¶ Starting the Quest
Once the player initiates the dialogue option to deal with Watchtower, Torin will give the player an objective to speak to Gren about their plan.
¶ Completing the Quest
The player will find Gren in the lower portion of his workshop. When approaching, a scene will play out describing Torin’s plan to take on Watchtower. It's revealed the station is cloaked and finding it will be impossible. Harper joins the conversation and suggests gathering intel on how the cloak is powered could be their way in.
The player will then be given an objective to acquire 6 additional Computer Cores to find the source of power of Watchtower’s main station. If the player has them in their inventory, they can turn them in. Alternatively, they can farm 6 more, or they will be given an objective where they can directly find a quest item that acts as a proxy for 6 cores.
After gathering the cores and returning to Gren, the conversation continues; in the end, Gren says he will be joining them in his ship to assist from orbit.
¶ Pyraas II
The next objective will be to head to a power station on Pyraas II and disable it. Upon arriving, the player will be given the objective to fight through the troops stationed there. At some point, Gren will drop a supply cache Skydrop which will include a flare case to ensure the player has access to Skydrop missiles for the upcoming boss fight. Gren’s ship will provide unlimited Surface Missiles in case the player’s Fleet runs out or has none equipped.
After they finish clearing the base of hostiles, a boss fight begins, with three AI Mechs dropping in, which the player will need to use Skydrops to fight.
After defeating them, a new secret weapon Skydrop will be used by Watchtower - a mechanical version of an Armillary. The Armillary will begin spinning and drawing questions from Torin. Gren will comment that there is some sort of interference preventing Skydrop deployment.
The Armillary will then blast out, evaporating the Mech corpses and sending Torin and the player backwards. The Armillary will begin spinning faster and begin reanimating the Watchtower troops’ corpses. The Armillary will have a health bar, and Torin will deliver exposition to make sure the player understands the troops are being reanimated repeatedly and they need to fight the Armillary as well.
As the player attacks the Armillary, pieces will begin flying off. Eventually, the player will do enough damage that the reanimation ceases. The Armillary slows down a bit and then triggers a gravity well, spinning the discarded pieces and threatening to suck the player in.
The player is meant to hit the Armillary with a Surface Missile to finish it off and are given various hints until they are finally told to do so if they don’t figure it out. The first hint is that all around the facility, drop pods will begin coming down with Watchtower troops - these tell the player interference is cleared, but also give the player a threat around them meaning they can’t just run away from the Armillary. Next, Gren will announce the interference is gone. Finally, Torin will suggest the player try hitting it with Skydrops.
Throwing flares into the Armillary should suck them towards the center of the gravity well. The player will need to hit the Armillary with 1 to 3 missiles to finally destroy it.
After destroying it, the player will be prompted to speak to Torin. Then, they will be asked to deactivate the power source by interacting with a terminal. Doing so will prompt Gren to tell them the station is visible. They should now get an objective to return to orbit and make their way to the station.
¶ Heimdall Station
Upon arriving at the station point, they will find tons of Watchtower ships and turrets defending the station and will be instructed to take them out. After defeating the fleet and turrets, the player will be given an objective to board the station.
After boarding, the player will be told to make their way to the mainframe and will be breadcrumb trailed with objective markers along the way.
When they reach the end, they’ll face a new enemy type: Watchtower Warden. This enemy will use Starborn powers against the player. Once that enemy is dead, the player can loot and equip the Cyberamp it was wearing to force the final door to open. Torin will prompt them to do so if they don’t think to do it.
Entering the final room, the player will find another Armillary. The player will have an opportunity to speak with the mainframe computer and ask questions about Watchtower, its weapons, and plans. Once the player has had enough, Torin will reveal the final part of his plan - to start a self-destruct and sacrifice himself to ensure it isn’t interrupted.
There are now several paths through the questline. The player can agree and thank Torin for the sacrifice (sacrifice route), or tell Torin there has to be another way (Armillary route).
¶ Sacrifice Route
During the sacrifice route, the player will be told to escape quickly while the self-destruct begins. When they reach the door to return to the other part of the station, Gren will contact the player over the radio to tell them the dockers were destroyed and their ship is adrift. The player is then given an objective to make their way to the Skydrop drop pod room they would have passed through earlier and use a drop pod to escape the facility.
Upon activating the drop pod, the player will be ejected as the station explodes. The screen will fade out and when they awaken they will find themselves on the planet surface.
Shortly after exiting the pod, Gren will land his ship down and acknowledge the job is complete and give the player a ride back to their ship.
¶ Armillary Route
During this route, Torin will activate the Armillary, like a Temple Armillary. He does so, and after absorbing the energy, the screen flashes to white and when it fades back in - Torin is gone.
The player then has two options: investigate the portal, or activate the Armillary. Activating the Armillary effectively traps Torin inside and plays out the Sacrifice route from here. This is considered the evil ending as they are dooming Torin this way.
Investigating the portal will transport the player to a mysterious place that appears to be some sort of temple ruins. The screen will be overlaid with a strange filter, making it clear this isn’t some planet they are on - but something different entirely. Strewn across the landscape are deceased Starborn. The area is surrounded by a barrier preventing the player from leaving. They will be given an objective to make their way forward.
At the end of the path, the player will find Torin. Depending on how the player interacted with Torin throughout the rest of the mod, will determine how he reacts.
If the player chose lots of dialogue options that were clearly mean, Torin will tell the player he doesn’t recognize them. Otherwise, Torin will tell the player he recognizes them and offer the player to bond with him - the player can choose whether or not to do so.
Regardless of the outcome of this scene, Torin will disappear and the player will be teleported to a new place that looks similar to the other, but is in front of a real temple Armillary (but out in the open). Standing near it is Torin, who shouts to get the player’s attention.
A scene plays out and the player is eventually told to use their own powers to activate the Armillary. This reactivates the portal and the player is instructed to go through.
Torin and the player will be back on the station. The player is then told to activate a terminal to trigger the Armillary which begins the Grav Well seen during the planet side boss fight. The player and Torin then run to escape and, similar to the Sacrifice route, will be told their ship was broken free and be told to return to the drop pod room.
The player and Torin each get in their own drop pod as the station collapses into the gravity well and the screen flashes to white.
When the player awakens on the planet, Torin is there to greet them and talk about what happened. Gren lands his ship, and gives them both a ride back to the player’s ship.
¶ Wrap-up
Speaking to Gren or Harper back at Stardock will trigger final quest conversations acknowledging what happened.
If Torin survived, he too will have a final conversation.
If the player agreed to bond during the Armillary sequence, Torin will explain what that means and give the player the opportunity to back out of it. If they agree to be bonded, Torin will remember the player’s adventures with him during their next Unity jump, opening up new dialogue options at several points throughout the quest series.
The player will also be given the location of a Watchtower cache. This location will have a large amount of Computer Cores and will be available to the player after a Unity jump.