Guide

Map

Southern Grimvault

1.

Warbreaker Maintenance Logs

Lore

Maintenance Log #12011029
STATUS

Fix tanks, Wazzo. Make tougher, Wazzo. No more budget, Wazzo. Bah! Wazzo fed up to HERE with cheap Cassian armor plating! With cheap Cassian weapon cores. With cheap Cassian OFFICIALS who don’t understand warbreaker tanks take maintenance or warbreakers get broken! GYAAARGH!

Deep breath, Wazzo. Cassians have no-bid contracts. Wazzo can respect that. But that not fix Wazzo’s tanks.
Wazzo need good parts. Probably have to get from third party. Again.

Maintenance Log #12011030
STATUS

Razza frazza with a side of zazza! These parts are even worse! Guaranteed Protostar Multipurpose Parts, eh? More like guaranteed FAILURE parts! Can’t blame clones though. Protostar just trying to make a few primes. No, Wazzo can only blame self for getting suckered.
And blame stupid cheap bureaucrats who make Wazzo go to stupid Protostar in first place!

Maintenance Log #12011031
STATUS

All right! That’s it! Wazzo is done. Wazzo may not be best mechanic in fleet. But Wazzo has self-respect! Wazzo will NOT certify these warbreaker tanks up to regulations. And if anybody ends up dead because of shoddy armor plating or sputtering force shielding, it not on Wazzo’s head. Nope!
Wazzo washing hands of this lousy detail. Wazzo going into business for himself. Will fix tanks the right way. For money. Yes, Wazzo going rogue! Wazzo will become the Chua to go to for tank repair on –

[The voice-to-text software records a sound of rending metal and several heavy thuds at this point. The next piece of text was recorded several minutes after this event.

Maintenance Log #12011032
STATUS

Yeah, that gonna leave a mark.
Or seven. Yeah… Wazzo probably needed that torso. Should never have stood next to stupid tanks while recording status report… ow that hurts. Okay. If you hear this… make sure somebody knows. They aren’t safe. Misfire. Shoddy brakes. Weapon locks… faulty. Wazzo… signing… off.

Guide

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Southern Grimvault

1.

Commander Antevian’s Personal Log

Lore

The lady has chosen her course, and I have chosen mine. She’s got to fail before she can see it’s possible to fail, and I can’t save her from herself. She has her Draken master-at-arms to look after her, for all the good he’ll do against the kind of things she’s looking for.

But then we all seek death in our own way, don’t we. My brother sought enlightenment, and was willing to die for it. He’s worse than dead now.
In fact, Calidor’s heresy will force me to destroy him someday.

I know this. I’m convinced he does too. I wish there was another way.

But then you always do, don’t you Toric? Someday they’re going to figure it out. I’m not special. The bravery they think I show – the tactical genius?

It’s fear. Fear of failing… fear of death. I’ve heard it said that bravery is being afraid and forging ahead anyway, and maybe that’s true. But I don’t believe it.
If it’s anything, it’s luck.

It should have been Calidor who joined the Legions. The priesthood called to me, more than it did to him. But I admit, I was always physically stronger than him. A better fighter. If not for me, the whole family would have starved. I was afraid Calidor would point out how scared I was of losing them all.

He never had that problem. Calidor was willing to do whatever was needed. I was afraid of that too.
I did what was needed, but only if it fit into my code.

Well, maybe my brother was right all along. Maybe we need some kind of secret power to defeat the enemy that awaits us in the Grimvault. And that scares me more than anything else. That defeating this foe will cost me what’s left of myself, and she will never return to me.

You’re a selfish coward, Toric Antevian, but you can never let them know.

Datachron, erase recording.

***COMMAND FAILURE***
ENERGY FLUCTUATIONS DETECTED. PLEASE RESTATE COMMAND.

Guide

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Southern Grimvault

1.

Action War Nurse #377

Lore

“Nurse!” the war medic shouted over the smoldering, noise-wracked, muddy, and noisy battlefield on the planet where the battle was taking place. “I need a war nurse! We have injuries not quite severe enough for a war doctor. So I’m looking, as I said, for a war nurse! Please, can someone find me a – “

“A war nurse?” interrupted Royal Imperial Nurse Thylia Caduceus, RIN, as she punched an Exile mercenary in the face with a rubber-gloved hand to prevent accidental infection. “Why didn’t you ask?” With that, she grabbed hold of a conveniently placed cable hanging from an even more conveniently placed rocky outcrop and swung into action by swinging over to land next to the war medic, who saluted. Nurse Caduceus saluted back.
The war medic, confused, saluted again. This went on for a few moments until the war nurse lashed out with a rubber-encased backhand.

“SNAP OUT OF IT, man!” she declared lustily. “This is war! And you’re a war medic. And I’m a war nurse. We belong here, saving lives!”

“And you belong with me, Action War Nurse!” called a sneering voice from through the roiling smoke on the battlefield.
Without warning, a bolt of fiery orange plasma lanced from within the black cloud and caught the war medic full in the face, melted it, then went on to cook his brains into a sort of gray-blue soup before causing the war medic’s skull to explode in a shower of gore and blood and gore.

