Patrol/Dialogue

“

Boons I grant you, oh bearer mine, but debts must be paid in time.

”

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"And my vanquisher will read that book, seeking the weapon, and they will come to understand me, where I have been and where I was going."The following is a verbatim transcription of an official document for archival reasons. As the original content is transcribed word-for-word, any possible discrepancies and/or errors are included.

A list of all Patrol dialogue can be found here, sorted by location and type.

Neomuna

The City is My Weapon

Introduction

• Quinn Laghari: Oh, you're that Earth-person, yeah? I'm Archivist Quinn Laghari, and I know this city. I also know how to make the city work against these goons. But with all this jamming, I need someone near the physical systems I can piggyback off. All you gotta do is not die.

• Quinn Laghari: This — this horrible distortion in the network repeating a word. I searched my whole library, but can't figure out what a "Nezarec" is. Anyway…

• Quinn Laghari: Little distracted. I can't figure out if this weird CloudArk feedback is creaking, or screams, or what. I just know it makes my teeth hurt. Anyway…

• Quinn Laghari: Don't give up on me. You need a sec? No? OK…

• Quinn Laghari: All right, let's push through this.

• Quinn Laghari: Ugh. Just reviewed some industrial incident reports and I got horrible inspiration.

• Quinn Laghari: Ha! Can't resist me, huh?

• Quinn Laghari: Insurgency's a numbers game. Find little things that hurt them without costing you, then repeat. I'll show ya!

• Quinn Laghari: I just need a friendly little signal repeater to hang out at these coordinates.

• Quinn Laghari: I hate doing this, but I hate my city being a war zone even more.

• Quinn Laghari: Ha! I told Sid you weren't dead!

• Quinn Laghari: Get your butt over there and get me some system access!

• Quinn Laghari: Just head here and open a comm channel.

• Quinn Laghari: Ready to make this occupation just a little bit harder?

• Quinn Laghari: Get to this position and make a network link for me.

• Quinn Laghari: Been crunching the new troops rotations, and I've got a new target for us.

Typhon Imperator

• Quinn Laghari: That ugly ship's a black hole of intel. Couldn't even tell you what it's made of or how it flies. It's why I keep downloading and scouring every sensor log you can bring me. I hate not knowing.

• Quinn Laghari: I'm accessing local chemo-sensors. Whatever that Cabal ship is dumping, we'll need to clean up some day. Would be nice to know what it is first.

• Quinn Laghari: Updating system map. That flying nightmare barge hijacked a ton of utilities, but that means some of our system backdoors can access it. Doubt I can override security, but worth looking. Maybe get you a layout.

• Quinn Laghari: This district is mostly reclaimed land — y'know, pylons and landfill. That spacefaring ego trip is straining every system.

• Quinn Laghari: Whole district's dotted with sensors to track and count wildlife. They'll track soldiers just as easily with this update. Won't bring back the blue tiger, but makes me feel a little better.

• Quinn Laghari: Co-opting some of the park drone network to deliver, uh… other payloads. They're small. Silent. Probably for the best they don't see it coming. I know I wouldn't want to.

Typhon Imperative (Side View)

• Quinn Laghari: [sighs] I've had the airlock control codes for that ship for a while, but… you ever see pics from a depressurization event? 'Cause I have. I ain't gonna do that to anyone.

• Quinn Laghari: Used to come out here to chill. There's a data conduit right here I tripped over all the time. It's how I know it's there to hack. You think I'm gonna get my park back?

• Quinn Laghari: There's a data trunk buried here that ties to the wildlife tracking sensors. With the clear access you're giving me, I can track a new kind of wildlife.

• Quinn Laghari: Modifying the maintenance systems to pump the hollow in this with pressurized sodium hydroxide. Shouldn't register to explosive scanners.

• Quinn Laghari: When I start to lose it, I let myself visualize that park under the monorail, when I was little. The thrum of the train and the ozone smell of the maglev. Upload's done, by the way.

• Quinn Laghari: You know your scanner uses an oscillating Sundaresh field? It'll ionize the palladium in this statue to make sensor shadows.

Ahimsa Park Central

• Quinn Laghari: No sabotaging this time. We're downloading genomes from the De-extinction Project. This war's probably already wiped out a dozen species.

• Quinn Laghari: Thank the Founders you're helping. Between the Cabal jamming and the Vex ECM, I'd never be able to access systems as far out as these parks. Nothing more anxiety-inducing than feeling helpless. With you, at least I can do something. Anyway, we're good here.

