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For the song, see Heartaches by the Number. |
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Heartache by the Number is a companion quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Quest: Heartache by the number | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Acquire a job at the Crimson Caravan Company and continue until you are given the task of convincing Cass to part with Cassidy Caravans. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Barter 50) Pay her an extra 750 caps. | (Barter 75) Challenge her to a drinking contest and obtain twelve bottles of whiskey. | (Speech 75) Convince her to just sell her caravan. | (Speech 50) Complete a task for Ranger Jackson so that he can let Cass go from the outpost. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Optional) Eliminate Ranger Jackson so Cass can leave the outpost. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recruit Cass as a companion. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Talk to her about what she wants to do next. (You must have neutral or good Karma to do this) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pay your respects with Cass at her caravan's grave. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Investigate the wreckage of the Griffin Wares caravan with Cass. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track down Durable Dunn's missing caravan with Cass. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cass will want to kill Alice McLafferty and the Van Graffs, the culprits responsible for the caravans' destruction. You can assist her in two ways: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assassinate Alice McLafferty and Gloria Van Graff. | Prove the Crimson Caravan Company and Silver Rush guilty of their crimes. (Do in any order) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Crimson Caravan: Locate the evidence for the caravan's reason to attack. It is located in a safe (50 Lockpick to unlock) inside McLafferty's office. McLafferty also holds the key for the safe. | Silver Rush: Locate the evidence for the Van Graffs' guilt. It is inside a safe (75 Lockpick to unlock) behind a locked door (also 75 Lockpick to unlock). The safe can be unlocked via the terminal that requires 75 Science to hack. The door can be unlocked with a key, held by all of the Van Graff members. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Take the evidence of the Caravan attacks to Ranger Jackson at the outpost. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: Cass will receive the Hand of Vengeance perk (+15% damage with guns). | Reward: Cass will receive the Calm Heart perk (+50 HP). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
Persuading Cass[]
Upon first interacting with Cass at the bar in the Mojave Outpost, she will direct the Courier to the Crimson Caravan Company for work. Going there, Alice McLafferty, the company's manager, will assign a series of jobs. One of these jobs will involve buying off Cassidy Caravans from Cass herself, which will progress this quest. There are several methods of convincing her to give up her caravan:
- With a Barter skill of 50, one can choose to sweeten the deal by throwing in an extra 750 caps.
- With a Barter skill of 75, one can challenge her to a drinking contest. This requires twelve bottles of whiskey and a minimum Endurance attribute level of 6. (The dialogue will vary depending on if one's Endurance is higher than 6 and whether or not they suffer from alcohol addiction, but the outcome is always the same: she will agree to sell.)
- With a Speech skill of 50, one can suggest that the outpost is a pretty terrible place to be trapped. Cass will agree, but says Ranger Jackson won't allow her to leave. This then requires completing a task for him.
- With a Speech skill of 75, one can persuade her by telling her that she's responsible for the destruction of her caravan.
Notes:
- There is a bug with There Stands the Grass that can lock up Thomas Hildern's dialogue preventing the completion of You Can Depend on Me and ultimately preventing the recruitment of Rose of Sharon Cassidy as a companion. Therefore, it is highly recommended that one follows this quest as far as being sent by Alice McLafferty to buy out Cass prior to completing There Stands the Grass.
- It is possible to get twice as much experience with multiple skill checks. For the first check, challenge Cass to a drinking competition and then instead of getting whiskey, choose one of the other options for the second check.
- If one's total amount of caps is below 750 when talking to Cass, the 50 Barter option will not appear.
The Mystery of the Caravans[]
After Cass is persuaded, she can be recruited as a companion. If one has Evil Karma, she will not initiate the quest and will instead yell or even leave the party.
After talking to her (via the companion wheel) with sufficient Karma for her not to be annoyed, she will want to visit her caravan's wreckage site to pay her respects. Cass's caravan wreckage will have nothing left but a dead pack brahmin and some miscellaneous loot. Upon further examination, Cass will notice something suspicious and suggests visiting Griffin Wares' caravan.
