Crazy, Crazy, Crazy is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Side Quest: Crazy, Crazy, Crazy | |||||||||||||||
| Speak with Neil. | |||||||||||||||
| (Optional) Pass a 50 Speech skill check to convince Neil to lure the nightkin guards away from the broadcast building. | |||||||||||||||
| Follow the road to the peak of Black Mountain. | |||||||||||||||
| (Optional) Pass a 75 Speech skill check when using the ham radio beneath the overturned dish to trick Tabitha into turning the super mutants and nightkin against each other. | |||||||||||||||
| Deal with Tabitha. | |||||||||||||||
| Access the broadcast building or the prison building to draw out and kill Tabitha. | Pass a 60 Science skill check to repair Rhonda in the storage building. | ||||||||||||||
| Reward: 1000 XP Raul Tejada as a companion (if freed from the prison building) | |||||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
Although the quest is only triggered by getting in proximity of Black Mountain, one can pre-emptively listen to the insane ramblings of the co-hosts of Black Mountain Radio by going near the Yangtze Memorial close to Goodsprings, where the signal is discovered by the Pip-Boy.
Climbing Black Mountain[]
The quest is started by approaching Black Mountain either from the west and getting near Neil's shack or from the southeastern entrance partway up the mountain path via going through Hidden Valley and out the northern pass. Both entrances will lead to encountering a super mutant named Neil who stops the player character. He warns them that the area in and around Black Mountain is dangerous for them as a nightkin named Tabitha has taken over the pre-War military communication array and turned it into her own mutant-controlled territory called the State of Utobitha; one of her rules is that no humans are welcome, and any that approach are to be killed on sight. Neil further explains the area is patrolled by super mutants during the day, while at night, cloaked nightkin patrol the roads. He requests, if they're serious about scaling the mountain, to do his fellow mutants a favor and take out Tabitha to prevent her radicalism from encouraging retaliation against all mutants from other groups like the NCR.
Before leaving, one can ask more questions from Neil including what he knows about Tabitha's operation, at which he reveals that the mountain was previously controlled by Marcus and was a relatively peaceful place for mutants until Tabitha came and usurped him, causing Marcus to leave with his followers and reside at Jacobstown; Neil will mark the location on the Pip-Boy map when asked about it (if not discovered already). On his way out, Marcus tried to cut off Tabitha's access to the radio equipment, but his efforts failed when a ghoul named Raul Tejada came to Black Mountain on his own and was subsequently enslaved by Tabitha and repaired the damage done, allowing her to broadcast on her radio station.
One has the option to pass a 50 Speech skill check to convince Neil to assist them in killing Tabitha, to which he will ask to meet up near the mountain peak once he's figured out a plan and runs ahead.
From whichever entrance taken to get to the area, one will have to make their way up the road towards Black Mountain's peak. The long way up the winding road will involve having to fight against up to three patrols and checkpoints manned by two to three super mutants, as well as dealing with nightkin that remained cloaked until popping out along the path to attack. Using the southeastern entrance will allow for avoiding all that, though it comes with its own danger of having to fight through a group of centaurs including the unique enemy Moe.
Upon reaching the mountain peak, the first area will be populated with super mutants scattered around the few buildings including a toppled satellite dish surrounding an irradiated crater. After killing or sneaking past the enemies, one can enter the dish hut interior and find a ham radio behind a wall that can be interacted with to talk to Tabitha herself. One will then have a few options:
- Trick Tabitha. Passing a 75 Speech skill check will result in telling Tabitha that the "dumb-dumbs" are taking over or, if Neil was convinced to help via his own Speech check, that the super mutants are following him now. Tabitha will then sentence all "dumb-dumbs" to death over the radio and cause all remaining super mutants and nightkin to turn hostile against each other. If the check is failed, she will announce the intruder's location and send super mutants towards the dish to find them.
- Expose oneself. Announcing the player character's fanhood over the radio leads to Tabitha sarcastically thanking them and then sending the remaining super mutants in the area towards the dish.
- Say nothing. Tabitha will become irritated and won't respond to further attempts to interact with the radio afterward.
- Acting dumb. This only appears with a 3 or lower Intelligence attribute level. Choosing this option results in Tabitha dismissing the player character as a "dumb-dumb," and cutting off the conversation without any consequences.
If Neil was convinced to help via Speech check, he can be found on the exterior of the dish structure near the rocks. He reveals his plan to tell the nightkin guarding Tabitha's compound about "an intruder in the entrance of the Black Mountain," intending to lure them away and give the player character an opening to find Tabitha. After agreeing, he will run up the road, then come back a short while later followed by most of the cloaked nightkin, after which he will start walking back towards his previous spot. Note that if the player character chose to bypass Neil and kill the nightkin at the summit by themselves, talking to him later will have no effect. All nightkin except for the nightkin sniper wielding the unique missile launcher Annabelle will vacate the compound exterior; the latter will still need to be taken out.
