The Dredger

The Dredger
Affiliation	P03 (boss) The Inspector and The Melter (coworkers)
Occupation	Factory worker OLD_DATA Collector
Physical description
Species	Robot
Gender	N/A
Appearances
Appears in	P03's Factory Botopia
Debut	Act II

But I can't be takin' a dive. P03 will unnerstan'.

The Dredger

The Dredger is a character in Inscryption. It serves a major role in Act II and a minor role in Act III.

Background

The Dredger is one of P03's workers. It collects the metal used to create the bots, serving the most important role in the factory. The Dredger is also in charge of collecting OLD_DATA for P03, with the entire Factory being designed to cycle resources for it, and The Dredger as the one keeping things going. Despite this it appears to not know the true details of the OLD_DATA.

Personality

The Dredger is greatly focused on its work, to the point it will concede a battle itself so it can continue. While annoyed if the player continually bothers it, it is otherwise fairly kind to them.

Relationships with other characters

The Dredger is never seen directly interacting with any other characters, but it shows a large amount of devotion to P03, willing to work overtime and seemingly counteract the intended events of the game in order to fulfill its requests. Unlike with other characters, P03 actually returns the favor to The Dredger by making it into a dialogue NPC in Botopia, with all other characters being there to serve a gameplay purposes. However, after it begins questioning if it got the right end of the deal, P03 disables it from making further dialogue.

Act II

The Dredger appears as an NPC in the dredging room of P03's Factory, found operating a claw to pull the remains of discarded bots onto the conveyor. When spoken to, it will engage in dialogue before initiating battle.

Battle

The Dredger will play no cards, and it will concede after one turn.

Strategy

No strategy is needed to win this battle.

Post-battle

After defeating it, The Dredger gives the player a Techno card pack before continuing its work.

Shortly after finishing its interactions with the player, The Dredger manages to find a corrupted piece of metal.

Act III

The Dredger appears as an NPC in Resplendent Bastion, providing dialogue but serving no gameplay purpose. It speculates that it may have gotten the wrong end of its deal; being only a dialogue NPC as a reward for dredging up the OLD_DATA, while Leshy's friends (for that is how he perceives them to be), including the Prospector and the Trapper/Trader who did not acquire the OLD_DATA, were rewarded by making them area bosses; the main three. Of course, P03 shuts this speculation short, as it doesn't like the Dredger's train of thought.

Trivia

• The Dredger is one of the five characters to have their own Steam trading card, along with The Woodcarver, Royal Dominguez, The Bone Lord, and Rebecha.
• The Dredger's sprite appears to be covered in algae during Act II, but the colored portrait in Act III depicts it as being covered in rust.
• The Dredger's manner of speech seems to be intended as a lowbrow English dialect, presumably Northern.
• The Dredger is the only one of P03's employees to refuse the order of sacrificing itself on the assembly line, and thus has no card form.
  • Judging by its dialogue, The Dredger is supposed to do this as part of the intended story, but P03 wants it to continue working to attempt to collect OLD_DATA.

Quotes

Act II

• Initiating a battle with the player:
  • "Oy, mate. I know what yer 'ere for. Yer askin' me to take a dive. But I can't accommodate ye, mate. Got special orders, innit? Lookin' to dredge somefin' special. We can duel. Aye. Maybe even give ye somefin' if ye win. But I can't be takin' a dive. P03 will unnerstan'."
  • "Oy, ye wan't a rematch? I unnerstan'."
  • "Yer not thinkin' ye can get me to jump? Nofin' you say or do can change me mind."
  • "Oy, ye wan't a rematch? But I can't be takin' a dive. P03 will unnerstan'."
  • (player fixed their deck) "Lookin' like ye fixed somefin', mate."

• Player's deck is invalid:
  • "Somefin' wrong with yer deck, mate. Lackin' a few cards by the look of er."
  • "Lackin' a few cards in yer deck, mate. I don' 'ave time fer this, mate."
  • "Somefin' wrong with yer deck, mate."

• Player loses the battle:
  • "Right, right. Off with ye now."
  • "Off with ye now."
  • "Enough of this now, mate. Off with ye."
  • "Lotta distractions, eh mate? Nofin' against yer deck but, might not be up to the task."

• Player wins the battle:
  • "'ere. Take yer pack. Now off with ye. I need'a concentrate. OY! is that...? P03's gonna reward me BIG for this 'un."

• Spoken to:
  • "Off with ye."
  • "Still somefin' yer after? I gave ye yer pack."
  • "Geroff."

• Dialogue during battle:
  • (after one turn has passed) "Know what, mate, can't take me eyes off me work 'ere. I'll give ye this 'un."
  • (player wins normally) "Aye, that were impressive! A turn one win. Suits me just fine."

Act III

• Spoken to:
  • "Oy. Mate. Lookit me now. Somefin' of a celebrity around 'ere. Me reward for dredgin' up... that thing. I get ter be somefin' of a dialogue NPC."
  • "Somefin' a little strange fer sure. P03 let me talk, aye. But not a boss? Not one of 'em Uberbots? Even Leshy did that fer 'is mates!"
  • "Somefin' not quite right... might'a got the wrong end o' that deal..."
  • P03: "That's enough."