Into The Dead: Our Darkest Days - Church Bell, Explained

One of the first areas you'll discover in Into The Dead: Our Darkest Days is Walton City's Presbyterian Church. It's listed as a low-threat area but has large groups of massed undead wandering nearby. The character you can recruit here needs to get past the undead in the streets outside but will otherwise join you without an issue.

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Here's how to use the church bell, save Rahul and get out without getting injured. You'll come out of the ordeal with some nice scavenged materials, an extra pair of hands and the bragging rights of having rung a church bell while surrounded by zombies.

Where To Find The Church

The Harshaw Presbyterian Church appears just south of the central district of the city. You can find it to the northwest of Old Ballard, the nearest other point of interest.

The area isn't as risky as some of the surrounding area but you'll still want to go armed. Have enough weapons for at least four takedowns. Blades are less likely to draw attention from stealth takedowns, but we cleared the area with a hammer so don't worry if you're short on knives.

With a cautious approach, you'll avoid any direct fights and can use entirely stealth takedowns. This means you don't need to bring a fighting-specialised character.

Exploring The Church

You'll find the main hall is barricaded from the inside, and the sounds of zombies come through the door. Climbing up the stairs will take you to a balcony overlooking the hall. You can jump over the railing to get inside, but you will want to sneak from here on out as you're now trapped inside with the zombies.

There are zombies in the background, but they won't become aggressive unless you make noise. Crossing the room (and looting as you go), you'll find a path to the upper floor. Climbing out the window gives you a ladder that takes you to the roof and across to the bell tower on the right.

You'll need to stop sneaking to jump over a hole in the roof, but this shouldn't alert anyone.

Going down, you'll find the rope for tolling the bell, along with the survivor Rahul.

Should You Ring The Bell?

When you've spoken to Rahul and finished looting the area, you'll be tempted to ring the bell on the way out. The cable for it is in the same loft space as Rahul has been hiding, with a window on the right that takes you out above the entrance.

Ringing the bell before you plan to leave will make exploring the area near impossible, as all the dormant undead from the background scenes will enter the foreground area.

After ringing the bell, all the massed undead will enter an aggressive state and group up around the church. Depending on how far into the game you are, there's no way to fight off a group this size.

To escape without getting injured, you'll want to take a running jump from the church's roof. You should have a clear path to the exit with all the zombies behind you, but you can shove past one or two stragglers if need be. You might take a couple of scrapes, but should be able to escape relatively unharmed.

Rahul will find his own way out once you've agreed to recruit him; he'll be back at your base.

How To Use Rahul

Rahul is one of the survivors you'll find who isn't suited for going outside. He deals reduced damage, making him a liability in a fight.

In the early game, he'll also be a liability because he's more likely to get food poisoning. If your group is at all food insecure, he becomes worse than a blank slate with no character traits.

Paired with survivors to offset these weaknesses, he's an alright crafting specialist. When making chemicals like alcohol, he'll give you extra copies out of nowhere. It isn't the most versatile crafting speciality compared to cheaper weapons or multiplying food but has a place.

If you found him early on, you'll find the third or fourth pair of hands useful even for generic tasks around the base. Somebody needs to collect rainwater and reinforce the barricades.

If you already have a large collection of survivors, you might pass up on Rahul in favour of survivors with broader crafting skills or reduced resource consumption. The church will still be worth looting, but survivors you don't rescue on your first meeting will be lost.

Where To Go Next After The Church

The nearest other survivor in the Harshaw area is Joe, found at the nearby Texway gas station. It's on the other side of Old Bollard, so you likely discovered both locations at once.

Joe is a pack mule and scavenger that frees Rahul up to do crafting. He's got extra carrying capacity for efficient looting, and his negative trait doesn't activate unless you run low on food. He doesn't have any traits for improved fighting so you'll want a different survivor for scouting high-risk areas.

Joe gets extra salvage when dismantling items, so he is still useful on a team with better scavengers.

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