Toxic Avenger

Side quest, level 16. 86th of 102 in play order.

Quest giver: Wiltswys, Western La Noscea (X 23.2, Y 22.2).

Next: Flowers for Aerghaemr ›

Steps

Collect poison from Rothlyt pelicans.
Deliver the vials of pelican poison to Wiltswys.

Journal

It is a cool and collected Sergeant Wiltswys who seeks an obliger today, rather than the heartsore fire-eater of the other day.
Wiltswys's meticulous scrutiny has discovered an unacceptable shortfall in the poison cabinet. Whilst she checks the other deadly yet life-saving items in the camp's inventory, you have a task to perform: stalk the majestic Rothlyt pelicans and extract three vials' worth of poison.
Exactly where the poison is secreted is a matter too discomfiting to discuss. It must suffice to say that the pelicans did not survive your exertions. Return to Wiltswys and give her the pelican poison.
It seems that the way to Sergeant Wiltswys's heart is through a job well done. Listening to her tale of the Sahagin and the lost settlement, you see that she has no home but this vale and no family but the Maelstrom─and she will fight to the death to defend both...

Hidden

Lore Leviathan

is the primal behind the Sahagin. The Serpent Reavers serve the same primal. The Admiral explains this in MSQ #21 A Mizzenmast Repast.

Lore Halfstone was patiently won back and made into a farming settlement. But after the Calamity, the primal Leviathan

let loose a great tidal wave. It washed all of Halfstone away.

Easter egg Wiltswys's

'fisher of beastmen' twists Jesus's call to make his followers 'fishers of men' (Matthew 4:19). With

pelican poison, even a brand-new recruit can hunt Sahagin.

In-game text The journal never says where the

poison comes from, but the item text does. Pelicans spray a strong nerve poison. It is made in a tiny gland hidden under their tongues.

Title reference The title borrows 'The Toxic Avenger', the 1984 Troma film, for Wiltswys

. She fights her war on the Sahagin with poison.

Characters 4

Wiltswys
Sergeant Wiltswys, calm again, is checking Camp Skull Valley's weapons and supplies. The poison vial is nearly empty.
What you know from earlier quests 1
- #85 Mummy Dearest: Wiltswys is thrilled by her mother's letter, then furious: the mother who let her leave with nothing now wants money. She left her island for something better than farming and fishing, and refuses to reply. As a girl she was too poor for shoes.
S'nairoh
What you know from earlier quests 3
- #80 Keep Your Day Job: S'nairoh talks herself through arming the cannon while you fight; her partner C'mell is missing. The 'enemy' is only newborn puks, flying beasts that never threatened Aleport. She is let down: she joined the Maelstrom to fight, not to break up brawls.
- #81 Mountains out of Molehills: S'nairoh mistakes harmless hedgemoles for an attack of adamantoises (giant tortoises) and must stand down again. She hopes to become an officer, but fears losing pay she spends on ale. Blaming too much ale-fed blood, she rushes off to be treated with leeches.
- #82 Walk of Shame: S'nairoh asks you to carry her report to Commander Falkbryda at Camp Skull Valley. Too weak from leechings to go, she fears jail. Falkbryda says S'nairoh was once among the first promoted, but slipped at Aleport. Her pay is cut, without formal blame.
Ahldfoet
What you know from earlier quests 2
- #84 On a Wing and a Prayer: Ahldfoet wants exactly five dusk bat wings as a lucky charm, kept secret from his superstitious crew. As a boy, trapped atop an old watchtower, he lived two weeks on three bats and ate one wing. He carries five wings on every voyage.
- #85 Mummy Dearest: Ahldfoet promised a mother he met at a port to get her letter to her daughter, Wiltswys, at Camp Skull Valley. He speaks warmly of her tearful, tawny eyes and seems taken with her. He jokes that on land he is 'at sea'.
Falkbryda
What you know from earlier quests 3
- #81 Mountains out of Molehills: S'nairoh says Commander Falkbryda threatened to cut her pay if she caused another false alarm. After the hedgemole mix-up, S'nairoh expects the commander to cut it.
- #82 Walk of Shame: Falkbryda has heard of your help to the Maelstrom. She dislikes that S'nairoh did not come herself, but notes her report is honest. She calls boredom a soldier's worst enemy. She cuts S'nairoh's pay but writes no formal blame. Her name means 'Falcon Bride'.
- #83 Nest We Forget: Dodos nest even inside the barracks, and she wants the nest gone before it draws dangerous beasts. She praises your speed. The camp guards against the kobolds of O'Ghomoro to the north; kobold skulls once lined the valley floor, giving its name.

What happens in this quest spoilers for this quest

Wiltswys: Pleased you filled the vials, Wiltswys warms to you. The camp's foe is now the Sahagin, fish-like beastmen weak to poison, who destroyed the Halfstone settlement. With no home but this valley and no family but the Maelstrom, she fights for both.

