“It commemorates the Battle of Hoover Dam. The rangers lured the best of Caesar's Legion into Boulder City, then blew the whole town up. The NCR still lost a bunch of troops in the fighting, though. My older brother sacrificed himself so they could evacuate some of the wounded.”— Private Kowalski
The quest is started by first traveling to Boulder City and locating the memorial outside the Big Horn Saloon. Upon first entering the town, one will find an NCR trooper, Private Kowalski, paying respects to his brother, who died during the First Battle of Hoover Dam and was named on the memorial. One can speak with him, but the dialogue options are only to offer condolences and ask about his situation trying to return to New California.
Advancing the quest requires raising a firearm to the memorial; at this, Kowalski will become angry while shooting at it will make him furious. He will pursue the player character and angrily scold them for their disrespect. One can then keep being disrespectful or pass a 30 Speech skill check to apologise.
If the former, one will have two avenues to respond to Kowalski's further hostility, with differing outcomes:
If one insults him and his brother, this garners Karma loss and Kowalski will turn hostile; killing him afterward doesn't make other people hostile.
If one refuses to apologize for their disrespect, this garners NCR infamy. If they shoot at the memorial a second time afterward, Kowalski and any others nearby such as Ike or Lt. Monroe will turn hostile.
Notes[]
Whether one ignores him or completes the quest by apologizing, Kowalski will disappear from Boulder City after 73 in-game hours.
One can incur Kowalski's anger by shooting the stone, swinging a melee weapon at it, or just hitting it with a bare fist.
Defacing the stone when hidden has no effect on one's standing with Kowalski or the NCR.
Taking a picture of the stone with the Codac R9000 given by Michael Angelo during Classic Inspiration will cause Kowalski to react as if it was shot with a firearm. This is because the R9000 is coded as a ranged weapon, and fires invisible projectiles that normally don't anger NPCs.
Private Kowalski may not show up at the memorial. He can be spawned in by using the console command player.placeatme 0011a8d8.
Bugs[]
PCXbox 360 Kowalski may state that the Courier defaces the monument when they did not. The Courier will have to pass the Speech check to avoid NCR infamy and once passed, Kowalski will no longer speak to them.[verified]
Kowalski may state that the Courier defaces the monument when they did not. The Courier will have to pass the Speech check to avoid NCR infamy and once passed, Kowalski will no longer speak to them.[verified]
