Samara's daughter Morinth suffers a rare genetic defect that allows her to destroy her partner's mind during sex. Samara has a good lead on Morinth's whereabouts and wants to end her daughter's career of serial sex-murder.
Acquisition[]
After several personal conversations with Samara, Kelly Chambers will relay that Samara wishes to speak to Commander Shepard.
Preparation[]
Like Thane's loyalty mission, this is a "no combat" mission, and as such provides substantial experience, cash, and other rewards with no risk. Thus it can be beneficial to complete soon after receiving it. However, a unique ending to this mission is locked behind one of the most demanding Paragon/Renegade checks in the game, meaning it can be advisable to undertake this mission only after completing others and acquiring as many morality points as possible. If you're unsure if you have enough points, train in the appropriate level 4 evolution of Shepard's class power that maximizes Paragon/Renegade scores. You can do that temporarily just for this mission, if you're willing to spend the Element Zero on retraining.
Tip: For efficiency, this mission can be combined with finishing up late-game assignments from Aria and Ish, and cleaning any last upgrades out of the stores.
Note: For the last half of this mission Shepard will be shown wearing the selected casual outfit. If you want to "dress for the occasion," choose your preferred look before leaving the Normandy. It is possible to return to the ship after starting the mission but not after Shepard enters the VIP section of Afterlife.
Walkthrough[]
Samara tells Shepard that the person she has been hunting for the past 400 years is on Omega. She reveals that her target is her own daughter, Morinth. Morinth is an Ardat-Yakshi, an asari with a rare genetic disorder that causes her mates to die during sex.
Once on Omega, EDI informs Shepard that she is unable to discern any pattern in the deaths on Omega that would point to an Ardat-Yakshi. She advises seeking out Aria T'Loak who could possibly have information. Aria says the Ardat-Yakshi's last victim, a young human woman named Nef, stayed in the apartments nearby. Samara interjects a bit if you brought her with you for this chat, but if not, she will appear at Nef's apartment, saying she's done some investigating.
The apartments are close to the entrance to the quarantine zone for the Dossier: The Professor mission. You find Nef's mother, Diana, grieving there. Morality points may be earned in the conversation with Diana, including a Paragon interrupt. She gives permission for Shepard to search Nef's room for clues.
Inside there is a note, a diary with 3 entries to listen to, and a statue to examine. You learn that Morinth likes the elcor artist Forta, the vid Vaenia, the drug Hallex, and that the password for the VIP section of Afterlife is Jaruut's name. You and Samara agree on a plan to use yourself as bait to lure Morinth into a trap.
Travel to the VIP section of Afterlife (near the Omega Market) and use Jaruut's name to get in. Samara and Shepard then review their plans to trap Morinth.
Near the club entrance is the human male Vij, looking for tickets for a band named Expel 10, in hopes of impressing an asari. If you want, tell him to lay off for Renegade points. Shepard can then interact with the people in the club to attract Morinth's attention.
After three successful activities, Morinth will ask you to join her, so you cannot do them all. Warning: Somehow failing to make an impression on at least four activities will result in complete mission failure. You're alive, but Morinth will have left, and Samara's loyalty remains unsecured for the rest of the game.
These are the activities:
- Prevent the death of an undercover journalist. Talk to the smoking human Horftin to begin this mini sidestory. Unlike the other activities, you can hear Horftin out if you refused him the first time. Horftin and his companion Moirall had been profiling gang leaders in secret, and Horftin has learned that Moirall's cover has been blown. Talk to Florit, the gang leader in question, on the other side of the club, and use the agreed-upon warning phrase within Moirall's hearing in this order: "terminal" and "eternity". Note that any other dialogue choices will annoy Florit and he refuses to deal with you further, worrying Horftin and causing the failure of this segment.
- Stop a turian from soliciting an asari dancer. Meln has been insistent in acquiring Hallia for activities other than dancing. If you choose to intervene, Meln even alludes to wanting you in on his fun if you're playing a female Shepard. You'll deliver a beatdown on the turian whichever the case. If not, Hallia kneecaps Meln herself, causing the failure of this segment.
- Dance with Waera. You must choose the Paragon line on her if you want to dance. The two other lines result in you not making a good impression.
- Insult Verf. The krogan talks trash against humans as you walk into his corner of the bar. If you challenge him to a fight outside, Shepard and Verf have a staredown. Shepard wins. If you choose any other reply, you'll fail to register on Morinth's attention.
- Intimidate Vertin and Huck. Two turian would-be muggers are discussing their plans for the night in a corner of the bar, apparently to make enough credits to get their boss Hink off their backs. If you intimidate them, it results in a quick fight and some Renegade points. If you don't want the Renegade points, you can tell them to get out but not after bribing them. Note that you won't actually lose any credits.
- Buy the club a round of drinks. You only get one chance to talk to the bartender Edwin. If you have enough Paragon points, you can smoothly convince him to issue a round of drinks "on the house". Alternatively, you can offer to buy the club one round yourself. Again, you won't lose credits.
To maximize morality points, the player should Intimidate the krogan Verf, Charm the bartender Edwin for a round of drinks on the house, and finally, Intimidate the would-be muggers Vertin and Huck.
