Piper Wright



Piper Wright is a reporter living in Diamond City in 2287 and possible companion of the Sole Survivor. She runs her own newspaper called Publick Occurrences, which she operates with her younger sister named Nat.

Background
Piper grew up in a small community on the outskirts of the Commonwealth with her sister Nat, and their father, a member of the local militia. After her father was found dead under suspicious circumstances, Piper learned that he had discovered a raider plot to sack the town. His superior, Captain Mayburn, arranged to leave the main gate open and unguarded one night to allow raiders access in exchange for a cut of the loot.

Piper's father was murdered by Mayburn to keep him silent. The local authorities did not believe her claims and refused to investigate. Piper then made and circulated wanted posters featuring the captain and a list of his crimes. The settlers, outraged by the story, exiled Mayburn. When the raiders eventually showed up expecting the gate to be wide open, they instead met the aware citizens who drove them away.

Eventually Piper and Nat saved enough money to relocate to Diamond City where she began her career as an investigative journalist. Her fervor for discovering the truth made her popular for a while, but eventually public opinion turned against her because her articles were seen as being too negative. Piper's work yields results often at the expense of her own safety:
 * One of Piper's first articles exposed a caravan cartel for driving up food prices on Diamond City. The cartel retaliated by poisoning her drink at the Dugout Inn, but she managed to purge the poison by drinking moonshine, and had several members of the cartel arrested.
 * Piper's investigation into irradiated drinking water at Bunker Hill led her to discover that the culprits were Children of Atom cultists. Threatened with execution, Piper tricked the cultists into believing she had a vision from Atom. After the cult inducted her as a member, she managed to sneak away and send Bunker Hill security to deal with the cultists.

Despite multiple death threats, assassination attempts, and a near-execution, finding herself in sticky situations is a point of pride for Piper, who feels getting into trouble is just part of chasing the truth.

When the Sole Survivor first encounters Piper she is on the verge of exile from Diamond City for writing an article suggesting that Mayor McDonough is a synth. While arguing with the gate guard to be let back in, she asks for the Survivor's assistance in bluffing past security. Once inside, Piper gets into an argument with the mayor who accuses her of spreading lies. When the dialogue is complete Piper asks the Sole Survivor to stop by her office. Completing an interview with her leads to Piper offering to travel with the player and watch their back as they adjust to life in the wasteland.

Other interactions

 * If the Sole Survivor has found Nick Valentine before traveling to Diamond City the gate will already be open and the mayor will be interacting with Piper inside.
 * Diamond City guards will tell you to be careful about having her as a companion because of the trouble between her and the mayor.
 * If the Sole Survivor didn't do her interview yet, exit Diamond City and enter again later. Piper can be found in Mayor McDonough's office accusing his secretary of sleeping with him.
 * As the Sole Survivor's companion she will often offer aid in the form of "sweet" food and drink (bubblegum, gumdrops, Nuka-Cola, Sugar Bombs or sweet rolls). This is similar to Strong who offers food as well, but in the form of meats.
 * While traveling with the player, she will occasionally stop to interview people for their thoughts for stories she is writing, such as asking who is in charge in Goodneighbor.
 * Bringing Piper back to Diamond City may cause Nat to run up to her and relate a story about being given detention at school. Piper may then tell her she is grounded, much to Nat's chagrin; however, another conversation has Piper congratulate Nat on getting detention (due to punching a boy who was annoying her), telling her never to change.
 * She also has an interaction with the Sole Survivor about how she believes Nat idolizes her too much, hoping that time apart will prevent Nat from growing up to be like her. The Sole Survivor can choose to offer advice on how to deal with the situation.
 * Occasionally, when passing Takahashi, Piper will tell the Sole Survivor she wants to introduce them to her informant. She will jokingly interrogate Takahashi, finishing by saying that Takahashi 'spilled the beans, I bet your name isn't even really Blue'.
 * Visiting the upper levels with Piper will cause Wellingham to pretend to loudly throw her out, while secretly sharing a bit of gossip and intrigue with her.
 * If the player ends the main quest by siding with the Institute and then talks to Piper, she might be distraught and angry at the player for the world thus created, though the player can still have her travel with them as a companion. However, if the player's affinity with Piper is high enough (or grows high enough), she will write an article titled Fear the Future? where she reveals to be more optimistic, though still wary, of the future.
 * If the player ends the main quest by siding with the Railroad, the Brotherhood of Steel, or the Minutemen and talks to Piper afterwards, she will express relief that the Institute is gone, and will write an article titled The Boogeyman banished?.

Effects of player's actions

 * At maximum affinity Piper awards the Gift of Gab perk, which doubles experience from persuasion successes and finding new locations.
 * Piper is a potential candidate for romance, an option that unlocks after reaching the highest level of affinity.

Behind the scenes
"Blue" (Piper's nickname for the Sole Survivor) may also be a subtle baseball reference. "Blue" is a slang term for the umpire.

Appearances
Piper appears in Fallout 4 and Fallout Shelter.

Bugs

 * Piper will not move even if she is standing, near an enemy, shot at or interacted with at all. She can still be spoken to. She may be locked in a single position and just slide around. Fast travelling fixes this.
 * Cannot romance Piper after she idolizes you (max affinity), even if player character's charisma is maxed. The dialogue action for "romance" appears blank and is an non-selectable/unresponsive option.
 * Piper will mysteriously disappear from the game completely. However starting the quest In Sheep's Clothing will seemingly fix this.
 * Piper will randomly dislike something out of nowhere, such as fast traveling, killing hostile enemies, picking unowned locks, and simply exploring. It is quite rare, but frequency increases after fast traveling to an area populated with enemies, and especially when the player is in power armor (specifically the X-01 Power Armor), although these messages take an unusually long time to appear.
 * When entering Poseidon Energy through the water entrance, Piper may become stuck in a swimming animation and will not be able to shoot enemies or sneak. Dismissing her does not fix the bug but fast traveling does.
 * Piper's facial expression may stop working, meaning she won't show any more emotions, and her eyes may stop tracking other when in conversation as well. This may be fixed temporarily by reloading a save.
 * After equipping Piper with the Minutemen general's hat, she will always stand at attention when idle, even if the hat is removed from her inventory.
 * Sometimes when heavily injured, Piper will remain in the downed position indefinitely. She can still be spoken to, and will teleport with the Sole Survivor when traveling, via a load zone or fast travel, but will not get up or walk. (Possibly caused by fall damage outside of combat, encountered at the Garden Terrace) Depleting her health (tested using the PC Kill command) then stimpaking her seems to fix the problem. Alternatively, loading a save prior to her injury solves this.
 * Piper may become stuck in the falling animation, with her hands in the air; she can be spoken to but will not attack enemies. Leaving the area she is in may fix this. Using the game console, disable then enable Piper will fix the problem.
 * If Piper is your romantic partner and is your companion and is wearing power armor when your are sleeping, her power armor sometimes have dissapeared when you wake up. This seems to happen when you sleep in a narrow location where there is not enough space for her to step out of the armor. If you make her leave the armor before you sleep, the problem will not occur.

Gallery
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