“I always knew it would end this way! I never should have allowed you to lock up Lorenzo in that place!”— Wilhelmina Cabot
The Secret of Cabot House is a side quest in Fallout 4.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Side Quest: The Secret of Cabot House | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Talk to Jack at Cabot House. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Meet Jack outside of Parsons State Insane Asylum. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Help Jack reach his office. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Help Jack reach the basement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stop the raiders from freeing Lorenzo Cabot. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Flip the 4 switches in the room containing Lorenzo's chamber. | Open Lorenzo's chamber. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Let Jack kill Lorenzo. | Talk to Lorenzo Cabot. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kill Lorenzo. | Return to Cabot House. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Return to Cabot House. | Talk to Jack Cabot. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Apologize to Jack Cabot. | Criticize Jack Cabot. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kill Lorenzo. | Kill the Cabot family. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Talk to Jack. | Talk to Lorenzo. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 300 XP 500 caps & Lorenzo's Artifact gun | Reward: 300 XP "Lifetime supply" of Mysterious serum | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
When returning to the Cabot House after saving Jack's sister, the Sole Survivor will get this mission assigned by Jack to help prevent raiders from freeing Lorenzo. Although one can actually fail in preventing the raiders from freeing Lorenzo, the Sole Survivor still has to kill them all once Lorenzo is released. Use the elevator in the control room to return to Cabot's office.
Plan A: Kill Lorenzo[]
- Upon flipping the switches and killing Lorenzo, Jack states Lorenzo would have killed his family as well as the player. He says his family influence was the only thing keeping his father in the asylum as opposed to death row due to his crimes during his life. Jack says that now that the world is "built for monsters," nothing would have stopped his father from presumably returning to criminal activity. One can choose to thank him, or berate him for being sad only because he "lost [his] immortality juice;" though Jack seems to genuinely believe he could have removed the artifact and cured his father with a little more research. He awards the player with about 500 caps and tells them to return to his home in about a week. He gives a slightly different amount of caps depending on what the player says after killing his father.
- When an in-game week has passed, there will be a notification that says to visit Jack back at the asylum. He tells the player character he figured out how to access the telekinesis effect of the artifact. He gives the player character Lorenzo's Artifact gun.
Plan B: Free Lorenzo[]
Choosing to save Lorenzo by pushing the switch by his door will prompt Lorenzo to leave his cell; him saying he wants to have a "long overdue" conversation with his son. He tells the player character "we'll have to kill him, you know. And the rest of them." He says his son trapped him in there in 1898; nearly 400 years before the in-game date.
- Arriving at Cabot House, Jack will ask why the player freed him. The next conversation options will allow one to either help Jack further by saying the player character can help him, or help Lorenzo by saying he is wrong and then killing the Cabots. Whatever one chooses to say, Lorenzo will appear on the balcony overlooking the family room. Wilhelmina tries to sell Jack out by saying she would never allow him to do what he did, but Lorenzo berates the family for feeding on his blood. Lorenzo then turns hostile to the Cabots (and the Sole Survivor if decided to help Jack).
- After killing him, Jack will award the player 502 caps, saying he no longer needs their services. Every quote from him following the quest's end will be he either mourns his lost family or berates the player for not listening to him.
- (If successful in keeping every family member alive, asking for more rewards allows one to come back in a week to receive Lorenzo's Artifact gun. However, if the player waits one additional week before returning to Cabot House, Jack ages and Wilhelmina Cabot dies due to lack of access to the serum. The quest marker "Talk to Jack Cabot about the artifact" now points to a spot in the kitchen and cannot be completed.)
- Otherwise, after killing the Cabot family, Lorenzo will offer a "lifetime supply" of mysterious serum, albeit one at a time, which cannot be sold or traded away.
Plan C: Take Both Actions[]
The following describes the details for Plan C in which one frees Lorenzo and then kills him before he leaves the area that is outside his cell:
- One can activate up to 3 switches and still open the door of Lorenzo's cell to let him out.
