Battleground: Delve

Next:	Battleground: Conduit
Battleground: Delve
Game:	Episode: Echoes
Player(s):	1-3
Location:	Nessus
Enemy faction(s):	House of Dusk Nessian Schism
Hostile race(s):	Fallen Vex
Objective(s):	Coordinate your fireteam to take on this legendary challenge. Defend into Nessus, explore the Vex structures, and disrupt the Conductor's plans.
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Battleground: Delve is a mission accessible during Episode: Echoes as part of the Battleground: Echoes activity. It can be accessed via the director in the H.E.L.M.

Objectives

• Investigate the Well of Flame
• Recover Fallen Data
  • X of 9
• Breach the Well of Flame
• Eliminate the Vex
• Explore the Caverns
• Eliminate Kalliks, Baron of House Dusk
• Eliminate the Siphon Servitors
• Eliminate Hypolydron, Captive Mind

Transcript

(Mission Begins)

• Failsafe (Cheery): Greetings, Captain! As you can see, the Vex have drained the radiolarian lake located in this sector.

• Osiris: We suspect it is at the Conductor's instruction, but we do not know the reason why.

• Failsafe (Cheery): There is a 99.9 repeating percent chance that the reason is nefarious in nature. Please investigate!

Or alternatively

• Ikora: There was a radiolarian lake here. We have to find out why it's been drained.

Or alternatively

• Ikora: Maya is draining radiolaria down into the planet. Delve into Nessus to find out why.

Or alternatively

• Ikora: Descend into Nessus, Guardian. The Vex are still a threat.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: Vex radiolaria has begun to seep beneath the planet's crust. We must follow it.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: Sundaresh's plans involve massive amounts of radiolaria. Find out what you can, Guardian.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: Sundaresh may have escaped us, but her Vex remain at her command. We must continue to weaken her forces.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: The Vex milk has been drained into the planet. Finding out where it is going could lead us to the Conductor.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: Sundaresh thinks we cannot stop her plans for the radiolaria. Hah! Well, she is wrong!

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: Maya Sundaresh's forces are still moving beneath the surface of Nessus. Go, break some Vex!

Or alternatively

• Failsafe (Cheery): The Conductor has affected many geological changes within Nessus. Radiolaria drainage is one of them!

Or alternatively

• Failsafe (Cheery): The Conductor continues to drain radiolaria from the planet's surface. And that's bad. Really bad.

Post-Encore: Coda

• Saint-14: Maya Sundaresh's forces are still moving beneath the surface of Nessus. Go, break some Vex!

Or alternatively

• Osiris: Sundaresh may have escaped us, but her Vex remain at her command. We must continue to weaken her forces.

Or alternatively

• Ikora: Descend into Nessus, Guardian. The Vex are still a threat.

Travelling towards the Well of Flame, the Guardians spot scavengers of the House of Dusk.

• Ikora: House Dusk is scrambling to retrieve Vex intel. Put a stop to it.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: House Dusk. Scavengers… Remove them, Guardian.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: House Dusk is making a move against the Vex. Now we must fight two enemies!

The fireteam engages with the Fallen forces led by the Baron, Kalliks.

• Failsafe: Local Fallen factions have taken interest in the Vex! You should remind them why that's a bad idea.

Engaging with the enemy forces, the House of Dusk create a barrier at the entrance into the Well of Flame.

• Ikora: Dusk Splicers have put up a barrier. Use their data against them.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: Gather Fallen data to bring down that barrier.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: The Fallen block your path. Take their data!

Or alternatively

• Failsafe (Cheery): Retrieving Fallen intelligence will allow me to disengage their barrier!

The Guardians force Kalliks to retrieve into the well and then retrieve enough data from defeating Data Safe Guards to bring down the barrier.

• Ikora: The House of Dusk are on their back foot. They're searching for anything to give them an edge.

Or alternatively

• Ikora: Osiris, have you spoken to Saint recently? I think he would value your conversation.

• Osiris: I will speak to him when he is ready. Not before.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: Who gave radiolaria such a mundane title? "Vex milk"! As though it's only a byproduct of the Vex.

• Osiris: It is not a byproduct. It is the Vex. We forget that at our peril.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: We must confront the possibility that the Fallen will acquire the Echo. But it is troubling to imagine the Vex in their hands.

• Saint-14: Or the Fallen in the hands of the Conductor.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: Radiolaria is a living substance. It has its own motive power, to the extent that any single cell can.

• Osiris: Now those cells, have a greater degree of independence.

• Saint-14: Any that disagree, will be swept over the falls just the same.

Or alternatively

• Ikora: The Conductor is fully integrated into the VexNet. This radiolaria is flowing under her command.

• Ikora: Something is waking within Nessus, and it is her touch that is doing that.

