The Starfield Shattered Space Conflict in Conviction quest takes place shortly after you complete the Serpent's Path and become part of House Va'ruun. To do so, you must first choose two of the four Starfield Shattered Space effigies, but after that, you'll be tasked with speaking to the leaders of the three houses that make up House Va'ruun as part of the 'Aligning the Houses' quest in Starfield Shattered Space.
Approaching House Veth'aal introduces you to Viktor, who explains his son has gone missing. Here's a full walkthrough for the Starfield Conflict in Conviction quest, where to find Vaeric, and the different outcomes for the decision you must make at the end about whether to kill him, spare him, or bring him home.
Where to find Vaeric in Starfield
Once you learn of Vaeric's disappearance from Viktor Veth'aal, you must go to Herald's Rest, the bar in Dazra, to question Vaeric's friends about his whereabouts. There, you'll find three named NPCs with objective markers above their heads. If you can pass a persuasion check with any of them, they'll tell you to wait for a chap named Tane Salavea… or, even if you don't pass the persuasion checks, just hang around at the bar and Tane will eventually rock up.
Speak with Tane and he'll reveal he has a tracker on Vaeric so he knows his location. You may need to pay 1,000 credits to learn the location - we weren't given a persuasion option or skill check for this, so paying up was the only choice - but once Tane gives you the device, you can head northwest of Dazra to the highlands.
Finding the exact location of the tracker is tough as the terrain is so mountainous, hence the name the 'highlands'. The exact location you need to head to is marked on the map in the image above.
How to examine the Abandoned camp
Vaeric is nowhere to be seen when you reach the Abandoned Camp, so you need to investigate. It's worth noting that our quest bugged at this stage: multiple of the things you need to search with didn't show up and couldn't be interacted with, so if this happens to you, reload your save or restart the game to fix the issue.
There are four things to search in total:
- Tracker (on the crate next to the bed)
- Bloodstain (at the far end on the rocks underneath the tarpaulin, next to a crate with a mug on)
- Vortex Spawn corpse (next to a darkened patch of dirt and an open white crate next to a blue dustpan)
- Footprints (right next to the Vortex Spawn corpse - this is what wouldn't show up for us)
Upon examining the final area, two Foul Vortex Horrors will spawn. These are quite a high level - they were level 49 for us - so if you're struggling, be ready to put some distance between you and them as soon as they appear. As long as they don't get within melee range, they don't deal as much damage, though Tane will likely be knocked down quite quickly.
When they're dead, head to the next objective marker down the path to determine where Vaeric went. This next section of the quest has objective markers all the way though, so we won't go into too much detail - you'll eventually stumble upon Irina's Farm, an enclosure with a few worker bots and a couple of farmers standing in the doorway.
Ask Irina about Vaeric and she'll deny any knowledge of his whereabouts, but you can push her by either paying 1,000 credits, passing a medicine skill check, threatening her, or looking around her farm for clues.
The outcome is the same: you'll discover he went to an abandoned farm to the north. The location is marked on the map here:
Should you kill, spare, or bring Vaeric to Viktor?
Enter the Apostate's Refuge and search the building where the objective marker indicates. There are two things you need to find:
- Vaeric's computer (on the desk in the hallway before you reach the bedroom)
- Vaeric's log (on the table in front of the sofa upstairs)
Interact and read both, then go outside and speak to Tane. Vaeric will show up, interrupting your conversation. Hear him out and you have three options:
Persuade Vaeric to come with you back to House Veth'aal
If you pass the persuasion check, Vaeric will return to the Keep with you and talk to Viktor. He will apologise, Viktor will accept the apology, nobody has to die, and you'll receive 1,000 credits after speaking with Viktor. Vaeric isn't pleased as he had to return home, but hey, everyone's alive.
Kill Vaeric
If you decide to kill Vaeric (and by association, Tane, as anyone aiding and abetting Vaeric should die according to Viktor) you must loot the House Veth'aal Signet Ring from his body before returning to Viktor. Vitoria and Luthor, the two other Veth'aal family members, will be deeply upset, but Viktor will be pleased the task has been completed and you'll still earn 1,000 credits and XP. However, if Tane lives, he can be recruited as a crew member after the quest has been completed, so killing him isn't recommended.
Spare Vaeric
This is arguably the best outcome because Vaeric gets what he wants - to live free of House Veth'aal - and you can still give Viktor the Signet Ring if you tell Vaeric to hand it over, so Viktor will think his son is dead. Again, this rewards you with 1,000 credits and the ability to recruit Tane afterwards, but there are a couple of secrets with this choice.
The first is that you can push Vaeric for more money and he will actually give you 10,000 credits alongside his Signet Ring to spare his life, making this option much more valuable. After returning to Viktor and lying to him that Vaeric is dead, Vitoria and Luthor will be upset, but you can find Vitoria on a balcony and tell her the secret that Vaeric is still alive. You don't receive anything extra for this, but it's a nice ending after she cared so much about his well being.
Once the quest has finished, head to Herald's Rest to find Tane and recruit him to your ship. Make sure you also read up on our guide to the Starfield Shattered Space Exhuming the Past quest, which requires a code and some more decision making.
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