Jonathan
The door to the church opens, Tabby stepping in and limping a bit, flanked on either side by her two automatons. "I need materials. Not the poison, that's still fine. I just need an energy source. Magic, mana potion, whatever the hells you all call it here, and I need to know where to find a run-away Vaazva."

She stares up at the window-sill arm around both of her machines — it seems that, although she dodged the attack, she sprained or twisted her ankle thanks to the shove being too forceful.. "I am done with playing games with this stupid golden asshat, and I have one hell of an idea. You can't react to something *Invisible*. Especially not when it's warped directly on top of you."

"He can see souls, but inanimate objects don't have that. So if I take a bolt, cast *Invisibility*, cover it in the venom, and warp it on top of him, it'll hit without a hitch. Unreactable, gets the job done. All I need is some magic energy and whereabouts."
Steven
The strange man, still leaned in the window, seemed entranced by something that lied beyond the window. His eyes remained in a deep squint, and even upon Tabby's initial entrance, he would not notice her — or, at the very least, would not make a comment *Upon* Noticing her. Something outside seemed to have the whole of his intention... Something outside was *Changing.* While, with what distance the church was from the Greattower, even the muffled echoes of that *Scream* Could still be heard from this distance.

*Someone... Is challenging the Root-Crown?*

```diff
- "Well, well..."```

The man's left palm laid against the window, pressed against its surface, as if it longed for something beyond the church. And yet still, the man himself could not trek beyond this stone coffin... Not until the right *Criteria* Had been fulfilled, that was. He wished to confirm his suspicions... But his *Messenger* Was in a bit of a daze.

```diff
- "Back again..."```

Without turning to the tabaxi who entered the church, the man spoke, continuing to hold his gaze fast, beyond the window that he rested against. His left hand was, for a moment, left uncomfortably *Brandished.* A mistake he would not make again — he tucked it away, folding his arms once again, hiding away the triple-gloved and chained form of the *Unsightly thing.*

 After the longest and laziest of pauses, granting her less of an audience and more of a talking-to-a-brick-wall experience, he acknowledged her with little more than a slight, ill-tempered grumble.

```diff
- "Mmm..."
- "Failed, have you..."```

His tone was suffused with a slight, yet unsurprised anger; it was if he had expected the outcome, but he would nonetheless be displeased with her news of failure. 

```diff
- "Where, oh, where, did you go wrong..."```
_ _

For the first time since she re-entered the church, he turned to view the tabaxi who approached, his eyes set on her injured form; she employed the work of two golems just to *Stand.* He slightly scoffed, turning his gaze from the artificer, instead returning to looking at whatever was so *Very interesting* Beyond the window...

```diff
- "I gave you poison to kill the old beast subtly, and you return brandishing wounds of a conflict."
- "I don't suppose you ever even attempted to administer the poison. Considering, that all of it is still on your person..."
- "Well. That saves me from having to... Make another dose."

- "Still... Mmm..."
He pondered, briefly.
- "You are lacking, quite, in subtlety."

- "And you say... That Vaazva has ran away, mmm...?"
- "Well. That much I know."```

*`Tap, tap...`*

His left-hand's digits tapped against his arm, and he blinked, slowly, staring beyond the window. Continuing beyond his own complaints, he would give answer to some of her earlier requests and ideas. Reluctantly, of course, but he answered, nonetheless...

```diff
- "A power source, you say."
- "Energy does not come so easily. Right... You do want to forfeit any idea of acquiring such swift sources of... Energy, as you say."
- "I already offered you one, and, you are... Mmm. Unfitting. Denying it, yourself..."

