The Wings of Liberty Project

[pure.Wasted]

SECTION THREE

Back by popular demand at a time when it is no longer relevant to anything! Section three, where plot threads left dangling two years ago are finally resolved (or are they?!), Mira Han makes mr. peasant very happy, Raynor and Tychus start to stop seeing eye to eye, and the Protoss get to do more than be annoying evil religious nutjobs and annoying good religious nutjobs (I'm looking at you, Zeratul). That's right, the Protoss have arrived!

One change was made: between missions Engine of Destruction and Breakout of Part 2, I’m adding in a Cutthroat equivalent that serves the same role it did in the original campaign – add another step to the process of deciphering the adjutant obtained on Tarsonis, and introduce the character of Mira Han. Just as before, the mission introduces Vultures for tech.

Previously on Wings of Liberty...

With Mengsk’s popularity shattered by a great Raiders PR campaign, Raynor strikes a deal with Valerian to place Mengsk’s son on the throne. And Valerian’s idea of a great inauguration ceremony is killing Kerrigan by assembling every piece of the artifact. That’s why he disabled the deathtrap Mengsk implanted in Tychus’s suit and told Tychus about the artifacts to begin with. The Dominion has two artifact fragments, Raynor has one, Kerrigan has one, and Valerian says he has one more that his father never knew about. Just one fragment is enough to cripple lesser Zerg, but assemble all the pieces, and even Kerrigan won’t be able to survive. Not only that, but Valerian promises that he has enough clout to convince Warfield to side with Valerian and Raynor in the coming invasion of Char.

Tychus makes up for reneging on Valerian’s offer by killing Tosh, who was so blinded by vengeance that he wouldn’t listen to reason. Ariel Hanson is still on board with the civilians from Agria and Meinhoff and Matt Horner hasn’t been heard from in a while, leaving Swann in the role of acting captain. All the damage to be done against Mengsk has been done. It’s time to invade Char.

And now without further ado, Part 3...



CAMPAIGN: Hyperion

Raynor and Tychus return to the Hyperion, where Raynor tells the Raiders about his deal with Valerian. When some of the Raiders are outraged, Swann comes down hard on Raynor’s side. The naysayers reluctantly fall in line.

Armory, Swann: Swann questions the brilliance of this plan, but Raynor says this is their one real shot to do something good for the Terran race. Swann’s too busy to stay on as Captain, so Raynor takes on the job. Raynor regrets not listening to Matt and driving him away.

Cargo Bay, Hanson: Raynor prepares to explain himself to Hanson, but she says she understands completely. In fact, she’s already found a perfect spot to drop off the civilians and leave the Hyperion battle-ready: a nearby planet called Haven, with one large settlement and no Dominion presence. Hanson says that Valerian sent a fleet of Dropships to help ferry the civilians. They say their goodbyes and the civilians leave the ship.

Bridge, Console: Valerian tells Raynor that the world on which his hidden piece of the artifact is located is under attack by Zerg. There’s no indication the Zerg know about the artifact, but they have to move fast just in case.

MISSION 15: The Moebius Factor

Objective: Protect Research Centers and don’t allow Kerrigan to access a Research Center.
Logistics: Raiders vs. Kerrigan’s Zerg on Tyrador VIII.
Tech: Moebius Ravens used to provide mobile support against Zergling and Mutalisk flocks.

Story: Raynor makes contact with Dr. Narud, head of the Moebius Foundation. Narud reveals that the safeguards they have prevent even him from knowing the artifact’s exact location, he can only pin-point it to a number of facilities. The Raiders must fly around the city, protecting these facilities one after another as they come under attack by Zerg. Suddenly, the Zerg offensive becomes much more precise. Narud has no doubt that the Zerg somehow found out about the artifact, but has no idea how. Kerrigan shows up in person to access these facilities. Kerrigan taunts Raynor again, and he responds that he’s going to end her. Kerrigan leads an unstoppable attack on the primary research facility, and Narud tells Raynor that he hears Zerg breaking through. We hear gunshots and screams and Narud cuts out. Kerrigan comes on. Raynor vows revenge, but she says that she didn’t kill Narud. He used powerful psi abilities to mask his death and got away. Raynor says “serves you right,” and cuts out. As the conflict goes on, the Raiders find the artifact piece. Kerrigan comes on one last time with a strangely sincere warning that Narud is not to be trusted: he’s playing Valerian and Raynor, but she has no idea what his agenda is. Raynor couldn’t care less. He promises to kill her.

Result: Raiders pick up an artifact.

CAMPAIGN: Hyperion

Console, Valerian: Valerian reluctantly admits that he doesn’t know as much about Dr. Narud as he’d like. Valerian promises to look into it while Raynor continues his hunt for the artifacts.

Research Lab, Stettman: This is the first time Stettman has seen two artifact pieces within close proximity. The artifact appears to kill nearby Zerg cells, but has had no visible effect on Kerrigan’s complex human-Zerg cells as far as they’ve seen. He theorizes that many fragments combined will have more power.

Console, Ariel Hanson: a distress call comes in from Haven. Raynor can’t believe it. This is the unluckiest batch of colonists in the entire galaxy. Hanson says it’s worse than that. This isn’t just an attack by the Zerg, it’s another infestation. That means she wasn’t able to catch all the virus carriers after Meinhoff as she’d thought. Not only is all of Haven on the brink of being overrun, but some of Raynor’s own people might be infected. But she has a plan for dealing with it.

Console, Valerian: Valerian promises to send a fleet of Dropships and Science Vessels to help deal with the infestation.

MISSION 16: Croatoa

Objective: Rescue civilians from Hanson’s checkpoints.
Logistics: Raiders vs. Zerg infestation on Haven.
Tech: Science Vessel fleet sent by Valerian.

Story: Hanson has already set up multiple checkpoints in the main settlement. She explains that the virus must be even more difficult to detect than she thought. This time she’s not looking for the virus, she’s just trading “vaccines” for tickets off the planet. The catch is that the vaccine kills carriers instantly. The Raiders have to rescue cleared civilians using ground forces, and Medivacs and Science Vessels in hard-to-reach locations as the infestation gets worse. Checkpoints go down one after another as the infestation seems to be spreading, not getting better. Suddenly, Swann warns Raynor that they’re picking up Protoss signals warping into the planet’s orbit. Selendis patches through communications to warn Raynor that the Zerg infestation must be stopped at all costs. They’ve been monitoring it from afar, and this is a highly advanced strain. Raynor asks for a little bit of time, and given his reputation with the Protoss, Selendis agrees to send down ground forces to help him while the Purifier is being prepared. Raynor demands to know if Hanson is sure that no one with the virus made it through, she assures him that she’s positive. Raiders and Protoss fight side by side to save the last checkpoints, when the infestation turns into a full-blown Zerg invasion. Where the hell did the Zerg come from?! The Protoss warp off-planet and ready the Purifier. Selendis contacts Raynor and tells him that their scanners are picking infestation markers in all Dropships en route to the Hyperion. Raynor is shocked. The Raiders pull out.

Result: Many civilians apparently saved, but infestation status unclear.

CINEMATIC 11: Infested

The Purifier, surrounded by a Protoss armada, charges. On the Hyperion’s bridge, Raynor looks on at a fleet of approaching Dropships. Stettman says that the scanners have been re-calibrated using the Protoss algorithms, and suddenly the displays light up with early infestation signs among the passengers. Stettman and Tychus wonder how the virus spreads: blood contamination would have been easy to notice, airborne would have contaminated the Hyperion crew. It doesn’t make any sense. Raynor spots one Dropship marked “infestation 100%” and says grimly that it makes perfect sense. In the Cargo Bay, the first Dropship arrives. Cargo Bay crew move slowly away from the Dropship, like they know something we don’t. The doors start to open and suddenly Raynor, Tychus, and several other Marines, all suited up, rush forward. They blast down the first wave of Infested Terrans and get inside the Dropship. It’s all Creeped up. The fighting is gory and intense, and Raynor turns around just in time to see Ariel Hanson leap at him, her mandible mouth open wide. He overcomes her and sees the other Infested Terrans have been put down. Raynor demands, “Are the others really infested, or is this just another trick?!” She sneers with her mandibles. “Playing with you was as fun as the Queen promised it would be. I’m only sorry I won’t get to see you pull the trigger on all those innocent people.” Raynor says “You’re right, you won’t” and to Tychus, “Bag her and get her into the Lab. Alive. I’ve got a fleet to save.” And as Ariel looks at him in disbelief, we cut away.

