Dunwich Borers

Dunwich Borers is a marble quarry found within the Commonwealth in 2287. It has been taken over by a detachment of the Forged and is likewise inhabited by feral ghouls.

Pre-War
A marble quarry, active before the Great War. According to terminal entries throughout the four job stations, several issues plagued the employees of Dunwich Borers LLC. Safety was a significant problem at the job site, with requests for additional precautions dismissed. Railings and support beams were only set up where necessary and renovated only when they decayed completely.

The company attempted to circumvent angry workers by providing bonus and hosting events such as happy hours and picnics. The company events did not serve to rectify the worksite hazards, despite project and worksite managers escalating complaints, resulting in several employees falling to their deaths.

Post-War
Roughly two hundred years later, the quarry was repurposed by the Forged. Seeking a supply of iron for Saugus Ironworks, they had their raider affiliates begin collecting any and all scrap metal from the site - a task which was soon complicated by rumors of the quarry being haunted. Failing to meet quotas, the Forged leader Slag sent his lieutenant Bedlam to discern and correct any issues. Believing that what the work crew was experiencing was them just being frightened by some ferals, she immediately got them back to work.

They were able to get another two shipments out on time, but before the third, the crew disappeared. In response, Bedlam herself headed down into the mine to uncover the reason behind the work stoppage, to end the feral threat, and get her workers back on track.

Layout
The entrance is located at the bottom of the quarry. The area is guarded by about a dozen raiders, including one in power armor. There is a tripwire trap not far from the entrance. Upon entering, on the left, there is a lift that leads to a door requiring a key from the corpse on the other side of this door where the Sole Survivor will emerge after going all the way through the facility.

Continuing ahead from the entrance is a turret and several more raiders. A circuit breaker switch controls the power and some of the spotlights. The unlocked Station 1 terminal is next to it on the right and can be used to turn off turrets, and there is a grenade trap near the terminal. Ahead of this, there is a small camp with a machinegun turret, a mattress and a cooking station.

The way ahead now leads to the left. A side ladder leads to a Novice locked cell with a tripwire trap at the bottom of the stairs, and back down the main path is terminal 2. Just beyond the terminal is a weapons workbench with an ammo crate, a sleeping bag and a Novice locked cooler. Continuing on to terminal 3, a huge pit opens up at the bottom of which Bedlam will be found.

A Novice locked terminal belonging to Bedlam is attached to the reservoir in the middle of the pit. There are also an armor workbench with an issue of Astoundingly Awesome Tales placed on it, a steamer trunk and two sleeping bags. Ahead from the pit is a door that is chained shut. Removing the chains allows access to a corridor with feral ghoul corpses. Farther along, near a wrecked machine with a skeleton, is a door on the left. Opening it triggers a visual hallucination, in the form of a flashback. A flash of white will provide a glimpse of a few pre-War employees working, before another flash of light returns current day surroundings to the forefront.

There are more circuit breakers in the ghoul infested area and activating them turns on the lights and triggers a large group of ghouls to start running towards the player character. A large quantity of bones can be found in and underneath the cages in the center area. Once past the initial ghoul attack, there is a fork in the path. The lefthand part of the fork heads upwards, leading to work stations 5 and 6 and eventually back to the exit.

Ritual chamber
Following the other path of the fork, the Sole Survivor will enter the deepest part of the mine, past station 4. Upon entering, a second flashback will occur, the duration of which is a few seconds longer. Instead of the post-War mine, what the Sole Survivor experiences is another flash of light, followed by the sight of a short cave corridor lined with candles. Following the path, they will be able to peer into the main cavern, where a ritual of sorts is taking place.

A raised, multi-tiered marble platform is situated in a large, open cavern. Stairs lead up to the main area, where a man stands on a square rug before a pulpit. Broken segments of railing loosely fence in the platform. Wearing pastor's vestments, the man makes repetitive cutting motions toward the top of the pulpit with a large knife. Behind him, a long set of chains hang from a crane flush against the ceiling.

Around the perimeter of the room are stone benches, some of which crushed by collapsing walls. Kneeling before the platform on two sides are nine individuals, dressed in clean, pre-War outfit variants. Each one rests on their knees, hands crossed behind their back, with their head bowed. The room is lit by additional candles, placed around those kneeling, on the perimeter walls, and on the corners of the raised platform. Every few moments, the room shakes and rumbles violently.

As the Sole Survivor ventures closer down the corridor toward the chamber, another bright flash of light occurs and the current day surroundings come back into focus, including several feral ghouls. Four of the ghouls are named, what remains of the project managers from the separate stations, including Bob Stanson, Bradley Ramone, John Hatfield, and Tim Shoots.

The cavern's appearance has changed significantly from what was observed in the flashback. The marble raised platform is missing, as are the pulpit, rug, and candles. In place of the platform and surfaces upon which the pre-War individuals kneeled, a large pool of water can be found. Some similarities remain, such as the crane, chain, and remnants of railings and stone benches.