The second caravan, which is found nearby a billboard south-west of the Horowitz farmstead has suffered the same fate as her caravan. Aside from the three dead pack brahmins and various scattered loot, there are three ash piles. Cass will become even more suspicious, and will want to examine Durable Dunn's caravan.
Durable Dunn's caravan, aside from the similar damage the earlier caravans sustained, has the corpses of two Van Graff thugs and a Crimson Caravan guard. The picture will be clear to Cass; the Crimson Caravan Company and Silver Rush are colluding to eliminate competition for the caravan business. She wishes to kill Alice McLafferty, the Crimson Caravan manager, and Gloria Van Graff, the head merchant of the Silver Rush, for all of the damage they caused. One can intervene in Cass's rash decisions and offer a more peaceful solution, or agree and aid her in killing both of them. Attention: If this is done after the player has started Birds of a Feather with the Silver Rush faction, be aware there is a Silver Rush member near by. Killing him will cause the Silver Rush faction to be hostile towards the player upon returning to Freeside. When Simon begins to attack the player, the Birds of a Feather quest is failed.
Peaceful solution[]
To come up with a more peaceful solution, one must gather evidence of the two caravans' true motives. These pieces of evidence are located in the two following locations: a safe in the Crimson Caravan main office and a safe behind a locked room in the Silver Rush. If one agreed to help Cass "settle accounts" with Alice McLafferty and Van Graffs, there won't be any evidence in the safes if changing one's mind.
Crimson Caravan main office[]
The evidence required to prove Crimson Caravan's reasons for attacking is located in a safe in the main office, next to Alice McLafferty's desk. It can be unlocked in two possible ways, with a loss of karma:
- Having a Lockpick skill of 50.
- Unlocking the safe with McLafferty's safe key. It can be acquired by pickpocketing her.
Once the incriminating note has been obtained, talk to Cass and show her the evidence.
Silver Rush[]
The evidence required to prove the Van Graffs' true motives is located in a safe behind a locked door inside the store. There are two ways to open the door:
- Unlocking it with a Lockpick skill of 75.
- Using a key to unlock it, which is carried by all of the Van Graff members (except for the crier).
The safe can also be opened in two ways:
- Unlocking it with a Lockpick skill of 75.
- Disengaging the lock by hacking the terminal near it with a Science skill of 75.
Again, once the evidence has been obtained, talk to Cass and show her the evidence.
Cass's Calm Heart[]
Once the two pieces of evidence have been obtained, Cass will suggest taking it to Ranger Jackson. The evidence will be passed on to NCR higher-ups, determining the fate of the two companies.
The quest will end once one talks to Cass. Cass will receive the Calm Heart perk, which grants her an additional 50 HP. One will also receive 500 Experience Points.
Additional notes[]
- Obtaining the evidence inside the Crimson Caravan main office will be easier at night, since the office will be empty. Alice will also be sleeping, making the key easier to pickpocket.
- Jean-Baptiste Cutting, Silver Rush's second-in-command, can turn hostile after a period of time if he is in the same room as Cass.
- Even if spotted lockpicking the door inside the Silver Rush, the Van Graffs won't become hostile, unless playing the Ultimate Edition.
- As of patch 1.2, turning in the evidence will turn the Van Graffs permanently hostile.
- If the Silver Rush is entered with Cass after turning in the evidence (and getting Cass the perk for it), Gloria Van Graff and Jean-Baptiste Cutting will attack. Killing them in self-defense will result in Cass accusing the player character of attacking them without checking in with her first, and then she will excitedly declare that she wants to go kill Alice McLafferty.
- Lockpicking all of the required safes and doors will incur negative Karma.
Violent solution[]
One can aid Cass's initial plan by helping her kill Alice McLafferty and Gloria Van Graff, by any means necessary. So long as both of the managers are dead, Cass will have fulfilled her vengeance.
