putti have wills both strong and free and an undying curiosity to match Though this is exactly what Korapira was supposedly after, she may have gotten more than she counted on Relationships: In general, the putti consider Korapira as their benefactor—a friendly presence shadowing their lives However, they not feel strong familial bonds toward her Their notions of kinship extend only to other putti A few of the more inquisitive and self-aware putti have started to question Korapira’s motives and their own place in life There is a small but growing schism among the putti Rather than push the already tenuous dialogue to a bloody confrontation, many of those who question the consensus have decided to travel, the better to test their theories To Korapira, the putti are all blessed children for whom she would crush the world Strategy & Tactics: Putti approach combat much as they approach life, with curiosity Causing harm and ending life is easy and, hence, something most Putti have no interest in However, understanding why the struggle has to occur, the immense variety of motivations, and the seemingly endless ways animals have invented to battle one another are worthy of study and they will often draw out a fight just to learn one more fact before ending it, either through flight or an opponent’s death CHITTERING CREEPERS The putti were certainly not Korapira’s first attempt at realizing her dream For some time before meeting Red Jack, she ran her experiments, hoping for results She sacrificed more and more animals and fey to the cause, ever reaching for her seemingly unattainable goal Eventually, she found a modicum of success and ushered in a new breed of fey, called sentinels Her very first such small success was what would later be called a chittering creeper These semi-intelligent sentinels have proven themselves extremely useful to Korapira for their subservience and their capacity for great violence Emergent tales of the “babble bush” circulate among — 80 — those various circles that might be interested in cryptobotanical discoveries, and these likely originate from diluted survivors’ tales of the chittering creeper The stories, unfortunately, have emphasized the oddity and wonder of the babbling chatter while downplaying the violence that likely preceded and followed its discovery—all to an explorer’s detriment Typical Characteristics: This odd creature appears no more than a scattered assortment of vines and leaves when at rest, often indistinguishable from its surroundings Its wonder truly begins when it moves The creature comes to life in a whir of motion and appears very much like a construct with parts made entirely of plants Vines act as muscle and tendon, snaking and flexing over branch-bones with thorns for nails and teeth and flowers and leaves for skin— all controlled by the sap flowing just beneath the surface None are quite identical; each shows distinct variations Perhaps even stranger is their incessant chatter When still, they are completely silent (like most plants) But when set into motion, they begin to speak This chittering, though, is impossible to understand since it is composed of thousands of languages Even someone who understood all those languages could still make no sense of this chattering, as the words are completely random Most disconcerting, though, is that the creatures speak as if with meaning It’s as if they are merely going through the motions of another creature’s life, mimicking—or at least trying to mimic—its language and mannerisms Environment: Setting aside the creature’s chatter for a moment, the chittering creeper spends most of its time completely motionless and silent, appearing like nothing more than its plant surroundings In this regard, they are amazing mimics, rarely ever noticed until they move This is where their capacity for violence shows itself These creatures are ambush predators and quickly spring into action when prey has entered their reach Not unlike the trapdoor spider or an octopus hidden in the rocks, a chittering creeper waits until the last moment, when it comes chittering to life only to immobilize its prey within its vines just before