"Biz daha bu ile acele," Kaplan mutters in Shoanti.
"Nak makur, bikur rak rakim? Kavir naf mavik rav mavirah?"
"Arazi güçlü bir lanetten ölüyor. Muhtemelen sadece bu Myriana kaldırabilirsiniz."
"One of these days I'm actually gonna learn the bloody tongue you two go on in," Ventus said, skirting around a rather nasty piece of carrion on Beaks' back. He stroked the flank of his mount gently and whispered some reassuring nothings to her as she crowed worriedly.
After the party gets a bit closer to the water, Myriana makes her appearance.
Maybe once soul-shakingly beautiful, Myriana is now a haggard, ghostly horror. Her disembodied arms float at her sides, exposed bone and sinew stretching toward her torso but ever too far out of reach and her lower torso fades away to smoke. Her most terrifying feature is her eyes: wells of hellish horror, crying out silently in an agony beyond anything a mortal creature could ever know. She is beauty undone, and torment incarnate.
The ghostly figure rises with a howl of agony and immediately turns her bitter hateful gaze on the party.
"You! All of this is your fault! You should have protected Lamatar! You should have saved his fort!" she shrieks in a hate-filled voice.
Ventus and Kaplan recognize that Myriana is, or was, once a nymph - a water fey known for their beauty. Nymphs, when angered, use their beauty as a weapon, blinding unworthy mortals.
Kaplan decides it would be best for someone else to make a better first impression than he could possibly ever make.
"Ew!" Jessamy says to herself.
"We didn't know about the fort until too late! The ogres already got it before we got there! But we freed it and we were looking for Lamatar and the rest of 'em too! Maybe you can help us find them?"
Pirknok frowns and prepares to speak, then pauses when Jess speaks up first. With a gruff nod, he adds gently, "We want ta help you, an' we unnerstan'... wut yer feeling... but blamin' us izint gunna help anything."
"No... it's not your fault. Will you help me? I will never know rest until I can see my love's face once more. Will you find him for me and return him here?" she moans.
"Do ya have any idea where he cud be?" asks Pirknok practically.
"Of course we'll find him. That's what we do, sort of! We're heroes. We found Eli's mentor, even if she turned out to be a horrible monster. And we've found a bunch of rangers so far."
And we always seem to find trouble
"A giant has taken him... the giant that killed me", the ghostly figure wails. "Find him, rescue my beloved, and exact my revenge!"
"North toward Hook Mountain is where he lairs."
Jessamy gulps in nervousness.
"Can you tell us anything else about the giant? Like how he killed you? Or why he took him?"
Jessamy's questions seem to trigger something in the undead fey and her wails of anguish take on an even darker tone.
She goes on to describe in tragic graphic detail how the ogre's leader, a stone giant, subdued her after she tried to defend her beloved and his men from the ogres - but that wasn't enough for him. He violently violated her and then tore her limb from limb to make an example of her. Lamatar struggled to come to her aid but could only watch as she was raped and butchered.
Jessamy nearly vomits at the description.
"Oh, god, that's horrible!"
Pirknok's mouth is already set into a grim line, but when the tale is finished he seems grimmer still. His voice, though, holds the hatred of a thousand Shoanti warriors - or a thousand slain tribesmen. "That's giants."
Putting his hand on his sword, he nods solemnly to the nymph. "Ah'll find 'im. An'... ah'll make him an' any with him pay."
A fearsome resolve appears in Kaplan's eyes as he hears the horrid tale. "Yes, we'll take care of this."
Satisfied with the party's resolve, the ghostly fey calms a bit and gestures northward with an unattached limb. "Go. Find my beloved..."
Her words hang in the air as she fades from view.
Kaplan turns and heads back to where the tracks were. "So, giants..."
His blood burns with anger, the ancient enmity coming to mind. Being a dwarf, it was natural to feel this way. It was like walking or breathing. He sets a hand on Pirknok's shoulder.
"Though we are Peace-Born, our ancestors will know us as true dwarves."
Eli is overwhelmed, and in his mind's eye, it is Marysin's face that is on the Nymphs body. The horror wracks his mind and he crumples to the ground howling in despair, his heart wounded by what he has been forced to see. When the vision passes, Eli is left trembling and pale, and it does not pass from him when he gets back to his feet.
"I swear we will get vengeance for you..." he says to the vanishing spirit.
Pirknok nods, himself quivering with burning anger. Struggling to control it enough to speak, he grips his sword-hilt until his knuckles are white and nods again. "An' true Shoanti. The giants... slaughtered my family... my whole tribe. Only a few survived."
The dwarf pauses, a look of pain evident on his face. It wasn't my fault... I see that now. But I am alive and they are not; I will exact vengeance for their deaths.
Myrianna's corrupted pond is now silent besides the party's breathing, but the tortured fey's presence is still tangible in the air.
It's nearing midnight when the party arrives, but they're able to reach Turtleback Ferry without incident.
There's few people on the streets when the party arrives. Besides a few drunken revelers, most of the town is fast asleep.
"Here, buy what you can with this," Ventus says, tossing his purse to Eli.
Jessamy yawns broadly.
"There's no rush, is there?"
The next morning, Eli nods to Adventus before looking for a place where he might buy what he needs.
Though the innkeeper is unhappy to recieving guests at the late hour, he's happy to have the party's coin and welcomes them inside.
The following morning, over a good hearty breakfast, the party learns that there's been some trouble in the last 24 hours. Though Turtleback Ferry has gone unharmed, ogres have been spotted near the dam north of town and some of the locals are worried that they might wander closer - especially with rumors that Fort Rannick has been sacked. Krojun shares an anxious glance with Pirknok and Ventus between bites of greasy breakfast meats but says nothing.
Remembering some of the names he learned while in town a few days ago, it doesn't take long for Eli to find a guy that knows a guy that knows a guy.
The next morning, before shopping, Eli has prepared some extracts to tend to the damage the Nymph's vision did to him. His sleep has been troubled, however, and there are dark circles under his eyes.
It's nearing noon when the party finishes running their errands.
Suddenly, there's a sound like an explosion followed by the crash of running water. Rushing outside, it appears the village of Turtleback Ferry is drowning. The muddy waters of the Skull River tear through the center of the community to fill Claybottom Lake with a terrible fury and many of the buildings that once sat comfortably on the river’s banks are already flooding and in danger of collapsing from the rushing water. A group of children and a woman huddle aboard one of the town's old ferryboats, the tiny flood-bashed vessel lodged up against the general store and threatening to capsize at any moment. Beyond, the town’s church stands solid, its foundations already three feet deep in floodwaters.
"Run!" cries the dwarf to some passersby, casting his eyes about as he tries to find a way to reach the endangered children.
The keen-eyed dorf spots some larger pieces of debris that could be used to steady the ferry and act as a bridge allowing those on the ferry to escape back onto land.