A Fix Fit For Fiends¶

Fast-travel to Camp McCarran and head into the Terminal Building. Enter via the middle of the three entrances and Veronica should comment on the NCR’s strength. If you’ve received her dialogue from the Boomer Museum, Cottonwood Cove, and Camp McCarran (these aren’t the only places that can trigger dialogue, but they’re three that could have been covered fairly quickly during this section) she should stop you and ask you to take her home. This will start the quest I Could Make You Care , which will be covered shortly… once Aba Daba Honeymoon is complete.

First, however, talk to Col. James Hsu in the Terminal Building and pick the dialogue option “I’m up for hire if you need some extra manpower around the base.” then inquire further by picking the dialogue option “The Fiends?” and he’ll task you with finding a missing ranger named Bryce Anders and assassinating Motor-Runner. To mark this free-form quest you’ll get the note “Motor-Runner Bounty”. It’s a fine job to do after delivering the package for the Great Khans.

Fast-travel to Vault 3 and murder all the Fiends outside, who have probably respawned since your last visit. Once done, make your way into Vault 3 and give Motor-Runner the package, then return to Diane to complete the quest. That’s all you need to do for the Great Khans now, and if you helped them at Boulder City and near Quarry Junction, you should now be “Idolized” by them… depending on how many recipes you cave Jack. It’s now time to turn your attention back to Vault 3 and the Fiends.

Vault 3 - Recreation Area¶

Return to Vault 3 and… well, time to get to looting. West of the entrance room is a cafeteria, where you can find some chems on some tables and food items strewn about. Unlock a door to the south [Easy] to get into the kitchen and loot a First Aid Box, then raid the pantry to the east. Opposite of the door to the cafeteria is a storage room [Easy] in which you can find a First Aid Box and some containers to loot for minor components.

Make your way back into the hallway then head west, go down some stairs (either flight will do) then head into a game room to the south, where you’ll find some pool tables (plenty of chems on one of them) a Vending Machine and other minor loot strewn about. If you head up some stairs to the north you’ll find more pool tables to loot, while searching up the stairs to the south will yield an Ammo Box. Go through a door to the west to find a movie room with a trio of Ammo Boxes, a Doctor’s Bag, a 10mm Pistol and several Stimpaks in it, then go through a door [Very Easy] in the north-western corner of the main room to find a storage room containing many Pool Cues and Nuka-Colas, including a Nuka-Cola Victory and a Nuka-Cola Quartz.

Leave the game room and return to the hallway outside and continue south until you find two bathrooms to the west (one of which contains a First Aid Box [Very Easy]), while to the east you’ll find a locked door [Hard] leading to a clinic, which you can loot to find a First Aid Box, some chems and a Today’s Physician magazine. Leave the clinic and continue south, then turn east and head down a hallway. To the south you’ll find stairs leading the Living Quarters area, which you’ll go to shortly, but first continue down the hallway to the east then enter another storage room [Easy] where you can find a First Aid box, a Fixin’ Things magazine and other minor loot.

Vault 3 - Living Quarters¶

From the stairs head south to find a locked door [Average] which can be opened by hacking a nearby terminal [Average]. In the room beyond you’ll find a Chinese Army: Spec. Ops. Training Manual on a bookshelf and a few magazines on a bedside table. If you go through a door in the south-western corner of the room you can reach the Overseer’s office, but there’s another, more involved way to get there, which might as well be covered.

Leave the room and head west down a hallway, then turn south and go down some stairs before entering a prison chamber. Behind the locked cell [Hard] you can find a prisoner named Rick Lancer. Talk to him and he’ll implore you to free him by stealing the key off a Fiend named Daniel, in return for which he’ll give you the password to a nearby Terminal [Average]. This, in turn, allows you to reach the halls beyond the first room you entered (the room with the Chinese Army: Spec. Ops. Training Manual) through which you can reach the Overseer’s office. Just another way to get to the same place. Alternatively you can just pick the locked door [Hard] to get the password. The Fiends will remain blissfully oblivious to their prisoner’s escape. If you want to find Daniel, head through a doorway to the south, down some stairs to the west, down another tunnel to the south, then up some more stairs to the east. Make your way down a hallway to the south and enter the southern-most room to the east, wherein Daniel dwells. Pick-pocket Daniel and nab his Fiend Prisoner Key, which will bypass the cage door and free the prisoners. You can also steal a Vault 3 Maintenance Key… for what good that does. However you do it, free the prisoners to get a small quest reward and the password to the nearby terminal, should you need it.

