Karnak Twins

# The Karnak Twins

Captain Wolfer's two most closely trusted Lieutenants, known as the Karnak twins, have recently been unleashed by Wolfer to stalk the streets of Tertium. They are brutal, cunning, and the de facto authority of the traitors in Wolfer's absence, always ready to get their hands dirty in Wolfer's stead. The twins were of noble birth within the upper Hive of Tertium and likely gained officer roles in the 6th because of this. The two have been cannibals for some time, but when and how they started consuming human flesh is unknown.

Zola's obsession with bring Tertium's traitors to justice has lead her to starting a special, off-the-books mission, the "Orthus Offensive" to capture one of the Karnak twins to interrogate them. Both the twins subsequently killed by the volunteer strike team, partially due to Rannick's intervention mid-mission.

## Gameplay

**Rinda Karnak**, the butcher of Bragna, is a melee specialist wielding a large power sword. She has powerful cleaves and AOE attacks that easily remove a player's toughness. She also has a dash ability where she quickly relocates to a different target's location. Due to this, she is an aggressive and hard to hit boss that tends to be harder to manage than her brother's more methodical attack patterns.

**Rodin Karnak** is a ranged specialist wielding a plasma pistol and blight grenades. He alternates between shooting and dropping (3-5) grenades. The grenades act as a proximity explosive that only begins charging up when a player enters the red circle and exploding after about 2 seconds. A player cannot sprint over the full diameter of the red circle fast enough to avoid the explosion without a charging movement ability.

When fought at various points across the map, they will emerge from a tox-gas covered area that functions to create a fighting arena. The tox-gas will disappear once the mini-boss fight is completed. When at low health (around 20-25%) the respective twin will gain a shield and disappear into a small cloud of tox-gas. Standing in active tox-gas causes corruption buildup in players' health pool. When poxwalkers enter active tox gas, their eyes glow bright green.

When fought within their lair, when only one of the twin's shields are brought to zero, they will remain momentarily disabled. The still active twin's shield will recharge the other one's until fully charged and they begin attacking again. Both of the twin's shields must be broken at the same time to break the shields and damage their health pools. Breaking their shields will also momentarily stagger them.

# Special Assignment

The Orthus offensive the first 'Special Assignment' mission type to be introduced in Darktide. A unique section was added to the mission terminal where you speak with Zola in the Command Center. The mission name "Orthus" refers to a two-headed dog (brother to Cerberus) from Greek mythology.

## Pre Orthus Offensive

Out-of-game content from Fatshark that expand on the Orthus Offensive's narrative.

