The Sea of Oblivion Mission 1 Part 1: At the Shores of Madness The mission begins with a cut scene. Cayde, Holiday, Rahool, and Banshee are sitting in a bar somewhere in the City watching a crucible match. They all seem very intent on it (except for Banshee, who looks confused as if he has no idea where he is). Something happens, Amanda cheers, and Cayde shouts Cayde: "What?! No! Who in their right mind uses a Red Momba instead of the Mini Tool?" Amanda (smugly): "It doesn't matter what Shiro did to lose, he lost. Now pay up." Cayde (nervously): "Well would you look at the time. Gotta catch a meeting with the Consensus." He runs outside and grabs his sparrow before riding off. Amanda (agitated): "Cayde? Cayde! I'm not finished with you!" She looks at her watch Amanda: "Oh crap, he does." The scene fades out. Now we are in a board room, drenched in banners from Factions, clans, enemies, and even a few Loyalist Cabal sigils. There is a long oval table with Zavala on one end and an exo woman on the other. They all have nameplates in front of them, with the logo of who they represent. The Exo woman is labeled as Poe-3, with the City flag on her nameplate. Poe-3: "All in favor of allowing New Monarchy to borrow 10 of Dead Orbit's plasteel extractors to make cutlery for the less fortunate, say I." Everyone at the table, save for Arach Jalaal, raises their hand and says I, just as Cayde pops his head in, looks around, and raises his hand while slowly moving to his seat. Zavala: "Cayde? You were supposed to be here 20 minutes ago! I don't care to hear your excuse this time. Take a seat." Poe-3: "Now that the Vanguard is all here we can discuss the frontier. Zavala, how are things outside our walls?" Zavala: "With the occasional help of Calus' Loyalists, the Red Legion is dwindling and the Red War is coming to an end. Also, with the generous donation from Future War Cult, the recontainment of the Splicers has been exponentially sped up. We expect a full lockdown on the Plaguelands by the end of the year. Poe-3: "Fantastic. Now what about that Hive situation on Titan?" Zavala: "It is... unusual. That battle for the arcology? It is over. The Fallen have entirely packed up and left, leaving the Hive to flood out into the open. It is strange indeed." Ikora: "I think we all know what happens when the Hive are left to their own devices. We can't afford Titan becoming the next Luna." Poe-3: "I want a recon mission into that arcology ASAP." Zavala: "Agreed. I think I have just the Guardian for the job..." The scene fades out. And a new cinematic begins. You are flying around the platforms outside the Arcology on Titan. The platforms are now even more Hivey than they already were. There are no traces of Fallen. Sloan: "The Fallen have led a full scale exodus of Titan. In a matter of days they are gone, leaving the Hive to flood into the open." You spawn in the location you would for Savathun's Song Strike. Your objective is to get inside the Arcology. Zavala: "When I was first resurrected by my Ghost, the Fallen hunted me down on my pilgrimage to The City. Time and time again they killed me, and I kept coming back. They knew I couldn't die, yet they kept coming. The Fallen are many things, but they are not cowards. Find out what is scaring them so badly." Once you get to the Arcology, you are immediately met with a wave of Cursed and Normal Thrall on that scaffold. The way forwards is blocked by Hive runes. Ghost: "Let me have a look at those runes. They seem... off." You scan them. Ghost: "This is weird. They are different from the kinds we've seen from Oryx's brood. The words that keep appearing are Savathûn and Bloom. Not only that... the Hive just unlocked the door." The door opens. You continue and find a massive Hive ritual. Four wizards are surrounding some kind of taken blight. Zavala: "Kill those Wizards before they can accomplish whatever they are trying to do." You kill the Wizards, titled Daughter of Pestilence, Daughter of War, Daughter of Famine, and Daughter of Death. Once you kill the Wizards and the rest of the Hive, you are prompted to scan the blight in the middle of the room. Ghost: "You guys getting this?" Zavala: "Yup, and due to a lack of Eris to fill us in on whatever may be going on, I added Ash-" Asher: "This is preposterous! Why would such levels of Ascendant Hive be looming so close to the surface? Not only that, but they are summoning a portal. Not to let some Hive God into our universe, but so they can go to another! If only Eris was here to further decipher this." Zavala: "Strange indeed. Either way, push through." You are then allowed to continue your path through the Arboratorium as you would on the Savathun's Song Strike. Along your way you fight plenty of Hive, unusually, mainly Knights and Wizards. Even an unusually high amount of Ogres. Basically every door is covered in that weird Hive skin growth that you have to shoot to get through. At one point during your traversals, Sloan: "The Hive have gone to great lengths to keep you from whatever it is they're scaring the Fallen away with." As you reach the door that leads to the area overlooking the forest (https://imgur.com/a/uWEBg), there is another hive rune. You scan it. Ghost: "Well this is-" But he is cut off by the door opening. Normal and cursed Thrall rush through, but actually ignore you. They run right past. They are followed by Acolytes, Knights, Wizards, and even two Ogres. You can engage them, but they refuse to fight back and will quickly flee to where you came from. They put up a wall blocked by runes that makes sure you cannot chase them. Zavala: "What the hell... don't bother going after them, we have bigger issues. " Asher: "Intriguing. Something scares the Hive. I will have to tell Eris when I see her next." You continue to the balcony that over looks the forest (https://imgur.com/a/uWEBg), but instead of the usual forest with pathways most of the trees are dead or dying. In there places are huge oblate spheroids made out of a dense webbing and buildings made out a deep black rock. Like obsidian but much more matte. They seem to absorb the light around them. They have no discernible pattern or style, with geometric shapes like trapezoids and cylinders merging into one another and into formless masses. Ghost: "Are you seeing this?" Zavala: "Oh my Traveler..." Sloan: "How...?" [spoiler]Want to read the next part? [url=https://www.bungie.net/en/Forums/Post/234208454]Master Post[/url][/spoiler]