The Matthias trio need more time to decrypt the archive created by Raban Maur. Meanwhile, they seek help from the Freelancer to perform research on decryption through a contract.
Hints and Suggestions
- The dialog exchange between the characters will change depending on whether single player or multiplayer mode is played.
- Remember to perform Feats to obtain XP for increasing Pilot Level and receiving Alliance bonus.
- This particular expedition may have a video walkthrough.
- Skorpions and Wolven can be easily tackled with any combat equipment. Items that do Blast Damage are more useful when they are in hordes. Same goes for Dominion ShockTroopers
- Dominion Brutes and Ursix have armored health. Using armor buster, acid or fire type damage is the best way to deal with them. Look at the strategy in their page for information on combating with them.
- Dominion Valkyries and Elementalists must be stripped off their shields using Shield Breaker or Lightning first, then it is best to use fire or ice to focus damage on them.
- Stay away from Ash Elementals as much as possible as they can explode and do a large amount of fire damage.
- See the strategy section of Lesser Ash Titan and Ancient Ash Titan for information on how to tackle them.
Video Walkthrough
Video guides are added for convenience and documentation of 
Anthem. These guides show almost all possible incidents that may occur during each playthrough of this particular expedition.
The below video is on rotation. The cycle repeats after 4 days. The type of javelin used, the voice of the Freelancer, and any possible season changes during each rotation. If any Cypher Annotations are found, they are mentioned in the video’s description. Not all such annotations are in one video, but all 4 videos will make up for each other’s shortcomings, if any.
These are the locations where the Freelancer begins the expedition, has to perform tasks to advance, and conclude the expedition.
Cortex Entry
The Cortex Entry shows the description and the outcome of the expedition.
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Outcome: Your field work has aided the Arcanists in their continued research. |
For a Collection of similar Cortex Entries, See: Agent Contract (Journal) |
Quest Chain
This expedition is a part of the Riddles of Raban Maur Storyline. When the storyline is completed, an appropriate challenge is also completed, which will reward the Freelancer. The following are the related quests in order for this storyline:
- Elysian Secrets
- Ancient Footsteps
- Contract: Archive Hunt
- Tell Me Maur
- Contract: Decryption Research
- Secrets of the Auspex
Trivia (May Contain Spoilers)
- These contracts can have varying list of objectives.
- Even though Sumner is the one who provides instructions during the briefing, the actual contract is handled by Matti.
- Incidentally, this particular contract has 4 sub-contracts, instead of the usual 3.
- Allowing the sleeping Titan to wake up can provide two guaranteed loot drops from defeating it.
Below is the Script and Walkthrough for Contract: Decryption Research (Mission):
Briefing
The Freelancer looks at the contract posted in Matthias Lab.
- Sumner: "I have contracts waiting. My colleagues have been insistent. While you work, we will continue to decrypt Maur’s archive."
Complete Arcanist Contracts
The Freelancer prepares for the expedition.
Launch expedition
The Freelancer goes out of the walls.
Briefing Gallery
In Expedition
The Freelancer comes out of the strider.
Investigate Missing Arcanist
- The Freelancer: "All right, where are we going, Matti?"
- Matti: "An Arcanist friend of mine hasn’t responded to any of my messages. Something has happened. Please see what you can find."
- The Freelancer: "On my way."
Travel to Location
The Freelancer flies to the location provided by Matti. They see Arcanists inside cages.
- Matti: "They’ve locked themselves in the animal cage for protection. We’ll need to clear the area first."
Ensure Safety of Researchers
- Matti: "Clear the area of predators first. Then we can help."
Eliminate Threat
The Freelancer fights several hostile fauna and clears the area.
- Matti: "It’s a titan!"
When the combat ends,
- The Freelancer: "Finished fighting. Area clear."
- Matti: "A fine display of skills against overwhelming odds."
Ensure Arcanist Safety
The Freelancer interacts with the lock of the cage and opens it.
