Ablutions is a side quest in the Fallout 4 add-on Far Harbor.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Far Harbor side quest: Ablutions | |||||||||||||
| Speak to Mai. | |||||||||||||
| Travel to the Vim! Pop factory. | |||||||||||||
| Recover the pump regulator. | |||||||||||||
| Return to Mai. | |||||||||||||
| Negotiate a reward. | |||||||||||||
| Reward: Radical Conversion | Reward: 150/250/350 caps Radical Conversion | ||||||||||||
| Install the regulator. | (INT 7+) Repair the decontamination system. | ||||||||||||
| Test the decontamination system. | |||||||||||||
| Reward: 350+ XP | |||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
For this quest, Sister Mai, at the Nucleus asks the Sole Survivor to acquire a pump regulator to repair the decontamination arches near the entrance. Her directions lead to the Vim! Pop factory which is inhabited by a large number of super mutants and their hounds. The regulator can be found in the Vim factory floor area with the two large mixing vats. Take the catwalk to the highest level and walk through the elevated office areas until reaching the eastern side of the room. The regulator is next to an ammo box on a desk.
Upon returning to Mai, questioning her about her "repairs" reveals that she is actually attempting to circumvent the decontamination arches' filter systems in order to have them irradiate instead of decontaminating everyone passing through. She then leaves the honor of installing the pump regulator to the Sole Survivor. At this point, a series of three Charisma checks can be attempted to convince Mai to give an additional reward of 150, 250, or 350 bottlecaps. Regardless of whether or not these checks are successful, Mai will also reward the Sole Survivor with Radical Conversion, a unique radium rifle.
Installing the pump regulator requires reaching the mechanism at the bottom of the submarine dock. This involves trudging through the dock's heavily irradiated water, so suitable preparation is recommended. With an Intelligence of 7 or higher, the Sole Survivor can opt to reverse Mai's alterations to the system before installing the new regulator, thus making the arches actually decontaminate as they were meant to do. The quest will complete as soon as the decontamination arch is tested, no matter whether Mai's changes were kept or not.
Quest stages[]
Companion reactions[]
- Install the Regulator
- Test the Decontamination System
Notes[]
- If the quest was completed by reversing Sister Mai's alterations she will later thank the Sole Survivor for the work on the decontamination arches, commenting "... even if [it] does refuse to spit rads. Save folks from scouring, I guess." She will have a similar greeting for if the quest was completed without reversing her changes. She will only say either greeting once.
- After activating the decontamination arches and leaving and coming to the Nucleus, there will be dynamic conversations mentioning the arches.
- Since both involve going to the same location, this side quest can be piggybacked with The Way Life Should Be. As such, to save a trip it may be worth waiting until the quest Best Left Forgotten progresses to the point where the Sole Survivor is assigned to go to the factory (which triggers "Way Life Should Be").
Bugs[]
After completing the quest, then leaving and re-entering the Nucleus, the decontamination arches will only spray mist, and not affect the player character's rads in any way, regardless of whether or not they chose to reverse the alterations.[verified]
- If one takes the note on top of the decontamination console before exiting the Nucleus, it can prevent this bug. [false: It's just luck. Make a save before talking to Mai and repeat the ending of the quest until you'll get the decontamination arches to work. It took me 4x repeats.]
- The bug may also prevent the arches from working even they are tested to end the quest.
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