Gathering Clouds is a main quest in Fallout 76, introduced in the Skyline Valley update.
Quick walkthrough[]
- Talk with Hugo
- Talk with Hilda and Audrey
- Activate and defend the harvester at Research Site Saxony
- Activate and defend the harvester at Research Site Bavaria
- Activate and defend the harvester at Research Site Rhineland
Detailed walkthrough[]
Talk with Hugo. He details his love for Audrey and explains that, after noticing that the weather machine partially cured "feralized" people, he pushed the machine to its limits in an attempt to cure his wife. He does not consider the creation of the Lost to be a mistake, but rather an incomplete transition. Hilda and Audrey are close to a breakthrough, and need just a final bit of help to complete their work.
Travel to the vault's clinic, where Audrey, Hilda, and Oberlin are. As you enter the room, they are already engaged in a lively discussion. They need to complete a final experiment using a tissue sample of Hugo himself to determine exactly why and how he was able to retain his sanity while others became Lost. Oberlin is concerned with Hugo's unreliability, Audrey think it's worth the risk because of the potential to save many lives, and Hilda urges everyone to hurry because the tissue samples won't survive for long.
All agree that the best way forward is to run the experiments, both to learn more about what happened, but also about what might happen if the weather machine is repaired and activated fully. The experiments require activating three devices around Shenandoah, each configured differently, measurements of which will answer these questions.
Travel to Research Site Saxony and activate the lightning harvester. Several waves of super mutants will attack the harvester, and must be killed. After 45 seconds, the attacks will subside, and the experiments are complete. As expected, this control experiment reveals nothing new; the old configuration results only in the cells inside the tissue samples to become more agitated and unstable.
Travel to Research Site Bavaria and activate the lighting harvester. This time, you must defend the harvester for 45 seconds from thrashers. Once the experiments are complete, the results seem to show that, should the weather machine be activated, the Lost will not be cured, but instead, will be controlled by Hugo. Oberlin, enraged, leaves the conversation to arrest Hugo immediately. Meanwhile, Audrey suggests running a third experiment to confirm that their observations were not a fluke.
Travel to Research Site Rhineland and activate the lighting harvester. During this final experiment, the harvester will be attacked for 45 seconds by feral Lost. After the experiment concludes, Hilda, to her dismay, confirms that the previous experiment's outcome is correct. Oberlin returns, and says that Hugo left the vault. He orders you to return to the Vault 63 atrium immediately, concluding the quest, and leading to The Eye of the Storm.
Quest stages[]
Behind the scenes[]
 | The following is based on Fallout 76 cut content. |
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The basic premise of this quest, involving the lightning harvesters, appears to have been prototyped in a different quest that was cut from the Skyline Valley questline (prefix Storm_MQ11). References in the game's files still exist for spawns, "strike markers," and timed objectives at three lightning harvesters (A, B and C) under the MQ11 prefix. Gathering Clouds, on the other hand, has the prefix of MQ13.
| End of information based on Fallout 76 cut content |
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