Episode 09
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- This article is about the episode's article. For the episode's release event, see Episode 9: Stormwatch.
The ninth episode of Arknights' Main Theme and the start of the Shadow of a Dying Sun story arc is titled Stormwatch.
Synopsis
Storm Over the Knolls
The story is set almost a year (11 months and 27 days) after the Chernobog-Lungmen crisis. Horn, her subordinate Bagpipe, and their regiment, the 2nd Tempest Platoon, are sent to County Hillock, a small county in southern Victoria. Their mission is to investigate the movement of stolen, illicit Originium products from the local warehouses, as well as a mysterious "spectre force" reported to be attacking other local counties. Their investigation, however, is frequently interrupted by Victorian army soldiers from the local barracks responsible for overseeing security in the county.
The 2nd Tempest Platoon seeks cooperation from Colonel Hamilton, the leader of the troop, but he strongly refuses despite their common allegiance to Victoria. They notice that Hamilton seems to harbor a strong animosity towards the local Taran population; he even executes some of the Taran suspects implicated in the Originium plot with no proof of their involvement. His hatred stems from the Taran populace's retaliation to their mistreatment, which has recently become violent—a small faction of angry Tarans were ambushing transport vehicles, attacking soldiers, and even planting bombs to destroy the barracks, which has cost many of Hamilton's men their lives. Though Horn blames these incidents on the spectre force, Hamilton believes the Taran populace are in full support of them and uses this to justify his mistreatment of the locals. Bagpipe also begins to sense the mounting tension in County Hillock when she witnesses a scuffle between the Victorian barrack soldiers and aggrieved Taran locals, who curse the former for their recent extrajudicial killings of Tarans suspected of stealing Originium.
Meanwhile, Outcast, a Rhodes Island Elite Operator, pays a visit to the local R.I. office to deal with some routine paperwork. There, she befriends Jane Willow, a Victorian ceremonial guard who has volunteered to help the company during her stay there. Jane is sympathetic to the plight of both the Infected and the Taran locals. She later finds her friend Saoirse, who is distraught after Victorian soldiers executed one of her cousins. Saoirse gives her a mysterious address where a meeting between Taran insurgents will be held, revealing herself as one of the conspirators. Jane then passes the message along to Bagpipe and Horn.
"Come out, ye Victorians..."
Bagpipe and Horn infiltrate the Tarans' night rally at the address Jane provided them to gain intel. There, they discover that most of the people there are Taran aristocrats. Suddenly, Hamilton and his men—having tailed Horn and Bagpipe to the location—barge into the meeting and arrest all present despite a lack of proof of any illicit activity. Before they can finish rounding up the crowd, however, a bomb is thrown through the window; the explosion forces Hamilton's team to retreat. A band of mysterious soldiers then appear and attack the barracks—the "spectre force," now identified as Dublinn, a pro-Draco militant group which has allied with the Taran nationalist movement to achieve its ultimate goal of placing a Draco on the Victorian throne. With the backing of the Taran populace, Dublinn—under the command of their Leader, Loughshinny—is able to quickly infiltrate the city and wreak havoc.
Meanwhile, the uprising has also brought danger to the R.I. office. Outcast orders the operators to evacuate as soon as possible before joining the fray herself, vowing to rescue Rhodes Islanders from the chaos.
"...and fight us like men!"
Horn informs Hamilton that Dublinn's forces are likely hiding in the agricultural plates of the city, and urges him to immediately evacuate the citizens in those areas. He rebuffs her suggestions and instead orders a bombing of County Hillock in the name of driving out Dublinn. Furthermore, Captain Kelly leaks the information that Hamilton himself was the one who ordered the thefts of the Originium products, which were then used to make bombs. This intel finds its way to the Rhodes Island office and Bagpipe. Hamilton's bombs begin raining down on Hillock, which not only kill many Taran civilians but also cause a widespread outbreak of Oripathy when the active Originium inside them begin to blanket the streets. The barracks soldiers also begin cracking down on those of Taran descent in their own ranks, including Captain Kelly, stripping them of their rights.
Meanwhile, when Loughshinny discovers that Saoirse tipped the Victorians off to the meeting, Loughshinny reluctantly executes her. Jane hears the news of Saoirse's execution and becomes distraught, blaming herself for her friend's death; Outcast takes her to Rhodes Island's office and comforts her. The plague then spurs R.I., along with Jane, to conduct a humanitarian aid mission, delivering medicine to the local hospitals of Hillock and rescuing civilians from the bombs. During the mission, Outcast leaves the group to rescue Loughshinny alone, who was severely injured by the shelling and has now become Infected. Meanwhile, the six elite leaders of Dublinn (the Bandit, the Elocutionist, the Toxicologist, the Immolator, the Accountant, and the Convict) search for Loughshinny; their conversation reveals that she is not the true Leader of Dublinn after all, but a pseudo-leader who represents the movement.
