Pathologic: The Marble Nest

Pathologic: The Marble Nest is a stand-alone short story set in the Pathologic universe, set on a single day during the Second Outbreak. It was initially released as a limited demo for backers of the Kickstarter project as a sneak preview of what the story of Pathologic 2 would be like, on December 1 2016. It was later released for anyone to download. Ice-Pick Lodge describe it as "almost like a small autonomous game that uses the assets, characters, and premise of Pathologic, but works on its own. Kind of."

Following the official release of Pathologic 2, Ice-Pick Lodge re-released an updated version of Pathologic: The Marble Nest as a DLC on October 29th, 2019. It was available as a free download to anyone who already owned Pathologic 2 as of the release date. It was later released with the Xbox One release on Decmeber 12, 2019, and on Playstation 4 on March 7, 2020, one day following Pathologic 2's console release.

Gameplay
The mechanics of Pathologic 2: The Marble Nest are similar to those in Pathologic 2: the player must manage their body and uncover the mysteries of the Town. They must work to piece together clues to unravel Death's mystery - or don't. The Bachelor will grow hungry and exhausted and that must be dealt with. Infection and immunity will rise and fall with the players actions. Time will move and the player must be aware of it. The survival mechanics are lenient compared to Pathologic 2 "...as if the Bachelor didn’t try to cling to life too much...".

Plot
"You are Daniil Dankovsky, a Bachelor of Medicine and fighter of death. You have one last chance to uncover the truth."

The events of The Marble Nest take place on the tenth day of the outbreak as experienced by the Bachelor.

The Bachelor awakens in a coffin within a small room, disoriented and unsure of when and where he is. He is soon confronted by Aspity, who chides him for failing to discover the source of the Sand Plague in the Stone Yard the previous day. Passing by the corpse of Dora Feugel, Bachelor learns from an orderly that the quarantined refugees from across the river have all perished. Bachelor stumbles away from the grisly scene to discover that Dora is alive. Dora tells Bachelor that she and Marat Ranin had been certain that he was dead, and that Marat was furious with him for his failure. Upstairs, Bachelor finds Marat, who accuses him of having been apathetic to the plight of those endangered by the Plague. Following the argument, Marat assaults Bachelor, who overpowers him and beats him to death. Attempting to leave, Bachelor finds an Executor, who repeatedly asks him to accept his death. Refusing, Bachelor instead steps out onto the heady plague-ridden street, where he promptly blacks out.

Bachelor is awoken by Sticky, who informs him both that The Judge had come looking for him and that his friend Blacky's stepfather is sick. Concluding that he had witnessed a prophetic nightmare, Bachelor sets out to find the carrier of the Plague. He soon learns that he had been presumed dead, and that The Judge had assumed his position of authority and ordered an end to the quarantine. The Judge later tells him that he had met with the carrier but decided to let them go in order to test the resilience of the Town.

Setting to tracking down the carrier, Bachelor determines that Blacky's stepfather has died of a stroke rather than Sand Plague. He also finds Dora and Marat self-quarantined in the Cathedral; however, he is unable to determine if they are suffering from the Plague, and sends them to his lodgings in order to reexamine them later. Bachelor also investigates rumors of a funeral in the Steppe encampment outside of town; at the bequest of an Herb Bride, he dresses an Odongh's self-inflicted wound, unwittingly enabling an Herb Bride sacrificial marriage to take place. Sometime during the day, Bachelor also finds a crowd of people waiting for Aspity to interpret their dreams. Aspity once again rebukes Bachelor for refusing to accept or understand death, and demonstrates how to "die properly"—crumpling to the ground before him, lifeless, only to reappear outside. Eventually, Sleepy Head, Shrew, and Sticky alert Bachelor to the location of the carriers, and he successfully orders their quarantine. The victory is short though, as an orderly informs Bachelor that a mob of sick refugees from across the river have made it through the barricades and dispersed throughout the Stone Yard.

Come nightfall, the Plague takes hold and spreads throughout the streets of the Stone Yard; the air grows thick, and the tenement walls develop oozing, mottled sores. Townspeople take to the streets, killing an Odongh out of suspicion that it is the carrier. At the evening bell, the townspeople begin travelling North for a funeral. Following the crowd, Bachelor is informed that a learned doctor from the Capital has become the first victim of the Sand Plague in the Stone Yard. Pushing through the crowd, Bachelor enters his lodgings to find Sleepy Head, Shrew, Sticky, Dora, and Marat—all of whom speak to him as if they are watching over him while he feverishly sleeps. After being boarded up in the house by the crowd outside, Bachelor returns to the room that he had woken up in in his nightmare to find an Executor looming over a cradle where his coffin had been. Once again, the Executor urges Bachelor to accept his death, rather than playing out the events of the day once more, vainly trying to prevent the spread of the Plague. Upon the Bachelor's—or perhaps the Player's—refusal, the Executor leaves off, and bids him return to another fruitless loop. "Now close your eyes," says the Executor, "When you open them, a boy called Sticky will wake you up, and the Stone Yard will once again be free of infection. Perhaps this time you'll manage to prepare yourself for the inevitable. See you soon."

Gallery
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Endings


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