What the French and German versions say 3

French

Different

EN 'Wiltswys's meticulous scrutiny has discovered an unacceptable shortfall in the poison cabinet.'

FR «Après un examen minutieux, Wiltswys a découvert que quelqu'un se servait dans l'armoire à poisons.», 'After a careful check, Wiltswys found that someone was helping themselves from the poison cabinet.'

So it was theft. The English never says anyone took it.

German

Different

EN 'So susceptible the Sahagin are to pelican poison that even the rawest recruit may, with a poison-tipped arrow, find herself a fisher of beastmen.'

DE „Ich bestreiche meine Axtklinge damit. So kann ich sichergehen, dass die Sahagin zu Boden gehen, auch wenn ich ihnen nur einen Kratzer zufüge.“, 'I coat my axe blade with it. That way I can be sure the Sahagin go down, even if I only give them a scratch.'

Wiltswys uses the poison herself, on her axe. In English, a recruit puts it on an arrow.

Name

EN 'It is a cool and collected Sergeant Wiltswys who seeks an obliger today, rather than the heartsore fire-eater of the other day.'

DE „Sturmmaat Wiltswys bereitet sich auf eine Exkursion vor.“, 'Storm Petty Officer Wiltswys is getting ready for an expedition.'

A sergeant is an army rank. The German word is built on Maat, the rank of a naval petty officer.

Dialogue 9 lines

Accepting the quest

Wiltswys

Weapons and armor...in order. Saltpeter, in order. Basic provisions...all in order. Poisons─oh? This vial's near gone.

DE Feuerstein und Proviant? ‘Flint and provisions? Packed.’ English lists saltpeter; German lists flint.
DE Ich hab das Gift vergessen! ‘I forgot the poison!’ English says the poison vial is nearly empty; German says she forgot the poison.

Uh, adventurer─[name], was it? Mayhap we can let bygones be bygones. You are skilled in wrangling beasts, I hear, and I have a need of pelican poison.

DE Du kommst genau richtig. ‘You've come at just the right time.’ English awkwardly offers to let bygones be bygones; German just says you've come at the right time.
JA 冒険者さん、ちょうどいいところに。 ‘Adventurer, you've come at just the right moment.’ English awkwardly offers to let bygones be bygones; Japanese just says you've come at the right moment.

The poison can be readily gathered from pelicans in the area, but I must continue my duties here. Are you so minded to undertake the task?

Deliver the vials of pelican poison to Wiltswys

Wiltswys

I welcome your return, adventurer. Have you what I asked for?

Ah, I see you were not stinting in filling the vials! The last adventurer returned with each barely half-full and had the cheek to demand full payment. I have had a low opinion of adventurers since, but...

You know of our past with the kobolds, but they are not the foe we fight today. Nay, all our guns are trained on the fishbacks.

DE Ich bereite mich auf eine Exkursion vor, musst du wissen. ‘I'm preparing for an excursion, you should know.’ English says the kobolds are no longer their foe; German says she is preparing for an excursion.

Such a wee thing, this vial─but this too is a gun. So susceptible the Sahagin are to pelican poison that even the rawest recruit may, with a poison-tipped arrow, find herself a fisher of beastmen.

DE Ich bestreiche meine Axtklinge damit. So kann ich sichergehen, dass die Sahagin zu Boden gehen, auch wenn ich ihnen nur einen Kratzer zufüge. ‘I coat my axe blade with it. That way I can be sure the Sahagin go down, even if I only give them a scratch.’ Wiltswys uses the poison herself, on her axe. In English, a recruit puts it on an arrow.
DE Ich bestreiche meine Axtklinge damit. ‘I coat my axe blade with it.’ English says even raw recruits can use poison-tipped arrows; German says she coats her own axe blade with it.

There was a settlement here once, near Halfstone. Then the primal Leviathan rose, and the Sahagin invaded. Work of generations was undone in a season, and whole families perished.

DE Früher war Halbstein ein vielversprechendes Siedlungsgebiet, aber nachdem der Primae Leviathan dort wütete, war erst einmal Essig mit der Besiedlung. ‘Halfstone was once a promising settlement area, but after the primal Leviathan raged there, settling it was a washout for the time being.’ English mourns generations of work undone and families perished; German flippantly says settling there was off for now.

I never knew the Halfstone settlement, but I believe it to be a home worth fighting for. And so we fight, with steel, fire, and even poison to reclaim that which is ours.

DE Jetzt haben sich die Sahagin dort breit gemacht, aber wir werden uns das Gebiet zurückholen. ‘Now the Sahagin have spread themselves out there, but we will take the area back.’ English says she never knew Halfstone but finds it worth fighting for; German says the Sahagin have now settled there.