There are also two shortcuts to the summit to avoid most of the super mutants:
- On the way up will be a body of an NCR trooper. There is a bear trap at the legs of the corpse and more all the way up to that hill. Be careful to avoid bear traps and falling rocks if one chooses to take this path. There will be a warning sign about rock falls halfway up the path. A little beyond that point a trap is triggered and a giant boulder rolls down the path, which can be avoided by backing down the path until it flares out to the right or left and hugging the rocks to the side. After walking up this shortcut, the player character will only have to deal with the super mutants at the toppled satellite dish to reach the summit.
- From the smaller crater filled with centaurs and the dead Brotherhood paladins, kill or sneak past them and climb the ridge to the east. This leads to a Hard-locked gate that goes directly into the compound behind the broadcast building, bypassing Neil as well as the super mutant patrols and nightkin guards.
Taking Tabitha off-air[]
At this point after reaching the compound, one can choose to complete the quest in one of three ways.
- Enter the broadcast building (two-story building on the south end) and kill Tabitha in the second-floor studio. Tabitha's personal computer on the first floor of the building has a Novice-level lock that can be hacked (it does not have a special name, being simply labeled terminal). The last entry in this terminal says that Tabitha hides a second key to her broadcast studio below the stairs leading to the second floor exterior. The key has the appearance of a small rock and can be tricky to pick up.
- Enter the prison building (first building on the left, door is on the south face) and release Tabitha's prisoner, Raul. The building has 2 terminals, one unlocked and one with a Very Hard-level lock, and a door that requires a key. The first terminal contains Raul's diary; reading Entry 6 will garner the Black Mountain prison password for the other terminal and allow for using it to open the door. After talking to Raul inside and setting him free (making him available as a companion as well), Tabitha along with 2 nightkin will ambush the player character as soon as they leave the building, allowing for killing her and completing the quest.
- Enter the storage building (in-between the broadcast and prison buildings) and go to the south end where one will find a disabled Mister Handy named Rhonda. Interacting with it will give a message that requires passing a 60 Science skill check to successfully repair Rhonda. The robot will revive and ask to be taken to Tabitha. Upon exiting the building, Tabitha will appear, but will be non-hostile and happy to see her robot repaired and fully functional again. She will then give the player character a key to open various containers in the storage building, garnering Karma gain and completing the quest.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- Tabitha will sometimes spawn outside randomly. If this happens while engaged in combat with the super mutants there, there is no practical way to stop companions from killing her unless entering one of the buildings nearby in time.
- Under the toppled satellite dish are several trunks, two of which contain several hundred caps and a third which has an Average-level lock on it.
- After passing a certain spot on the road towards Black Mountain, but not yet to Neil's shack, two groups of super mutants will spawn further down the road.
- After completing the quest peacefully, Rhonda and Tabitha will make their way down the mountain to Neil's shack, where they will disappear from the game, but they will move very slowly. They can also both be killed and looted with no Karma penalty. Raul can also be freed without Tabitha becoming hostile.
- Although Rhonda and Tabitha will be friendly towards the player character if the quest is completed peacefully, they are still allied with the super mutants, nightkin, and centaurs around Black Mountain, who become neutral upon completion. Attacking or killing any Black Mountain inhabitants, even in self-defense, will turn both Tabitha and Rhonda hostile.
- If any companions are solely responsible for the kill, Tabitha and Rhonda may only become hostile to them and leave the player character alone.
- Freeing Raul first, even without hiring him as a companion will still cause Tabitha to ambush the player character outside.
- However, with a high enough sneak skill, one can free Raul and sneak quickly to the storage building to repair Rhonda, causing Tabitha to initiate dialogue upon exiting the building and becoming non-hostile.
- If Neil is bypassed via using the Hard-locked gate to reach Tabitha's compound, traveling down to his location afterward will result in him thanking the player character as if they already agreed to help him.
- Following the completion of the quest, super mutants and nightkin will still spawn in the area. They will be friendly but cannot be interacted with.
- Lily Bowen will have unique dialogue if she is an active companion when completing the quest, regardless of which outcome was chosen.[1][2]
- If Boone is an active companion, he will attack Tabitha on sight due to the NCR's hostility towards super mutants.
 | The following is based on Fallout: New Vegas cut content. |
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- There is an unavailable option at the ham radio to tell Tabitha of a dumb-dumb revolt with a lower Speech 40 check, but for that, one must know that Tabitha is paranoid. Since the flag is not set anywhere, this topic never appears.
| End of information based on Fallout: New Vegas cut content |
|---|
Behind the scenes[]
- The quest name is a reference to the 1953 song "Crazy, Crazy, Crazy" by The "5" Royales.
