Arid Rift

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Level: 201-220
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To start this mission you will first need to talk to the Unicorn Coordinator who stands just after you enter the Xan's main Hub entrance. He's standing near a table and in front of a tent.


Unicorn Coordinator


Open up a dialog with the Unicorn Coordinator and talk to him about the outzones. While he's not excited to discuss the areas with you, a bit of patience in letting him complain leads him to ask you which outzone you want to know about.


Unicorn Coordinator Dialog


After telling him Arid Rift is the outzone you're interested in, he will give you a brief history of the area and then send you off telling you that your contact should be Unicorn Commander Ryker.

To get to Arid Rift, turn right and head around the West side of the ravine, heading W/SW and keep going until you see the
Arid Rift Sign
- 366x446
.


Unicorn Coordinator Dialog


From there turn right, following the sign, and head up the ramp. Follow up the path, until you see Unicorn Advance Sentries killing level 210 Alien Larvae.


Unicorn Advance Sentries on the ramp up to Arid Rift


The Larvae spawn from the entrance of Arid Rift, but shouldn't attack you as the head down the path toward the Unicorn Advance Sentries. Keep heading the way they are coming from and you will reach the portal for Arid Rift.

Arid Rift Portal

Location: 259 x 634, Central Gateway

From entering the area through the portal, the first person you will see is Unicorn Commander Ryker. Also to note in this area is that there is a save terminal located at 284 x 900.


Portal into Arid Rift


As a note for this area, you will want to keep a look-out for a few items that you will need for one of the last parts of this quest:



These can drop from all the aliens in the zone, but seem to have a very nice droprate from the Assemblers in particular.

Unicorn Commander Ryker

Location 251 x 876, Arid Rift
Opening dialog with Ryker will complete your mission to find him, which was set by the Unicorn Coordinator on your way into the Xan Hub.


Unicorn Commander Ryker


Ryker will give you a mission to find a troop of Unicorns that are out in the field. Apparently, they haven't checked back to and he wants to know what's happened. The contact you are to go and find is Demolitionist Hock. If you upload your mission to your mini map, you will see that the area you need to get to is through a large fence.


The fence is located at 314 x 895.


Unlike other "Darwin" fences within the Xan playfield and the Alien Outzones, this one is safe to go through, it's tuned to keep the aliens out of our safe area, as the Unicorn Advanced Sentry take them out.


Sentry attacking Aliens


Heading through the fence will bring you almost immediately into contact with aliens. If it was as easy as just fighting your way through, things could get boring -- instead there are a couple of alien types you need to look out for because they do special things that could end up sending you to reclaim if you are caught unawares!

Firstly, Regeneration conduits. These help the aliens heal, so when you see one of these, take it out before you attack the aliens around it. Also, Alien Scoutships -- when you attack this, aliens spawn out of it. It will also attack you.


Demolitionist Hock

Location: 710 x 952, Arid Rift
When you speak with Hock, he will tell you that they are having trouble extracting information they need because their equipment is being jammed by alien cocoons.


Demolitionist Hock


Mission :: Cocooned

Location: 766 x 960

You have to kill 3 alien cocoons, which you will find just further north east of Hock. Alien Larvae will spawn from the cocoons, but Hocks men should help dispatch them if you are stood close enough for them to see them.


Alien Cocoons


When you have taken all 3 out, return to Hock. He has already started the transmission, but as usual there are still problems.

Item received: Crystal Cutter

Mission :: Shiny Shards

The location given via the upload to map waypoint for this mission is "approximate". However, if you look at our map for Arid Rift you should see the long pink line from the waypoint and along the ridge where you can find the crystals you need.


Crystals


As you can see in the image above. The "named" crystals seem to be a slightly greener version compared to the other non named ones.

If you would prefer to try the coordinates we found them at, then they are as follows:

Corrupted Crystal :: 463 x 351
Pulsating Corrupted Crystal :: 344 x 357 (when you click the cutter on this you get blinded)
Oozing Corrupted Crystal :: 553 x 348 :: 410 x 357 (When you click the cutter on this you get rooted (Sticky feet))
Polluting Corrupted Crystal :: 502 x 341 :: 446 x 358 (When you click the cutter on this you get Dotted (Radiation sickness))



When you have gathered your 4 shards in the correct order, return them to Hock, as well as the tool.

