Destiny 2's Season of the Haunted kicked off earlier this week with new loot, an old villain, and a brand-new story to keep Guardians busy on the infested Leviathan.
It also brought a brand-new batch of items to the Eververse, Destiny's in-game cosmetics shop, and one of those items is a dog. Specifically, it's the Loyal Companion emote, which summons a pupper made of pure light for your Guardian to kneel down and pet. However, this pooch isn’t quite a Guardian’s best friend as it arrived without first getting all its shots.
Unlike most items in the Eververse which eventually go on sale for free in-game currency, the Loyal Companion emote is only available for Silver--Destiny’s in-game cash equivalent. The reason for this is that the Loyal Companion is actually a charity drive item with "100% of the proceeds" going to the Bungie Foundations, Bungie’s non-profit group that helps out a number of charities including iPads for Kids and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
As explained by Bungie Foundation’s Christine Edwards, that’s not just any dog represented in the Loyal Companion emote. "He’s a real-life Belgian Malinois named Artemis and the best friend of a very special Guardian whose story we will share with you in the coming weeks," wrote Edwards in yesterday’s blog update. "A story of resilience, recovery, and triumph only made possible by the Destiny community and his dog Artemis."
Bungie Day arrives on July 7, so we’ll get the full story of Artemis then.
In the meantime, you might want to look-but-don’t-touch when it comes to the Loyal Companion emote. Yesterday’s TWAB also noted a bug where "using the Loyal Companion emote can sometimes cause the game to crash." This dog comes with some significant fleas, it seems.
Thankfully, you won’t need a dog to distract yourself in Destiny. There’s plenty to do in the new season, including an all-new dungeon that just dropped today. For Guardians brave enough, there’s even a new Exotic weapon hiding somewhere in there.