Brain Dead is a murder-mystery side quest in the Fallout 4 add-on Far Harbor.
Quick walkthrough
| Far Harbor side quest: Brain Dead | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Meet with Pearl around Far Harbor. Accept the job. | Travel to Cliff's Edge Hotel. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| (Optional) Ask for money. | Discover the entrance to Vault 118. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 25/70 pre-War money. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Meet Pearl at the hotel. Follow her to the entrance of Vault 118. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Talk to Maxwell. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Investigate the crime scene for clues. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Discuss the findings with Maxwell. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Investigate the robots of the vault. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Confront Santiago Avida. | Search the Overseer's office. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Defeat Santiago. | Confront Julianna Riggs. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Report to Maxwell. | (Optional) Ask for a bribe. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: ~500 XP 200/300 pre-War money from Maxwell | Reward: 200 pre-War money | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Accept to let Ezra flee. | Refuse to let Ezra flee. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Let Ezra run out of Vault 118. | Betray Ezra to Maxwell. | Defeat Ezra. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Defeat Ezra. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Report to Maxwell. | Report to Maxwell. | Report to Maxwell. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 400 XP + 300 XP 400/500 pre-War money from Maxwell | Reward: 400 XP + 300 XP 500 pre-War money on Ezra 400/500 pre-War money from Maxwell | Reward: 400 XP + 300 XP 500 pre-War money on Ezra 400/500 pre-War money from Maxwell | |||||||||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough
While roaming around Far Harbor, the Sole Survivor will be approached by a Miss Nanny named Pearl. She will then ask them if they're part of law enforcement, mentioning that there's been a terrible murder. Upon confirming, she will then ask for them to follow her as the murder has taken place at Cliff's Edge Hotel.
Upon reaching the location she will mention that the residents have been rowdy and that she's had to get physical with some of them as they were getting too "handsy." She will then tell the Sole Survivor how the elevator is not working and thus they must take the long way around. During this time she will lead them up through the hotel and back to an elevator only to be used by the special guests. Through this path they will stumble upon several different feral ghouls.
Once out of the elevator, the Sole Survivor will be prompted to speak to a Mister Handy named Maxwell through an intercom which is revealed to be vault door controls. Once done speaking they will be ushered in and escorted to the crime scene. The victim of the murder is presented as Ezra Parker, the owner of the hotel. Upon investigation of the crime scene, a bat, red paint to represent blood and the broken brain incubator will be discovered.
The Sole Survivor will then be asked by Maxwell to investigate the fellow robobrains living in the vault. The main characters that will be focused on are Julianna, Santiago and Keith, although one will eventually speak with everyone.
Questioning Juliana is rather fruitless, although talking to her husband reveals that he was a lead designer on the robobrain project, and also the one who convinced everyone to put their brains into the robot bodies. If one keeps talking to him about his research, they can eventually learn about the voice modulators which allow them to recreate their original voices.
Entering the McKinney residence will catch the couple apparently discussing the murder and a plan to run away, but it turns out they're just rehearsing lines from a script. Afterwards, Gilda will leave for the beach. Questioning Keith about the bat found at the murder scene will lead him to claim he's being framed, probably by the artist Santiago.
Speaking with Santiago gives the player character some speech checks in which they can convince him they're a fellow art lover. He will reveal that Julianna and Ezra had some huge argument in the overseer's office, but he does not know what it was about since he was trying to ignore the commotion. He will refer the player character to Gilda, the local gossip.
Gilda can be found on the vault's artificial beach behind the showers. Agree to hear one of her stories, and she'll be willing to tell the player character what Julianna and Ezra were arguing about. Apparently it was something regarding finances, and Julianna found something in the overseer's office that set her off. The argument started when Julianna accused Ezra of something, but Gilda isn't sure what.
After learning this, one will then have the objective to investigate the overseer's office, only to find it's locked. Speaking to Maxwell reveals that Ezra Parker had the key, which one can find on a desk in his room. There's not much to see in the office, but using the terminal and listening to the holotape will reveal that Ezra was embezzling funds from the vault construction fund, which is the reason the lower-class wing wasn't finished in time.
Talking with Bert, Julianna's husband, a speech check will be reveal that she's been acting very different - so much so that Bert is convinced that's not his wife. When confronted, Julianna will reveal that she is actually Ezra. Apparently Julianna discovered that Ezra had embezzled the money she gave him, and threatened to tell the others. On impulse, Ezra killed her, then moved the body downstairs, set up the crime scene and modified his voice modulator to impersonate her.
The Sole Survivor will then be given the decision to either take a bribe or continue on with the accusation which will result in a fight between Ezra and them. If the Survivor takes the bribe they can turn around and continue with the accusation, if they don't (the "let him go" option) they will then begin Brain Dead Part 2.
Once beginning Brain Dead Part 2 the Sole Survivor will be given two choices: return to Maxwell immediately and tell him about Ezra, causing the robots to attack the murderer, or wait for Ezra to leave the vault. Once he's gone, return to Maxwell and tell him Ezra is the killer. At that point, the Sole Survivor can then tell Maxwell one of three lies: Ezra got away, they killed him, or it's over. No matter which choice they make, Maxwell will pay the player character for their work.
Quest stages
Brain Dead
Brain Dead, Part 2
Notes
- Old Longfellow and Cait like taking the bribe from Ezra.
- Nick Valentine hates taking the bribe from Ezra.
- Piper, being the investigative journalist that she is, will garner a fair amount of approval during the investigation. Like Nick Valentine, she also strongly disapproves of taking Ezra's bribe.
- Despite usually being opposed to stealing, Piper may quip that the hotel's rich inhabitants arguably would not miss some of their "nifty tech" while exploring the vault.
- It is possible to start the quest without meeting Pearl. The Sole Survivor will need to explore the ruins of the hotel and try to open the vault door.
- The quest can be ended really quick by insisting on accusing Keith as the murderer, causing him to become hostile. After killing him, all the investigation tasks will be finished and the Sole Survivor will have to do the final talk with Maxwell. This prevents the player character from starting Part 2 and identifying the true killer.
- One doesn't actually need to accuse him of murder, just ask more about himself a second time around, selecting questions about motive (but not the Charisma check assuming one has the letter). He will act as though the player character accused him and turn hostile (Curie likes it when he is killed).
- Strong Dislikes it each time the player character flirts with Gilda Broscoe, and hates the Lover's Date option that lets the player character get the Lover's Embrace Perk with her.
Behind the scenes
 | The following is based on unverified behind the scenes information and may be inaccurate. |
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In July of 2016, the mod author of a Fallout New Vegas mod called Autumn Leaves claimed that a lot of the quest Brain Dead was copied from his mod as both share a lot of similarity. Both are murder mysteries, both take place in a vault that is ran by robots and both share similar interior design.
| End of information based on unverified behind the scenes information |
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Bugs
Killing Ezra too quickly after the final conversation and refusing to let him go may start the quest Brain Dead Part 2 after he is already dead. In that case the player isn't able to finish the second part of the quest and the quest marker will remain over Ezra's remains. To avoid this one should wait until the second part starts before finishing him. [verified]- It is possible for Pearl to become stuck at the elevators, without saying the line about them being out of order. Reloading or activating the elevator in the basement will fix the issue. [verified]
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