| "With most of the runners out of action, Brecken wants the scouts to take their place. That means me. We're supposed to go for the next air drop, right before sunset. Jade'll be showing me the ropes... Yeah, THAT won't be awkward at all..." Quest introduction
|
Airdrop is the third story quest available in Dying Light.[1]
Objectives[]
- Contact the GRE
- Look for the airdrop in the Cauldron area
- I saw the airdrop plane. Two drops this time! Double the chance. I can't blow this. I need to move.
- Retrieve Antizin from the first airdrop
- Rais's men beat me to the first drop. I ran like hell and they still got there first. Luckily there were two drops, so I still have a shot. Gotta get there before they do.
- Take over the second airdrop
- Clear the airdrop area
- Salvage the vials of Antizin
- Avoid Volatiles and return to the Tower
- I've made it in one piece. Now I know how Brecken must've felt, running at night. It is no picnic. Gotta report to him and tell him I don't have any Antizin. Lying to everyone stinks, but I know the GRE's working for the greater good.
- Report to Brecken on the 19th floor
- Report to Brecken
- Talk to Brecken
- It's over. Mission "failed"... thanks to my employers.
Rewards[]
- 5 000 survivor points
- Next story quest Pact with Rais starts
02 February 2022
12 February 2016
30 January 2015
Plot[]
The plot for this mission follows on from the quest "First Assignment". During the night of the quest "First Assignment" (where Crane has to be in a safe zone and skip through to the morning), the runners that were doing their drop mission failed - The runners from the Tower have been killed by the infected during the night when Crane was waiting out the night in a safe zone as shown by the run boy run trailer. Brecken was the only one to make it back to the Tower, with nothing major in terms of salvaged supplies from the drop mission. Spike sends Crane on his way.
Inside the Tower, Timur congratulates Crane on his work done, but Crane is interrupted by Jade before he can enter Brecken's room. Once inside, Lena is found arguing with Brecken over his injuries. Crane is informed of an airdrop and is asked to make his way to the site from the Tower. Having confirmed Brecken's identity, Crane contacts the GRE.
| "And there's a crate. It looks intact. I'll check out what's inside... ——— Dammit. Nothing here. Kyle Crane upon approaching, and opening, the first crate" |
Crane gets to the direct airdrop only to find that the airdrop crate is empty. Conveniently enough, one of the GRE's planes fly over the Slums, dropping two airdrops. Crane is then told by Jade to make his way to the closest of the two drops ASAP. Despite his efforts, the members of Rais' gang gets there first, threatening to attack Crane and eventually warding him away from the first airdrop. The afternoon grows darker and goes into evening hours.
Crane proceeds to go after the second airdrop, despite Jade saying that it is getting late and that Crane needs to get back to the Tower. Running through the slums, further away from the Tower, Crane finally comes across the second airdrop crate.
After killing two biters, eating on a corpse, Crane opens the crate to find it filled with three boxes of Antizin supplies, holding 28 at least vials per box. Crane contacts the GRE, and in the ensuing converstaion, the GRE instructs Crane to dispose of the Antizin supplies, even though Crane has practically ran around the Slums in his hopes to get hold of Antizin for the Tower.
Crane then contacts Jade via radio and lies to her about no Antizin in the second airdrop crate (as Crane disposes of the Antizin boxes in a burning metal drum - rendering them useless). At this point the sun is mere minutes away from setting and Jade promptly warns Crane about being out of a safe zone after dark, saying "The nightmares (Volatiles) are awake, don't let them see you".
At this point, the sun has fully set and it is now night-time. Simultaneously, the distant scream of a night-time infected is heard, along with the calling responses of other infected. Crane hears a noise on the other side of the fence near the airdrop crate, exclaiming "They must have heard me".
Crane peeks through a gap in the fence, observing a Volatile feeding on a corpse before another Volatile steps into view (with a close-up-view of the Volatile's face) before the Volatile howls and salivates.
The Volatiles on the other side of the fence then starts chasing after Crane, with more night-infected (mainly Volatiles and Night Walkers/Virals) joining the pursuit. Crane runs for his life back to the Tower, avoiding all hostiles along the way and making use of any methods in delaying his pursuers (such as Light Traps).
Crane gets back to the Tower and stops running just past the UV lights leading into the Tower's ground floor (acting as a barrier to keep the Volatiles out). After getting back into the Tower, Crane is panting desperately, breathing heavily and still shaken up, seeing he's just had his first rather terrifying and close encounter with the Volatiles as well as his first night-run.
Crane then regains composure and proceeds to report to Brecken on not being able to retrieve any Antizin. Arriving in his room, the news of the drop has already reached Brecken, and he's in a heated discussion with Jade, a runner, and Rahim over buying Antizin from Rais. Crane volunteers to go visit Rais, which is agreed upon by Brecken. The quest ends and proceeds onto "Pact with Rais".
Walkthrough[]
The mission will start out with the objective of getting to a rooftop (marked on your map) where you can contact the GRE . The GRE and Crane will communicate to each other for a minute or two and then you will be tasked with going after an air drop which is about several hundred metres away on a rooftop.
Whilst making your way to the first airdrop, you will probably come across one, two or several virals (sometimes depending on the difficulty but mostly it will be two if taking a direct route to the first drop). This will also most likely cause you to be doing agilty-based activities, at this point the game as a result you might level up on Agility and gain a skill point for that tree (or the Power and Survivor skill trees if doing combat or side-mission based activities too - Upgrade them if you so wish).
Upon arriving at the first drop, you will easily see this due to the drop's parachute draped over the roof it is on. There are some crafting resources (mainly duct tape, string, metal part(s) or a blade) in a tool case inside the building with the drop on its roof along with a dead survivor, most likely a runner from the Tower. Before anything else and to make sure you have scavenged all that you can from the immediate surrounding area, use survivor sense to locate any possible items to get hold of.
