After the failed attempt to silence the Heart of Rage, Haluk, Faye and the rest of the Freelancers went their own ways.
Two years have passed and the freelancer has been busy with Owen Corley, a cypher, what small contracts they get to make their living.
Hints and Suggestions
- The dialog exchange between the characters will change depending on whether single player or multiplayer mode is played.
- Remember to perform Feats to obtain XP for increasing Pilot Level and receiving Alliance bonus.
- Make sure to read the text pop ups that show up with the icon
. The camera angle needs to be adjusted to read the text properly. - Several Feats and cortex entries unlock during this mission, which may cause new players confusion. It is recommended to ignore them during this mission.
- A special text pop up will show if a grabbit is killed for the first time. Owen will also provide additional dialogs criticizing the Freelancer throughout the mission.
- Avoid reading the Cortex at this stage, because this is one of a kind map that does not show up in any instance.
- To solve the blue energy pillar puzzle, simply evade them by using dash while flying.
Objectives
Early Warnings
Collect Sensor Readings from Early Warnings Network
Activate Relay
Access Sensor
Scanning
Access Next Sensor
Scanning
Access Next Sensor
Scanning
Prevent a Cataclysm Event
Explore Shaper Ruin
Echoes Delivered
Locate Source of Shaper Energy
Deliver Echoes
Defeat Enemies
Fragments Returned
These are the locations where the Freelancer begins the expedition, has to perform tasks to advance, and conclude the expedition.
Cortex Entry
The Cortex Entry shows the description and the outcome of the expedition.
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Outcome: You successfully silenced the relic and averted disaster. It's time to catch your breath in Fort Tarsis and reflect on a job well done. Freelancers don't garner much respect these days, but the work you're doing is keeping everyone safe, whether they appreciate it or not. |
For a Collection of similar Cortex Entries, See: Critical Objective (Journal) |
Quest Chain
This expedition is a part of the Legend of the Heart of Rage Storyline. When the storyline is completed, an appropriate challenge is also completed, which will reward the Freelancer. The following are the related quests in order for this storyline:
- Silence the Heart of Rage
- Early Warnings
- Welcome to Fort Tarsis
- Lost Arcanist
- Lighting a Fire
- Incursion
- Lending a Hand
- Finding Old Friends
- Meeting With Corvus
- Freeplay: Tombs of the Legionnaires
- The Tomb of General Tarsis
- The Fortress of Dawn
- Crafting the Dawn Shield
- Freelancer Down
- Repairs and Inspiration
- Return to the Heart of Rage
Trivia (May Contain Spoilers)
- The javelin used in this mission has a unique helmet called Ranger MK2 Helmet. It is not found in any other instance, nor is it available to use again.
- There is a text pop-up which explains about the relay near the relay which reads:
- The first line of defense for detecting any dangerous levels of Shaper energy increasing in the region. It's often a prelude to a Cataclysm.
- There is a text pop-up which explains why sensors are placed and what they do on the first sensor which reads:
- One of several sensors placed across Bastion to raise the alarm about Shaper energy. They must be manually calibrated to ensure accuracy.
- There is a text pop-up on an inert relic near the first echo lock reads:
- Ruins like this are the greatest mystery in the world—who were the Shapers, how did they harness the Anthem of Creation's energy, and what was their ultimate plan?
- If a grabbit is harmed at any point in this mission, a special text pop-up will show up, and Owen will comment about the Freelancer being merciless.
- This map is completely unique to the game and cannot be seen anywhere else or during any other expeditions.
- The map cannot be opened during this expedition.
- This marks the first time grabbits, scorpion digester, scorpion soldier, wolven, frost elementals, and ursix show up in the game.
- The ursix spawned by the relic is of a different variety. It is much larger than the largest ancient ursix found in other missions during the game.
- Every loot item dropped during this mission will be of common rarity and will always have a power level 2. There are 6 loot items obtained by the end of this expedition.
- The view of Fort Tarsis spires is taken from the southern side of the fort, an area which is currently inaccessible during any other mission or game modes.
