Knowledge for Power

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Find your way inside a pyramid in Jewel of Atiiki and play hide-n-seek with a Sphinx.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Mission Steps 3 Walkthrough 4 Clearing 5 Hide-n-Seek Walkthrough 5.1 General Tips 5.2 Bottom Floor Locations 5.3 Seeker Patterns 5.4 Hiding Successfully

Overview

• Zone: Katta Castrum
• NPC: Associate Researcher Plik
• Key Phrase: help
• Prerequisites: May need to speak with Maladoks first
• Reward: Orux and Combine Faction
• Type: Group (minimum 3)

Mission Steps

1. Zone into Jewel of Atiiki
2. Find Yinihortinkah at the top of the Pyramid (instanced zone)
3. Evade the first wave of seekers
4. Evade the second wave of seekers
5. Evade the third wave of seekers
6. Find the answer to your question
7. Return to Plik with the answer

Walkthrough

A great, but simple, mission which many should enjoy. To start simply make your way to the Jewel of Atiiki zone which can be accessed from a portal on the outer SouthWest edge of Katta Castrum. Once inside Atiiki make your way to the outside area. The easiest route is to take the first left from the zone-in and follow the tunnel to the outside. Once outside head North to the northern most Pyramind (middle one of the three at the far north). Note that while nothing sees invis before you reach the pyramid most (some?) of the Efreeti mobs see invis (nothing sees SoS however).

Zone in to the mission instance from the top of the Pyramid (you don't receive a message box choice when zoning like other missions). Inside you'll find many Efreeti type mobs who all see invis with the sorcerer's seeing through SoS. Yinihortinkah lies at the top of the pyramid so you'll have to fight your way up. If you're in a hurry you don't have to completely clear the pyramid, just any mob in your way (see detailed walkthrough below)-.

Hail Yinihortinkah who will offer you a challenge of attempting to hide from her Blind Seekers. Before starting the game you may wish to clear some areas in the bottom of the pyramid as that will be where you hide. Say ready to begin the game (see below for a detail walkthrough of how to win the hide-n-seek game).

Once you have done all three waves return to Yinihortinkah and hail her to get a chance to ask your question. The proper question is (some different questions may still work):

What is the cause of the power source failure?

If you succeed you're mission will be updated. If not you will have to charm the Sphinx to ask her the correct question. Say all 5? words at the same time to be able to ask her the question again.

Once you have the answer return and hail Researcher Plik in KC to complete the mission.

Clearing

In order to begin the game of hide-n-seek at least part of the bottom floor needs to be cleared as well as the path up to the top floor to Yinihortinkah. Originally a Rogue with SoS could hail the Sphinx the and do the mission solo but now all Efreeti Sorcerer's see through SoS.

You don't have to clear the entire zone but only enough mobs to run around safely on the bottom floor and to make your way to the top. If you have a Rogue with SoS the mission is easier as you have to kill fewer mobs to allow the Rogue to reach the top safely. The zone spawn is random so you may have to kill a different amount of mobs in different missions (if you are lucky a Rogue can reach the top without running into any Sorcerers).

NOTE: from the entry on Allakhazam: "As of the 3/14 patch, saying 'ready' results in the text: "You cannot possibly hope to evade my seekers with so many of my savage Efreeti roaming the halls below..."

"We killed all but 2 on the bottom floor, and all the way up to top floor, leaving the NPC room untouched, before we got the Hide text."

It is also good to note that the beetles do not assist the Efreeti and vice-versa which makes pulling easier. Assist/aggro range is also quite small and all mobs can be Dulcified by an Enchanter/Cleric which makes pulling singles relatively painless.

In general you have to clear:

• All wandering mobs on the bottom floor (3-4) as this makes hiding easier.
• Static mobs in areas 5/6/1 (not always required depending on what sees invis/SoS but makes the game easier).
• 2 mobs guarding the ramp up to the second floor.
• Area 2 does *not* need to be cleared (except for the 1 wanderer) as if you go straight south from the door you will not get aggro.
• Likewise, area 7 does not need to be cleared.
• Clear enough mobs up to the top floor in order to hail Yinihortinkah.

While this sounds like a lot even with a low DPS group with frequent breaks it should only take 60-90 minutes (with a decent group 30-45 minutes).

Hide-n-Seek Walkthrough

What will happen during the game is that the Seekers (non-aggro) will go to their starting point and Yinihortinkah will shout one of 5 patterns for them to search in (A-E). If a Seeker gets too close to a member of the group that member is found. Yinihortinkah will shout 4 patterns in each wave and if any member is not found at the end the wave is won. If all members are found during a wave it will end although you can restart as many times as you want by saying ready again to the sphinx.

