Cairo International Airport Missions

## Documenting Missions in the Cairo Airport

I have created a new page to document my two pieces of work for the Silk Road game concept, so that it didn't clog up the 'Cairo Hub' page.
Kara Hawkins/1703386

## Mission: Helping the Shopkeeper

Business has been booming in Cairo ever since the gates were opened to all travellers, and with that has come an unusual problem. Shops all over the city are running out of materials to create wares from, and are having to turn away paying customers. Gather items for the markets and reap the rewards!
===Mission conditions:

* Arrive in the city and pass through customs
\* Visit at least three legal shops
\* Visit the counterfeit market and learn of supply chains suffering===

Upon entering Cairo, the world renowned shops will be rather lacking in terms of outstanding items, and even higher level normal items, such as healing potions and armour, instead only offering low grade cow leather armour and potions healing fractional amount of a level 50 players’ health. The first shopkeeper you speak to will have some variation of a conversation relating to the lack of materials. Old item supply routes have dried up and demand has been higher than ever, leading to a stagnating market place. No information will be given on who supplies items in this first conversation, and vendors will violently refuse to buy any items from you. However, in continuing conversations with other stall holders, it will come to light that many of them visit the Cairo International Airport to purchase imported materials for a low cost.

Visiting the Airport you find it in disrepair, as has been the case with many airports since the Re-Enchantment. But it is still lit, and there are plenty of people there, and what seems like a bustling market, but none of the stalls have any items in view. Nobody even acknowledges your existence, except for the only colourful ‘stall’ in the ‘market’. Here, you meet Feme, a cheerful young orc lady does not seem to understand the nature of the location she is in, with a rainbow banner above her table and a startling lack of half-heartedly hidden weapons upon her person.

As she registers a new face approaching her, she beams, then immediately tries to return to having a straight face.

### Dialogue:

Player:        1. “What’s this place” (Begin Feme Speech 1)       2. “Hey there” (Begin Feme Speech 1)     3. “What a lovely banner! I think this place could use more cheering up!” (Begin Feme Speech 4)

(1). Feme: “Hey Feme, you hear anything? I know I can’t, this place is empty and I have nothing to sell! So nobody could possibly be interested in speaking to me!”

Player:         1. “Excuse me, I’m right here. Are you blind?” (Begin Feme Speech 2)      2. “I was told to come speak to Feme, do you know where I can find her?” (Begin Feme Speech 3)

(2). Feme: “Hmmmm hmm hmmmm hmm hum hum…” \*conversation concluded\*.

(3). Feme: “Oh that’s me! But, I’m not supposed to speak to anyone who hasn’t isn’t wearing the special pin… Luckily for you, I have one right here, if you have the money!” \*Feme will now sell the player an aeroplane shaped pin badge for a small amount of money. Once bought, progress to Feme Speech 5.\*

(4). Feme: “I knooooow, right? I’ve had it for such a long time, and thought I could use it to get people’s attention in this dreary place! But the others here don’t seem to like my impeccable sense of décor, and won’t even give me the time of day! Of course, I’m supposed to give you the cold shoulder, but how could I when you clearly have an eye for beauty. My name’s Feme, kinda like Femme, and you really ought to wear this cute little badge if you’re going to stay here for much longer.” \*Feme presents you with an aeroplane shaped pin badge, carefully hand painted to match the banner above her stall. Once you equip this, progress to Feme Speech 5.\*

(5). Feme: “**Oh! A stranger wearing one of our badges! Welcome stranger, that badge means I can now speak to you!** Hey again! Sorry for all the formalities, but we have a system here to make sure nobody gets arrested. Not everything here is entirely on the legal side of the law, if you know what I’m saying. And if you don’t know what I’m saying, I’m saying **we’re the black market**! \*Confetti explodes from the corners of her banner.\*

* Camera pans out to see the whole airport shop floor, where all NPCs stop and turn to face Feme, before returning to milling around.\*

(5 continued). Feme: “Oops! Well, black market always seems so sinister, whereas those here prefer to go undocumented in terms of the services they provide. It’s mostly harmless trade, but discretion is this place’s middle name! Mine’s Nima! So I guess that’s why I’m not so popular… Anyway! I’ve bent your ear long enough! I’ll give it to you straight. I buy rare animal material from adventurers at competitive prices, and sell them on to the more scrupulous vendors in the market. But recently nobody has been selling me anything! I think it’s because it’s a lot safer off in Europe, and the weather conditions are safer, but I digress. It’s what I do! I hate to put all this work on your shoulders, but could you bring me some Nile Mud, a bunch of Temporal Dates, and some Goat’s Milk? If you could also write down where you found them, I’ll be able to gather them up myself in the future. I can’t rely on adventurers when you’re the only one here!”