“War medic!” Nurse Caduceus called, “Blast it, I didn’t even know your name!”

“His name?
You should be more worried about my name, Action War Nurse,” came the sneering voice again, and this time it was attached to a leering face. The leering face was attached to the vile Exile mercenary who strode forward from the smoke. The Action War Nurse recognized him immediately.

“I recognize you immediately,” she snarled defiantly. “Commander Heratix the Heretical, the most wanted Exile war criminal in the galaxy.
Well I’m an action war nurse, Commander Heratix, and I’m here to administer your shots!”

With that, Nurse Caduceus drew her twin resonators and set them to full charge, aiming them directly at the ugly Granok’s stony face.

[TO UNLOCK THE REST OF THIS ISSUE, CLICK THE “SUBSCRIBE” LINK ON THE NEXT PAGE. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO PROCEED TO NEXT PAGE. ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.]

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Southern Grimvault

1.

Dominion Medical Chief’s Log

Lore

STATUS LOG – Grimvault Expedition Operation Genesis Day 01
Chief Medic Darnassian recording

What started as a bad supply situation is only getting worse. Anesthetic stores are at less than 20%, with the parts we need to keep the med stations functioning are at less than 10%. Command is not going to like this, but they must provide more medical supplies if the Radiant Legion is to take this Phagelab about which I’ve been hearing.
Why, I’d say we’re going to need more supplies if we’re to last the week, assault or no assault.

I have complete faith in Commander Antevian’s courage, but even he can’t win a war if he and all of his troops are bleeding out on the battlefield.

Something must be done!

Guide

Map

Southern Grimvault

1.

Dominion Investigator’s Notes

Lore

Grimvault Investigation Day 031

Can it truly be a month since we launched this ill-fated enterprise?

There is nothing living here in the Grimvault, at least not as we know life. There is movement here, murder and gore being spread by the tentacles and tendrils of something raw and evil. Beasts of corrupt origin spit forth from foul spawning grounds and the eyes….

The eyes. Watching. Always and forever, watching. They are everywhere.
Watching from the stalks, watching from the grasping fingers of the great one who watches over all. The Entity which no living thing can know, not if that living thing wants to survive.

I have no way of knowing this. Yet I do. The Medics on our expedition believe I am showing signs of stress. They say I may break. Someone else should take over.

I fear our Medics may be lost to the Entity. Perhaps they will have to die.

Grimvault Investigation Day 032

The Medics attempted to ply their foul potions on my form today. This will not be allowed, must not be allowed to happen. I cannot allow it. If I do, he will be… displeased.

When the Entity is displeased, he eats. Eats lives. Eats souls. Swallows them whole.

We have lost six since yesterday. No one who will be missed. Guard. Porters. An apprentice. I should miss the apprentice, but I will not.
I should honor the guards, but I cannot.

What is happening to me?

Grimvault Investigation Day 037

Yes. I can…speak into. This. Thing. I can…speak. I will…speak. The song of the Strain is mine to hear, now. It calls. I speak in reply. I speak.

Speak to me, lord of the Skurge, defiler of worlds. Speak to me with blood and disease. Death and corruption. The Strain.

It is all one. And we, we foolish small mortals with our foolish, small wars. We. Are going to. Die.

Guide

Strain Tunnels entrance.

Map

Southern Grimvault

1.

A Carnivore’s Dilemma

Lore

Chef Kozorok’s Cook Log – Grimvault Day 003

Supplies are already a concern, and food supplies most of all. I must investigate the Strain life forms in the area as a source of food. To this end, I have procured a few small portions from corpses left on the field of battle.

Feasting on the battlefield was once an powerful tradition among my people, but since the Draken swore to follow the emperor, some of these old ways have fallen by the wayside.
Yet are we not hunters? Even I, the humble cook, even I most of all. And this Strainflesh, it is simply another ingredient to cook. And while I, like all Draken, prefer my meat to be on the raw side, I shall cook this Strainflesh as thoroughly as possible. I am taking no chances. I shall report on its culinary properties as soon as I am finished with this repast.

Chef Kozorok’s Cook Log – Grimvault Day 004

So far, so good. The Strainflesh has a peculiar tang.
It tastes of…darkness. Suffering. Rage. Longing. Terror. Death. But I shall be its master. The Strainflesh will not master me.

Chef Kozorok’s Cook Log – Grimvault Day 005

Kozorok eat. Kozorok kill. Kozorok hunt. Fear Kozorok. Kozorok serves the Entity now. But small. Part. Of Kozorok…survives. Will not spread this to others. The Entity commands. But Kozorok fights. Kozorok will die. Die a Draken!

[This datalog is covered in traces of Draken blood tainted by Strain particles. There is no corpse nearby, however. It appears that Chef Kozorok’s attempt to defeat his enemy – and himself – failed in bloody fashion. But perhaps his last words can convince other chefs to avoid cooking with Strainflesh in the future.]