Someone to Watch Over Me is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Side Quest: Someone to Watch Over Me | |||||
| Talk to Crandon at North Vegas Square. Speech 45 or Barter 35 is required to initiate the quest. | |||||
| Deal with the newcomers. | |||||
| Obtain the next assignment from Crandon. | |||||
| Enter the north sewers through the manhole, and deal with the Greasers. | |||||
| Return to Crandon for the next assignment. | |||||
| Talk to Mrs. Hostetler, and help her spy on her daughter's new friends. | |||||
| Reward: 1000 caps 150 XP | |||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
The quest is triggered by going to North Vegas Square, slightly north of Freeside's north gate, entering the gate and talking to Crandon. then asking him if he needs any help. Crandon will refuse to accept the offer unless one passes either a 45 Speech check or a 35 Barter check.
Once either option has succeeded, Crandon accepts the Courier's help and elaborates that he and a few other locals serve as neighborhood watchmen, keeping the peace between residents of North Vegas Square. The first problem he wants dealt with are a group of squatters that don't belong, and he wants them removed by any means necessary.
Cleaning up North Vegas Square[]
The squatters are located near the middle of the Square, around an old playground. The one to talk to is Squatter Bill which gives three options for clearing his group out:
- Attack the squatters (incurs NCR infamy, as they are considered NCR citizens)
- Pass a 45 Barter check to pay Bill 50 caps to leave
- Pass a 45 Speech check to threaten Bill into leaving
Once that is done, return to Crandon. Impressed with the work, he next sends the player character into the sewers below the Square to remove a group of troublemakers. The North sewers manhole entrance is in the middle of the Square's main street. The sewers can be quite the maze to navigate, but simply taking any path that leads in the direction of the map marker will eventually lead to the cistern where a group of Greasers reside, led by Greasy Johnny. Resolving this situation involves five options:
- Attack the greasers
- Terrify and attack the greasers.
- Pass a 65 Speech check to persuade Johnny to back off
- Pass a 50 Barter check to pay Johnny 50 caps to leave
- Pay Johnny 100 caps to leave
Attacking any of the Greasers, even after peacefully resolving the quest via Speech or Barter checks, will result in New Vegas citizens in the immediate area becoming hostile along with the Greasers, but killing them as well results in no karma or reputation loss. New Vegas citizens not in the immediate area of the fight remain friendly.
Once the Greasers are dealt with, return to Crandon for the next assignment. He will tell the player character to see Mrs. Hostetler as her daughter is getting to know the wrong crowd of people.
Hostetler family drama[]
The Hostetler home is situated south of Crimson Caravan Company and northwest of Durable Dunn's sacked caravan. Going inside, Mrs. Hostetler will initially be concerned about the intrusion in her home, but after being told that Crandon sent them, she calms down and asks the player character to find out about the friends her daughter Alice Hostetler hangs out with, and anything they have planned.
Returning to North Vegas Square, one must speak with Jules, typically found near the playground where the squatters were. When asking about the Hostetler daughter, Jules will reveal that Alice is hanging out with Andy Scabb and his crew in The Gray. Enter The Gray near the west entrance to the Square, and go right. Andy's room is guarded by a couple of thugs, with one down the hall around the corner and one directly in front of the door. The proof is inside Andy's locked room, locked with Hard lock, or by using a key from one of the thugs guarding the door; either key can be stolen or taken off a thug's corpse. With 70 Speech, one can lie to the thug at the door and he will leave his post, otherwise, one can simply kill him without gaining any infamy, or wait for him to leave his post voluntarily, as happens on occasion.
Once inside Andy's room, the proof needed is the Henchman message to Andy Scabb underneath the TV immediately to the right. As the player character leaves, they will be confronted by the ghoul Andy at the door. One can lie to him with a 65 Speech check. Andy adds an optional part of the quest, which involves helping him steal the Crimson Caravan money from the Hostetlers. Although it is possible to obtain the note from Andy's room without first having spoken with Jules, the confrontation with Andy will not take place this way.
After dealing with Andy, returning to the Hostetler house to report Alice's activities, the player character is confronted by Alice herself upon entering either the front or back door. She reveals she intends to force her mother to give up the family's money, but it soon becomes clear that she is unsure about going through with it. Talking her out of attacking her mother is easier with 70 Speech or 7 Intelligence, but it is also possible through the available dialogue options if neither can be accomplished. One can ask her if she has the money and she will say that her mother has it in the bedroom. If the player character says they will wait for her to get it, Alice has a change of heart. The player character can then ask for her to give them her gun, disarming her safely. After talking her down, they can suggest that she reconcile with her family and stay with them, or to leave and never come back. There is a second Speech check (requires 75 Speech) that convinces Alice that only she can answer her dreams which results in good karma. One can also skip the second Speech check by using the option of "Give them a chance," which also nets good Karma and Alice stays alive.