Now it's time to return to Unicorn Commander Ryker in the staging area and give him a status report. When you have had a chat with him, he will give you your next mission.

Note: At this point you can pick up a questline from Unicorn Commander Labbe, and he will give you the mission : Bounty: Specialists. (SK reward missions)

Mission :: Evolution

Ryker wonders what happened to the unit of Omni-Tek AF soldiers sent out on a mission to kill a specific alien. Your next mission from him is to find the alien and get a status report. He wants it dead and buried!

When he gives you the mission, again you can upload mission coordinates to your mini map.

Mission : Evolved Alien Entity

Location: 722 x 593

The alien looks like a slightly smaller version of a city alien general, you basically just need to kill it.


Evolved Alien Entity


We didnt notice any special attacks, it died quite quickly. When you have killed it, head back to Ryker again and he will reward you for completing this task.

He has another task for you; apparently they have been working to find a way to salvage technology from kamikaze units. He wants you to take an interrupter tool, head out to the canyons in search of kamikaze dusters and then to kill them.

Item received: Interrupter Tool

Mission : Dust Brigade Dusters

Location: approximate area 501 x 908 ish.

To work towards completing this mission, target the Kamikaze Dusters then right click the Interrupter tool in your inventory. Failing to hear the "pop" text in your vicinity text could mean that the Dusters will self destruct and you will have to wait for another spawn.

Remember to use the interrupter tool on the Kamikaze Dusters before you kill them, or they will self-destruct!


Kamikaze Duster


When they die, loot the corpses to get your hands on



The items are not 100% drop rate, but sometimes corpses have multiple items on them.

When you have found all three, head back to Ryker and trade him them plus the tool.

Mission : The Xan

Next up, Commander Ryker suggests that the researchers stationed in the area might have use for you. Apparently they are here in Arid Rift to investigate the occurrence of Xan structures. Let's go and have a chat with one of them.

Professor Morgan Parser

Location: 265 x 934


Professor Morgan Parser


Professor Parser, following being "impressed" by my persistance, decided that I could assist in the research.

Item received:


Mission : The Ancient Trace

For this mission, you will need to visit 4 major ruins and use the magnifying glass the professor gave you to examine the ground. (To use the magnifying glass, simply stand by the ruin and right click the magnifying glass in your inventory. When it is successful, your mission will update.)


1 / 4 :: Location 530 x 957


2 / 4 :: Location 775 x 771
You will need to jump up to this one


3 / 4 :: Location 782 x 388


4 / 4 :: Location 518 x 565


Now you have found all four ruins and examined them, return back to the professor. Tell him you have visited all the major ruins and describe them to him. Return your maginifying glass and feel free to ask him to brief you if you wish to continue missioning!

Mission : Genomes and Evidence

The professor wants you to go into the caves and seek out 4 aliens of a specific type. He wants you to collect an epithelium tissue sample from each of them.

To gain your sample, you need to target the alien and right click the Epithelium Biopsy Mixer that the professor gave you that is in your inventory. NOTE: 2 aliens spawn each time you or your team take a sample from this alien, if you are a team of 6.. try not to all gather your sample at the same time, otherwise you will get 12 adds on you!


Brittle Cha :: Location 510 x 841


Tradeskill together the Epithelium Biopsy Mixer with the Epithelium tissue sample from the Brittle Cha. Then target the Brittle Rimah with your Epithelium Biopsy Mixer (1).


Brittle Rimah :: Location 443 x 843
High resist on nanos and perks


Combine the tissue again with the mixer, to gain your Epithelium Biopsy Mixer (2). Then target the Brittle Xoch with it.


Brittle Xoch :: Location 562 x 823
Seems to have reasonable evades


Again, take the sample from the Xoch and combine with your mixer to get your Epithelium Biopsy Mixer (3). Then, we need to target it on the Brittle Ilari.


