THE UPLINK
THE UPLINK is an errand CU-RIE hands out on MARS, and it wants UNIT 0034 delivered in one piece.
An escort is the one errand shape that can FAIL rather than merely stay open — UNIT 0034 is a body on the field the horde can reach, and if they fall the errand goes with them.
It is not offered cold: RECOVERY REQUEST has to be handed in first, on this same map and to this same person.
A companion unit with a hole in its shoulder is walking itself back to the dome and will not make it alone. The rover that logged it as unit 0034 cannot go and fetch it, having been stuck for eight months itself. Registering it at the dome is the first successful recovery on a log nobody has ever read.
What it asks
| SHAPE | WHAT | HOW MANY |
|---|---|---|
| ESCORT | UNIT 0034 | — |
- UNIT 0034240 health, and takes 55% of what a monster's touch would land on you. They walk at 46 px/s — a shade under your own — and stop rather than follow once you are more than 260 px ahead.
- WHY IT IS HARDnothing on the field is retargeted onto them: the horde reaches an escort because the escort follows YOU, which is what makes the fight want you to kite and the errand want you not to.
What it pays
Handing it in pays experience, 170 coins and 2 rolled pieces.
The experience is authored as a SHARE of your own level bar — 0.7 of one — rather than as a figure, so the same errand is worth the same fraction of a level on the first map and the last. The table below is what that comes to for a hero at the level this venue is tuned for; take it later and it pays more.
The rolled pieces go through the ordinary drop pipeline at your own level, with 1 tier of skew on the rarity roll — the same skew the merchant's stall takes. A quest is a second CALLER of the loot system, never a second loot system, so what it hands over is the same kind of thing a monster drops.
| WHAT | HOW MUCH |
|---|---|
| COINS | 170 |
| ROLLED LOOT | 2 (+1 tier skew) |
| DIFFICULTY | HERO LEVEL | XP |
|---|---|---|
| EASY | 19 | 8020 |
| MEDIUM | 19 | 8020 |
| HARD | 22 | 12608 |
| NIGHTMARE | 47 | 553580 |
The chain
Comes after RECOVERY REQUEST.
A chain never crosses a map or a run: the quest log belongs to the run you are in rather than to the hero, so every link of one is taken, done and handed in on a single visit, from the same person.
What is said
The errand in the giver's own words, covered until you ask for it.
The ask
CU-RIEA COMPANION UNIT IS WALKING ITSELF BACK TO THE DOME WITH A HOLE IN ITS SHOULDER.
CU-RIEIT WILL NOT MAKE THE DOME ALONE. MY LOGS SAY IT IS UNIT ZERO-ZERO-THREE-FOUR.
Coming back short
CU-RIEUNIT 0034 IS STILL EN ROUTE. AND STILL ALONE.
The handover
CU-RIEUNIT 0034 REGISTERED AT THE DOME. FIRST SUCCESSFUL RECOVERY ON MY LOG.
CU-RIEMY LOGS ARE COMPLETE. NOBODY HAS EVER READ THEM. YOU MAY HAVE THE DRIVE.
On the way
UNIT 0034I AM VERY PLEASED TO SEE YOU.
THE DOME. THANK YOU. I BIT IT.