Leshiy

A Space Bubble, brother, is one of the shittiest shits to ever grace the zone.
― Leshiy

Leshiy (Леший) is a recurring character appearing in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky as a mercenary, in S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl as a veteran Freedom member and in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl as a mercenary yet again.

Background

Leshiy (as his brother calls him) came to the Zone a young idealist^[1]. His career began as a member of a mercenary team, under the command of Hog, on a mission to retrieve a valuable artifact for an outside buyer. During this period, he had the unpleasant experience of being trapped in a space anomaly after a blowout along with his fellow mercenaries. When freed by Scar from his situation, he and his men assisted Clear Sky in capturing the bridge to Limansk by invading the other shore from the flank and lowering it.

Sometime after these events, he left the employ of the mercenaries and joined Freedom. Living just a hair's breadth from death all the time has turned him into a cynical realist. He considers the Zone his home and anyone who failed in it unworthy to walk the face of the Earth.^[1]

Appearances

Clear Sky

Leshiy is a squad leader in Hog's mercenary group. The player is required to acquire the coordinates from Forester and transmit them to his group, so that he can attack the Bandits outpost at the Limansk bridge and secure it for Clear Sky. During the attack, he emerges from the northern flank with his team and provides fire support.

After the first ensemble of bandits is eliminated, he and his men will descend to the ground from the hill and take cover in the unfinished bricked building. One of his team will then run up to the bridge's control panel and start lowering the bridge. The player needs to protect him from snipers emerging on the hill. When the bridge has been lowered the Clear Sky squads will finish off the remaining bandits and Leshiy will meet Lebedev by the Limansk road tunnel.

Leshiy will reward the player for protecting his team from the snipers on the hill. He will give a different Artifact depending on how many of his team have survived. After the meeting with Lebedev he will stay at the lookout post on the east side of the bridge for a short time, he will then go to a small camp on the west side of the road to Yantar and stay there for a while. This will give the player plenty of time to collect any reward from him.

List of Artifacts given, depending on how many of Leshiy's team survive:

• if 4 team members survive - Kolobok (artifact)
• if 3 team members survive - Flame
• if 2 team members survive - Soul
• If 1 team member survives - Eye
• if 0 team members survive - Nothing

Shadow of Chernobyl

Some time after the events of Clear Sky, Leshiy joins the newly relocated Freedom faction. He assumes a lesser role as a guard of the base's entrance, along with Twig. He is armed with the Sniper SGI, a unique variant of the SGI 5k assault rifle.

Heart of Chornobyl

At some point in the ten years following the events of Clear Sky and Shadow of Chernobyl, he appears to have left Freedom again and became a bandit-affiliated mercenary, true to his pragmatic and opportunistic approach to life in the Zone. His actions in the Lesser Zone appear to have attracted the IPSF, who are on his trail - and he appears to have been paid by Garbage bandit leader Varan to carry out a hit on another bandit called Elbow.

However, Elbow appears to have found out about the hit, and sent a few of his men to intercept the IPSF radio broadcasts pertaining to his location^[2] - ultimately unsuccessfully. It does seem, however, that Leshiy has figured out that somebody is on his trail - bandits and soldiers alike - and due to this, he has grown increasingly more paranoid, to the point where he barricaded himself away at the Northern Checkpoint, surrounded by many traps and firing at any trespasser, including Skif. He drops a red-condition SVDm-2 marksman rifle + ammunition, a very valuable and powerful rifle for the early stages of the game.

Trivia

• Leshiy is the only one to call Scar by his callsign Scar instead of Merc. This is viewed when talking to him to claim your reward.
• In Clear Sky, despite being part of the Mercenary faction, Leshiy wears the Sunrise suit, which is normally only worn by Loner Stalkers.
• It is odd that, seeing how Leshiy despises Space Anomalies, he joined Freedom, which wishes to live peacefully with the Zone.

Gallery

References

v · d · e Mercenaries
Locations	Wild Territory Army Warehouses Red Forest Zaton The area around Jupiter Pripyat
Notable members	Clear Sky Leshiy Hog Shadow of Chernobyl Ara Tyran Wolfhound Call of Pripyat Barchuk Black Corpse Duplet Goblin Hatchet Hook Jackal Kirzach Koshey Mower Mug Oak Pianist Ridge Serbin Skull Stake Surgeon Tank
Equipment	Armaments Kora-919 SIP-t M200 UDP Compact AKM-74/2 IL 86 TRs-301 SGI 5k GP-37 FT-200M SPSA14 Eliminator RPG-7u RGD-5 grenade F1 grenade Armour Merc suit SEVA suit Exoskeleton

v · d · e Freedom
Locations	Dark Valley Army Warehouses The area around Jupiter Red Forest
Notable members	Clear Sky Ashot Ganja Chekhov Kostyan Lingov Raven Yar Shadow of Chernobyl Cap Chef Freedom armory guard Freedom watchtower sniper Insane stalker from the Freedom faction Leshiy Lukash Max Murk Pavlik Screw Skinflint Twig Call of Pripyat Flint Kremen Loki Yar Gaiduk
Equipment	Armaments AKM-74/2 Black Kite Chaser 13 GP-37 HPSS-1m IL 86 Kora-919 Martha SGI 5k SIP-t M200 SVDm2 SVUmk2 Vintar BC TRs-301 UDP Compact Viper 5 Walker P9m RGD-5 Grenade F1 Grenade Armour Gas mask Tactical helmet Wind of Freedom suit Guardian of Freedom suit Freedom exoskeleton