mostly spends her time sitting on the ground leaned against a couple of driftwood logs serving as a backrest. She watches the fire and listens in on the conversations around her.
Tatienne's question prompts her to give the watch tower another look.
"Azlanti no doubt. Late? That would be my guess. But I'm better with Jistkan styles than Azlanti."
As she had gotten to know Tatienne better on the ship, Kassiani had come to realize she shared an astonishing amount of things in common with the other half-elven woman. They were almost exactly the same age. They had both experienced unhappy childhoods. Tatienne hadn't said so, but Kassiani could tell. It was apparent by omissions and things that were glossed over. Her tone of voice and facial expressions anytime the subject was brushed against shifted slightly. She could read people well, and Tatienne was no exception.
Both of them had escaped into books as children, and taken up professions suggested to them by their favorite characters. Both and them well-educated but also self-made. They 'lived by their wits', a way of putting it that Kassiani found more palatable than the more commonly used and cruder 'adventurer' moniker. Both of them had retained their love of knowledge on into adulthood.
They used to be even more alike. Tatienne is self-possessed and confident, restless for the next thing to test herself against. She is still on an upward trajectory. But nothing had ever gone horribly wrong for Tatienne. It had for Kassiani. She could see her old self in the other woman, but she was no longer like any of those things. Mostly Kassiani felt tired, prematurely aged.
She thinks the journey to Talmandor’s Bounty has helped some. Maybe it was meeting Tatienne and making a new friend. It could be the constant motion of the ship forcing her to be more present all the time, or being away from Almas. But whatever the exact reason, Kassiani did feel more awake and alert then she had in a long while. Her nightmares seemed to have receded some as well.
Kassiani & Tatienne are both able to determine that this tower was not built to be a shoreline structure. This is not a great surprise since this whole area used to be hills or mountains in the Azlanti era. The water inside the courtyard suggests that some part of the foundation is leaking.
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Aurelian awakes, feeling refreshed and slightly more himself, though the strange dullness continues. Still, it's a new day and he's that much closer to getting his friends back. That alone is reason for cheer. The previous day felt like it had lasted months, and at times that they would never carry on. But now, it was like he'd been renewed. Even his sword and other gear felt fresh somehow, though he knew that was just silly. He shook his head to dispel himself of such notions -- such deep thinking wasn't his norm -- and gave a grin to the others.
"We will miss you," he says as he realizes his female companions would not heading back to the colony and staying with these folks they'd rescued, before smiling again at his newcomers. "So, Aurelian loses a Tettia and gains a Tatienne. This will not be confusing at all!"
He nods at her question.
"Yes, Aurelian Fache will be your beast of burden. He has quite the lot of stamina, and is up for anything you would like," he says, smiling again, an expression that carries to his brown eyes. Though he can seem a character, it also seems truly genuine. He is who he is, and lives his life without apology.
He gestures into the tower.
"This ladder, does it seem new or out of place? Aurelian wonders if something else has been here."
He draws his sword and looks around.
Aurelian's examination reveals that the ladder is immobile & part of the watchtower. The thin layer of salt & detritus on the rungs of the ladder are worn unevenly, suggesting that the ladder has seen recent use, but probably not since your arrival on Zanas-Tahn.
"My experience in fights?" Tatienne says, quirking an eyebrow towards Zay and reaching back, touching her the longspear strapped to her back, as if seeking comfort. "Someday I'll tell you about the alley ambush of Adeneth, but for now I'll just say I've been in some scrapes. Usually, I just try and poke things with the pointy end. I've got some facility with it, though I lost my family's fauchard to a Vudran honeypot. Loved that weapon."
"Anyways, you turning into a badger or whatnot is probably not even stranger than what awaits in that tower. I'll reserve Spear here - and yes, her name is just Spear - for things not Zay, whatever form Zay takes."
Turning to Aurelian, Taty beams, a genuine, enthusiastic smile. "Excellent, thank you!" Turning her attention to the wall, she finds a displaced stone lying on the ground, and hefting, it then slides it into Aurelian's pack, giving the haversack a quick pat. "It will be a lovely part of my home, once my home is built of course."
If she's even aware of the Aurelian's entendre, she doesn't show it.
She's aware :)
The previous day felt like it had lasted months, and at times that they would never carry on. But now, it was like he'd been renewed. Even his sword and other gear felt fresh somehow, though he knew that was just silly. He shook his head to dispel himself of such notions -- such deep thinking wasn't his norm -- and gave a grin to the others.
"So..." Tatienne says, looking towards the tower. "Who wants to go first?"
Kassiani shrugs diffidently when the question of past combat experience comes up. "We avoided fights when we could, they couldn't all be avoided though."
She looks at the ladder and then up the tower. She volunteers to go take a look around.
"I'll go up and look around. That was always my old job."
She ascends the ladder quickly, with graceful expertise. Once she's reached a height sufficient to take a peek over the wall the ladder stands against she has a look around before completing the climb.
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Reaching the top of the watchtower wall, Kassiani is able to see the door to the tower proper. Though the collapse of the higher levels of the tower was visible below, she can see that at least the top remaining floor is accessible from the battlements. If there was a door leading inside, it rotted or crumbled away long ago.
Inside the tower, a large copper plaque mounted on the wall has detailed engravings detailing some sort of map. The table in the middle of the room has a backpack sitting on top of it. The stairs at the far end of the room are covered in rubble from the collapse of the floors above.
As you move in to get a better look, the table says ”Come on, you're home. Time to drop your ridiculous disguises.”
Zay's eyes widen only briefly when the........... table talks, but they move a moment later, striding forward towards it. "But I learned a new body! I like this one, let me show you."
As Zay moves, their body ripples and twists and folds in on itself until a bronze-hued deinonychus is approaching the table-- the dinosaur hoping that their ability to shift their own form will momentarily fool the speaker into accepting them further... and letting them get closer....
Aurelian seems a bit thrown by the speaking table. Such a thing was about as far from what he expected as he can imagine.
"Speaking of ridiculous disguises, perhaps you should shed yours too," he says.
Taty moves forward circling around the table, as if to get a different vantage point of the map . Her demeanor is casual, but tension runs through her, like the air moments before one of the rare thunderstorms rolls across the Parched Dunes of Osirion - electric and fraught. "Look, we've been in Talamandor... there's something you should know."
Delay, delay, delay. Get into a better position. Taty had talked swordplay over many cups of grog with Kassiani, during those long seaborn nights. She knew her friend relied on misdirection in a fight, and splitting an opponent's attention would make Kassiani lethal. At least against a humanoid foe; their discussions had never turned to the arts of fighting furniture. This would make a fine tale.
Kassiani is also thrown for a second by the talking table. But, she quickly realizes the strange greeting from the table falls into place if there are shape shifters about.
She doesn't expect they will be able to talk themselves completely past the table, but maybe they can maintain a bluff long enough to get some information from it.
"No time for it, we're late and have to meet up with the others. Where are they right now?"
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"Boring conversation anyway," the table growls at it opens its toothy maw wide to bite you.
Kassiani is thinking the same as Tatienne: know it, kill it.