• Quinn Laghari: The Shadow Legion used our parkland system to grow food. We can stop it… or I can introduce nightshade DNA to the assembler system.

• Quinn Laghari: Found a Cabal parasite genome. Gonna try introducing that to the bio-assemblers. Sick's better than dead. Logistically. And morally, I hope.

• Quinn Laghari: Accessing the botanical assemblage protocols. Tweaking 'em to produce Cabal-tailored allergens. Next rain, mass anaphylaxis.

• Quinn Laghari: Splicing in a little poison, and — I mean, is this right? I mean, I know it's right. It's right to protect my city, but all this death… That's a lot to carry. I gotta talk to someone. You got someone to talk to?

Turbine Station

• Quinn Laghari: Getting into this system's easy. My dad actually helped rebuild this whole turbine station after the Twenty-Year Siege. I copied a bunch of access codes. Y'know, just in case. This'll overload some relays.

• Quinn Laghari: With this root access, I can divert a small charge to the cryo-bunkers. Let us recharge! And it's all thanks to my favorite two-legged signal repeater.

• Quinn Laghari: Could take out this turbine with a shaped charge, but with you giving me access, I can upload a carrier signal and track whoever recharges off of it.

• Quinn Laghari: Saw one of these blow once. [grunts] Those blades are smart carbon fiber, meaning they don't break. They turn into 20-meter flying swords! Cut a technician in half.

• Quinn Laghari: Just gimme a sec before I upload. Some stuff you can't unsee, y'know? And sometimes, normal things remind you of it. [exhales] Important to take a second to breathe when you need to. [breathes deeply] Aaaand sending.

• Quinn Laghari: Updating BIOS to cause erratic start-ups. Kinda feel bad for the Cabal maintenance crew that'll get electrocuted trying to fix this.

Zephyr Bar

• Quinn Laghari: Inventory system says the Cabal are hitting ethanol stores pretty hard. Think they're using it as fuel? Or maybe they need to forget, too. Gonna… gonna maybe leave that be.

• Quinn Laghari: Got access. All these systems rebuild nutrient sludge into real food. Even comfort food, ha! Had to come outta cryo for a week last year for some system repair, and ate the goo straight. Ugh, not good stuff. Not all all comforting. [gags] And done.

• Quinn Laghari: Everyone's gotta eat, yeah. So, we mess with the food printer's audio controls and get an eavesdropping chef. Easy! Plus, nobody dies.

• Quinn Laghari: I can use this terminal to hack the local food assemblers — reverse the protein chirality in any food the Cabal produce. Uploading a tummy ache!

• Quinn Laghari: Chirality's a funny thing. A molecule twists one way, it's a tasty protein. It twists the other way, and it's still tasty, but boom! Indigestible. Violently so.

• Quinn Laghari: I can backflush the food systems with recycler bacteria. There was a really gruesome accident with this stuff, about ten years before I was born. It's, um… made to break down flesh. It's not gonna be pretty.

Landing Pad

• Quinn Laghari: While pad's held in place by chemical stem bolts. But mix the right household ingredients, it turns that bolt sealant into shaped charges. For a rainy day.

• Quinn Laghari: Lemme just access the landing pad's crash response systems. I can realign it to dump visitors about 20 stories straight down. All done.

• Quinn Laghari: Command says the pad stays intact, so I'm modifying the pressure sensors to count troop arrivals. Love this clear signal your gear gives me.

• Quinn Laghari: I can just disable to decontamination safeties and wipe out guys I'll never meet. Seems like survival turns you into the kind of person you hate.

• Quinn Laghari: Adding a program that'll modify the fuel systems to plant detonators. [snorts] The Vex took out my grandma with the same hack. Not sure she'd like who I grew into. I'm done!

• Quinn Laghari: Not gonna lie: I feel real bad about, say, hyper-oxygenating the fueling platform like this. [sighs] Guilt's normal. It's healthy to second-guess, to have empathy. Means you're still human. Anyway, you should move on.

Cargo Bay

• Quinn Laghari: Those docks should be bustling with skimmers — these big boats that suck water and microdiamonds from the storms.

• Quinn Laghari: This system will let me update orders to automated ships. We still got some skimmers out on harvest; best to keep 'em away.

• Quinn Laghari: Logs show the Vex are draining microdiamond stores from these skimmers. Hey, fun fact: diamonds are flammable! Inject some pressurized oxygen, and they'll be pumping napalm into their foundries, ha!