- The soundtrack that plays during the title screen is called “The Anthem of Creation.”
Below is the Script and Walkthrough for Early Warnings (Mission):
Briefing
A snuggle of grabbit feel a disturbance nearby. The Freelancer lands in their rusty old Javelin at the start of the unmapped area lying in the South of Fort Tarsis, while the grabbits run away sensing danger.
- Freelancer: "I’m at the coordinates Owen"
- Owen: "Impressive entrance as usual."
- Freelancer: "Nice to be appreciated."
- Owen: "Don’t sell yourself short, mate. A cypher couldn’t ask for a better partner."
- Freelancer: "You could ask. But not many of us left."
- Owen: "The relay is a short flight away."
Lush greenery can be seen everywhere; nature had clearly triumphed over these ancient ruins, while lava percolates on one side.
Briefing Gallery
In Expedition
Collect Sensor Readings from Early Warnings Network
The Freelancer flies around to explore the uncharted area with additional commentary from Owen. The freelancer can simply go to activate the relay instead.
- Freelancer: "Easy contract so far."
- Owen: "Easy keeps you alive."
- Freelancer: "Wouldn’t call this living, inspecting sensors every month."
- Owen: "Pays the bills"
- Freelancer: "Not exactly the freelancer motto."
- Owen: "Well, until the Freelancers are back on their feet, we can enjoy all the gorgeous scenery Bastion has to offer"
- Freelancer: "Flying around it is even better."
- Owen: "Now I’m jealous, sitting here in the fort."
Activate Relay
When the Freelancer reaches the relay,
- Owen: "There’s the relay. Just needs a hard reset."
The Freelancer interacts with the relay to reset it. When the relay restarts,
- Owen: "This should get the early warnings network back up. Good that did it. You’ll need to manually check the sensors now. First one’s nearby. Maybe grab some supplies before you go."
The Freelancer can open a nearby treasure chest for some loot.
Access Sensor
The Freelancer flies to the sensor,
- Freelancer: "I’m going into the ravine."
When the Freelancer reaches the sensor,
- Owen: "There’s the first sensor. I need you to access it."
The first sensor is in a cavelet. The Freelancer interacts with the sensor. A green cypher projection circle reveals the range of the sensor so that the readings can be collected.
Scanning
- Owen: "Stay close so I can get a reading on the Shaper energy. Hang on—I’m detecting movement. Looks like skorpions."
The Freelancer must remain within the range during the scanning process and defeat skorpions while they are at it. If the skorpions are in the range of the sensor, then the scanning process slows down, and the circle becomes pale in color.
- Freelancer: "Skorpions are riled up."
- Owen: "When haven’t they. Probably haven’t tasted fresh Freelancer in a while."
- Freelancer: "Won’t be today."
- Owen: "Convince them."
If the Freelancer is outside the range of the green circle, the cypher projection circle turns orange.
- Owen: "Sorry, you need to stay near the sensor so I can get a reading."
While the scanning process is halfway done,
- Owen: "Hang in there. I’m still waiting for a reading."
When the scanning process nears its end,
- Freelancer: "Owen…"
- Owen: "Almost got it."
After the scan is completed,
- Owen: "Alright. Readings are coming through. Uh…"
- Freelancer: "What?"
- Owen: "It’s mostly normal."
- Freelancer: "Mostly? This is the early warning system. If its detecting something…"
- Owen: "Yeah, no sign of Shaper energy. Head to the next sensor."
The Freelancer flies to the next sensor.
Access Next Sensor
When Owen sees a gorgeous waterfall formed between two urgoth statues,
- Owen: "Waterfall ahead, if you want to cool your suit."
If the Freelancer flies through the waterfall,
- Freelancer: "Handy in a pinch."
When the Freelancer is about to reach the second sensor,
- Owen: "You’re coming up on the next sensor. Check it out for me, will you?"
The second sensor is on the floor of an ancient human ruin. There are several grabbits around it. The Freelancer interacts with the sensor.
Scanning
The green cypher projection circle shows up, and the freelancer must remain within the range, just like the previous time.
- Owen: "Wait there while I get a reading."