Player:       1. “Thanks Feme, I’ll get right on it.” \*Mission: ‘Scavenging for Feme’ begun\*       2. “Why don’t the shops around here buy directly from adventurers?” (Begin Feme Speech 6)

(6). Feme: “Be- because then what would I do? I guess beside that, it’s that trade of unregulated goods has been outlawed in Cairo because of some dumb scare where like, half the city turned permanently mute because of some tainted magical herbs, in my opinion it was overblown to allow customs to get a cut of all business going on in here. Have you ever heard anyone say they were mute? Me neither! Uhh, where was I?”

Player:      1. “No, you explained it all, thanks Feme!” \*Mission: ‘Scavenging for Feme’ begun\*      2. “Something about customs?” (Begin Feme Speech 7)

(7). Feme: “Oh yes! Thanks! Yeah, those who work at the market place have to purchase any ingredients they need from the customs megamart, and the prices are way high! So extreme! So I thought to myself ‘Hey Feme, you know the basic alchemy needed to purify any possible imperfections with ingredients, so why not buy and sell at a much greater discount! Make some money and help people out!’ And that’s why I’m here! Tada! Welcome to the … well, I don’t really have a name for this place yet, and I guess I don’t really need one, but it would be nice to have something to announce to everyone! I really appreciate talking to you, so if you want, I can give you special rates on anything you sell to me? Of course I can’t give you any dramatic money, but you’re probably my first new friend in a very long time, so hit me up whenever for a chat!”

Player:      “Thanks Feme! I’ll get right on collecting those items for you.” \*Mission: ‘Scavenging for Feme’ begun\*  \*Special rates unlocked for Feme’s shop\*.

Until this mission is completed, Feme will from now on only remind you to collect the items she still needs.

### Quest log:

Return to Feme in the CIA with the Nile Mud, Temporal Dates and Goat’s Milk she requested.

### Mission Details:

The quest is essentially a simple fetch quest, with a minute amount of memory involved. Each item can be found outside of Cairo.

·         Nile Mud can be harvested in any location where the player can reach the river, but may have Hexodiles and Hippopotenuses nearby, making obtaining it risky.

·         Temporal Dates are only harvestable for 5 minutes beginning every hour, but date trees are common and have no nearby threats.

·         Goat’s Milk can be purchased for varying prices at any farm with goats, so the only challenge is finding the lowest price, although money is little object this far into the game.

### Completing the mission:

(1). Feme: “Hey! Heyyy! You! Hey! You never gave me your name last time we spoke, but I see you’ve got all the items! Can we compare notes on how you got all of them?”

“First off, what’s the deal with this mud? Adventurers would always charge me a lot for it, so I have to sell it for a high price, but they never told me why it’s so hard to get?”

Player:     1. “I didn’t have any problems, but I’ll take the better price!”     2. (unlocked if the player defeated any Hexodiles or Hippopotenuses while collecting the mud) “There’s some nasty monsters down by the Nile, but they don’t fair too well against Ice.”

(2). Feme: “Oh weird! Thanks though!”

“Next up, the dates. I’ve seen what people call ‘Date trees’ all over the place, finding a source isn’t my problem. But they never seem to have any fruit! Is there some time they appear?”

Player: \*the player is presented with a time dial, and has to input the time they found the dates\*

(3). Feme: “Oh excellent! Guess I just always had the wrong time, huh?”

“Finally, this milk. I’ve found a few farms which produce it, but I haven’t had the time to do any shopping around to find the best prices, do you know anywhere with good prices?”

Player: \*the player is presented with a list of all the farms they visited, and you are asked to select the one with the lowest price\*

(4). Feme: “Thank you so much! I really appreciate this help, and I know I can always rely on you in the future! I guess I oughta pay you for your work, if you’d like.”

