Arc of Fire

After being sent by Screw to Devotee and talking to him, Marked One finds out that a small mercenary recon team did indeed travel from Swamps to Darkscape, indicating that they come from Ironworks through the unknown route; and the next day a large squad with a Stryker APC also moved there, apparently bribing the Cordon military to pass. They set up a checkpoint at the gas station at Darkscape, and started shelling everyone daring to pass through Darkscape with mortars.

Devotee asks you to destroy all mortars and shell supplies, as well as the APC.

**This quest has two cards from Kuznetsov's deck.**

## Walkthrough

The APC with the first team of 8 mercs can be located on the road near the abandoned farm. One of the mercenaries here has a playing card on his body.

First mortar and the ammo box can be found at the smugglers' camp. It's guarded by 3 people and covered by a turret on top of two red transport containers stacked on top of each other.

Second mortar can be found at the sawmill. It's guarded by 5 people.

Third mortar and the ammo box can be found at the mercenary checkpoint at the gas station, guarded by 6 people and covered by two turrets - one on a bus on the road near the acid lake, and another on top of the southern tunnel.

One of the checkpoint guards in an advanced mercenary exosuit (bright green) is their commander. He will have a PDA with a note of a hidden bunker somewhere northwest of the sawmill, and the code to the door is **26041986**.

Move out to the secret bunker entrance. It's mined with several mines that cannot be defused.

Detonate any mine, and others should follow. Beware of a turret inside the tunnel! Descend the tunnel down to the locked bunker door. Enter the code you got from the commander's PDA. There will be 5 mercenaries inside the bunker, one of them is carrying M60. Kill them. Inside one of the lockers you will find the PDA with a secret trail to the Ironworks.

The locker that contains the PDA (next to the Nazi poster)

Exit the bunker and eliminate another team of 7 mercenaries, ambushing you outside. One of them will have another playing card. Once you destroyed all mortars and ammo boxes, and obtained commander's PDA and the PDA with the trail, return to Devotee.

Devotee will tell you bad news: about 500 mercs from a company named Graystone (Greystone in reality) just arrived into the Zone, and about a hundred went to the Ironworks. The same amount of mercenaries from Blackwater is expected to arrive in two weeks.

### Bonus reward

After completing this quest, you can return to the sawmill at Darkscape, and discover a safe with goods, guarded by 15 bandits.

## Notes

* The mercs Devotee tells you aren't fictional. You will meet all of them later. (and more!)
* **Do not sell or store two PDAs you obtained**, as you'll need both of them to finish Reconnaissance by fire.
* The mortars are tough, but can be destroyed with explosives or sustained gunfire. The ammo boxes can be destroyed in the same way, but are markedly less difficult to destroy in comparison. Melee is not recommended as both the mortar and shells are resistant to melee and they explode with some force, easily capable of killing you.