- Freelancer: "No sign of skorpions at least. They’re aggressive today."
While the Freelancer enjoys the beautiful scenery of the ruins and the waterfalls during the scan, there is a large thrumming sound, and a massive flock of indigoes fly from below.
- Freelancer: "Uh, Owen, what’s going on? Why are all the birds leaving?"
- Owen: "I’m working on it."
When the scanning process ends,
- Owen: "Got a reading. Not good—possible Shaper energy detected. Get to the next sensor, we can narrow it down."
- Freelancer: "Birds might’ve had the right idea."
The Freelancer flies to the next sensor through a ruined entrance
Access Next Sensor
As the Freelancer is flying through the ruins,
- Freelancer: "Owen, how bad could this get?"
- Owen: "You were in the Heart of Rage, weren’t you?"
- Freelancer: "Don’t even think it."
- Owen: "See these ruins? There’s a theory a Shaper relic flipped gravity for a day."
- Freelancer: "Uh-huh. Well not on my watch."
When the Freelancer approaches the third sensor,
- Owen: "Last sensor’s nearby."
- Freelancer: "With wyverns circling."
Two wyverns are flying around the sensor,
- Owen: "I see them. Fire-breathers. We still need to get a reading."
If the Freelancer is shot by the wyverns’ fire,
- Freelancer: "Hot hot hot!"
- Owen: "Hang in there. Your javelin can take some heat. Mostly."
- Freelancer: "And when it can’t?"
- Owen: "Uh, you’ll know."
The Freelancer interacts with the sensor to turn it on while in combat with the wyverns, and has to remain in the green cypher projection circle.
Scanning
- Owen: "Give me a second for a reading."
If the Freelancer has defeated the wyverns, more wyverns can show up,
- Owen: "Heads up—more wyvern are on you."
- Freelancer: "Everything’s in a bad mood today."
- Owen: "This could be their nesting area."
- Freelancer: "How’s it fair that these things fly and breathe firs?"
- Owen: "Spawn of some nasty Shaper relic. Whole world’s a crazy zoo. The Shapers has all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. But you do too. Use your whole arsenal."
- Freelancer: "They’re persistent, I’ll give them that."
- Owen: "Poke a wyvern and one of you will end up dead. Or barbecued."
When the scanning process ends, the loud thrumming noise repeats once again.
- Owen: "Oh crap!"
- Freelancer: "What?"
- Owen: "Shaper energy off the charts! An unstable relic in the area. A bad one. I’ve got a probable location."
- Freelancer: "On it."
Prevent a Cataclysm Event
The Freelancer must now find the source of the volatile relic and prevent it from starting a cataclysm.
Explore Shaper Ruin
The Freelancer must now swim underwater to reach a Shape Ruin.
- Owen: "Watertight seals are holding. Shall I call in more Freelancers?"
- Freelancer: "No time. We can’t risk this getting worse."
When the Freelancer comes out of the water, there is an echo receptacle ruin barring the entrance of the Shaper ruin.
- Freelancer: "There we go."
- Owen: "Shaper ruins. We’re on the right trail."
- Freelancer: "Looks like an echo lock we need to open."
- Owen: "I’ve dealt with these. Looking around at the floating lights. They’re the “echoes.” Grab them and bring them to the door. Your javelin can hold three at a time."
Echoes Delivered
Deliver 5 echoes to the echo receptacle When the Freelancer collects an echo
- Owen: "That’s it. A fragment of Anthem energy gone astray."
- Owen: "You’re getting the hang of it. You’ll need more."
- Freelancer: "Got one."
When 3 echoes are collected
- Owen: "Your suit can only hold three at a time. Take these over to the door."
When the Freelancer delivers a few echoes
- Owen: "It’s working. Though you’d have to ask an Arcanist why. You’ll need more echoes."
When the final echo is collected
- Owen: "That should be enough. Let’s see if the door opens."
When the Freelancer delivers the final echo, there is a large thrumming sound. The Shaper door behind the echo receptacle opens.
- Owen: "Aha, that did it. We’re in."
