Damn it, it's all a haze now... I remember a car... They drove me somewhere for a long time and my whole body hurt... There was darkness... What happened before that? I've no idea... So confused... Now this fat guy calls me the Marked One, probably because of the strange tattoo on my arm, and then there's this weird mission to kill some guy called Strelok on my PDA... Is it even my PDA? Looking at Strelok's photo I'm not even sure if I knew him or not... Dammit! It's all like a bad dream you can't wake up from! What to do? Where to go? And worst of all: who am I? OK, OK, calm down, control yourself. The first thing I'll have to do is do some jobs for this Sidorovich. He claims to have saved my life after all... That shouldn't be too bad. I'll take a walk, calm down myself and perhaps my head will be clearer.

Well, well... Got some fresh air, saw the local wildlife... Interestingly I seem to remember some of it already, but it's all in a haze... Had a chance to try the local "amusement" called anomalies... Judging by the fact that I survived I've probably come across them before, but my brain stubbornly refuses to remember... Sidorovich is one clever bastard - he knows he can use me almost for free and that's exactly what he wants to do. Still, maybe he'll help me find this bloody Strelok fella... He's my only connection with my past.

So, I am going on my first deep raid into the Zone. The target is the Agroprom Research Institute. I need to recover some documents belonging to a military expedition. Apart from the mission the trader gave me some information about an area to the North, on the way to the Zone's center, where the "brains boil"... Probably more of a legend than a fact, but since there's clearly something wrong with my head I probably should take a look at it and talk to some people. You never know - maybe I've been there before... Also, the trader told me that Strelok discovered a way to get through the area and the traders want to know it. Their reasons are clear - they want to access untouched artifact fields. Well, I'm going to help them, I guess.

Hmm... The trader didn't let me down and I'm grateful to him - he gave me a leg up in my search for Strelok. Apparently a stalker called Fox has shown up nearby and he's asking for help. Sidorovich thinks Fox might know Strelok.

I met up with Fox. It's that bad news, good news scenario. The bad news is that he knows little about Strelok. The good news is that his brother called Seriy knows more. It seems Seriy is in a hangar about 2 kilometers North of here, in some dump full of radioactive waste. My task is clear: get there before he leaves.

• After talking with Fox
• Fox's body searched

My hopes of learning something about Strelok must be put on hold for a while longer: Seriy sent me to meet a stalker called Mole, who apparently knows the location of Strelok's secret stash... Not much, but if he's right, at least I would have something... Who knows, maybe I'll learn something useful there.

Well, meeting Mole paid off - it seems that the group's stash really exists and it's located in the catacombs below the Institute...I'll have to go there. I don't know what I'll find there...but I hope this stash helps me solve my own mystery...

• Mission "Get information about Strelok" completed
• Mole's body searched (after failing "Get information about Strelok")

Well, it seems that the stash gave me a new direction to follow. I found a flash drive with what appears to be a diary used by Strelok's group. Despite the few entries, I could work out that the group had two other members: Ghost and Fang. The diary also mentioned a "mutual friend" but I don't know whether he was part of the group. He definitely helped them out, that's for sure. According to Ghost's entry, Fang died when they were ambushed. So, at last, I have something solid: the name of someone who definitely knows Strelok - Ghost. As for Strelok himself, he may be somewhere in the North of the Zone.

I looked through the documents found at the Institute. It appears that the Institute was used as a front for an unofficial lab called X18 in the years preceding the accident. This lab hosted a number of very unusual experiments; its location is not clear from the documents and the military don't seem to know anything about it either. Well, well... the plot thickens... But perhaps, this is the starting point which the traders need. Now I have to travel further North to a trader known as the Barkeep.

I met with the Barkeep. Having looked through the documents from the Institute he thinks that this X18 is in the so called Dark Valley and asked me to go there to look for information and documents. He says he sent Duty scouts to get into the underground vaults there but they disappeared. The Barkeep thinks they were captured by bandits who have a base nearby. If that's true, everything those Duty guys found will be in the hands of Borov, the leader of the bandits. The Barkeep told me to be careful and... clearly didn't tell me everything about these underground vaults. Oh well, time to get to work: first of all I need to go pay Borov a visit and if the "conversation" goes well, I'll explore the underground.

Hell... Lab X18 wasn't fun...and its current residents...I didn't think things like that existed. I found some documents...I didn't understand much of what was written in there except that they contained technical specifications for some components for Kaimanov emitters. What's interesting is that the parts were destined for another lab with the codename X16 and it's probably a secret one too.

