Where is Ava? is a long investigation into Ava's past, the Old Network, and the location of her body. Follow the objective currently shown in your journal: the investigation includes repeat conversations, different doctor introductions, night-only meetings, and password-related branches. A list of all its targets is not a single route that every save completes in the same order.
Preserve a separate save before the final crypt conversation. Players report that finishing this quest ends the game and does not return them to ordinary city management afterward. Beginning the investigation is different from completing that final interaction; you can work through earlier clues while keeping the ending for later.
This guide organizes the known objectives into checkpoints. It does not supply an unverified terminal password, a precise black-box fishing coordinate, or guaranteed consequences for every dialogue choice.
Read Your Journal Before Following a Later Clue
Start with the active objective and the named person or interaction. Several characters appear more than once. Meeting Gan Coilson for the first time is different from returning to ask about his human past, and asking someone about the Old Network is different from completing an unrelated conversation with that character.
The same distinction applies to locked locations. An instruction to locate a terminal does not mean you already have its access code. A cryo chamber mentioned in dialogue is not the same checkpoint as finding it inside Egress. Use the next journal update to confirm what your latest conversation actually accomplished.
Investigate Human Automatas and Ava's Traits
The early investigation includes these targets. Use the wording in your journal to choose the relevant conversation; do not visit every person below merely because they appear in the list.
Swipe horizontally to see all columns.
| Objective target | What the investigation asks you to discuss |
|---|---|
| TheraPay Bot | Possible human Automatas |
| Ceres Coilson | Gan's human past |
| Gan Coilson | His human past, including a later return conversation |
| Sentient vacuum cleaner in Meridian Market | The first meeting with Gan Coilson |
| Ava | The research gathered so far |
| Banor | Ava's human traits |
| Huckstash | The Old Network |
| Gunger | Books and information about Ava's past |
| Alan Fontus | Cryogenics |
| Dr Fred | Ava's pain |
| R M Alken | Ava's pain, with separate known-doctor and first-interview objectives |
Use the named portrait to recognize Ava’s dialogue. This is a curfew conversation, not the investigation’s final choice.
The R M Alken entries are an example of why this should not be treated as a fixed numbered checklist. The investigation has wording for a doctor you already know and wording for interviewing him when you do not. Follow the version presented to your character. Do not assume both introductions must appear before you can continue.
Likewise, a return conversation with Gan presupposes a first meeting. If a reference lists the return before the introduction, that ordering should not send you looking for a nonexistent second version of the character. Resolve your current journal stage, then inspect the update.
Recover Kai Galosh's Blackbox During Curfew
The blackbox stage asks you to fish for Kai Galosh's sunken blackbox during curfew. The night requirement is part of this objective. An ordinary daytime fishing trip is not an equivalent attempt at the same quest action.
The important result is obtaining the required quest object. A normal fish or unrelated piece of junk does not establish that you recovered Ava's blackbox. Keep the object and check the journal before treating the fishing stage as complete.
The available route information does not establish an exact casting point or a guaranteed fishing-rod requirement for this blackbox. Do not reuse a treasure position from Salt Pete's separate Seafaring quest. For the controls themselves, use the fishing guide; here, the specific checks are curfew, Kai's active objective, and the required object.
After that stage, the investigation includes another conversation with Kai about the Old Network. Finding the blackbox and completing the follow-up discussion are different checkpoints.
Investigate the Sewers Book Fair and Other Clues
Another objective directs you to a secret book fair in the Sewers after curfew. Its required result is obtaining the LifeCorp Storage Manifest. Simply reaching the district or speaking to someone at an ordinary daytime market does not satisfy that named item checkpoint.
Additional clue targets include:
- JR Amiga, concerning whether memories written for humans could also involve Automatas.
- Al-Zahiri, concerning the history of the Leech Worm parasite.
- Hepzibah Gimble, concerning what happened to the coma roamers.
- The inhabitants within the LUZ, during the broader clue-gathering stage.
Keep these conversations tied to the investigation's current wording. This guide does not infer a precise location for every inhabitant or a universal order among the clue branches. If your journal still names a missing item, another unrelated conversation does not replace collecting that item.
Find Nabla Through the Night Meetings
When the investigation asks you to hire Nabla, have 1,000 Lims available for that objective. The recorded night-meeting chain then names the following contacts:
Swipe horizontally to see all columns.
| Active meeting | District or condition |
|---|---|
| Steven McFellow | Metro Hub, during curfew |
| Alexander | Skyhigh Gardens, during curfew |
| Rollo | Spire, during curfew; the dialogue condition also lists at least 100 Lims |
| Nabla | Visit during curfew to discuss the findings |
McFellow points you toward Alexander, who points you toward Rollo. Follow the conversations and journal updates instead of assuming that reaching Nabla early replaces the contact stages.
The night conditions matter at each named meeting. Keep the 1,000-Lim hiring amount distinct from Rollo's separate 100-Lim condition; they are not two descriptions of the same payment. The information here does not establish a complete total cost for the entire investigation.
After Nabla's findings, the objectives include confronting Hepzibah about the story. Continue with that named conversation when your journal directs you there.
Request Records and Locate the Old Network Terminal
The records and access stages include Rosetta, an old TheraPay Bot, and cartographer Rosco Foreman. Rosetta's objective concerns records that may reveal the location of Ava's body. Rosco's concerns information about the Old Network. The old bot's dialogue condition lists at least 20 Lims.
The terminal sequence distinguishes two interactions:
- Locate the Terminal directs you to the Old Network interface and its door access.
- Unlock the Terminal requires using the code to enter the terminal room and interacting with the terminal.
Between these stages, the journal may name Ceres or Gan Coilson as a potential source of help with password protection. These entries do not establish that a guessed password works in every save. Obtain the clue from the conversation your investigation presents; this guide deliberately does not publish an unconfirmed code.
Find Ava's Cryo Chamber in Egress
The next major location checkpoint is the cryo chamber inside Egress, where Ava's body is supposed to be. Finding the chamber is separate from unlocking the final crypt and speaking to Ava about her future.
The investigation also includes conversations connected to a secret-room code and Thaddeus's birthday gathering. The named contacts are Banor, Huckstash, Alan Fontus, and Gunger Hahn. Each entry concerns help with the code. The available information does not establish that every player must complete all four conversations or that all answers produce the same result.
Follow the contact named by your active objective. If a room remains locked, check whether you are at the code-gathering stage or the final interaction stage before concluding the whole quest has failed. Do not confuse this birthday-related clue with the separate retirement tasks associated with other characters.
Preserve City Progress Before the Ending
The final objective, The End?, asks you to unlock Ava's crypt and give her a choice about her future. This is the point to preserve a separate save if you still want to continue expanding businesses or finishing other city activities.
A player who completed the quest reported that the game ended and advised keeping a save from before completion. That report supports a precaution; it does not establish every ending branch or guarantee a post-ending free-roam option. Keep the earlier save separate from the slot you use for the final conversation.
You can start the long investigation without treating its first objective as the ending. The useful distinction is between gathering clues over time and committing to the final crypt interaction. When the latter appears, decide whether you have finished the other activities you want to keep available in that save.