A Brain's Best Friend is a side quest in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Old World Blues.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Side Quest: A Brain's Best Friend | |||||
| Try to find a trace of Gabe in Higgs Village. | |||||
| Find Gabe's bowl behind Dr. Borous' former house. | |||||
| Kill Gabe in the X-8 research center. | |||||
| Return to Dr. Borous. | |||||
| Reward: Variable XP | |||||
| Leads to: X-8: High School Horror! | |||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
To begin the quest, enter The Think Tank and initiate dialogue with Dr. Borous. Following all speech paths, Dr. Borous will mention his pet dog, Gabe, and the experiments inflicted upon Gabe. After this talk with the doctor, head over to Higgs Village, which is in the south of Big MT. When the Courier first enters, the objective is the house to the left on the far corner; House #103. Behind the house is a doghouse with the letters "GABE" spelled out below it on a mat. Gabe's bowl is also on the mat, which the Courier must take.
 | The following is based on the Wild Wasteland trait. |
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With the Wild Wasteland trait, a unique miniature deathclaw named Stripe will be inside the doghouse. His name will be shown on the doghouse, and the letters from Gabe's name will be scattered on the ground. Stripe has the melee damage and health of a full sized deathclaw alpha male. He will only pursue the Courier to just near the fountain, then run back behind the house. Stripe will also appear after this quest has been completed if the Wild Wasteland trait is acquired through Sink Auto-Doc after retrieving Gabe's bowl. Additionally, a "chicken leg" will appear at the door of the doghouse.
| End of information based on the Wild Wasteland trait |
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The Courier should then proceed to the X-8 research center and go through the main quest line for this area, X-8: High School Horror!, until they reach the Residential Test Facility portion of the quest. After activating the Residential test, the Courier will encounter a simulation of a house with a garden, and a unique cyberdog named Gabe will be patrolling the area. The digging areas must be searched, which will have quest markers pointing to them, until an audio sample called "Gabriel's bark" is found. Dr. Borous will be grateful if Gabe is not killed, although utilizing proper dialogue when speaking to Dr. Borous will result in positive responses even if he is killed. Once the Courier finds the audio tape, some robo-scorpions will appear and proceed to attack Gabe. It is possible to save him, but the player must act quickly. Even if Gabe is saved from the robo-scorpions, he will still remain hostile.
When the Courier returns to Dr. Borous and gives him the dog bowl, he will reminisce about his dog and thank the Courier for killing Gabe, as he believes it saved him the trouble. If Gabe is kept alive, Dr. Borous will thank the Courier for sparing him. For Dr. Borous to feel remorse for the horrid experimentation he did on Gabe, a Speech check of 45 must be passed or a dialogue option granted by the Animal Friend perk.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- Gabe's corpse explodes about 10 seconds after his death (the actual time is longer than 10 seconds, due to dialogue). However, his corpse can still be looted after the explosion.
- This quest can be started before talking to Dr. Borous by picking up Gabe's bowl while in Higgs Village.
- If the Courier suggests to Dr. Klein that he consult his colleagues when confronting the Think Tank near the end of the add-on's main quest line, completing this quest and causing Dr. Borous to feel guilty over Gabe will incline him to vouch for them.
- If Dr. Borous was caused to feel guilty over the treatment of Gabe, the Courier may return, each 24 hours thereafter, to ask Dr. Borous about torturing creatures, Dr. Borous will insist it is "research" and give the Courier assorted items dropped from dead cazadores and night stalkers.
- This is one of the quests that can help peacefully end the quest Old World Blues and keep the think tanks alive.
 | The following is based on Fallout: New Vegas cut content. |
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- The game code contains dialogue suggesting this quest could end positively or negatively depending on whether Gabe dies or not (Borous will give the Courier animal eggs instead of dissected parts, and his dialogue when taking the Courier's side is noble and kind), but this appears to be bugged or dummied out.
| End of information based on Fallout: New Vegas cut content |
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- The quest reward from Borous becomes eggs instead of blood if the Courier speaks of Gabe as a mere test subject; this will cause Borous to feel guilty and change his ways. Upon speaking to him every 24 hours thereafter, he will have gained a much "cheerier" personality and will present the Courier with the eggs. Borous will also have different dialogue during the finale. The Courier will need the Animal Friend perk to get him to talk negatively of Gabe.
Behind the scenes[]
The quest name comes from the common phrase, "A dog is man's best friend."
Gallery[]
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