Hortense Ingalsbee Quest Guide
She can be found at Byzantium.
Hortense Ingalsbee Related Quests
- Why Call Them Back From Retirement?
- The City and the Stars
1. Why Call Them Back From Retirement? Walkthrough
Gain this quest from speaking with Hortense Ingalsbee in Byzantium.
Head to the retiree area which is near the Byzantium Freight Port Landing Pad. Either fast travel there or take the elevator down. Use the terminal there to unseal the door, then head into the Early Retirement District.
There are some things here that you can examine that tell you about the Retirement Program. Use the terminal up ahead to consent to the rules and regulations of Early Retirement. Head down the elevator and you’ll gain 9500 XP and you’ll find corpses everywhere with robots cleaning them up.
You’ll be attacked by waves of automechanicals and will have to kill them all. Once you do, use the terminal. You can Hack (65) automechanicals and unseal the Hatch to the Maintenance Tunnels. Head into them.
Once inside fight your way through many more automechanicals (unless you disabled them with hack) and open the Lockpicking (55) door to find loot if you, can otherwise head through the door on the right-hand side of the main room. Make your way to the other end of the Maintenance Tunnels and take the elevator back up to Prosperity Plaza.
Return to Hortense and you can Lie (35) to get her to head to the Retirement District where she will be killed or you can tell her what is going on. If you tell her she will say that it’s brilliant, but you’ll get negative The Board reputation. You can Intimidate (60) her to pay you more and you will gain 2,188 Bit Cartridges and 28500 XP. If you Lie to her you’ll gain 1,125 Bit Cartridges and 28500 XP. Lying to her will also net you The Board Reputation Up.
2. The City and the Stars Walkthrough
This quest is obtained automatically by completing Radio Free Monarch. Travel to Byzantium and Ellie will be by the exit door, ready to grant you the quest The Low Crusade. You can also ask her about the city and find out more about her.
Go down the ramp outside the ship and right to meet Carmen Imagawa. She’ll inform you of the next steps and you’ll earn 22500xp. She will also tell you that you can swipe a security key from a guard relaxing at a local pub. Ask her abut Byzantium, and she’ll share that she joined the movement because she has noticed something off: things are not getting repaired anymore, and people from out of system are never seen.
Go up the nearby lift to enter the city. You’ll come across Maverick Johnston, accept his offer to gain the quest At Central.
Continue toward the tavern and go into Billingsly’s House of Inebriation. You can talk to Mr. Billingsly for some insight into the thoughts of the wealthy, talk to the Bartender Mechanical (you should buy 3x Spectrum Vodka for 58 bits each) or head straight toward Guard Mayfield, who is rather drunk.Chat him up and he’ll talk about a key, and you can buy him a drink – give him the Spectrum Vodka you bought, and continue until he feels sick and goes to lay down nearby. Once he lays down, close the door and loot the Minister’s Estate Key (and anything else you want). You’ll get 22500xp.
Go toward the minister’s residence and you will hear someone complaining. Look for Hortense Ingalsbee and talk to her to get the quest: Why Call Them Back From Retirement? and the quest item Docking Bay Terminal Codes.
After this, continue toward the minister’s mansion and talk to the guard by the door. He will reveal they are expecting a delivery, but he will not let you in. You can go get the package from a nearby office near where Giles Molina is looking for his sprats. Talk to him and accept the quest Cupid of the Laboratory, and obtain the Sprat Collection Crate quest item.
Go into the Halcyon Parcel Service shop, wait for the guard to move, and lockpick your way into the storage room. Pick up Parcel for Minister Clarke and head back to the front door, you can walk right in. Go up to the second floor and you can talk to Minister Clarke, ask about the dimethyl sulfoxide and he will think you want drugs. Press the issue, saying he has ordered them, and he will conclude Chairman Rockwell must have done so. He will then reveal he is under house arrest and has been so for years. He will advise to look for details on the chairman’s office in HHC headquarters. Ask how to get there and you’ll get 22500xp.
