One of the Leads you can get inAtomfalltells you about a murder that took place in St. Katherine’s Church, asking you to solve the mystery behind it. Once you find this side quest naturally from exploring the world, your choices surrounding it can greatly impact the characters you meet within the Lead. The rewards you get depend on the choices you make and who you choose to trust.
While it does share manysimilarities toFallouttitles,Atomfallstands out with how Leads work.Leads are side quests you get by interacting with people or items in the world, giving you little clues about events or important locations. Some rumors may direct you to a new Lead, while others could be discovered by complete accident as you investigate a random object you pick up.
How To Start St. Katherine’s Church Lead
Visit The Site Of A Grisly Murder
The only way to start the St. Katherine’s Church Lead is to visit the titular location, which you canfind at Wyndham Village at coordinates (33.0E, 78.8N). Wyndham Village is discovered naturally through the story as you go through Slatten Dale and make your way towards civilization. Here, you’ll meet important characters, such as the Protocol leader Captain Sims at the Village Hall.
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While navigating the military forces in the area, you’re able to enter the church to discover two people near a murdered woman.Speak to the priest standing above the body named Vicar McHenryto start the Lead as the clergyman tells you about who was killed. According to the Vicar, the corpse is ofMaise Higgins, a person whose murder he would like to keep quiet.
Throughout the St. Katherine Church Lead, you can report the murder of Maise Higgins to Captain Sims of Protocol. If you do this, you’ll anger Vicar McHenry and lose out on the rewards you would get for solving the murder first.
Once you talk to him, McHenry asks you for help in solving the murder, as he does not want the situation getting reported to Protocol. The other woman standing over Maise’s body isPamela Shaw, who is mostly distraught about the violent death in the Church. In my experience, Pamela’s dialogue did not initiate the Lead, so you have tointeract with Maise’s bodyto gather more information.
How To Solve Maisie’s Murder
Follow The Right Clues To Confront A Killer
Similar toother Leads inAtomfall, what Maise has on her body will give you some insight into the murder. When you start investigating, you canfind a Bloody Note on Maise’s corpsethat details her actions before her death. Apparently, she was spying on a place calledMereview Hotelfrom a cottage within the Village.
Your first step should be togo to coordinates (31.4E, 82.1N) to investigate the cottage Maise was usingto spy on Mereview Hotel. Traveling here will reveal that Protocol has labeled the cottage"Condemned,“making you a trespasser if you enter the building. Stay hidden and go inside anyway to start searching for clues.
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Eventually, you may find the room where Maise was staying, along with a note titled"Recent Movements.“This letter details how Vicar McHenry instructed Maise to look for anyone acting strange around the Village. On the same note,Maise spotted a suspicious man going past the Hotel and into a rat-infested cellarsomewhere outside of town.
This should give you an idea of where to go next, sotravel past the Hotel, across a stream, and to an abandoned building called Brewery Cellar. Some blue doors lead into the rat-infested cellar Maise described in her letter, so enter it to continue your investigation.
Inside the Brewery Cellar, you may acquire acrafting recipe inAtomfallfor Molotov Cocktails, which can be a great weapon to help deal with enemies in future Leads.
Watch out for large rats in the Brewery Cellar and take them out with a weapon to continue your search without risk. Crawl under a table in the Cellar to reach a hidden room with a note titled"Kill the One they Call Maise.“This letter reveals thata man named Morris Wick killed Maise on the Druids' ordersas a way to silence the spy who was investigating Morris' strange behavior.
Undoing the barred door in the Cellar also uncovers another letter, this time titled"Captain Sims Doesn’t Suspect A Thing.“This deepens Morris' guilt, showing how he planned to undermine Protocol forces in the name of the Druids. This is all the evidence you need toconfront Morris in the Village Shoplocated back in town.
Rewards For Completing St. Katherine’s Church Lead
Seek Justice Or Allow A Murderer To Go Free
Once you have your culprit, you have a few decisions you could make, including:
Each choice here leads to a different outcome, with a few building relationships with important NPCs or leading to different rewards. Similar toDr. Holder’s Inoculation inAtomfall, you need to pick a character to side with by making one of these choices. Youhave to side with either Captain Sims, Vicar McHenry, or Morristo complete this Lead.
Siding With Vicar McHenry
The most common choice here, and the one that I made, was to side with Vicar McHenry and bring Morris to justice. you’re able to go about this in a couple of ways when you confront Morris in the Village Shop, by either:
The moment you threaten to tell the Protocol about the truth behind Maise’s death, Morris will attack you. After killing him, you can go back and tell Vicar McHenry about everything you found. Alternatively, you could simply tell Morris to leave the Village and never come back, prompting him to go away after some argument.
Reporting back to McHenry at the Church will cause him to give you the Vicar’s Key, which opens a locked chest in the upstairs area of the Church. The upstairs chest contains anAtomic Battery inAtomfall, an extremely rare item used to open secret areas around the map. There will be a note detailing how the Vicar came across the Battery, but the item itself will be your reward.
Siding With Morris
Even after confronting Morris, you canchoose the"Bargaining"dialogue optionto blackmail the murderer with your silence. While this does leave Morris to continue to roam free and greatly angers Vicar McHenry, it does lead to a unique reward.
If you choose to side with Morris, you can always kill Vicar McHenry to loot his body for the Vicar’s Key, which will allow you to get the Atomic Battery regardless of your choice.
For siding with Morris, youget a Training Stimulant and the Crafting Manual, an item that unlocks new crafting skills. Sincecrafting recipes inAtomfallare incredibly important, this item can be incredibly useful to help you make better tools. Morris also tells you about where to find Mother Jago, an important character tied to one of the game’s many endings.
Reporting The Murder To Captain Sims
Your final option in this Lead is to report the crime that’s taken place in St. Katherine’s Church to Captain Sims in the Village Hall. Doing this will anger both Morris and Vicar McHenry, locking you out of the rewards given by both of them. However,doing this does build a positive relationship with Captain Sims, giving you a better reputation with Protocol.
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In my experience, having a good relationship with Protocol makes it far easier to travel around Skethermoor later in the game. At the same time, if you still want some rewards from this option,bargain with Morris first before reporting him to Sims. This allows you to get the Crafting Manual from Morris and enact justice on him through Protocol afterward.
While any choice from this Lead is far from perfect, ultimately the choice of what happens to Maise’s murderer is up to you. Any decision you make will complete the St. Katherine’s Church quest inAtomfall, leading to an outcome that will leave an impact on the world.
