The Escape From Tarkov story kicks off with your PMC lying down in the TerraGroup offices immediately after a mysterious blast knocks out all communications in the city.
After spending some time finding your bearings through the Tour questline, during which you unlock access to Mechanic, you start wondering what that explosion was all about.
The answers (or at least some of them) lie in the Blue Fire quest, where your PMC-turned-private-eye tracks down all the information possible about the fateful ‘blue fire’ incident that changed the story of Tarkov forever.
How to Unlock the Blue Fire Quest
There are two ways to start the Blue Fire quest.
The first is to enter the marked room in the back of Chekannaya Street 13 on the Streets of Tarkov map. Entering the room will automatically trigger the quest start.
You will need the Mysterious Room Marked Key to enter, a rare spawn in filing cabinets and scavs, which is also available in the Flea Market for millions of roubles.
The key is required later in the Blue Fire quest in order to complete it, so buy one that has at least a pair of usages left.
If you don’t want to front the cash right away, you can also start the Blue Fire quest by reading any of the leaflets plastered by the doors of EMERCOM tents in the Interchange and Woods maps.
It is highly recommended to have completed the Tour quest line before progressing in Blue Fire, as you will need access to traders and locations that are not unlocked at the start of the game.
Talk to Mechanic About the EMP Blast
As the quest deals with technology well above your pay grade as guns-for-hire, it is better to ask a specialist in the area for information.
Go visit Mechanic and ask him about the EMP blast that knocked out all electronics in the city. As you might have come to expect from all traders, he will have some information, but you’ll have to go and retrieve things yourself to get answers.
In order to give a more concrete answer, Mechanic needs you to retrieve a fragment of the device that caused the explosion.
Finding the Device Fragment
A device that powerful doesn’t just disappear without a trace, so you need to go and find a piece of the thing. As the ground zero of the explosion was in the city center, you need to go to the Streets of Tarkov map to find what you are after.
The good news is that you can find fragments of the device in two locations on the map; the bad news is that both areas are locked behind rare and expensive keys.
The Mysterious Room Marked Key is a random spawn and opens a marked room in the Chekannaya Street 13 building.
Escape From Tarkov: Falling Skies Walkthrough
Falling Skies is part of the game’s main storyline, and features the first big choice you have to make in the game.
Alternatively, you can find a fragment in the upper section of the LexOs car dealership, which requires the Car Dealership Closed Section Key. The most reliable way to find this key is to assault the dealership and kill the boss Kaban.
The fragment can be found in a flower pot in the corner of the marked room, or in a bin sitting on the central table of the closed dealership section.
Once you’ve extracted with one of the pieces in your quest inventory, you should talk to Mechanic about your next assignment.
Hacking the TerraGroup Servers in The Lab
In order to find out more about the device you’ve brought to him, Mechanic needs you to install a hacking device in the main TerraGroup server room. That means a trip to the most inhospitable location in Escape From Tarkov, The Lab.
You will need a TerraGroup Labs Access Keycard to enter The Lab, available as a random spawn, purchasable through the flea market (from level 30), or from Therapist and Ref at loyalty level 4.
If you haven’t completed the Tour questline, you must use transits in the Streets of Tarkov or Factory maps.
Insurance mechanics do not work in The Lab; anything lost is gone forever.
Equip the device in one of the special slots to avoid losing it if you die, then go down into The Lab. The server rack is in room B12 on the map, but you can also access it from the next floor via B21.
Approach the server rack, make sure your surroundings are clear, then start planting the hacking device. The entire process takes 60 seconds, and you will have to start over if you interrupt it for any reason.
Once you are back topside, you need to speak to Mechanic again.
Should You Keep or Sell the Device Fragment?
Mechanic will offer to take the fragment off your hands for 1.5 million roubles.
Keeping the device to yourself is required to earn the Better Served achievement, but if you are short on cash, selling it does not affect the story progression in any meaningful way.
Find Leads on Object 1156
The final chapter of the Blue Fire quest plays out in the Streets of Tarkov.
Head to the main post office building on Primorsky Avenue, opposite the Pinewood Hotel, and search the area for cassette tapes.
You can find one of the tapes behind the reception, on the blood-stained desk by the dead scav.
The tapes contain answering machine messages sent by a courier, who reveals that he has abandoned his cargo due to the situation in the city. That’s your next target.
The blue postman’s van is parked right outside the building on Primorsky Avenue. To open the car, you need the Rus Post Car Key, which is guaranteed to spawn behind the van’s rear right tyre, and can also be found as random loot.
Open the rear of the van, and pick up the Object 1156 blueprints document. After reading them, extract from Streets of Tarkov to complete the Blue Fire questline.
Escape From Tarkov: Rough Tarkov Guide
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Author: 360 Technology Group