CAMPAIGN: Hyperion

Bridge, Console: A Dropship pilot tells Raynor that the Dropship fleet is waiting on his approval to dock, but the Protoss are making everyone nervous. Raynor tells the pilot to hang in there.

Bridge, Tychus: Tychus asks Raynor why they’re keeping her alive. Raynor, heavily shaken, says they’ll need a way to know how well the artifacts are working. When Tychus remains quiet, Raynor asks what happened to Tychus’s usual wit. Tychus says it’s not the time.

Research Lab, Stettman: Raynor asks if the Artifact is having any effect on Hanson. Stettman says it’s killing off her Zerg cells, but because the infestation is so complex and complete, the cells are regrowing faster than they’re dying. But if they get it to the recently infected colonists, the infestation just might be killed before it can take root.

Research Lab, Hanson: She’s in a huge-ass test tube next to the two artifact pieces, totally restrained and in a lot of pain from the artifact. Raynor tells her he’s coming back for her as soon as he saves the colonists.

Bridge, Console: Selendis warns Raynor that the Purification of Haven has commenced. She also says that the contaminated Dropships will have to be destroyed. Raynor says that he has a cure and it’s going to work, but Selendis says she can’t take that risk.

MISSION 17: The Purification

Objective: Sabotage the Purifier as it attempts to target down Dropships.
Logistics: Raynor and Tychus’s Raiders vs. Selendis’s Protoss.
Tech: Viking fleet sent by Valerian. No buildings.

Story: Raynor orders Stettman to clear every Dropship that passes through the Hyperion with the artifact. Yes, that means they only go through one at a time. In the meantime, Raynor and Tychus personally stage a “ground” assault on top of the Purifier ship, supported by air units. If the Raiders fail to get through Protoss defenses and damage the Purifier’s infrastructure in fast enough increments, it begins to lock on to Dropships or air units and take them out. Selendis’s pleas for Raynor to listen to reason turn into vengeful cries as his men continue to kill Protoss troops sent to stop them. Of course she’s the one not listening to reason, but Raynor isn’t helping. Stettman comes in over the comm saying all of the Dropships have been cleared, refueled, and are prepping to leave. Raynor says that with Hanson in custody, the colonists shouldn’t have any more nasty surprises. He gets ready to leave when Selendis, infuriated, orders the Protoss fleet to warp to another star system, leaving the Raiders’ air support behind. She doesn’t care about purifying anything anymore, she just wants Raynor dead. Raynor and his ground forces have to battle across the ship’s surface to get to the main bridge. Selendis promises him a very rude welcome. Raynor blows a hole in the ship’s side and his forces surge through, fighting Protoss inside the ship until they reach the main bridge where Selendis awaits.

Result: With the colonists saved, Raynor and Tychus breach the Purifier.

CINEMATIC 12: The Warning

Aboard the Purifier, Raynor’s squad does battle with Zealots and Templar. Despite acknowledging that the stakes are do-or-die, Raynor still makes a point of not killing Protoss when he can. Selendis easily dispatches the redshirts, and Raynor and Tychus barely survive her attack. The battle continues and Selendis links minds with Raynor in an attempt to break him, when Zeratul appears out of nowhere to stop the two sides from killing each other. Selendis’s hatred for Raynor is only surpassed by her respect for Zeratul, and when he asks them all to put down their arms and watch his memory crystals, or risk dooming the entire galaxy, they begrudgingly listen.

CAMPAIGN: Purifier

Raynor might be alive, but he’s not allowed to take one step off the bridge. He can walk around and marvel at Protoss technology, or pick up the dog tags of his fallen soldiers.

Bridge, Tychus: Tychus bemoans that nobody seems to be offering him a toke of the memory peace pipe. Raynor says that when Selendis tried to kill him, he got a little bit of her knowledge, but it’s all a blur right now.

Bridge, Selendis: Raynor finds her meditating over the memory shard.

Bridge, memory shard: Raynor jumps into Zeratul’s memories.

CINEMATIC 13: The Prophecy

Zeratul and Kerrigan, same old same old.

MISSION 18: Whispers of Doom

Zeratul runs around Blinking and shit.

CAMPAIGN: Purifier

Bridge, Tychus: Raynor tells Tychus everything he just saw.

Bridge, Selendis: Selendis is intrigued by Zeratul’s visions. She mocks Raynor for some slight inaccuracies in his vision, and how slowly he deciphered it, but seems to have calmed down from wanting his head on a stick.

MISSION 19: A Sinister Turn

Zeratul runs around killing Maar and shit.

CAMPAIGN: Purifier

Bridge, Selendis: Selendis and Raynor are both beginning to understand the stakes. She opens up some other areas of the ship for Raynor to explore, where he gets a glimpse of Protoss soldiers at their posts, and Protoss civilians walking around a greenery.

Bridge, Tychus: Tychus is upset about Raynor’s VIP treatment, and feels uneasy about being left alone with these Protoss who don’t speak out loud, but always watch him. He’s never seen Protoss before and killing a few of their buddies can’t have made a great impression.

MISSION 20: Echoes of the Future

I hope you didn’t think I ever intended to touch these missions. Because I don’t. Didn’t. Wouldn’t.

CAMPAIGN: Purifier

Bridge, Tychus: Raynor explains to Tychus that the Zerg are actually not malevolent, and that Zeratul’s intention is for him to save Kerrigan using the artifact! The artifact won’t just kill her, it could save her! Tychus grows worried about Raynor’s priorities.

Bridge, Selendis: Selendis can’t believe she’s seeing what she thinks she’s seeing. Zeratul wants them to help the Overmind that destroyed Aiur, and save the Queen of Blades that manipulated their people? She tells Raynor that if this is all Zeratul has to say for himself, Raynor is in a lot of trouble.

MISSION 21: In Utter Darkness

Zeratul dies in the future of the past and shit.

CAMPAIGN: Purifier

Bridge, Tychus: Raynor tells Tychus what will happen if they kill Kerrigan. Tychus can’t wrap his head around someone seeing the past in which someone else saw the future, and thinks it’s all way above his paygrade. Raynor assures him that the plan to use the artifact against Kerrigan hasn’t changed.

Bridge, Selendis: Selendis is crushed. As she sees it, her options are between seeing her people die out, or seeing her people once again become the pawns of the Queen of Blades. Zeratul was fooled during the Brood War and she thinks he’s being played with again. She can’t allow that to happen. Raynor attempts to convince her that the artifacts really do work, before they warped out Stettman had told him that the colonists were rid of their infestation, but Selendis knows the Queen of Blades can’t ever be trusted. She tells Raynor that he’s about to be tried in Protoss court. Tychus’s fate will be the same as Raynor’s. Tychus isn’t happy to hear it.

CINEMATIC 14: The Trial of James Raynor

Raynor is tried by a court of Templar which finds him guilty of all sorts of things that obviously lead to the Protoss death penalty. The Hyperion warps in under the command of Captain Swann. Selendis demands to know how the Terrans found them. Swann tells Raynor that he’d had a hunch that it might be a good idea to turn the locator Mengsk placed in Tychus’s suit back on, a few missions back, so… he did. The Bucephalus warps in under the command of Valerian Mengsk. The two sides begin attacking one another but things look grim for our Terran heroes when suddenly a third battlecruiser warps in captained by Mira Horner & Matt. It too joins the fray. In the chaos, Raynor and Tychus are able to hide long enough for Nova to appear, dispatch two nearby Zealots, and get them out to a waiting shuttle. The Hyperion warps out under cover fire from the other two battlecruisers, that soon warp out as well.