Post-Encore: Coda

• Osiris: Radiolaria is a living substance. It has its own motive power, to the extent that any single cell can. Now those cells, have a greater degree of independence.

• Saint-14: Any that disagree, will be swept over the falls just the same.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: Who gave radiolaria such a mundane title? "Vex milk"! As though it's only a byproduct of the Vex. It is not a byproduct. It is the Vex. We forget that at our peril.

Delving into the Well of Flame, the Guardian finds Kalliks and his forces guarding imprisoned Vex. As Vex units begin to advance into the fireteam's position, Kalliks would use this opportunity to transmat away.

• Ikora: Failsafe tells me the Vex are advancing in your position. Be careful, Guardian.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: A Vex force approaches. Withstand it.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: The Vex are no match for you, Guardian!

Or alternatively

• Failsafe (Cheery): The Vex are mobilizing on your position!

Defeating the Vex units, the trapdoor in the middle opens, revealing a Vex portal. Jumping into the portal, the fireteam arrives at a room where they confront Kalliks, who is gazing upon imprisoned Vex. Upon engaging with Kalliks, the Baron chooses to retreat while the contained Vex are released.

• Ikora: Pursue the Captain, Guardian. Removing their leader will scatter the Fallen.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: The Fallen Captain is withdrawing. Pursue it!

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: That Fallen Captain is retreating! Hah, they are scared!

Or alternatively

• Failsafe (Cheery): The Fallen Captain is fleeing.

With Kalliks retreating further into Nessus, the Guardians are forced to pursue it by delving into the caverns.

• Failsafe (Cheery): These caves were carved by the retroactive flow of radiolaria caused by Vex time manipulation!

• Failsafe (Depressed): That it's all been drained now is… worrying.

• Failsafe (Depressed): Where is it all going?

Or alternatively

• Ikora: Nessus has survived more than its share of upheavals. The Traveler, the Vex, Emperor Calus and his Leviathan.

• Ikora: I doubt that any part of this rock has been left untouched since its formation.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: This is how we find the Conductor. Be as relentless on the hunt, as a pigeon searching for millet.

• Osiris: Which is to say, continue making your way deeper, Guardian.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: With or without the Conductor, the Vex she altered will continue expanding their influence throughout Sol.

• Saint-14: The Vex were powerful foes even without her meddling. This I admit.

• Saint-14: But we are even more powerful. This I declare!

Or alternatively

• Ikora: There's more to the Conductor than the Maya Sundaresh and Lakshmi that we know.

• Ikora: We have no way yet of measuring the influence of the Vex and the Echo she holds.

• Ikora: But I'd suggest, bracing for the worst.

Or alternatively

• Ikora: The Conductor has left an indelible mark on the Vex.

• Osiris: If she withdraws her influence, what will they do with their increased individuality?

• Osiris: That is the question we most want to answer. And the question we are least capable of answering.

Post-Encore: Coda

• Ikora: The Conductor has left an indelible mark on the Vex.

• Osiris: If she withdraws her influence, what will they do with their increased individuality? That is the question we most want to answer. And the question we are least capable of answering.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: With or without the Conductor, the Vex she altered will continue expanding their influence throughout Sol.

• Saint-14: The Vex were powerful foes even without her meddling. This I admit. But we are even more powerful. This I declare!

Finally, the fireteam reach Kalliks in a large cavern, where it has imprisoned a large Vex Mind.

• Ikora: Looks like House Dusk managed to imprison a Vex Hydra. You'll need to take care of both.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: The Fallen have captured a Vex Hydra. Remove them both, Guardian.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: You'll need to crush the Fallen Captain to free the big Vex. They cannot be allowed to capture Vex technology.

Or alternatively

• Failsafe (Cheery): Captain! You must free the Hydra from captivity. (Depressed): Then, y'know. Smash it to pieces.

Confronting Kalliks once more, the Guardians finally slay the Baron, lowering the Fallen barrier to free Hypolydron.

• Ikora: The Fallen barrier is down. Finish this, Guardian.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: The Vex Hydra is no longer imprisoned! Destroy it.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: The Vex Hydra is free! Destroy it, Guardian!

Or alternatively

• Failsafe (Cherry): The Fallen have released the Vex Hydra! Please continue your path of destruction.

The Guardians destroy Hypolydron, eliminating the Fallen and Vex threat within the Well of Flame.

• Osiris: The Vex block our path. They are aware of our intentions.

• Osiris: Wherever the radiolaria leads will tell us what we need to know about the Conductor. We must delve further into Nessus. Failsafe?

• Failsafe (Cheery): The data contained in that Hydra will allow me to extract the authorization codes required to progress further into Nessus.

• Failsafe (Depressed): Bring it back to the H.E.L.M. and I can get started on cracking it open.