Brittle Ilari :: Location 593 x 729


When you gain your final sample, combine to make yourself the Full Epithelium Biopsy Mixer. It's now time to head back to Professor Parser with the samples.

Give him the samples and he will talk to you for a while. After telling me I look cute, it was time to go to talk to Professor Masoud to see if I could find out any more information about what I was just told.

Professor Raji Masoud

Location: 284 x 917


Professor Raji Masoud


Professor Masoud is waiting to here from a colleague of his who is apparently working out in the field. His name is Dr. Torgrim Ness. and because we are nice, and we want our AXP rewards, off we go to find him!

Mission : Archaeological Business

Location: 373 x 308

You will find Dr. Ness crawling on a rock. He suggests you waiting 2 days for him to get done to be able to send you off with a report. We can speed it up a little though by offering to do the ground work ourselves.


Dr. Torgrim Ness


He wants you to go and find 3 specific items, the details of which he will upload for you. When you find the items, simply click it and it will spawn into your inventory

Mission : Finders Keepers 1

Location: 238 x 251



Mission : Finders Keepers 2

Location: 573 x 231



Mission : Finders Keepers 3

Location: 748 x 336



When you have gained all three items and they are in your inventory, return to Dr. Ness and trade them to him. He will then give you:



Head back to Professor Masoud and trade him the report. He is very excited at its contents and will give you a lot of information.

Your mission window should now update to "Talk to Professor Parser".

Professor Morgan Parser

Location: 265 x 934
Funnily enough.. that food that was discussed earlier might just be what we are about to sign ourselves up for. Delivery girl at your service!

Mission : Deliverance

Location: 373 x 306

When you get back to Dr. Ness, tell him you brought supplies and trade them to him. Tell him that you need to get a sample of his work for Professor Parser. When he has finished eating, he happily gives you a sealed sample.



Return back to Parser and tell him you delivered the supplies, he will tell you that Dr. Ness wants you to examine a well preserved Xan ruin.

Mission : A Way In

Location: 647 x 530

Your next mission is to search the canyons of Arid Rift, (or follow your mission indicator on your map), for well preserved ruins that might conceal a hollow core.


Location: 768 x 525


If you are in a team, your whole team will zone into the same instance with you. When you get inside, you should update almost immediately.

Mission : Examine the Interior


Now that you and/or your team are all inside, you need to locate the three chests and activate them.

In order to reach each chest you will need to defeat some unique aliens around the hallways leading to the rooms where the chests sit. Each chest is located in a sunken room. From the platform above each room, you can see the chest in the misty basement floor below. You can jump down, or take the stairs on either side of the room to reach it.



Mysterious Chest


Right-click the chests to activate them. When you activate the chest it will trigger an alien spawn. The number of aliens that spawn is determined by the number of people in team. If it's just you, you will get one. You can get up to six aliens if you are in a full team. Defeat these aliens before taking the steps back up to the main floor.

Locate the other two chests in the other hallways. Rinse, repeat until all chests are activated and all aliens are killed.

Ole Jacob


While inside killing aliens, and activating chests, you may run into Ole Jacob in the ruin, where he will ask for help. In the past, he has been known to just attack you! However, this should not happen as it is now possible to speak with him and learn more about his reason for being there. Once your chat is done, he will see no reason to stay, and should leave.

Note: Oddly enough, the last two times in this instance, there was no Ole Jacob present. This part of the quest still updated fine for us.


Ole Jacob.


Once all the other aliens are dead, your end boss should spawn. The boss, Curator - Rimah'Uri is quite a big alien. He is UBT-able though and perks and specials landed.


Curator - Rimah'Uri


Once he has been defeated, your mission should update and you can then leave the building via a portal.



Portal


Right-click the portal to leave the ruin, and you will end up right outside the instance where you entered.

Return to professor Parser. When you tell him you need to talk and to tell him about the ruin, he thinks he needs to be telling you about something different... typical scientist!

