Part 31: Money for Nothing

Update 31: Money for Nothing



After leaving the robot behind we followed Bishop's map to the Raider Camp, which we'd seen from a distance while traveling from Vault City to Broken Hills.



Using the map we were able to go directly to the back door of their hideout, where a ladder led down into a cavern system.



"Yeah, we're following. We already know they're from Reno."



For all their supposed tactical proficiency, the raiders hadn't bothered to have anybody watch the ladder into their hideout. I'd say that was going to cost them dearly, but the fact was that as soon as we had that map they were pretty much screwed.



"I.. uh.. think they saw us."

"What was your first clue?"

"Kid, you make a better sheriff than a detective. And I've seen you do both."



After making a snide remark, Marcus wandered off and blew apart some poor tribal bastard who'd been guiding the raiders through the countryside. Considering how close the raiders were getting, I was just glad he wasn't trying to shoot through me to get to them.

Indications are that Shadow-Who-Walks was supposed to be linked to some kind of quest in the area, but that it was never finished.



Eventually the dust settled, although we were all leaking from various injuries. An entire group of people with assault rifles were bound to get a lucky shot in here and there.



There had been three guys in better armor than everybody else, and there were three foot lockers with suspiciously identical.



"…that actually worked. I think we just interrupted a forbidden love plan among three mercs by killing all the participants."

"Takes all kinds to make a world, including the dead ones."

Inside the safe was more evidence in the entire plot behind the raiders, as well as a few assorted valuables and yet another Cat's Paw located in someone's secret stash.



"I think you meant to say that before we went in, not after."

"Yeah, and now that I think about it hip waders wouldn't actually have helped us that much. That shit was raining down from the ceiling."

If you're wondering where the car is, you're not alone. There are two entrances to the Raider's area, with Outdoorsman and Perception influencing which one you find. The problem is that there's a bug that can occur if you take your car to the bag entrance, and on the first version of the game this would break your car by making the front end disappear so you couldn't climb in. With this version, the car gets transported to the other area automatically and you have to exit and then re-enter at the other location (which will now appear on your map) to find it.



After we found the car again we went back to Vault City to get patched up and tell the Council about the raider attacks. Andrew tried to take us for an arm and a leg, but I managed to get him to bring his price down. The Doc in the city would have done it for free, but I'm pretty sure the people in Vault City would have shit a collective brick if they saw Marcus walking down the street.



Lynette was still waiting for news about the power plant. Either that or she'd forgotten about it. Either way, I wasn't going to say anything.

"Uh… I have some information on those raiders who've been attacking the city."

"What is it?"

"We killed them all."

"You did it! Excellent! You have performed a valuable service for Vault City. Please accept this as a token of our appreciation. To think a bunch of RAIDERS was causing so much trouble…"

"Yeah, 'bout that. They were mercs, not raiders."



"They kept very thorough accounts. This account book shows them receiving payments from John Bishop in New Reno for a three month campaign against Vault City, with an option to extend if you got stubborn."

"I'm not surprised. Bishop visited not long ago and suggested an alliance. I refused, of course. We don't associate with criminals."

"Just slavers. Anyway, I think he never thought you'd agree. I found a holodisc in his safe from the NCR hiring him to convince you to join the NCR. The plan was that you'd have so much trouble from the raiders that you'd ask the NCR for help."

"Of course. They sent mercenaries to murder my people because I wouldn't join their government? I… I can barely believe it."

"CoughGeckocough. Sorry, had something in my throat. Thomas Moore is also involved. He's a spy for the NCR."



"Glad to help. I'll tell you, all that running around fighting mercenaries and gathering evidence was awfully expensive…"



"Westin's alright, but I'm not going there right away. I'm at the very least going to stop in New Reno on the way and bang Bishop's widow."

"What?"

"Nothing! Off to NCR!"



On the way out I stopped to talk to the Vault City Sergeant of the Guard… we got to talking a bit and he hired me to do some scouting work around Gecko. That probably would have been a bit easier to do earlier in my trip when I actually had a reason to go to Gecko.



Stopping in at the Vault City medical clinic it turned out that the sample of Jet I'd handed over had led the doc to create a cure for Jet along the lines of what Myron and I had come up with. I asked him to bottle up some for Redding, and added another item to the list of things I was going to do before going to NCR.



