1.28
The seething tide of reclaimers surges toward you, clicking in hungry anticipation. Injured, exhausted, and out of options, you prepare to sell your lives dearly.
Suddenly, from across the swamp, darter shots punch into the reclaimers, knocking several to the ground. You see Kal Iver and three other Rangers attacking from the flank, carrying whispercrack darters and firing as fast as their fingers can pull the trigger. They manage to cut a path into the heart of the swarm, and then you see Kasende run forward, darter in one hand, and the lure held tightly in the other. Twice she seems about to be overrun, but Kal’s fire keeps the reclaimers at bay.
Finally, she reaches the center of the swarm, raises the lure high and turns it to maximum power. A moment later, Kasende vanishes under a tide of reclaimers, just as the water around them begins to churn and froth. The Roiling—the voracious mass of hydraworms that spawns all others—begins to feed.
Write KASENDE LOST on the campaign tracker, and complete the GRUESOME FEAST and INVASION missions. Write RECLAIMERS CONSUMED on the campaign tracker. Permanently remove Kasende from the Tumbledown set.
Huge segmented coils of flesh erupt out of the water, and fang-filled circular maws lunge forward to scoop up struggling reclaimers and gulp them down in single bites.
Kal and his team reach you and help you to your feet, dragging you out of the marsh as you hear a horrible symphony of hisses, splashing, and terrible wet crunches. Drawn by the Roiling’s frenzy, the other hydraworms join the feast.
For once, Kal’s face shows no trace of cocky superiority. “We came as soon as we got word of your plan,” he says. “I just wish we could have gotten here sooner.”
You can’t help but wish the same. The reclaimers have been dealt with, but at what cost? If Kal hadn’t come along when he did, you would have perished alongside Kasende.
"Come on," Kal says, patting you on the shoulder. "Let's get back to Lone Tree Station and tell Elder Thrush what happened."
Gain the JOURNEY (LONE TREE STATION) mission. Complete the REMOVE THE RECLAIMERS mission.