- The quest was designed by Jesse Farrell.[3]
Bugs[]
Sometimes, Rhonda will not spawn on the workbench, making it impossible to complete the quest peacefully.[verified]- Sometimes the super mutants along the road up to the summit will not spawn, allowing you to freely walk up to the top of the mountain. Curiously though, the cloaked Nightkin that ambush the player character along the road as well as the few that are at the summit, are still present. If you save and then reload while near the crater, the mutants will usually all spawn and then descend down the road and return to their normal guard posts. [verified]
- Sometimes, companions will disappear while heading up Black Mountain. They will appear on the map, but will not be at their stated locations. For replication purposes, the original author of this note had ED-E and Boone with them. Saving your game then loading said save will fix this. [verified]
- Neil will tell the player character to meet him at the top of the hill. He will be located to the left directly after passing the crater (radiation warning). Talk to him but DO NOT go running ahead. If one goes past him and starts killing the Nightkin, it is possible for a glitch to occur where Neil will not be able to join the player character regardless of the speech options and will always reply "OK. But whatever you have to do, be quick about it." If this happens, one can still complete the quest. This may still happen if one kills the Nightkin prior to even starting the quest. [verified]
- If one accepts Neil's help but enters Black Mountain alone from the locked gate on the southwest side (by Tabitha's room) instead of going through the checkpoints, Neil will run around randomly when he is approached and cannot be spoken to. Waiting causes his map marker to move near the domes, but he is nowhere to be found. [verified]
- The quest can be completed (but without the XP that should be gained and will appear as a new quest then a completed quest in your Pip-Boy the moment the quest is completed) by not visiting Neil's shack prior to exploring Black Mountain. Once Black Mountain is clear of all mutants and Tabitha is dead, Neil will turn up thanking the player character for their help, even though they have never met him before. [verified]
- Repairing Rhonda to reunite with Tabitha before ever going to Neil's shack completes what would be the requirements for Crazy, Crazy, Crazy, however the quest is not added. The player character can then meet Neil for the first time at his shack and he will thank them. However the quest will still not appear as started or completed. [verified]
- If one wishes to peacefully resolve the situation with Tabitha, do not let a significant amount of in-game time pass between the moment when first encountering Rhonda and the moment when they are repaired. It is highly likely that Rhonda will disappear from the game if one leaves her room and decides to come back at a much later time. This can be fixed if you are playing the PC version with access to the console by using the command player.placeleveledactoratme 000E84A2. Please note that achievements will be disabled until you have restarted the game-client, so it would be advised to save before and immediately after using the command, then exit the game-client completely and load it up again. Also note that by using this command, one will circumvent the Science check. [verified]
- If the player character restores Rhonda and spends too much time in the Storage House, Tabitha may enter as a hostile. If she is killed, the quest will be completed but one may be locked inside of the Storage House. Sometimes the door will unlock after killing Rhonda, after Tabitha is killed. [verified]
- If the the quest has been completed peacefully and it is bugged but Tabitha has already disappeared, open the console and type prid 000e61a2 to select Tabitha (she is invisible). Then type moveto player to move her to the player character then type enable to cause her to respawn, press E on her and the quest should complete normally. Alternatively, one can simply type prid 000e61a2 then type kill to kill her and complete the quest the 'bad' way. [verified]
- Sometimes the "dead" NCR soldier near the bear traps will be alive. [verified]
- After repairing Rhonda and finishing the quest, Rhonda and Tabitha may suddenly disappear if one attempts to follow them. [verified]
- If one has completed the quest peacefully and returns to Black Mountain some time afterward, the nightkin may be hostile but the super mutants are neutral and do not join the nightkin in attacking unless provoked. [verified]
- If you save right after finishing the quest by the peaceful way, and then you load that game, Rhonda might break into pieces which remain static in the air. Nonetheless, she will continue walking alongside Tabitha. [verified]
- After convincing Neil to become a decoy, he may be stuck behind a rock, attempting to run towards the camp but to no avail. This is then followed by the Nightkin running down the road to attack the player despite being given no notice of any intruder. [verified]
References[]
- ↑ Lily Bowen: "Tabitha! You naughty, naughty girl! Leo remembers what you did!"
(Lily Bowen's dialogue) - ↑ The Courier: "Earlier, it seemed like you knew Tabitha. What's the story there?"
Lily Bowen: "Tabitha was grandma's squad leader when we both worked for the Master. She wasn't very nice at all, but she was good at the chopping. Almost as good as Leo...."
(Lily Bowen's dialogue) - ↑ "Who designed Crazy, Crazy, Crazy? It was a pretty simple but well-designed quest, with some of the most fun combat of the game."
Joshua Sawyer: "Jesse Farrell"
(Joshua Sawyer Formspring posts)
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