Birds of a Feather¶

Fast-travel back to Freeside and make your way to the Atomic Wrangler… or at least, outside of it. Across the street to the west of the Atomic Wrangler you’ll find the Silver Rush store, a weapons store that specializes in Energy Weapons, run by the Van Graff family. Head inside (surrendering your weapons as you go) and witness the Van Graffs conduct some business. They’re clearly not people to be trifled with.

Head down into the store and talk to Gloria Van Graff. First off, she sells a variety of Energy Weapons, including the unique and absurdly expensive Cleansing Flame (10,000+ Caps) Sprtel-Wood 9700 (20,000+ Caps) and The Smitty Special (20,000+ Caps). Buy what you will (and what you can afford) then ask about work to get a job as a door guard, which starts the quest Birds of a Feather . You can also ask her about their family business and Freeside politics, if doing so strikes your fancy.

Exit the store and talk to Simon, the friendly door guard. Take your position and pick your weapon out, then listen to Simon tell you how to do the job. Afterwards, it’s time to settle in for a long day of boring guard work, which will involve dealing with five NPCs. Don’t leave your post, just wait for the magic of capitalism to happen. When the first potential customer arrives, pick the dialogue option “Sorry sir, but I can’t let you in. Company policy.” Stay classy and do your job. The second guy is more straight-forward, just be sure to search him before letting him in. The third customer will whine when you try to search him, but if you succeed at a [Speech 65] check you’ll manage to stick to the rules and convince him to cooperate.

The fourth customer seems friendly enough, but if you let him into the joint without patting him down he’ll blow the place up, destroying the loot on the ground floor and killing all the Van Graffs. It’s not a bad way to end this quest if you want to 1) avoid conflict with the Van Graffs, 2) complete the quest Heartache by the Number and/or 3) support Paladin Hardin back at the Brotherhood of Steel. If you’re more ambitious (you want all that sweet loot lying around, don’t you?) and confident in your combat abilities, or you want to keep working for the Van Graffs, pat him down then kill him when he turns hostile. If you loot his body you’ll find some C-4 Plastic Explosive and a “Revenge Note”.

Finally, the fifth person to bother you will be Pacer, a member of the Kings gang of Elvis impersonators. He’ll banter with Simon before bugging you, at which point respond with “Why not tell her yourself?” to send him off and get some praise from Simon. After this last encounter he’ll take the Van Graff gear back and head inside the Silver Rush. Follow him and talk to Gloria and she’ll give you a re-cap of your conduct on the job. If you were polite, let customers two and three inside (after patting them down), and didn’t get everybody blown up, you’ll receive a 300 Cap reward. Otherwise, as long as you didn’t fail too miserably you’ll get 200 Caps. Sadly, the job isn’t yours, but you’ll be offered another task more befitting a Courier. Agree to meet the client and you’ll obtain the “Van Graff Package”, which you’re to deliver to some mysterious potential client.

Fast-travel to Durable Dunn’s Sacked Caravan and from where you arrive head east, north-east to find a “Strange Man” standing out in the Mojave. Talk to him and confirm that you’re working for the Van Graffs, then ask for some money and succeed at a [Speech 75] check to score 200 Caps off the guy… or just hand over the package if you’re not up to it. Either way, once the package has been delivered, return to Gloria at the Silver Rush and tell her the news to get a reward, after which she’ll refer you to Jean-Baptiste.

Talk to Jean-Baptiste Cutting and he’ll give you the next task; find some girl named “Rose of Sharon Cassidy” and bring her to him so they can “talk”. Obviously this can be somewhat involved if you following another approach, but since you already should have bought out Cassidy Caravans for the Crimson Caravan, you can recruit Cass any time you wish… provided you didn’t run her off already, in which case, this quest can’t be completed. Recruit Cass and talk to Jean-Baptiste again (or if you already have her in your party, just talk to him again) and he’ll tie up a loose end, after which he’ll pay you and refer you back to Gloria.

Gloria will reveal that their last client liked their product and made a massive order, and she wants you to accompany her on-site. Agree to go and you’ll be transported to the meet-up, where you’ll learn the identity of Gloria’s clients. She’ll talk to you and vaguely mention some upcoming commotion, after which she’ll conclude business with her clients… and her true motivations will be revealed. A gas grenade will be dropped, and some NCR Troopers will show up to help the Van Graffs wipe out the Caesar’s Legion buyers. Strange bed-fellows, indeed. Avoid getting involved in the conflict; killing any Legion members will earn you unnecessary Infamy, and the Van Graffs and NCR (mostly the former) are more than enough to kill the Prime Legionaries roaming about. Wait for them to mop up, then talk to Gloria to leave the warehouse. Back in the Silver Rush, she’ll explain things; as much as she hates the NCR, the NCR can be reasoned with, while Caesar cannot. Plus, the NCR has a much fatter purse than the Legion, so it’s just a better business choice all around. Afterwards, your employment will be terminated, but you’ll be sent off with a hefty reward for your trouble.

