Merc Camp: Otacustes & the Letter Quest

[PostBot]

Spawning the mercenaries is a time consuming process due to several factors, particularly the seemingly random spawn of Otacustes. Hopefully this guide will at least answer some questions you may have about the process.


Pre-Quest
Before you can successfully spawn the mercenaries, you or someone else in your raid party would be required to have done the pre-quest to obtain the letter. Without this, many hours of hard work could be waisted. The reason for needing this quest is that once Otacustes has been successfully spawned, and you start talking to her, she requests the letter from Joe, and unless you trade it to her, she will despawn and you will have to restart the vastly time consuming process of respawning.

To get the pre-quest, you need to go to ICC in Andromeda. The easiest way for all factions would be to wompah in from Newland City, Tir or Omni-Trade, and being on neutral territory it is safe for all sides. In the center of ICC spawns the ICC Peacekeeper Commander. He despawns every time he gives out the quest but he respawns somewhat quickly.
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When you enter into dialogue with him, ask about a man called Joe. When the commander asks which Joe, answer with Two Fingers. After this, the commander is clearly nervous. Read what he says carefully, as he gives the location of Joe Two-Fingers, which changes each time. More often than not he can be found in the farm area's in the direction that the commander indicates, otherwise he can be found in the camps marked on Dovves map or the various variants (will add a map showing spawn points later).
Please Note: Joe despawns in 30 minutes from completion of your conversation with the ICC Peacekeeper Commander, so you will need to set out straight away.

When you locate Joe, open the dialogue with him and answer his questions as shown in the following image of the dialogue.

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Part of the dialogue is missing, Joe will ask you in which zone you saw Otacustes, to which you should answer Eastern Foul Plains. Joe will then ask where you saw Otacustes, which the correct answer is inside

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Eventually Joe will give you a Sealed Letter. Time to head to Ace Camp in Eastern Foul Plains.

The camp is near the western border of Pleasant Meadows and is only a short flight from 20K, though the quickest by far would be having a fixer casting team fixer grid to allow the raid group to assemble quickly, though with current perks and such, spawning can be done solo by some proffesions, though i'd suggest at least 2 or 3, preferably a root/snare proffession as the place holder runs when their health gets low. But I am getting ahead of myself here.

Ace Camp has a pretty basic layout, though there are some very dangerous mobs to be found here, such as the Primus and the Notum Profundis. It is strongly suggested to remain in the center area where the smaller mobs spawn, and to stay away from the corners where the higher level monsters spawn. The bridge over the moat and the entrance to the camp are from the eastern side. The layout below shows the more important area's of the camp.

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The area behind what has become known as the "Arena" has several Notum Profundis's, and one should take extreme care when venturing there, or chasing a fleeing mob.

The screenshot below shows the location of the Arena & the placeholder/Otacustes spawn points as you would see it.

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To spawn Otacustes, you will be required to kill the placeholder mob, a Primus type monster that spawns in the area marked on the map & screenshot. When the PH gets to 1 bar of health left, it will flee, so be sure to have it facing away from the wall, so that when it enevitably does run, it get's stuck against the wall and save your party a chase across Eastern Foul Plains. The Placeholder respawns every 20 minutes, though occaisionally the spawn skips. No one has yet worked out a trick to spawn Otacustes quicker, though there are some theories. Some say that if you have a large raid group and kill all the mobs in the camp that Otacustes will spawn in a shorter timeframe, and others say that so long as no one is in the line of sight (the alley) of the place holder/ Otacustes, that the spawn time will be reduced. I believe however that it is the same timer used for the Trash King, TIM and other such mobs. A double Otacustes spawn isn't unheard of and sometimes even a triple spawn. Either way, be prepared for a long drawn out spawn, sometimes it takes upwards of 6 hours.

Once you have successfully spawned Otacustes, a feat in it's own right, whoever has the Sealed Letter from the pre-quest would need to talk to her & trade the letter when the raid group is ready. And they need to be ready, for Ian Warr and his minions are some of the hardest to be found on Rubi-Ka at the moment (and have been for some time).

Some information regarding the mercenaries
The mercenaries have decimated entire raid groups, yet with even a single team it can be done. (it is said that some have even solo'd the easier ones) The prize "merc" would have to be Peter Lee, for he drops a random Notum Tank armour + 1 piece of azure armour.

The following table lists loot for each of the mercenaries.

Ian Warr
Drops 1 azure breastplate, 1 random piece of azure armour & 1 random item from the list below

- Breastplate of Azure Reveries - 100% Drop rate.
- Boots of Azure Reveries
- Gloves of Azure Reveries
- Helmet of Azure Reveries
- Pants of Azure Reveries
- Sleeves of Azure Reveries

- Stone Samurai Boots
- Average Gloves
- Flaxen Notum Pants
- Pioneer of Jobe Cloak
- Rust-Pitted Ring
- Blood Bat
- Blood Mace

Peter Lee
Drops 1 random Notum Tank Armour & 1 random piece of azure armour.

- Light Notum Tank Armor
- Medium Notum Tank Armor
- Heavy Notum Tank Armor

- Boots of Azure Reveries
- Breastplate of Azure Reveries
- Gloves of Azure Reveries
- Helmet of Azure Reveries
- Pants of Azure Reveries
- Sleeves of Azure Reveries

Ris Lee
Drops the fancy stethoscope glasses & 2 random pieces of azure armour.

- Fancy Stethoscopic Glasses - 100% Drop rate.

- Boots of Azure Reveries
- Breastplate of Azure Reveries
- Gloves of Azure Reveries
- Helmet of Azure Reveries
- Pants of Azure Reveries
- Sleeves of Azure Reveries

Patricia Johnson
Drops 1-2 Pain of Patricia and 1-2 of Reign of Patricia and approximately 70% chance of dropping a piece of azure armour. Also drops the Luxurious armour for meta-physicists.

- Reign of Patricia
- Pain of Patricia

- Boots of Azure Reveries
- Breastplate of Azure Reveries
- Gloves of Azure Reveries
- Helmet of Azure Reveries
- Pants of Azure Reveries
- Sleeves of Azure Reveries

- Luxurious Rubber Pants
- Luxurious Rubber Shirt
- Luxurious Rubber Sleeves

Nelly Johnson
Drops Nelly Johnsons Little Black Dress and a chance of an Anything & azure armour.

- Nelly Johnsons Little Black Dress - 100% Drop rate.
- Anything

- Boots of Azure Reveries
- Breastplate of Azure Reveries
- Gloves of Azure Reveries
- Helmet of Azure Reveries
- Pants of Azure Reveries
- Sleeves of Azure Reveries

[PostBot]

=noticed some errors i didnt pick up on before posting=

Entrance is on the western side, not east. Excuse the various typo's,

Primus mobs don't run away anymore when their HP drops to 1 bar