// OPTIONAL

Riven: Welcome, O wardens mine.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: How long it has been...

// OPTIONAL

Riven: What have you come to claim, dear Guardians?

// OPTIONAL

Riven: My lair crawls with vermin. Present company excluded, of course.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: We made exquisite partners, you and I. Even if our partnership had its violent disagreements. You had so many dreams, and I knew how to weave them into the weapons you craved. Let's rekindle that little arrangement, shall we? I'm already here, after all. Slay my enemies. Protect my children. Give me peace, and I will forge a small measure of your brutality and greed into tools of death. I ask for nothing in return... but your dedication to our cause, and the pleasure of each broken enemy. Go, now. Your prey await.

// OPTIONAL

Osiris: This is an interesting facsimile of the wider city. Not unlike a simulation — equally impervious to the demands of physical space.

Riven: You would see it that way.

Osiris: Is it the work of a nostalgic heart, or that of a favored listless pet, tunneling into the walls?

Riven: Simply, indulging the creative spark, O mortal mine.

// OPTIONAL

Osiris: Once again into the Confluence. Our enemies await you. Bring them fire.

The Crow: We'll keep your exit into the overworld clear for when you're ready.

Osiris: I wonder, if Mara did not cast Riven's eggs into... wherever this is, and Riven did not either... who did?

The Crow: Maybe it was how Savathûn exploited Riven originally. Although... I don't remember her needing much motivation.

Osiris: Doubtful. Riven would be aware of such an arrangement.

The Crow: Yeah, and she'd NEVER lie to us about that.

// OPTIONAL

Petra Venj: How is it that every time we work with the Vanguard, you find a way to get involved, Crow?

The Crow: You could say I'm a little invested.

Mara Sov: Any assistance the Vanguard is willing to provide is a boon to us, Petra.

The Crow: It's all right, Mara. She's still warming up to me.

Petra Venj: You're a bit dim, so it's taking a while.

The Crow: [chuckles] Relax, Venj. You already shot me once.

// OPTIONAL

The Crow: How does it work, anyway? Raising a ghost — I mean — a spirit?

Mara Sov: Ahamkara are an anomaly unto themselves. A warp in the fabric of reality. In death their stamp lingers upon the world. It is a matter of drawing the essence of what remains into a... coalescence of her original form. Powerful, but still diminished.

Riven: And perfectly harmless.

// OPTIONAL

Osiris: You'll need Sol Divisive signatures to pick those locks.

// OPTIONAL

Mara Sov: Their corruption may reshape these halls. Deal with them, before the path collapses around us.

// OPTIONAL

Petra Venj: These braziers stabilize the pathways of the Confluence, much like Ascendant beacons in the Ley Lines.

// OPTIONAL

Petra Venj: The Scorn moving through the Confluence have a rare level of organization. They're normally more of a brute force. Not prone to executing ambushes or tactical maneuvers.

The Crow: Unless they're following orders from someone. Keep an eye on their leaders.

// OPTIONAL

Mara Sov: If the Techeuns were not occupied, we might arrange alternate passage.

Riven: What timid adventurers we find these days. You want reward without danger.

Mara Sov: Unnecessary risk is folly.

Riven: It is... entertainment.

// OPTIONAL

Osiris: Every time we encounter the Sol Divisive in these pathways, their code burrows into everything they touch.

The Crow: Maybe something they picked up from the Black Garden? Everything in there has a tendency to get under your skin.

Osiris: That would be a nefarious development, and given the engrained Darkness we've been detecting in their radiolaria...

The Crow: I'll let the Techeuns know after we clear this wing. We can help them sweep for any assimilating stowaways.

// OPTIONAL

Mara Sov (Riven): The Queen's Wrath. Always coming up short. To think all your righteous vengeance amounted to this.

Petra Venj: Is that all you have for me, Riven? I've told myself worse for years.

Riven: Your loyalty will doom you, Petra. Free yourself.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: Do you still watch over your Corsairs, Petra? They all make the same wish, week after week: to escape.

Petra Venj: I don't know why I thought you'd be above twisting the knife.

