- Deianeira: "Shhh...I'm trying to listen to the silence, Whisper, please."
- Player Character: "Listen to the silence?"
- Deianeira: "Away from the noise over in the camp. I like standing here. You can see where you've been and where you can go. You know what awaits if you go further in. if only everything were as simple as that, where all your choices are clear and you can see what awaits."
- Player Character: "The view's not so clear from here."
- Deianeira: "True, but it's clearer than, say, the difference between good and evil. All those around here who are "good" avoid me because I was born "evil." I grew up in Freeport. Does that make them better than me somehow, that I chose to leave Freeport to work on behalf of the Queen only recently? Who knows? Yet I must be evil; I can sense the evil in others."
- Player Character: "What evil do you sense?"
- Deianeira: "They say that there is a taint rising from an unknown source, polluting this place and corrupting the inhabitants. I feel it is much simpler than that. There are spiders in the Tainted Forest, poisonous ones. With their venom, they can cause untold suffering. The search for "evil" sometimes has a mundane cause. We must rid the Colony of these spiders."
- Player Character: "I'll see what I can do."
- Deianeira: "It's up to us to find the answers; they're never handed to us."
- Player Character: "I'll be back when I'm done with these spiders."
I need to clear out the toxic crawlers to keep their poison from spreading throughout the Colony.
I've cleared out many spiders and as a result found an unusual item. There is more to be learned in the Tainted Forest. I need to examine the parchment scrap to see if I can decipher anything.
I've examined the scrap. While hard to decipher, the writings indicate that there is a problem with the toxic crawlers. I'll try to find another piece of parchment on one of these spiders though it might take me a while to find one with more of this parchment.
I've found another piece of parchment. I need to put the parchment pieces together to learn more about the toxic crawlers.
I've put the parchment together. According to the parchment, there is something hidden in the rockpile at the eastern end of the Tainted Forest. I'll need to take a closer look.
I've located the rest of the parchment. Now I need to gather the parchment pieces from the spider's nest. Hopefully, they are from the parchment I'm trying to put together!
I've gathered the pieces of parchment from the spider's nest. I need to put together all the pieces of the parchment.
I've pieced the parchment together. The parchment refers to Direspike. I must slay Direspike, the spider that must be at the root of this problem.
I've slain Direspike and in the process destroyed the tainted totem. I should tell Deianeira that the toxic crawlers are not the source of the taint.
- Deianeira: "Shhh...I'm trying to listen to the silence. Whisper, please."
- Player Character: "I found a parchment that hinted Direspike was under the influence of something else."
- Deianeira: "The influence of something else? But I've sense the evil in them. They aren't capable of planning to be evil. It must be their poison. It must!"
- Player Character: "The crawlers were being influenced by a hidden totem."
- Deianeira: "I was so sure... Well, there goes that theory. Tell me, you may be less biased than someone like me: do you sense anything in the Tainted Forest? Anything at all?"
- Player Character: "There is something that runs deeper than spider venom here."
- Deianeira: "I'm not convinced, but this does throw a gnome wrench into things. I don't believe that there is such a thing as evil. Look at me: I was raised to believe Qeynos was a horrible place filled with mindless drones. Once I cam of age I realized that the Overlord's minions were spreading lies."
- Player Character: "So you moved to Qeynos?"
- Deianeira: ""Moved" is such a polite way to say it. I betrayed Freeport to do what I felt in my heart was right. And yet...not everyone in Qeynos accepts me or my decision. So I came here, where I could help remove this island's taint. The honorable Qeynosians won't work with me, so I've had to devise my own theories."
- Player Character: "You were wrong about the toxic crawlers' poison."
- Deianeira: "We all make mistakes. Hopefully, this is not a mistake I'll live to regret. Are you willing to help me test another theory?"
I've spoken with Deianeira. I've destroyed Direspike but the taint remains.
While killing toxic crawlers to test Deianiera's theory on poison. I found a piece of parchment hinting that someone had influenced the toxic crawlers by hiding some kind of totem in their main nest. After I removed Direspike from the lair, the totem shattered on its own. The poison theory seems shattered as well.