Mercenaries' suitcase

Freeman is asking you to bring back his suitcase that James, the leader of a mercenary group, "persuaded" him to give.

**Warning: if you already finished Deal with the whistler but still haven't fought the mercenaries at the checkpoint in Army Warehouses, go fight them before accepting this quest, or you'll miss the Wild Territory - Army Warehouses transition. Refer to Missing expedition for details.** (if you haven't started Deal with the whistler yet, you won't miss anything).

## Walkthrough

James can be found in the stalker shack in Wild Territory.

### Peaceful option

Talk to James and buy the case for 50000RU. If you try haggling he'll raise the price to 70000RU. The suitcase, along with James's PP-19 "Bison", will be marked on your map.

### Aggressive option

This is one of the absurdly long and large fights that are abundant in this game. Even starting it is hard, you'll probably need to withstand several .357 hits to your body. Having an exoskeleton is strongly advised.

After talking rude to James or bargaining too much, kill him and his guards and grab the case. He will drop James's PP-19 "Bison" chambered in .357, in mint condition. Watch out for the guard with Remington 870 "Marine Magnum", you don't want to be shot in the face with that thing.

Once the initial group has been dealt with, James' mercenaries will start to arrive - 91 mercs total, including one with M60. They will slowly spawn all over Wild Territory over the course of 2 ingame hours, from the road to Yantar to the crashed helicopter.

Mercenaries will arrive in waves after certain triggers have been hit. One of the triggers for the mercenary spawns is at the end of the Burner tunnel on the Yantar side. Wandering over this trigger will spawn enemies on both ends of the tunnel. You can try to fight them there or focus one side to escape. There is one final trigger near the Yantar transition that spawns a small squad coming from there.

Make sure you kill all mercs to avoid any issues later.

## Notes

* Don't attack James without speaking to him first, you'll softlock the quest because you won't get the case.
	+ If you come too close, James will became hostile without talking, also losing the case and softlocking the quest.
	+ Normally, waiting 10 seconds in the dialogue makes NPCs holster their weapons, so if they become hostile you'll have the time to draw your pistol. This doesn't work with James, he always pokes his gun into your face.
	+ Use a sawn-off shotgun in a pistol slot, or an actual pistol like Desert Eagle Mark XIX that can be bought from Barkeep, to kill James. Pistols need less time to draw than your primary gun.
* This quest is one of the two conditions for Ashen, James' commander, to spawn. See Missing expedition for details.
* With the aggressive option, one of the hills at the road to Yantar will get mined. You can't pick those mines up, only detonate them.
* You can quicksave before accepting the reward from Freeman to reroll the artifact and scientific suit he gives you.
	+ The Clear Sky SEVA is the best of the regular suits, but the Modified SEVA+ offers better protection from bullets and has a higher carry weight bonus.
* If you want to push all that merc scrap to Skinflint, stash it on the location until you have the direct route to Army Warehouses; it opens after fighting Joker in Missing expedition. The safest place is the irradiated corner northwest of the heli crash site, the transition will conveniently open nearby.

## Bugs

* After the certain point in the game (presumably after The mystery of the Monolith), stalkers come to the campfire near the James' shack. They will fill fight the mercs immediately, after which the mercs will be hostile to you as well, softlocking the quest. The solution is to either complete this quest earlier, or to blow the stalkers with canisters/explosives before accepting the quest.
* You can grab two copies of James's PP-19 "Bizon" if you attack him and his men after paying the 50000RU, attack his reinforcements, then grab his stash.
	+ You can prompt non-aggressive targets to attack with tools like stun or smoke grenades.