• Osiris: You heard her, Guardian.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: Peace seemed within our reach… if just for a moment. And now, this… new threat.

• Osiris: The Echo represents a dangerous element, chaotic and unpredictable.

• Osiris: We must proceed with the assumption that there are more. We cannot know what the others will do, or in whose hands they will be found.

• Osiris: They have been unleashed on our system. May our vigilance never falter.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: Misraaks is too… busy. But I had to shoo Eido away! I think she is excited at the idea of another adventure.

• Saint-14: Her time chasing pirates with Drifter was… enlightening.

• Saint-14: I told her that the Conductor and the Vex are still a threat, and that I could not let my friend's daughter risk her life because she is bored.

• Saint-14: She said she was not bored, and just wants to help. Well, I said, she can help us from the Tower and the Eliksni Quarter.

• Saint-14: That's why we do what we do. There may be new dangers, but we still have the safety of the Last City.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: When I was forced to obey their command, the voice called themselves the 'Conductor'. Why choose that name.

• Ikora: I can speculate. This entity is controlling the Vex, but also introducing variety and individuality among them. They aren't a new Vex Mind.

• Ikora: A Conductor uses the multiplicity of voices to a singular goal. A chorus isn't one voice, but dozens. Hundreds.

• Ikora: Without the range of perspectives and tactics, they’re vulnerable. The Witness collapsed itself into one being, destroying any dissenting voice.

• Ikora: The Conductor won't be undermined in the same way. I can only assume that tatic is deliberate.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: Ikora. The Conductor's words swim in my head still, but… I think also of the Osiris I knew. From my simulation.

• Saint-14: This is the man I remember. Not the one here.

• Ikora: Saint, how long have you been with us in this timeline? Years. You've made memories here, with Osiris.

• Ikora: Reuniting with him after the Guardian rescued you. Caring for him while he was comatose, and rebuilding your life with him when he woke again.

• Ikora: None of that is diminished just because the conductor tells you it is.

• Saint-14: Thank you, Ikora. I know that you're right, but… hmm. Thank you.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: Hmm, I wonder where Eramis and House Salvation are. I thought she would be chasing the Echo just like House Dusk.

• Ikora: I'm sure she'll resurface. Losing support from the Witness and Xivu Arath most likely made her too vulnerable to take action.

• Ikora: Her House has lost enough people to attrition and defectors. Joining her was a risk, and plenty of Eliksni are seeing the outcome.

• Saint-14: Will Misraaks welcome these House Salvation defectors?

• Ikora: I hope so. We gain nothing through retribution. I think the Kell of Light knows that.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: How is Crow settling in as Hunter Vanguard? Is he being good bird?

• Ikora: He's doing well. He stepped into the role with grace. In truth, this just codified something he'd already been doing.

• Ikora: Crow struggled when he first came to the Tower, no doubt. But now it can't function without him.

• Ikora: He tells me Cayde gave him everything he needed to do the job. I suspect it involved a dare.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: The Conductor is beaten but Nessus is still pushing us away!

• Ikora: What we're seeing is the remains of Maya's command. Her Vex will continue to obey her for as long as they're alive.

• Saint-14: So we will keep destroying them until there are no more.

• Ikora: That's all we can do… Match persistence with persistence. And when we face Maya again, we'll put an end to it for good.

Or alternatively

• Ikora: I can only assume the Conductor isn't able to command anything unconnected to the Vex radiolaria.

• Ikora: Exos are uniquely susceptible… but there has to be something more. Our Saint-14 was part of a Vex simulation before he was rescued.

• Ikora: He was embedded in their network. Could the Conductor be taking advantage of that?

• Ikora: The Sundial and the Guardian were able to introduce a paracausal disruption in the simulation.

• Ikora: The point of Saint's death was… overcame.

• Ikora: Like crossing a chasm by a leap of faith. Maybe that's what allowed him to resist the Conductor despite his connection to the Vex.

• Ikora: Still, they knew he came from a simulation. I don't like to think about what else they might know.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: Ikora… Saint barely speaks to me. I leave him be, as he asks me to. But…

• Ikora: It's difficult. I understand. We don't know what Saint is going through right now. All we can do is respect his wishes.

• Osiris: Of coarse. But I am left wondering if I did this to him somehow. By pulling him from a simulation…

• Ikora: You saved his life. He knows that. Be patient, Osiris. He'll come back to you.

Or alternatively

• Ikora: Now we know why the flow of radiolaria was diverted. Maya is using it to search the Vex Simulation Network.

• Osiris: Yes. Doing so requires a substrate. A medium in which the simulations may take root.

• Ikora: And she's using it to peer into other timelines.

• Osiris: When I constructed the Sundial, I did so at great personal risk. Using radiolaria in such quantities must reduce that risk.

