Side Mission Walkthrough – First Murderer [Mass Effect Andromeda]

Side Quest Walkthrough – First Murderer

This Side Quest can be activated upon reaching the Nexus during the Main Mission Nexus Reunion. There is also an exploit here to obtain unlimited weapons, armor and credits (click here to read the guide).

Talk to Mariette

When you enter the Nexus, speak to Turian Mariette to start the First Murderer side quest. A dialogue starts as Mariette begins explaining the story. Apparently, an issue became too “political”. Her husband is about to be exile and is in prison. There, you’re left with two choices:

Either way, it comes out the same way. She soon mentions that her husband has been accused of being a murder. People called him the “First Murderer” in all Andromeda. And if things weren’t bad enough, apparently, the dead dude is his friend. Mariette shows signs of doubt about.

However, the poor sucker has everything stacked against him. There were witnesses and evidences which she believes are “circumstantial”. Most of all, she believes that it was an accident.

After that, she gives her husband’s name to him. Your  next job is to find the poor alien and find his side of the story. However, you can choose to take the quest or not.

Finding Nilken Rensus

Head towards the lobby and to the prison area. Speak with Sergeant Aker and it’ll trigger a scene. The sergeant will call Rensus and you two will talk.

With that, Rensus tells you the story of the incident. Apparently, they were doing a military operation and things didn’t go right.

Rensus: “The security chief, Reynolds – my friend – he refused to call the evacuation. I argued with him. Everyone saw.”
Dialogue Choice	Choice A	Choice B
Text	Arguments happen.	And then he ended up dead?
Outcome	TBA	Pathfinder: “So when he was killed everyone said you did?” Rensus: “For good reason.”

With that, Rensus tells you the whole situation of what had happened. He admits that he may have fired the shot because of sheer panic. He thought that he saw a Kett.

 

After that, Rensus mentions that Kandros might give him access. With that, you can head over to the other side of the Operations’ lobby. There, you’ll make your way to the Militia Office to check out the evidence.

There, Kandros explains the effects of the death of the high ranking officer, Reynolds. It dampened many people’s spirits and caused a lot of civil unrest. It didn’t help as well that the colonization attempts failed.

Kandros: “The mutiny here on Nexus was probably inevitable, but this acted as a spark.”
Dialogue Choice	Choice A	Choice B
Text	Isn’t that a reach?	And he was found guilty.
Outcome	TBA	Pathfinder: “So there was a trial and he was found guilty?” Kandros: “It was short and decisive.”

Despite the lack of physical evidence, everything seemed to add up for Kandros.

After this, Kandros tells you to either screen through the evidence or speak straight to the key witness. The key witness, Cassidy Shaw is waiting on the bridge. However, it’s best you view the evidence before speaking to her.

Finding Cassidy Shaw

Run up the stairs and make a left into Addison‘s Office. Climb up the stairs again until you reach the main bridge. Move up one more level and you’ll see Cassidy Shaw. She explains her side of the story before you’re allowed to ask her.

Finish up the conversation and you realize that they never got the body. But apparently, a guy named Tann wouldn’t allow them to go back for the body.

With that, leave the lounge and head to the office of Colonial Affairs.

Colonial Affairs

When you enter the room of Colonial Affairs, you meet up with Director Tann. Tell him that you’re looking into the Nilken Rensus case. There, the pathfinder makes a request to retrieve the body. While it isn’t really Pathfinder business, you just have to get the judgment done right.

After that, Tann says he’ll give you the coordinates to the area where they were stationed.

If you have nothing to ask, just head off and prepare for your mission in Eos.

Heading to Eos

Once you get there, keep heading straight until you come across a Scourge Tendril Anomaly. After awhile, you’ll come across a rock and a signal of Reynold’s resting place. Dismount from your car and scan for the body.  You find out that he left his leg bracers behind and he became alien food. The next  thing you have to do now is find his body and his omni-tool.

From the leg bracers, turn to the right until you see two small rock formations of identical height. When you see them, run straight forward to locate his helmet.

After finding the helmet, keep running straight until you see a rock formation. The rock formation appears to look like a cluster of mushrooms. Head straight into the middle of the formation and scan the ground. There, you find his chest piece buried underneath the sand. Turns out the shot blew from his back going front.

But this confirms one thing: Rensus didn’t kill him. Why? Rensus was in front of  Reynolds. The shot should have exploded backwards, not forward.

After that, track down his omni-tool. Head out of the formation and from there run north. You should cross an orange line to know you’re in the right direction. Keep running until you see a small rock standing next to a large rock. Your view should have the mountains and the canyon with it.

From there, you’ll spot a cave below the mountains. Run straight into it only to find out that it’s a Kaerkyn Nest. Finish them off but, don’t forget to mine the Cadmium Ore near the entrance. Shine your scanner right at the middle of the cave to find the omni-tool. Run an analysis on the tool and you find out that Reynolds was scanning.

Another thing: there were two shots. One from a standard rifle that missed. And another that hit him, the Kett pulse weapon. While Rensus didn’t kill him, he had meant to kill him. Therefore, he could have been murderer if shot landed.

Now that you know that Rensus is not the murderer, return back to the base.

The Truth

Head back to talk to Andromeda’s “first murderer” Nilken.

Rensus: “I hear you went down to Eos. Did you find anything to help my case?”
Dialogue Choice	Choice A	Choice B
Text	Yes and no.	You lied to me!
Outcome	TBA	“What? Wait, that’s not… What are you trying to pull?”

When that happens, SAM plays the recording of what had happened. Rensus admits that he wanted to kill him. But you reveal to him that his shot missed. In reality, a Kett pulse blast shot killed him. Rensus clearly brightens up at the sound of this. He realizes that he’s free!

Rensus: “The conviction will be overturned – the sentence thrown out!”
Dialogue Choice	Choice A	Choice B
Text	I might have something to say.	That’s for Tann to decide.
Outcome	“Look – I’m sorry I lied. But if my shot missed; I’m innocent. Plain and simple.”	TBA

When you’re done speaking with Rensus, head over to the Colonial Affairs office. Talk to Tann and tell him the truth – including Nilken’s intent.

Tann: “(sighs) This is unfortunate. We’re trying to give the people a sense of stability. Leadership they can count on. And we’re setting precedent for justice here in Andromeda. Now this: a convicted murderer who didn’t commit a murder!”
Dialogue Choice	Choice A	Choice B
Text	Justice is complicated.	I sympathize.
Outcome	TBA	“Are they ever? (sighs)”

Tann finds himself in a bit of a problem. He can’t just release people but he can’t just exile him either. With that, he leaves the choice in your hands.

Mission Outcome

Tann: “Your investigation complicated this. You should take responsibility for the outcome. Do we still exile him for murder?”
Dialogue Choice	Choice A	Choice B
Text	Exile him.	Release him.
Outcome	TBA	“You’re a bottom line person. I hope we don’t regret it.”

With that,Tann decides to put Rensus on community service for his role in the chaos. But he’s free from the sentence and the idea that he was a murderer. Now that he’s free, you now complete the quest.

Related Articles

• Main Quest Walkthrough Directory
• Characters  and Races
• Skills Directory
• Weapons Directory 
• Locations Directory
• Factions Directory 
• Lore Directory