- There is a possible glitch to this. if one first kills the Van Graffs and have previously talked to Cass (one may also have to buy Cassidy Caravans for You Can Depend On Me too), it automatically starts the Violent Solution. When one next talks to her she will want to kill Alice McLafferty next, entirely skipping the parts where one must search the destroyed caravans.
- Another glitch involves killing Alice McLafferty with a silenced weapon to avoid the penalties to reputation or allowing a companion to get the finishing blow for the same reason. It is also possible to kill Alice and have the quest complete in these ways if Cass is present. Talking to Cass after killing Alice even though the quest did not update will finish the quest violently.
Cass's Hand of Vengeance[]
Once both targets are dead, speak to Cass to conclude the quest. Cass will earn the Hand of Vengeance perk, which gives her an additional 15% damage with guns. One will also receive 500 experience points.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- It is possible to finish the quest peacefully, then kill both of the targets. Cass will end up with both of the perks. (Note that the GECK scripts appear to take away the Calm Heart perk when the Hand of Vengeance perk is granted, but it appears that companion perks are handled specially - in-game testing shows that she keeps both perks.)
- If any character from either the Van Graffs or the Crimson Caravan is killed after completing this quest the peaceful way, Cass will ask why they went through all the trouble in the quest instead of simply killing them anyways.
- It is possible to finish the quest by killing Cass and returning to the Van Graffs. However, if this is done without hiding, or using a stealthy method, negative NCR reputation will be incurred.
- If Ranger Jackson is dead when the player suggests finishing this quest peacefully by gathering evidence, Cass will decline and the player will have to do it the "old fashioned way".
- At the end of the peaceful solution, Ranger Jackson warns the player not to kill McLafferty or Van Graff, or he'll "put you in chains." If the player then kills both or either characters and returns to the Mojave Outpost, speaking to Jackson does not trigger any negative consequences.
- It is not possible to complete this quest and Birds of a Feather in the same playthrough, as Cass will be killed.
- Killing Gloria Van Graff or Jean-Baptiste Cutting will fail the quest Birds of a Feather.
- Killing Alice McLafferty will fail the quest Pressing Matters (but it's completely possible to complete that quest before killing her in Heartache by the Number).
- It is possible to kill the Van Graffs first by presenting Cass to them as requested, then objecting when they try to kill her. This method will still allow one to turn in the evidence from Alice McLafferty to Ranger Jackson, and complete the peaceful option.
- If one has already killed Gloria and the Van Graff family, after going into the Silver Rush with Cass and getting the evidence from the safe, when talking to her and trying to show her the evidence, she will go on about doing it the old fashioned way, and the marker will lead one to Alice to kill her. If one ignores that and still report to Ranger Jackson, he will accept the evidence, and will complete the quest peacefully, gaining the Calm Heart perk. The ranger will also lead to the quest Can You Find it in Your Heart?
- If working towards the peaceful solution and then either change one's mind or alienate the NCR (which makes the peaceful solution unreachable), one can switch to the violent solution simply by killing either Gloria Van Graff or Alice McLafferty. One cannot make this switch through dialogue; just kill the targets to make the switch. Cass will ask to let her know next time the Courier wants to change their mind.
- If one has accepted Heartache by the Number but haven't picked up Cass as a companion, and one talks to her after having killed Gloria for unrelated reasons, it will trigger the final phase of the quest; she will rejoice over Van Graff's death out of the blue and propose to go settle the score with McLafferty.
- After completing the quest, the Van Graffs will turn hostile. On PC, it is possible to make them neutral by inputting the console command
SetAlly 1b2a4 118368 1 1.
Behind the scenes[]
This is one of many quests that are named after songs that can be heard on the radio, in this case the Guy Mitchell song Heartaches by the Number, which is broadcasted in-game on Radio New Vegas and Mojave Music Radio.