Player:    1. “I mean, I would appreciate it if you can spare the money!” (Begin Feme Speech 5)     2. “It was barely work, don’t worry about payment!”

(5). Feme: “Yeah, guess you’re right, and of course I can spare it! Just always helps if you can get away without spending a little cash.” \*Player is rewarded with a variable amount of money, depending on how useful the information you provided Feme with would be\* “Hope to see you again soon!” \*Mission completed\*

(6). Feme: “Wow! Thanks so much! Money’s a little short so if I can ever get away without spending some, it’s pretty handy! Tell you what, if I can ever put my prices up to the market sellers, I’ll give you a little bonus whenever you come by, to say thanks!” \*Special rates unlocked for Feme’s shop\* \*Mission completed\*

This is the end of the first mission in Feme’s questline, but as each is completed a new one is unlocked.

## Mission: Feme Hits the Big Time

After helping Feme multiple times in renovating the Cairo International Airport and greasing political wheels to loosen laws, Feme has become the leader of the black market and has spent a great deal of time forming what was previously rather dirty underside to Cairo into a charitable organisation which supports struggling people and provides them with safe jobs which, in turn, benefit the community.

While the Airport is generally ignored by current politicians, a dark zone where crimes (including the evasion of taxes) can go unnoticed at its current rate, Feme is worried that with an upcoming election, a new governing body could come into power who would much rather all trade be regulated again. With her normal preamble taken care of, she brings up her request, what she calls ‘the last time she will ever ask of you anything’, a phrase you would discount if it weren’t for her tone being such a vast difference to her normal upbeat babble. She genuinely believes this is both vitally important, and also will solve all the major problems her burgeoning township faces.

She continues;

(1). Feme: ‘I hope I haven’t tired you out so far, because this is where the details come in. About 5 kilometres south east of here, there’s a place called the Mirage City, remember? You once grabbed me a sample of their illusory glass, for upgrading the façade of the airport! Anyway, from all the information I’ve gathered, it’s an evacuated ghost town, abandoned and vastly undamaged, despite the crystal that landed in the center. I beg you, please investigate it, and clear it off any possible dangers. Just like the glass you gathered for me, I believe that it may be advancing beyond pre-Enchantment tech levels without human intervention, which while potentially dangerous, could provide us with a safe haven to set up in. Please! I’ve asked so much of you before, but this could really save us all, and I’ll never ask you to do anything for me again!” \*Mission: ‘Feme Hits the Big Time’ begun\*

Once the player has travelled to Mirage City, a location previously available for exploration, a marker will appear over the clear crystal that can be seen in the middle of what used to be New Cairo. This location previously had no points of interest, with only a few mid-level monsters appearing, and no shops or NPCs to interact with. With this mission unlocked however, the player can approach the crystal, and lay their hand upon it. With this action, the player is teleported back to wherever they entered Mirage City from, and it becomes populated with NPCs that are identical to the player, or, if in a party, each NPC has an equal chance of being identical to any member of the group. The only difference is the equipment they wear, all enemies seen have some variety of low levelled armour, so while looking similar, the cityscape isn’t entirely tedious to look over. Their levels and skills are equal to those of any players they sampled as well, creating difficult clone enemies, although they have very low AI, meaning they will often choose skills that will have little effect, and have a low chance to die instantly on any physical attack. These enemies do not use any previous death animation, rather, they disappear on fatal damage and leave no items or money behind. However, the experience yield scales with their levels, which scales with your own, meaning this city is a dangerous but excellent place for grinding.

The voices of the enemies used are not the player’s own, and sometimes speak in multiple, two voices to a body. The crystal in the city center is how changing colours in pulses, bathing the city in a wash of a myriad of colours, once every minute or so. Hopefully the player is drawn back to the crystal that was clearly the catalyst for this change. As they track their progress through the city, the armour and weapon levels of the surrounding enemies will slowly begin to raise, bringing the NPCs closer and closer to being on par with the player. The final challenge of the NPCs is that occasionally one will appear with a colour scheme keeping score with the fluctuations of the crystal, and these enemies are best avoided. While no stronger numerically than any of the other clone enemies surrounding them, their AI is excellent. They will select the most effective moves available in their arsenal to disarm you first, and once pushed to 25% of their HP, will begin to use light-based attacks, to surprise any skilled players prepared for fighting themselves.