CAMPAIGN: Hyperion

The Hyperion has never been so lively. Matt and Nova talk to a hologram of Warfield on the bridge, Valerian and Stettman are watching over the captive Hanson in the Research Lab, Mira and Swann talk shop in the Armory. Tychus is getting drunk in the Bar.

Bridge, Matt: Matt is glad to hear that Raynor’s priorities are back on track. He’s sorry he wasn’t there to help with the siege of Korhal. Raynor admits he was so driven by vengeance, he almost killed Valerian – who, he now says, is obviously their one shot at making things right. Raynor says Valerian reminds him of Matt.

Bridge, Nova/Warfield: Nova and Warfield are planning the assault on Char. Nova has heard all about Raynor’s above-and-beyond efforts to save the people of Haven and has forgiven him for Tosh. Warfield still doesn’t trust Raynor, but has no choice because he’ll follow Valerian anywhere. Warfield says he’ll be able to get the two Dominion pieces of the artifact.

Research Lab, Stettman: Raynor thanks Stettman for the job he did saving the colonists. Stettman says that killing the Zerg half of Kerrigan will be much more difficult. Raynor recounts that they have two pieces of the artifact, Warfield should be able to steal the two in the Dominion’s possession, that only leaves Kerrigan’s – which she’ll be holding close to her chest on Char. But he can’t shake the feeling that he’s forgetting something.

Research Lab, Valerian: Valerian tells Raynor that he’s been putting everything they know about the artifact together, and it looks like they’re still missing a piece. Raynor realizes what he was forgetting was that when he linked minds with Selendis, he got a vision of another artifact piece held by a militant Protoss faction known as the Tal’darim. Valerian says that when he followed up on Dr. Narud’s employment history after the Moebius incident, Narud was very interested in a particular Protoss tribe that settled away from the rest. He thinks the two might be connected.

Research Lab, Hanson: Raynor tries to extract information about the whereabouts of Kerrigan’s artifact piece, but Hanson is not cooperating. She mocks him by reminding him about all the people that died at her hand. She tells him that the reason Mengsk never evacuated her people from Agria is she gave Kerrigan the location of all incoming rescue ships so that they could be destroyed. Hanson never worked for the Dominion. She was planted by Kerrigan to lie in wait for Raynor, because Kerrigan knew Raynor wouldn't be able to resist helping a pretty girl that needed saving. Raynor wonders how much of the real Dr. Hanson is left in this monster. She says none, but he doesn't look convinced.

Cantina, Tychus: Tychus is drinking his sorrows away. He explains that this thing is getting more and more complicated and the only way he can deal with it is by doing things he understands. He understands the deal they made with Valerian to kill Kerrigan and put him on the throne. Raynor says “Yeah…” Tychus has a sneaking suspicion that Raynor is doing his own simplifying, but coming to an altogether different conclusion.

MISSION 22: Supernova

Objective: Get last artifact piece from Tal’rezim before it burns up.
Logistics: Raiders vs. Tal’rdarim Protoss vs. Narud’s Terrans on Typhon XI.
Tech: Battlecruiser operational.

Story: Valerian tracks the Tal’darim to a highly-fortified settlement on a planet near a star that’s about to go supernova. Raynor attempts to establish peaceful contact, but the Tal’darim are extremely xenophobic. Raynor says there’s no time to play this one nice. They need the artifact yesterday, the future of the entire galaxy is at stake. When Valerian thinks Raynor is being slightly melodramatic, Tychus explains that Raynor is talking about the apocalyptic visions he got aboard the Purifier. Valerian has no idea what he’s talking about. Evil hybrids? De-infested Kerrigan the key to saving the entire galaxy? Raynor tells Tychus to shut up, but the damage has been done. Raynor hadn’t told anyone else about the visions. Valerian demands that Raynor get his head back in the game and focus on the reality, not some fantasy. With time running out, Raynor promises to honor their deal. In exchange, Valerian gives him access to a Battlecruiser fleet that is capable of bulldozing the settlement. During the mission, the Raiders stumble across another Terran camp – led by none other than Dr. Emil Narud, alive and breathing! Valerian demands to know how Narud escaped from Kerrigan, and Narud makes up a flimsy excuse. The player is allowed to choose between accepting Narud’s help to use an alternate attack path, or assaulting Narud’s camp to try and capture him. Regardless of the player’s actions, Narud gets away without a trace. During the mission, Tychus apologizes for telling Valerian the truth, but says the kid deserved to know. Raynor says this isn’t the time for a heart-to-heart. Tychus says that Raynor’s dreaming of riding off into the sunset with Kerrigan, that’s his way of making sense of this whole mess. Raynor says that he promised Valerian that he would kill Kerrigan and he meant it, that’s the end of the conversation. The Raiders bulldoze over the Tal’darim settlement and get the shard before the planet goes up in flames.

Result: Raiders get third artifact shard.

CINEMATIC 15: The Betrayal

Raynor relives Mengsk’s betrayal of Kerrigan in vivid detail.

CAMPAIGN: Hyperion

Everything is ready for Valerian’s invasion of Char.



END OF SECTION THREE

As before, feedback is welcome!

[topsecret221]

Oh my god oh my god. So much yes.

Reading it now; I'll post notes later on.

EDIT: Alright, so my thoughts.

I love how you set up Raynor's encounter with Selendis. It feels very natural, and sets up for a much more badass and likely introduction for Zeratul (going to another Protoss rather than an old, drunk Jimmy).

I'm slightly miffed that the situations in the memory crystals wasn't altered at least slightly, if not the premise: in my current headcanon of SC2's story, Dark Voice (or Amon or whatever) is a deranged scientist of some sort, be it an isolated Xel'Naga that was in stasis when the Zerg overran their ships or a Protoss that found direct recordings of Xel'Naga experiments... either way, instead of a prophecy it could be research notes or mad scribbles or something to serve the same purpose. Running into a released hybrid feeding on a Protoss settlement would be great (and, if it must include Preservers, make them into something other than generic fantasy mystics), and still establish exactly what that mission established (minus Tal'Darim). Raiding the Overmind's grave should be a little bit more reminiscent of the original level from BW, colossus aren't on Aiur (maybe we can use a reaver or something because CAMPAIGN), overhaul the dialogue (not "the Overmind was good", maybe "the Overmind revealed something you need to f*cking see right now, but he's still a dick"), no Warp Gates, get f*cking Michael Gough from the next studio over, etc... Just make it more plausible and less lore breaking. Utter Darkness is fine, just some altered dialogue or something (with Amon actually being a multidimensional character and so forth).

Everything else is pretty much spot on. The cinematics sound great, Raynor's character is very much torn on both sides (and that whole thing with Hanson can't possibly have helped him), the purifier missions are way cooler. The only thing I was unclear on: is "The Purification" an installation mission (since there's no buildings). If so, how do the Vikings come into play?

[pure.Wasted]

Hey dude, good to see ya, as fun as this is just as an exercise, I'm glad someone's reading!

I'm slightly miffed that the situations in the memory crystals wasn't altered at least slightly, if not the premise: in my current headcanon of SC2's story, Dark Voice (or Amon or whatever) is a deranged scientist of some sort, be it an isolated Xel'Naga that was in stasis when the Zerg overran their ships or a Protoss that found direct recordings of Xel'Naga experiments... either way, instead of a prophecy it could be research notes or mad scribbles or something to serve the same purpose. Running into a released hybrid feeding on a Protoss settlement would be great (and, if it must include Preservers, make them into something other than generic fantasy mystics), and still establish exactly what that mission established (minus Tal'Darim). Raiding the Overmind's grave should be a little bit more reminiscent of the original level from BW, colossus aren't on Aiur (maybe we can use a reaver or something because CAMPAIGN), overhaul the dialogue (not "the Overmind was good", maybe "the Overmind revealed something you need to f*cking see right now, but he's still a dick"), no Warp Gates, get f*cking Michael Gough from the next studio over, etc... Just make it more plausible and less lore breaking. Utter Darkness is fine, just some altered dialogue or something (with Amon actually being a multidimensional character and so forth).

