The quest in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl will start automatically if you didn't kill the stalker Kosoy right away and agreed to help him in the story quest A Needle in a Haystack. In this guide, we will show you the best way to complete this quest to get the maximum benefit.
As we mentioned earlier, you first need to find Kosoy. To do this, you can use a separate guide or follow these steps:
We will show you a simple way to get the artifact and get rid of the stalker Kosoy — he is just a killer, so no one will cry for him.
So, when you reach Kosoy, don't kill him right away. Otherwise, you won't be able to activate the script and go in search of the artifact. Agree to help him so that the side quest «Piece of Cake» appears. Opening the map, you will see the corresponding marker.
The cave has two entrances, but the nearest one is located in the building next to the mill. Just leave the mill and go around it. On the right, you will see a house — run there and find the hole in the floor.
On the way to the anomaly, you can inspect several corpses (one of them can be found if you go through the water to the right part of the cave). However, very soon you will encounter a bloodsucker. Fans of the series know its main feature — it becomes invisible and tries to attack the enemy from behind.
Try to keep your distance and shoot by sound, and also try to catch the barely noticeable silhouette of the monster.
After dealing with it, continue moving through the cave and inspecting the corpses. When you reach the anomaly, take your regular detector and follow the signal. Note that all artifacts literally «float» in the anomalies — they are not in one place, so you will probably have to make an effort to find them.
You can get the answer to this question by hovering the mouse cursor over the artifact and studying its value. Do you really want to lose 7500 credits just to save the life of some killer? Of course not!
Return to Kosoy and ask why he didn't warn about the bloodsucker living in the cave. Then choose the option «Attack». After making a few well-aimed shots to the head, kill him, then inspect the corpse and take the scanner, which is necessary for further quest progression.
If you had given the artifact to Kosoy, you would have received just a scanner in return, but this way you kept the artifact and can sell it for a tidy sum.