Riven: Perhaps, like your queen, I enjoy seeing dangerous creatures trapped in a cage.

// OPTIONAL

Petra Venj: The chamber is clear. The Techeuns will alert us when they've found the next egg.

Riven: You know, I respect you quite a bit. I honestly thought you'd have given up by now.

Petra Venj: You first.

Riven: You're a victim as much as I am. She's ruined us both, you know. Why not you in her place?

Petra Venj: Each offer is less tempting than the last. You must be hungry.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: Isn't it unfortunate your City hunted down all of my kind, Osiris? You might have wished for Saint-14's return from the Forest.

Osiris: And have him trade the Vex's torment for yours?

Riven: Perhaps you simply didn't want him back badly enough to pay the price.

Osiris: Save the bait for someone naïve enough to take it.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: Alliances are fragile things. What happens when the threat of extinction is past? Take care you do not end up a pawn of greater powers. Remember, O Guardian mine: none of us are to be trusted.

// OPTIONAL

The Crow: Every time we go up against the Scorn, I think about how they're cursed too. Reanimated and doomed to an existence of pain, all because... I wished it.

Petra Venj: That's not on you. Riven, as usual, twisted your desire to help someone in need.

The Crow: Yeah. A lot of help I was, huh.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: You still wear your desires on your sleeve. Friends. Forgiveness. It could all have been so easy.

The Crow: It's not supposed to be easy.

Riven: For you, it never will be.

// OPTIONAL

The Crow: No Taken incursions, no Dark Ether pollutants... time looks normal. I think that's a wrap, Guardian.

Riven: Is it? I think, there's more you want out of this. It's on the tip of my tongues.

The Crow: I'm not interested in anything you're selling.

Riven: I don't sell, I grant. I give, graciously and fully. I'm your chaperone to happiness. But what wouldn't you give to have her back?

The Crow: You know me... which means you know I'm prone to emotional outbursts. You wanna keep pushing this?

Riven: [chortles] I'm sorry. That was rude of me.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: I remember each wing's construction. I rendered architecture from reality, and shaped something beautiful. I seeded the arboretum, laid crystal and dust where your witches designed your tightly bound demands.

Mara Sov: We conjured the first steps. Watched together as the realm formed out beyond our sight. You chose to be my enemy.

Riven: Captive. Enemy. Captive. These things come in rhythms.

The Crow: Riven, we're not trying to trick you. I'm sure you can understand the hesitance coming from this side too.

Riven: Yes, I'm brimming with empathy.

// OPTIONAL

Mara Sov: You never saw the Dreaming City at its height, Guardian. Perhaps you've grown accustomed to the blights and Scorn. But it was peaceful once.

Riven: [scoffs] What do Guardians care for peace? They want to slay dragons.

// OPTIONAL

The Crow: I heard you're concerned about the new clutch of wish-dragons.

Petra Venj: Just planning for the future.

The Crow: As the Regent should... You're not alone. The Vanguard could help.

Petra Venj: The Hunt was instigated by the Warlocks of the City, yes.

The Crow: It's a different age. The Ahamkara aren't the ones ones who deserve a second chance.

// OPTIONAL

Petra Venj: The last time Ahamkara roamed free, they reshaped Venus. Unraveled reality itself.

Riven: Reality didn't suit the Guardians of the past. They wished to shape it accordingly. We merely... obliged.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: It was your City that called for the extinction of the Ahamkara. They believed the risks too great, the cost too high. But you understand the true value of power, O murderer mine.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: Approach me. We have bargains to strike.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: You have wants and wishes to trade.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: You want for SO much. Guardian. It's... salivating.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: Another run around the loop. What voices will they hear this time?

// OPTIONAL

Riven: This run will be different. You'll get what you came for... if you wish it.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: All the years in the universe won't make you as strong as this.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: The wish kept in that glass — a tragic vengeance, so... poorly worded.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: Do not tell the others. They will envy you.

// OPTIONAL

Riven: This one? Are you certain?

// OPTIONAL

Riven: [chuckles darkly]