Mission : Prove the Connection


The professor claims that alien collectors are transporting artifacts from the ancient ruins and wants you to investigate what kind of business they are running. Your next mission is to get your hands on three unique pieces of evidence from the alien collectors.

So, your next mission is to kill three Alien collectors to find three items. On each kill, a rune will appear in your inventory.

Head to location: 271 x 543, you should find a few Collectors ready and waiting!


Collector


The items that should spawn in your inventory on each kill are:



Now you have the 3 items in your inventory, return to Professor Parser. After telling him that killing them did the trick, and trading them to him, Professor Parser claims that he could never have got so far without your help, and doesn't think twice about asking you for even more of your time!

Item received : Kyr'Ozch Particle Scanner

Mission : The Final Clue


Your next mission is to scan four unique aliens in order to confirm his theory. No killing here! At least not at first!

You just need to use the Kyr'Ozch Particle Scanner on four different aliens in the zone. Again, target the alien and then right click the scanner in your inventory.


Arenae Leader : Location 353 x 734


Collector Leader : Location 242 547


Assembler Leader : Location 409 397


Vicar Leader : Location 746 x 215


When you have tagged the Vicar, a larger mutated alien called Alien Supervisor will spawn. You need to kill it.

When he is dead, your mission should update to return to Professor Mogan Parser.

Trade him back his scanner, tell him about the mutating alien and then he will give you some air space to talk about the ruin. The Professor will then, at last, give you some more information about the Xan.

When he comes to the end of his dialog, you can ask him if there is anything else to do here. He states that a woman has been driving him crazy and that if you can get her to sit still he would appreciate it.

Lindsay Wriste


Mission : The Aliens


Your first task is to find Lindsay. She wanders in the area near Professor Morgan Parser.
Arid Rift Start area
- 292x950



Lindsay Wriste


When you find her and speak with her, Lindsay will explain that her friend Charlie Moss has not been in contact. She is concerned about him and when you agree to help, she suggests you try to speak with Sheri Tater at the Canyon Camp.

Mission : Missing Friend

Location: 626 x 464

Following the waypoint on your map, you will know have arrived at the right place when you see another guarded Security Fence up ahead. Like the fence at the start of Arid Rift, this is safe for you to enter and leave without risk of insta-death. Run toward and go through to he protect area housing our scientist's camp.


Security Gate.


Once you are safely in the camp, find Sheri Tater and open a chat. Tell her you are looking for Charlie.


Sheri Tater.


Sheri remembers that Charlie is one of the volunteers that came here by shuttle from the Morning Star, however, she hasn't seen him. She suggests speaking with Dr. Hernandez.


Dr. Hugo Hernandez : Location 638 x 454


When you speak with Dr. Hernandez, you need to tell him you are looking for Charlie Moss. Unfortunately, he hasn't heard from him either. So, now we need to head back to Lindsay

When you get back to Lindsay, tell her that you talked to the researchers in the camp, but that they haven't seen any trace of Charlie. Lindsay tells you that he had some issues when they were trying to buy their insurance. She still is very concerned. She suggests searching in the Central Gateway in order to find someone who could find out where he is.

Mission : Insurance Policy

Location: 244 x 890 Arid Rift

This has you headed back outside to the Unicorn Coordinator in the Central Gateway. Yes, the same Unicorn Coordinator you met and spoke with to start Arid Rift. While he's no more happy to see you this time around, fortunately, he can be *cough* bribed with 500k to help with the information needed. If you don't want to bribe him with credits, you can also threaten him that the media will be told.


Unicorn Coordinator


When you have the information the Coordinator can give you, your mission should update so you can return to Lindsay.

Mission : Talk to Lindsay Wriste

Lindsay is still worried about Charlie, so you can now offer to go out into the field to look for him.

Mission : Find the Lost Friend

Location: 315 x 386

The waypoint gives an approximate area, the exact place you are headed is 315 x 386. When you get to this way point, target and your mission will update and you should have Charlies notebook in your inventory.

Mission : Return the notebook

When you are back with Lindsay, trade her the notebook. She has a quick look and notices Charlie has written something about a rejuvenation socket. Lindsay asks for you to check out the information Charlie has written about and that if we find it, to tell the researchers at the camp.

