Into the Depths

**Into the Depths** is a quest in *Torment: Tides of Numenera*.

## Synopsis

The Memovira told me that the First Castoff is alive. However, she will only reveal the First's whereabouts if I can rescue one of her people - a scholar named Ishen. Apparently Ishen was abducted by the Bloom and taken to its Heart. The Memovira no longer knows how to reach the Bloom's Heart, so I'll have to find the way myself. She suggested that I seek advice from someone who understands the Bloom well.

## Walkthrough

* To reach the heart you first need to penetrate the depths of the Bloom. Head to the Shrine of Great Chila and talk to The Observant Speck. Talk to her and she will tell you how to reach the interior: Through a maw. Conveniently enough, the maw will appear in the shrine itself. To access it, you need to feed a predator to it:
	+ The Jar of Iron Wind you receive from Skoura for completing her quest works.
	+ Matkina and Callistege count, but neither will enjoy that - and you will face an echo of them in the Gullet.
	+ Waits-for-prey also qualifies, though you first have either defeat it or convince it to feed itself to it with  Intellect (Persuasion).
	+ Finally, you can offer yourself for the nomming if you killed 80 people or more. Actions in meres count as well.

* Welcome to the gullet. The Gullet is three chambers arranged around a central pool of foul liquid. To enter the Nethermost Cavity and eventually the heart, you need to climb down the drain after stopping the flow of liquid.
* The first tube can be sealed using the Sealant Spray or Sealant Bomb you can recover from a downed armored suit on the ground, in the far room of the Gullet.
* The second tube can be tied into a knot using  Speed (Quick Fingers) or use the Obedient Rope to do the same (the rope does cause the Predatory Echoes to go berserk).
* The third requires you to use the Sealant Bomb or the White Synth Egg pilfered off the murden to plug up the tube.
* Climb down the pool to get into the cavity below.

* The goal is to enter the Heart on the other side of the area. You will be attacked by enemies (none if you are favored by the bloom, a shitload if it hates you, like if you went through it with the scalpel, carving the maws open). You can force the sacs open or seize the tongue clusters.
* To open it, you need to take control of all four tongue clusters or:
	+ Cut it open with the Transdimensional Scalpel. Doing so will also spawn Inkpot and his lovely group of morons.
	+ Might (Lore Natural) allows you to pry the muscles apart.
	+ Might (Healing, Lore: Natural) allows you to try to relax the muscles of the sphincter.
	+ Might (Smashing) means you can try to pinch off one of the tubes.
* Enter the Heart.
* Commune with the Heart. You can ask for your companions' help, with  Intellect (Persuasion).
* If you are favored by the Bloom, it will give you the information you are looking for without any resistance. Otherwise, you need to show it you mean business:
	+ Might allows you to rip the bloom-tongues out,  Intellect to resist, and the Transdimensional Scalpel to slash it.
	+ Next you can try to start forcing it into submission.  Intellect does the most here, allowing you to search its memories, take control of its systems, and of course, search for Ishen. Probing the memories in-depth gives you a permanent +2  Intellect. Summary of dialogue options used as a Nano w/o Bloom Favor for +2 Int are: Attempt to pull out tentacles, Infiltrate the Bloom's mind, Control arteries, Control sensory apparatus, Examine memories, Drift deeper into the memories.
	+ Locate Ishen with  Intellect, then use it again to pull him out of the body of the Bloom.
* After your commune is gone, the Bloom will also reveal that the Memovira is actually the First Castoff, Maralel.
* If you are favored by the Bloom, it will try to bond with you and make you the new Memovira. Becoming the Memovira will lead to many inhabitants of the Bloom treating you differently, allow you to summon Corpuscular Maws in combat, and open any remaining Maws without needing to feed them anything.
	+ You can bond with the Bloom of your own free will, or try to resist it with  Intellect or  Might.
	+ If you fail to resist, the Bloom will forcibly bond with you, making you the new Memovira regardless.
	+ If you successfully resist bonding with the Bloom using  Might and Matkina is in the party, she will react to this.
		- If Matkina has not yet become too cynical during her time travelling with you, she will resist the Bloom as well. Otherwise, she will want to bond with the Bloom and become the new Memovira. You can let her go through with it, or try to persuade her not to.
			* If Matkina likes you or you have encouraged her to be more idealistic, she will agree not to go through with it; if she dislikes you and has become more cynical as a result of your actions, she will ignore you and bond with the Bloom regardless of what you say.
* Talk to Mazzof to reveal quite a few secrets. You also receive the Frictionless Merecaster.
* Return to Memovira's Courtyard through the portal. Once you are ready to face the First Castoff, talk to Brusca and enter the Fortress.
* NOTE: for Oom, Erritis, and Tybir to get a "good" ending, they MUST come with you into the Fortress (and you must interact with them in the subsequent mission). Secrets will be revealed and the First Castoff will describe her plan: To use the resonance chamber *herself*. You can allow her to do it, avoiding the initial fight, but giving the First its full powers (the Resonant Power fettle) or fight your way through it. The Sorrow will appear in the second stage of the fight (you can skip to it straight if you let the First carry out her plan). You need to wait until the Resonance Chamber has charged, dodging the Sorrow's attacks. Then...