I totally get where you're coming from. I was just reading Gradius's 'invasion of terran space' thread, and people there are talking about layers within the prophecies that got canceled out between different rewrites... it's just awful. The thing is, it's all so ambiguous and convoluted, I wouldn't even know what I could cut and what I couldn't. One of my main goals from the start was to leave the story in the exact same place coming out of my WOL as we got coming out of Blizzard's. Small things can change here and there, I added some minor characters, killed some killable characters, but anything that seemed - when I started writing this - like it might be foreshadowing for stuff in HOTS or LOTV, I decided to leave totally intact. So Narud's role is basically unchanged, the Tal'darim get a mission dedicated to them just in case it turns out they're actually important to the plot, stuff like that. The Protoss missions... are so full of ambiguous clue things from top to bottom that I don't even know where to begin. It's a complete mess. I could try to rewrite the missions themselves to be more interesting, but I'd have to create a brand new Protoss character for Zeratul to interact with - he literally has no one to talk to - and that's just the start of it. I know it's anti-climactic and underwhelming, but given the constraints I placed on myself, the best I could hope for is like... going from 1/10 to 2/10. At that point it's just not worth my time.

FWIW, the fact that Colossus is 'an ancient war machine that the Protoss locked away because of its devastating potential' and then it's just brought in like 'hey we got some Colossus!' was just stupid, stupid, stupid. That does fall under my purview, so yes I could have made that Overmind mission about Zeratul actually activating the Colossi despite all of his misgivings, stuff like that... but that would have gotten in the way of the fun I had ignoring those missions completely. :P

Everything else is pretty much spot on. The cinematics sound great, Raynor's character is very much torn on both sides (and that whole thing with Hanson can't possibly have helped him), the purifier missions are way cooler. The only thing I was unclear on: is "The Purification" an installation mission (since there's no buildings). If so, how do the Vikings come into play?

The Purifier mission is an installation mission half of which takes place 'outdoors,' so air support can come into play there. I'm thinking they're physically running across the ship's surface as Wraith/Viking squadrons dogfight against Phoenixes and Interceptors around them, then towards the end they get inside and it's all indoors, no air units. I'll clean up the explanation. And thanks again for reading. Part 4 will be all original content, just like 1 and 2, so that should be more fun.

Also for anyone keeping score, that's two SC1 allusions now. The first was calling the Raynor-Mengsk Jr. team-up mission Delicate Alliance, after the original's Raynor-Mengsk Sr. was called Desperate Alliance. The second was Narud's appearance in Supernova amongst a small rebel Terran faction that gives you an optional route to attack a larger foe, just like Duran did in the first mission of The Iron Fist.

[topsecret221]

Please say we're getting a HotS variation of this.

[pure.Wasted]

Please say we're getting a HotS variation of this.

LOL! Oh dear. Two problems. One is that the story in HOTS is basically non-existent, so I'd have to actually invent the entire plot, and then on top of that invent like 10 interesting characters, because surprise, surprise, Zerg Cerebrates aren't that awesome. Two... I haven't played it yet because my PC crashed and my laptop won't run it. But hey, could be I get a better comp and then get really, really bored. ;D

[Turalyon]

Heh, finally got around to releasing the next part. I really like your attempt at avoiding making the stuff that happened in WoL less like filler and being a more cohesive story. That bit about keeping Hanson around and actually weaving what was a pointless arc (in the WoL we got) into the main story with a potential payoff down the track is a nice touch.

The lorehounds might have a bit of knee-jerk with that Cinematic 12: The Warning and possibly the Purifier mission altogether though. It was tough to stomach the idea of Raynor being able to successfully barge onto the Bucephalus because Valerian wanted him to (amongst other issues...) let alone now having Raynor being able to actually overpower freakin' Protoss without killing them even (or at least being partially successful at that) and then making it to Selendis (who would arguably be much more difficult than Valerian to get to considering Raynor is on an alien vessel and is fighting freakin' Protoss singlehandedly!) and managing to hold his own until Zeratul intervenes.

I agree with your assessment that HotS doesn't really tend to flow on from your version of WoL, since HotS' entirety really has nothing to do with the big-uber threat (Dark Voice/Amon) of Sc2. As to the characters within HotS, there aren't any cerebrates (because they're all dead) but there are other Zerg characters in there. It's just that none of them are that much more interesting either. The one character that felt like a Zerg character (Abathur) didn't have any real story significance/ input into story progression - much like superfluous flavour characters like Swann in WoL.

That said, can't wait to see the "all original content" for Part 4 though. Keep it up.

[pure.Wasted]

Heh, finally got around to releasing the next part. I really like your attempt at avoiding making the stuff that happened in WoL less like filler and being a more cohesive story. That bit about keeping Hanson around and actually weaving what was a pointless arc (in the WoL we got) into the main story with a potential payoff down the track is a nice touch.

It boggles my mind. They hint that she's a freaky lady through Tosh several times, and there's a cinematic that reveals she was infested... and... none if it actually ties together in the game, or is explained. Seriously. She's just infested. How long's she been infested? Who knows? If Tosh is to be believed, then all along. But by whom, for what purpose...? How do you put all of this into the game and then not connect it in any meaningful way? Ugh. I don't even.

The lorehounds might have a bit of knee-jerk with that Cinematic 12: The Warning and possibly the Purifier mission altogether though. It was tough to stomach the idea of Raynor being able to successfully barge onto the Bucephalus because Valerian wanted him to (amongst other issues...) let alone now having Raynor being able to actually overpower freakin' Protoss without killing them even (or at least being partially successful at that) and then making it to Selendis (who would arguably be much more difficult than Valerian to get to considering Raynor is on an alien vessel and is fighting freakin' Protoss singlehandedly!) and managing to hold his own until Zeratul intervenes.

Well to clarify, Raynor is far from alone. He assaults the Purifier with a huge army, ground and air. He still has plenty of dudes left with him when the Purifier warps away, so it's far from a one-man crusade. And there's no chance Raynor and Tychus would have survived the battle with Selendis. I'm not sure which of these bits aren't clear in the original write-up, or if they are clear and are not enough justification in your mind. Please let me know!

I agree with your assessment that HotS doesn't really tend to flow on from your version of WoL, since HotS' entirety really has nothing to do with the big-uber threat (Dark Voice/Amon) of Sc2.

It's not so much the flow as it is that half of the missions deal with Kerrigan just making her Zerg better just 'cuz. WOL's equivalent is 'get more money!' missions or 'get more artifacts!' missions, but the difference is 'more money' is easy to translate into thematic issues, and 'more artifacts' is easy to make an actual plot from. 'Run around the galaxy making your soldiers evolve' is just an endless activity, it's not a plot.

As to the characters within HotS, there aren't any cerebrates (because they're all dead) but there are other Zerg characters in there. It's just that none of them are that much more interesting either. The one character that felt like a Zerg character (Abathur) didn't have any real story significance/ input into story progression - much like superfluous flavour characters like Swann in WoL.

Yeah, by Cerebrates I just meant random Zerg things, Abathur and Zagara and them. Back to minds being boggled. Really, that's your supporting cast for a campaign? Abathur and fucking Zagara? The minute I heard Kerrigan would be the protagonist, I knew they were boned. They never actually bothered to create Zerg characters in WOL. Oops. Turns out a story needs characters to work? They brought back Stukov, but he's just a plot device at this point. 'Hello Kerrigan, I am a Zerg, you too are a Zerg, let us be Zerg together against this evil non-Zerg I know with whom you are coincidentally familiar!' O....K....

