Short Stories is a side quest in Fallout 4.
Quick walkthrough
| Side quest: Short Stories | |||||||||||||
| Talk to Katy in Vault 81. | |||||||||||||
| Go to the classroom in Vault 81. | |||||||||||||
| Tell the children a story. | |||||||||||||
| Reward: 75 XP Grognak the Barbarian issue #5 | |||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough
Speak to Katy and she will request that the Sole Survivor tell the children a story about the Commonwealth. Wait for the next class to start (around 9AM) if one is not already in session. When the class starts, speak to Katy again and the option to tell a story is available. (If asked, Katy will advise to stay away from overly-violent topics; however, it does not change the quest outcome.)
Instantly, one of the children will ask if the player character has ever fought a deathclaw. Either tell the truth about the deathclaw in Concord, say it was fought it off with three shots from a pistol, or redirect the conversation elsewhere.
At the end of the story, the children will thank the Sole Survivor, and Katy will give the player character a Grognak the Barbarian comic as a form of gratitude.
Quest stages
Notes
- If Hole in the Wall has been started, it is not possible to progress this quest as Katy will stay in her room at all hours and class will not begin at its normal time. Complete the quest first by saving Austin Engill in order to resume this quest.
- If you have not yet completed the quest Vault 81 Tour it may not be possible to progress in this quest as Katy will also stay in her room, and the class will not start. Speak with Austin Engill and stop the tour to complete this quest first.
- The story recounted to the children is the events of When Freedom Calls. If Short Stories is completed prior to traveling to Concord and saving Preston and the settlers, the Sole Survivor will still recount the events of the quest even though they haven't occurred yet. However, one must have gone to Concord prior, or the class won't begin.
- Even if Preston Garvey is the active companion during the retelling of the story, he has neither a reaction to the Sole Survivor's account of the events nor does his affinity change.
Bugs
It is possible that this quest may not trigger even after having completed the Hole in the Wall quest. It is suggested to complete this quest before starting Hole in the Wall.- This quest will become stuck if you have failed the Hole in the Wall quest. [verified]
- On PC, it can be forced to progress by using the console command setstage 1338b9 200.
- This quest will sometimes be stuck if you try to talk to Katy while she is sitting down. Type resetquest 1338b9 followed by setstage 1338b9 100 and you should be able to proceed with the quest. You can also be locked out of the quest, if Katy wants to talk to you by herself to start the quest, but walks away during the conversation. The resetquest / setstage fix mentioned before works perfectly. [verified]
- The first objective to this quest is bugged and will not be marked as complete, even if the quest is successfully finished. This makes the second objective impossible to obtain without console commands. [verified]
- On PC, this can be remedied by opening the console after agreeing to talk to the kids and typing setstage 1338b9 200 to complete the first objective.
- When finishing the quest, it will sometimes pause dialogue when switching from Katy telling the kids to say "Thank you" and when the kids will say thank you. To fix this, move the mouse until you are not in the conversation and rejoin. It might not work at first. [verified]
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