The Big Dig is a side quest that can be picked up in Goodneighbor during your travels in Fallout 4. It’s a quest that has an impact on a particular companion and could potentially lead to it being impossible to recruit them.
We’re going to be walking you through The Big Dig in Fallout 4 so you can make the decision that suits you best when you need to pick a side.
The Big Dig Fallout 4 quest guide
Find Bobbi No-Nose in the back alleys of Goodneigbor
To begin the quest, head to the town of Goodneighbor. When you enter the town, keep walking straight until you reach an alleyway on your right. Hanging lights are decorating the alley, so it’s hard to miss.
Continue down the alley, and you’ll come to a door with a slot on the front. Approach the door and the slot will open, revealing a Ghoul named Bobbi No-Nose. She will ask if you’re looking for a job opportunity. Question her further, or agree immediately to begin the quest.
Bobbi will let you into her home when you have accepted the job. She’ll explain the job revolves around digging underground and will direct you to the dig site. You don’t have to go far, so just follow the marker on your Pip-Boy to get there.
Kill the Mirelurks
A few workers will be at the dig site already, but they’ll abandon the job once they realize that the area is infested with Mirelurks. Kill the Mirelurks and speak to Bobbi. She will tell you to meet her in Diamond City to discuss more.
Go to the Noodle Shop in Diamond City
Bobbi is sitting at the Noodle Shop in the middle of the main Diamond City square. She will tell you that the job entails breaking into the Diamond City strongroom. She’ll also say that her tech guy, Mel, is imprisoned in the Security Office and she needs you to bust him out. Follow the mission marker to find the Security Office.
Free Mel
You will see Mel behind bars once you’re in the Security Office. You can talk to him and tell him that you plan on getting him out, but there are a few ways that you can go about doing so. If you speak to Mel, he mentions an old Protrectron unit that can be hacked.
If you want to go the violent route, head into the back and hack the terminal and the Protectron will start a fight with the guards (and you, so be careful). You need to be able to hack advanced terminals to do this. You can also opt to kill the guards in the office, though this could result in hostility from Diamond City and your companions. Lockpicking the cell is also an option (it’s an advanced-level lock), but if anyone spots you, you’ll be in trouble. If you have a spare Stealth Boy, use it while you pick the lock.
For pacifist players, there are easier ways to go about getting Mel out of jail. The simplest way is to wait for a day and then Mel will be let out, as he only needs to serve a day behind bars. You can also bribe, threaten, or convince one of the guards to let him go early. It’ll cost 300 caps if you want to bribe him, and the guards won’t get hostile if your attempt to threaten them fails. If you succeed in the medium-to-hard level Charisma check, the guard will let him go for free with no consequence. The guard you need to speak to is wandering around closest to Mel.
Once Mel is free, talk to him outside, and you’ll be tasked with meeting him and Bobbi back at the Dig Site in Goodneighbor.
Travel underground with the crew
When you get back to the Dig Site, Mel and Bobbi will be waiting, along with an eyebot named Sonya Mel has designed to take down weak walls. You’ll start making your way through the underground, but be wary—there are plenty of Mirelurks around. There is a wall you can blast through that leads to a dead end, but there’s a Mirelurk King in there that will use sonic waves that can deplete your health quickly. There are also some Power Armor parts and ammo, so it’s not a complete waste of time if you do go that way.
The walls that Sonya can destroy have a distinct look to them, as you can see from the image above. When you find a wall you want her to blast through, interact with it and Mel will get Sonya to do her thing.
You’ll make your way through a Ghoul-infested subway station at one point as well, so make sure that you have plenty of Rad-X and Rad-Away along with decent weapons and a lot of ammo so that the trip is as stress-free as possible.
You’ll eventually get to the strongroom, but it becomes clear that Bobbi hasn’t been honest with you. This is where the major decision comes into play.
Should you betray Bobbi or kill Fahrenheit in Fallout 4? All rewards and consequences
It turns out Bobbi has been trying to rob Hancock, the Ghoul leader of Goodneighbor. Hancock’s bodyguard Fahrenheit is waiting in the store room, and you have the choice to walk away or kill Fahrenheit and rob Hancock. Depending on player decisions and whether they have done certain quests, Hancock can be a friend at this point, making it all the more difficult to decide.
The best choice to make here is to either betray Bobbi or talk her out of finishing the job, as this will get you on Hancock’s good side, and you’ll be able to immediately recruit him as a companion. You can recruit him even if you kill Fahrenheit, but you’ll need to complete another mission—which involves killing Bobbi—after The Big Dig to do so. However, if you don’t complete that follow-up mission, you won’t be able to recruit Hancock as a companion.
You get the Ashmaker Mini Gun as a reward from Fahrenheit if you kill or convince Bobbi to leave, but you can also get this weapon if you kill Fahrenheit, as you can loot it from her body. You’ll get 300 caps from Bobbi as a reward if you don’t betray her. You get slightly less as a reward from Hancock (203 caps), but having Hancock on your side as a companion outweighs having Bobbi.
