Out of the Fire

Out of the Fire is a Minutemen side quest

Detailed walkthrough
After joining the Minutemen, this quest can be periodically obtained when talking to Preston Garvey or listening to Radio Freedom. The Sole Survivor is informed that Finch farm is having trouble, and the Minutemen should be the ones to help them. Alternatively, the quest may be obtained directly from Abraham Finch at Finch farm even if the Sole Survivor has not joined the Minutemen.

Upon arriving at Finch farm, the Sole Survivor will be met by Abraham Finch, who mistakes them for a member of the Forged at first but quickly apologizes for his mistake, commenting that "You don't have the burns." Abraham then goes on to explain how the Forged took over Saugus Ironworks and that his son, Jake, stole his heirloom sword and ran off to join up with the gang. He asks the Sole Survivor to retrieve the sword from the Forged hideout. Further dialogue reveals that Abraham wants the sword back, but couldn't care less about his idiot son. However, his wife Abigail wants her son home safe and will give an optional objective to retrieve him when spoken to.

At this point the Sole Survivor must travel to Saugus Ironworks and make their way inside. The yard and entrance to the ironworks is heavily guarded by a group of Forged, several of which are packing flamers and sturdy cage armor or spike armor. Forged are tough as far as raiders go, so caution is advised. The main entrance to the ironworks can be found on the north side of the building.

Once inside there are more Forged patrolling. The Sole Survivor's objective is the blast furnace room, which is across the building on the north side. From the entrance there are two options to reach the blast furnace: a door attached to an Advanced locked terminal along the mid level route, or a walkway across the top. The middle path has a Protectron that can be activated to help with the fights but taking the upper path may help avoid combat, which can be handy at lower levels. There is a turret guarding the area in front of the blast furnace room.

Upon entering the blast furnace room the Sole Survivor will immediately meet Slag and Jake and be caught in a conversation. Slag appears mildly impressed that the Sole Survivor made it this far but isn't too impressed with Jake, who happens to be in a pretty tight spot at the moment. The conversation has two possible outcomes: either Jake turns on the Forged, or he completes Slag's test and turns on the Sole Survivor. Either way, a fight with Slag and his allies ensues.

Slag is strong, equipped with pieces of T-45 power armor or raider power armor and has three allies in the room with him. However, there is a delay between the end of the conversation and the start of the fight, which the Sole Survivor can take advantage of with the help of V.A.T.S. and/or some Jet.

Regardless of the earlier conversation's outcome, Jake will become friendly after all the Forged are killed (assuming he survived the fight). After (optionally) being spoken to, he will tell the Sole Survivor to meet him at Finch farm after retrieving the sword. After retrieving Shishkebab from Slag's corpse, the Sole Survivor can exit the ironworks and return to the Finch farm to speak to Abraham. From here, the conversation can go one of two ways depending on whether Jake survived:

Option 1: Save Jake
Upon arriving at the farm, a reunion scene between Jake and his family plays out. The reunion isn't exactly happy at first due to Abraham's hostility towards his son, but with some pressure from Abigail he allows Jake to rejoin the settlement. (This happens regardless of whether the Sole Survivor talked to Abigail earlier and received the optional objective). Abraham then speaks to the Sole Survivor, thanking them for their help. He allows the Sole Survivor to keep the sword, saying that it could do some good, as well as rewarding ~250 caps for completing the quest and a bonus of ~100 caps for rescuing Jake.

Option 2: Kill Jake
After returning the sword to Abraham, he will ask the Sole Survivor about the fate of Jake. If the Sole Survivor tells the truth, Abraham will be a bit dismayed though not surprised. If the Sole Survivor successfully lies (a medium dialogue check), Abraham will instead hopefully respond that he thinks Jake may have a sudden change of heart about joining the Forged and instead leave the Commonwealth for a new start. Either way, Abraham will reward the Sole Survivor with ~250 caps for completing the quest, as well as allowing them to keep the sword, saying it will remind them too much of Jake.

Regardless of Jake's fate, Finch farm will become an allied settlement after receiving the reward. If the quest was given by Preston Garvey, the Sole Survivor must report back to him to turn in the quest; it will be completed immediately upon receiving the reward otherwise.