Aya: Blade of the Goddess

Prerequisite: Complete Main Quest: Way of the Gabiniani

Suggested Level: 31

REWARDS: NA

Unlocks: Main Quest: The Battle for the Nile

Details: Caesar’s arrival in Alexandria has complicated Cleopatra’s precarious journey.

Speak to Aya

Herakleion

Speak to Aya (1). She’s where you left her at the end of Main Quest: Way of the Gabiniani. She warns you that once they board the ship, there’s no turning back. You finish with either the queen on the throne or each of your heads on a pike. Choose to “Sail to Alexandria” if you are ready to leave.

Sink the Fleet

Mediterranean Coast

Cleopatra and Apollodorus are aboard Phoxidas’s ship with Bayek and Aya. You travel with four other warships and encounter trouble in the beginning of the voyage.

There are two enemy ships dead ahead. Position yourself to avoid a ram maneuver, which one of the enemy ships attempts from the start. Sink the two ships and head for Alexandria, close to 3,000 meters away.

Catapults

At about 2,560 meters, you encounter enemy warships. You have access to the catapults in this sea battle. Activate the catapult aiming. Aim the reticle over a ship (you know your aim is true when the reticle turns red) and execute a catapult call. When you fire catapults, all the ships in your fleet also fire catapults on the targeted ship. This is a great way to do some serious damage to the enemy. The catapult takes time to recharge; use it strategically.

After destroying one of the four ships in the second wave, a cutscene displays how oil in the water (spilled from the sinking ship) is used as a weapon. An enemy shoots a flaming arrow into the spill and creates a large fire hazard. Two of your ally ships sink from this attack. Now you and two ally ships face a couple small ships and a large warship. Be cautious of the new hazard. Fight the remaining ships while avoiding patches of floating fire.

Fire catapults at the big ship while continually moving into position to attack the smaller ships. Put the smaller ships between you and the large warship. After you take out the two smaller ones, concentrate on the large one. And don’t forget about the catapults; they do a great deal of damage.

After you win the battle, a celebration occurs just before arrows rain down on your ship. Phoxidas tells you to get on the small reed boats and use the fog to hide your escape.

Deliver Cleopatra

Alexandria: Royal Palace

You disembark in the Royal Palace’s harbor. While on the bulkhead (2), the party contemplates how they will enter the palace unnoticed, especially with Cleopatra accompanying you. They decide to wrap her in a roll of carpet and have Apollodorus carry her in as a gift. Aya and Bayek carry a vase and gift basket.

Follow Apollodorus to the first checkpoint, where he explains to the guards that they have gifts for Caesar from the nomarch of Heliopolis (Apollodorus) and local merchants. He explains that the you and Aya are his Phylakitai. He not only lets you pass but also escorts you through multiple checkpoints.

At the next checkpoint, the escort asks if he can carry the rug. Apollodorus dissuades him by saying it’s sacred. At the next checkpoint, one of the guards recognizes Bayek from the hippodrome races but allows him to pass. Once inside the palace, the big reveal occurs. Pompey’s head is in a box on Caesar’s desk. Cleopatra’s brother Ptolemy stands nearby in council with the ruler. Just before they discuss an alliance, your party barges in with Cleopatra.

Caesar lends an open ear as Cleopatra offers her hand in marriage, something her brother cannot do. Ptolemy runs off in a tizzy and Caesar dismisses everyone from the room so he and Cleopatra can discuss their new arrangement.

Outside, Bayek and Aya discuss their disappointment at missing Pothinus and Septimius. Apollodorus says once Cleopatra is queen, they can act from within and crush the network. Apollodorus says he’ll meet you at the gardens tomorrow.

Reach the Tomb Entrance

The Tomb of Alexander the Great

Cleopatra wants to invite Caesar to visit the tomb of Alexander the Great. The tomb is sealed, but not by royal decree. She tells Aya that an earthquake in the early years of her father’s reign blocked the door. Aya suggests getting to it from underground and finding an easy way in for everyone else.

You find yourself at the entrance to the tomb of Alexander the Great (3). Enter the building and follow the marker down the stairs. You find a set of open double doors. This is the tomb entrance.

Investigate the Tomb Entrance

Head through the double doors and down the stairs. Use Animus Pulse to discover a cracked wall on the left side. There’s also the sealed main entrance and blood on the floor to inspect. Use a weapon to break through the crack in the wall. Push through and both you and Bayek will enter the tomb behind the wall.

Explore the Tunnels

Begin exploring the tunnels. Head down the slope and slide under the small hole below a boarded-up doorway.

In the new area are metal bars on a passage to the left and a few large vases on the right. Smash the vases to reveal another small hole. Slide through it to reach the next hallway.

In the next hall, leap off the edge of the path. There’s water below, so you’ll live. Swim downward to find a passage to the next area.

You enter a very large water-filled chamber. The way out is through a high tunnel on the west wall. Follow the tunnel as it bends north. Keep swimming upward to find the surface and catch a breath. Run up along the wooden scaffold to the next hallway. Run to the northwest corner to find the next tunnel.

You reach a T-intersection. There is a large crack in the wall to the left, a barred window straight ahead, and a dead-end hallway to the right. Go through the crack in the wall.

