In Sheep's Clothing is a side quest in Fallout 4.
Quick walkthrough
| Side quest: In Sheep's Clothing | |||||||||||||
| Talk to Danny. | |||||||||||||
| (Optional) Heal Danny with a stimpak, or fetch a doctor to heal him, or ask Curie to heal him. | |||||||||||||
| Go to Mayor McDonough's office. | |||||||||||||
| Press the button under Geneva's desk. | |||||||||||||
| Talk to Mayor McDonough. | |||||||||||||
| Convince McDonough to free Geneva. | |||||||||||||
| Kill McDonough | Let McDonough leave. | ||||||||||||
| Reward: 150 XP | |||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough
This quest begins when the Sole Survivor travels to Diamond City after they have completed Political Leanings and have been banished from the Institute, or if this condition is not met, after completing The Nuclear Option and finishing the main storyline.
Gatekeeper Danny Sullivan will be seen dying in front of the walkway leading to Mayor McDonough's office. He will explain that he was shot twice in the stomach by McDonough before falling off the elevator when he saw the mayor conversing with a synth from the Institute. Upon reaching the office's front doors, Piper or a security guard will be seen attempting to gain entry to apprehend him.
- Chase McDonough to his office. (Optional) Talk to a doctor and bring them to tend to Danny's wounds. One can also choose to use a stimpak to heal him. If Curie is the current companion, she can be asked to take care of him, which she will be happy to do.
- Break into McDonough's office and confront him with Piper. One can either choose to lockpick the door, which is a Novice lock, or use a button located underneath the secretary's desk. If using power armor with the jetpack mod, one can also enter through the window. Piper, Nick and Danse will dislike picking the lock because the door is marked as owned, making lockpicking count as trespassing.
- Decide how to deal with McDonough. Passing a medium difficulty speech check will convince him to release his hostage. He will then request that the Sole Survivor allow him to safely leave the city, giving them three options: comply with McDonough's request to leave, kill McDonough or sentence him to stand trial, which results in McDonough making a last stand.
Quest stages
Notes
- Ending the game by siding with the Institute causes the quest to become unavailable.
- After the mayor's death/exile, his secretary, Geneva will become the acting mayor of Diamond City.
- If Geneva was killed after the Sole Survivor decided to kill McDonough, there will be no acting mayor of Diamond City and the Survivor will not be able to gain the Home Plate as their home, if they haven't already acquired it.
- If the Sole Survivor demands that he stands trial, Piper will love their attempt to bring him to justice. The player character can further their relationship with her by convincing him to let Geneva go, but also deter it beforehand if the door was picked instead of using the button.
- If Piper is with the Sole Survivor as a companion then a Diamond City security guard will replace her at the door of the mayor's office.
- Danny Sullivan can be found and talked to behind the counter, near the elevator to McDonough's office at the main entrance of Diamond City, should the player character choose to enter Diamond City from the outside instead of fast traveling to the market. Upon entering the market area, Danny will be inside and is already wounded.
- Pacifying McDonough with the Intimidation perk doesn't make Piper stop attacking him.
- If John Hancock is with the player character, he will express regret over his animosity towards his brother.
- Companion reactions to this quest:
- Deacon, Danse, Hancock and Strong like it if Danny is given a stimpak.
- Nick Valentine and Preston Garvey love it if Danny is given a stimpak.
- Cait and X6-88 dislike the player character giving Danny a stimpak to survive.
- Piper and Strong dislike it if the sarcastic option is chosen when first speaking with McDonough.
- Deacon, Codsworth and Hancock like it if Geneva is released.
- MacCready and Danse dislike letting the hostage go.
- Curie, Codsworth and Preston Garvey like it if the mayor is told to stand trial.
- Piper and Nick love it if the mayor is told to stand trial.
- MacCready, Cait, Danse, Deacon and Strong dislike making the mayor stand trial.
- Deacon likes it if the attack option is chosen and the Sole Survivor kills the mayor, while Piper dislikes it.
- Danse loves it if the attack option is chosen and the Sole Survivor kills the mayor.
- Porter Gage dislikes choosing the trial option or letting the mayor go.
- If the Sole Survivor puts themself between Piper (or the security guard if Piper is the companion) and the door while they are trying to bust it open, the Survivor will be pushed through the door.
- A terminal entry in the Synth Retention Bureau shows that Alana Secord had decided to disavow Mayor McDonough as a result of Piper's article The Synthetic Truth, which identifies Mayor McDonough as a synth. The synth Danny spotted with Mayor McDonough was likely telling the mayor that he was being cut loose.
- After completing In Sheep's Clothing, residents will occasionally give the Sole Survivor caps, chems, or rarely ammunition.
- If Piper was stationed at a settlement, she will disappear and not return until this quest is complete.
Bugs
A bug may occur where Piper and McDonough start shooting at each other after you open the door. The mayor cannot be talked to in this case. A workaround on the PC version is possible if you open up the console and temporarily disable Piper. The mayor can then either be reasoned with or killed, and Piper can be re-enabled after the Mayor is gone or dead. Simply disabling combat or general AI will not work.[verified]- Geneva may become hostile during or after dialogue, or when Piper, the player character, or their companion attacks and this triggers McDonough to become hostile as well.[verified]
- If the player character refuses to allow McDonough to exit the city by either option (kill or trial), he may instigate combat with Piper, but not the player character. If this happens and the player character engages/kills the Mayor, the other NPCs (including Piper and Geneva) will become hostile.[verified]
- For the above situation, in the late portion of the fight Geneva runs down a hallway. Piper has some scripted dialogue after McDonough dies, if the player talks to her. If you put yourself between Piper and the hallway and shut the doors, and spam talking to Piper, it's possible for the aggro to pass.
- There is a chance for the dialogue to randomly bug and have Mayor McDonough and Geneva speak normally, despite the hostage situation. [verified]
- McDonough may be hostile before entering his office. The mayor cannot be talked to if this happens.[verified]
- If Piper is being used as a supply line, she may spawn with a pack brahmin and attempt to shoot McDonough through the wall. If this happens, you may not be able to talk to the mayor.[verified]
- Compass pip may show that you must enter The Fens and use the outside elevator to continue the quest after talking to Danny. If you do this, you will be stuck in the elevator without the ability to exit it. Using the elevator within the stadium continues the quest normally.[verified]
- If McDonough shoots Geneva during the fight, she will become hostile to everyone. This causes Piper or any other NPC to kill her, worsening the player character's relationship with Piper and occasionally turning her hostile towards them.[verified]
- You can stand just to the right of Piper so that Geneva doesn't not end up on the side of the entrance and get shot by McDonough.
- On PC you can also fix this bug by opening the console typing ResetAI 00002f0b.
- There is a chance Piper will immediately become hostile and attack you when she stops banging on the door.
- The quest may not "officially" start upon talking to Danny. Almost everything plays out as it should, but the quest neither shows up on the screen nor in the quest log. When opening the door to McDonough's office, Geneva will be found standing next to him instead of kneeling, though the results of any dialogue choices or actions undertaken remain the same regardless. Experience, material rewards as well as special dialogue with Piper will be dispensed as usual. It is possibly that this bug is related to Bobbi No-Nose's presence in the market due to the quest The Big Dig. [verified]