Mission : Alien Technology

For this mission, we actually have 2 missions in our window, both with uploadable waypoints. (R-click and select upload to map).


Location 1: 457 x 418


Location 2: 347 x 397


When you have found both, you should find the following items in your inventory:



your mission should also update.

Mission : Contact Dr. Hernandez


Tell the Doctor that you have some information that might interest him. Trade with him the Notebook and the Broken Rejuvenation Socket - Top and Bottom.

After a bit of chatting and reading Charlies Notebook, the Doctor asks for you to search the canyon for a specific alien. You should use the data extraction cage on no less than ten Ensign - Iian to get sufficient data.

Item received : Cage: Data Extractor x 10

Mission : Setting the trap


The Ensign - Iian aliens are relatively easy to find, particularly there is a spawn right near the camp where the doctor is. Once you find one, target and right click the "Cage: Data Extractor" in your inventory. This can only be performed once per alien. Once the cage is over the alien, it dies.


Ensign - Iian


You should find the Iians around the location 574 x 281, there are also quite a few around the plant specimen locations 339 x 637, 502 x 540, 429 x 653, 511 x 723 and 567 x 646).

When you have gained enough data, your mission will update and you need to head back to the Doctor. Tell him that you managed to gather data from all 10 and he will then suggest that you talk to his assistant, Stockton Bass for clarification on the situation he appears to be in.

Note: If for any reason you run out of Cage: Data Extractors in your inventory, you can ask for more from the Doctor.

Mission : The Abductee- Stockton Bass

Location: 634 x 480

The Doctors assistant, Stockton Bass is located very near to the Doctor on a rock sitting down.


Stockton Bass.


After showing you believe in him, Stockton is quite happy for you to conduct some research of your own into his situation. He gives you his Biochemistry Sampling Tool and your mission tab should update.

Mission : Provoke the Abduction

You need to look at a specimen of plant just north of the research camp. There are 5 parts to this mission, so time for some running about. Stockton hands you a:



When you find the plant, target and left click the Biochemistry Sampling Tool onto the plant.

The plant we are looking for is called : "Slimy Alien Plant"


Location 1: 339 x 637


Location 2: 502 x 540


Location 3: 429 x 653


Location 4: 511 x 723


Location 5: 567 x 646


It is now time to head back to Stockton Bass and tell him what we found out. Maybe he can shed more light on the situation for us.

Mission : Talk to Stockton Bass

On returning to Stockton Bass, talk with him and return to him his Biochemistry Sampling Tool. After a little while of chatting, he sends you off to check out an Alien Envoy which is apparently located near to the plants we have just scanned.

Mission : Diplomacy

Location: 642 x 622
The alien envoy can be found where the mission marker shows on your map.


Alien Envoy.


You will notice that the Alien Envoy has a blue name, so talk to it.. or at least try to. It will start attacking you after a short while, so hit it back. When it is dead your mission will update.

Mission : Return to Stockton

When you tell him that you had to kill the alien, he wont be best pleased. Infact he wont really want to talk to you anymore. Nevertheless this updates the mission.

Mission : Talk to Hernandez

Relay to him the discussion you had with Stockton. Also tell him about the tests you carried out. After a chat with the Doctor, he suggests you go to speak with Sheri Tater again.

Misison : Talk to Sheri Tater

Sheri talks with you about the tower structures that are keeping sheilds up and running. Specifically, regarding 3 methods that can be used to disable them.

- Spot jamming focuses on one single frequency, radiating intrusive signals to block the towers.

- Sweep jamming shifts the frequency repeatedly, allowing the jammer to block a wide range of frequencies in quick succession/session.

- Barrage jamming is similar to the previous kind, but with the ability to jam multiple frequencies at the same time instead of shifting things. This is apparently not as powerful.

Sheri expects you will be able to take care of assembling some components in order to make the above jamming devices she mentions to you.