Raynor's got a cast of relateable characters around him from all sorts of different walks of life, he gets regular visits from one of the most respected Protoss, the crown prince of the Terran empire, and their best General, his enemies are The Queen of Blades and the Terran Emperor. Who does Kerrigan have? Kills Warfield as soon as she meets him, kills Mengsk as soon as she meets him, Narud is a craptastic bad guy because he has no clear agenda or motive, so obviously their relationship is weak compared to, say, Raynor/Mengsk, and she kills him as soon as she meets him. Hmm. The scale of WOL was ginormous compared to HOTS.

/RANT

Sorry. Haven't really blown off all that HOTS steam since it came out. :/

Thanks for the feedback!

[Turalyon]

It boggles my mind. They hint that she's a freaky lady through Tosh several times, and there's a cinematic that reveals she was infested... and... none if it actually ties together in the game, or is explained. Seriously. She's just infested. How long's she been infested? Who knows? If Tosh is to be believed, then all along. But by whom, for what purpose...? How do you put all of this into the game and then not connect it in any meaningful way? Ugh. I don't even.

Tying it into the story as a whole was always going to be a tough ask when entire reality warped based on whether you chose Hanson or Selendis. There is no way the two outcomes from each choice could have ever reconciled with each other.

Given that "Hanson was not infested" is deemed the canonical choice, your story would have had its reality warped as well in order to incorporate that outcome. I'd imagine it'd be difficult to include a Protoss conflict in with that path. Then again, having Hanson sticking around as a human could've meant that her infestation cure could be rewritten to have some use against Kerrigan. Alas, even that got sidebarred into oblivion in WoL.

Well to clarify, Raynor is far from alone. He assaults the Purifier with a huge army, ground and air. He still has plenty of dudes left with him when the Purifier warps away, so it's far from a one-man crusade. And there's no chance Raynor and Tychus would have survived the battle with Selendis. I'm not sure which of these bits aren't clear in the original write-up, or if they are clear and are not enough justification in your mind. Please let me know!

It's the bolded part that doesn't seem to come across well. Having fought the Protoss on their turf (their ship) only for the "turf" to suddenly whisk them away from air-support and reinforcements would normally mean pretty dire straits for Raynor since the Protoss can still bring in reinforcements on their side. How Raynor and forces proceed to fight their way to the Protoss command centre where Selendis is (which would be even more heavily defended one would think) with what forces he has would be quite a remarkable feat.

It's not so much the flow as it is that half of the missions deal with Kerrigan just making her Zerg better just 'cuz. WOL's equivalent is 'get more money!' missions or 'get more artifacts!' missions, but the difference is 'more money' is easy to translate into thematic issues, and 'more artifacts' is easy to make an actual plot from. 'Run around the galaxy making your soldiers evolve' is just an endless activity, it's not a plot.

Well, if you want to break that argument down properly, both WoL and HotS actually end up using the same type of "currency". In WoL, it's called "money" and "artifacts", while in HotS it's just "upgrades" (which WoL has as well). WoL being about not much more then getting "money", "upgrades" and/or "artifacts" means that there's freedom to make up another story to fit those missions, but by that same reasoning, HotS should also be more like that if all it is is just collecting "upgrades".

The purpose of rewriting it was to weave the missions into a more cohesive story. The real difference between WoL and HotS, is that HotS does actually seem to have more of a plot (disregarding it's actual quality for the moment that is) in place than WoL. This in turn makes it harder to construct/make up an entirely different one around those missions. It also highlights how shallow the story of Sc2 really as well, but that's going into different territory...

Yeah, by Cerebrates I just meant random Zerg things, Abathur and Zagara and them. Back to minds being boggled. Really, that's your supporting cast for a campaign? Abathur and fucking Zagara? The minute I heard Kerrigan would be the protagonist, I knew they were boned. They never actually bothered to create Zerg characters in WOL. Oops. Turns out a story needs characters to work? They brought back Stukov, but he's just a plot device at this point. 'Hello Kerrigan, I am a Zerg, you too are a Zerg, let us be Zerg together against this evil non-Zerg I know with whom you are coincidentally familiar!' O....K....

To be fair, the Zerg aren't really all about "characters" (just see Sc1 for evidence) so there was always going to be a bit of a problem trying to sell the concept of Zerg without it looking and feeling like it was just a bunch of Terrans in costume playing at being alien. However, this is not to say they weren't potentially interesting though.

I don't think Kerrigan being the protagonist meant that it was automatically limited. Being a human (which WoL was brave enough to cement), there was plenty of opportunity and range for character study. Hell, there are TV shows that can go on for seasons focusing on just the one guy and still stay interesting largely because of that main character. HotS could have easily been like this but nope, she just wants revenge and pays lip-service to all the past "evil" she's committed whilst then blithely committing more evil by unnecessarily killing more people to get to one man as if she forgot that she was a master infiltrator and assassin being a former Ghost.

Raynor's got a cast of relateable characters around him from all sorts of different walks of life, he gets regular visits from one of the most respected Protoss, the crown prince of the Terran empire, and their best General, his enemies are The Queen of Blades and the Terran Emperor. Who does Kerrigan have? Kills Warfield as soon as she meets him, kills Mengsk as soon as she meets him, Narud is a craptastic bad guy because he has no clear agenda or motive, so obviously their relationship is weak compared to, say, Raynor/Mengsk, and she kills him as soon as she meets him. Hmm. The scale of WOL was ginormous compared to HOTS.

What kind of scale can you expect from the Zerg, who are largely known mostly for killing stuff, and some loner who has no friends in the world with a giant chip on her shoulder?

Besides, it's all kinda relative I think. The side characters in WoL aren't that much more relatable/memorable than the side characters in HotS. I wouldn't count one appearance by Zeratul in person as being a regular visitor for Raynor, since Kerrigan gets the same number of visits by Zeratul in HotS. Kerrigan gets to meet up and talks with Valerian a few times in HotS. Kerrigan retains the same one enemy (Mengsk) that Raynor was supposedly fighting all throughout WoL before he got sidetracked at the last second and, like Raynor did in Media Blitz against Mengsk, Kerrigan made some headway against her other enemy, Amon, by killing Narud.

[Visions of Khas]

Aaaah, I love the Colonist plot! I wish this is how it panned out! Aaaah!

[pure.Wasted]

Come one, come all, and behold the end of all things!


SECTION FOUR

Which is the very last section. Final tally is 29 missions - WOL's total - and 20 cinematics - also WOL's total. Didn't really need more cinematics, but it turns out I could have used a few more missions.

In this section you will find: a return to Terran politics; the Starcraft equivalent of that scene where the Thresher Maw took out a Reaper, you know the one; Battlecruisers stolen from the Dylarian shipyards, seriously those guys need to tighten security; and resoc Marines suddenly existing for the first time since the SC1 manual, but blink and you'll miss 'em!

As always there is a list of retcons to previous sections: 1. Swann the brawny freedom fighter and Stettman the brainy Dominion scientist used to hate each other's guts, but over the course of sections 2 and 3, they became pals. You're thinking 'but I didn't read any of that.' Trust me, it happened. (thanks mr. peasant!) 2. Section 3 isn't over yet. I know I said that everything was ready for the invasion of Char, but I lied. I mean, come on, we just 'get' Battlecruisers?! 3. Consequently, we did not just 'get' Battlecruisers in Supernova. Nothing was got.

Without further ado, Part 4...

CAMPAIGN: Hyperion

Console, Warfield: Warfield says that he’s ready to perpetrate the biggest heist in Terran history: he’s about to steal a third of the entire Dominion fleet from right under Mengsk’s nose. As a General, and Mengsk’s Commander-in-Chief, he’s ashamed that he has to tarnish his own reputation and the reputation of the office, but he knows they have no choice. The only way to defeat the Queen of Blades is with the artifact, and he wouldn’t trust Arcturus Mengsk with a thing of such power if his life depended on it. Valerian patches through, asking if Warfield has both artifact fragments. Warfield says yes, but he basically stole Gaskerville’s, so they have to move right fucking now.

