Atomfall ‘Murder in the Church’ Guide: Should You Tell Captain Sims About the Murder?

One of my favorite quests in all of Atomfall can be stumbled upon quite early in the game. All you need to do is enter St. Katherine’s Church up the hill in Wyndham and this lucrative and fascinating quest activates. This guide will clarify if telling Sims about the murder is a smart thing to do, in addition all of the other ways ‘Murder in the Church’ can be completed.

Murder in the Church Quest Guide

Immediately upon entering the scene of the crime, it’s clear something suspicious is going on. Vicar McHenry begs for this murder to be kept secret, and especially out of the ears of Protocol soldiers and Captain Sims in particular. At this juncture, you have three core decisions to make: investigate things by yourself, tell Sims, or confront the killer directly.

Killing the Vicar and nabbing his chest key ends the quest and marks it as unfinished, but you do get the valuable Atomic Battery inside the chest upstairs at least. The other two methods that complete the quest are much more involved and interesting, and even more lucrative.

Telling Captain Sims About the Murder

The second easiest way to resolve the quest is by running over to the Village Hall building just west of St. Katherine’s Church and tell Captain Sims. After introducing yourself to him, select the “I have something to report.” dialogue options. Now select “You need to send someone to the church. There’s been a murder!” Sims sends someone to retrieve the body, but other than that, nothing else in the church really changes.

Telling Sims about the murder progresses Sims’ quest further and grants unrestricted access to Skethermoor, where Protocol guards won’t harm you. While this is great, it also puts you on the bad side of the Vicar. Vicar McHenry won’t give you the chest key and you’ll never be able to obtain the Atom Battery inside unless you kill him for it. But there is a much more lucrative and conventional way to finish the church quest which progresses Sims’ own quest and grants you the chest key in one single stroke.

Solving the Murder Through investigation

If you want the best possible outcome, you have to do some good old independent investigation. Against the wishes of the Vicar, examine Maisie’s body to get the ‘Bloodied Note’. Speak to Pamela Shaw and ask her what she knows about Maisie. After all this, you should have a solid lead pointing to a cellar near the hotel north of Wyndham proper.

The cellar is actually up a large slope past the backyard of the hotel. Keep climbing up until you see a swarm of rats. Either defeat the rats or enter the cellar near some ruins on the right. The cellar’s coordinates are 30.5E, 80.5N.

Explore the cellar to find a B.A.R.D. crate and a note sitting on a table. The note labelled “Kill the one they call Maisie” has the information you’re looking for. The kill contract on Maisie is addressed to a man called Morris Wick. He’s one of the shopkeepers in town, and you can either confront Morris directly or ‘rat’ him out to the Vicar or Captain Sims.

Telling the vicar and then Sims about Morris’ wrongdoing results in the second best conclusion to the quest. This will both progress Sims’ quest and grant you the key to the chest containing the Atomic Battery. You can also tell the vicar and then follow through on his request to ‘take care of Morris’ by killing him yourself. Taking care of Morris yourself will still grant you the friendship of Sims should you apprise him of the situation and your hand in cleaning it up.

Confronting Morris

If you decide to confront Morris, you’ll get a different set of rewards. Press Morris about the murder and he’ll confess to it, giving his own reasons for doing so. At this point, Morris offers a bribe: keep quiet about the murder and he’ll give you a Crafting Manual, Training Stimulant, and give you a lead regarding Mother Jago. However, selecting this option closes the quest and eliminates the option to tell either the vicar or Sims about the murder. Another option is to tell Morris to leave town with the threat of sending Protocol his way. Morris will leave and you can tell the vicar and Sims that you ‘dealt’ with him, gaining you the chest key and trust of Sims.

You can also mete out justice on Morris yourself by fighting him. This is technically the most rewarding option in terms of net gains. He has the Crafting Manual and Training Stimulant on him but not much else. What’s more, you can tell both the vicar and Sims and still reap all the rewards this way.

So, should you tell Sims about the church murder? Well, no, but you should tell him about Morris one way or another. Now that you have another Atom Battery in your inventory and gained the friendship of Sims, why not check out our complete Atomic Battery guide?