Mission : In a Jam

For this mission, Sheri has given you 3 Modular terminals. Also, hopefully while you were out and about killing aliens you might have managed to get your hands on the Kyr'Ozch Transceiver and Algorithm's we need to combine them with. If you didnt pick any up.. time to go hunting. The best drops for these items are on the "Assembler" aliens.

What you need:

3 x Modular Terminal (From Sheri)
3 x Kyr'Ozch Transceiver (Found on corpses in Arid Rift)
1 x Algorithm: Pseudo-Random Generator
1 x Algorithm: Intelligent Multi-Repeater
1 x Algorithm: Optimized Sensor

Step 1: Combine the Modular Terminals each with 1 Transceiver.



Repeat for all 3

Step 2: Combine each Basic Jammer with an Algorithm.







Now you have all 3 assembled, you need to speak again with Sheri.

Tell her you built all 3 jammers, she will talk to you and then ask that you help to interrupt the ship that is being tracked until the Unicorn forces arrive. She hands you a Unicorn Edition: Laser Tagging Device.

Time *gulp* not to die...

Mission : The Corruption

Location: 341 x 247
Your mission is to damage the alien ship enough for the backup Unicorn forces to do their thing, stopping the aliens' plan from being executed.

To temporarily disable the towers from refreshing the ships defensive shield, use the three jamming devices. If you are teamed, only 1 person has to use the jammers on the towers, in addition only 1 person ought to use the Unicorn Edition: Laser Tagging Device that Sheri gave you.


The Alien Ship, landing pad and towers.


So, first things first. Decide who is going to be jamming and who will be activating the device.

Then, all of the team can go up to get the attention of the drop ship, apart from whoever is using the jamming devices. Once all the jamming devices have been used on the towers (by selecting the tower and r-clicking the appropriate jammer on it) the drop ship will take damage.

As soon as it is below 50%, one person can use their Unicorn Edition: Laser Tagging Device which will activate an Orbital strike on it.

When it goes down, you will receive an item : Strange Piece of Alien Technology. Time to return back to Sheri again.

Mission : Where to go from here

Sheri could apparently see the orbital strike from where she was stood in the reseach camp! You need to tell her that you found a strange alien object and trade it with her.

Sheri finds a mechanism on the device.. and manages to release some viral-bots that stream straight into your NCU. She is immediately concerned and tells you to seek out Commander Labbe in the Central Gateway.

Interpretation Program is now running in your NCU.

Mission : Consultation

Location: 556 x 590, Central Gateway
Labbe is located at the top of the large structure in the centre of the large ravine within the Xan Hub.


Unicorn Commander Labbe


You need to tell him that Sheri told you to go and find him, although you arent likely to hear much of what he is saying... because suddenly you can feel the unmistakable sensation of Time and Space bending.

Mission : From Within

Location: Xan Hub Tower Room 2
You were suddenly warped mid conversation with Labbe. Within the room, you need to speak with the Kyr'Ozch Envoy.


Kyr'Ozch Envoy


After speaking with the Kyr'Ozch Envoy, a few things will start to fit together. On finishing the dialog, you will be left standing next to the portal to Pandemonium within the Xan Hub.. and your reward will be in your inventory:


Also obtainable within 12 man dungeon encounter.
(Right click until it changes to one suitable for your profession)



So, what is next?


You should also have a new mission in your tab : The Alien Threat. This leads you to Mitaar Hero.

You can also speak to Unicorn Commander Labbe, and he will give you the mission : Bounty: Specialists. (SK reward missions)

In addition, you can pick up missions from Lindsay Wriste and Sheri Tater.

Last updated on 11.30.2022 by Cariadast
Written by Ukblizzard
Information and research provided by the AOU team.
Special thanks to members of Omni-Pol RK1, who joined in the research -- especially Tarels, Scenegg, Tethien, Feyad and Thegenerator.
Thanks also to Ophiuchus, Bramage and Tinkerz for accompanying us on "The Corruption" mission.
Thank you to Deadlykis for coords for the Ostracon and additional information about Ol' Jacob
Do you have questions about this article or found an error? 4 comment(s) - Click here to view them!
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