Guides

Escape From Tarkov “They Are Already Here” Quest Guide

A multi-map story chapter that ends with two Interchange extraction checks and a one-player-per-raid interaction.

They Are Already Here spans several maps before sending you back to Interchange for a second run. Plan around both extraction checks, and do not leave the later station visit before pressing the backup-settings button. Only one player per raid can register that interaction.

Requirements and objectives

Begin by picking up and reading the Note about the Eye of the World. You only need one copy, and it can be found at any one of these locations:

  • Customs: In marked room 314 on the third floor of the three-story dorms.
  • Reserve: In marked room RB-BK, RB-VO, or RB-PKPM. The note is on the pig-carcass table in RB-BK and RB-VO, or on the desk in RB-PKPM.
  • Woods: Beside the burning candles at the marked circle in the dilapidated village in the north of the map.
  • Shoreline: On the floor inside the house on the island.

After reading it, the chapter sends you through Lighthouse, Streets of Tarkov, Customs or Reserve, Woods, Shoreline, your Hideout, and Interchange. Its main evidence tasks include reading notes and a book, listening to tapes, repairing the Sordi tower, crafting a keycard, and investigating the ARRS station.

Western Shoreline coast with the activation-note island house highlighted east of Tunnel.
Optional activation-note location in the house on the small island east of Tunnel. Only one activation-note site is needed.

Equipment and keys

  • Keys for the activation note: The Customs and Reserve options require access to their marked rooms. The Woods and Shoreline activation-note options do not require a key.
  • Cult victim’s apartment key: The apartment door on Streets requires this key. Obtaining it is marked optional, and it can be found in the Lighthouse torture house. Check the fallen shelf, chair, wooden table, and metal table.
  • One marked-room key for the Cultist priest’s note: Choose a Dorm room 314 marked key, Abandoned factory marked key, RB-BK marked key, RB-PKPM marked key, or RB-VO marked key. Only one is needed.
  • Toolset: Use one inside the Shoreline shack to repair the Sordi tower. It is removed from your inventory when used.
  • Damaged Arshavin pass: Find the damaged pass on Lighthouse, then craft the restored pass at Intelligence Center level 1 in the Hideout. Electricity must remain on for the entire craft.
  • Secure Flash drive: Bring one to stash in the Interchange server room. It is a stashed item, not a Found in raid hand-in.

The quest marks the following evidence as requiring Found in raid status: Cult victim audio tape 2, Note on preparations for the Arrival, Cult victim audio tape 1, Book of the Arrival, Cultist priest’s note, Victim’s note, damaged Arshavin pass, Newspaper clipping from the cultists’ house, Programmer’s note, Mysterious audio tape, ARRS station mechanic’s notes, and Flash drive for ARRS station. The restored Arshavin pass, Toolset, marked-room keys and stashed Secure Flash drive do not need Found in Raid status.

How to complete They Are Already Here

1. Investigate the Lighthouse torture house

Go to the village south of the Water Treatment Plant on Lighthouse. The torture house is the roof-damaged log house on the village’s eastern edge, east of the main coastal road and north of the chalet area. Pick up Cult victim audio tape 2 from the chair inside and listen to it. Search the fallen shelf, chair, wooden table and metal table for the Cult victim’s apartment key before leaving.

2. Search the victim’s apartment on Streets of Tarkov

On Streets, find the old apartment block on the western side of the Klimov shopping-mall complex, just east of Primorsky Avenue. Look for its courtyard-facing entrance beside the parked truck. Go to apartment 5 on the third floor and unlock it with the Cult victim’s apartment key. Breach the office door inside. Read the Note on preparations for the Arrival on the desk and the Book of the Arrival on the bookshelf, then pick up and listen to Cult victim audio tape 1 from the desk.

3. Ask Mechanic about the Eye of the World

Use Mechanic’s dialogue from the trader screen when the objective appears. If access to Mechanic is still locked, resolve that before returning for the conversation. Later, return to his dialogue and ask about the Eye of the World again.

4. Kill a Cultist priest and find the priest’s note

Kill a Cultist priest on any location. Then find and read the Cultist priest’s note in one of the marked rooms below. The note does not spawn until the priest objective is complete.

Map Room location Required key Note location
Customs Third floor of the three-story dorms Dorm room 314 marked key Stack of books
Streets of Tarkov Third floor of the northern abandoned factory building Abandoned factory marked key Floor
Reserve Marked room in the Black Pawn barrack RB-BK marked key Bookshelf
Reserve Underground tunnel system, next to the command office RB-PKPM marked key Fallen bookshelf
Reserve Security barrack building RB-VO marked key Bookshelf
Customs dorms map highlighting the three-story building for room 314 and the Cultist priest note.
Customs option for the Cultist priest’s note in room 314, on the third floor of the three-story dorms. Complete the priest objective before searching for this note.
Streets map highlighting the northern abandoned factory for the third-floor marked-room priest note.
Streets of Tarkov option for the Cultist priest’s note in the northern abandoned factory’s third-floor marked room. The Mysterious room is not an option for this objective.
Reserve map showing Black Pawn, the RB-VO security barrack and a separate underground inset for RB-PKPM.
Reserve alternatives for the Cultist priest’s note: RB-BK in Black Pawn, RB-VO in the security barrack, or RB-PKPM beside the underground command office. Only one is needed.

