Big Trouble in Big Town

 is a Fallout 3 quest.

Objectives and walkthrough
Big Town residents have been constantly harassed by super mutants, who capture residents and take them to Germantown Police HQ, including Red, the town doctor. The quest can be started by speaking with any of the town's residents, or if the player talks to Red in Germantown Police HQ.

Rescue
Germantown Police HQ has two possible entrances: the first is using the higher door on the north side. If the player has 100 lockpick, the lower door on the west side may also be entered, and puts them very close to Red's location. If the former is chosen, some hallways of super mutants and the occasional trap need to be traversed.

Red is located in a jail cell on the ground floor. The cell door can either be picked, opened with a terminal (accessible with a holotape located upstairs) or opened with the Germantown jailors key, found on the toughest super mutant in the station. When spoken to, Red thanks the player for rescuing her, granting good karma and tells about her friend Shorty, in the kitchen downstairs. As an optional objective, the player may go through the basement in order to rescue him. He will be found in the kitchen, in conversation with a super mutant who wishes to eat him. If the conversation goes on long enough (usually only 10-20 seconds), the mutant will start shooting Shorty. Saving him will provide the player with more good karma.

If Red Dies...
If Red dies at any point during the quest, it will not immediately fail. The objectives will update to tell the player to go to Big Town to explain her death. When the player speaks with any of the residents and tells them about their friend's demise, he/she will give the player 200 caps, stating that the town won't be needing it anymore. The quest will be failed at this point.

The Attack
Once Red (and Shorty, if the player chose to help him) have been rescued, the player is to return to Big Town. Speak to Red at this point to be thanked; if you ask for a reward, you will receive 300 bottlecaps. 200 more can be obtained through a speech check with accompanied bad Karma. The caps can be returned afterward to gain the karma back.

While the quest is technically over at this point, Red will immediately warn the player that super mutants plan to attack the town yet again. Not knowing very many combative skills, Red asks for the player's help in the town's defense (choose the "I can teach you to defend yourselves" chat option). Depending on the player's skill levels, the townspeople may be taught a variety of countermeasures in the town's Scrapyard, or in the case of mine-laying, by the bridge entrance.


 * With at least 50 in the small guns skill, they may be taught how to use conventional firearms, and a makeshift shooting range of bottles and cans appears that the player must shoot at.
 * With at least 50 in the sneak skill, they may be taught how to effectively hide from the mutants. The player must go into sneak mode to show them this.
 * With at least 50 in the science skill, they may be taught how to build robots to use as bodyguards. The player must interact with the sentry bot and protectron there to reactivate them. If only one is reactivated, residents will reactivate the other robot themselves. Note that there are a few bugs associated with this option.
 * With at least 50 in the explosives skill, they may be taught how to make a minefield. Demonstrate by throwing a mine on the bridge. Note that there is a bug associated with this option.

Alternatively, the player may not teach them anything, and either leave them to their fate, or help fight the mutants anyway. Although the residents are weak, weapons, ammo, and armor can be reverse pick-pocketed into their inventories to give them a better chance (especially if the Small Guns option wasn't chosen). Fast traveling from and to Big Town is required to get them to equip their new items.

The super mutants, likely arriving in pairs, are usually armed with nailboards or other melee weapons along with a few grenades that they will lob at medium range.

Shortly after preparations are made, a number of super mutants (this varies depending on the player's actions, as explained below) will attack. If sneak was not chosen, the super mutants must be defeated to complete it. However, if sneak was chosen, two super mutants will enter, try to find the townspeople, and if uninterrupted, eventually leave.

Rewards
In addition to the 300/500 cap reward, once the super mutants are dead/gone, the townspeople will thank the player, naming them as their hero. Good karma will be obtained for helping defend the town. Moreover, if Timebomb was healed in the unmarked quest Ticking Timebomb prior to the attack, and he survived it, he will give the player his lucky 8 ball. Red will heal the player for 50 caps, but once Timebomb has been healed she will heal the player for free.
 * You do not need to save Timebomb before the attack; if it is done after the attack, he will still give you his lucky 8 ball.
 * If the player chooses to get the 500 cap reward with the speech check the player will lose karma as the extra 200 caps were supposed to buy medicine for the town. You can then choose an option to return the caps for an equal amount of good karma; meaning you keep your current karma level, settle for the 300 cap reward, and have the satisfaction of having passed another speech check.

Bugs

 * When presented with the option to defend the town by repairing the damaged robots, the robots will not be in the town, due to the flying creatures and items glitch. This renders this section of the quest unable to be completed. On the PC, entering the console and typing PRID 2d934, kill, resurrect, disable, enable, PRID 2c11b, kill, resurrect, disable, enable should restore the bots. If they fail to appear, you may need to enter one more command: "moveto player".
 * If only the sentry bot is there, repair it, then wait 24 hours in-game, and the protectron will show up allowing you to complete the quest.
 * If the quest is completed without looking for Shorty in the Germantown Police HQ, the player can later return and find Shorty still alive in the basement with 1 super mutant. After killing the super mutant, Shorty will converse with you normally, but no option to cut his bonds and set him free will be presented, forcing the player to walk out, leaving Shorty kneeling on the floor with his hands tied for the remainder of the game.
 * Sometimes, when you first arrive in Big Town, the quest will be completed automatically and just find Red (in or around the town) ,and the quest will end.