• Ikora: It wasn't just personal risk, Osiris.

• Osiris: Well, no. But that is beside the point.

Or alternatively

• Ikora: We knew there would be a power vacuum after we took care of the Witness, but I wasn't expecting this.

• Ikora: Xivu Arath, or Savathûn. Eramis and House Salvation. Even Fikrul and the Scorn. Instead, we have this new threat, all because of the Echo.

• Ikora: The Traveler and the Witness left so much in their wake. The Valence is proof of that.

• Ikora: We have to keep pushing back, Guardian. One day we'll give Saint and Osiris the rest they've earned.

Or alternatively

• Ikora: The Vex wearing the yoke of command are under Maya's control, but the precursor Vex are part of her Collective.

• Ikora: She's bring them out of time with the power of the radiolaria, and reconfiguring them to suit her needs.

• Ikora: Making them individuals and directing them, rather than enslaving them to a Hive Mind, makes her iteration more effective, faster.

• Ikora: If she's looking for our Golden Age, that's how she'll find it.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: Radiolaria is a fascinating substance. At the core of every Vex is a globule that gives its frame cognitive and motive power.

• Osiris: This distinguishes each Vex from mere automata. It connects them to a larger mind, lets them communicate and consolidate data.

• Osiris: That Sundaresh was able to reconstitute her individuality from that… The Echo's power is truly beyond anything we've seen.

Or alternatively

• Osiris: I'm surprised the Kell of House Light has not taken an interest in our activities here. His knowledge as a Splicer would be welcome.

• Saint-14: Misraaks is... unwell. He tries to hide it, but I can see. I do not want him to put his life at risk for us.

• Saint-14: With you, me Ikora, Failsafe... We have all we need to stand against the Conductor and her Vex.

Post-Encore: Coda

• Saint-14: The Conductor is beaten but Nessus is still pushing us away!

• Ikora: What we're seeing is the remains of Maya's command. Her Vex will continue to obey her for as long as they're alive.

• Saint-14: So we will keep destroying them until there are no more.

• Ikora: That's all we can do... Match persistence with persistence. And when we face Maya again, we'll put an end to it for good.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: House Dusk will continue to clash with the Vex on Nessus until they have secured the Echo themselves.

• Osiris: They will never find it. The Conductor has made sure of that.

• Saint-14: Still, we cannot allow the Fallen to claim more Vex technology. That won't help anybody. Ah, even the enemies of our enemies are still our enemies... So it goes.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: Misraaks is too... busy. But I had to shoo Eido away! I think she is excited at the idea of another adventure. Her time chasing pirates with Drifter was... enlightening. I told her that the Conductor and the Vex are still a threat, and that I could not let my friend's daughter risk her life because she is bored. She said she was not bored, and just wants to help. Well, I said, she can help us from the Tower and the Eliksni Quarter. That's why we do what we do. There may be new dangers, but we still have the safety of the Last City.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: Hmm, I wonder where Eramis and House Salvation are. I thought she would be chasing the Echo just like House Dusk.

• Ikora: I'm sure she'll resurface. Losing support from the Witness and Xivu Arath most likely made her too vulnerable to take action. Her House has lost enough people to attrition and defectors. Joining her was a risk, and plenty of Eliksni are seeing the outcome.

• Saint-14: Will Misraaks welcome these House Salvation defectors?

• Ikora: I hope so. We gain nothing through retribution. I think the Kell of Light knows that.

Or alternatively

• Saint-14: How is Crow settling in as Hunter Vanguard? Is he being good bird?

• Ikora: He's doing well. He stepped into the role with grace. In truth, this just codified something he'd already been doing. Crow struggled when he first came to the Tower, no doubt. But now it can't function without him. He tells me Cayde gave him everything he needed to do the job. I suspect it involved a dare.

(Mission Ends)

Enemies

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Fallen - House of Dusk

• Data Safeguard - Tracer Shank
• Data Safeguard - Heavy Shank
• Dreg
  • Wretch
• Vandal
  • Marauder
• Resilient Captain
• Unrelenting Servitor
• Data Safeguard - Servitor
  • Data Safeguard Servitor
• Siphon Servitor

Vex - Nessian Schism

• Seeker
• Compelled Goblin
  • Compelled Fanatic
• Choral Goblin
  • Uplifted Choral Goblin
• Uplifted Choral Hobgoblin
• Choral Minotaur
  • Uplifted Choral Minotaur
  • Coryphaeus Minotaur
• Compelled Cyclops
• Compelled Aggressor

Champions

• Barrier Servitor
• Barrier Hobgoblin
• Overload Minotaur

Bosses

• Kalliks, Baron of House Dusk
• Hypolydron, Captive Mind

Appearance

• Destiny 2: Episode: Echoes (First appearance)