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A House Divided is a late-game side quest inFallout 4in the Institute. When Father (known to the Sole Survivor as Shaun, the player’s lost son) reveals that he is dying, he names you his successor, leading to a mini-civil war between various NPCs.
Players are then called in for damage control and must make some tough choices that greatly impact how things turn out for the scientists at the Institute. This also affects which rewards the player obtains at the quest’s finale. The walkthrough below details how to complete the quest and reveals the consequences of all actions, allowing you to make the optimal decisions for a happy ending.
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How To Start A House Divided Quest
Speak To Newton Oberly
To start A House Divided,playersmust have completed the Mankind - RedefinedInstitute mainquest inFallout 4. Upon doing so, you can acquire the quest by speaking to Newton Oberley, who can be found outside the BioScience Lab in The Institute.
Newton explains that two NPCs,Max Loken, and Lawrence Higgs, are locked in the lab in protest of Father making the player his successor. Moreover, the two of them have cut off the food supply for the whole Institute, adding to the urgency of the quest.
When you hear this information, A House Divided quest automatically begins, and Newton Oberly opens a door for you to enter. Players must then proceed through andmake their way to the BioScence Lab.
How To Complete The “A House Divided” Quest
Go To The BioScience Lab
As you walk towards the end of the hallway from the door, you willconfront some Synth Guards that you must kill. You will also find a turret to your left when you progress forward after going through the door between the shelves.
As turrets are deadly, with a rapid-fire rate, use yourV.A.T.S. inFallout 4from a distance to slow down time and get accurate hits to swiftly destroy it before getting hit.
After taking care of the turret, head to the end of the hall and open the closet to grab some useful items before exiting through the door beside it.Beware of another turret to your leftin the next hall, using the same method to destroy it.
At this point in the quest, players havetwo paths they can take to reach the BioScience Lab. While the quest marker will lead you to the Observation Room, you can take an alternative route by entering the FEV Lab. Players can get here by going through the door directly in front of where players had entered the hallway.
It is entirely up to players which route to take, as both will take you to the main objective regardless. However, using the route suggested by the quest marker will allow you to persuade Max and Lawrence to stand down. The FEV route, however, may be an attractive approach for those who want a bit more action and combat, as well as loot during this quest.
Take The FEV Lab Path
If you choose to go via the FEV path, keep an eye out for variousbolts of electricity that sporadically appearupon entering. Progress through the next door, which is found around the corner, and stop off at the control room to loot some usefulitems inFallout 4.
In the next area, you will be greeted with more turrets you must shoot down. While you can try to swiftly run past them, taking them out is recommended, as you will need tohack the Terminal to enter the large doors, which can be risky if you’re still being shot at.
Be prepared for an ambush soon after you go through the doors, as an Assaultron will attack you. You can continue forward safely after taking this robot down.
Players will then find themselves in a larger area, with various smaller rooms around them. It is worth exploring each one to find somecool items inFallout 4, butbe careful of the turrets scattered aroundthe area. Once you have cleared this area, make your way to the end of the hallway, where there are even more turrets and a tripwire.
To disarm a tripwire inFallout 4, go as close as possible to the wall on the side of the lasers, without taking damage until you see a’Disarm’option, allowing you to press’E'. This should make it completely disappear, allowing you to freely walk through the area.
After taking care of this, ideally shooting down the turrets, entering the door on the right, andhacking a Terminal to unlock it, the next corridor is completely safe for players to walk right through without worry. It leads to the next room, the BioScienceLab, inFallout 4.
After clearing this pathway of loot and enemies, those who want the option to persuade the protestors to step down can alwaysbacktrack to the startand take the Observation Room path.
Take The Observation Room Path
To take the traditional route as recommended by the quest marker, start from the beginning and enter the door opened by Newton to where the first turret was operating.Go past the plants and enter the next door; atthis point, you will be at the desired location rather than where you had detoured.
Here, you can speak with Lawrence, one of the protestors who is on the other side of the window. During your conversation with theNPC inFallout 4, you will get somedialogue options that can change the quest’s outcomeand avoid unnecessary bloodshed upon succeeding.
