Starfield is very different from your regular RPGs. There are certain quests where your decisions can make the difference between life and death for someone. Moreover, such decisions leave a permanent mark on the gameplay experience. The “High Price to Pay” is one such quest where you must choose between your favorite companions. It is the 11th main quest that starts after you place the artifacts from “No Sudden Moves” into The Lodge.
As soon as you place the artifacts, a Starborn will attack The Lodge and The Eye at the same time. However, the game doesn’t tell you which one of your companions will die at the end. Therefore, this article provides a step-by-step “High Price to Pay” walkthrough so that you can save your beloved companion romance.
Table of Contents
A High Price to Pay:
A High Price to Pay is the 11th mission in Starfield’s main storyline. This mission starts randomly after you place the artifacts from No Sudden Moves into The Lodge. Once you place the artifacts, a Starborn will attack The Lodge and The Eye at the same time. Two of your beloved companions will be present at both of these locations. So, it is up to you which place you choose to defend during the attack.
In the aftermath, the place that you leave to defend will suffer casualties. The companions at stake will depend on your level of affinity. In my case, Sarah Morgan was at The Eye, and Sam Coe was defending The Lodge. Finally, when the Starborn abandons the attacks, you must choose where to secure the artifacts to prevent any attacks in the future. The companion that you fail to defend will die permanently and become unavailable to assign any tasks.
Here is a complete walkthrough to guide you through the whole quest:
Place The Artifacts:
Once you complete No Sudden Moves, the countdown of the attack will start in the background. As soon as you place the next artifact, you will receive a communication call from Vladimir saying that The Eye is under attack from a Starborn and one of the members is critically injured.
Next, you must speak with Noel to continue the quest. At this point, The Lodge is locked, and you will receive the option to either head to The Eye or stay and defend the artifacts. As you run towards the exit point, one of your companions will ask you about your next steps.
Defend The Lodge or Head to The Eye:
At this point, your decision will affect the rest of the quest. The companion that stops you at the exit point will die if you head for The Eye. In my playthrough, I had a high affinity with Sam Coe and Sarah Morgan. So, here are the possible outcomes of this quest:
- Defend The Lodge: If you choose to stay behind and defend the artifact in The Lodge, you will save Sam Coe or Barret. However, Sarah Morgan and Andreja are at The Eye. In this case, Sarah will die from her wounds, and Andreja is badly injured, making her temporarily unavailable for some time.
- Defend The Eye: If you wish to play the heroic character, you can leave the artifacts and go check on your companions. In this case, everyone at the Eye will be saved, and either Barret or Sam Coe will die when you return to The Lodge.
In any case, one of your companions must die, and you can’t save them all, no matter what. Once you have made your decision, you must check on all of your companions and discover their safety. When everyone is safe, you can return to Noel and help secure the artifacts from The Hunter. For best results, you should save the game before making any decision. This way, you can reload the game to save your other companion if you don’t like how the game plays out.
Find Noel:
After checking everyone’s safety, your quest marker will update to find Noel. You can find her by taking the stairs that lead down to The Well. Follow the marker to the basement. Noel will almost attack you on sight. After exhausting the dialogue, The Hunter will appear and attack you after a brief dialogue.
Escape The Lodge:
At this point, use your most powerful weapon to defeat The Hunter’s double. If you manage to kill him, you will receive the Unrestrained Vengeance laser rifle as your reward. However, if you can’t kill him, simply head for your ship and dock with The Eye.
Don’t worry about the Constellation members, as they can defend themselves. Instead, dash for the elevator and avoid all incoming attacks or else The Hunter will kill you with just a couple of shots. Once you make your way to the exit point, use your ship and go to The Eye to speak with Vladimir.
Speak with Vladimir:
After docking with The Eye, speak with Vladimir and Noel at the airlock station. They will tell you that the artifacts are no longer safe in The Lodge. So, you can either offer to build an Armillary on one of your outposts or onboard your ship.
Your decision won’t affect anything at this point, and the Armillary will only be decoration. However, the benefit of building one on your ship is that you can place all future artifacts right on your ship instead of fast-travelling to distant outposts.
Talk to Matteo:
After you finish building the Armillary, your next destination is The Lodge. Pass through the chaos caused by the attack and find Matteeo; you can find him in the lobby. After a brief discussion about how it’s all more than just a coincidence, you will receive your rewards for the quest.
Unlike the Absolute Power quest, you won’t receive any special powers for this one. Instead, you will gain the following rewards for completing A High Price to Pay:
- Armillary Plans
- 350 XP
- 11,000 Credits
- Unrestrained Vengeance laser rifle (Optional)
How to get the dead companion’s loot?
If you had shared some inventory with the companion who died, you wouldn’t lose it permanently. Instead, head to the basement section of The Lodge to find it all safely stored inside a container. Exit from the main lobby and pass through the large open door. Next, turn left and take the stairs that go down into the basement.
Finally, instead of going through the second door, go straight from the cyan (blue) stairs to find a crate near the tool cabinet. Search this container to retrieve all your shared items and some souvenirs of your dead companion.
Can you save everyone in High Price to Pay?
Unfortunately, there is no way to save all of your companions during the “A High Price to Pay” quest. However, you can check which of your companions are at stake before even starting the quest. This way, you can plan your decision to either defend The Lodge or head to The Eye.
Basically, the game will pick the first two companions with the highest affinity. The top-rated companion will die at The Eye, whereas the second one will die in The Lodge. You can check your current affinity with all companions by using the following console commands:
- GetAV COM_Affinity
- GetAV COM_AffinityLevel
- GetAV COM_AngerLevel
Don’t worry; these console commands are only to check your current stats. So, using them won’t disable your Starfield Achievements. This penalty will only occur when you use console cheats to add items, increase levels, gain traits, etc. All other informational commands will only display the current levels and status effects.
Conclusion:
Starfield quests don’t usually play out the way you plan. Sometimes, you will end up hitting a roadblock, and the only way forward is by sacrificing your beloved things. For example, A High Price to Pay definitely requires paying a hefty price. In this quest, your beloved companions’ lives depend on your single decision. Therefore, this article provides a complete walkthrough for the quest, explaining the consequences of your decisions along the way.