• Quinn Laghari: Stay cool while I make these changes. Just… feel your feet on the ground. Feel your knees under you. Your hips. Your chest. Your shoulders. And breath… [breathes deeply] And we're done.

• Quinn Laghari: I'm depolarizing the weather sensors, heh. Next storm that blows through the area will call down a whole lot of lightning for our mechanical buddies.

• Quinn Laghari: Realigning skimmer profiles profiles. You got here quick for a space zombie. Even with my prosthetic leg, the pain limits me to sorta… an angry trudge. You, uh… you like cyborgs, space zombie? Oh, hey! Alignment's done.

Navigation Beacon

• Quinn Laghari: These nav beacons are life. Neptune's magnetic field is erratic, which is great for hiding a city inside, but it sucks if you need to find that city.

• Quinn Laghari: Just gotta upload these new specs. You enjoying the view? That storm's the Cerulean Front. Been out there for 80 years now. From a distance, it don't look so bad, but in the middle of it, it'll rip you apart. Oh, that's a metaphor! Upload's done.

• Quinn Laghari: Scrambling nav systems. I like to encode a binary virus into the broadcasts too, just to mess with 'em.

• Quinn Laghari: Accessing Harbor systems to scramble nav signals using an irregular rotation. Keeps anyone nav signals using automated flights or drones.

• Quinn Laghari: All right, accessing and — whoa, hey. You okay? I know, it's easy to lose hope. You gotta find little joys to focus on to get you through. For me, it's reading. Can't die today. Starting Chapter 8! [chuckles] Anyway, I'm done here.

• Quinn Laghari: Accessing systems… and done. Y'know, it's usually quiet up here, so it's cool if you need to have a cry. Just, you know, give me a heads up so I'm ready.

LINS

• Quinn Laghari: The hologram-looking bits are LINS: Light Investment Nanoscale Structures. Electric dust. And dust does fun things to computer drives.

• Quinn Laghari: We use LINS as botanical framework, but I'm tweaking the assembly protocols to give it a charge. Makes it cling to machines and degrade Vex circuitry… like digital poison.

• Quinn Laghari: You getting me past all this Vex ECM lets me ionize the LINS this planter produces. It'll cling to their chassis, and I can use my systems back at the archive to track their movements.

• Quinn Laghari: Modifying the LINS system to produce a monofilament edge. And… wow. Turning a public garden into a barded wire just feels like the worst metaphor for what war does to you. Stupid lit degree! It's done.

• Quinn Laghari: You know, my doctoral thesis was actually on using LINS for exposure therapy. Building paper doll scenarios to activate patients. Not loving that I gotta use that to inflict trauma. Anyway, file's uploaded.

• Quinn Laghari: Repurposing this stuff for violence is getting too easy… Like there's part of my brain trained to figure out how to hurt people now. I hope I can turn that off later. …We been done a while. I'm just ranting.

Salvage

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: So, you're one of them Earth Lightwielders, yeah? I'm Maintenance Chief Viragni d'Sydney — call me Sid. My crews keep this city running — or we do when it's not filled with space rhinos! So…

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Sorry, was just thinking. My kids had a little pouka, and we had to let her loose when lockdown started; they don't take to cryo. Anyway…

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Ha! It's my favorite little worker ant! Listen…

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Well, if it isn't our friendly Guardian! Good to see ya—assuming you're here to work.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Well, well! Look who's got free time.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Back for more, huh? Ha! You're one resourceful little terror from the stars, I'll give ya that.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Always imagined if we made contact with Earth, we'd be the ones saving you. So yeah, thanks for keeping me humble, I guess.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Guardian!

