Out of the Fire

Out of the Fire is a side quest in Fallout 4.

Quick walkthrough
Note: If one enters the blast furnace room before speaking to Abraham Finch, they can proceed with the quest after either speaking to Jake Finch or listening to his holotape.

Detailed walkthrough
Once the quest is active go to Finches Farm on the upper east coast. Speak with Abraham Finch and he'll tell you that his son ran away to join The Forged raiders in the nearby ironworks. His son stole his sword (Shishkebab) when he left, Abraham wants the sword back, but couldn't care less about his son. You still get an optional objective to return his son.

The ironworks entrance is guarded by a group of Forged, they are fairly tough as far as raiders go, so caution is advised, but they should be beatable. Once inside there are more Forged patrolling. The entry is on the west side of the building, the goal on the east. There's two ways to get across, an Advanced locked door in the middle level, or a walkway across the top. The majority of the Forged will use Flamers which can be taken and sold for some easy caps.

The goal is the northwest corner of the east side, there's a turret guarding the exit to the blast furnace. Once the turret is dealt with move on. Opposite the exit to the blast furnace is an exit to the roof, but there's nothing up there of consequence, just more raiders.

On entering the blast furnace the player will immediately be caught in a conversation. Seems that Slag isn't too impressed with Jake and Jake isn't in a great situation at the moment. If Jake is told the truth, that his father only wants the sword, then he'll perform the test and everyone will turn hostile. He can be encourage to perform the test, but that also results in everyone turning hostile. Sarcasm, convincing Jake that his father wants him back, or a straight up moderate difficulty persuasion check can make Jake fight on the player's side.

The fight will be difficult either way, Slag is powerful and equipped with power armor and has 3 allies. There is a lag time between the end of conversation and the start of the fight though, so using VATS to queue up multiple strikes before the fight officially begins can even the odds considerably.

You can also attempt to pickpocket the fusion battery from Slag's power armor before the fight. This will make Slag much easier to defeat, and you can use the armor against him. However, this will make the power armor counts as a stolen item.

Additionally, you can save the prisoner kneeling in front of Slag that he beheads. Simply enter V.A.T.S immediately and shoot Slag upon entering the room to interrupt his execution animation and he will ignore the prisoner, causing him, his raiders, and Jake to enter combat with the player. Sparing only Jake will allow you to talk to him at the end of the fight so long as you stow your weapon. It is recommended to tell your companions to wait in the room before as they will not stop attacking Jake. The prisoner who was almost beheaded can then be set free.

Option 1: Save Jake
Once the fight is over Jake will ask you to meet his father with him, grab the sword from Slag and meet him at the designated spot. The reunion isn't exactly happy, but with some pressure from Jake's mother things go all right. Jake will also join the settlement. The sword does not need to be returned. Abraham may allow you to keep the sword, telling you that it could do some good. He may also give you Caps.

Option 2: Kill Jake
If you kill Jake, you simply return the sword to his father. You have the option to inform or lie to his father of what happened to Jake. If the player told the truth, Mr. Finch will reply a bit dismayed though not surprised. If the player successfully lies, Mr. Finch will reply with a hopeful response that he thinks Jake may have a sudden change of heart about joining The Forged and will instead leave the Commonwealth for a new start. Regardless of the option the player chooses; Mr. Finch then allows you to keep the sword.

Bugs

 * Entering the Blast Furnace room in power armor with Targeting HUD (or a dose of Berry Mentats) can cause the dialogue to skip, turning all the forged immediately hostile including Jake. Saving before entering and taking off Power Armor helmet will fix.
 * Taking the sword from Slag before talking to Jake might cause a bug where "Find the sword" point will remain active even though you have it in your inventory.
 * Entering the Blast Furnace room with the Protectron following you can cause all the enemies to shoot it, remain friendly to you, but rendering them unable to speak.
 * Entering the Blast Furnace room and then exiting while mid-battle will cause Slag to follow you out. Once Slag is defeated, if you go back into the Blast Furnace room everyone will be dead even if you did not kill them, except for the prisoner.
 * If Slag's body falls into the furnace you will be unable to complete this quest as you cannot collect the weapon to return it to Abraham.
 * After the battle, if you free the Settler while Jake's still untying him, Jake will be stuck in the crouched, "untying" animation and you won't be able to speak to him. The only way to progress is to kill him (failing the quest) or reloading an earlier save.
 * Killing Abraham and his family after he grants you the quest will cause Jake to appear at the entrance of the blast furnace room. He will be hostile no matter what and you will be forced to kill him. The Forged within the blast furnace afterwards will not be hostile to you.
 * Stealing something from Finch's farm will cause Jake to be hostile upon entering the blast furnace room.The Forged within the blast furnace will not be hostile to you until you attack Jake. To fix this, the player can wait or sleep out for three days.

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