MISSION 24: Grand Theft Airfleet

Objective: Protect the artifact and all Battlecruisers until it reaches the Helios.
Logistics: Warfield’s Dominion vs. Mengsk and Gaskerville’s Dominion on Dylarian Shipyards.
Tech: Battlecruisers. All of the Battlecruisers.

Story: Warfield’s men have commandeered all of the docked Battlecruisers. We get an idea of how he managed to pull this off through flavor dialogue here and in news reports throughout the second half of the campaign leading up to this mission – Warfield has been rotating trusted officers into key fleet positions, he’s instituted crew reforms leading to the use of a lot more resoc Marines, who will respect his authority as Commander-in-Chief without question, being aboard the Battlecruisers, he’s played up the importance of anti-Zerg action in media. All of this has led up to what seems like a complete victory for Warfield, as all docked Battlecruisers report readiness to prepare for warp. All that’s left is to get Gaskerville’s artifact shard aboard the Helios. As it’s being transported, Mengsk paches through to Warfield privately to offer him one last chance to stand down. If Warfield betrays Valerian, he will be hailed a Dominion hero. Warfield counters giving Mengsk one last chance to do the right thing. If he gives up the ships without a fight, he can be a part of the salvation of the Terran race. Mengsk retaliates by broadcasting a message across the shipyards warning Dominion personnel that General Warfield has defected to the enemy camp and to follow him is to commit treason. Several of the Battlecruisers report mutinies onboard, we hear gunshots, and the Battlecruisers come under Mengsk’s control. From this point on, the player’s job is to keep all Battlecruisers alive, regardless of who they belong to for the present moment. If they’re yours, keep them repaired. If they’re Mengsk’s, don’t kill them! Gaskerville appears in a ship of his own, saying he was able to follow the stolen artifact, but had no idea the conspiracy would run this high up. Warfield knows better than to ask for Gaskerville’s help. Gaskerville’s presence makes several other ships mutiny. Valerian patches through with a message that Warfield broadcasts, telling soldiers to see past their codes to what those codes are supposed to represent: the protection of the Terran race. Several Battlecruisers revert to Warfield’s control. When the artifact transport has almost reached the Helios, Mengsk reveals that because they knew about the conspiracy against him ahead of time, on a hunch, Gaskerville replaced his artifact with a fake. He broadcasts that Valerian won’t have the artifact on Char and consequently won’t be able to kill the Queen of Blades and consequently won’t overthrow him. And even if Warfield’s mutineers somehow manage to survive Char, they’ll never be pardoned, they’ll never be seen as heroes. Warfield is absolutely crushed and it looks like the fleet will go back to Dominion control, but suddenly Raynor appears aboard the Hyperion, retorting that Mengsk doesn’t care about anything other than power, and this is the ultimate proof. Mengsk would rather see his own son die for nothing, he would rather see the Queen of Blades go completely unpunished, than give up control for just one second. Furthermore, while Mengsk is hiding in his office and Gaskerville is safe and sound in Terran space, it’s Valerian, Warfield, and Raynor who will be on the front lines doing and dying, artifact or no fucking artifact. The troops are won over by this speech, and Warfield gets all of the Battlecruisers to warp out.

Result: Raiders finally have their fleet, but are missing a critical piece of the artifact.

CAMPAIGN: Hyperion

Bridge, console: Warfield has a newfound respect for Raynor after that speech. It takes more than guts to pull off something like that – it takes hard-won experience, the kind people can hear in your voice. Raynor shocks Warfield by admitting that without the last piece of artifact, despite everything he said, it’s very likely this will be a one-way trip. Warfield asks why Raynor put up such a fight if there’s no hope, Raynor says that Warfield already knows the answer… some things are just worth fighting for.

Bridge, Matt: Matt says that the Raiders fleet, Valerian’s Moebius fleet, Mira Han’s ships, and Warfield’s Dominion armada have all been gathered in preparation for the assault. Raynor talks to all of his crew one last time.

CINEMATIC 16: Dogwar

Raynor gives Matt the order. The Hyperion warps into Char’s orbit, followed by the Helios, Bucephalus, Mira Han’s ship, and many other Battlecruisers. Raynor orders Dropships and pods to deploy, and Battlecruisers to decrease altitude to absorb as much incoming fire as possible. Warfield warns that another fleet is warping in, and suddenly a huge Dominion armada appears, opening fire on the Raiders. Matt reports that Mira Han’s Battlecruiser has been obliterated, but of course we can see that for ourselves. Raynor orders a shocked Matt to look for jettisoned survivors, when Mengsk patches through communications to tell Raynor and Valerian that they’re all going to die. Raynor retorts, ‘not as long as you keep helping us out.’ Raynor promises to deal with Mengsk after Char and cuts the feed. Flocks of Zerg Mutalisks hit both fleets hard and more ships start going down. Everyone is shocked by the ferocity of the Zerg except Raynor.

MISSION 25: Gates of Hell

Objective: Rescue landed troops; later, rescue the Helios.
Logistics: Raiders vs. Zerg on Char.
Tech: All.

Story: Raiders-aligned ships are going down left and right, but a small base has been established. Across the map, Battlecruisers are going down and Dropships are crashlanding, and the Raiders must rescue them to bolster their forces. Matt tells us that a number of survivors from Mira Han’s ship have already been picked up and it looks like Mira is alive. Warfield tells us that the Helios is taking heavy fire. An intercepted transmission from Gaskerville reveals that the Dominion has successfully made planetfall. Raynor tells Matt that he was counting on Mengsk not being able to pass up an opportunity to go after Kerrigan. He’s sure Gaskerville has the artifact. He considers going after the Dominion base, but the Helios reports taking insurmountable damage and goes down hard. Raynor chooses to help Warfield instead. Throughout the mission, the Raiders come under attack by more and more air units, leading Matt to report that Kerrigan has summoned all of her broods back to Char, and although it may take a while for some of them to make the journey, time is officially running out. The Raiders save the Helios from being overrun.

Result: Warfield saved by the Raiders.

CINEMATIC 17: Card to Play

Warfield beats up a Hydralisk. Raynor and Tychus do a passable impression of 1980s bad-assery. Sure, why not?

Since in this WOL Warfield already likes Raynor, the significant moment instead comes when Warfield asks why Raynor chose to go after him instead of hitting Gaskerville’s base before the latter could entrench himself. Raynor says that he’s made too many difficult decisions already, it’s time he made some easy ones. And before Tychus can even finish asking, Raynor says, yeah, I’m gonna save Sarah Kerrigan.

CAMPAIGN: Char

Raynor and Tychus at a command post on Char.

Tychus: Raynor asks if he can count on Tychus to back him up when the time comes. Tychus asks what’s stopping Raynor from rolling on him just like he’s gonna roll on Valerian, Raynor says if he was gonna get Tychus killed, he’d have had Tosh shoot him a long time ago. Tychus isn’t thrilled to hear it.

Console, Matt: Matt reports that the skies are clouding up with Zerg. A majority of the ground forces have landed, and keeping the air support in the air any longer will leave them unnecessarily vulnerable to incoming Zerg flyers. Raynor agrees that the ships should leave Char’s orbit until the mission is complete. He asks about his ‘special package.’ Matt says Swann is looking after it, and both are en route. Matt wishes Raynor luck and the Hyperion leaves orbit.

Tychus: Tychus reports that Gaskerville’s base is firmly entrenched and that hitting him now will be much more difficult. Raynor says that they have no choice. They’ll have to commit to a ground assault.

MISSION 26: Three Headed Dog

Objective: Assault Gaskerville’s base while protecting Swann’s platoon.
Logistics: Raiders vs. Gaskerville’s Dominion vs. Kerrigan’s Zerg on Char
Tech: Ground only for Terrans.

