Starfield High Price to Pay walkthrough, The Eye or The Lodge choice

Starfields missions are all relatively low stakes until you reach High Price to Pay, which acts as a major focusing point for the storyline. In this mission, youll need to make some tough decisions which will change the rest of your playthrough going forward.

Starfield’s missions are all relatively low stakes until you reach “High Price to Pay,” which acts as a major focusing point for the storyline. In this mission, you’ll need to make some tough decisions which will change the rest of your playthrough going forward.

In this Starfield guide, we’ll walk you through the “High Price to Pay” mission and let you know what will happen before you make your decisions.

Should you go to The Eye or stay in the Lodge?

The moment you get back from the “No Sudden Moves” mission, you’ll be able to place your artifact in the Armillary like usual, but something will clearly be wrong in the Lodge. It’s time to make a tough choice.

Talk to Noel

When you place the artifact, you’ll notice that the entire Constellation crew is gathered around the digital table in the back of the library. They’re all talking to Vladimir, who is up in The Eye and describing an attack that they just endured. He sounds injured, and if you pry, he’ll tell you that another of your companions is injured.

Vladimir will also tell you that the mysterious being who attacked The Eye is coming for the Lodge and all your artifacts.

Go to the Eye // Stay in the Lodge

[Warning: This section contains a major spoiler for this mission and the outcome of your choice.]

When you get off the call with Vladimir, you’ll only have a few seconds to make your choice. You can either:

  • Leave the Lodge and go to The Eye
  • Stay in the Lodge and protect the artifacts

Can you save everyone in ‘High Price to Pay’?

Your choice here has a major consequence, and is the biggest in the entirety of Starfield’s main quest. No matter what option you choose, one of your companions will die, and there’s nothing you can do to save them both.

As for who will live and who will die, it seems like your two most-used companions are in danger. For me, that was Sam Coe and Barrett. For other Polygon folks it was Sarah or Andreja. How much time you spend with them seems to dictate where they are at a given time, but our data suggests that if you want to save your most-used companion you need to go wherever they are. In our testing, Andreja was in The Eye in one playthrough and the Lodge in another, for example.

This decision is entirely up to you. The death of your companion will have major narrative implications, but it won’t change how any upcoming missions actually play out. So pick your favorite character and go rescue you them knowing you’re leaving another one to die.

Determine where you want to go and either hang out in the Lodge (head up to the bar if you want to get a jump on the assailant) or walk back to your ship and fly to The Eye.

If you need help on the moment to moment gameplay of the next section, move to whichever variant section you picked.

Choice 1: Go to The Eye

If you choose to go to The Eye, one of your companions will try and stop you at the door. Tell them to be safe, then leave anyway.

Find everyone on The Eye

Head back to your ship and fly it up to the space station. In The Eye you’ll find your allies, banged up and bruised, but alive. Talk to each of them and then head back to the Lodge together.

Go to the Lodge // Find everyone in the Lodge // Find Noel

When you enter the Lodge, you’ll find one of your companions dead on the ground next to the Armillary, with one of your living companions cradling them. Walk around the Lodge and talk to your crew mates (don’t forget Vasco!).

When you’re ready, follow the waypoint to the basement to find Noel. She’ll be doubled over and will almost attack you when you talk to her. Have a quick chat and prepare yourself for battle. The Hunter will interrupt your chat. Either hold him off or shoot him until he disappears.

Be warned that he’s very tough and can kill you quickly if you’re not careful. But he is worth spending ammo on, as he’ll give you a pretty cool gun later if you manage to defeat him, the Unrestrained Vengeance laser rifle.

Escape to your ship // Initiate take-off // Go to The Eye

Once you do battle with The Hunter, follow Noel through The Well district and back to your ship. Be careful of The Hunter and his duplicate, as he’ll show back up to try and kill you on your journey. Make your way to the shipyard and take off. Your companions will automatically join you.

Go to orbit and The Hunter will hail you in his ship. You can talk to him to get some more info and even attack his ship if you want (it’s a pretty powerful ship, we’d advise not doing that). Eventually, he’ll let you go and will stop attacking you for the rest of the mission. If you defeated him in combat, this is when he’ll give you the Unrestrained Vengeance.

Travel the rest of the way to The Eye and dock your ship. Head inside.

Choice 2: Defend the Lodge

If you choose to stay in the Lodge, Noel will start to gather the artifacts and you’ll wait around staring at the front door. We suggest you head up to the bar as soon as possible.

Check on Walter // Hold off the Hunter

Eventually your objective will change to “check on Walter.” Head up to the bar, if you’re not there already, and you’ll see old Walter getting choked out by a mysterious, invisible individual. Wait for the individual to push Walter over and then start blasting.

Your job here is to hold off “The Hunter,” the name of the Starborn who is attacking you and your friends. You need to “hold him off” which basically means don’t die. But he’s worth spending some ammo on either way, as he’ll give you a cool gun — the Unrestrained Vengeance laser rifle — if you manage to deal enough damage to him.

Just be careful as The Hunter and his duplicate (also just called The Hunter) are extremely tough. We recommend you quicksave if you’re going to try and fight him, otherwise you’ll have to listen to the entire Vladimir dialogue again.

Escape the Lodge // Go to your ship

When you finish the “Hold off The Hunter” objective, head into the basement of the Lodge and out into The Well district. Run through with your team and don’t get killed by The Hunter. All you need to worry about here is yourself, so push through all the people and get to the elevator.

Make your way to the shipyard and take off. Your companions will automatically join you. Go to orbit and The Hunter will hail you in his ship. You can talk to him to get some more info and even attack his ship if you want (it’s a pretty powerful ship, we’d advise not doing that). Eventually, he’ll let you go and will stop attacking you for the rest of the mission. If you defeated him in combat, this is when he’ll give you the Unrestrained Vengeance, which is actually pretty good.

Go to The Eye // Find everyone on The Eye // Return to Noel

Dock with The Eye and head inside. You’ll find your companion dead on the floor, which is particularly brutal if it’s Sam, as his daughter Cora is trying to wake him up — to no avail. Attempt to talk to the body of whoever you’ve lost and then visit with the rest of the survivors. They’ll be marked with waypoints.

When you’re done, talk to Noel and tell her what happened to your companion.

Finishing the mission

Once you’ve seen the aftermath of the battle you missed out on, the two points will converge into one.

Talk to Vladimir // Build the Armillary on your ship // Build the Armillary at an Outpost

With the battle over, you’ll need to talk to Vladimir. He’ll say the Lodge is no longer safe and you can suggest that you need to take the Armillary with you whoever you go. He’ll suggest you either build the Armillary on your ship or take it to one of your outposts.

This decision doesn’t really matter at the moment, but you’ll save yourself a load screen or two later if you just keep it on your ship. Go to the little screen in your cockpit and build the Armillary.

Return to the Lodge // Talk to Matteo

Once you’ve set up the Armillary, return to the Lodge and talk to Matteo. He wants you all to find religion in order to find the remaining artifacts, and will lead you into your next adventure.

Once you finish the “High Price to Pay” quest, you’ll immediately start the “Unity” quest, which also takes place in New Atlantis.

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