- Once he is out, one can speak with him to find out what he intends to do.
- Then he can be engaged and killed easily.
- Return back to Cabot House and Jack will be upset that the Sole Survivor set Lorenzo free, but the Sole Survivor can tell him that they killed Lorenzo and that they are sorry that they did so. Jack will give them 500 (or so) caps.
- After a week the player can return and Jack will give them Lorenzo's Artifact gun. It is possible to wait too long and make the weapon impossible to obtain.
Quest stages[]
Companion reactions[]
Notes[]
- Lorenzo is not marked as essential and during his trip home he could be killed by enemies. If that happens, when the player arrives at Cabot House they will find only dialogue about Lorenzo already being dead available. This can be avoided by waiting some in-game time, so that Lorenzo arrives to Cabot House off-screen.
- After accepting the quest from Jack Cabot, the previously inaccessible doors in Cabot House leading to the family living quarters unlock; one can read Lorenzo's expedition journal and look at Emogene's computer.
- Upon entering the asylum, Jack Cabot will attempt to go through a chained door before giving up and telling the player that they need to find another way around. If one jumps, they can activate the chain through the smashed door windows and unlock it.
- One is only able to get Lorenzo's Artifact gun by siding with Jack. Freeing Lorenzo does not result in Jack going to do extra research, therefore only the first method results in the pistol as a final reward. Jack may also tell the player to return in a week if Lorenzo is killed in Cabot House after setting him free.
- If one takes too long to choose between freeing or killing Lorenzo, he will eventually blow the door to his cell off its hinges himself and the quest will continue as if the player decided to free him.
- If one releases Lorenzo and then chooses to kill him, at high levels even the Mysterious Stranger cannot kill him with one shot.
- Completing this quest unlocks access to the family portraits from Cabot House in the Decorations>Wall>Paintings section of the workbench.
- Deacon, Nick Valentine, Danse and Strong will dislike if opening the door after killing Lorenzo. This is true even after the quest is completed. One will need to dismiss them if they wish to collect the Massachusetts Surgical Journal #1 without repercussions. However, Deacon and Hancock will like killing Lorenzo beforehand, balancing this out.
- MacCready, Hancock, Piper and Cait dislike opening Lorenzo's door, whether it is to release Lorenzo, or after siding with Jack and killing him.
- If one has a follower who does not like unneeded deaths or violence (Curie, for example), one can choose to kill Lorenzo inside the machine, then open the door afterwards. The follower will dislike the Sole Survivor killing him, then subsequently like opening the door.
- Alternatively if one has a follower who does not like unneeded violence, they can open the door, then simply shoot Lorenzo. This allows one to gain affinity without losing any.
- If Lorenzo is killed, Jack Cabot can be found wandering the wasteland. He will offer to give a 'good price' on a scientific crafting material (e.g. fiber optics).
- Starting this quest is the only way to gain access to the rooms containing the Charisma bobblehead and issue #1 of the Massachusetts Surgical Journal. The bobblehead is located in Jack Cabot's office and the skill book is on a cupboard in Lorenzo's room.
- When storming the asylum with Jack, there is a spot in the abandoned wing where one must jump down. If Jack just stands there and will not jump, one can push him off by walking into him. Afterwards, he should continue normally.
- If one waits too long before retrieving Lorenzo's Artifact as a reward, it is possible for Jack to age regardless of the quest and have his younger version disappear from the game world- making it impossible to obtain without console commands. Spawning young Jack in will not help either, as he will only mention that he has great news repeatedly and otherwise cannot be interacted with.
