Rescuing Sparkle

**Norman's stash:**
Steel Rat nano-suit
Battery ×2
Ruby Battery
Emerald Jellyfish
Mama's beads
FMJ Box (150x3) ×150
7.62x54 Isomorph ×30
.408 Chey Tac ×50
Snowflake grenade ×2
Electrica grenade ×2
Vortex grenade ×2
Lighter grenade ×2
Rucksack

Continuation of the attempt to rescue Sparkle with the help of Perfumer and Norman.

*This quest is unmarked, and doesn't have any canonical name.*

## Walkthrough

### X-10 laboratory

You appear in the middle of X-10. If you didn't clear the natural spawns beforehand, it will be messy as they all will congregate on your group. Sparkle may panic and run due to her lack of a gun. Help Perfumer and Norman deal with any tankier targets like Inferno bloodsuckers, but let them deal with hard to hit ones like sentient anomalies.

Once things have calmed down, speak to Perfumer. His plan is the same: they'll handle the front, while you escort Sparkle, making sure she doesn't get too far ahead.

A large number of zombies, including Plagued zombies, will spawn ahead. Make sure Sparkle doesn't go anywhere near the front until these are dealt with. Cover the rear if there's a chance of anything coming from the lab's depths.

When you reach the entrance to the lab, speak to Perfumer. He will say that the time is running out and Sparkle is getting worse. You'll have to go to Doctor in Central Pripyat for the help.

### Rushing to Doctor

**After speaking to Perfumer, you will have about one in-game hour to reach Doctor.**

Ignore everything Perfumer says about clearing the way and simply run as fast as you can to Doctor's camp. Speak to him and exhaust his dialogue, receiving the experimental ointment and a Soul artifact. This will spawn in Perfumer, Sparkle, and Norman just south of Doctor's cranny.

Give Perfumer the ointment and the Soul Doctor gave you, completing Sparkle's treatment.

**Finishing this quest also completes the entire Narodnaya Solyanka story, and earns you the Solyanka Lover achievement.**

## After the quest

Talk to Norman and he will give you the coordinates to his stash in Dead City. It's near the helicopter crashed out of location boundaries and will be marked on your map.

After leaving the location and entering the 100 Rads bar, Perfumer and Sparkle will announce that they left for Zaton. You can find them in the loners' camp to the north for some flavor dialogue.

## Notes

* Sparkle appears to be invincible in this portion of the quest. She can keel over and become un-interactable, but speaking to Perfumer at the lab entrance still advances the quest without consequences.
* Leaving the X-10 entrance in Radar quickly can be tough without getting shot, but there's a good path to take.
	+ First, let the Monolithans get distracted by the soldiers that spawn to the northwest. After that, slip out the gap to the right side of the train car, and run up the guard tower. Shoot out the front railing and you can run straight across to clear the stone wall.
	+ This is also quicker if you've already destroyed the front railing of the guard tower on a previous visit.
* The fail timer appears to stop as soon as you speak to Doctor and receive the special medicine and Soul from him. Let Perfumer and Norman go crazy on the Monolithians in the area and speak to Perfumer whenever he comes to the campfire.
* If you have a handheld teleport to Central Pripyat obtained from Sidorovich's chain, this will trivialize this portion of the quest.
* A stalker named Shi3 moves to the Zaton loner camp along with Perfumer and Sparkle. Oddly for an exoskeleton-wearing stalker, he is only a veteran and not a master.