As lucrative as working with the Van Graffs ultimately is, if you’d rather help Cass, either avoid the Van Graffs, or stop dealing with them before you hand Cass over to Jean-Baptiste. In any event, the opposing quest Heartache by the Number will be covered below. If you aren’t doing it (presumably because you killed Cass“ then skip to the next section of the guide; “Camp McCarran (Part 1)” .

Heartache by the Number¶

Talk to Cass when she’s in your party and, if you have neutral or good Karma, she’ll ask if you’ll take a detour to the site where her caravan was attacked. Agree to do so, then fast-travel to the Grub n’ Gulp Rest Stop, then make your way west, south-west along a road to find the caravan… or what’s left of it, at least. Inspector Cass will get to work studying the ruins, after which she’ll give you free rein to loot the remains. Do so, then she’ll talk to you again and ask to go seek out another caravan, which may have come to a similar end.

Like Cass said, this is a bit of a detour, and will take you further to the north-west than you’ve likely ever been. Fast-travel to the El Ray Motel and head north to reach the road running east-west to the north of Camp McCarran. Follow the road west, then downhill, and it’ll link up with a four-lane highway running north-south. Follow the highway north - being wary of Frag Mines along the way - and, when the road elevates, ditch it. Head west and follow the nearby train tracks north, then north-east as they curve. Near the walls around New Vegas you’ll find the South Cistern building, inside of which you’ll find some NCR soldiers and some radioactive water. Since the place isn’t very interesting, continue following the train tracks until you hit the New Vegas wall, then turn north, following the wall until you find two roads, one heading west and another running west, north-west. Follow the west, north-western road until you find Griffin Wares Sacked Caravan. Cass will inspect this caravan, which shows symptoms similar to her caravan, then loot the dead Pack Brahmin to find the next lead.

Next stop? Durable Dunn’s Sacked Caravan, which you should have explored either during the New Vegas Medical Clinic run, or en route to reach Nellis Air Force Base. In any event, you should be able to just fast-travel there, but if not, travel to Freeside’s East Gate and head east, south-east to find Durable Dunn’s Sacked Caravan. Cass will talk to you and direct you to look around, which you should do; loot the bodies (or ash piles) of the victims and the Van Graff thugs nearby or, if you already did so earlier, just wait around a bit and Cass will talk to you, identifying the Crimson Caravan and the Van Graffs as the guilty parties. Cass understandably wants blood, and you can certainly agree to that approach, but you can also try to be more subtle, find evidence, and let the NCR handle matters of justice.

Avenging Cassidy Caravans¶

Fast-travel to Freeside and make your way to the Silver Rush, which, if you forgot, is west of the Atomic Wrangler. If you did the first mission for the Van Graffs, you won’t be subjected to a weapon confiscation, which makes killing everybody inside much easier… or you can just kill Simon, then the guards that back him up, after which you can head inside and murder the rest of the Van Graffs inside. Be wary, however, as their Combat Armor and Energy Weapons make for a dangerous combination, especially if somebody grabs the Plasma Caster on the counter. If you want to find evidence instead, pick a locked door [Hard] in the south-western corner of the store on the first floor, then either unlock a Safe [Hard] or hack a Terminal [Hard] to open said safe to find a “Letter to Gloria”. After it’s in your hands Cass will talk to you and ask about evidence, but one of the two pieces of evidence aren’t enough. If you took the violent approach, now is a fine time to loot the store for its massive haul of expensive weaponry.

After dealing with the Van Graffs, return to the Crimson Caravan compound and head into the Crimson Caravan Main Office building. Loot the Safe [Average] by Alice McLafferty’s desk if you haven’t already to obtain the note “Crimson Caravan - Van Graff Agreement”. If you’ve already looted it… well, then the note will now magically be in there, and you merely need to open the safe to recover it. After you do, an impatient Cass will talk to you again. Assure her you have the evidence, then she’ll suggest turning it over to Ranger Jackson, who is the best bet of it reaching the authorities in the west. If you want to take a more violent approach, just deal with Alice McLafferty stealthily, while she’s in her office. No need to cause a fuss with the rest of the Crimson Caravan. Once both Gloria Van Graff and Alice McLafferty are dead, Cass will reveal a new-found vicious streak, which is reflected by her new “Hand of Vengeance” perk, which increases her damage with Guns.

Return to the Mojave Outpost and talk to Ranger Jackson in the Mojave Outpost Headquarters building. Hand the evidence over and he’ll agree to make sure justice is done… as long as you don’t take justice into your own hands while the legal process drags its feet. Completing the quest this way will earn Cass the perk “Calm Heart”, which raises her maximum Hit Points.

That’s all for Cass, the Van Graffs and the Crimson Caravan company, but before you head back to the Brotherhood of Steel, it’s time to finish exploring Camp McCarran. Seems a shame to leave the place completely unexplored after visiting there. Also, there are quest-related foes in the ruins to the west of Camp McCarran… foes you’ll probably come into conflict with while working for the Brotherhood. Might as well get them out of the way by doing some NCR quests in Camp McCarran. It’s not all tedious preparation, however, as there’s NCR Fame to earn and the odd unique weapon or two.