Degtyarev: Beard owes me money. Owl said you could help me.
Sultan: I guess I can... Here's my thinking: we drive Beard broke and take over his setup, you get your money and a cut of the business. Deal?
Degtyarev: Deal.
Sultan: Now your job's to find out what's keeping Beard busy right now. Cutting off his supply channels will do the trick.
― Major Degtyarev and Sultan agreeing on taking over Beard's business
Shady Business is a side mission available in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.
Description[]
This mission is available from Sultan once the player has completed the Tempting Business mission. The player is advised by Owl to speak to Sultan regarding Beard not respecting his part of the deal with the Svarog detectors. To solve the issue, Sultan suggests that the player cuts off Beard's supply channels to force him to work for the bandits.
The first step is to speak to Beard and accept the Compass mission. This part of the mission is relatively simple - speak to Noah, but instead of giving Beard the artifact give it to Sultan instead. Note that asking for a second Compass and giving it to Beard will bug the mission (see 'bugs' section).
After doing so, just accept a normal artifact mission from Beard, which will update the PDA with positions of two squads of Loners. Each will be composed of three stalkers, one led by Sledgehammer and the other by Crest. The player needs to get two Svarog detectors from both of the leaders. There are a two ways of doing so:
- Forcefully: Of course the most obvious way is to kill each group and loot the detectors alongside some extra things.
- Peacefully: Try talking to Sledgehammer, he will make clear that if offered a good rifle he could agree to an exchange. After successfully trading a rifle for the detector, look for Crest. The player may lie to him that Sledgehammer's group is dead. After that Crest will give away his Svarog detector.
Upon returning detectors to Sultan, the player is told to talk to Beard to finally convince him to work for Sultan. After doing so, one can collect some money from Beard daily. However, as a consequence, this mission permanently disables Beard's artifact orders (though the player is still able to sell Beard artifacts at a higher price). Thus, if the player is holding some valuable artifacts, be sure to sell them for a good profit as it may be the last time.
Reward[]
The player will earn 10000RU as well as a daily cut from Beard by completing this mission.
This mission also gives the Boss achievement, should the player also side with Sultan during The Hit and Transaction missions.
Notes[]
- Beard's attitude towards the player will change significantly after completing the mission; this will permanently change his dialogue when approaching him or leaving the bar.
Glitches[]
- If the player turns in the first Compass to Sultan, and later collects the second one from Noah and turns it in to Beard while the quest is still active, Shady Business will bug and be impossible to complete. Sultan will ignore any attempt to turn in Svarog detectors, thus causing this mission to stay indefinitely in the player's PDA. Thus, if the player intends to side with the Loners, do not speak to Sultan about the Compass. Refusing to give Beard the artifact after accepting the mission will fail the Compass quest, making it impossible to turn in the Compass to him.
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