Hammerhead may have contempt for “words,” but he can use them pretty well himself when he wants to.

A tense standoff was our only real option here. A solo Penk-Hammerhead fight now would’ve stolen focus from the Penk-Harky fight later; a fight between Hammerhead and other members of the combined teams would’ve felt too much like a replay of Chapter 35; and a simple, anticlimactic resolution (twenty-five-foot-deep sinkhole, Potion of Shark Repellent) would’ve nerfed Hammerhead. So, a bit like Hammerhead himself, we had to rely more on suggestion than action at this point.

FB: PENK: I don’t know if I… GET land shark humor.

HAMMERHEAD: You don’t have to. IT will “get” YOU.

PENK: …Ha ha?

HAMMERHEAD: [ominous silence]