A Brain's Best Friend

A Brain's Best Friend is a side quest in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on, Old World Blues.

Quick walkthrough

 * 1) Try to find a trace of Gabe in Higgs Village.
 * 2) Find Gabe's bowl behind what used to be Dr. Borous' house.
 * 3) Kill Gabe in the X-8 research center.
 * 4) Return to Dr. Borous.

Detailed walkthrough
To begin the quest, enter The Think Tank and initiate dialogue with Dr. Borous. Following all speech paths, he will mention his pet dog, Gabe, and his experiments upon him. After this talk with the doctor, head over to Higgs village, which is in the south of Big MT. When the player first enters, the objective is the house to the left on the far corner; House #103. Behind the house is a doghouse with the letters "GABE" spelled out below it on an AstroTurf mat. Gabe's bowl is also on the mat, which the Courier must take.

If the player has taken the Wild Wasteland trait, a unique miniature deathclaw named Stripe will be inside the doghouse. His name will be on the doghouse, and the letters from Gabe's name will be scattered on the ground. Stripe has the attack and health of a full sized deathclaw alpha male. He will only pursue the player to just near the fountain, then run back behind the house. (Stripe will also appear after this quest has been completed if the player switches his trait to Wild Wasteland through the Sink Auto-Doc after retrieving Gabe's bowl.) Also, a 'chicken leg' will appear at the door of the doghouse.

The Courier should then proceed to the X-8 research center and go through the main quest line for this area, X-8: High School Horror!, until they reach the Residential Test Facility portion of the quest. Once the Courier activates the Residential test, the Courier will encounter a simulation of a house with a garden, and a unique cyberdog named Gabe will be patrolling the area. You must search the digging areas, which have quest markers pointing to them, until you find an audio sample called "Gabriel's bark". Dr. Borous will be grateful if Gabe is not killed, although utilizing proper dialogue when speaking to Dr. Borous will result in positive responses even if he is killed. Once the Courier finds the audio tape, some robo-scorpions will appear and proceed to attack Gabe. It is possible to save him, but player must act quickly. Even if you save Gabe from the Robo-scorpions, he will still remain hostile to the player.

When the Courier returns to Dr. Borous and gives him the dog bowl, he will reminisce about his dog and thank the Courier for killing Gabe, as he believes it saved him the trouble. If the player kept Gabe alive, Dr. Borous will thank the player for sparing him. The Courier may also pass a Speech check of 45 and make Dr. Borous feel remorse for the horrid experimentation he did on Gabe.

Behind the scenes

 * The quest name comes from the common phrase, "A dog is man's best friend".

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