Jade Shadows/Transcript — warframe

The Reaper's Lament

A conversation between Hunhow and Stalker transcribed on the Warframe website in the lead-up to the release of Jade Shadows.

Hunhow: "What do you owe them, my Shadow? A lifetime of old hate spent pupating new regrets. Envy those whose bodies your ‘vaunted’ masters stole, for even beyond the grave they take so much much more from you.
Do what must be done, or else forsake what gristle clings to your soul."
Stalker: "NO."
Hunhow: "How much do you recall, my Shadow? Do you even remember what came before this time of scars?
Your masters sent steel and flesh to cross the gap: clay they wished to rule and sculpt into a new and toxic paradise. Laughable. Even at the end, they never truly understood the answer lay not in things their stolen, blue-bloated fingers could covet.
The answer… was song. Your music reached our listening spines in Tau long before their rubble crusades.
Did you understand, my Shadow? When you heard the Naga drums, did you realize my people heard the thunder of our bitter, belated victory? When your pride consumes all that you love, perhaps they will hear the wail of your failings back home as well."
Stalker: "SILENCE!"
Hunhow: "I have always applauded your taste in weapons, my Shadow—simple, silent things they are, made for the business of killing.
All save one…
I made myself into a weapon of war so that you might transcend your hate. Even then I knew our slaughter would be indiscriminate, but the scythe is not a killing thing to sully so dispassionately. It is an instrument of cultivation. Growth. Even love.
For that love, worlds bloomed beneath me. For redoubtable Praghasa, cities burned at the end of my tongue. That is the way of scythes. We cut only what we must so that new life may flourish.
Please, my Shadow. Take up the scythe once more."
Hunhow: "You distract and disorient—drawn as disease is to a wound when the Tenno are most distracted. Yet the strongest among them still evade you. Has time worn down your skills, my Shadow, or simply your conviction?"
Stalker: "ALWAYS MORE."
Hunhow: "It does seem tiresome. One monster to buckle against the weight of battalions. Little wonder you would seek allies, friends, confidants. Family. It has ever been their greatest strength and your deepest shame."
Stalker: "INSULTS!"
Hunhow: "A peek into your mind. Glass may be easier to pierce, but meat is simple enough to read. You know what must be done, but still fear your own weakness more than the outcome. You fear that you have taken too long—that your hesitation has already destroyed-"
Stalker: "HNNH… REFLECTIONS."
Hunhow: "Yes… I suppose I know better than most what it’s like to miss one’s chance to repair broken bonds. All the more reason you should heed me: It is not too late."
Hunhow: "Another of their number flows past my sodden grave. Did you see her, my Shadow? Of course you did… So unlike your perfunctory skulking, she rises resplendent—full of brazen, fragrant life. In my own lost vibrancy, oh how I would have reveled in snuffing out her playful joy!
Unfortunately, something beat me to the task, delivering only a wounded husk into my grasp.
I grow sentimental in my rot. Else I’ve been down here long enough to find kinship with my fellow jetsam. Instead of final death, I offered her the insult of rescue. A worldshaper’s breath “adapting” her shape to better survive our shared prison. And still her spirit did not break, my Shadow!"
Hunhow: "So what happens next, my Shadow?"
Stalker: "LEAVE ME."
Hunhow: "Ha! I can slip the wounds of our Old War no more than you. Yet you alone can choose to drag your brooding tegument elsewhere. Let us dispense with veils, my Shadow. You want me here to lament at your ear like some chirping conscience. You want to hear the truth."
Stalker: "I AM ENOUGH."
Hunhow: "You saw a flicker of their filth in yourself once. If only for an instant. Now I see it in your words. You know that you have run the gamut and come up short. No matter which way the tides drift, the only options left to you will bring a target upon your back."
Stalker: "LET THEM COME."
Hunhow: "They will, my Shadow. I only hope you are prepared. Your actions have consequences…"

Quest Description

Struggling to understand the oldest and deepest secret of his past, Stalker finds himself allied with sworn enemies on the troubling road towards uncovering the truth... and averting incalculable loss.

The Lair

Hunhow: "All your dread-long life you have lived with despair. Anguish. Hatred." (download, history)
Hunhow: "But none of these compare to your guilt." (download, history)
Hunhow: "Of all the Gods and kings and golden lords... why was it you she saved?" (download, history)

???: "Sorren..." (download, history)

Hunhow: "Her light is dying, her life almost spent. And you will never learn why this unknown slaughterer chose to spare you." (download, history)

Hunhow: "You know whose help she needs. Will you let her drown in your despair? Or will you sheathe your hate and ask them?" (download, history)
Stalker: "Never." (download, history)

Alone

Anything But That

Hunhow: "Still you delay? You doom only the one you ever wished to save, through your own stubbornness!" (download, history)

Hacking first vault

Xeto: "How did we just lose a significant percentage of our bioplasma reserves? Well? Hello? Any techs care to run a diagnostic?" (download, history)

Hacking second vault

Xeto: "That's no system fault. We've got an intruder. Triple robotics security on all vaults!" (download, history)

Hacking third vault

Xeto: "There. Camera five. What is that thing? Tenno? No.... doesn't fight like a Tenno. Troops: Monitor. But keep your distance. Am I on? Intruder! This is Captain Xeto of The Ardent, in service to Mighty Parvos. Whoever you are, stand down. Your actions will not be tolerated!" (download, history)

Hacking fourth vault

Xeto: "Well done, whatever you are. It seems you have what you came for. But why?" (download, history)
Xeto: "He's a what? Read me that entry, ensign. But what use would the Tenno-hunter have for medical-grade bioplasma? Track him." (download, history)

Failing a Hack

Xeto: "A failed breach? What is going on? Is anyone on this ship capable of giving me a straight answer?" (download, history)

Mistreatment

Corpus Commander: "Damn it. Signal lost." (download, history)

To Catch A Tenno

Ordis: "Operator? Did you disable the security grid?" (download, history)

If the Stalker is spotted

Ordis: "You! You will NOT harm my Operator! OUT!" (download, history)

The Ancestor

Operator: "If you're serious about saving her, you need to spill a lot of Infested blood. She needs Cortichrome... and that has to be harvested directly from a Juggernaut." (download, history) (download, history) (download, history) (download, history)

Xeto: "He's on a derelict. One of the old Corpus hulks off Eris. Find me the cargo manifest. I want to know what he's searching for." (download, history)

Xeto: "He's woken a Juggernaut! Clumsy. Unless he meant to? But... why?" (download, history)

The Impossible

Escape

Corpus Commander: "We've secured his ship. He's not going anywhere." (download, history)

Xeto: "He's coming up! Get security in position. Do not screw this up for me. The Sisterhood doesn't give second chances." (download, history)
Vala Glarios: "Candidate? Brother Parvos is watching." (download, history)

Xeto: "All crews cease fire, cease fire! Stop firing!" (download, history)

Past and Future

Protector

Conclusion

The heart is a labyrinth, none darker than Stalker's. At the center lays answers, loss... and life. One life lost, for another gained: life never before seen in the Origin System. An impossible life that, in turn, brought with it more questions than answers.

Unfinished Business

Tenno.

The Shadow has fled. His lair is silent an empty. He will not return.

Understand: She haunts this place. Her light has marred the earth. She whispers in the sleeping machines. Through the disintegration of her flesh, she lives on.

In honor of my barren, Void-scarred womb I entrust Jade to you.

He would not have wished this. But she would.

I remain: the great and terrible Hunhow.

—Hunhow

(download, history)

Unused Audio

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