Starfield Exhuming the Past guide – Should you remove the remaining interlock or exit the dam?

You have to make multiple decisions as you play through Starfield‘s Shattered Space DLC and make your way to House Va’ruun’s homeworld. One of the main quests, Exhuming the Past, requires you to decide either to take a final interlock or leave a dam.

The choice could seem minor in the moment at the end of Exhuming the Past’s quest story, but it’s critical to characters within the larger story. You’ll have a chance to grab the final piece from this location, or you can choose to leave peacefully, allowing those to remain inside the dam while also preventing any further consequences for a nearby farm. Here’s what you need to know about if you should grab the final interlock, or if you should exit the dam for Exhuming the Past in Starfield.

Should you exit the dam for Exhuming the Past in Starfield Shattered Space?

In Exhuming the Past, you’ll progress through the Ma’leen Dam, facing off against several vortex enemies tasked to protect the facility and its research along the way. During this time, you are forced to remove one of the interlock devices, but in doing so, you kill Vedrasa Ma’leen, one of the vortex spectres attacking you throughout this process. You’re then presented with the choice to either directly leave the dam, or take the final interlock with you before you complete the quest.

It’s in this moment that you learn if you remove the final interlock from the Ma’leen Dam, it’ll destroy the others who are stored inside the pod. It ends their lives and removes the power from the dam, which also destroys the nearby ecosystem of the seaweed farm not too far away from this location in Starfield.

For those who would rather not harm the farm’s ecosystem and not kill the others inside the pod, you have to exit the dam the way you came, returning to the surface. it can be a long walk through the facility and back up to the top; plus, expect to fight off the vortex enemies that you’ve been battling against the entire time you’ve walked way down here during this Starfield mission. No matter how often you take them out, they reappear and fight in front of you as you proceed to the dam’s entrance.

After you exit the facility, return to the main city, Dazra, and speak with Ekriks Kaisir, who you need to talk to complete the quest. Ekrisk reveals you do not need the interlock for the device they’re building, but you can hold onto it and use it with the Citadel. You’ll receive 350 experience points, 12,000 credits, and an Exterminator Modified Va’ruun Penumbra as a reward. You might want to consider your actions here, similar to when choosing to kill or spare Sahima during the Zealous Overreach quest.

Should you grab the final interlock in Exhuming the Past in Starfield Shattered Space?

The alternative to leaving the Ma’leen Dam is to remove the final interlock. In the room where you’re given this decision, turn to the left and open the locked door using the access panel. After opening the door, shoot the power modulator on the far side of the room, and then click all three levers to receive the final interlock. Now, when you go to the dam’s entrance, none of the vortex enemies appear in your path, and you can reach the top without too much trouble.

When you arrive outside, instead of going straight to Ekriks in Dazra, a new option appears in the Exhuming the Past quest: Visit the villagers at the nearby seaweed farm to see how they are doing. You learn that their entire livelihood has been destroyed, but you can now bring that interlock with you to the Citadel.

The final step is the same if you make this decision and still have to speak with Ekriks. Overall, the quest does not change much if you make either decision, except you now have two interlock devices to use at the Citadel in Starfield rather than the one, but you did destroy the Seaweed Farm in the process.

Overall, your choice on this matter comes down to if you want to make a “good” or “bad” moral call on the people in the pods of the dam and the Seaweed Farm. If you like to make “good guy” decisions, you probably should just leave the dam. If your character is more morally grey or evil, do whatever you want. You receive the same rewards regardless of how you complete this quest.