Upon reaching the crystal for the second time, the player may be dubious about touching it, as the action resulted in them being warped away and forced to fight potentially the strongest enemies they have yet to deal with. Before this can happen however, the city goes dark, the sky turns to night and the crystal dims, still lit within, but a smaller light, while the rest of it shines black. A slow, crystalline melody plays, as if from within the crystal itself, as a story is conveyed to the player.

(Please note: ░░ would be written in game as just a square of white, with a slight glow around the edge)

Crystal:  ░░ have travelled across the stars, before being called by this planet, a place of magic much like ░░. However, this Earth, this sphere of mud, is much different, the technology incompatible, the people inhospitable. ░░ have guarded this tiny area of land, but ░░ suppose it is only so long before the inhabitants claim this as well. This cannot be. We will not let this be taken from ░░ as well!

A special encounter begins between the player(s party) and a glowing figure, resembling an old, armoured orc woman without any colour, but with a sword that glows in synchronicity with the crystal in the backdrop. Beginning on the first turn, she will attempt to summon a minion clone of your party. While her own power level does not scale with the player at all, the minions she is capable to summon are exact clones of the player, albeit with a single hitpoint. The number of minions she can summon is equal to 1+ the number of players fighting, meaning that a single player may have to deal with 2 clones of themselves at once, but a party of 5 could potentially be against 6 illusory copies of their hardest hitting fighter.

(While it is difficult to give exact stats for an enemy in a game that doesn’t exist, I can give explanations for attacks and basic damage percentages)
===░░ / CRYSTAL
 ===
Stats: Very high HP combined with better-than-average physical defenses make this boss difficult to melt in a low number of turns. She is more susceptible to magical attacks, and has no resistances to any forms of attacks.

Body Block (Passive): Has a 65% chance to body block a single-target physical attack on an ally, and take 50% of the damage that would have been done.

Blinding Light (Passive): Has a 10% chance to evade any physical attack, by blinding the would-be assailant.

Summon: Creates a clone of one member of the player’s party each turn. This ability is cast at the beginning of her turn, and cannot be prevented. This ability will not be used if the maximum number of clones are on the field at the start of the turn, no matter whether the clone is immobilized or not.

Lunar Blade: Deals incredible physical damage to one player (between 80% and well over fatal damage), but has to wait 3 turns before it can be used again. She doesn’t necessarily use it every 3 turns, but the player is provided with a relatively safe amount of time to repair defenses before another Lunar Blade. Cannot be used on turn 1. Lunar Blade gains power the more time it is used, should the battle drag on long enough, it will carve through all defenses and instantly kill its target.

Refract: Always and only used after Lunar Blade, Crystal prepares to counter any non-physical attacks, taking 1.5 damage from all non-physical damage but also dealing that to the attacker.

Masked Moon: Creates a 1 HP shield around one member of her party that lasts 2 turns and, if broken, causes meteors to rain down dealing random physical damage to all combatants.

Silver Glow: Removes all debuffs and buffs from all combatants, before reducing the attack of all those affected by 10% for 5 turns.

Shatter: A crescendo of light and sound explodes out of the crystal in an all-out attack, hitting all combatants for about 60% of their maximum HP (killing clones), shaving frailer builds down to the single digit percentages of health. Deals 5% of Crystal’s maximum health to herself, and cannot be used if it would cause her own death.

Moonbeam: A basic attack that always goes first, dealing between 10% and 15% damage on a single player, and lowers their defenses by 30%. The player last hit by Moonbeam is more likely to be targeted by clones. Moonbeam loses power the more it (or Ray of Moonlight) is used, eventually dealing no damage at all, and only applying the two debuffs.

Ray of Moonlight: An upgraded form of Moonbeam that strikes all players, dealing 7% to 10% damage, and lowering all the defense of all affected by 10%. Just like Moonbeam, Ray of Moonlight loses power the more either are used, eventually simply applying the 10% defense debuff to the entire party.