Underwater chamber
The Sole Survivor can choose to dive into the large pool and swim down a tunnel reaching deep into the earth. They will see the end of the tunnel terminate with a large statuesque, silver visage, the pre-War pulpit missing from above, and glowing fungus. A skeleton is splayed out to the left, half-obscured by the earth.

Progressing toward the skeleton leads down another tunnel, the end of which contains another chamber, with stone benches scattered alongside the edges of the room. An altar sits in the center against the back wall, illuminated by more glowing fungus. Here is where one will find two mini nukes flanking a unique weapon named Kremvh's Tooth. Turning and following the path back to the surface, the Sole Survivor can progress back through the chamber and to the exit.

Notable loot

 * Kremvh's Tooth - In an irradiated pool of water. After the first flashback head to the right to find section four. The irradiated pool is guarded by the four project managers, now feral ghouls. In a tunnel near the bottom of the pool is this unique weapon.
 * The Dunwich - Management holotape - Found on Tim Shoots' corpse.
 * Sneak bobblehead - Found on a small table near the section 4 terminal.
 * The Dunwich - Tim Shoots holotape - Found in section 4's terminal.
 * Astoundingly Awesome Tales - Can be found on an armor workbench near Bedlam's terminal in the giant pit room.
 * Bottlecap mine - Located in the building at the top of the quarry, sitting on the cabinet left of the turret control terminal.
 * Dunwich Borers key - Inside the quarry, on a dead raider next to the door that it opens.
 * Three mini nukes. After passing terminal 3, descend the winding staircase. After reaching the bottom, walk straight forward and look up the marble wall. There is a mini nuke to the left of Bedlam's terminal up on the rock face. For reference, there is an armor workbench off to the right of the stairs. There are also two mini nukes in the underwater pool with Kremvh's Tooth on the wood altar containing the weapon.
 * At least 25 oil can be obtained by collecting the many canisters and lanterns throughout the site.

Related quests

 * Kidnapping: Concerned settlers will ask the Sole Survivor to help them rescue a fellow settler that was kidnapped for ransom by nearby hostiles, hoping to have them freed without harm.
 * Raider Troubles: A group of settlers is struggling to defend themselves against a nearby group of raiders and asks the Sole Survivor for help.
 * Butcher's Bill 2: A survivor may have made it out of the Augusta safehouse disaster. His name is Blackbird and he was spotted recently. Doctor Carrington tasks the player character to gather more details regarding his fate.
 * Reclamation: The Sole Survivor learns from Dr. Secord that a synth was kidnapped by raiders. They can help with the planned retrieval mission by placing a tracking beacon on the synth and reporting back to the Synth Retention Bureau.
 * Randolph Safehouse: The Railroad agent Mister Tims will leave dead drops in the form of six holotapes for the Sole Survivor, containing information about possible hazards to the Railroad's escort and escape of synths out of the Commonwealth. They can assist in these efforts by clearing out the location of hostiles.
 * Quartermastery: Scribe Haylen has identified the location of a piece of technology she wishes to retrieve and catalog. She asks the Sole Survivor for help in bringing back the technology in one piece.
 * Cleansing the Commonwealth: Knight Rhys gives the Sole Survivor an assignment to clear the location of what he calls "abominations" to further the aims of the Brotherhood of Steel.
 * To the Mattresses: The synth-hating L&L Gang is a major threat to the Railroad. Desdemona has a lead on them and asks the Sole Survivor to help neutralize their members.
 * Stop the Raiding: The Sole Survivor becomes aware of a group of settlers being terrorized by nearby raiders and can offer to help.
 * Lost Soul: Doctor Carrington has a lead on a synth that's in danger and sends the player character to save them.

Companion comments

 * When at this location companions make comments, which are activated at two locations: the vertical chamber where Bedlam is at and at the entrance of the submerged tunnel with Kremvh's Tooth.

Appearances
Dunwich Borers appears only in Fallout 4.

Behind the scenes
Similar to the Dunwich Building in Fallout 3, random flashbacks to times before the Great War happen spontaneously, hinting to its paranormal background and its relations to the author H. P. Lovecraft, and his book series, the Cthulhu Mythos, and particularly, the short story, The Dunwich Horror. At the bottom of the well, in the end, one can see part of a statue that resembles a face. Using console commands it's possible to clip outside of the map to reveal the whole statue. The buried statue might be a reference to another one of Lovecraft's stories, The Shunned House, in which the protagonist digs underneath an abandoned, haunted house, only to uncover the elbow of a colossal being buried underneath.

Bugs

 * Flashback scenes may not trigger properly and you may not receive any "named ghouls."
 * The first few raiders encountered in the underground area will never respawn after being killed, and their bodies will never disappear.
 * Radiant quests that send the player character to Dunwich Borers will respawn new enemies, and their corpses will finally disappear after being looted.