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Cabal runoff's changing pH levels in our algae pools. Gotta culture a new strain, but that takes food we can't spare. Bring me some Cabal rations.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Delicate hands, stout heart. You got the makings of a good repair crew if you ever want to give up the scholar lifestyle. Until then, bring me some parts.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: So, I've got this special little technique for tuning a Vex diode into an entanglement oscillator. Bring me a few, and I'll show you.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Nezarec debacle's left us screwed. Nobody thinks about what stress does to infrastructure. People get scared, they burn calories. Need a top-off.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Should be picking up my kid from school. Instead, I'm out here begging you to find me bolt sealant. Would appreciate you taking out my misplaced anger on these turnips.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Dinesh over in Reclamation thinks I'm nuts asking you for help. Says you can't clear a Vex without damaging the bits we need. I say he's an idiot.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: I don't need this extra stress. I just need chow! Those Cabal keeping hitting storehouses, and I need that back.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Listen up, Guardian. Outages are frying apogee diodes across the district. I need you to shoot Vex and pull the blue diodes out of their milk jugs.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: These Vex are ripping tech right out of my walls! I'm not wading through the red tape to requisition more! So I need 'em back.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: The CloudArk's a suspended energy matrix — lets you draw power out of thin air with the right parts. Except these days, the right parts are scarce.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Crew Gamma's having supply issues. Without more diodes, they can't restore the defenses these Vex are tearing apart.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: My crew in Límíng Block says we have a cascade failure. Could be in for a citywide brownout if we can't get them some replacements fast.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Let's just say I got some practice making repairs with spare Vex parts. Bring me what you can.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Some sketchy type is reaching out to sell me supplies — name of Spider. Heh, he says he knows you. But for now, I'd rather get my parts from you direct.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Vex incursion's frying's all the apogee diodes within a hundred meters. We need to replace those parts, or we'll never retake the district!

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: This assault's running our supplies thin, and we were never what you'd call flush.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Eh, we're hard-pressed for everything, and these stem bolts don't seal themselves. Any of these invaders should be carrying sealant.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: City's built to handle a siege, not sustained violence. We got coolant leaks on three major systems and need sealant to keep 'em contained.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: The Vex and the Cabal both use a thermoset liquid prepolymer to seal system breaches. I need liters of the stuff, and fast.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Pylons are spraying hydraulic fluid everywhere under that Cabal beast. I need sealant to patch things until it's safe to send repair crews in.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Nanite conduits run through the whole infrastructure like veins. When they breach, that's the city bleeding to death! Heh… I need liquid bandages.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Still rebuilding our fortified positions. It'll go faster with better materials, if you can help.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: I tell ya, this has been damn exhausting! And now, Reclamation's blown out THREE exchange valves, right after we run out of sealant!

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Got some spare crates of induction coils I could donate to your war effort. I just need some bolt sealant to get the loader running again.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: I'll level with you; I don't strictly need sealant, but these goons trashed my sister's noodle shop! If I'm asking for revenge, I want it to be practical.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Vex were bad enough, but with the Vex splicing up one side of town and Cabal blasting the other, we're almost out of emergency materials.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Whole district's at war! No talk! Repairs! Get me the goods!

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: You eat, Lightwielder? Well, we do, even in cryo. If you're really here to help, take down some of these Cabal and get us some nutrient packs!

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Hydroponics is shut down over in Galloway. Gamma Crew needs 24 hours to bring it up. Need some nutrient packs to feed folks in the meantime!

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: People aren't the only thing in this city I gotta feed. I've got eight kilometers of organic circuitry slowly starving to death. Help a man out.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Got a whole conduit of biopolymer that needs nutrient paste to regrow, but, uh, supplies are tight. The Cabal carry a ration sludge that'll work.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Nutrient paste'll keep you running in cryo, but it's not appetizing. Guess you need to tell the Cabal that, 'cause they keep swiping tanks of the stuff!

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Back in my soldier days, we used to use nutrient paste as the basis for thermite IEDs. Send me a few packs, and I'll teach you.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Strictly off-label, but nutrient paste has enough lipids to make a passable lubricant. Cabal just nabbed an expired pallet I need to repurpose.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Had to divert power from the granary mag-locks, and the Cabal looted our food supplies. Cover my butt and bring back something edible, yeah?

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Used to be this dive bar, Hamza's. They'd fry nurtient paste into crisps. Tasted like crap, but you couldn't stop eating 'em. Could use some of that.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Tell you this: the Cabal are hurting for basic supplies—keep hitting our food stores. Food stores we need back, mind ya.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: This Vex incursion's cut right through my supply lines! I need nutrient paste, but Cabal are stripping our cupboards bare!

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: Nezarec might be gone, but he left a lot of imaginary flotsam in our repeaters. Replacing them's a real chore, but purging them takes parts.

• Viragni "Sid" D'Sydney: We all did regrettable things thanks to Nezarec. I might have tossed a few crates of bolt sealant thinking they were haunted. Now I need more.

The Pale Heart

Stitching

Introduction

• Micah-10: Currents of healing Light are congested here. Follow the flow to allow it through.

• Micah-10: The Light seeks to move through this terrain. Your presence following the flow can guide it to its destination.

• Micah-10: Move swiftly and follow the path of Traveler's Light through this terrain. Guide it to freedom.