### Crystal’s Clones:

While their defenses are numerically identical to the player they are a clone of, their HP is 1, essentially nullifying any of these stats from being of import. Their offensive stats are also equal to their clone parent, allowing them to hit as hard as you are. While their skill load-outs are the same as yours, they are incapable of any skills which involve damaging themselves, as this would, obviously, kill them. They can also use any healing skills they may obtain by copying you, leading to a heavy prioritization of healing capable clones to avoid the battle dragging out.

Clones have a 1.7x multiplier to any debilitating status effects, such as paralysis or bindings of any form, leading the player to form strategies around removing the danger of the clones while keeping them on the field, instead of being replaced. Attacking a clone also does not cause the player any recoil damage they would normally inflict upon themselves, meaning they can be dealt with using high risk skills with greatly reduced risk.

Redirect (Passive): Each clone has a 10% chance to attract any single target magical attack from Crystal onto themselves, protecting her from all damage and effects of the attack.

Retreat (Passive): This always activates at the end of the clone’s 4th turn alive, returning the clone to Crystal and healing her by 5% and increasing her magical defense by 50% for 5 turns. This ability cannot be prevented. This is to punish players for immobilizing clones for too long without dealing with them.

Strike: As well as the skills they obtain from the player, they also gain the ability to perform a simple, single target strike with whichever weapon is equipped. This attack’s power is 50% that of the weapon equipped, meaning that a Strike from a magic oriented character is essentially a free turn to the player, as the damage will be absolutely negligible. Each clone will only have access to either Pray or Strike, decided by choosing the one which worse reflects their attacking skills. This is to give player’s team a free turn.

Pray: As well as the skills they obtain from the player, the clones are able to kneel towards the crystal that floats in the background of the battle, then attack a single target with a beam of light, dealing 50% of the damage a basic magical attack would do. Almost identical to Strike in damage and purpose, Pray adds an attack which is not to be feared, more welcomed by the player. Clones are assigned Strike or Pray depending on which will reflect their stats worse, as this allows a physical clone to still deal a noticeable amount of damage to characters with high physical offensive and defensive prowess, and similarly will be able to punch a surprising hole in the HP of a magic character who’s defenses to their own spells may be unbreakable, but has a weakness to physical hits.

### Defeat

Upon defeat, ░░ does not collapse dead, simply fades away, to be replaced with a similar woman, unarmoured and unarmed but with colour now, who speaks to you again, this time with no melody, just an old woman’s voice.

Crystal: Please. No more. I am tired. It has been. So long. Since I faced any. Form of combat. Longer than. Before I took on. This form. I am damaged. Allow me. A short time. To recover. Do not worry. I will not. Fight you anymore. If it can be avoided.

Player:    (1). Answers, now.   (2). Of course, I’ve got a few wounds to tend to as well.   (3). If you say you’re not going to attack us anymore, may I help in some way?

(1). Crystal: So impolite. I am. Millenia your elder. Anyway. It was a formality. You will. Give me time.

(2). Crystal: Ha. I am sorry. For how. We treated you. Take your time.

(3). Crystal: I appreciate. Your kindness. But you cannot. Help me. Just some. Short time.

Crystal: Well, I thank you for your time. As I said, it has been a long time since I faced combat. I used our full, combined power, and we were still defeated. I must commend you! I can tell you have been touched by the colours before, how else could you have kept morale through our battle? I can’t read minds, but we can easily come to the consensus that you have no ill intent with this power. You would have been turned back to the light you came from should that have been the case! I believe an explanation is in order for you now.

