Artifact order

I have major customers outside the Zone who regularly order specific artifacts, which must be delivered within a specific period of time. You bring me what I ask and I pay you good money for it. Keep in mind that these orders are very important for me, which is why I try to commission several agents at a time... You get the full fee only if you deliver first.
― Beard

Artifact order is the only repeatable mission in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat.

Description[]

This mission becomes available upon completion of Strange Phenomenon (regardless of the outcome). Beard offers orders for very specific artifacts that he will pay good money for. If the mission Shady Business is completed, then Beard will no longer offer artifact orders.

To start the mission, the player can talk to Beard about his orders and he will list between two and three artifacts from the table in the section below. Since all the artifacts are rare, they all require a Veles or Svarog detector to be detected. If the player has the requested artifact in their inventory when talking to Beard, it can be directly traded in, which skips the mission and allows the player to receive their reward on the spot.

If the player takes the mission and waits for two days, then rival artifact hunters led by Sledgehammer or Crest will appear at specific anomalies in Zaton. The player can talk to either and either kill them to retrieve the requested artifact from their body, or buy it off them in exchange for money or a specific weapon. If the player waits for another in-game day, then the mission will be cancelled as presumably the rival team has brought the artifact to Beard.

The player should be wary as killing both Sledgehammer and Crest will cause Beard to cease issuing artifact orders, citing that both teams who worked for him have gone missing. He will begin offering orders again after the mission Compass has been completed.

Artifacts wanted by Beard[]

Name	Icon	Price
Firefly		24000 RU
Flame
Goldfish
Snowflake
Bubble		18000 RU
Eye
Gravi
Shell

For instance, the minimum fee Beard pays normally for the Firefly artifact is 14400 RU, the maximum 21600 RU (with all appropriate achievements) while as an order he will pay 24000 RU. It is always better to sell a rare artifact using a mission option if only available.

Notes[]

Killing Beard's artifact hunters is probably the easiest way to obtain Veles detectors for use in obtaining the Svarog detector.
Stockpiling artifacts in Zaton is a good idea, as the player can always maintain a healthy supply, reducing the need to hunt for them. The lower-tier artifacts, such as the Shell and the Eye, are a great way to rack up money (only 6000 RU less than the higher-tier ones). In addition, getting certain achievements will drastically boost the money gaining rate, simply by selling duplicates.