- Mordin: Old Blood

Mordin: Old Blood

This is the first of two loyalty quests available on Tuchanka. We have not visited this planet yet, so for more information about the location and its side-quests, check out the appropriate section at the end of this guide. Mordin wants your help to liberate Maelon, a fellow Salarian who worked on creating the Genophage. As he has been captured, it seems the Krogan are hoping to develop a cure. For now, set a course through the Mass Relay and to the Krogan DMZ, and land on the Tuchanka.

Team Selection:

It is worth taking Grunt with you until you get to the actual Mordin quest, as everyone reacts to his presence.

Tuchanka:

If this is your first visit, you will be intercepted upon reaching the bottom of the ramp below your shuttle. The clan leader wants to meet you, and he will undoubtedly have information about the missing Salarian. Follow the corridors into the main area of Tuchanka, and then up to the right to meet the clan leader. Depending on choices in the first game, this may be Urdnot Wrex, a familiar figure, or Urdnot Wreav, a new creation for Mass Effect 2. Ask the pertinent questions and you will find that the chief scout of the clan has information about a missing Salarian. Disengage conversation with the clan leader and locate the scout, who is across on the other side of this area, past the Varren Pit.

Speak to the chief scout

The chief scout has lost one of his own men to the Blood Pack, who are responsible for Maelon's disappearance. A side-quest is available here, if you find his missing man (see Tuchanka section below for the full details). You have been given permission to use one of the trucks to get to the Blood Pack, but first, head to the other side of the room and speak to the mechanic by one of these trucks. He needs you to look for a Combustion Manifold on your journey, so accept this quest (see Tuchanka section below for the full details) and return to the chief scout.

Be sure to accept the side-quests from the Chief Scout and Mechanic before you depart!

Agree to leave, and a cut-scene will ensue.

Team Selection:

Mordin has to travel with you, so pick a biotic or a soldier depending on what your own class is.

There is a Weapons Locker in the initial area when you arrive at the Blood Pack base.

Enter the Base:

Move through the door and outside. Soon you will be assaulted by a new enemy, the Klixen. These scramble up to you and explode, also detonating when their health runs out. Take them out from range, and use biotic attacks to move them away from your squad. Another wave will attack around the next corner, along with some Varren. Once you reach the cover, a couple of Blood Pack Boom Squads will engage you. Watch out for their RPGs, before moving up the slope.

Some Blood Pack Troopers will attack once the road levels out, followed by some Blood Pack Warriors. Stop them from getting close enough to use their shotguns.

Defeat the Blood Pack Warriors

More Varren attack after this, along with more Warriors. Collect the Med Kit and Refined Iridium en route to the end of this road. Blood Pack Pyros are on the road below, and more jump out around the next corner, so watch out for their flamethrowers. Troopers will engage you next, some with armour, so make use of the cover in this arena-style section. Explore the area and you will find the Combustion Manifold that the Krogan mechanic was looking for.

Be sure to pick up the Combustion Manifold!

With all this done, bypass the door into the Blood Pack base.

Enter the Hospital:

Examine the human on the floor to get Mordin's analysis. It appears it had been forcibly experimented on in attempts to cure the genophage. After you discuss the ethics of using live test subjects with Mordin, move on downstairs. At the bottom is some Refined Iridium, and once you open the door around the next corner, a cut-scene will play out.

The 'Clanspeaker' for Clan Weyrloc emerges and demands combat. You can use a Renegade interrupt to make the battle easier, by shooting the gas tank underneath the Clanspeaker. From where you are once the cut-scene ends, take cover. Attempt to take them all out from range, but they will probably move along the gangway and down to your position. Try to use heavy weaponry when they all bunch up to take many Blood Pack out at once.

Heavy weaponry makes light work of the Blood Pack here

With the fight won, pick up the Refined Iridium on the lower floor, use the Medical Station on the way up, and enter the open door at the top. When you reach the labs, salvage the Circuit Boards in the first room on the right, collect the Refined Iridium in the second right-hand room, and access the files on the Computer Terminal to allow Mordin to unearth just what has been going on.

Examine the Krogan Body in the room opposite to discover a willing volunteer for the experiments to find a genophage cure. Hack the Research Terminal in this room before entering the next area through the door ahead.

In the door to the right is the missing scout from Tuchanka. He has been convinced (with words and drugs) that he is helping find a cure for the genophage and that this is the best he can do with his life. Use Paragon or Renegade conversation options to attempt to convince him to leave, or allow him to stay there to die. Be sure to hack the Datapad on the floor before leaving. Move down the corridor and into the other room.

EDI warns you about explosive containers in this room, but the main threat from these should be to your enemies. Target them wherever possible, while using ranged attacks to attack the Blood Pack Troopers and Warriors across the way. If the Warriors try to rush you, get their armour down and use biotic attacks to take them out of the equation.

Use biotic attacks if your enemies get too close

Use the Medical Station over the gangway, and some Varren will attempt to get a jump on you. Take out the Blood Pack Warriors that follow behind them, collect the Power Cells and move downstairs. More Warriors will attack down here, and some Varren assisted with Warriors when you begin to cross to the other side of the room. Eventually, the leader of the Weyrloc clan, Guld, will emerge. He boasts a Barrier, armour and health, so you should use heavy weaponry to remove his defences.

Destroy the clan leader

Enter the door on the right hand side of this large room to bypass a Locked Crate. You can then cross the room and enter the opposite door. Hack the Research Terminal at the bottom of the stairs and enter the adjacent door to trigger this level's final cut-scene.

Shepard, Mordin and Maelon now debate the ethics of what has been going on. You can use a Paragon interrupt to prevent Mordin from killing his former student. You also have the option of destroying or saving all of Maelon's data, with differing motives and conversation available for both. Destroying it will earn you Paragon points, and saving it is the Renegade option. Mordin doesn't care at this point, and his loyalty is now assured. Be sure to choose to explore the final room before heading back to the Normandy, as there is a computer to hack. You can then press B (Xbox 360) to exit the quest.