Jonas Lasker, head of the cleanup crew arrived on site. Publicly, he relieved the party of duty; privately, he warned them of deeper dangers—sealed directives signed by Lucien Drekanov, mysterious night shipments, and disappearing workers. Jonas urged the group to keep digging, pressing a few incriminating scraps into their hands.

From the collapsed shaft staggered Thorun Darkstone, a dwarven engineer who had just slain a lone mutant below. Wounded but resolute, Thorun confirmed the collapse was no accident and joined forces with the party, binding his fate to theirs.

Later that same night, while escorting Jonas near the Murmansk docks, the group was ambushed by one of Lucien’s escaped prototypes. A massive reptilian mutant released to silence Jonas. The brutal fight ended with the creature slain, but Jonas suffered mortal wounds and died on the pier. His final act was entrusting the party with his suspicions and scraps of evidence.