Get through the door in the south-eastern corner of the prison room, ascend the stairs beyond and make your way to the Overseer’s office to the south. Loot the room to find some ammo on a bookshelf and a Hunting Rifle on the floor, then turn your attention to the “Overseer’s Terminal” [Hard] behind the desk. If you freed Rick Lancer and his fellow prisoners you’ll already have the password to this terminal. If not, hack it. Either way, once you have access select the “Unlock Storage Room Lockers” which will disabled the locks [Hard] on some submerged doors in the south-eastern and south-western corners of the level. Loot the living rooms between the prison and Daniel, then search the submerged rooms (once again the Rebreather comes in hand) and loot the Gun Lockers beyond these doors to score some low-quality weapons and ammo.

Return to the beginning of the level and go through a door to the east, beyond which you’ll find a dead Fiend. Unlike the few dead Fiends in the living quarters, this one doesn’t seem to have died from an overdose. The Frag Mine on the ground nearby is probably a more likely culprit. Disarm it, then continue east to find some stairs where you’ll find a Tripwire tied to a Grenade Bouquet. Once that’s out of the way, head upstairs and pick up another Frag Mine in front of a door leading back to the Recreation Area.

Head upstairs and go through a door to the north, disarming two Frag Mines along the way. In the room beyond you’ll find a wounded Bryce Anders, whom you can pump for information about the Fiends, although you’ll need to succeed at a [Speech 25] challenge to “lie” about being an independent contractor, even though you technically are one. Learn what you can, then tell him about your mission. You can succeed at a [Speech 75] to convince him to join up with you or you can convince him to head back to Camp McCarran [Medicine 35] and leave the job up to you… or you can give him a Doctor’s Bag to fix his leg and bring him along. Either way, he’ll give you the Vault 3 Maintenance Key, which can also be stolen from the Fiend named Daniel in the Living Quarters. You don’t really need to bring Bryce along for any reason, and since you should be able to just walk up to Motor-Runner and shoot him in the face, making this more complicated than it needs to be isn’t recommended. Besides, Bryce is made out of glass. He’s got better odds of surviving if he runs back to Camp McCarran than he does running through Vault 3. Loot some 5.56mm Rounds and a Mine Box, then hack the Terminal [Very Easy] and selection the “Open Access Panel” to open a door to the north, which leads back to the entrance room. Handy.

Vault 3 - Maintenance Wing¶

You should know the way to the Maintenance Wing by now, head through the Recreation Area and exit to the Maintenance Wing by going down some stairs along the northern end of the level. Once here turn west to find a locked door [Average] which can also be opened by hacking a terminal [Average]. One way or the other, get into the room beyond where you’ll find a Locksmith’s Reader magazine and some Lockers to loot. Go through a door to the north and proceed until you hit a “T” junction, then turn east to find another locked door [Average] with an accompanying Terminal [Average]. Through this door you’ll find another storage room with mediocre offerings, including an issue of Fixin’ Things on a metal shelf and some containers to loot.

Now all that’s left is Motor Runner. If you didn’t bring Bryce along and if the Fiends are still neutral to you, your life will be a lot easier. Motor-Runner is somewhat stronger than most Fiends and he does come equipped with a Chainsaw, but he’s nothing special compared to some of the critters you may have recently been fighting. When you kill him his Fiends will all turn hostile, though (being detected it almost assured), and while they’re all relatively weak, some can carry more powerful weapons than the ones outside, including 10mm Submachine Guns, .44 Magnum Revolvers and the odd Flamer. In groups, they can be dangerous. If you’ve got a high Sneak score, however, you can sneak around and murder the Fiends in the vault before you kill Motor-Runner… most of them, anyways. If you pick your targets and stay hidden, you may be able to eliminate most of the opposition before you even deal with Motor Runner.

Kill Motor-Runner’s Fiends if you can, then turn your attention to the man himself. You can try to strike a deal with Motor-Runner and lie to the NCR about his demise, if you wish. You’ll have the option to pass a [Speech 75] check to get him to pay you, but it always fails, or you can pay him (200 Caps, or 150 Caps with a [Barter 60] check) for the proof you need. Better yet, you can just kill him and take the proof you need. Whatever you do, return to Camp McCarran and talk to Col. James Hsu to get some NCR Fame for saving Bryce… assuming, of course, he made it out of Vault 3 alive. Tell him about Motor-Runner’s demise (real or not) and you’ll get another dose of NCR Fame and more conventional quest rewards.