To proceed, players mustpass two Persuasion Checks, the first of which is extremely high and thus challenging. Fortunately, you get two almost identical speech options at different points of the conversation, detailed in the table below:
‘Give me a chance.’
Available during the second dialogue choice
‘Give me a chance?’
Available during the fourth dialogue choice
It would be wise to save your game just before entering the conversation with Lawrence. This will allow you to retry if you fail the Persuasion Check.
As long as you succeed the Persuasion Check, Lawrence and Max will agree to stand down, allowing you toskip the remainder of the questand return straight to Newton Oberly to inform him of the situation.
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A House Divided Questline Choices
How To Deal With Max & Lawrence
If you failed the Check and didn’t manage to persuade the protestors, or you took the FEV route and didn’t get the chance to speak to Lawrence in the Observation Room, players must, instead, interact with aTerminal inFallout 4found nearby.
One can be found beside the blue lasers in the FEV Lab, while a few can also be found in the Observation Room itself. When you find one to use, you mustinsert the BioScience System Access Holotap, which will update your quest and prompt you to decide on how to deal with the protestors.
Players can either kill or spare Max and Lawrence. Depending on your choice, the outcome of thequest walkthrough inFallout 4will affect the rewards you obtain at the end, so make sure you choose the correct path for you.
Kill Max & Lawrence
For those who want revenge and would like to kill Max and Lawrence, you can either do the deed yourself or use Gorillas to kill them. The latter may be easier, as when you try to kill the NPCs, theentire lab must also be wiped out:
Directions
Kill them yourself
Players can freely unlock the door with the Terminal. Make sure to disable the turrets to make it easier to enter the BioScience Lab. Simply go inside and kill them all in combat.
Use gorillas to kill them
Use the Terminal to unlock the door and disable the turrets as usual. Then, select another option stating, ‘Initiate Specimen Release.’ This will release the animals, who will go on a killing rampage and murder everyone in the lab for you. Players can take out any remainingsurvivors inFallout 4themselves.
Once the lab has been cleared, the animals will become aggressive towards the player, so keep your guard up and attempt to avoid them, or simply murder them after taking care of the NPCs. You will then need toacquire the Security Override Password, which can be looted from any of their corpses.
Spare Max & Lawrence
Alternatively, the more peaceful and arguablyquickest way to close the questis to spare the protestors. Players must once again use the Terminal to unlock the door in the Observation Room (and disable the turrets for added convenience).
Enter the door and kill all the Synth guards along the way, but don’t target Max and Lawrence, and speak to Lawrence once the guards have been taken care of. During your interaction,Max will then persuade him to surrender to you.
After this, players won’t need to steal the Security Override Password, as they will open the door for players. This will allow you to take ashortcut, going through the BioTech Lab and back to Newtonto explain the situation and make another final decision on how to close theside quest inFallout 4.
Return To Newton Oberly
Decide The Protestors' Punishment
When you return to Newton within the main Institute area, you may speak to Newton and decide the fate of Max and Lawrence. There are amultitude of possibilities here, depending on the actions you took earlier in the quest:
Players' Decision On Max & Lawrence
Punishments For Max & Lawrence
If Max and Lawrence are alive, or you persuaded Lawrence to step down
If Max & Lawrence are alive, and Max persuades Lawrence to surrender
Max will place himself and Lawrence under house arrest
Claim Your Rewards
Depending on which punishment players take, this can affect the rewards received by Newton. If you chose to spare Max and Lawrence earlier and also choose to spare them of punishment, Newton will give players some of thebest Chems inFallout 4and take the Holotape in your possession.
Otherwise, if you execute Max and Lawrence, or if you had previously killed them, removing the option for you to decide on a punishment, Newton expresses regret for the violence that took place at the hands of the player. While he will allow you to keep the Holotape, you willmiss out on the additional rewardof Chems listed in the table below:
200+ XP
x5 Jet
x5 Mentats
x5 RadAway
Whichever decision you make to close the quest, you will always be grantedXP inFallout 4, allowing you to further level up your stats. consider spare the protestors, as the Holotape becomes useless to players once it has been played, and is not worth trading for useful Chems.
