Story Mission: The Scattered Flock

• Prerequisites: Complete Story Mission: Good Samaritan
• Rewards: Medium Resistance (Holland Valley)
• Details: The more the Resistance grows, the harder the cult cracks down on their activity. Help Pastor Jerome by locating and liberating civilian hostages.

MISSION Commencement

The pastor radios in a message of grateful encouragement at the conclusion of the previous mission. He thinks the Resistance will grow stronger if you can find and free the citizens of Holland Valley from the cult’s tyranny. This mission now begins (you do not need to return to the church at Fall’s End, though you can visit the pastor as he has a third mission for you, Jumping Ship, detailed later).

LIBERATE Hostages in Holland Valley (8)

This mission now takes on a more “free-form” plan and involves you exploring the length and breadth of Holland Valley. You need to travel to smaller primary locations and some secondary locations, and stumble across possible cult hostage situations as part of your general exploration.

Generally, you should remove the cult threats quickly (as they may be about to execute a hostage), watch for environmental hazards (e.g., don’t shoot a foe near an explosive barrel that can kill a hostage), study the area before wading in (so you don’t miss a foe that may kill a hostage without you realizing it), and remain within Holland Valley (stepping into a different region doesn’t help the hostages here).

Consult the Atlas section to pinpoint the many secondary locations, some of which may have a hostage situation playing out.

As a hostage situation usually occurs at random, with one or more cult members, this mission can’t be specifically tracked. But there are some main types of hostage situations to look for as you begin your good deeds:

Primary Location Hostages: Look for hostage activity inside the smaller or less-populated primary locations across Holland Valley. In this example, a Cult VIP is dispatched at the Reservoir Construction Yard, but hostages were found at Frobisher’s Cave and the Harris Residence too (to name a few). Just be aware that finding them isn’t guaranteed, and more populated locations and cult outposts aren’t usually a good source of hostages.

Secondary Location Hostages: There are numerous secondary and tertiary locations across this region (detailed in the Atlas section), and any one of them may have a hostage to rescue. Checking these locations allows you to find hostages more quickly. Of particular note are the cult baptism sites (on the shores of rivers and lakes); look for the draped linen and drowning hostage and take care of business.

RandomLocationHostages: We found this hostage, about to be battered around the head by a baseball-bat-wielding cultist, on a main dirt road just south of Strickland Farm. Keep your eyes peeled for hostages you can see in the distance, so you can access dangers before executing foes, instead of mowing everyone down and hoping the hostage survives.

The pastor radios in once you’ve saved your eighth hostage (and there can be accidental hostage deaths during this mission without it failing).

Head on back to the church at Fall’s End if you haven’t been briefed on Story Mission: Jumping Ship. Don’t forget that some hostages can be guns for hire once you free them, too.