Strife minor characters - Hub 3

This article is a list of minor characters occurring within the final hub of Strife, centered around the Order Commons.

Drones
The drones are peasant workers who have been enslaved by the Order to the point of complete mind control via neural implants. They have minimal free will or awareness of their surroundings, only mindlessly repeating the phrase "Must mine ore!" If the Strifeguy follows BlackBird's suggestion and destroys the transmitter in the mines, the drones will be freed. At this point they will all revert to being referred to as peasants, and will triumphantly declare that they are now free. Drones use the peasant actors of types 24, 25, and 26, though all behave identically in this level.

James
James (peasant type 9) is a former drone who had his implant removed for good behavior and was promoted to an overseer position within the mines. He states that his job mostly consists of wiping up the drool, however. He asks Strifeguy if he has come to free them, and begins to celebrate a bit prematurely.

Area 22: Factory: Forge
While two peasants can be found in the strange, semi-secret forge area of the factory in the original version of Strife, they have no apparent purpose and no unique dialogue, suggesting a possible abandoned idea for additional plot during the game's final hub. This was taken advantage of in the Strife: Veteran Edition re-release. The peasants were repurposed into two unique characters, one of which is critical to the game's new talisman quest.

Apprentice
The apprentice is a forge worker who assists the Master Smithy. If spoken with, he states that any questions should be directed toward his boss, as he only places the labels on the crates of robot parts leaving the forge.

Master Smithy
The Master Smithy runs all operations in the forge. He states that he is responsible for filling the Loremaster's orders for specific robot parts, and tells the Strifeguy that unless he is on official business, he will not have time to talk. While the player can claim to be on such business, the Master Smithy will rebuff any attempts unless the player is carrying the "info" token given by Timothy in the Order Commons in exchange for the blue chalice. When this item is possessed, the smithy will open the door to the top-secret production sector of the factory, where he states that the Order is breeding some type of creature, as well as hiding one of the three talismans.

Because the Master Smithy has been working with Timothy in an effort to understand the forces behind the Order, he has learned some facts about the Entity and its spectres. The optional information he will tell the player about the Order and its connections to the ancient past was derived from the Oracle's unused beta dialogues, which are still present in the conversation script for MAP12: The Temple of the Oracle.

Armorer
The Armorer is a merchant in the Commons who sells protective gear. His prices are high, however; he offers leather armor for 75 gold, metal armor for 175, and environmental suits for 50 gold. In a bit of a twist, he also offers a mysterious "Something else?" option, for 100 gold. If bought, he will cause a door to open, and then tell the player to "go through the door down the hall." This enables early access to Tevick.

This merchant is notable for having two bugs in his conversation scripting. First, after offering the "something else" option, he proceeds to a second version of his shop menu which does not have that option present. However, from this shop menu, it is possible to buy environmental suits for free. Second, after any item is bought, he will mistakenly return to his first shop menu and start offering the "something else" option again, even though it is now completely useless. Both of these errors were repaired in Strife: Veteran Edition.

Barkeep
The Commons barkeep oversees the massive tavern. He is a friendly man who offers three different bits of information about the Order's factory for five gold a piece. He knows about the terror of the inquisitors, states that no one ever goes in or out of the factory any longer, and knows that the factory was built on top of the comet's impact site. In the Veteran Edition, an additional opportunity to buy information will be given, wherein he will recommend finding Timothy, who he says knows some of the Order's secrets.

Medic
The Commons medic sells his goods for the same prices as all other medics: med patches for 15 gold, medical kits for 30 gold, and surgery kits for 75 gold.

Tevick
Tevick (peasant type 9) is a black market salesman in a small room above the Commons tavern. He can be accessed most easily before destruction of the converter by buying the Armorer's "Something else?" option for 100 gold. Doing this will cause the door to his room to permanently open. Tevick will sell the player Shadow Armor for 200 gold a piece, the only place this item can be acquired in a theoretically unlimited amount. After the converter has been destroyed, the room to his door will temporarily open any time the player walks down the adjacent hallway. Due to a level design oversight, it is also possible to jump into his room from a nearby window above the tavern, though this trick is extremely difficult.

Timothy
Timothy is a mysterious yellow-shirted peasant (type 24) who can be found in the building near the waterfall, just around the corner from Richter. In the original release of the game, he is an unfinished NPC whose original purpose is unknown. If spoken to, he simply says "Hello," and the only option given is to ask what he is doing. In response he states, "Nothing. Go away." A beta unused dialogue in the Oracle's conversation script which refers to someone under the Oracle's mind control being located in the Commons near the waterfall may be a possible hint as to Timothy's planned purpose - in the final version of the game, the Commons is never visited if the Oracle is trusted. This could equally refer to Richter, however, leaving no certainty.

In the Veteran Edition re-release, Timothy is given a new purpose related to the game's talisman quest. If spoken with twice, Timothy will tell the Strifeguy that if he has so much time to waste, he should instead use it to look for the blue chalice, a mysterious artifact hidden in the factory that he needs for his research into the Order and its connections to the ancient past. Bringing Timothy this relic will cause him to exchange it for an "info" token, which he instructs the player to take to a worker in the factory's forge in order to gain access to a secret sector where he states some terrible power from the past is housed.

Weapon Smith
The Weapon Smith is a merchant in the Commons with a spacious shop near the waterfall. He sells ammo boxes for 40 gold, missile crates for 85 gold, HE grenades for 100 gold, and energy pods for 135 gold.

Peasant
A single peasant (type 12) can be found working in an area of the Loremaster's laboratory. He seems to be a fully mind-warped member of the Order, slavishly following the Loremaster's orders to manually assemble and maintain acolytes, referring to a need for fresh body parts. Several organs and partial bodies can be seen being artificially supported in glass tanks nearby. He states that Strifeguy should leave since "the Master" does not like guests and prefers his work to remain undistracted. If the player continues to speak with him, he quips that the Strifeguy looks like he would fit into an acolyte's uniform (one of which the Strifeguy did in fact earlier wear, in the form of the officer uniform, making this something of a joke aimed at humoring the player).