The Old Quarry
An abandoned Water Shipper-owned quarry on the outskirts of the Polar Sink.
The Old Quarry is an Overland Dungeon, featuring a unique boss fight, and can be completed solo or in a party. Overall difficulty is also scalable, allowing for increased challenge and rewards granted upon completion.
Details
A planet-wide labour shortage opened an enticing alternative: what if the dead could be put back to work?
Puzzles / Hidden Rooms
Associated Quests
Recorded Dialogue
Messages from Doctor Jalanta
Upon entering the Old Quarry
Dr. Jalanta: I see you, interloper. Did Lingar Bewt send you? Are you the advanced scout of a cleanup crew? Once we served the Water Shippers but no longer. We've evolved past that. Whatever your purpose, my message is the same: leave. Consider that your only warning, my one concession to civility. Everything beyond that thin membrane of courtesy teems with horrors.
At the ambush
Dr. Jalanta: You ignored my warning. Now, we are past regrets. I see you more closely now. I have so many eyes. What they see, I see. What they taste, I taste. Take the interloper... now.
At the bunker doors
Dr. Jalanta: How... how dare you. How dare you look upon my work? You have not achieved what I achieved... sacrificed what I sacrificed! Just a tourist profaning genius. This is all mine! The Tleilaxu Master could not take it away. Lingar Bewt will not take it away. You cannot be allowed to leave, under any circumstance.
Shigawire Recorders
Recorder 1
Dr. Jalanta: Data collected from the revivification process is promising. I've taken the Bene Tleilax methods and refined them. The vat-grown abominations of the Tleilaxu take to the reanimation process. I'm confident to begin the next, greater challenge - adapting these methods to revivify dead Template:Interlink. I have concerns, though. What are the intentions of this Bene Tleilax Master? Lingar Bewt made his deal with the devil to fix a crisis of labor shortage, but I cannot help in suspecting the Tleilaxu are taken advantage of him. But to what purpose?
Recorder 2
Dr. Jalanta: Experimentation continues. After a gauntlet of trial and error, I have managed to revivify dead maula. However, humans birthed outside of a vat prove more complicated. They do not take to grafting as easily, and the phantom memories of their past interfere with their cognitive ability once reanimated. We can bring them back, but they are not a suitable labor force. The Tleilaxu Master hinted at a solution - an external organic controller, a central mind to network with their sub-minds. Fascinating, but... I do not trust the Tleilaxu to be this controller. Those strange, little eyes. All those sharp, little teeth in his grotesque smile. A chain of reasoning that is not entirely... human. No. I must convince him of a better vessel, someone better suited...
Recorder 3
Dr. Jalanta: I... feel them. I feel them! And-and, they respond! I solved the Tleilaxu's process. It worked! I can feel my test subjects. My subjects. Mine. They obey my thoughts like drone bees dancing to the pheromones of the queen. Huh... Fear... moans... My... M-m, my mind wanders! But we've been betrayed. The Tleilaxu Master informed Bewt. Things move quickly now. I bought myself time killing him, but the Water Shippers are coming. I and my test subjects must be ready. The procedure has... side effects. My own cognitive function declines. The degradation is arrested only through... through periodic consumption of my subjects' brain matter. I... I'm overdue to take my supplement. I... must... taste.
Discovered Notes
Notice of Evacuation
Let it be known — given the recent refinery cave-in — given the progressively poorer yields — given other unreleased particulars, the decision has been made to close the quarry, effective immediately. Maula casualties were heavy in the cave-in. Prioritize able-bodied workers, evacuating the heavily-wounded last. Leave the dead in the rubble.
Evacuation is underway. Maulas are to be moved to the ice cap, where extra hands are needed. The lengths maulas go to avoid the polar cap have become extreme. Employ more severe punishments for those who attempt self-mutilation to shirk their duties or those who try to escape through the mineral grinder.
Progress Report: Subject 218
Status: Failure
Notes: Successful in revivifying subjects. The eyes opened, looked about, even focused. Subject displayed no other motor functions save for the spontaneous vocalizations - something between a scream and a sung note, a remarkably loud ululation. The sound caused these so-called hardened mercenary guards much distress. One fled. The one who stayed eventually vomited. Curiously, the bio of Subject 218 did mention a talen for singing.
Further examination shows Subject 218 experienced abnormal neural firing of the laryngeal nerve, as well as the broader vagal nerve system.
I cannot help but recollect the research of my protégé Dr. Lemenger. His work with the suboids was promising, though he let his subjects pollute his own thoughts. Like these puerile guards I work with, he lacked discipline and control.
From the Journal of Dr. Jalanta
Found in the Constellation Chest Room
Unacceptable. Absolutely unacceptable. I have plumbed depths that vulgar dolt could not possibly fathom. Like many of his ilk, Lingar Bewt commands processes he could not hope to understand.
He's taken me off the project. Research is to be moved to the ice cap. I am reassigned to the Pit, under the supervision of that creature Orsika. All specimens, ambulatory or otherwise, are to be destroyed.
And the Tleilaxu! Imagine, to be so advanced in the sciences and yet so blinded by something as pedestrian as misogyny. They could not even entertain the possibility that I would deduce and master their production secrets and thus... no longer need them. They have suffered for underestimation, and Lingar Bewt will soon follow. My subjects will not be destroyed. They are mine.
Boss Fight
Boss Stats
Dr. Jalanta has three health brackets, each depletion causes her to go into a brief invulnerability. Afterwards she will summon more suboids and also attempt to consume some of them.
Overview
The boss chamber is a relatively large, round room without any obstacles or traps. The ground is covered with the bodies of Dr. Jalanta's test subjects. At the beginning she awaits the player(s) in the middle of the room, escorted by some suboids. Once the fight begins, those begin to charge the player(s) immediately while Dr. Jalanta stays behind and attacks with her rifle.
Strategies
Dr. Jolanta will frequently summon a various amount of her suboid test subjects to attack the player(s). Once her first HP bracket is depleted, she will call the remaining test subjects to her and attempts to consume them, allowing her to regenerate a certain amount of health. The gained HP are directly dependent on how many suboids Dr. Jalanta was able to consume. Since the consumption process takes a couple of seconds to "charge" and is also indicated by orange energy waves around the suboid's heads, it should be a high priority to kill the suboids before Dr. Jalanta manages to consume them.
Rewards
Gallery
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Bunker Doors
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Entrace to Boss Chamber
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Boss Chamber
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Constellation Chest Room