Story: The air is so full of Zerg coming back to Char that neither the Raiders nor the Dominion dare to use any of their birds. Gaskerville’s larger, sieged-up outpost has drawn a larger proportion of Zerg fire, and it appears that Kerrigan, not knowing what the Terran party lines are and who has what artifact, is coming after Gaskerville hard. She warns them all that Char will kill everyone who comes here. The Raiders take advantage of Gaskerville’s situation by assaulting the base while it’s under attack by the Zerg. While navigating the map, the player has to be take care to avoid destroying Zerg centers of production, because without them helping against Gaskerville, the assault will be much more difficult. Raynor gets an incoming message from Marauder-Swann, who says that he and the package are under attack by Zerg. Tychus wonders about what’s going on there, but Raynor says simply that they have to get to Swann ASAP. The Raiders pull double duty attacking Gaskerville and attacking the Zerg and Dominion forces that surround Swann’s camp. When it looks like Swann’s people are about to be overrun by Zerg, he activates the package – which contains the artifact – and creates a safe zone from the Zerg. Kerrigan instantly recognizes the artifact’s aura and goes after Swann. Gaskerville also puts two and two together and sends more of his men after him. Do or die time – Gaskerville’s base has never been so empty and Swann has never been in more trouble. In the end, the Raiders are totally successful, and Gaskerville’s base is broken into and his artifact stolen while Kerrigan is thwarted from getting her hands on Swann.

Result: Gaskerville’s defenses overcome, Raiders have every piece of artifact but Kerrigan’s.

CINEMATIC 18: Place of Death

As Swann and Stettman unload the humming artifact – and something else they had with them – Raynor and Tychus watch an automated distress call from Gaskerville’s base. Raynor contemplates going to help him when the screen switches to a live feed of Gaskerville’s rooms, destroyed, with Kerrigan still holding his corpse. Kerrigan tells Raynor there’s no way he can get the last piece of the artifact before she finds a way to break them down. She promises again that Char will kill everyone who comes there and cuts the feed. Raynor asks Stettman if Dr. Hanson survived her journey. Stettman leads them to her containment unit, where Hanson writhes in pain from her proximity to the artifact. Her skin is dying and regrowing and dying right before our eyes. Stettman warns Raynor that unless the entire artifact is assembled, its ability to reverse infestation is in serious question. Raynor tells Tychus to bring the Dominion artifact over. As it joins the other pieces, they hum even stronger. The effect on Hanson is immediate, the Zerg parts can’t regenerate fast enough. She screams in pain. Raynor tells Stettman to pump her full of painkillers and asks her if her connection with Kerrigan allowed her to find out where Kerrigan was keeping the last piece of the artifact. Is it even on Char?!? Hanson manages to say ‘deep underground,’ thanks Raynor, and dies.

CAMPAIGN: Char

Swann: Swann says that he might have the tech to locate a network of caves underground. Stettman chimes in that because of the artifact’s anti-Zerg properties, it’ll be in a special holding space, and he can help Swann figure out what that might be.

Tychus: Affected by Hanson’s death, Tychus wonders if Kerrigan is right, if Char really will kill all of them. Raynor says that it doesn’t have to, they can get this last artifact and do what they came here to do. Tychus asks if that means killing Kerrigan, Raynor says no, she’s a victim just like Hanson was. Tychus says that they still have no idea how the artifact works, when it’ll just kill infested terrans dead, or when it’ll de-infest them. Even if they succeed in de-infesting Kerrigan, there’s no knowing if the change is even permanent, or if the Zerg cells might regrow and bring the Queen of Blades back.

Stettman: Raynor says he’ll need Stettman to go into the field for this one, to handle the artifact. Stettman reluctantly agrees. Swann chimes in that he’ll keep an eye out for Stettman. Stettman asks if they can take the artifact with them, but Raynor says not only will that leave this base vulnerable, it’ll alert Kerrigan that they’re coming for the artifact – and where they are with the rest of the thing – as soon as they come into contact with Zerg. She can’t pay attention to every single Zerg death, but there’s a good chance she’s keeping her ear out for the artifact’s emanations in particular. They’ll just have to make sure to get back to base before she steals it.

MISSION 27: Belly of the Beast

Objective: Kill Zerg on the way to the last artifact shard.
Logistics: Raynor, Tychus, Swann, Stettman vs. Zerg underneath Char.
Tech: None.

Story: Raynor, Tychus, Swann, and Stettman descend into the labyrinthine, Zergified bowels underneath Char. Stettman has located a huge underground lake that is surrounded on all sides by Zerg infrastructure. It’s as good a place to hedge their bets on as any. The small squad makes their way through the tunnels, fighting off Zerg at every turn. Everyone’s trading witty quips – Raynor and Tychus are happy to just kill stuff without having to consider their growing differences, Swann and Stettman are finally getting along - and then a huge boss appears and Stettman goes and gets himself killed trying to save everyone. The three surviving musketeers get to the lake, where they have to protect Swann while he engineers a way to drain it to flood the tunnels and provide access to the artifact. Suddenly Matt opens up communications, out of the blue. Raynor takes this to mean that the skies are clear of Zerg and he can expect an assist, but it’s worse than that. The skies have never been more impenetrable, and Matt is taking a huge risk to warn Raynor – they’re not alone. Selendis’s Purifier, along with her golden armada, have warped into the star system. She’s going to attempt to purify Char. Raynor tells Matt to get to safety and check back in six hours. Raynor has a plan. With the lake flooding out into the Zerg tunnels, the Raiders nab the artifact and gtfo.

Result: Last artifact shard captured, but Zerg flyers are everywhere, and Selendis wants to purify the entire planet.

CAMPAIGN: Char

Tychus: Tychus can’t get over the fact that Kerrigan’s premonition is coming true. Raynor says Tychus is being an idiot, they knew what they were getting themselves into. This is a war and people were going to die no matter what.

Swann: Swann wants to know what they’re doing with the artifact. Raynor says nothing yet. The moment they activate it, Kerrigan will go into hiding. She can’t be allowed to know that they’ve put it all together. Surprise is the only thing they have going for them now.

Console, Matt: Matt comes on as promised. Raynor tells him that as soon as this phone call is over, he needs to be put through to Selendis immediately. But before that happens, Raynor needs Matt to prepare everything that’s still in the air to get back into Char’s orbit ASAP. Matt says that Warfield’s injury has been dealt with, and he has actually managed to wrest control over the remains of the fleet Gaskerville came in with. Even so, Matt understands that Raynor’s planning a desperate frontal push. Raynor says – not exactly. He tells Matt to listen in on his conversation with Selendis.

Console, Selendis: Selendis says there is nothing for them to talk about. Nothing will stop Selendis from killing the Queen of Blades. Not Zeratul’s visions of the future, not a promise of redemption, and certainly not Raynor himself. Raynor tells her that he doesn’t want to stop her – he wants to help her. He’s asked all of his men and the Dominion fleets to return to Char, where many of them will die, just so she can get her shot. Selendis says that because Raynor fought honorably aboard her ship, she is willing to trust him. But if he even thinks about crossing her, she’ll have his head on that stick.

Console, Matt: Raynor explains that If they can just distract the Zerg long enough, the Purifier might be able to do some serious damage. Enough to draw Kerrigan out of hiding. And once she’s out of hiding, they can activate the artifact. Matt’s respect for Raynor goes up because he sees Raynor trying to do the right thing at any cost to himself. Matt says he’ll get the word out.

MISSION 28: Shatter the Sky

Objective: Protect the Purifier for thirty minutes.
Logistics: Matt’s, Warfield’s, and Valerian’s Raiders and Selendis’s Protoss vs. Zerg
Tech: Terran and Protoss air only.

