Samizdat (mission)

SM05: Samizdat is a side mission in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. It can be started by talking to Peter Chang in Task Force 29 Headquarters who is concerned that someone is investigating the premises and will discover them. While this side mission is obtained during Adam Jensen's first visit to Prague, it can be completed during either the first or second visit.

Completing this mission by recovering the dirt on Picus will unlock the secret achievement/trophy of the same name.

Objectives & XP Rewards

 * There is an optional XP bonus up to 500 XP only with CASIE aug.


 * This objective will appear if members of Samizdat turned hostile, were killed or knocked out during mission. All other remaining objectives will be canceled.

Find the source of the hack
Chang will direct Jensen to an apartment (#302) in the 33 Hlavní apartment complex. You can hack the door to gain entry, or get in through the window by jumping on the ledge in front of it. Inside, in a room to the right of the door, is a laptop that needs to be hacked. Access it, and switch to the messenger. You will appear as Little k (the owner of the laptop) and K will begin messaging you. K and Little k are both members of Samizdat, the group that is investigating Praha Dovoz. You will be given different options to respond to K with, but eventually he will give you his location. It is advisable to not blow your cover as Little k, instead pretending that you have forgotten where K is, or bluff.

Find Samizdat in Dávný District
Once you have gotten the location from K, travel to the Dávný District and enter the sewers through the manhole found close to The Music Box. Descend the ladder, and go through the gate on the left, then take another left. Keep going down this path until you reach a ladder leading down to some living quarters. On the other side of this area is a pile of boxes blocking a security door. If you did not get the code from K earlier, it can be opened with 5431. You can also climb up to the ledge from the power generator on the left, go through the tunnel on the right, and end up in the same area. Here you will find K, Little k, and Bones.

Keep Samizdat from exposing TF29
There are three options to complete this objective.
 * 1) Talk to K, listen to what he has to say, and accepting his request to find incriminating information on Picus.
 * 2) Simply kill or knock out the members of Samizdat. This option is not recommended, as you will not get the achievement and will be unable to complete the side mission K is for Každý later on. If you take them out non-lethally, Chang will send a team in to pick them up.
 * 3) If you have CASIE, persuade K to not expose TF29 (beta, beta). A successful persuasion will give the full XP bonus and Jensen will radio Chang about Samizdat's changed stance, but you can still accept K's mission to dig up dirt on Picus. Dismissing it will end the mission but still enable the side mission, K is for Každý.

Dig up dirt in the CEO's office
If you agreed to help Samizdat, K will ask you to search the CEO office in Palisade Property Bank. The easiest way to get into the building is through the front door, as visitors are allowed to walk around the lobby and parts of level 1 directly underneath it. The CEO's office is on level 3, which is a restricted area.

Since Palisade has a substantial amount of security, it is unwise to alert the guards unless you are heavily armed. In addition, setting off the alarm causes security doors to close thus making it more difficult to get where you want to go. To the right when you enter the lobby, there is a stairway that brings you up to level 3. However, it is guarded by a Tarvos guard, a turret, and a laser grid. if you have the Glass-Shield Cloaking System, this can be easily bypassed by activating the augmentation and slipping through the lasers unseen. It is also possible to disable the laser grid, and go through it without the cloaking augment.

Alternatively, you can use the elevator, but this will require a special keycard that gives you access to level 3. You can find one of these cards in the Account Manager's office on the main floor (code 0831), but if you are seen entering the office, nearby citizens will panic.

Another possible way to get to the third floor is through a vent hidden beside the vending machines near the elevator on the main floor. This leads to a maintenance shaft with the elevator. If you have Remote Hacking, look down until you see a wireless control box with the Remote Hacking icon over it. This will cause the elevator to descend and you can jump on top of it. Look up to find a similar control box, hack it, and it will bring you up to level 3 where the offices are situated.

If you have not unlocked the Remote Hacking augmentation, an alternative approach can be taken by pressing the elevator hall-call button before entering the vent. This will move the elevator to the second floor where it can be used as a platform for a high-jump to the third floor. Once on the third floor, again try to avoid being seen by the cameras and patrolling guards, and make your way to the offices of the CTO and CEO. Go up the stairs towards the office, use the code 0211 to enter. You may want to disable the security camera before doing so. Search the CEO's desk and you will find a water contamination report, revealing that Picus was aware of unsafe levels of contamination in Prague's water supply. This is all you need to give to K, but there is more damning evidence better hidden in the office. You should see a sculpture made up of blocks of different heights. This is a puzzle that needs to be solved to open a hidden area. When they are in the correct configuration, all the blocks will light up. To solve it do raise, turn, raise, turn, turn, raise. This should open the hidden compartment in which you will find a safe behind a painting. Hack the safe and inside you will find a dossier on Flight 451, which reportedly was downed when an augmented passenger killed the flight crew. This dossier gives the real reason the plane crashed. With both pieces of evidence in hand, you can leave Palisade.

A third piece of evidence can be found after completing SM06: 01011000. If one dealt with the mercenaries that broke into Jensen's apartment, they will have a pocket secretary that incriminates the CEO of Picus' Montreal branch, Morgan Everett. You can still give this information to K even if you already completed this mission.

Return the dirt on Picus to K
Return through the manhole in Dávný district and back to the area where Samizdat is hiding. Give K the evidence you found, and he will be happy, even if you only found one of the pieces of evidence. However, he requests one more favor before promising to "forget" about Praha Dovoz. He wants Jensen to hack Prague's news updater server, so that Samizdat can use official channels to broadcast their own stories.

Override the city's info hub
The info hub that K wants you to hack is located on the roof of Autodily. You can get to the roof using a scissor lift just outside the entrance, but this needs to be powered with a biocell. Otherwise, use a dumpster or similar object to climb up on the ladder on one side of the building. Once on the roof, hack the keypad and chose either to enable remote admin, or trigger the network alarm. If you want to help Samizdat, chose the first option. You will see advertisement displays being overtaken with Samizdat's story and the mission completes.

The story that gets displayed at the end of the mission will depend on which evidence you turned. If you turned in the evidence about Flight 451, it will override any other piece of evidence. If the evidence about Flight 451 was not turned in, the display instead will be a generic "Samizdat" display (see gallery for image).

As thanks for fully completing the mission, a bottle of absinthe and a magazine of Samizdat will be delivered in front of the door to Adam Jensen's apartment.

Consequences

 * As well as awarding you the "Samizdat" achievement, completing this mission by doing as K asks will open up the side mission K is for Každý during your third visit to Prague. Otherwise, K is for Každý will not be available.