How to Pass the Quest “Brother for Brother” (“Holy Spring”) in Stalcraft

“Holy Spring” is a quest available at 2nd level of Bara’s reputation.

Someone (or something?) spills a miraculous potion from a healing spring at the Army depots. The player must determine whether this is a sacred gift of the Zone or an ordinary fraud. Gromozeka gives the quest. You need to approach him and ask him if anything interesting is happening in the neighborhood. He will answer that a certain “Holy Spring” has appeared, which has incredible healing powers and will offer to play detective by investigating the case.

Passage Options

Variants of passing the quest are several. But the player, in any case, will first need to get to this very source, where he will meet Marin – a suspicious stalker about whom no one has heard much before but who, in a short period of time, has already become a local legend.

Then you need to return to the bar. Opposite Boomer (the supplier of contracts) sits Furs. He asks him to deal with Marin.

Pay 300k Rubles to Marin

The most expensive and, at the same time, the most unprofitable option.

We came to Marin and asked him to close his point. He agrees to do it for 300 thousand rubles. By the standards of the game, it’s a lot of money — it’s better to refuse.

When (and if) the player refuses the deal, Marin will send him to search the stash. But his men (hostile NPCs) will be waiting for him, and the cache itself will be empty. The only way out is to destroy them all.

After that, the player needs to go to Furs for further instructions. He will offer to poison the source with a biochemical artifact, turn off the water, or find dirt on Marin.

Let’s analyze each option.

Find Dirt on Marin

Compromise can be found in the cabin where Marin lives. To do this, you will need to hack into his personal mailbox. After a conversation with him follows, the player informs us that he knows who Marin really is.

Then you have a choice: you can agree not to tell anyone the truth — for this charlatan will give 15 thousand rubles — or “leak” it, telling Fursu about Marin’s secret. In this case, Furs will give the player 50 thousand rubles.

But first, the dirt is leaked to Yablochkin. He sits not far from Marin in a gazebo. He looks like a stately man in a blue jacket and mask. He promises to deal with Marin (just Maxim, as it turned out) and orders the player to keep quiet, or he will be waiting for an unenviable fate.

Poison the Spring

If the player chooses to poison the source, you should keep in mind that Marin leaves for three hours – at 17:00 local time. While he is away, you need to get to the source and dip an artifact into it.

The source itself is located here – on the player’s arrow:

After walking a little further and passing the column, the player will find a small spring with water:

You need to find the trigger point of the bottom by moving the camera over it. Then, it’s enough to press the action button (F—by default) and choose the appropriate option in the dialog box — there is only one, so you can’t make a mistake.

Turn Off the Water Supply

The water supply is the most difficult fork in the quest. It is probably one of the most confusing puzzles in the whole game.

First, you need to find the valves. They are located in this area:

Next, you need to find the pumping station. It’s located here:

The yellow flag marks the door leading inside the station:

At the station itself, once the player gets inside, move to the left side – where the doorway is:

Then go up the stairs and to the very top – until you meet the dashboard:

Solving the Pumping Station Puzzle

The hardest part of the assignment.

In general, one of the most difficult segments in all of Stalcraft – at least according to the words (and feelings) of the players. So, there are seven lamps and nine buttons. The buttons turn the lamps on and off:

• Button 1 turns on the 1, 3, 7 lamp.
• Button 2 turns on the 2, 5, 7 lamp.
• Button 3 turns on the 4 and 5 lamps.
• Button 4 turns on 2, 3, 6 lamp.
• Button 5 switches on 1, 4, 5, 7 lamp.
• Button 6 switches on 1, 3, and 6 lamps.
• Button 7 switches on the 3, 4, 5 lamp.
• Button 8 (lower) switches on 1, 2, 4, and 6 lamps.
• Button 9 (upper) switches on 2, 7 lamp.

To solve the puzzle, you need to switch all the lamps to red color. It is desirable to make notes during the process —it is possible on the most ordinary paper, using the binary system of state designations (for example, “0” for off and “1” for on).

Visualization will help to keep track of the switches and avoid unnecessary clicks. Lamps spawn in a random state for each player, so there is no universal recipe for passing. But let’s simulate the situation and solve it using an example to make it at least a little clearer. So, let’s imagine that the panel is spawned in this state:

• Lamp 1: off;
• Lamp 2: on;
• Lamp 3: on;
• Lamp 4: on;
• Lamp 5: on;
• Lamp 6: on;
• Lamp 7: on;

Specifically, in this case, the puzzle will be solved as follows:

1. Press button 1 – this will switch lamps 1, 3 and 7.
2. Press button 2 – this will switch lamps 2, 5 and 7.
3. Press button 4 – this will switch lamps 2, 3 and 6.
4. Press button 8 – this will switch lamps 1, 2, 4 and 6.
5. Press button 9 – this will switch lamps 2 and 7.
6. Press button 3 – this will switch lamps 4 and 5.

Something like that. Unfortunately, there is still no simple answer, and there is no one in sight.

Completing the Quest

The quest is long and, in some places, very difficult. Memorable for its variation and characters.

Last, we prepared a little tasty: we offered to summarize how to pass the task with the greatest profit for themselves. So, first, you should dig up dirt on Marin, and when he offers the player to take the money so that he does not spread it, you should not refuse them. Then you have to go and shut off the water. Having turned it off, it is then necessary to tell Furs about what happened – the whole truth. That way, you won’t get 50k rubles but 65k rubles.

We note that in this case, the run will have to run longer, but only for about five minutes. This is in the worst case. To cope, if everything goes as it should, it will be possible to manage in two or three.