Story: The war in the sky to end all wars in the sky. Zerg Mutalisk, Corruptor, and Scourge flocks blacken the skies. An armada of Terran and Protoss air units led by the Hyperion and Bucephalus are all that stand between the Zerg and the Purifier, which is raining fiery death onto the planet’s surface, destroying anything and everything it comes across on the ground. Although the boss waves get harder every time, the regular Zerg flyers that stream in continuously begin to peter out, and it appears that the combined air strength of the Terrans and Protoss might actually be strong enough. Raynor says that they’re picking some seismic activity, suggesting that Kerrigan is working on some monster counter-offensive. Their plan is working. Matt agrees. It’s actually working so well, he’s worried Raynor might do something insane like ask his fleet to warp out the moment Kerrigan comes out, leaving the Purifier a basically defenseless sitting duck. Raynor says ‘it would serve her right,’ but Matt says it wouldn’t serve all the people who are dying right if Raynor sabotaged the Purifier and then Kerrigan somehow got away. They’re so close to ridding the world of the Queen of Blades, and maybe even the Zerg, would Raynor be able to live with himself if it was his fault that they failed to kill her? And it hits Raynor. He can’t het her die. No matter what happens to any of them, Sarah Kerrigan must survive, because she holds the key to saving everyone. Raynor orders Matt to pull the fleets out at once, but Matt refuses. This is their shot to kill the Queen of Blades. Warfield arrives with a fleet of Dominion ships just in time to help stave off an extremely tough wave of enemy flyers. The Terran fleets are breaking through. The Purifier is doing tremendous damage. Raynor has no choice. He wills his telepathic connection to Kerrigan to activate, warning her that if she doesn’t take the Purifier out now, it’s going to glass the entire planet. Kerrigan doesn’t understand where his concern is coming from, but tells him that his worries are misplaced. Kerrigan summons Nydus Worms all across the planet, making them unburrow and gorge on any air units in their path, instantly consuming them. The Terran and Protoss fleets attempt to evade the worms for as long as possible, but between the worms and the Zerg flyers, Matt and Warfield are forced to sound the retreat. They warp out, telling Raynor that the galaxy’s hopes all rest with him now. Selendis isn’t ready to back down and her remaining Protoss armada is wiped out ship after ship, until only the Purifier is left. Swann says that his readings are off the scale, it looks like the tectonic plates under Char’s surface are shifting.

Result: Extensive damage done to the Zerg, but the Terran fleet suffers heavy losses and the Protoss fleet is vanquished.

CINEMATIC 19: Fire and Fury

Tychus confronts Raynor about Raynor calling off the attack. When Raynor fails to explain himself, Tychus says it must be because Raynor finally bought into the whole martyr prophecy thing. He’s not angry, just sad. The earth begins to shake violently. Raynor and Tychus watch from afar as the surface of Char explodes. The mother of all Nydus Worms shoots up, up, up for the Purifier, half a mile into the air, through the Purifier’s blue fire, and grabs hold. The Purifier tilts in the air, continuing to burn the worm’s body. The worm shudders and dies but fails to let go. A tiny speck detaches from the worm and leaps onto the Purifier. Kerrigan. She kills several Zealots easily, but is then pushed back by a powerful psionic attack. Selendis is using all of her powers to hold Kerrigan at bay. Selendis looks around, realizing that the damage to the ship has been catastrophic, and locks eyes with Kerrigan. They both realize that Selendis is about to pull a Tassadar. Selendis lets go of Kerrigan and begins channeling her energies into the ship as Kerrigan makes a mad dash for the side… she LEAPS OFF and starts plummeting, when suddenly the Purifier explodes behind her. Raynor and Tychus watch her body plummet to the ground. Raynor looks at Tychus and says, “Turn it on.”

CAMPAIGN: Char

Tychus: Tychus tells Raynor that Swann’s working on the artifact. Raynor doesn’t ask anything else and Tychus doesn’t offer.

Swann: Swann says that between the Purifier’s assault and the gigantic Nydus Worms burrowing and unburrowing all over the place, the tectonic plates actually have destabilized. Kerrigan won’t be trying anything like that again in the near future. This is Raynor’s chance. Swann also says that he’s only an amateur when it comes to handling the artifact, so it’ll take him a while to connect all the bits and pieces. Naturally while he’s tinkering with it, it won’t be of any use against the Zerg. Naturally.

MISSION 29: All In

Objective: Defeat Kerrigan.
Logistics: Raiders vs. Kerrigan’s Zerg on Char.
Tech: All.

Story: Kerrigan’s weak, as weak as she’ll ever be, and the Raiders base is still fully functional. It comes under heavy attack by surrounding Zerg and must be defended, but the real trick is finding Kerrigan’s regenerative cocoons when she attempts to go into hiding, and destroying them. Despite whatever success the Raiders are having, Kerrigan’s strength returns before Swann is able to complete the artifact. She leads an assault on the base that must be repelled, beginning the process of hunting for regenerative cocoons anew. In preparation for Kerrigan’s second attack, Swann announces that the artifact is assembled and ready to use. It’s turned on when the Zerg begin to overrun the base, killing all lesser Zerg instantly and stopping Kerrigan dead in her tracks. She hides again, but is found every time, and the final battle takes place in one of her hidey-holes where she has run out of places to hide and has nowhere to go. The artifact must be brought there for the battle, and she seems to go berserk from the pain as her Zerg cells are dying off. Once she’s defeated for good, Raynor says ‘secure the perimeter. We’re on our way.’

Result: The artifact is used on the Queen of Blades.

CINEMATIC 20: The Showdown

And so we come to it, the end of a two and a half year journey (that should only have lasted a few months)! The final cinematic of my reimagined WOL campaign.

They say god laughs when we make plans, so god must be laughing now. I’m not talking about Raynor or Tychus here, I mean me, pW, Wasted. See, it’s both hilariously ironic and entirely appropriate that this effort on my part fell completely flat in its closing moments. The reason for that is kind of sort of not my fault – see, back when I was writing out all the important rules, there was one rule I forgot to add. The one that relates to the production cycle of Blizzard’s ultra-gorgeous cinematics. The one that should have read ‘because the cinematics are done years in advance, I’m not allowed to change them.’ I instinctively kept the first three cinematics unchanged, but when it came to the fourth, well… maybe I forgot how specific the dialogue in the scene is, or maybe I just thought I could just change it to be whatever I wanted.

And for the purposes of fanon, I can, no problem – Raynor and Tychus walk in, Tychus makes no references to Mengsk whatsoever, says that Kerrigan was right about Char being a place of death, and shoots her. Raynor blocks the bullet and shoots Tychus dead. The end. Totally ties in with the arcs I gave them and everything!

But this was never intended to be fanon, this was a serious attempt to retell the WOL story using all the tools Blizzard had. Changing the four HD cinematics was not a tool Blizzard had. So my first draft is no good.

That calls for a second draft. Where Tychus’s arc has Mengsk Sr. in it from top to bottom. It’s a learning experience. You write up a draft and see what works and doesn’t work, then you do a better draft, where the things that don’t work get ironed out. You don’t cut out huge chunks of the story until the stuff left in it doesn’t make any sense anymore, like what we got with the three different prophecies, Hanson’s bizarre dual identity, Tychus working/not working for Mengsk, and so on. There are lots of things in my first draft of the campaign that need work, not just the Tychus plot. I never went into detail about the news segments that would be in the game, I didn’t write up the Cutthroat mission, I didn’t set up the Swann/Stettman buddyship that magically appears and gets paid off. There’s probably not enough Mengsk, and there’s still not enough sense of scale of the conflict going on. Nova’s motivation is pretty flimsy. Valerian feels weak in the third act. I might be one or two vs.P missions short. I went into very little detail about the Protoss hub, and I think I could have created a Korhal hub for cutthroat/media blitz/hearts and minds, which would be a lot of fun to explore. I called one cinematic Infested and another Infected – and no, that wasn’t some awesomely subtle distinction, I just forgot. >: / Selendis isn’t the most three dimensional of characters, and considering that she’s the only recurring Protoss, I definitely could have done more. And that’s just the obvious stuff.

As always I’d love to hear your guys’ feedback, this has been a very fun exercise and I hope you had some fun reading it. I don’t know if I’ll ever touch it up but stranger things have happened.

END OF WINGS OF LIBERTY PROJECT(?)