Locate Source of Shaper Energy
The Freelancer flies through the open door into a tunnel
- Owen: "Impressive, even for a Shaper ruin."
- Freelancer: "What’s it for?"
- Owen: "Raise a mountain? Carve out an ocean? Spawn some new monstrosity?"
- Freelancer: "There has to be some reason for it all."
- Owen: "It’s the riddle of our world. And this one’s waking up. I detect intense energy deeper in."
Another shaper door opens as the Freelancer ventures deeper in. Pillars of blue Shaper energy are sliding back-and-forth.
- Freelancer: "What’s all this?"
- Owen: "Go me. Painful looking. This ruin’s never been mapped."
The Freelancer must now fly through this chamber evading these blue energy pillars. If the Freelancer comes in contact with the pillar, their javelin overheats, causing them to fall (and respawn at start entrance of this puzzle). If the Javelin overheats,
- Freelancer: "Damn."
When the Freelancer reaches the other side of the chamber, there is an open tunnel with electric fluctuations and Shaper nodes. The Freelancer must go through this tunnel; their javelin can take the electric damage, but it will overheat because these nodes, unlike most, aren’t destructible objects. When the Freelancer falls through the well,
- Freelancer: "I’ve lost flight control"
- Owen: "I’m trying to reset! Hang on."
The Freelancer falls into the liquid below,
- Owen: "Oh, good. It’s just water!"
- Freelancer: "Owen!"
- Owen: "Controls restored! You’re back!"
As the Freelancer flies out of the water, a huge Shaper relic can be seen. There’s a swirling tempest forming around it. It could start a Cataclysm!
- Owen: "That’s the relic up there. Big one too. You’ll need to silence it."
- Freelancer: "Where do I start?"
- Owen: "Some echoes have shaken loose. Find them and get them back in place."
Deliver Echoes
Deliver 6 Echoes into the receptacle It is worth noting that there are echoes everywhere in this chamber: near the ceiling, the walls, underwater. Because water is swirling up, it is possible to constantly fly around in this space without having to land! When the first echo is collected by the Freelancer,
- Freelancer: "Got one."
- Owen: "You know the drill. You’ll need more."
When echoes are delivered into the receptacle,
- Owen: "It’s working. Keep the echoes coming and we’ll collapse the energy pocket."
If the Freelancer goes near the energy pocket in the center,
- Freelancer: "Just got a lot colder in here."
- Owen: "Not a good sign. It’s drawing energy to form a Cataclysm."
When more echoes are collected,
- Freelancer: "What’s the relic doing?"
- Owen: "Can’t tell, but the energy pocket’s getting bigger. Something’s forming in there."
- Freelancer: "What is it?"
- Owen: "Anything is possible. Look at the waterfalls—they’re going backwards."
When even more echoes are being collected,
- Owen: "Just think. The Anthem's being harnessed in there. Pure creation, something totally new forming."
- Freelancer: "New and Dangerous."
- Owen: "Blame that on the Shapers. It’s still amazing."
When the final echo is deposited into the receptacle,
- Freelancer: "There! Last echo."
- Owen: "You did it! That should silence it!"
But the relic isn’t silenced, and it begins spawning new enemies.
- Freelancer: "It didn’t hold!"
- Owen: "I see! Damn, it’s starting. You’ve got company!"
Defeat Enemies
- Freelancer: "Owen, talk to me!"
- Owen: "Yes, I’m trying to work it out."
- Freelancer: "Shaper energy still increasing. These are just a warm-up. A prelude to a Cataclysm."
Wolven and frost elementals are spawned by the relic, and the Freelancer must silence the relic to make the relic stop creating something completely new and dangerous!
- Freelancer: "Doesn’t feel like a warm-up!"
- Owen: "Told you anything’s possible. You gotta power through it, mate. Or else it’s going to get a whole lot worse."
When all the wolven are defeated,
- Freelancer: "I’m clear Owen!"
- Owen: "Good. I think we can still stop this. Those fragments of the relic that blew out—grab them and put them back together. Oh, and fun wrinkle, more company’s on the way."