Clarke reveals the HQ is heavily guarded, but there might be a maintenance tunnel access point. He will give you an access card that takes you to the executive suite (Receive Minister’s HHC Access Card quest item). Clarke will also ask you to use Rockwell’s access to message Earth. This unlocks the task: The Lying Earth, and gets you a cartridge with details on corruption on mismanagement: Minister Clarke’s Data Cartridge.
If you’ve completed Balance Due you will have access to the HHC building and won’t need to use the Maintenance Tunnels. You can also skip the tunnels by walking to the front door and bribing the guard for 2000 bits. Once inside the HHC building go straight ahead and talk to Guard Bachmayer. You’ll take a lift heading to Percival Platt – he has nothing important to say so go left and unlock the door with Minister’s HHC Access Card. You can print the keycard at the terminal to gain the Ministry of Accuracy and Morale Key. You can also send Minister Clarke’s message completing the Lying Earth quest and earning you a small amount of Negative Reputation with The Board.
Once you have the key, head back out. Speak with Percival Platt and you can Lie (65) to him to get him to return to his desk. Head down the elevator and out the front door, or fast travel to the Acropolis District. Head to the locked door now on your left and use the key to open it. Head into the Ministry of Accuracy and Morale.
Once inside head for the restricted door on your right, if you have the Key you can Intimidate (70) or Lie (100) to get past Guard Holte. Or you can just go around. There is also a UDL Identity Cartridge that you can find in a locked door guarded by a Corporate Officer. There is also a terminal you can Hack (47) that will update your quest and learn that Caroline has a feud going with Theodore at the Ministry of Accuracy and Morale.
Speak with Caroline Endecott on the second floor and ask her about Theodore Isaacs or Science (70) to keep her talking. You can Lie (1) to get her to open the door to the lab for you. Head down the elevator, and head into the restricted area. There is another UDL Identity Cartridge in the lockeroom if you didn’t grab the other one.
If you head up the elevator this another terminal you can Hack (68) to ??. Follow the yellow line to make your way to the Dimethyl Sulfoxide, and do so quickly so you don’t have to fight everyone. Once you get there you’ll find an empty container and you’ll need to transfer the Dimethyl Sulfoxide to it. Use the terminal nearby to transfer all or 26.37% of it then pick up Full Dimethyl Sulfoxide Canister. You will gain 22000xp. You can also read details on the experiment. If you transfer all of it everyone in the tanks will die. Steal the Dimethyl Sulfoxide and head through the barred door nearby and up the elevator. Then head back to Phineas Welles. It doesn’t seem to matter if you save or kill the people in the tanks, the outcome is the same.
If you have not betrayed Phineas to The Board: Once you are aboard The Unreliable, you’ll get a message from Sophia Akande. She will say that she was impressed by your work, and mention that you have saved her work (if you cut off power to Edgewater during Comes Now the Power). She wants to negotiate to convince you to turn Phineas in, and says he’s an obsessive Psychopath using you and harming the colony. If you remain impartial, you’ll receive the quest Long Distance.
Return to Phineas and talk to him, you will learn that he knew about the starvation problem, and he wanted to unfreeze The Hope to have the colonists help solve the problem. He says The Board is instead planning to kill The Hope colonists and turn the vessel into a prison for the Halcyon residents who will be frozen.
If your Science and Engineer is over 40, you can propose a micro-jump within the system to get The Hope by Phineas Welles. You’ll gain 22000 XP for the step and 142000xp for completing the quest and Negative Board Reputation for doing this, and gain the quest: Kept Secret But Not Forgotten.
Okay so the whole ‘it doesn’t seem to matter if you save or kill the people’ is hugely misleading. Taking 26 versus the full 100 largely impacts the game ending and is one of the top decisions in the game , hence why Phineas says ‘that’s not nearly enough!’ When you Hand over the 26%…so this just messed with my gameplay.