Prior events
 **Karnak Twins Ambushing Strike Teams**
 * [static/Dreg cultist noises]
* --[It's no] good Ma'am, they're too dug in. [static] [We can't] take that [Aegis] station without heavy ordinance.
* Zola: No, we're not giving up now. Contact strike three. Tell them to lay down cover!
* --Strike three's gone. They're all gone, [we're] all that's left.
* Zola: Oh curse you Melk! You told me these were the best you had.
* --Movement! I've got movement at the blast gates! [Metal scraping and Gunshots]
* Rinda Karnak: Run out of convicts to send to their deaths? There's still room in the cauldron if you're feeling lonely. Haha!
* [static]
* Zola: [What's] that? Rinda Karnak, the butcher of Bragna, which means her brother's somewhere close, and Wolfer was likely never here at all.
* [Dreg horde chanting "Rage, rage, rage"]
* --The dregs are moving in, Ma'am! If we don't go now we'll be cut off.
* Rinda Karnak: I know you're out there, Zola. Want to prove yourself? [gunshots] Wolfer said you had guts. I want to see 'em up close! [gunshots]
* --Ma'am, we have to go!
* Zola: Augh! All right. Masozi, this is Zola. We're pulling back to extraction Delta Nexus, coming in hot.
 * Rodin Karnak: Sister, what brings you to my Palace?
* Rinda Karnak: Yours? There is nothing you have that I can't take take.
* Rodin Karnak: Speak kindly sister, you’re addressing the King of the Torrent.
* Rinda Karnak: The Ragged King of the Torrent you mean? Last one ended badly didn't he?
* Rodin Karnak: The last one was weak. What you want?
* Rinda Karnak: Orders from Wolfer. He wants the Inquisition's wings clipped.
* Rodin Karnak: Why didn't he tell me himself?
 *[Encryption active]* It seems the so-called “Twins” have become a priority target. Any of the senior traitors are scalps we need to take, but these two…
The Karnak twins. Brother and sister. Tertium born. They need a better name, I think. In briefings, we talk of ‘The Twins this…” and “The Twins that…” almost as though they are acquaintances. The term seems too fond, too affectionate. We should call them what they are. Butchers. Monsters. Traitors. Traitors of the worst kind.
From the intel, it is clear they are close to Wolfer, the elusive Wolfer. In fact, they *are* Wolfer. He trusts them, clearly, so deeply, that they have become his direct proxies, acting in his stead, working in his place, performing his crimes for him. They are his primary weapons. They are extensions of him.
They are also frighteningly capable. The Twins are cunning, and brutally efficient. If I didn’t loathe them so, I could almost be impressed. They match Wolfer in capability, and exceed him in accomplishment, for he hides in the shadows while they do his work for him. I don’t have the precise figures to hand tonight, but they have, between them, killed more of our poor rejects in the last two weeks than any other positively identified traitors.
 *[Encryption active]* Today, Rannick suggested I was becoming obsessed with the Karnak Twins. I remarked that it was a requirement for any servant of the Holy Ordos to become obsessed with those they hunt, for that is the only way this work may be accomplished. Some call it obsession, I call it deep engagement. This is our life, this is our purpose. Anything less than total commitment would be dereliction. But the Interrogator intimated that I was too *personally* engaged.
When I objected to this, he would not be drawn further, and dismissed me. He has no intention of discussing it. I will record my response to his reprimand here, partly to vent my frustration at his glib verdict, but also to answer back. I know, after all, that he reads these journals. If I cannot answer for myself officially, I will answer here.
We know the Archenemy of Man is pernicious and insidious,  and must be fought with every ounce of our will, but the Karnak Twins prove that the most dangerous weapon of Chaos is the turning against us of those who were once our own.
The Karnaks know the hive. They were born there. They know the Astra Militarum, and its functions and strengths, for they were both part of it.  Their grim success is born from those twin pools of knowledge. That is why they require the most serious attention.
Am I obsessed with them, Interrogator? Perhaps I am, and if so… *good*. I am Tertium too, and an experienced agent of an Imperial institution. But for a quirk of fate, they could be me. I understand how dangerous that is.
And is it personal? Yes. They seem to me like the greatest crime of all, for I can imagine - *more* than imagine - their mindset. They once had a bond with the hive, as I do, so I personally understand the immense step they must have taken to break that bond and become what they are. I see… I *feel*… the scale and measure of their treachery and their rebellion.
 ***[Encryption active]*** Morrow counsels me that I am, perhaps, wrong. He tells me he thinks I have misunderstood Interrogator Rannick’s caution the other day. The fear is that my obsession with the Karnak Twins will make me weak, or sloppy, or rash.
I refute this, but I value Morrow’s opinion. Morrow says that my personal knowledge of Tertium is, and always has been, a great asset to the warband. It was why I was recruited. Further, he states that my emotional response, my heartfelt need to save and free my home hive, is an asset too: a vital passion that secures and drives my loyalty to this cause and, by extension, drives the determination of the warband members. Seeing my passion, the rejects come to learn and share it.
But, he asks me, what *really* fuels my rage? Love of Tertium? Loyalty to the cause? Devotion? Hatred of the turncoats in whom I see so much of myself?
All of these things. But what else, he asks me.
I have dwelt on this since we spoke. Morrow is a wise man, a fine student of human psychology. One does not lead men into war as well as he does without that knack. He worries, I think, that I have become obsessed with the Karnak Twins not for those obvious reasons. Those *acceptable* reasons. He wonders if it is not the points of similarity and connection between myself and those monsters that fires me, but instead the difference.
They are of Tertium, like me, yes, but they were high-born where I was but a poor child of the lower zones. They were wealthy, privileged and entitled.  They were, once, exactly the sort of people that my kind despised. The people that lived lives of excess and luxury and treated us all like chattel. Indeed, their wealth and status was built on the toil and suffering of people like me.
I hate them as they are now, yes. I hate them for their treachery. But perhaps my personal engagement is born from the fact that I have *always* hated them. I hated them long before they turned to darkness. Growing up, the Twins, and people like them, were the very kind I learned to loathe. In the Torrent, we all did. They were the scum. The scum that floated at the very top, blocking the light and stealing it for themselves.
 ***[Encryption active]*** I am lost.
We chased them down today. We tracked the Karnak Twins, and chased them down. We finished them. I think.
I led the way in this effort, as I have since the start. My determination, my ‘obsession’, as Rannick calls it, made this victory possible.
But I overstepped. I drove too hard. I was so intent on the Twins’ capture, I pushed too far. Lives were lost. The Twins cost us dearly. Rannick declares that a more reasoned approach might have achieved the same result without such a loss of life. I’m not convinced. I did what I had to do. Capturing the Karnak Twins was never going to be easy. It was always going to cost us. We needed them alive, not dead.
But Rannick says I acted overzealously and that my obsession got the better of me. He forced me to withdraw from the engagement in an effort to preserve lives, and now I am stood down from duties pending review.
Service to the Holy Ordos is my life. I am lost.  ***[Recording ended]***