Go on top of the roof and open the drop box. This will be empty. Crane will then radio back to the Tower and let Jade know of the drop being empty - After this happens, one of the GRE's planes will fly over and make two airdrops.
You are then prompted to head to the closest of the two drops as fast as possible. No matter how fast you are, Rais' men will be there first. At this point in the game it is ill-advised to try fighting them and they will threaten you prior to attacking you if you try to get to the drop. Crane will say to Jade that Rais' men got to the drop first, before Crane says he'll be going after the second of the two drops. As you make your way to the second drop, Jade will constantly make warnings of it getting late and that you should get back to the Tower.
Crane will ignore these and the objective will still be to get to the second airdrop. Upon getting to the drop, you will have to clear out the area of two biters before being able to open the second drop case. This drop is full with supplies such as Antizin, but the GRE will instruct Crane to get rid of it - Note that as the player (and during a cinematic) you cannot control what Crane does to the boxes of Antizin.
Crane disposes of the boxes in a burning drum before radioing Jade and saying that there was no Antizin in the drop. In the background you will start to hear the sound effect of distant screaming and corresponding howls. Jade then informs Crane that "the nightmares are awake, don't let them see you". Crane then hears a noise in close proximity on the other side of a fence, exclaiming "They must have heard me". Peeking through (as a cinematic again), you see an infected eating remains of a corpse, before being jump-scared by a volatile looking right at you on the other side of the fence.
The cinematic will end and you are immediately put into a chase/pursuit with Volatiles chasing after you. Your immediate objective is to avoid Volatiles and return to the Tower (even if you have other safe zones unlocked, your objective is to get to the Tower - Making use of other safe zones won't give you the ability to skip through the night until sunrise; You MUST get back to the Tower.
There are two tactics to make use of here just for this part of the quest:
- Make your way back to the Tower, running but in a zig-zag pattern. This is because the Volatiles are faster than you and will catch up to you on straight pathways. They do however have to slow down considerably to navigate corners and turns in general. Making use of a direct route back to the Tower helps but try to avoid just relying on straight pathways, as the Volatiles will often catch you if you are not careful. Make use of any light traps that you come across on the way back to the Tower as this will buy you precious time to make distance and/or break line of sight with the Volatiles.
- Run down to the where the river is (also zig-zagging if Volatiles are getting closer) and jump straight into the water. Volatiles cannot and will not go in the water. Onscreen after a few minutes (or sometimes immediately) "Pursuit Evaded" will show indicating that you have evaded the Volatiles (and sometimes Virals) chasing you. Make your way south-west around the edge of the shore (in the water to minimise risk of being spotted by the infected) and head to a pipe/tunnel which is directly pointing north (in regards to the minimap). Going through this pipe minimises the risk of being spotted by Volatiles greatly. You want to carry on through the pipe up to where the third hole is - This is the exit of the pipe/tunnel that is closest to the Tower. Run/sprint back to the Tower (whilst avoiding Volatiles that are lingering near the Tower).
- For the two tactics above, pay attention to your minimap as well - Sometimes Virals/Volatiles will come at you from the front when running, so yet again, make use of corners or objects to jump onto to avoid them.
What NOT to do during the chase:
- Any means of fighting or staying still (unless in the river) - This is self-explanatory given that at this part of the game Crane is far too inadequate to hold his own against Volatiles and even in co-op mode you can still get overwhelmed and killed very easily.
- Running only on straight sections of path/road. As aforementioned, Volatiles have greater speed than you and will catch you.
- Don't take random turns and corners unless you know the turns and corners are on the way back to the Tower. Some turns and corners can lead inexperienced players away from the Tower and end up doing more harm than good.
- Don't treat light traps or UV flares (if you have any) as permanent safe zones - Light traps and flares are temporary and even then, they are only to hold back the infected for a small amount of time - Once the UV goes out, the infected will come after you again.
- Rely too much on looking back at the infected - This can lead to players focusing too much on what's behind them as opposed to focusing on the escape route(s) or any dangers lurking up ahead.
Once back at the Tower, you are then told of how night gameplay works, with more XP available when playing outside of safe zones during the night (between 20:59 and 05:59 in-game). Go to the elevator to travel to the 19th floor. After getting onto the 19th level, look for and report to Brecken. After the cinematic of Crane and Brecken conversing on where next to try and get Antizin from, the quest is completed, and then you are able to carry onto the quest Pact with Rais.
Important Note: This is essentially a forced-night mission. You cannot make use of safe zones to skip through to the morning as to avoid confronting the Volatiles post the second airdrop. Also, the game's time will not progress towards morning until you have returned to the Tower. Therefore (even though it isn't exactly pleasant), you basically have no choice but to be chased by the Volatiles.
Notes[]
- Sometimes, if one travels to the second airdrop location before the mission begins (such as immediately upon entering the slums with the objective of getting antizin from Dr. Zere), the player can find the antizin airdrop already where it's supposed to be later. However, at this point the airdrop cannot be interacted with, although this would be a good opportunity to scout routes back to the Tower from the airdrop.
- Although not recommended, the airdrop can get some DIY grenades guarded by the Rais' men in this quest.
- If you skip the volatile encounter cutscene, the volatiles won't see you.
- The daynight cycle offically begins after this mission is finished. Before the crate is looted the sun will never set, after the crate is looted the sun will NOT rise untill you return to the tower
- at an certain house you will find a crawling zombie and crying, in one of the cabinets there will be a little girl.
References[]
- ↑ Airdrop - Quest log (Dying Light)