Fine work with Hillock. Where'd you learn to fight like that? No, forget I asked. We exiles have no history. Dominus took it from us when he had his Blackguards dump us in the water out there.
Here, got something for you. Should help you kill a few more of those undead bastards. No, don't bother thanking me. The way I figure it, the longer we fighters live, the longer everyone lives.
Fine work with Hillock. Where'd you learn to fight like that? No, forget I asked. We exiles have no history. Dominus took it from us when he had his Blackguards dump us in the water out there.
There's a fine line between man and monster. Brutus, the Warden of Axiom Prison... he crossed that line long ago. A big lad, and as you know from Hillock, big lads are slow. Hit and run, that's the way to cut them down to size. Unless there's thaumaturgy involved. Then forget the 'hitting' bit. Just run.
The Warden's free of his own prison? Well, since you're so bloody determined to cheat the britches off death, you'd better have one of these... for luck.
And when they write the song about you, just be sure to mention that it was Tarkleigh who taught you everything you know.
Founded by Marceus Lioneye as a supply station for his campaigns against the Karui. In its day, Lioneye's Watch could be defended by just a small garrison of well-armed legionnaires.
What have I got? A handful of starving criminals with driftwood clubs and rusted hatchets.
The Eternal Empire has some right nasty leftovers. Whether it's something in the air or in the water, no one stays dead in Wraeclast... not the first time. Can take a little while, but sooner or later corpses wake up and go looking for breakfast.
If you have to quench your curiosity about Merveil, go look at the corsairs that haunt the grave of ships. Like any mother, Merveil's got hungry mouths to feed.
Damn me! I didn't think it possible. All these souls Merveil and her brood have consumed over the years... you've done right by those that are dead, and by those who still might live.
Though they might look like you or I, behind those eyes there's nothing but darkness and hunger. Whatever's got inside those folks... is not even close to being human.
That hat Bestel wears? Saw him pluck it from the real captain's head, right before the cannibals barbequed the poor bastard. Waste not want not, I suppose.
Yes, Bestel's got a gift for telling tales but I'd never call him a liar. The truth's always in there. You just have to listen for it.
Nessa's the one keeps the rest of us from losing our minds. To be honest, when she first arrived, I didn't think she'd survive more than a day, two at most. She's been proving me wrong every dawn since.
Heard a bard once sing that "the fairest flowers bloom in the foulest places". He was bloody well right.
The Submerged Passage doesn't look like it's always been underwater, and I'd wager it has something to do with those empty sockets in the cliff face. Whatever filled them... are long lost now. Though if they were shiny, who knows, maybe they're decorating some rhoa nests?
I've spent enough time smuggling from coast to coast to know that those shells don't come from these waters. They're Karui, and look about right to fit into that rock wall in the Mud Flats. I say complete the set, fit them into the sockets, and stand well back.
Now that you've drained that passage, best I warn you about something.
I was running down a wounded rhoa, one night's eve, when I glimpsed something in that water-logged cavern. Looked a bit like a sand spitter, only the size of a bloody ox.
I reckon it's nesting down in those flooded depths somewhere. If you're going that way then do us a favour. Spill the old shield crab's guts before it gets hungry and comes looking for us.
You managed to kill a Grandaddy Crab? A pity you couldn't lug it up out of the caves for us. Could have made quite the chowder out of it. No matter. We've got one less reason to fear the dark and I've got one more thing to thank you for.
Got a job for you, if you're willing. There's a pool near the Mud Flats needs investigating. You'll smell it before you see it. Stinks like a carcass in high summer. But that's not the worst of it.
Dead birds walking. Animals don't rise up again the same as people do here. So if they aren't raising themselves, what's doing it for them? The answer's in that Fetid Pool.
Clear the place out and kill whatever's raising those rhoas. We've got enough living dead to contend with already.
You've seen the Fetid Pool, have you? Or smelt it, rather. Stinks like a carcass in high summer. But that's not the worst of it.
Dead birds walking. Animals don't rise up again the same as people do here. So if they aren't raising themselves, what's doing it for them? The answer's in that Fetid Pool.
Clear the place out and kill whatever's raising those rhoas. We've got enough living dead to contend with already.
I've travelled inland, on the Emperor's Road via the Prisoner's Gate. Had to skirt around Axiom Prison... that's the holdfast of Brutus, the Warden. Bloody treacherous trip, it was.
Worth it? There's forest inland. Game, berries, fruit... more food than we can scrounge here.
But most here wouldn't survive the journey. Would be a damn sight easier if we could pass through the Prison. Tell you what... you carve us a path up the coast, find us a way past or through Brutus, and you'll have more than a few lives owing to you.
You found a way to bring down Shavronne's Barricade? It's at times like these I recall I'm a man of action, not words. Should we encounter each other in the forest, the roast boar's on me, my friend.
There's many a way to die in Wraeclast. Most of them are mercifully quick. But you get caught alive by the goatmen, you'll wish by any god you believe in that you hadn't.
I've heard some of the more superstitious exiles say there's a deity these goatmen worship. Abberath, Eater of Agony. Sounds like a right bastard, if you ask me. So if the goatmen hand you an invitation to go have dinner with their god, tell them where to stick it.
That medicine chest you found, it'll do more than you might think. The medicine will run out, it always does. But Nessa won't. Give that girl a sliver of hope and she'll carry it to the end of the world.