The Festering Core

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The Festering Core
Game:	Shadowkeep
Player(s):	1-3
Location:	Echo Mesa, Io
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The Festering Core is a Strike added in Shadowkeep. A team of Guardians investigate increased Vex activity in The Endless Gate at Zavala's order, only to discover with the help of Eris Morn that the Taken and their new Queen are once again making a move against the machines.

Objectives

• Investigate the Vex activity
• Descend into the Pyramidion
• Enter the portal
• Find the source of the Taken incursion
• Disable the Vex barrier
• Destroy the Taken Blight
• Defeat Baurisk, Envoy of Savathûn

Transcript

(Mission Begins)

• Zavala: Not long ago, we detected a massive burst of Vex activity on Io. Inside the Pyramidion. We need eyes in that structure, Guardian. Get moving.

The Guardians approach The Pyramidion.

The Guardians defeat the Vex they encounter. The Shuttered Mind appears.
The Shuttered Mind is defeated. The Guardians enter a Vex portal and encounter the Vex fighting against the Taken.

• Ghost: We've discovered the cause of the Vex high alert. There's a Taken incursion in progress inside the Pyramidion.

• Zavala: Taken. Any sense of their objective?

• Ghost: Unclear for the moment. Stand by.

• Ghost: There's a giant Vex sphere in this chamber. Like the ones on Nessus, but colossal. And there's a door leading inside. That could very well be the Taken's objective.

• Zavala: Their first major offensive since the Dreaming City. Get inside that sphere. We need to know what they're after.

• Ghost: Every square inch of interior surface area in this sphere is coursing with energy. Let me see what I can find out. Scanning…

• Ghost: Zavala. This whole sphere is a dedicated processing structure. A giant Vex computational array.

• Zavala: What could the Taken want with a Vex computer?

• Eris Morn: The Taken want nothing.

• Zavala: Eris. Eavesdropping, I see.

• Eris Morn: Don't bother guessing the Taken's intentions. Ask instead what is sought by the hand that directs them.

• Ghost: This Blight… does it look familiar to you. Like the Blight in the Dreaming City?

• Eris Morn: Savathûn extends her reach at last.

• Zavala: Savathûn? What makes you so certain?

• Eris Morn: There's no certainty where the Witch Queen is concerned. But I have strong suspicions. Above all, she seeks knowledge to inform her plans and seeks pawns to carry them out. The sphere offers both.

• Ghost: Taken influence is thicker down here. They're not trying to break in - they're infesting from the inside out. There must be some anchoring Blight nearby. If we're really unlucky… a portal to an Ascendant Realm.

The Guardians enter a circular area with a massive Taken Blight in the middle.

• Ghost: There. That must be the anchor - the Taken's route into the sphere. Destroy it!

Taken Blight is destroyed.
Baurisk, Envoy of Savathûn appears and defeated by the Guardians.

• Ghost: We killed the Taken commander and secured the central sphere. I think the Vex can handle the rest.

• Eris Morn: Savathûn is gathering her strength, Zavala. If we hope to survive what's to come, we must prepare.

• Zavala: We defeated Oryx. If Savathûn wants a fight, she'll get one.

• Eris Morn: She is not as foolhardy as her brother. She would never risk a direct confrontation. We will know her next move only when she makes it - and only if we're wise enough to recognize it.

(Mission Ends)

Enemies

Vex - Sol Collective

• Harpy
• Fanatic
• Goblin
• Hobgoblin
• Minotaur
• Hydra
• Quantum Cyclops

Taken

• Taken Thrall
• Taken Psion
• Taken Goblin
• Taken Acolyte
• Taken Goblin
• Taken Vandal
• Taken Wizard
  • Ravenous Taken Wizard
• Taken Minotaur
  • Ravenous Taken Minotaur
• Taken Knight
• Taken Captain
  • Ravenous Taken Captain
• Taken Centurion
• Taken Ogre
  • Hallowed Ogre

Bosses

• Retina
• Cornea
• Shuttered Mind
• Logath, the Ruptured
• Juraag, the Waylaid
• Zebios, the Ensnaring
• Vazimos, the Ensnaring
• Baurisk, Envoy of Savathûn

Gallery

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Trivia

• The Festering Core is the first activity to include a Taken Incendior.
• The Cyclopes in this strike are unique in both appearance and behavior; the tips of their plates are covered in Vex energy, and they are capable of surrounding Guardians in suppression fields that slow them down and block their gunfire.
• This is the Strike that stayed in the game for the shortest time before being sunset.
  • From October 1st, 2019 (Shadowkeep's release) to November 10th, 2020 (Beyond Light's release), slightly over a year.