## The Orthus Offensive

    Habzone HL-18-66, "The Torrent" (Magestrati Oubliette variant) // Zola (+Rannick)

Wolfer's top lieutenants, the Karnak Twins, have been spotted in the Torrent. Time to take the fight to them, Bring back their heads.

Learn More
 +++CODED MESSAGE ALPHA 6+++
+++SENDER: WYRMWOOD+++
- MOURNINGSTAR THIS IS WYRMWOOD -
MOEBIAN ACTIVITY INCREASING IN HABZONE HL 18-66
INCREASED TROOP MOVEMENT AND SHIPMENTS
MULTIPLE SIGHTINGS OF KARNAK TWINS
PRIORITY TARGET IDENTIFIED
SUGGEST IMMEDIATE ACTION
 Wolfer's dogs, the Karnak Twins, seem to be running stimms from the Carnival through the Torrent. Disrupting this supply line is a priority and I can think of no better way than taking out the leaders.
We have identified their main route through the Habzone. Masozi will get you close, then it's up to you. Find the targets and eliminate them.
This is out first real chance to strike a decisive blow against the heretics who have defiled this great city. Show those curs the cost of their betrayal. You have sworn fealty to Grendyl and his cause. You are warriors, all!
Fight for the families in the Hab.
Fight for the glory of the Imperium.
Fight for the Emperor!

### Pre Mission Address

Dialogue plays aboard the Mourningstar when logging into a character for the first time (after the Orthus Offensive was released).

* Zola: I hope you're rested Reject, because I have a particular mission that requires your attention. We have a chance to reshape the course of the war and only a brief window in which to pursue it. Gather your preferred Strike Team - assuming you have one fit to fight - and report to the Mission Terminal. The Emperor protects.

### Mission Transcript

* Rannick: The traitor voxnet is ablaze. If you are to extract your team, it must be now.
* Zola: I have to get to Wolfer. I have to know ...
* Rannick: Know ... what?
* Zola: I ...
* Rannick: Very well. Explicator Zola, I relieve you of your responsibilities to this mission.
* Zola: No, you can't! You can't do this-- [Click of Vox connection failing]
* Rannick: Strike Team? Do try to stay alive. I will arrange extraction.
* (Defeat Rodin)
* Rodin Karnak: You're almost ready for the cauldron. Almost ...
* (Defeat Rinda)
* Rinda Karnak:

## Post Orthus Offensive

Plays immediately after completing Orthus Offensive for the first time on a character.

* Rannick: Once again, I must commend you for your actions. Though the situation was somewhat complicated by Zola's ... zeal ... you adapted masterfully. You even survived ... which was unexpected. It is too soon to tell what lasting effect the deaths of Rinda and Rodin Karnak will have on the battle for Tertium. Perhaps Zola was correct, and their removal will tilt the balance in our favour. Perhaps not. Regardless, you have served the Inquisition well. It will not be forgotten. As for Zola? A certain ... excess of enthusiasm is to be expected, and forgiven. But it may be that she bears watching in case her unreliability is but a cloak for something ... else. I feel certain I can rely on you to keep me informed. The Emperor Protects.

Plays upon opening Special Assignment on the Mission Terminal after completing Orthus Offensive for the first time on an operative.

* Zola: You will have heard by now that I have been returned to duty. It appears that I overstepped my authority. ... but I will not apologise for placing you in harm's way. We are all here to fight - and die - for the Emperor ... and for Atoma. Rannick is a brilliant man, but he makes Lord Margrave seem empathic. When he looks at Atoma he sees squares on the board and resources to exploit, not people crying out for salvation. I worry that his caution marks the road to Exterminatus. Today, I saw an opportunity. Should another arise I will seize it - and I will call upon you. Whatever happens, we must keep the faith and keep fighting. The Inquisition is Atoma's only hope.

