Old Fear

* Title screen
* Original title card

**Old Fear** is a side story introducing Eckhart's Society for Preternatural Research.

## Synopsis

> *Regina MacCready returns to her hometown after learning of her mother's death. As the wind carries the strange scent of home, forgotten memories begin to resurface.*
>
>

## Appearances

* Regina MacCready
* Anna MacCready
* Professor James
* Rivet
* Edel Meitner
* Thaddeus Morgan
* Ryan Ferrier
* Elizabeth Pendragon
* Roy Burnett

## Plot

### Act 1

Regina MacCready receives a letter from Eckhart's Society for Preternatural Research informing her that her mother, Anna, who hitherto served as the organization's president, has passed away recently. As per Anna's final wish, the Society requests Regina to return to the family estate and carry on her mother's legacy.

   On her way back home, Regina gets lost in the forest and is ambushed by a swarm of Corrupted Objects. Fortunately, she is aided by Rivet, a mercenary hired by the ESPR president, who escorts her to the family mansion. Rivet explains that the President of the Society has been taking care of the MacCready family and their assets while Regina was away, leading Regina suspect to that the president falsely claimed heir to her family estate.

Once inside the mansion, Regina roams through her home when she suddenly phases into a strange dimension and forced to fend off against worm-like C.O.s until she faints. When she wakes up, she is back at the mansion and is greeted by Edel Meitner, the new President of ESPR. Regina makes clear to Edel that she has no intention of becoming succeeding her mother and plans to cut ties with ESPR but is shocked to learn that her mother had willed all of the MacCreadys' possessions to the Society. Edel states the Society does not want to keep the family assets to themselves, though, and presents an inheritance disclaimer, telling Regina that she may have it sent to an attorney under the condition that she does them a favor: recover the corpse of her mother, which was stolen by the Prydwen Institution, a longtime enemy organization of the Society. Regina begrudgingly accepts the deal, and she, Edel and Rivet all head to the western end of the forest, where Prydwen agents are believed to be hiding.

While they traverse through the forest again, Rivet asks Regina about ESPR and what its activities are. Regina explains that ESPR is a research organization founded by her ancestor, Eckhart, and dedicated to finding a place known as the Lake of Knowledge. She goes to say how ridiculous its goal is because the group's research is based on horror fiction, but Rivet plays with the idea that the lake may revolve around some truth.

The three of them reach a dilapidated building where it is infested with C.O.s. Regina opts to retreat, but Edel approaches the mass and reveals her "babies", otherworldly creatures that appear from her shadow. She and her "shadow" devour the C.O.s, acquiring information about the past their past lives as human beings, but are not fully satiated and turn to eat Rivet, forcing her and Regina to subdue her until she comes to her senses. Regina then demands to know what Edel truly is, and Rivet likens Edel to monsters found in horror fiction just like the one found in ESPR's research. Rivet also reveals that Edel is usually fretful and ferocious towards strangers but has been acting very different around Regina, insinuating that Regina will play a significant role in the President's future.

### Act 2

Prydwen HQ sends armed squadrons to the observation post they set up near the ESPR base at MacCready Point for espionage purposes, where suspicious activity has been reported. They secure the area but find no survivors. Upon finding an artifact used to detect special energy, Thaddeus Morgan concludes that the operation is already over and orders the evacuation of all units. The troopers of Squad 2 are transformed into C.O.s, and the rest of the fleet fend them off until evacuation is complete and the outpost is bombed to destruction. Thaddeus reports back the Devourer may be in action now, alerting Elizabeth Pendragon to hurry to the his location.

After leaving the hideout, Regina falls asleep and dreams about the time her father, who had become Corrupted and warned Regina not to seek the Lake of Knowledge, was being devoured by her mother. Anna accused her husband of betraying the Society and declared his sacrifice was necessary, but Regina condemned her and called her a monster.

When Regina wakes up, she scolds Edel for trying to gluttonous behavior before asking her what the things she pulls from her shadow are. Edel answers that they are the Lake of Knowledge, an entity that stores all the world's knowledge. Regina is shocked and questions what the Society has been doing if the Lake was in their grasp the whole time, and Edel explains the Lake is incomplete as it was fractured and its pieces spread across the world a long time ago; the worm-like C.O.s they've been fighting as well the ones Edel harbors, known as "Remains", are also fragments of the Lake. She also adds that Regina, as the expected next President of the Society, is to be their new host as it is the president's responsibility to keep them under control. This revelation only disgusts Regina, however, and she proclaims she will never become the new president. She further accuses Edel of deceiving her about Prydwen stealing her mother's corpse—which they did not find back at the hideout—just to lure her back to the Society. Edel denies this and reveals that the Lake can only be tamed properly by descendants of Eckhart and has gone out of control right now because they remain in Anna's corpse. Regina, remembering the time her mother had tried to kill and sacrifice her for disgracing the family, hesitantly decides she should at least stop her mother's remnants from causing any more havoc and agrees to continue searching for the corpse. Edel points to a small town nearby within the estate that has the ritual altar containing the remains of the past presidents are stored, where the Corrupted Remains are likely congregating to build up their strength.

The three eventually reach the town where its entire population was transformed into more Remains at the same time as the Albion, the flagship of the Prydwen Institution. Elizabeth, Thaddeus and Ryan Ferrier attempt to capture Regina and Edel but are interrupted when a Corrupted monster known as the "Old Fear", using the body of Anna, appears and critically damages the Albion. The Prydwen squad retreats and so the Old Fear turns to attack Regina. Edel tells Regina to escape as she plans to stall the monster by allowing it to absorb her, thus completing the Lake of Knowledge, but Regina refuses to leave. With Rivet's assistance, Regina destroys the altar, greatly weakening the Old Fear and saving Edel. Unfortunately, the altar's destruction also causes a dimensional storm which obliterates the area and sweeps everyone away.

After the storm calms, Regina awakens and Edel tells her that her mother is no more. Now that she is aware of ESPR's true purpose, Regina resolves to change the fate of her family and agrees to become at most the Vice President of the Society.

Edel later returns to the area where the alter once stood and meets with Anna, whose body still partially contains the Lake of Knowledge. Anna asserts she is still the true President of the Society and hopes for her daughter's death, but Edel, calling her a traitor, says that Regina is different and capable of satisfying the Lake. She also reveals herself to be the will of the Lake and that, contrary to Anna's beliefs, she had always been working with the Society from the very beginning. Horrified, Anna begs for forgiveness for her ignorance but is devoured by Edel.

At LAKE-4, Ryan is briefing Elizabeth on Prydwen's investigation into Regina's background when Thaddeus brings back a man named Roy Burnett. Roy demands to know why he is here, and Elizabeth answers that Prydwen requires more talented recruits due to recent incident at the MacCready estate. Although Elizabeth thinks very lowly of Roy and nicknames him "Water Flea", she nonetheless sees some potential in him as he is the grandson of Sir Burnett, whom the Prydwen Institution regarded as one of its best agents. Elizabeth then presents Roy with a quarantined fragment of the Demon Lord Gha'agsheblah the Devourer, explaining to him that Prydwen's core objective of sealing the Divine C.O.

## Stages

* Act 1
* Act 2