Getting a Clue is a main story quest in Fallout 4.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Main quest: Getting a Clue | |||||||||||||
| Tell Nick Valentine the story. | |||||||||||||
| Follow Nick to Kellogg's house. | |||||||||||||
| Find a way to open the door. | |||||||||||||
| Open the secret room inside the house. | |||||||||||||
| Search for clues. | |||||||||||||
| Meet Nick outside. | |||||||||||||
| Show the cigar to Dogmeat. | |||||||||||||
| Reward: 200+ XP Nick Valentine as a companion | |||||||||||||
| Leads to: Reunions Far From Home  | |||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
At Valentine Detective Agency, Nick Valentine will question the Sole Survivor about their missing son. The conversation eventually leads to Nick suspecting a certain notorious mercenary named Conrad Kellogg as the kidnapper. Kellogg was recently seen living in Diamond City with a young boy, but has since disappeared. To confirm his suspicions and search for clues, Nick suggests investigating Kellogg's house. The door is locked with a Master lock, but the door can either be picked by the player (if they have unlocked the third rank of the Locksmith perk) or a companion, such as Cait or an automatron with a lockpick module installed. Alternatively, the door can be unlocked with a copy of Kellogg's house key.
There are six ways to obtain a copy of the key:
- Persuade Geneva, the mayor's secretary (only possible with less than Locksmith rank 3; medium Charisma check, hard Charisma check, or bribe of 250 caps)
- Persuade Mayor McDonough (only possible with less than Locksmith rank 3; medium Charisma check)
- Pickpocket McDonough
- Steal from Geneva's desk (Novice lock)
- Steal from McDonough's safe (Advanced lock, or unlock with Novice terminal)
- Give chems to Mama Murphy (unlocks an option to search the stadium chairs beneath Kellogg's house, which instantly yields a copy of the key)
Once inside, pressing the button underneath the desk reveals Kellogg's secret room behind a wall, which Nick suggests searching for clues. After the Sole Survivor picks up the San Francisco Sunlights, the duo decide to use Dogmeat to track Kellogg's scent from the cigar. Nick becomes available as a companion and offers to accompany the Sole Survivor on this mission. Interacting with Dogmeat to give him the scent completes this quest and starts Reunions.
Quest stages[]
Companion reactions[]
Nick Valentine, Paladin Danse, X6-88, and Old Longfellow have affinity reactions during this quest despite not being available as companions at this point.
Notes[]
- If Piper is not an active companion, she will be encountered arguing with Geneva. The player can pass an easy Charisma check to find out what she is up to. If she is an active companion, Mayor McDonough will refuse to speak until Piper is dismissed or commanded to wait in the reception area.
- Dialogue for persuasion with Geneva or Mayor McDonough will only be available if the player does not have rank 3 of Locksmith. If the player can already pick Master locks, the dialogue for persuasion will no longer be available.
- If the player has rank 3 of Locksmith, the persuasion dialogues with Geneva and/or McDonough can still be made available by failing to open the Master lock a couple of times. When exiting the lockpicking screen without opening the lock, Valentine will suggest to find the key and go to the mayor's office.
- If the player fails all persuasion attempts, they can bribe Geneva, pickpocket McDonough, or wait until everyone goes to bed and pick either the Novice lock on Geneva's desk or the Advanced lock on the safe in the mayor's office.
- If successfully persuaded, McDonough will hand the key directly (thus locking the player out of persuasion attempts with Geneva), whereas Geneva will simply leave the key on her desk, allowing one to persuade McDonough for his key and pick up her key afterward.
- The option to search the stadium chairs will not appear unless Mama Murphy has the prerequisite vision. The option to search will remain even if a different copy of the key is obtained after the vision.
- The keys yielded via persuasion are independent of the ones held in the drawer, safe, and on McDonough's person. They will remain where they are if either (or both) of these keys are obtained. When one obtains any copy of the key (or picks the Master lock on Kellogg's house), one will be locked out of all remaining persuasion attempts, and Mama Murphy will not provide the vision to search the stadium chairs.
- Therefore, one can get all six copies of the key, by receiving Mama Murphy's vision but waiting to search the chairs until after persuading Geneva, then persuading McDonough, collecting the copy on Geneva's desk, stealing and pickpocketing the other three and finally searching the stadium chairs.
- The dialogue option to propose using Dogmeat will make the Sole Survivor mention his name even if they had not learned it yet (for example, if Out of Time was skipped or was completed while Dogmeat was not a companion).
- If the player does not have Dogmeat as a companion, he will wait outside Kellogg's house upon exiting, saving the trouble of actually having to "fetch him" as Nick requests.
- If Dogmeat has not yet been encountered, by avoiding the Red Rocket truck stop earlier in the main questline, Nick will call him with a high-pitch frequency whistle and introduce him here, apparently having worked with him in the past.
- If Hancock is an active companion, after passing McDonough's Charisma check, he will tell the player that McDonough did not even recognize him.
Bugs[]
If the office is exited through the second floor door or the player fast-travels as soon as they leave the agency, Nick will only say "Kellogg's house is this way" and will not move.[verified]
- Entering the office again and exiting through the main door, or walking towards the main door will fix this.
- Completing the quest does not trigger Reunions.[verified]
- Nick Valentine may sit down in the wrong chair, and will not allow the game to proceed. Using the SQS command shows that the quest has been stopped, preventing you from starting or completing any other main quests.[verified]
- Exiting the game and restarting may fix this.
