The Disappeared is a sidequest in Wasteland 3 that you can solve in multiple ways. The quest involves you tracking down a place called “The Paint Mines” and find out what happened to some missing people. Depending on your choice, the rewards for completing this quest also changes. Here is a breakdown of the quest and the different ways of tackling it:
The quest proper begins once a group of 3 women appear to meet you inside the Ranger HQ. This is connected to your progress in the game’s storyline and these women will only appear once you have completed the first story mission “The Zealot”. With that said, there’s no chance of missing to talk with this group and missing the quest.
After talking to the women, you will then be asked to look for an individual called Frank Pappas. This person is crucial to this mission as he will be the one to tell you about the fabled “Paint Mines” of the Patriarch.
Frank Pappas is described as the person managing the transport of the Disappeared. You can get to him by going to the Sans Luxe Apartments in Downtown Colorado.
You can convince Frank to give you the location using several skill checks. As a bonus, you can recruit him as a character in your Ranger HQ. Recruiting him gives you the passive bonus of “Marshal Training”, giving all characters present in your squad +2m Leadership Range. Note that this bonus only applies to those that were present in your squad by the time Frank joined the Rangers.
The Paint Mines will appear on your map after you convince Frank of giving you its location. Head east from Downtown Colorado until you get to the area.
The map itself is small and there are only 2 notable points of interest: the cave itself and the broken down RV west of the map. If you are sufficiently leveled, you can check out the RV to get a unique part of the Exoskeleton Suit. Otherwise, you can talk to the inhabitants of the cave to know the real story about this sidequest. After talking to Wind-That-Tangles, you can choose to spare him. Doing so and heading outside, you will then encounter the women that asked you to look for the Paint Mines.
From here, you get to decide what happens to the 2 parties involved.
| 1. Best Option: Kill Wind-That-Tangles | Gives you a weapon, Nitro Ray vehicle weapon, ammo, and cash |
| 2. Kill Betsy | Unique Flamethrower “Spitfire” |
| 3. Leave the Area | Nothing |
| 4. Let Betsy kill Wind-That-Tangles | Gives you a weapon, ammo, and cash |
| 5. Prevent the bloodbath | Nothing |
Note that all choices have no impact on your reputation.
You choose to follow Betsy and kill Wind-That-Tangles, his dogs, and his wife Nikki. After doing the deed, return to Betsy and the Disappeared Daughters. They will reward you with some cash, a weapon, ammo, and the Nitro-Ray Vehicle Gun part. Killing Wind-That-Tangles before or after Betsy arrives does not change the rewards or the outcome.
This is also the best route if you’re looking for rewards. The outcome does not affect your reputation.
Choosing to protect Wind-That-Tangles leaves you with little rewards. Betsy and her gang drop only junk and some ammo. The only thing noteworthy is the unique flamethrower, “Spitfire”.
Dispatching Betsy and her gang of widowed and orphaned women does not affect your reputation.
You can also opt to not get involved and leave the area once Betsy arrives. Returning to the Paint Mines, you will see that a shootout between Betsy and Wind-That-Tangles occurred inside the cave. The corpses of both parties leave no items to loot. This choice also has no impact on your reputation.
Another choice is to leave Betsy and her gang to do the dirty work. The flow is the same as choice number 3, and the difference is that you must explicitly tell Betsy that you don’t want any part in this. She will reward you for your efforts with cash and some loot but not as much as the 1st choice. Leaving the map and returning to the Paint Mines, you will see the same outcome as that of Choice 3.
You can go with the 3rd option and that is to prevent further bloodshed. After talking to Wind-That-Tangles, you can convince Betsy and her gang to drop their vendetta. However, this route needs Hard-Ass Level 9 to succeed.
Funny thing is this route, while noble, leaves you with nothing. Not even a reputation boost.
You can check out Wasteland 3 on Steam here.
