You’re wandering through the sludge-filled alleys of Goodneighbor, past the Third Rail and the neon-soaked dread of the Common, and you see her. A ghoul peering through a slot in a metal door. She’s got a job, she says. Big caps. Low risk. Total lie. Honestly, Fallout 4 The Big Dig is one of those quests that starts as a simple "go here, kill that" and ends with you questioning every choice you've made in the Commonwealth.
Most players jump into this because they want to unlock John Hancock as a companion. He’s arguably one of the best-written characters in the game, but getting him into your party requires dealing with the headache that is Bobbi No-Nose.
The Setup: Bobbi’s Big Lie
Bobbi tells you she’s digging into the Diamond City Mayor’s strongroom. She claims it's revenge for ghouls being kicked out of the city. Sounds noble enough for the wasteland, right? Wrong.
The first step involves clearing out some Mirelurks in her basement. It’s a standard bug hunt until you realize she needs a specialist. This takes you to Diamond City to bust a guy named Mel out of jail. Mel has a modified Protectron named Sonya that can "tune" into the frequency of soft dirt to blast through walls. This is where the quest gets... touchy.
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Why Everyone Gets Stuck in the Tunnels
If you’ve played this quest, you know the frustration. Sonya is a pathfinding nightmare.
I’ve spent hours—literally hours—watching that robot float in circles while Bobbi just stares at a brick wall. Basically, the quest relies on scripted triggers that break if you move too fast or if you’re wearing certain Power Armor mods. If Sonya stops moving, try these fixes:
- Shoot Mel. Seriously. Just punch him or blast him once. It reset his AI sometimes and forces the dialogue to restart.
- The Sleep Hack. Find that sleeping bag in the tunnels. Sleep for one hour. When you wake up, the game usually "relocates" the NPCs to where they should be.
- Console Commands. If you're on PC, open the console and type
prid 0011fc2efollowed bymoveto player. This drags Sonya’s floating carcass right to your feet.
The Secret X-01 Power Armor
Most people rush through the tunnels to get to the loot at the end, but they miss the real prize. There is a "fragile" wall in the first large cavern area (the one with the fusion core on the ledge).
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If you have Sonya blast the wall that isn't part of the main objective path, you'll find a small chamber. Inside? A set of Power Armor. If you’re over level 28, this has a high chance of being X-01. You have to fight a couple of Legendary Glowing Mirelurks to get it, but it’s the best loot in the entire questline. Better than the caps. Better than the minigun.
The Face-Off: Fahrenheit or Bobbi?
When you finally reach the "strongroom," you realize Bobbi wasn't digging into Diamond City at all. You’ve tunneled into the NH&M Freight Depot—Hancock’s personal storehouse.
Hancock’s bodyguard, Fahrenheit, is waiting for you with a squad of Triggermen. You have a choice here, and it’s the one that defines your relationship with Goodneighbor.
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Choice A: Side with Bobbi
You kill Fahrenheit and the guards. Bobbi pays you a measly 200-400 caps. That’s it. No cool weapon, no friendship with the mayor. Oh, and you still have to go find Bobbi later at Hawthorne Estate because Hancock will send you to kill her anyway for stealing from him. It's the "bad" ending in every sense.
Choice B: Side with Fahrenheit
You can either kill Bobbi on the spot or use a Charisma check to convince her to run away. If you do this, Fahrenheit gives you the Ashmaker, a unique minigun that deals +15 fire damage per shot. Plus, Hancock is so impressed by your loyalty that he decides he’s bored of being mayor and joins you as a companion.
Actionable Tips for the Best Outcome
If you want to walk away from Fallout 4 The Big Dig with the most possible rewards, do this:
- Bring a Charisma-boosting outfit. You’ll need it to talk Bobbi down if you don't want to turn the room into a bloodbath.
- Loot Fahrenheit's body if you do decide to kill her. She carries the Ashmaker regardless, so you can technically get the weapon and side with Bobbi, but you'll have a much harder time getting Hancock to like you later.
- Check the walls. Don't let Mel tell you where to go. Point Sonya at every weird-looking patch of dirt you see.
- Go Alone. Companions like Piper and Nick hate it if you side with Bobbi. If you’re planning on being a jerk for the caps, leave them at home so you don't lose affinity.
The real "reward" of The Big Dig isn't the treasure—it’s the fact that you finally get to leave those buggy tunnels and never look back.
Next Steps: After you finish the quest and talk to Hancock on his balcony, head over to Hawthorne Estate if you let Bobbi live. You can find some decent scrap there, and it's one of the few places in the Commonwealth that feels genuinely tucked away from the main chaos.