For the best possible ending here, pass the 70 Speech check first ,then when use the "Do you have the money?" dialogue option, followed by "Okay, go ahead. I'll wait for you." This results in Alice's change of heart and the option to ask for her gun. If one uses any taunting dialogue options, she will then commit suicide. If one got her gun then say, "You should stay with your family - reconcile with them." The player character gets good karma, the gun, the reward, and Alice lives.
Once Alice has been stopped from killing her parents and made to stay or to leave, the quest will tell them to talk to Mrs. Hostetler. If Alice left, one can either kill her themselves, looting the 1000 caps and gaining negative karma, decline any reward and gain positive karma or get a sum of 200 or 500 caps, depending on if one demanded a reward or told her Alice would have left anyways respectively. Another solution is to talk Alice into killing her mother. She then gets upset and flees the home. The quest is completed and negative karma is earned. The player character can also loot the mother's body and take the 1000 caps as well as her weapon, completing the quest.
Quest stages[]
Behind the scenes[]
- "Someone to Watch Over Me" is the name of a song written by George and Ira Gershwin for the 1926 Broadway musical Oh, Kay! Considered part of The Great American Songbook, the song has been recorded many times by many artists, including Frank Sinatra, Barbara Streisand, Stéphane Grappelli, Keely Smith, Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald and Amy Winehouse.
- The greaser is a subculture of American youth gangs that gained popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, characterized by a fashion of leather riding jackets, an affinity for automobiles and mechanic work, and the eponymous greased-back hairstyle.
 | The following is based on bugged content. |
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- Alice has dialogue, scripts, and movement packages which direct her towards Gibson's shack if she is convinced to fulfill her own dreams by leaving. This would occur after she reaches Aerotech Office Park.
- Dialogue entries indicate that she would be traveling towards Novac looking for a destination to settle down, until finally reaching and entering Gibson's shack, which she would intend to make into her new home. However, a related variable responsible for controlling this movement is not ever updated, so Alice does not ever travel to the shack. This is also why Alice will continue mentioning the NCR refugee camp even if she is encountered outside of Aerotech Office Park.
| End of information based on bugged content |
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Bugs[]
Sometimes it takes several attempts at conversation with Crandon to be able to turn the squatters in. [verified]
- This seems to happen if the player character talks to him before the squatters have reached the gate and left the North Vegas Square area
- If one uses the Speech check telling Alice that "only she can answer her dreams" and then attempt to follow her out of the house, without first speaking to Mrs. Hostetler, she dies immediately as one appears outside. The quest fails and one receives negative karma. If the player character first speaks to Mrs. Hostetler and ends the quest, then exited the house, Alice is gone, and no negative karma will be received. [verified]
- If one fails the quest by leaving the house prematurely on PC, it is possible to fix this with console commands by ensuring that both Mrs. Hostetler and Alice are alive (resurrect them if needed), resetting the quest using the Form ID on this page, setting the quest to stage 30 and agreeing to investigate Alice's friends and then finally setting the quest to stage 55 and following through with Alice's dialogue. If one does not speak with Mrs. Hostetler at Stage 30 of the quest, she will not have the dialogue options available to end the quest. One can skip Mrs. Hostetler's portion of the quest by telling Alice to run away, however.
- Another way to fix this bug is to enter the house and set the stage to 60 and use the command: player.placeatme 000f6371, then talk to Alice.
- There will sometimes be no Speech option available, as it goes back to the Intelligence option numerous times. [verified]
- It is possible, when Andy confronts the Courier, to exit conversation without a Speech check or fighting by selecting the "Goodbye" option, which, presumably, is not supposed to be available. Andy will then act as if nothing has happened and allow the Courier to continue with the quest. This does not lead to any additional bugs on the ps3. [verified]
- If caught lockpicking after having spoken to Mrs. Hostetler, but before having spoken to Jules, the guard to Andy's room will not attack, only pull his weapon, accuse the player character of stealing, then re-holster his gun. This makes it easy to pre-pick the lock, then speak to Jules, then get the note. [verified]
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