Plays immediately after exiting Mission Terminal window that played Zola's post Orthus Offensive dialogue.

* Morrow: Take it from an old soldier - whatever's going on between Zola and Rannick, you keep your head down and your mouth shut. We're paid to kill, not to think.

Zola's Journal - Post Mission
 **[Encryption active]** I wonder how it will end? I wonder what will be decided for me? What fate?
I wait here in my quarters. I pace and fret. I believe that I did naught that my duties did not require. I regret the deaths, yes, but war demands a price, and the war against the Archenemy of Man demands the highest price of all.  Am I to be punished for my loyalty? Punished for my devoted service? Where is the justice? You do not train a weapon like me then complain when it is used.
What will my punishment be? A demotion? A retirement to low-level administrative duties? Perhaps I will be sent away for retraining and reconditioning, or to some remote outpost to  do penance in some menial position? Perhaps I will be removed from the Mourningstar warband? Perhaps I will be expelled from the Holy Ordos altogether?
Does anyone walk away, ever? Does anyone leave the service of the Inquisition, either voluntarily, or under a cloud, and go on to live another life afterwards? I doubt it. We see too much. We learn too much. We know too much.
 **[Encryption active]** I have been returned to my duties and reinstated.  I am thankful. Relieved. Inquisitor Grendyl has authorised it. I was obliged to listen to some fierce words of chastisement from Rannick, and then to read - and sign - a long report detailing my zeal and my operational failures.
That’s fair.  I will take the words, and the content of the report, to heart, and do my best to learn from them and improve.  There is always something new for us to learn, so better to perform our solemn duties, and perhaps I have learned something about myself. If I have, then I will use it to make myself a better servant of the God-Emperor’s will.
I fear that the only reasons I was spared and returned to duty was  that Grendyl wished to retain my inside knowledge of Tertium, and considered me an asset too valuable to lose. In this, he would have overruled Rannick’s intent to run a tight and disciplined warband with no room for zealotry.
I am pleased to return to my work. But I regret that I take little satisfaction from the whole affair. The Karnak Twins are done and gone, but I wanted them taken alive. I wanted the right to interrogate them and learn their secrets. I wanted, through them, to reach Wolfer.  I am robbed of a sense of closure. They won’t permit me to read the final report on the incident. It has been sealed and filed. Rannick says there’s no need for me to see it. The business is over.
 ***[Encryption active]*** I am lost.
We chased them down today. We tracked the Karnak Twins, and chased them down. We finished them. I think.
I led the way in this effort, as I have since the start. My determination, my ‘obsession’, as Rannick calls it, made this victory possible.
But I overstepped. I drove too hard. I was so intent on the Twins’ capture, I pushed too far. Lives were lost. The Twins cost us dearly. Rannick declares that a more reasoned approach might have achieved the same result without such a loss of life. I’m not convinced. I did what I had to do. Capturing the Karnak Twins was never going to be easy. It was always going to cost us. We needed them alive, not dead.
But Rannick says I acted overzealously and that my obsession got the better of me. He forced me to withdraw from the engagement in an effort to preserve lives, and now I am stood down from duties pending review.
 **[Encryption active]** I wonder how it will end? I wonder what will be decided for me? What fate?
I wait here in my quarters. I pace and fret. I believe that I did naught that my duties did not require. I regret the deaths, yes, but war demands a price, and the war against the Archenemy of Man demands the highest price of all.  Am I to be punished for my loyalty? Punished for my devoted service? Where is the justice? You do not train a weapon like me then complain when it is used.
What will my punishment be? A demotion? A retirement to low-level administrative duties? Perhaps I will be sent away for retraining and reconditioning, or to some remote outpost to  do penance in some menial position? Perhaps I will be removed from the Mourningstar warband? Perhaps I will be expelled from the Holy Ordos altogether?
Does anyone walk away, ever? Does anyone leave the service of the Inquisition, either voluntarily, or under a cloud, and go on to live another life afterwards? I doubt it. We see too much. We learn too much. We know too much.
I wait in my quarters, but I don’t know what I’m waiting for.   A message that I am to be returned to duties? Or perhaps… what? Poison in my food? A blade in the night? A knock on the door, a formal declaration of disservice, and a shot to the head? I wouldn’t put it past Rannick. He is not subtle. **[Recording ended]**