A Colossal Problem

Event: A Colossal Problem is a public event

Stage 1
The 30-minute event timer starts as soon as a nuke is launched with Monongah Mine in its blast radius. For five minutes after the event appears on the map, players can join the event and are subsequently teleported into the mine's interior. From there, the players make their way to the arena entrance and prepare for the fight as the five minute timer counts down.

It is possible to repair, modify, or craft equipment using workbenches at the entrance and in the large cavern after the tunnels. Several notes and a holotape can be found and a total of three wendigo spawns can be killed for some nice loot on their corpses.

Once the preparation stage timer elapses, the rubble on the right-hand side of the large cavern will collapse, allowing further descent into the mine. At this time, players outside the instance (not part of the event) will be unable to join, as the map marker is removed.

Stage 2
Once the initial five-minute timer is up, the one-way entrance to the cavern below will open. On the far side of the cavern is Earle Williams, who has transformed into a wendigo colossus and will immediately engage in combat. Earle has high damage resistance and a large health pool. Upon being reduced to half health for the first time, he will mutate, regaining all hit points, as with all legendary enemies.

The group must fight Earle while simultaneously killing off waves of wendigo spawns that Earle attracts with his calls. Additional threats include Earle's ranged screech attack that cause the Uncontrollable Fear effect and environmental hazards in the form of burning embers that fall from the ceiling, causing 25 fire damage for 3 seconds. Also beware of the still-active drilling machine sticking out of the wall near the exit tunnel. Contact with the spinning drill bit is instantly fatal.

Stage 3
After Earle has been defeated, the mine will start collapsing, giving a two-minute window to make the escape. Earle can be looted before heading up the sloped tunnel marked by an "EXIT" sign and warning lights, killing or running past any wendigo spawns and auto-miners on the way out. Exiting the mine will conclude the quest, awarding experience, and loot. If Something Sentimental is still an active quest, Earle's pocket watch will be lootable from his remains, allowing the quest to progress further.

Should time run out and Earle is still alive, the quest fails and players are teleported to the Monongah Mine exterior, but will not result in rewards. Dying during the fight results in respawning in the large cavern with the previously blocked mine shaft, dropping down again to rejoin the fight.

Behind the scenes

 * Victoria McCreary was the main quest designer for the event.
 * Although the event was included within the Wastelanders update, it was ultimately not activated until August 18, 2020 by patch 1.3.3.31, following further testing on the Public Test Server. It was originally slated to be included with patch 20, then patch 21, but was delayed both times to allow for polishing and internal testing.
 * The quest was initially bugged to be only accessible for PC players, as the hotfix had only been applied on that platform. It is currently available on all platforms.

Bugs
Entering a suit of power armor right as the screen fades to black following the event will allow the player to remain in Monongah Mine indefinitely.