In the months leading up to our July event, POWDER KEG, we have been foreshadowing an encounter with The Workers, the formidable defense system of the Grave. Previously found only in the Everliving Wood, players will now have a chance to confront them during the 2pm to 6pm Casting shift (being more specific about the time might ruin some of the surprises around how it will occur). Before diving into the crucial mechanics of this battle, let's briefly review what we know about The Workers in-character.

The Workers are powerful protectors of the Mortis – ancient entities compared to the most horrific Undead that have plagued the Greater Wastes. A compilation of in-character information about The Workers has been made available here.

Now for the mechanics! Please note that these are living documents and may be subject to change. Let us know if you see anything that doesn’t seem to work as intended or that you have questions about!

First, be aware of NULL status. Workers are surrounded by a constant psionic barrier and immune to most effects. If your character would not be able to be affected by Anomaly effects (Master Mental Endurance fields or the Master Shield ability of the Forged Steelpaw Shield being the best ways to accomplish this), you must call "NULL" when interacting with a Worker at the end of your interaction (such as an attack for damage) to signal to the portrayer of the Worker(s) to take the effect. You can gain or lose NULL status through various plot interactions as well.

We've released two blueprints and two Zones of Mechanics (ZoMs) specifically designed for combating The Workers, as well as the schematics for the now-infamous Inverted Cairn project driven by characters in-game over the last months. Access to these blueprints will be available in-game, but summaries are provided here for transparency.

The Spike Severer is an augment for a Melee Small weapon intended to disable The Workers' ability to regenerate Body when Undead around it fall into bleedout. Here are its core mechanics:

Spend 5 Mind for "End Worker Spike" on the next attempted strike against an Undead
After a successful strike, the user suffers Blinding

The Everliving Weapon is an augment for any melee weapon type with these core mechanics:

Spend 5 Mind and 5 Body for NULL modifier on next 3 attempted strikes with augmented weapon
After 3 strikes or 1 minute (whichever comes first), the user's bleedout timer is reduced to 30 seconds for 5 minutes
Weapon cannot deal damage to non-Worker targets

Additionally, two ZoMs were unlocked by character actions: the Bloody Poison Condenser and the Inception Of A Weapon. These will be accessible in the Culinary Crafting Area and the Library, respectively.

Finally, the Inverted Cairns Schematics can be found here and will reside at the Library as well but can be moved in-game for constructing the actual Cairns.

That covers the mechanics for this highly anticipated showdown with The Workers! We're excited to see how it unfolds at POWDER KEG. Get your tickets (and be sure to check-in on the database) here.