Bugs[]
Sometimes the quest can stall after Cass is convinced to sell her caravan. Aside from the next step being not viewable, the quest arrow will not appear.[verified]
- Recruiting Cass will fix the problem.
- If the player completes "Can You Find it in Your Heart?" and starts You Can Depend on Me before talking to Cass, when the player talks Cass, this quest will begin abruptly with the messages "Clear the roads for Jackson..." and "(Optional) 'Remove' Jackson as an obstacle..." completed, preventing the next step from appearing.[verified]
- To fix this, continue the quest, get her to sell her caravan, and recruit her as a follower.
- After taking Cass to any caravan wreckage or other location that triggers a conversation, she may stop following the player and become passive.[verified]
- When attempting to get the evidence at Silver Rush, the terminal attached to the safe might not activate.[verified]
- When traveling from the east gate of Crimson Caravan Company to Durable Dunn's sacked caravan, the quest marker may lead the player through Isaac's house.[verified]
- Despite being dismissed, Cass may appear in the Crimson Caravan main office when the player enters and kills McLafferty.[verified]
- After getting the evidence at the Silver Rush, the objective may not register as completed. However, the evidence can still be given to Ranger Jackson to complete the quest that way.[verified]
- The quest may halt after turning the evidence into Jackson. The quest doesn't get completed, and Cass doesn't get the perk.[verified]
- Telling Cass to wait outside and then collecting the evidence from the Silver Rush causes Cass to disappear from her spot. She will still be shown on the world map, but not on the local map.[verified]
- To fix this, go to one of the companion dismissal terminals and use it to dismiss Cass. She will then be automatically sent back to the Mojave Outpost, where she can be rehired.
- Cass may be found inside the Silver Rush if the Courier hasn't completed Birds of a Feather. When Gloria Van Graff tells the Courier to speak to Jean-baptiste he can be found in a back room with her and can also be stealth killed without alerting the rest of the room.
- To fix this, go to one of the companion dismissal terminals and use it to dismiss Cass. She will then be automatically sent back to the Mojave Outpost, where she can be rehired.
- Cass can be knocked unconscious while fighting the Van Graffs inside their building. After killing them, Cass will not activate the conversation complaining the player has changed their mind.[verified]
- This quest can be stuck if There Stands the Grass is finished by siding with Keely about deleting the data before finishing this quest. There will only be one dialogue option or set of dialogue options, with all others missing.[verified]
- If the player kills Alice McLafferty and the Van Graffs before ever meeting Cass, Cass will initiate conversation as if she has already been met, recruiting her as a companion and giving her both of the perks. However, she will be unable to physically follow the player. Cassidy will be listed as a follower, but upon speaking to her again, she will speak to the player as if they have never met. Even though Ranger Jackson's quest is initiated (and completed), she will still not follow the player.[verified]
- After completing Oh My Papa by convincing the Great Khans to leave the Mojave, entering the Crimson Caravan main office at night will cause the Great Khans to attack the people inside, but will not be hostile to the player.[verified]
- Completing the quest by killing the Van Graffs seems to cause the energy weapons to not show up in Vendortron's inventory if Gun Runners' Arsenal is installed. Removing the add-on, killing Gloria Van Graff, then re-installing should fix this issue.[verified]
- If the Van Graffs were killed during the quest Tend to Your Business, talking to Cass wil start this quest from the part where she asks the player to kill Alice McLafferty. However, the quest can still be finished peacefully by finding the evidence and giving it to Ranger Jackson.[verified]
- Playing the Ultimate Edition, in Silver Rush and having activated both Birds of a Feather and Heartache By the Number plus reaching the point of making a permanent solution, when trying to pick the door leading to the safe, a firefight may ensue. Exiting Silver Rush after Gloria is killed and while Jean-Baptiste is alive, will reveal Cass is still inside. Upon returning inside, all hostilities have ended and the Courier can choose to kill Cass. However, upon doing so, the Courier can not move in-game, despite menu functions working, probably due to Gloria being killed.