I had a strange dream. The colossal Chernobyl power plant emerges in the twilight. Everything looks peaceful. A lonely man appears. I see him from behind against the background of the plant. The wind starts to blow. Suddenly hordes of rats begin to skitter away from the station in all directions. The man, with his back still turned to me, shoots at the rats. There is an abrupt scream: "Strelok!". The man shudders, freezes for a moment, then starts to turn slowly in my direction, but... just an instant before I am to get a glance at his face, I wake up. What does this dream mean? I don't know, but I think it's something I have seen before.

Hmm...The traders have dug up a lot of information about these laboratories. The Barkeep wasn't surprised to find out about the emitters and X16. Now he's convinced that this Brain Scorcher is man-made. He thinks that Lab X16 is near the scientists' camp by Lake Yantar. It's interesting that they're studying emissions that resemble the effects of the Scorcher. So now I must pay a visit to the Zone's scientific community.

So, here I am just one step away from one of Strelok's men. Ghost went to the underground Lab X16 with one of the scientists. There is only one "but" - I'm not likely to find him alive. The scientist was coming back from there alone and was killed when approaching the camp. The scientists gave me some kind of device to protect me against these obscure emissions. I hope it works. They want me to get inside and unplug the emitter - then they will be able to study it on site. God help me.

I'm shocked! Ghost is the same person as the man on the photo from the file attached to the mission to kill Strelok. I'm thoroughly confused. There must have been some mistake. But who made the mistake? There is no answer yet. From Ghost's records I learned the name of their "mutual acquaintance" - the fourth man in Strelok's group - Doctor. He has been helping the group for a long time playing the role of their "headquarters". He can be found through a stalker by the name of Guide, who frequents Cordon. Alright, Guide, just don't go dying all of a sudden... before we meet. On Ghost's dead body I also found documents regarding the "Psi-Brain" mechanism. The whole neigborhood was under the influence of that piece of trash - it zombified everyone who came within range. I learned that there is another mechanism in Lab X19, and that's what is likely to be the Brain Scorcher. I also learned that these mechanisms are not always operating at full strength. There are periods when their power is lowered to cool down the apparatus.

After turning off that horrible "brain in a tube" I fell unconscious. The pressure of the last few days must have taken its toll. While I was out, I had a dream...A photograph. A gray-haired man is holding it in his hands and a huge dog is at his feet. The man is looking into the distance, but around him there is only a swamp; the landscape doesn't look at all like what's on the photo. In the fog I can see the silhouette of someone walking away. The man is talking to himself: "If it's so important, why didn't you tell me what this place is and where you got the photo"... then... on the side I see a smiling young man standing on the threshold of the cabin, who says cheerfully: "If only you knew where I was and what I saw there!" He extends his arm holding a marvellous device which lights up the whole cabin. The dog starts to growl and squeezes into a corner; the gray-haired man mumbles: "Some day these games will spell trouble for you." ...flash... the same young man with his face covered in blood stumbles inside the cabin door and falls... Lightning flashes in the sky, heavy rain is pouring down ...flash... The cabin bed with the young man covered in bandages. He is unconscious; the gray-haired man mumbles: "Hang in there, son". Some personal things are piled in a corner and among them there is that strange photo ...flash... the photo is in the hands of the gray-haired man. The young man, now with scars on his face, is about to leave. The gray-haired man asks him: "Where are you off to now?". The gloomy answer follows: "The North"...flash... then I woke up.

Well, I am ready to go to the Scorcher. I found out from Crazy the times when the emission levels decrease. He also told me about a safe place where I can wait for these periods. My psi-protection won't work at other times anyway. I'll have to find a way into the underground bunker of Lab X19. Inside I should find the controls for the Brain Scorcher antennae.

Guide said Doctor thinks he's being followed and will stay at Strelok's old hideout. Well, I guess I'll have to pay him a visit there.

• After talking with Guide
• Guide's body searched

I turned off the Scorcher. For some reason, I lost conciousness just as I did it. Then, I had a dream: I saw again the massive Chernobyl power plant and the sarcophagus. Then a flash. The shining Monolith inside the sarcophagus. I understand that it is the Wish-Granting Machine. A stalker, exhausted and in rags, reaches feebly out to it...a bright flash and I see a fragment of the first dream... A man stands with his back to me and keeps shooting. Someone shouts, "Strelok!". The man shudders, freezes for a moment and then starts to turn slowly...but the pictures slide past, as if a film was played backwards, and I see how he uses his weapon to force the rats back into the station... I realize that I was there. I must go to the Monolith.

