Samara: The Ardat-Yakshi

Samara's daughter Morinth suffers a rare genetic defect that compels her to destroy her partner's mind during sex. Samara has a good lead on Morinth's whereabouts and wants to end her daughter's career as a serial killer.

Acquisition
After several personal conversations with Samara, Kelly Chambers will relay that Samara wishes to speak to Commander Shepard.

Walkthrough
Samara tells Shepard that the person she has been hunting for the past 400 years is on Omega. She reveals that her target is her own daughter, Morinth. Morinth is an Ardat-Yakshi, an asari with a rare genetic disorder that causes her mates to die during sex.

Once on Omega, EDI informs Shepard that she is unable to discern any pattern in the deaths on Omega that would point to an Ardat-Yakshi. She advises Shepard to seek out Aria T'Loak who could possibly have information. Aria says the Ardat-Yakshi's last victim, a young human woman named Nef, stayed in the apartments nearby. The apartments are close to the entrance to the quarantine zone for the Dossier: The Professor mission. Shepard finds Nef's grieving mother, Diana. Morality points may be earned in the conversation with Diana. She gives permission for Shepard to search Nef's room for clues. Shepard learns that Morinth likes the elcor artist Forta, the vid Vaenia, the drug Hallex, and that the password for the VIP section of Afterlife is Jaruut's name. Samara and Shepard agree to use Shepard to lure Morinth into a trap. They travel to the VIP section of Afterlife and use Jaruut's name to get in. Samara and Shepard then discuss their plans to trap Morinth.

Inside the club is a human male named Vij, looking for tickets for a band named Expel 10, in hopes of impressing an asari. Shepard can say "Get away from me," for 2 Renegade points. Shepard can then interact with the people in the club to attract Morinth's attention. The activities include preventing the death of a journalist, stopping a turian from soliciting an asari dancer, and dancing with an asari. To maximize morality points, the player should Intimidate the krogan Verf, Charm the bartender Edwin for a round of drinks on the house, and finally, intimidate the would-be muggers Vertin and Huck. Morinth will then approach Shepard.

If Shepard is confident, expresses a desire for violence, and uses the clues previously learned, Morinth will invite Shepard to her apartment. Specifically, Shepard should start with the "I'm confident" option, and then in any order speak of: Avoid speaking of family and justicars, as this links to Samara. Using either Paragon or Renegade conversation options during your talk with Morinth helps to ensure success, but is not required if you follow the above conversation paths. If you choose the moral replies instead, a Charm option will be required to avoid losing her interest on Travel and the Art topics and an Intimidate for Drugs; however, for the three topics, one of the non-journal entries will be an immediate failure and she will be immediately uninterested.
 * Travel, enjoying the danger, and the power of violence
 * Music, the band Expel 10, a history with drugs, new drug interests, or mentioning the drug Hallex.
 * Art and "vids", and the violence contained within them; Mentioning Vaenia specifically helps, as well as Forta.

Shepard can examine various items in Morinth's room, including an assault rifle damage upgrade. Shepard engages Morinth in conversation. The first two dialogue choices do not matter. For the third dialogue choice, Shepard can use Charm or Intimidate to resist Morinth's seduction. Samara will enter the room. She and Morinth have a biotic battle, but they are evenly matched. If the Commander was able to resist Morinth earlier, Shepard can choose whether to assist Samara or Morinth. If not, Shepard will automatically help Samara.

If you do not have enough Paragon or Renegade points to resist Morinth, using the Retrain Powers research and changing from the class that boosts your points by 70% to the 100% boost will often increase your points enough to successfully resist her.

If Morinth is killed, Samara becomes loyal and her Reave power is unlocked. Shepard gets 30 Paragon points and another 2 Paragon points if Samara is asked "Are you okay?".

If Samara is killed, Morinth disguises herself and assumes the place of her mother, so that no one else on Normandy is aware of Samara's death and Morinth's substitution. Morinth is automatically loyal and has the Dominate power. Shepard will also earn 45 Renegade points.

Mass Effect 3 Consequences
If Samara was killed, a message can be received from Morinth at some point in Mass Effect 3. She later appears as an enemy, having been turned into a Banshee by the Reapers.

Mission Summary
Morinth/Samara Killed: Samara has dealt with the Ardat-Yakshi. She remains loyal to Shepard personally. Loyalty of the justicar beyond question, given apparent bonds of oath rendered to Shepard. Better than hoped. Cerberus activities will not be affected further by presence of Shepard's team. Relieved to have justicar's mission completed. Unfortunately, body of Ardat-Yakshi could not be taken for study. Genetic abnormality could have been useful. Subject's expertise would have made her a valuable team member if sociopathic tendencies were mitigated.

Morinth Escapes: Samara failed to apprehend her target. This distraction leaves her emotionally vulnerable and could threaten the mission, but I see no way of dealing with the situation. Cerberus operatives have had no success tracking Morinth. We'll have to hope the justicar's oath keeps her mind on the mission.


 * Experience: 750 (937)
 * Credits: 30,000
 * Cerberus Funding: 30,000
 * Credits Found: 0
 * Powers
 * Samara: Reave
 * Morinth: Dominate
 * Upgrades
 * Assault Rifle Damage (Kinetic Pulsar)

Trivia

 * If Morinth replaces Samara, Kelly and Kasumi notice a change in "Samara's" behavior.
 * There is also the possibility to acquire as many Paragon points as wanted through speaking to Samara after Morinth's death and asking "Are you okay?", and then "Not yet", and repeating the process continuously.
 * The Mission Complete screen will falsely report that 2,000 units of a resource were found. There are no resources to be found in the mission, and the amount of resources, as shown in the Mission Computer, does not change upon completion of the mission.
 * Also on the Xbox 360 version, there is a common bug during the confrontation between Samara and Morinth where the audio will inexplicably cut out, moments before Shepard decides their fates. If you save the game while in Morinth's apartment and then switch discs and reload the save, this normally fixes the bug.
 * If you didn't take Samara with you to talk to Aria, she will appear at Nef's apartment, saying she's done some investigating.