• Micah-10: There's a current of Light struggling to weave through this terrain. If you follow the flow, you can help it move freely.

Completion

• Micah-10: The Light flows freely again. Thank you, Guardian.

• Caiatl: The Traveler reminds me of a great plains beast of Torobatl. It required small birds to pick parasites off its hide, and keep it healthy.

• Micah-10: There, the Light flows again, pushing back the blight.

• Mara Sov: These ethereal currents remind me of the flow of the Ley Lines. Perhaps there is intentional symmetry in their design.

• Micah-10: We're done all we can, the Light is flowing.

• Mithrax: Remarkable, the Light bleeds freely into the land again. I pray the Traveler finds relief in these ministrations.

Mending

Introduction

• Micah-10: The blight spreads through these brambles. If you take them to a font of Light, they will wither and decay.

• Micah-10: The Traveler is infested with these blighted brambles. We must purge them in the Light.

Completion

• Micah-10: It'll take a while to purge all the blight from the Pale Heart, but this task is merely great, not insurmountable.

• Mithrax: House Light stands with you, Micah, in devoting to the cause of healing the Great Machine. Together, we will end this plague.

• Micah-10: There's much work left to do to heal the Traveler. This blight will take years to fully purge.

• Caiatl: My legions will take fire to every square inch of the blight, day and night, until there is nothing left of the Witness. Not even a memory.

Expunging

Introduction

• Micah-10: A wellspring of power blossoms from the land. Use it to purge this corruption.

• Micah-10: Take this power, Guardian, and wield it against the blight.

• Micah-10: Though the Witness' blight is prolific, the Traveler arms you to purge it.

• Micah-10: As Misraaks says, the Light provides. Now use what is offered to purge the corruption.

Completion

• Micah-10: There's more work to be done. The Traveler won't be healed overnight.

• Mithrax: We are fortunate the Great Machine still lives. We must do everything in our power to protect this gift.

• Micah-10: You've done everything you can to purge the blight, and we'll continue to fight it wherever it emerges.

• Caiatl: It is true; a warrior's duty is never done, and vigilance is the price we must pay for peace… but a price we will pay gladly.

• Micah-10: We do all we can to cleanse the Traveler of this blight… but our work isn't done.

• Mara Sov: I wish you were wrong, Micah. But I know that our victory here may only lead to greater conflicts to come… from enemies unknown.

Restoration

Introduction

• Micah-10: Corruption spreads thick here. Bathe yourself in the cleansing Light of the Traveler and purge it.

• Micah-10: Bathe in the Light, Guardian, and use it to purge the Witness' corruption.

Completion

• Micah-10: Wherever the Witness touched, this blight spread. But one day, with your help, there will be nothing left of it.

• Caiatl: It is said that to be forgotten is the truest form of death. May the Witness suffer this ignoble fate, and its name fade from history.

• Micah-10: This blight is tenacious, spreading so long as even a single root remains.

• Mithrax: Hmm, such is the nature of evil… If we allow it to take root in even the smallest of forms, it will spread like a disease.

• Micah-10: The Traveler is healing, but it will be many years yet before it recovers from this calamity.

• Mara Sov: I look forward to the day when we look on the Traveler anew, and perhaps learn more about its purpose.

Offering

Introduction

• Micah-10: Interesting. The Light has made itself manifest in a material form, fabricating a gift for you. But I cannot tell where.

• Micah-10: A gift born of the Light has been forged from the Traveler's grace, but its location is hard to discern. Get hunting, Guardian.

• Micah-10: The Light has taken shape in material form, an offering to you from the Traveler. All you need to do is find it.

• Micah-10: The Traveler wishes to bestow a gift upon you, Guardian. All you must do… is find it.

Completion

• Micah-10: The Light has the power to take material shape, to form objects of mass and matter. But how are the designs determined?

• Mara Sov: Perhaps the Pale Heart is the answer — it is memories. While it is the Dark that remembers, the Traveler, too, has a mind all its own.

• Mithrax: I have long known the Light can be sculpted into material form. Legends of ancient Splicers from Riis speak of these feats.

• Micah-10: What I wouldn't give to have seen Riis in its height. Perhaps one day, the Traveler will show me.

• Caiatl: The Light can take the shape of weapons, of armor, of whatever the Traveler desires. Yet it prefers insects… plants… birds. Curious.

• Micah-10: Maybe the Traveler had to hope for us all, that there's a time where weapons will no longer be needed. But that day isn't today.