The stash contained a short report on how Fang and I infiltrated the underground galleries under the station sarcophagus and found a suspicious-looking door. Fang said that he'd put together a decoder for the electronic lock for our next visit. After that we had to run for our lives. There were hordes of Monolith patrols there. Well. I also found the decoder in the stash and directions for finding the door. However, it seems that approaching the Monolith is extremely dangerous - last time we avoided going under the sarcophagus above the destroyed reactor and it seems that's where the Monolith is.

Yesterday one brother went to scout the deserted mill and we haven't heard from him since. We need to go there and see where he disappeared to.

Tolik's diary. Trader sent us to spy on the military at the Agroprom Research Institute. Got there and shot everybody, bandits and military alike. Dug out some interesting stuff, I'm encoding the rest *gibberish text that looks like a cipher*

I left a small cache at the deserted farm. It's got some food and ammo. I'm way too weak to carry it now. I'm not sure if I can make it to the camp.

There's a very strange anomaly here. It looks like it's moving. I'll try to calculate its movement times and path, because I don't have the cash to pay the soldiers for passage.

Seriy to Fox: one guy I know asked to meet a group of stalkers who sniffed out Strelok's hiding place. I'll be at the Garbage, come over if you want.

• After talking with Fox
• Fox's body searched

Excellent, Colleague. I'm glad that you've received 2nd level access. At last you will find out what goes on in our laboratory. Your access code is 1243. Chief of Laboratory X-18, Piotr Ilyitch Kalugin.

Dear colleague, may I remind you that starting tomorrow you will attend to the container in the central laboratory room. You must inspect the containers every two hours. Report everything directly to me. The code to the central laboratory room is 9524. Chief of Laboratory X18, Piotr Ilyitch Kalugin.

12.01.2012
God damn my bosses...won't leave an old man alone. First Mesa, then some strange town in Russia. And now they send poor little Gordon into the endless Ukrainian plains. Take your jemmy and have fun.

20.03.2012
Made it into the Zone. Are there really no bears here? Who am I going to fight then? I'm not finding my bearings too well in this place. I had to give my little crowbar away for a can of meat.

26.04.2012
The blowout has started. The Barkeep told me to hide my ass and keep it hidden. I chased some rats out of an abandoned tunnel. I hope to wait out the bad weather in here.

... as it turns out, the emissions affect primarily the advanced spheres of cognitive activity. Experiments show that only humans and animals with developed cognitive processes, such as dogs and horses are susceptible to these emissions. Of the above, only humans enter a state of trance - in animals the effect is limited to a strong feeling of fear. Judging by this evidence, it would be reasonable to conclude that the emissions are geared specifically towards the human brain. Extensive studies on "volunteers" have shown that subjects will leave the trance state if given medicamental treatment. We also developed experimental devices that will protect, to a certain extent, the human brain from these emissions. According to our calculations, the source of these emissions is located in the center of Lake Yantar. The source itself is likely to be artificial in nature, which means that it can be disabled. There is also the danger of criminals attempting to reach the source of the emissions and gaining control over it.

...these are the co-ordinates of the entrance to Lab X16. The entrance is located in the basement of the central building; the building's purpose is unknown. I guess it is used for the technical servicing of the underground emitters: based on the documentation from N***, the intended purpose of this project is the full-scale development of psychotronic weapons with huge area effects on...

...all the necessary documents are in our possession and we know how to turn off the emitter. We're going down inside the lab with Ghost. Zombies are coming out from everywhere...

...everything is going to the dogs, Ghost has gone absolutely insane and is delirious. Looks like he's succumbed to the emission. I've abandoned everything and started to go back through the tunnels...

...I'm in the swamps, where's the bunker? Damn, damn, damn!!! I can't pinpoint my location! That coward Sakharov isn't responding!!! What's happening??? ...zombies are everywhere and I'm running out of ammo...

OK, I'll meet with Ghost's man. I will be waiting for him in Strelok's hiding place. If he's one of our own, he will know where to look for me. Doctor.

• After talking with Guide
• Guide's body searched

A number haunts me, as if it's chasing me from a previous life. I knew it then, when I didn't believe. I remember it now - 342089. It's the code to a door but I do not remember the way to the door.

The chart details the patrols, sentries and guard towers. The HQ is on the third floor of the Institute. That's where the documents are kept. By day the area is infested with patrols. There are less of them at night and the guards are relieved at 11pm. There are few people in the main building at this time. If you want to get into the base, you should choose the catacombs, the gate is not an option.