5. Find the Lighthouse evidence and damaged pass

Go to the northern blue chalet on Lighthouse. The marked room is the small bedroom on the second floor, on the south side. The Victim’s note is on the adjacent balcony. The Station 14-4 KORD Arshavin K. pass (Damaged) is on an ATV in front of the garage opposite the chalet.

Lighthouse hillside map highlighting the northern blue chalet east of the coastal road and north of the other chalet.
The northern blue chalet contains the bedroom and balcony evidence. The damaged Arshavin pass is on the ATV by the opposite garage; those indoor and item details are explained above.

6. Investigate the Woods house

In the dilapidated village in the north of Woods, enter the house marked with the Eye of the World. Pick up and read the Newspaper clipping from the cultists’ house from the whiteboard beside the desk. This is a separate location from the village’s marked-circle spot where the activation note can be found.

Northern Woods village map separately marking the activation-note circle and the later newspaper house.
Two separate Woods stops: the marked circle can start the chapter, while the nearby house contains the newspaper for the later investigation objective.

7. Repair the Sordi tower on Shoreline

At the radio tower near the Road to Customs extraction, find the red metal shack. Pick up and read the Programmer’s note from the dead body next to the tower, then use a Toolset inside the shack to repair it. The Toolset is consumed.

Eastern Shoreline map marking the inland Sordi radio-tower site southwest of Road to Customs.
Sordi radio-tower site southwest of Road to Customs. Collect the Programmer’s note from the body beside the tower and use a Toolset inside the red shack.

8. Craft the restored keycard

After speaking to Mechanic again, craft the Station 14-4 KORD Arshavin K. pass (Restored) at Intelligence Center level 1 in the Hideout. Keep electricity on throughout the craft or it will be interrupted.

9. First Interchange visit, download the data and extract

  1. Enter the basement of the power station to reach NGO Cobalt’s secret facility. Use the restored pass to enter.
  2. Swipe the pass at the keycard panel beside the entrance to restore power.
  3. Go through the grate door to the server room and flip the cooling-system lever at the back.
  4. Stash the Secure Flash drive to the left of the lever.
  5. Pick up and listen to the Mysterious audio tape from the safe beside the entrance. The safe opens automatically when the cooling system is turned on.
  6. Extract from Interchange with either Survived or Run-Through status.
Interchange exterior map highlighting the Power Station complex northeast of IDEA.
The Power Station complex northeast of IDEA contains the basement facility. This exterior locator applies to both required Interchange visits; it does not map the basement rooms.

10. Second Interchange visit, reset the station and recover its drive

  1. Return to the facility and pick up and read the ARRS station mechanic’s notes from the large desk.
  2. Turn the power on again, enter the server room, and press the button under the table to restore the ARRS station to backup settings.
  3. Only one player per raid can press the button and register progress. If it cannot be interacted with, return in a new raid.
  4. After the backup-settings objective, collect the Flash drive for ARRS station from the server next to the cooling-system lever.
  5. Extract from Interchange with either Survived or Run-Through status.

Complete the backup-settings objective before collecting the drive. The quest warns that the previous objective is required to obtain the major evidence, ARRS system specifications.

11. Hand in the evidence and read the specifications

Hand the Flash drive for ARRS station to Mechanic through the trader screen. Then read the ARRS system specifications in the handbook.

Rewards

  • +128,000 EXP
  • Unlocks the achievement Through Another’s Eyes
  • Unlocks the achievement When the Light Fades

Escape from Tarkov

Escape from Tarkov is a hardcore and realistic online first-person action RPG/Simulator with MMO features and story-driven walkthrough.

  • Genre Shooter, Role-playing (RPG), Simulator, Tactical
  • Platforms PC (Microsoft Windows)
  • Perspective First person
  • Modes Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative, Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO)
  • Release November 15, 2025
  • Publisher Battlestate Games

Angel Kicevski

I've spent half of my life playing video games, ever since the competitive 1.6 era, where I played professionally. Now I am happily married to Margarita Kicevski and have two beautiful children. My goal is to deliver fresh news and updates from the gaming world, but also deliver some juicy guides. Previously, I worked on another website for 8 years and decided to continue my journey here! So basically, I am in this industry for 10+ years... which has been quite a lot, let me tell you!

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