Pheeble Will is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Side Quest: Pheeble Will | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Speak with Walter Phebus outside the Las Vegas Boulevard Station on the Strip; choose the 7 Perception attribute check to find out his real motive. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Agree to help Walter get his revenge on Heck Gunderson; pass a 70 Barter check to receive 400 caps upfront. | Speak with Ethel Phebus. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Pass a 75 Speech check to convince Walter to abandon his revenge and leave with his wife. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 375 XP | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Speak with Heck Gunderson in the Ultra-Luxe about his missing son and trigger Beyond the Beef. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Return to Walter. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Kill only Heck Gunderson. | Kill only Ted Gunderson. | Kill both Heck and Ted. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 100 XP 500 caps (1000 with 90 Barter) | Reward: 100 XP 250 caps (500 with 80 Barter) | Reward: 200 XP 1500 caps | |||||||||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
The quest is started by entering the middle section of the New Vegas Strip (where one finds the entrance to the Tops during Ring-a-Ding-Ding!) and looking on the west side, near the Las Vegas Boulevard Station. At the foot of the stairs, a rancher couple are sitting on some nearby benches, Ethel and Walter Phebus. Speaking to the latter, he initially is cagey about their reasons for coming to New Vegas, but choosing a 7 Perception attribute check gets him to reveal that he and his wife came all the way from New California in order to track down Heck Gunderson, a wealthy and notorious brahmin baron; asking Walter more questions reveals that the Phebus ranch was taken over by Heck through underhanded methods and Walter sees no alternative but to take him out the "old-fashioned" way. Before agreeing to help, one can pass a 70 Barter skill check to receive 400 caps upfront, with more after they get results.
Alternatively, one can also speak to Ethel who laments the loss of their ranch but doesn't want her husband to go down the dark path of vengeance and requests the player character try to persuade him to let the matter go. Speaking with Walter again and passing a 75 Speech check will successfully convince him to abandon his revenge and return home with his wife, completing the quest and garnering 375 XP but no caps.
Cold, hard revenge[]
Enter the nearby Ultra-Luxe and agree to disarm for the greeter (optionally keeping any holdout weapons). Heck Gunderson can be found sitting at the circular bar in the middle of the casino floor, accompanied by a Gunderson hired hand. Speaking with him, one will learn through questioning that while he initially came to the casino to do business with the governing White Glove Society, shortly after, his son, Ted Gunderson went missing and he wants answers and to find his lost family. Offering to help find Ted will trigger the side quest Beyond the Beef.
If one still wishes to help Walter in his revenge, after returning with information, the rancher will be delighted to see Heck Gunderson suffering but still desires to see the deed done. There will now be three options on how to carry out his revenge, all of them intertwined with the above quest:
- If Ted Gunderson is killed, Walter will pay the player 250 caps (500 with 80 Barter) and complete the quest for 100 XP.
- If Heck Gunderson is killed, Walter will pay the player 500 caps (1,000 with a 90 Barter) and complete the quest for 100 XP.
- If one succeeds in killing both Heck and Ted, Walter will pay them 1,500 caps (no check required) and complete the quest for 200 XP.
Note: One can still choose to kill only one of them even if the player character can't pass the required Barter check, it will only result in earning fewer caps.
Note: The choice to kill only Heck Gunderson or both Ted and his father is less consequential if the player character is siding with the Legion, since one will be able to finish this quest without missing a portion of Render Unto Caesar.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- Bringing Ted Gunderson to Heck Gunderson during Beyond the Beef and talking to Heck will fail this quest and result in Walter and Ethel disappearing from the Strip, even if Heck is killed immediately after.
- If one brings Ted back to Heck and then kills Heck, the White Glove Society will shun them, however, Heck's hired gun will help fight them if they turn hostile.