Crystal: What you heard before wasn’t entirely true, but we have not travelled nearly as far as we implied. Further in time than distance in fact, but that may be too much for you to comprehend. This crystal, our crystal, was forged here on Earth, long before it lost its magic. Many of us felt endangered, pushed out by a society that was becoming more and more hostile, and in our last stand, we created a ship, a vessel to carry us away. The lady you see here \*she gestures to herself\*, I was the leader, and, in a way, the vessel. Our vessel had to be formed around a living being. Our technology had advanced far beyond your own, but even we had not yet managed to create truly artificial life. Despite knowing how to transfer the spirit, we had not yet created a compatible container. I reasoned that, a body containing one spirit could surely contain more, but I had no time to test my theory. I gathered us all in a group, foreshadowing in a way the journey we would all take in some way, and, together, we became one in this body. While it may still be true that a body can house more than one spirit, it surely cannot house the millions that we are. That is where this crystal came from, that is where, we came from. It is, for lack of a better term, pure spirit in tangible form. My body may be in there at its core, it may not. That is not really important. Once formed, I piloted us towards the sky, so hopefully one day we could return. But in our haste, we left out many details. How would we return? When would we return? We had so many unanswered questions, but we had eachother, we had a loving society, and so we existed, waiting out of mind but not out of sight. Then, a great pulse from an almost forgotten part of our history called out to us. We began to be attracted back to Earth, moving at greater speeds and greater still and as our speeds increased so did our hopes, perhaps this somehow meant that we were somehow being welcomed back? To prevent our joyous welcoming from destroying those greeting us, we had to slow our descent using all the willpower we had, meaning we missed our target destination. We still do not know what called us back. We descended here, and despite our cautious decent, still took on noticeable damages that prevented us from taking any form.

Crystal: That is where we lay, unsure of our change in surroundings but unbothered. It was disappointing that we were not welcomed, but not unsurprising. A change of scenery is good for the souls! Then, people began to return to this area. We saw how they dealt with any of the current inhabitants, small creatures, and we decided to retreat further into ourselves. We put up defenses, to stop any further damage coming to us, resigning ourselves to the fate that we would just rest in our crystalline form forever. But then, this very hour, we felt one presence of one touched by the colours. Someone somehow connected, albeit by a thin thread, to our presence in the past. The touch was enough to restore some of our ability to take form, but we were restricted to the forms we knew. And with the damage we sustained, the only form we knew was your own. After millennia of waiting and hoping, the one to awaken us seemed just as dangerous as those who prompted our departure. We were on full alert. We had to deter you. I apologise for the actions we took, but I do not regret them. We were protecting our entire society.

Crystal: And now, what is it you want. I doubt you have ill intent, but we still fear for our body. Why did you come here and try so hard to defeat us?

Player:    (1) I was asked to come here by a close friend, she is in need of a place for her people to stay and this city seemed to have no inhabitants.         (2) I wanted to investigate the technology of this place, and see if it was safe enough for a group of refugees to move in.       (3) I came to destroy this crystal to test my strength, and it is still standing.

(1). Crystal: Your dedication… Yes, of course that is the reason. \*Continue speaking\*

(2). Crystal: A strange motivation, but a noble one, fighting for a group you barely know. But do you trust them? \*Continue speaking\*

(3). Crystal: That is… a shame. \*The battle starts again, giving the player no chance to heal but Crystal is at full health. Additionally, Lunar Blade can be used on any turn, becoming deadly much faster. This encounter will likely end in the player’s defeat, but if Crystal is somehow defeated, there is no additional reward, not even EXP, and then this conversation begins anew. It is meant to be punishment for acting poorly.\*

Crystal: Well, just as we displaced many people in our reentry, we will welcome back as many. Please tell them they are welcome a thousand times over to revive this city, and that we will use everything in our power to assist them. I am so pleased that my people can live on Earth once more. Thank you.

#### \*Mission completed! Return to Feme to tell her the good news!\*

Upon reaching the gates of Cairo, you see crowds positively lining the walls, and bursting out of the gates. After searching for a while, you can find Feme’s flag flying above a troop of Airporters, rushing to greet you.

Feme: Oh my gosh oh my gosh! You made it back! We saw the absolutely crazy light show and started packing as many weapons as we could find, hoping to help you out in time! I knew I should have had more faith in you, but what can I say! Took us long enough to get ready, I’m more of a worrier than a warrior I guess!

* You explain to Feme what the Crystal told you\*

Feme: Wh- what? That’s absolutely insane! That’s! Out of this world! Hahahaha! Ha. Wow. Well. Well. I. I’m at a loss for words! I didn’t even know that could happen! This is just. Incredible news! I’ll rally the group and we’ll get moving along soon! Please come visit us at Mirage Ci- Oh! I get why it was called that! Hahaha! Well, do come by any time, I’ll be hanging out with my new crystal friend! Maybe we can work together and make some new gear for you! Who knows! Mirage City, the city of colours!

​​​​​​​