Vash'ti observes Fiera's initial openness-- if not outright acceptance-- of her proposal, her black eyes wide and fierce, and flashes a fierce grin.  "I will cause grief and suffering only to those who come to destroy me.  Sorrow will befall only those who seek it."  She quirks her brow then.  "If they do not try to face me, they will not suffer.  In that, you do them good by keeping them from this place... your living energy, in its most primal and instinctive forms, will make this so."  She grins broadly, placating the mage's desire.  "I swear it, swear it, swear it... I will not spread my power outside this swamp.  But those who threaten this glade will suffer a thousand deaths."<br/><br/>She watches Quinta assist with Fiera's garment, her superb breasts heaving with a lusty sigh at the two women's contact with each other.  She smiles, her mouth hangs open for a moment, and then she bites her full lower lip to contain a moan of satisfaction.  It is as if she can feel it herself.  "Here," she says, splaying her hands toward the soft grasses of this strange island-- from the looks of the undergrowth-- Joshua trees, mangrove clusters, oaks and ash, there may be many other things on the island indeed.  Perhaps Vash'ti is simply not willing to wait.<br/><br/>When Quinta asks,<i>what about her?</i>, the woman actually sniffs in annoyance at the distrction, then-- as if in realization, she slowly smiles broader and broader.  "You have a dark-dweller among you," she says.  "He, too, is welcome, but the past has showed me that they care not for this rite.  But he may want something else..."  Strangely, Fiera can actually feel the spells here, and she recognizes, quite simply, that Vash'ti has ended one.  There is a shrill noise in the sky, drawing their attention back to where Hallen suddenly plunges from the sky, her voice becoming a series of frantic screams.  "The farmer...she must pay her dues."<br/><br/>Hallen flails at the air, grabbing at nothing-- and suddenly slows, mere feet above the water-- before enter the glistening black surface with a wide-arcing splash.  Vash'ti murmurs indistinct syllables in a dead tonue, the words gutteral and clipped, then extends her hand toward the still-churning water where Hallen disappeared.  Water erupts up once again, as of a bursting deep under the mirror of the water's skin, and then a gasping, fierce cry erupts over the churning and splashing of water.  Something thrashes to the surface, flailing for the shore-- something small, perhaps the size of Tak.  With a voice shrill like a reptile's hiss, it lunges onto the shore-- something black and green, glistening with water where a wet swath of soaked fabric drags behind it.  Spluttering, a goblin thrashes free of the weight of the fabric and chitters angrily at them.<br/><br/><i> (goblin) Fucking water!  It tries to eat me!</i><br/><br/>Vash'ti smiles to Fiera, Alphonse, and Quinta, seeming to enjoy the shock on their faces for a moment.  "It won't last.  Nor will she remember.  Fear not."<br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide</div><div class="spoiler_body">Fiera's spellcraft check isn't necessary to recognize 'feather fall' being cast, but dc 15 to recognize that the next one is LIKE polymorph, but a little more powerful.</div></div>