- The young version of Jack remains at the point where the quest marker points, albeit disabled. He can be enabled using the console command prid 47ec2, followed by enable, he can from here on be interacted with normally to receive the gun. (You can disable him afterwards. (He must be the target))
Bugs[]
Jack Cabot can get stuck in the administration lobby if one proceeds to insane asylum section before killing all the raiders. If the Sole Survivor makes it to the elevator without Jack, they will be stuck in this part of the facility. Alternatively, one can get out of it using jetpack or the tcl console command.[verified]- Upon activating the button to free Lorenzo, the door to his cell may not open. There are two solutions, either allow Lorenzo to blast the door open himself, or sit in the chair in the corner of the room and use the wait function, which will spawn Lorenzo outside of his cell.[verified]
- Jack Cabot sometimes spawns on the other side of the unpickable door leading to Lorenzo in the basement, preventing the quest from proceeding. This happens after following Jack inside the asylum, then leaving the building with loot and teleporting away. Upon returning Jack is on the other side of the unpickable door. No way to continue or return. [verified]
- It can be fixed by forcing the door to open (with console command "unlock") and when Jack gets back to the player, then closing the door (with console command "lock"). Other consoles may need a previous load [verified]
- Completing the quest in Jack's favor may incorrectly display the quest completion text in the Pip-Boy as if you helped Lorenzo. This does not seem to affect earning the artifact gun reward.[verified]
- When you reach Jack's office in the asylum and find Edward, the quest marker may appear on Edward but it is actually Jack one must talk to in order to continue. [verified]
- When reaching Jack's office and Edward is just a marker, Jack will freeze kneeing at it. Open Console and enter "prid 47ec1" after that "moveto player." Edward appears besides the player and Jack starts the dialogue.
- Items within Cabot House respawn at least twice during the mission.[verified]
- Sometimes the game will fail to spawn Edward and Jack will become unresponsive once reaching his office. [verified]
- Entering setstage MS09 750 into the console will spawn Edward, and Jack will finally respond, allowing the player to progress the quest.
- After siding with Jack and killing Lorenzo, the last step is to "Talk to Jack Cabot about the artifact." Attempting to talk to Jack, however, will not start the necessary speech check to end the quest. Jack will only offer small talk such as "Oh, it's you" therefore leaving the quest indefinitely unfinished. [verified]
- This can be fixed by entering the console command setstage MS09MiscJackReward 100, and provides the artifact reward.
- Jack will somehow turn hostile if he sees the player lockpicks a "Master" safe in the basement of his house, despite the safe having no red text and all items in the house have no "Steal" option.[verified]
- When siding with Lorenzo Cabot, the robot guards outside of Cabot House will come inside and attack the player once the other members of the family become hostile. If they are attacked and destroyed, Lorenzo will become hostile as well. At this point, the quest cannot be completed since Lorenzo is still considered the next step even after being killed. However, if the player does not attack the robots, leaving Lorenzo, Deegan, and a potential companion to destroy them, the quest will continue as normal.[verified]
- If the player runs ahead, Jack may not follow and will not spawn when taking the elevator down to Lorenzo's cell. This can be fixed by using the "wait" command for 24 hours and then taking the elevator down again; Jack should spawn with the player this time.[verified]
- Upon completing the asylum quest by releasing Lorenzo then killing him, the quest might become stuck after waiting the in-game week for Jack Cabot to finish his research. The marker will stay in its place, but Jack will not speak to you to finish the mission.[verified]
- If the player follows Jack on foot to the asylum and makes Jack hostile en route by attacking or pickpocketing him, Jack will attack the player and continuously respawn as hostile, because Jack is essential at this state in the quest. The player can advance to the asylum and hide behind Jack, slowly tracking Jack as he walks through the asylum until Jack disappears in front of the elevator to the basement, breaking the quest.[verified]
- Even after Lorenzo Cabot is killed, engaging a dialogue conversation with Jack is impossible as he becomes hostile and it makes it impossible to complete the quest, especially since he cannot be killed at all no matter what.[verified]
- On the way to get Jack Cabot to his office, he may glitch next to the far left door, and even when attempting to force him to move, he will not budge, making the quest unable to continue no matter what. [verified]
- After killing Lorenzo and returning to Jack after more than a week, Jack may be not interacted with at all and therefore will not grant the player the artifact gun. Sometimes he can be interacted with, but he will not talk about the gun and his father.[verified]