Then I left Vault City and burned rubber in a giant circle outside of Gecko to make the shortest route possible that would result in my PipBoy registering a given grid square as being scouted. What the guard didn't know wouldn't hurt them.



Since I would be coming back and was already in the car, I didn't bother going back to Vault City and headed for Redding anyway to hand over the Jet antidote. Doc Johnson decided to slip it into the next set of ampoules he prepared so that their next dose would be their last… and not in a murderous way.



As we sped out of Redding I heard gunshots and shouting behind us. If I hadn't known there were other Morton brothers out there I might have been tempted to stop, but I didn't have time to deal with their crap.



The last few miles of the trip were a bit rough, since for some reason my feet were starting to hurt something awful. My boots were getting uncomfortably tight for some reason too, around my big toes.



"Package for you from First Citizen Lynette. She said you'd know what to do with this."

"And you're a good Citizen, I'm sure. I want you to take this holodisk back to the 1st Citizen. It's important. It has the information she needs to expose the NCR-New Reno plan."

"Westin, don't patronize me. I slaughtered John Bishop and every one of his soldiers in a morning, and I've killed more people on accident than most people have on purpose. I'll do it, but don't talk down to me."



"Ha! You getting' that response a lot today."

"It's just one of those kinds of days. Hey, you ever hear of a place called the Enclave?"

"Maaaybe. Hey, wanna help me test a new drug to make mutants back into normal people?"

"What's everybody looking at me for? I'm pretty damn happy being a mutant."

"Hey, world's full of mutants. Got to be someone who wants to give it a shot. Or maybe someone who's not a jolly green giant. So, what's in it for us?"

"I'll give you a robot dog."

"Sold!"



"Yeah, not happening in Broken Hills. We'll be back."

It was a bit too bad Francis wasn't around, or I'd have been tempted to use it on him. Still, we bypassed Broken Hills since Marcus wasn't too eager to use his friends and neighbors as test subjects.



"Yes. You owe me half a tank of gas."

"We will not have problems with NCR for a very long time."

"Great. Great. Now, about my gas? Maybe a reward?"

"Oh, right. Go see Randal at storage. He'll have something for you."



On the way over I stopped in at the guard shack to collect my pay for "scouting" Gecko. They also wanted a route to NCR, and since I'd already visited that was more easy money for something I had already done.



My reward was the same gun that Frog Morton had been packing. I ended up throwing it into the trunk with the rest, and decided that after that I was done with doing favors for Lynette.

As a note, one of the endings for Vault City requires you to complete the Raider quest but not actually walk in to claim the reward. This is actually a bug, and the reward isn't that great, so there's no reason to really visit the stores. Unfortunately this does mean that if you want that ending you can never buy anything again from Randal.



Stepping back into the Vault to tell the doctor about distributing the cure for Jet that itching, painful sensation in my toe finally stopped. Unfortunately, when I looked at my feet I realized that there was a reason. Unfortunately, it turned out that the Doc didn't do amputations and told me to buy bigger boots. I had to go to see Andrew in the courtyard instead.



"Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff! It's going to grow into a new me or something."

"I'm pretty sure that wouldn't happen."

"And which one of us is the doctor here?"



He tried to hit me up for $500, but I talked him down to $300. It would have been worth every penny, but I'd decided a long time before that to never pay full price to Andrew.



"The really weird part to me is that he gave it back and you're carrying it around."

"Yeah, but I don't want to just toss it out for some kid to find with or dog to eat. D'you think I should give it a name?"

"Grampy Bone say it's no big deal. We and I seen people keep a lot weirder parts of their body around."

"Okay, and with that we're leaving Vault City and not looking back."



There's a joke that you should use the severed toe on the final boss of the game. Using it on anybody results in them getting the same effect displayed here: losing 3 off your max HP and getting poisoned. So… yeah, lets rewind time to have not done that.



This also gave me an opportunity to go back and demonstrate another optional perk. If you've gotten Vault City medical training you can ask about getting an inoculation when you're treated for being poisoned or irradiated.



Vault City Inoculations gives you a simple boost to poison and radiation resistance. It's neat, but hardly necessary.