Fragments Returned
Return 3 Fragments back to the relic while surviving more enemies, If the Freelancer slows does for any reason (including being frozen)
- Owen: "Stay nimble! Move around!"
When the first fragment is picked,
- Freelancer: "Got one."
- Owen: "Now carry it over and put it in place."
When the first fragment is inserted,
- Freelancer: "The Fragment’s in."
- Owen: "Now the others. Keep at it and you’ll survive this. Almost certainly."
When the second fragment is picked,
- Freelancer: "Owen, something in there’s growling."
- Owen: "Something biological. That’s all I can say for sure."
When the Freelancer inserts the second fragment,
- Freelancer: "Owen, what’s happening in there?"
- Owen: "The “something” has teeth. Lots of them. Hurry."
When the Freelancer picks up the final fragment,
- Freelancer: "How many teeth?"
- Owen: "Size is the real problem."
- Freelancer: "What’s that mean?"
- Owen: "“Large”? “Considerable”? Get a move on!"
The Freelancer tries to insert the relic fragment,
- Freelancer: "Okay last one. Here goes…"
- Owen: "Careful. Anything’s—"
- Freelancer: "—possible. I know, I know."
- Owen: "Y’know, I heard a relic made a guy vanish into thin air once. No idea where he went. Which isn’t as lucky as the Freelancer whose guts were turned inside out."
- Freelancer: "How’s that lucky?"
- Owen: "At least he died and got it over with."
The Freelancer tries to insert the relic fragment, but it seems to have been jammed.
- Freelancer: "This is a pain."
- Owen: "They all are. Indecipherable puzzles that only make sense to Shapers—"
- Freelancer: "No, I mean, there’s ice jamming it up."
There is a growl from behind the Freelancer,
- Freelancer: "Owen, what’s—"
- Owen: "You’re out of time! Silence it."
The relic has spawned a giant beast, which is now charging at the Freelancer,
- Freelancer: "I’m trying to."
- Owen: "Well, nobody told him! It’s an ursix!"
- Freelancer: "It’s not working!"
- Owen: "Put your back into it!"
The Freelancer quickly uses the javelin’s shock mace and thwacks the relic fragment,
- Freelancer: "(Grunts.) Got it!"
The ursix is still charging towards the Freelancer. With a standard issue defender assault rifle, the Freelancer fires bullets at the raging beast. When the Ursix pounces on the Freelancer, the relic fragment somehow inserts itself into the slot. The relic is silenced, the ursix collapses with a grunt. The Freelancer stops the moving ursix corpse from getting closer using their javelin’s leg.
By this time, the Shaper door behind the energy pocket has opened up leading to a tunnel. The Freelancer walks away from the dead ursix and flies into this Shaper tunnel to get outside of the ruin.
- Owen: "Well, at least now I’ve got a new story. That time a relic spawned a giant ursix that almost ate you whole."
- Freelancer: "Yeah, a classic for the ages. I’d say that fulfills the contract."
The Freelancer flies out of the tunnel into broad daylight, overlooking a beautiful vista of their home from the southern sides.
- Owen: "Time to get back to Fort Tarsis. To a job well done."
- Freelancer: "The only kind there is. I’m on my way!"
The Freelancer looks at the towers of Fort Tarsis in the distance.
Post Expedition
The game’s title screen shows up with chthonian soundtrack playing in the background.
Notes and Remarks
- This concludes the tutorial missions.
- This is also the only time when the rusty old javelin is used during a mission.
- The dialogs in this expedition will always remain the same as mentioned in this script. However, certain conversations may be skipped if actions are performed quickly, or additional conversations will show up if there is a delay.
Note: The Expedition Maps feature is still a Work in Progress. Sometimes, a refreshing/reloading of this page may be required to zoom-in or zoom-out completely.
- Guidelines:
- Click on an to find expeditions related to "Early Warnings (Mission)".
- Click on Filters to select or unselect various expedition types.
- Click on + to Zoom-in and -to Zoom-out.
- Clicking on the link below the description/image of each pop-up will take you to that page.
- Click on an