- Arcanist Field Researcher: "I can’t thank you enough."
- Matti: "Efficient and timely. Well done."
Recover Ancient Arcane Runes
- Matti: "Just realized I have something else for you in the area. My research is moving faster. I have a new lead on Arcanist runes. Let’s find them."
- The Freelancer: "Understood. Let’s see what I can do."
Travel to Location
The Freelancer goes to the next location.
- Matti: "The runes must be nearby. They just… must."
- The Freelancer: "I’ll take care of it."
Arcane Runes Discovered
The Freelancer must find 6 runes amid the skorpion nest.
- Matti: "Careful with those animals. They always attack during field work. Never fails."
When the first rune is found,
- Matti: "That’s it. There must be more."
At the halfway mark,
- Matti: "This work is getting done."
When the final rune is found,
- Matti: "That should be sufficient. Yes. I think that should be it."
Investigate Failing Devices
- Matti: "Wait, it looks like I have another job for you. Not far."
Travel to Location
- Matti: "I don’t seem to be getting any information from a few of my beacons. T’ll need you to take a look."
- The Freelancer: "On my way."
The Freelancer files to the location provided by Matti.
- Matti: "Here we are. The beacons need to be repaired. A warning: they emit signals that attract animals."
Device Powered
The Freelancer must power up 3 beacons. When the first beacon is powered up,
- Matti: "It is as I feared. We turn on the beacons, something terrible shows up."
- The Freelancer: "I’m on it."
When the second beacon is powered up,
- Matti: "Another step completed."
When the final beacon is turned on,
- Matti: "You’ve got a good collection now. Well done."
Eliminate Predators
There are fauna in the vicinity that the Freelancer must deal with first. The Freelancer defeats the Ursix and the skorpions.
- Matti: "Finished. Good work. Very good work. Hope you’re not too battered and bruised. Very well done."
Investigate Dangerous Activity
- Matti: "Freelancer, reports are coming that something very dangerous is happening in your area. Head over there."
- The Freelancer: "Okay. Understood."
Travel to Location
The Freelancer travels to the fourth location.
Stop the Dominion
The Dominion have setup several machines to a sleeping Titan.
- Matti: "You have to destroy those machines before it wakes up."
Machines Destroyed
The Freelancer can choose to destroy the 5 machines or wait for the Titan to wake up. If the Machines are destroyed,
Time Remaining
The Freelancer has 2 minutes to destroy the machines, failing which the Titan will wake up. If the Titan wakes up,
- Matti: "We’re too late the Titan’s awake and it won’t stop until it’s destroyed."
- The Freelancer: "I understand."
Defeat Titan
The Freelancer fights the Titan while dealing with the remaining Dominion.
- The Freelancer: "Still going? Unbelievable. That thing just isn’t giving up. "
- Matti: "You’ve managed to stagger that monster. Don’t stop now."
- The Freelancer: "I’m trying to focus on weak areas. What a monster."
- Matti: "Hope you’re not too battered and bruised. Very well done. That’s all from me today, Freelancer. You’ve done wonderful work. I’ll speak to you soon. The creatures left some incredible samples. Collect those while we have a chance."
- The Freelancer: "I’ll see what’s here."
The Freelancer collects any remaining items of interest before the expedition ends.
Post Expedition
The Freelancer returns to Fort Tarsis.
Notes and Remarks
- This expedition has no conversational cut scene during briefing.
- This expedition has no conversational de-briefing post mission.
- The dialogs may change or differ from the ones transcribed here.
- As a matter of fact, the 3 main objectives can be different.
- The dialogs mentioned in the script can vary across different play-throughs and different repetition of the game modes. The dialog will be taken from a pool that get rotated in-game. The script mentioned here is from one such instance only.
Expedition Map
Note: The Expedition Maps feature is still a Work in Progress. Sometimes, a refreshing/reloading of this page may be required to zoom-in or zoom-out completely.
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