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Side Quest: Why Can't We Be Friends?

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Background

You'll receive this quest from Philip Lem (#1) or Samuel Cooke (#2) in Vault 19.


Walkthrough

Lem and Cooke are the leaders of the escaped convicts living in the vault. They both control about half of the convicts, and they'll try to get you to do something to give them control over the other half. Lem will ask you to destroy the Sulfur Cave beneath the vault, which will knock Cooke out of power and allow the convicts to surrender to the NCR. Cooke will ask you to kill the fire geckos in the Sulfur Cave, so the convicts can create bombs and join the Great Khans. Talking to Lem and Cooke will also net you a Blue Sector Key Card and a Red Sector Key Card, which will allow you to explore the vault.

You'll have three ways to complete this quest:
  • Help Lem. For this case you'll need to travel to the microcline rock in the Sulfur Cave (#7), and rig it to explode the cave. This will require three sets of C-4 Plastic Explosive, plus an Explosives score of at least 60. Afterwards, when you return to Lem, you'll receive 50 caps, 50 xp, and some Powder Ganger fame, but then you'll have to make a decision. If you allow the convicts to surrender to the NCR, then you'll gain 250 xp and some more Powder Ganger fame, but if you convince Lem to join the Great Khans (which requires Speech 40), and then run over to Red Rock Canyon to confirm the invitation with Papa Khan, then you'll gain 300 xp instead.

  • Help Cooke. For this case you'll need to travel to the Sulfur Cave and kill all of the fire geckos there. The quest will mark all of the geckos on your map, so finding them and killing them should not be too difficult. Afterwards, when you return to Cooke, you'll receive 75 caps, 50 xp, and some Powder Ganger fame, but you won't be done yet. Cooke will ask you to travel to Red Rock Canyon to see if Papa Khan would allow the Powder Gangers to join up with the Great Khans. When you reach Papa Khan, you won't have to pass any speech checks or anything to convince him. He'll just accept the Powder Gangers (and their explosives) provided they can pass the initiation rite. When you relay this information to Cooke, you'll receive 300 xp.

  • Blow up the vault. For this case you'll need to travel to the microcline rock in the Sulfur Cave (#7), and rig it to explode the cave and the vault. This will require five sets of C-4 Plastic Explosive, plus an Explosives score of at least 50. However, when you blow everything up, you'll fail the quest, and you won't receive any sort of reward. You also won't be allowed to return to the vault or the cave.
Note: If you need more C-4 Plastic Explosives, then you can find some in the vault (#3-6).

Another Note: If you kill Papa Khan in Red Rock Canyon, then you'll fail the quest.

A Third Note: Whichever convict leader you don't support will end up dead (most likely killed by the one you did support), and the door to his office will close and lock.


1 - Philip Lem


2 - Samuel Cook


3 - C-4 Plastic Explosive

You'll find the explosive next to the Nuka-Cola vending machine here.


4 - C-4 Plastic Explosive

You'll find the explosive in between the filing cabinets here.


5 - C-4 Plastic Explosive

You'll find the explosive underneath the couch here.


6 - C-4 Plastic Explosive

You'll find the explosive on the floor next to the doorway here.


7 - Microcline Rock


Exits:
  1. Red elevator between the 1st Floor and the Living Quarters.
  2. Blue elevator between the 1st Floor and the Living Quarters.
  3. Hole between the Living Quarters and the Sulfur Cave.
  4. Elevator between the Sulfur Cave and the 1st Floor.
  5. Wasteland exit.