After discovering the truth of Hamilton's crimes and the missing Originium, Bagpipe, Horn, and the rest of their platoon defies the colonel's orders and head towards Hillock's control tower to report the news back to Londinium. Along the way, Bagpipe bumps into Outcast, who has been carrying Loughshinny on her back while fighting her way through the city. Outcast hands Loughshinny over to Bagpipe, trusting her to bring the injured girl back to Jane and the rest of the Rhodes Island operators. She then sacrifices herself in a final stand against Dublinn's elite leaders, killing all six but turning to ashes after casting her "judgment." Meanwhile, things have gone from bad to worse for the Victorian faction; Dublinn has overtaken most of Hillock and overwhelmed the Victorians. Hamilton himself is killed in action when Dublinn reaches his stronghold and he refuses to evacuate with the rest of the barracks soldiers.
Bagpipe, Horn, and the rest of their platoon eventually make it to the control tower, but it's too late. Mandragora, a Dublinn field commander, brutally crushes the 2nd Platoon, leaving Bagpipe and Horn as the only survivors. While taunting her opponents, Mandragora reveals that Dublinn spies have already infiltrated the Victorian army. Dublinn then broadcasts a message to other Victorian counties, detailing the atrocities committed by the Victorian army and urging Tarans to join them, while conveniently leaving out their own crimes. Realizing that they've lost the battle, Horn, now severely injured, orders Bagpipe to leave Hillock and pass on the truth of what Dublinn has done to Londinium while she stays back to fend off Mandragora. Bagpipe reluctantly follows orders, abandoning her superior and fleeing the city.
Resurgence
The Hillock atrocity ends in tragedy, with the county completely devastated from the bombs and the spread of Originium. The 2nd Tempest Platoon was nearly annihilated, leaving Bagpipe as the only surviving witness and Horn held hostage by Dublinn. Many R.I. members, especially the Elite Ops, condemn the atrocity that resulted in Outcast's death. Dublinn has since left County Hillock without a trace, taking Horn with them. The Victorian government, however, has propagated the lie that the Hillock atrocity was an accident which occurred during military training. Meanwhile, Loughshinny has recovered from her injuries at Rhodes Island.
Months after the atrocity, the Rhodes Island landship suffers its first attack since the time of Babel by the remnants of Reunion led by Nine. The mission of this new offshoot of Reunion is to break Talulah out of Rhodes Island, and then to punish her for her betrayal of her comrades and the bloodshed she caused. Due to the absence of most Elite Ops and Kal'tsit's late response, Reunion manages to escape with Talulah in tow; she has elected to follow them rather than stay imprisoned at R.I., though she is now Reunion's prisoner. Finally freed from Kashchey's control, Talulah embarks on a journey through Ursus in search of the vile Ageless.
Operations
- Unlike other Main Theme episodes which are available in sequence, Episode 09 is accessible once the Hour of an Awakening story arc (Prologue to Episode 03) is cleared. However, it is highly recommended to clear the Shatter of a Vision story arc (Episodes 04 to 08) first to maintain consistency with the plot.
- Harder operations are in orange-red; sub operations are in light gray.
| Main | Part 1 Recap • 9-1 • 9-2 • 9-3 • 9-4 • 9-5 • 9-6 • TR-19 • 9-7 • 9-8 • 9-9 • 9-10 • 9-11 • 9-12 • 9-13 • S9-1 • 9-14 • 9-15 • 9-16 • 9-17 • 9-18 • 9-19 • 9-20 • 9-21 |
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| Sub | S9-2 |
| Extreme Mode | H9-1 • H9-2 • H9-3 • H9-4 • H9-5 • H9-6 |
| Addendum | |
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New enemies
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| Elite |             |
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New features
Trivia
- Episode 09 is the first Main Theme episode with more than four Inferno Mode operations, at six.
- Episode 09's plot is highly reminiscent of the Troubles.
- The Victorian Royal Army barracks are possibly analogous to the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
- The Tarans, who Dublinn initially sides with, are analogous to Northern Irish Catholic nationalists.
- The release of Episode 09 in the Global server actually coincides with Saint Patrick's Day, an important religious and cultural holiday celebrated by the Irish.
- If the player has completed the Hour of An Awakening story arc but not Episode 08 (and by extension, the entire Shatter of a Vision story arc) before watching Part 1 Recap, the story progress displayed on their profile will show their progress in Episode 09, disregarding their story progress in the Shatter of a Vision story arc. This is likely because the prerequisite to unlocking Episode 09 is completing the Hour of An Awakening story arc as opposed to the Shatter of a Vision story arc.