On the other side, Aya and Bayek find the tomb of Alexander the Great. Bayek reads inscriptions and Aya feels it’s time to let the others in.

Open the Gate

Head up the red-carpeted staircase. Interact with the ornate doors to let the others in. While they ogle the tomb, Bayek asks Aya when Cleopatra might give them leads to their son’s killers. Flavius rushes into the tomb to announce that Caesar’s emissaries have been captured at the southern garrison of Alexandria. Seems Cleopatra’s brother kept his promise of revenge. Aya and Bayek volunteer to take care of this predicament.

Rescue Caesar’s Emissaries

On your way out of the tomb, Bayek offers to distract the garrisons while you (Aya) procure the emissaries. Call for your mount and chase the objective marker to the Akra Garrison in the southeast.

Akra Garrison

Prerequisite: Approach the Garrison

SUGGESTED LEVEL: 10 or higher

LOCATION REWARD: 500 XP

LOCATION OBJECTIVES: Kill two captains and one commander, loot four treasures

You’ve been to this garrison a few times already during your adventure, so you should’ve already taken its treasures and killed its commander and captains. You assassinated Gennadios the Phylakitai and freed an actor from there during Side Quest: Wrath of the Poets. We suggest a similar approach, as the brazier will be lit as soon as the soldiers within spot you.

Cross the bridge (4), climb up the west wall (5), and set the brazier trap to keep reinforcements from arriving. Many of the soldiers occupying this fort are at the same levels they were when you were last there. You’re facing Level 8 soldiers mixed with Level 31 newcomers.

Reach the ballista and take out soldiers who may try to stop the rescue. Enter the third floor of the central building (7) to find a bloodied emissary on the floor. The wounded man tells you to warn Caesar. Septimius is preparing a siege of the harbor and wants to take the palace. He passes out before you learn their current location.

Extract the Emissary

Pick him up and drop down the hole in the floor (where a ladder is located) to reach the second floor. Take the stairs to the first floor. Run out of the building, avoiding any soldiers who still live. Place the emissary on a horse (there’s some near the stables at the main west gate). Ride out of the fort, follow the marker north, and get him back to Caesar’s palace. You enter the palace from the south road entrance (8), near the Tomb of Alexander the Great.

Aya gets news to Caesar that Septimius plans on trapping him in the palace. Caesar orders Flavius to attack in the harbor while he joins the battle by chariot. Apollodorus decides to defend the queen as she remains at the palace on the throne. Caesar has Bayek put powder into the brazier of the Pharos to let the fleet know what’s happening onshore. Before Aya leaves, Cleopatra gives her the okay to assassinate her brother.

Once outside (9), Aya asks Bayek to give her the powder, as Caesar thinks a woman can’t do the job and she aims to prove him wrong. Bayek complies and throws her the powder.

Reach the Top of the Pharos

The harbor is burning, just as Caesar ordered. You need to reach the top of the Pharos Garrison (10) and put the powder in the flames to signal the fleet. Climb the dead tree at your starting position, and leap to the top of the ship mast. Leap from burning ship mast to ship mast until you reach one that breaks under your weight. Aya safely falls into the water below.

Now swim directly west for the marker and the shore of the garrison. Defeat the soldier on the walkway near the water. Follow the stairs up to the interior, where you find a bloody massacre. Avoid confrontation or help allies fight near the base of the tower.

Pharos Garrison

Run to the lighthouse’s south side (11) (left as you enter the garrison) and start scaling the wall. Continue to the platform (12) below an open window.

If you want to fight through more soldiers inside the lighthouse, then enter this window. If you want to skip right to the boss fight, then climb atop the awning (using the south side of the poles holding it up) and continue to scale the wall.

Keep climbing past the second open window (14). Negotiate past the large soffit (15) and into the open boss window (16). The brute reaches through the window and pulls you in and throws you on the floor.

Kill the Guardian

Now you face a Level 31 brute with a large hammer. You’re equipped with a quick bow and a hunter’s bow. There are multiple arrow supplies around the chamber, so if you need arrows, you got ’em. Start with the quick bow to the brute’s face, and don’t let up until you are out of arrows. You can easily put him down this way without ever laying a finger on him. If he still stands, this attack builds up enough adrenaline that you can release a special move on him to finish him off.

Keep climbing past the second open window (14). Negotiate past the large soffit (15) and into the open boss window (16). The brute reaches through the window and pulls you in and throws you on the floor.

Light the Pharos

Interact with the large doors on the northeast side of the boss chamber. Aya eventually muscles them open. Once outside, climb up the rest of the tower. You can uncover one of the garrison’s treasures in the room below the fire.

Climb up the ladder in the small room to reach the fire. Walk around it until you locate and activate the interact prompt. One more soldier will challenge you. He’s upset about you killing his captain. Back on the ground, Caesar grows impatient, especially now that he’s learned that Bayek has passed this critical mission to a woman. Just before he blows a gasket, Aya comes through and gets the powder in the fire, turning it green to signal the fleet. Mission accomplished. The mission now transitions into Main Quest: The Battle for the Nile as Caesar and Bayek ride off together in a chariot.