- "All the more to say: I've nothing to help you, to those ends."```

He rolled his eyes at such a request. Earlier, he gave her an easy opportunity for power, and she so easily turned it down. Now, she came back, searching for a source of power one-in-the-same as the type he offered... What a silly way of thinking. Such a fortuitous opportunity would not come twice.
_ _

```diff
- "As for the whereabouts of that old beast..."```

He paused, stooping his head downwards, evidently in a moment of thought. Vaazva had fleed. Yes. This much he knew. As to where he fled... Well. *'He'* Saw the beast pass from the plaza toward the entryway into the village... From there?
_ _

*`His own home...`*
*`Certainly not.`*

*`The residence of the one named Sheto...`*
*`Certainly not.`*

*`Toward the church...`*
*`Certainly not. I have not yet sensed him approach.`*

*`Toward the monster, the Root-Crown...?`*
*`Certainly not. He left with four in tow... Four that he values much.`*

*`Otherwise, in the residential district...`*
*`Mmm... Perhaps... Plenty of places to hide there. And plenty of comfortable places to hide one's dear companions...`*

*`Into the forest...`*
*`A... Loose possibility. There are dangerous beasts the further one treks into its midst. Dangerous beasts, which Vaazva would not want his weak to encounter. The safer portions of the forest would be great places to hide, however...`*

*`Toward the great-tower of the south...`*
*`Mmm... Maybe. One would have to be insane to do so, however... Those gold-clad knights have slain the people of the Watch once in the past. Being defiled one-in-the-same as that old beast may leave them sympathetic to his cause, however... If there's any left.`*

*`Alongside the dangerous inquisitor, Ve...?`*
*`A sensible approach... Yet one with its own holes. He has a base of operations... Somewhere. Somewhere that would be quite comfortable and hidden... Still. They are of the same order, yet that old beast has defiled his own name... That white-masked-man does not seem the type to buy into anything but his direct superior's orders. `*

*`Alongside that reject nobility, the one who snuffed my messenger...`*
*`That is a worryingly likely possibility... Those two are one of the same cloth. I know not where she hides at night, yet she is respectful of a damned thoughtless monster. To think that she would find sympathy for an old, decrepit, blood-craven beast, is not unlikely... Still. There are better places to hide than with that crackpot.`*
_ _

These were the least probable and most probable ideas that he could conjure on-the-spot. He would continue to ponder, further, before coming forth with a final answer.

```diff
- "Well. I'm not certain..."
- "Perhaps if you just... Poisoned the damn beast, instead of fighting him..."
- "You wouldn't be in this situation. Mmm..."```

There was slight frustration to be found in his voice. He wanted Vaazva *Dead.* And now, with his one operative blundering the mission that he gave her, there seemed to be quite an issue on both of their hands — Vaazva had *Fled.* Somewhere uncertain, and somewhere reclusive.
Jonathan
She grumbles a bit, before replying to the rhetorical question of how she failed. "I don't know. One second he was sitting, the next this thing here —" She taps the Shield Guardian to signify exactly what she means — "Detected he was a threat and had him pinned against the wall. The in-between is a complete blur." She groans, clearly angry at her own failure just as much as he. "The lights went out and this hunk of scrap-metal suddenly pushed me to the ground rather violently." She nods her head towards her Defender, who looks down at the ground in mock shame; it of course knew that it had made a correct play, but that matters not when done as forcefully as it did.

"He wouldn't let me near him without threatening on my life. I couldn't've slipped him the drink myself — I found him in the bar like you said, but I stumbled upon him completely on accident. Apparently his words & actions were enough to make all hell break loose once this thing decided it had enough of the shenanigans. If I could have resolved this quietly, I would've *Much* Preferred to not twist my ankle and rely on others to move. Not that I'm particularly-" She grunts as the machines lift her up and on top of the Shield Guardian's shoulders "-unable to do that.." As she adjusts herself to sit comfortably, nameless *Abjuration* Magic begins to passively flow through her armor from the Guardian's *Shield* Protocol.

_ _
She grits her teeth in frustration, taking a loud exhale. "Yes, it seems like my previous denials were rash. But I can't get close to him myself with or without power. If we take him out, we need a plan — and, as far as I'm aware, my plan would be the only thing he wouldn't see coming. He had this *Divination* Magic... Could use it on reading someone's soul, but if you warp a poisoned, cloaked bolt on top of his head or *Conjure* A *Barrage* With an aforementioned arrow like that.. He wouldn't be able to search the soul of an inanimate object. Do it from far enough away, he wouldn't even hear the bolt initially fire... A completely covert assassination."

"But we both have a common goal now. You want Vaazva dead, and you need me and my constructs to do that for you. Whatever it takes to get this job done and wipe out one more monster like him." She tilts her head in a sort of expectant manner, awaiting an answer.. "We don't have all the time in the world to let the trail run cold — if we do this swiftly, I can get onto his scent with my nose and track him. All I need is some kind of power source — anything that I can convert into magic energy.. Prayer or not. — and a good vantage point, which... In the woods, shouldn't be too difficult."

At this point however, Tabby figures that Vaazva is very likely to have a type of either *Blindsight* Or *Truesight*, much like the Eclipse Knight did, meaning that cloaking *Herself* In illusion would not bear fruit, instead trying to barter a deal out that would benefit both of the two co-dependents. Tabby needs her information, this man needs his freedom.