A first look inside Tabula Rasa's Omega Labs, part 2

If you're familiar with Penumbra, you may already have some reasonable guesses as to what's inside Omega Labs: high-end weapons research. Inside you'll find the half-robot, half-zombie Machina, made from the bodies of Bane soldiers... or even Human soldiers. Genetic experiments of all sorts. Biological warfare. McLaughlin explains to us that this is intentionally the hardest content in the game, because it's after you've hit the level cap, but you continue to improve your skills and your armor — so it should be tough. Even the small team of NCsoft developers decked out in some of the game's best gear didn't manage to get through it unscathed: there was more than one death as we watched them tackle the instance.

Once through the instance portal, the initial missions paint an unpleasant picture of the situation inside. The first mission giver tells us, "The situation inside the complex has gone from bad to worse. The com-lines went out and now the entire internal teleporter network is down..." You're asked to venture inside the labs in order to:

• Reactivate the five teleporters in the labs (as you activate each, reinforcements will be sent in to aid you). In addition to the five required by the quest, there are two bonus teleporters hidden within the base, which will reward you (and everyone in your party) with 50k credits on activation
• Access the five databanks in the labs, one in the Involantary Commitment Ward, Bioweapons Unit, Network Operations Center, Re-education Ward, and Pharmogenetics.
• Locate the advance team that's gone in, last heard from in the Bioweapons Unit.
• Locate Dr. Mathias Sandorf, formerly the head of Omega Labs, and terminate him with "extreme prejudice." We're told he's lost his mind or "went completely Colonel Kurtz," the mission-giver tells us. "His men follow him like he's the second coming; they call themselves 'Believers'. I can't stress just how dangerous this situation is. The technology inside this facility is some of the most dangerous stuff in the galaxy. If Sandorf really has lost his mind, we need you to take him out."

As your group progresses through the instance, the story of what's happened here unfolds with each databank you access. As you make your way further into Omega labs, the messages become more psychotic:

To: The Great Prophet Sandorf, Savior of All Humanity
From: Your Humble Servant, Believer Stephan
Title: Our Holy Purpose
The lord has spoken unto me. These Eloh are false prophets and those touched by their deceits are demon-possesed. They shall burn in the fires of eternal damnation. Our cause is just and holy. The clensing shall free us all. Praise unto you, our savior, the Great Prophet Sandorf.

And:

The so-called 'super-soldier' serum is a holy sacrement. My mind has never been clearer nor has my purpose. Theirs are the sins of sodom. They are arrogant, over-fed, and unconcerned. They are haughty and do detstible things before me in the name of the Eloh devils. Therefor I must do away with them as you will soon see. I am Sandorf. I am the alpha and the omega. I am the beginning and the end. I am the first and the last. The day of judgement is upon us.