• Conversation with a deserted soldier^[2]
• Search of the corpse of the military unit commander at the Agroprom Research Institute and the corpses of his soldiers

Investigation report.
For official use only.
To SBU Colonel V.M. Kruchelnikov, head of project "TRUTH".
From Captain D.F. Maksimenko,
commander of "Search-2" group.

Memo.
Our group consisting of 3 investigators and a squad of SBU Special Forces conducted searched at Agroprom, the former Research Institute for agriculture on radiation-affected soil, from 12.05.2012 to 25.05.2012. Most of the equipment and documentation was missing however the few things we were able to find allow us to come to the following conclusion: over the period from 2005 to 2008, the Institute did not conduct any research in its official fields of study. All the results of its "work" sent to the Ministry of Agriculture were falsified. Simultaneously, the Institute's management, specifically Petr Danilovich Strizh, continued to receive state financing, equipment and consumables and transferred them to a laboratory designated X18 using forged consignment notes, which provided cover for the operation by indicating that the materials were being transferred to an auxiliary facility for experiments. X18 appears to be a code name adopted by the group of people implicated in this affair, since our database contains no mention of this laboratory. Judging by the analysis of the documents we found, this laboratory is located within an hour's drive from the Institute. It is likely to be a clandestine facility so I would request the involvement of our analytical department. The lab's field of research is not clear and available documents contain no helpful information in this regard but do make references to the infamous professor Chubko and also mention some "Group". It is my firm belief that we have come to the end of the line and the analytical department will now have plenty of work to do.

Attached is an archived file containing consignment notes for consumable materials and equipment transferred to some auxiliary facility and an extract from correspondence between Strizh and Chubko.

Captain D.F. Maksimenko 26.05.2012

To professor V.M. Chubko. From P.D. Strizh, Head of Agroprom Research Institute, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences. Dear Vadim Mikhailovich, As agreed, I am sending the next batch of consumable materials and equipment to our experimental facility to help you with your research, which is so essential for agriculture. I arranged financing for the experiments by describing them as pilot experiments in fields studied by the Institute so there won't be any problems with the Ministry. How are the experiments progressing? I am still deeply impressed by what you showed me last time. Sincerely yours, P.D. Strizh DAS To P.D. Strizh Please accept my gratitute, Petr Danilovich, we've received everything. My team is very impressed with the laser spectrometer - if not for you, it would take me eons to acquire this model through my channels. Of course the Ministry of Agriculture will be happy to receive OUR results...you really made an old man laugh with that one! The experiments are continuing normally and the things you saw last time are dwarfed by our latest achievements. You should visit more often - I am always happy to see you and it's only an hour's drive to our "experimental facility" as you called it :) I almost forgot, I have news for you: next Monday I will be discussing your candidacy with the Group. I think they will support me. Sincerely yours, professor V.M. Chubko To professor V.M. Chubko From P.D. Strizh, Head of Agroprom Research Institute, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences Dear Vadim Mikhailovich, thank you for your trust. I am touched and will do my best to prove you right. I think it is every scientist's dreams to take part in such an experiment and I will be absolutely delighted to be accepted into the Group. Sincerely yours, P.D. Strizh P.S. I managed to get two of the latest Japanese broadband oscilloscopes from the Ministry and will send them over at the earliest opportunity.

Chief of Security: Yesterday the experiment almost got out of control. Two dozen test subjects broke out and vandalised two laboratory rooms. Fortunately, the research personnel were able to lock themselves up upstairs. We were ordered to clear the main laboratory room. In the course of the operation, three guards suffered bites. Hopefully, they will be OK. I wish the experiment is soon over.

Yesterday we delivered a new modulation of psi-emissions to the test subjects. It appeared as though their brains simply got roasted. I can hardly imagine how this emission would affect humans. We have tested every type of emission and the results match those obtained in other laboratories. The experiment can now be considered complete. Presumably, in one week's time, we will be ready to conduct the experiment on larger creatures.

Military action plan

Personnel:
Operation Commander: callsign Quartet
Seven air assault units: Sapsan, Korshun, Yastreb, Pustelga, Sokol, Grif, Lun.
Sniper team: Sova
Support:
Air: 018, 030, 031, 48, 49, 52
51, 64, 65, 098, 097
Ground: Armadillo 1, Armadillo 2, Armadillo 3
Situation: Possible strong resistance in the vicinity of the bridge (23,45), gate (26,78) and the road along the main building of the station (12,23-53,76). The enemy is likely to deploy heavy weaponry.
Expected number of enemy personnel: 70-100. Armored vehicles: none.
Possible heavy sniper cover from the enemy.
Weather conditions: Visibility - 700, possible previously unencountered anomalies.