While this sounds easy at first the Seekers have great powers of perception and will 'see' anyone close to them, through walls and floors. If you have particles enabled you will see a blue aura surrounding each Seeker. If you touch that blue aura you are considered found. You cannot use CoH or assumably any other teleportation magic and zoning out disqualifies that person.

The key to winning this mission is to learn where the Seekers move to in each pattern and try to move to a position where you will not be found. There is no one location that is perfectly safe (there are possible bugs which make it appear so) and there will be times where you cannot avoid being found.

General Tips

• Movement buffs help somewhat (SoW, SoE, Selos, Lev, etc...)
• Large races may wish to shrink to help avoiding the blue aura in the narrow halls.
• Teleportation magic may not be used (CoH, gate, evac?, zoning, etc...). It will either not work or disqualify that person from the current wave.
• Getting caught is soley based on proximity to the Blind Seekers (as shown by the blue aura). Hiding behind geometry does not work and you can get caught through walls, floors, and ceilings.
• To see the Seeker's blue aura you will have to turn particles on (unsure exactly which setting).
• There is a possible bug where if multiple members stand on the same spot the Seeker will only catch one of them (not confirmed).
• The same pattern will not be called twice in a row during a wave. It can be called between waves, i.e. if wave 1 ends with Azia then wave 2 can also start with Azia.
• A wave ends after 4 patterns if at least one group member remains hidden, or after everyone is found.
• Waves can be restarted as many times as needed after failure by saying ready to the Sphinx.

Bottom Floor Locations

While there are three floors in the pyramid the top two are so small as to make hiding there pointless so the bottom, and largest floor, will be soley used (see image to the right).

1. SW room with 3 static mobs
2. Largest southern room with 6 static mobs and 1 wanderer with 2 static mobs and 1 wanderer just outside the door
3. Zone in with no mobs
4. Hallway with no nearby mobs except for 1-2 wanderers
5. Dead end northern hallway with 1 static mob and 1 wanderer
6. Dead end north western hallway with 1 static mob and 1 wanderer
7. Middle room with 2 mobs

Seeker Patterns

There are five possible patterns the Seekers will search in. On the bottom floor there will be 3 seekers although you must be careful when near the up ramp as Seekers in the upper floor can still see you through the ceiling in some cases.

• Azia -- All 3 seekers move to areas 2
• Beza -- Seekers will move to areas 1, 6 and 7 leaving areas 2, 3 and 5 safe
• Caza -- Seekers will move to areas 5, 6, and 7 leaving areas 1, 2, and 3 safe
• Dena -- Seekers will move to areas 1, 3, and 5, leaving areas 2 and 6 safe
• Ena -- Seekers will move to areas 3, 6, and 7 leaving areas 1, 2, and 5 safe

Hiding Successfully

In general the safest room is #2 as it is safe for 4 of the 5 patterns. If you aren't in a rush you can simply wait in room #2 and if the Azia pattern is called get found and restart the wave. Basically you are just waiting for 4 patterns in a row with no Azia (about 23% of the time).

A more active method is to try and pick the best room where you can move to a safer room when a pattern is called. There will still be times where you will not be able to move anywhere but is much more reliable and you can often run the three waves without being found once. Larger classes may wish to get shrunk to improve their chances at not being found.

• The basic idea is when Azia/Beza is called you want to be in area 3 while during patterns Caza/Dena/Ena you want to be in area 2. This is difficult as it depends on where the Seekers currently are and where they are moving to.
• When first starting wait at the entrance to area 2 until the pattern is called. If it is Azia or Beza move to area 3, otherwise move to the Southern side of area 2.
• When in area 2 during pattern Dena wait until the next pattern is about to be called and move close to area 4. If Azia is called move quickly to area 6, otherwise return quickly to area 2.
• When in area 2 during patterns Caza/Ena and Azia is called, run to area 1. Note that you are stuck here as you cannot get around the Seekers while they are in area 2 so if Beza or Dena is called next you will be found. If you are not found return to area 2 when you can.
• When in area 3 during pattern Azia, move to area 5 if Ena is called, area 6 is Dena, and stay put if Caza/Beza is called. If Caza/Dena/Ena is called then move to area 2 once the Seekers stop moving.
• When in area 3 during pattern Beza you can either stay put or move to area 2. If you stay put you are caught if pattern Dena is called, and if you move to area 2 you will be caught if Azia is called.

With a little practice you can choose the best possible room for the pattern and minimize your chance at getting caught. There will still be, however, times where a string of unlucky patterns will trap you in a room unable to do anything (had 7 failed waves in a row due to this).