The Smoking Mirror

   This mission is bugged and requires GM assistance to complete while offering very little in the way of rewards

MISSION
Trouble with this mission? Try Mission Troubleshooting

Mission giver	Du'Shao Silva
Mission requirements	OL > 80 or CL > 30 Completed Offense is the best defence. Mazzaroth Key (not required to pick up the mission, but needed to enter the Mazzaroth Maelstrom) L2 Beam Weapon A Game Master online and available to assist with Step 6
Mission reward	Vrix Pheromone activator 600 Shinwa Warriors Faction 16,000 Explore XP, Combat XP, and Trade XP 100,000 credits

Du'Shoa Silva Has(sic) evidence of V'rix technology that may help in fighting the V'rix, he wants you to acquire anything else that may be of some use, to piece it all together.

Steps

1. See Gray Feather near the Typotl Maw in Swooping Eagle and help acquire any V'rix technology for possible reverse engineering.
2. Install the Pheromone Activator then Enter the Mazzaroth Maelstrom.
   • You get to keep the Vrix Pheromone activator after this mission but if you wish to map it, now would be the time. If you fail you can abandon the mission and retake it to get another one.
3. Fly to the coordinates x:-263.69 y:-52.07 z:0.00. east(sic) of NAV Deep Field 2 and WAIT.
   •   The mission text says east but the coordinates are actually WEST of nav Deep Field 2.
     
   • Equip the Vrix Pheromone activator
   • You need to be exactly at the coords and not moving at all for a couple seconds for the spawn to activate.
   • If doing this in a group, Floating a piece of loot can make it easier to find the right spot.
   • You can do this one character at a time for more chances at loot though there are no known drops of any value from these mobs.
4. Quickly use the Pheromone Activator on the V'rix Scout !
   • Do NOT open up with all weapons until the mission advances!!
   • It may take a couple of shots from the beam for the mission to advance.
   • The first wave is a spawned mob, a single CL34 V'rix Scout.
5. When "R2FL2CT4R" appears kill it and retrieve V'rix technology.
   • Once the mission advances to step 5 you can kill the CL34 V'rix Scout to spawn the second wave.
   • The second wave contains a CL33 V'rix Helkos, CL34 V'rix Scout, and 3x CL33 V'rix
   • The third and final wave contains 2x CL33 V'rix Helkos, 2x CL34 V'rix Scout, 2x CL36 V'rix Helkos, and the CL41 R2FL2CT4R
   • When you kill the R2FL2CT4R you will automatically get a L3 N25R4TR4PH3C2L2CTR4D2 in your cargo hold.
   • You cannot avoid getting the N25R4TR4PH3C2L2CTR4D2 here; if you fill your cargo so there is no space the mission does not advance when you kill R2FL2CT4R.
6. Return to Gray Feather near the Typotl Maw in Swooping Eagle.
   • Talking to Gray Feather it sounds as though he gives you the blueprint for the Vrix Pheromone activator (not confirmed as I already had it) before it fails (see below) so you probably want to talk to him before asking for Game Master assistance.
   •   This mission is bugged. It cannot be completed without a Game Master manually advancing the mission from step 6 to step 7. You must have the non-destroyable unique N25R4TR4PH3C2L2CTR4D2 for Gray Feather to even talk to you about the mission, but then he will try and give you another one which he cannot do since it's unique (this is the bug), which will prevent the mission from progressing with the error "COMPUTER: Cannot proceed with the mission: This mission is rewarding you with an unique item you already possess!". This cannot be worked around, even by using /restoreinv, because you have to have N25R4TR4PH3C2L2CTR4D2 to begin the dialog with Gray Feather, but /restoreinv pops up another dialog with "Old Man Rivers" interrupting the Gray Feather dialog. Gray Feather then won't discuss the mission anymore once the N25R4TR4PH3C2L2CTR4D2 is gone, so you must both have it and not have it to advance from step 6 to step 7. As a result, the only way to complete this mission is by getting assistance from a Game Master and having them manually advance the mission for you. Note that you must also have N25R4TR4PH3C2L2CTR4D2 to turn in the mission at Du'Shao Silva in step 7.
     
7. Return to Du'Shao Silva on planet Swooping Eagle.

Bugs

•   Oddly after talking to Gray Feather for this mission, if the V'rix scan you at the Sector Gate to Xipe Totec in Swooping Eagle the pop-up will say Gray Feather and show Gray Feather's portrait rather than the usual V'rix ship but the text contains the usual scanning for the Vishao Codex... NEGATIVE message.