Once her attention has been piqued, Morinth takes Shepard to her booth for a personal chat. If Shepard is confident, expresses a desire for violence, and uses the clues previously learned, Morinth will invite Shepard to her apartment. For each of the three main topics, these will keep Morinth's interest:
- Travel, enjoying the danger, and the belief that power is its own reward.
- Music, the band Expel 10, a history with drugs, new drug interests, or mentioning the Hallex.
- Art and "vids" and the violence contained within them. Mentioning Vaenia and Forta specifically always works.
Note: Avoid speaking of family and justicars, as this links to Samara and thus cannot be used as conversation points. Using either Paragon or Renegade conversation options during your talk with Morinth helps to ensure success, but is not required if you follow the above conversation paths. If you do choose the moral replies, a Charm option will be required to avoid losing her interest on the Travel and Art topics and an Intimidate for Drugs; however, for each of the three topics, one of the options on the right will be a failure and will lessen Morinth's interest. If you fail to keep her interest at any three points in the conversation, she will leave and you will fail the loyalty mission.
When you have Morinth's complete attention, she offers to take you to her apartment. Shepard can examine various items in Morinth's room:
- Sculpture - a lifesize statue of a krogan gifted to Morinth by a suitor she claims has even less personality than the statue.
- Chess set - Morinth shares her cunning mindset.
- Door - it's locked, and Morinth doesn't want you going anywhere but near her.
- Sword - Morinth mentions her previous dueling hobby and shares her vicious mindset.
- Pill Bottle - contains Hallex, but Morinth would rather have you with your faculties still sharp.
- Assault Rifle - Can be scanned for an Assault Rifle Damage research project.
Whenever you're ready, engage Morinth in conversation. The first two dialogue choices do not matter. For the third dialogue choice, you can use Charm or Intimidate to resist Morinth's seduction. This has an extremely demanding morality check: to pass it you will need to have gained almost all the Paragon or Renegade points available to you in missions you have completed to date.
The jig is up and Samara enters the room. She and Morinth have a biotic battle, but they are evenly matched. If you were able to resist Morinth earlier, you can choose whether to support Samara or Morinth, and will receive big dose of morality points in one direction or another. If you didn't use the persuasion options earlier and allowed Shepard to be "brainwashed", then you automatically help Samara and you will not receive any morality points.
If Morinth is killed, Samara becomes loyal and her Reave power is unlocked.
If Samara is killed, Morinth disguises herself and assumes the place of her mother, so that no one else on Normandy is aware of Samara's death and Morinth's substitution. Only a few people—Kelly Chambers and Kasumi Goto— may notice a change in "Samara's" behavior, but won't act on it. Morinth is automatically loyal and has the Dominate power.
Whoever emerges as the victor, she will give you a chance to look around the apartment before you can leave, either by speaking with her or through the now unlocked door. If Morinth lived, you can still ask about the various items in her apartment, otherwise the options are gone if Samara lived. After the mission summary screen you are returned to the Omega markets.
Mass Effect 3 Consequences[]
If Samara was killed, Morinth sends Shepard an e-mail at some point in Mass Effect 3. During Priority: Earth she appears as an enemy, having been turned into a Banshee by the Reapers.
If Morinth was killed and Samara subsequently survives the Suicide Mission, she will appear during Kallini: Ardat-Yakshi Monastery and can become a war asset.
Mission Summary[]
Morinth/Samara Killed: Samara has dealt with the Ardat-Yakshi. She remains loyal to Shepard personally. Loyalty of the justicar beyond question, given apparent bonds of oath rendered to Shepard. Better than hoped. Cerberus activities will not be affected further by presence of Shepard's team.
Relieved to have justicar's mission completed. Unfortunately, body of Ardat-Yakshi could not be taken for study. Genetic abnormality could have been useful. Subject's expertise would have made her a valuable team member if sociopathic tendencies were mitigated.
Morinth Escapes: Samara failed to apprehend her target. This distraction leaves her emotionally vulnerable and could threaten the mission, but I see no way of dealing with the situation. Cerberus operatives have had no success tracking Morinth. We'll have to hope the justicar's oath keeps her mind on the mission.
- Experience: 750 (937)
- Credits: 30,000
- Cerberus Funding: 30,000
- Credits Found: 0
- Powers
- Upgrades
- Resources
- Iridium: 2000*
*Not reported in Legendary Edition Mission Summary; see below.
Trivia[]
- There is also the possibility to acquire as many Paragon points as wanted through speaking to Samara after Morinth's death and asking "Are you okay?", and then "Not yet", and repeating the process continuously. This is fixed in Mass Effect Legendary Edition.
- The Mission Complete screen will falsely report that 2,000 units of a resource were found. There are no resources to be found in the mission, and the amount of resources, as shown in the Mission Computer, does not change upon completion of the mission. This is fixed in the Legendary Edition.
- On the Xbox 360 version, there is a common bug during the confrontation between Samara and Morinth where the audio will inexplicably cut out, moments before Shepard decides their fates. If you save the game while in Morinth's apartment and then switch discs and reload the save, this normally fixes the bug.
- Horftin, the male human you can talk to who needs help bailing out his journalist friend, is voiced by Josh Dean.