Strictly Business

Fallout 3 side quest
Strictly Business
Flak, Susan Lancaster, Arkansas, and Red
Location	Paradise Falls
Given by	Grouse
Rewards	1000 caps
Actors	Flak Red Susan Lancaster Arkansas
Related quests	Strictly Profitable
Technical
Editor ID	MS13
Form ID	00014EA0

Fallout 3 achievement
Strictly Business
Complete Strictly Business
Bronze
20

 

“If you round up any slaves, I'll gladly spilt the commission with you.”— Grouse, when asked about other slaves

Strictly Business is a side quest in Fallout 3. It is also a PS3 trophy and Xbox 360/PC achievement.

This quest will begin the first time the Lone Wanderer approaches Paradise Falls.

Grouse will address the Lone Wanderer and tell them that they cannot enter Paradise Falls unless they have business there. He will offer to let them in only if they go and enslave select people from his "VIP list." The Lone Wanderer will be allowed into Paradise Falls after they have enslaved at least one VIP.

This quest involves the Lone Wanderer enslaving several characters for the slavers of Paradise Falls. Enslaving is done with the Mesmetron and a slave collar, which they will get from Grouse. Along with it comes the slave collar instructions and list of "recruits" for Paradise Falls as well as the holodisk Mesmetron manual - summary page. Make sure to return to Grouse after each slave to collect a new slave collar for the next one.

Quick walkthrough

Side Quest: Strictly Business

Speak to Grouse at Paradise Falls and agree to enslave VIPs.

Reward: Mesmetron and manual, Mesmetron power cells, slave collar and instructions.

Locate Arkansas in Minefield, enslave him and affix a slave collar.

Locate Susan Lancaster in Tenpenny Tower, enslave her and affix a slave collar.

Locate Red in Big Town, enslave her and affix a slave collar.

Locate Flak in Rivet City, enslave him and affix a slave collar.

Return to Grouse, receive another slave collar and enslave the next victim.

Reward: Entry to Paradise Falls, 75 XP, 250 caps and -100 Karma for each slave returned (300 XP, 1000 caps and -400 Karma total).

Detailed walkthrough

VIP List

The characters that have to be enslaved for the slavers are the following:

• Flak from Rivet City.
• Red from Big Town.
• Susan Lancaster from Tenpenny Tower.
• Arkansas from Minefield.

If Red, Susan, or Arkansas are dead before the quest is given, they will not appear on the list and Grouse will allow the Lone Wanderer to enter Paradise Falls.

Arkansas

Arkansas is sniping from a ruined building in Minefield. One should be careful as they make their way through the town, as land mines are scattered all over the town. Arkansas will also snipe and shoot at cars, which can explode and kill the Lone wanderer. Once he is collared, mind the mines for him as he starts running for Paradise Falls (fast travel is an option).

Susan Lancaster

Susan Lancaster may be found on the third floor of Tenpenny Tower in her suite (at night). Simply shut the door, mez, and collar. If the Lone Wanderer has found the note left in her room revealing the possible affair between her and Edgar Wellington II, they can show it to Millicent Wellington. Millicent will kill Susan and she will not have to be enslaved. If Susan is the Lone Wanderer's last target, the quest will be completed as soon as she dies.

If Susan is enslaved while others are present, then the whole tower will be on alert and come after the player character with deadly force. Try to do it discreetly, or follow the note and affair scenario.

Red

Red can usually be found in her clinic. If she's not there, try walking around a bit and then enter her clinic again. If one did not complete the Big Trouble in Big Town quest yet, Red is captured by super mutants and held in the Germantown police HQ. One can simply enslave Red there, but it will prevent them from completing the quest unless they rescue her from Paradise Falls later. It is possible that she will get killed by a super mutant attack after completing Big Trouble in Big Town and she will not have to be enslaved.

Flak

Flak can be found in his room on the Upper Deck at night, and is probably the most difficult VIP to capture. He will sometimes appear alone, though outside his room, walking to or from his shop.

Quest stages

Stage	Status	Description
1		Enslave the sniper Arkansas from Minefield.
2		Enslave Susan Lancaster from Tenpenny Tower.
3		Enslave Red from Big Town.
4		Enslave Flak from Rivet City.
5		Return to Grouse

Notes

• Putting on the slave collar will lower the player character's Karma by 100, regardless of who they put it on (including Arkansas and other hostile non-player characters not related to this quest).
• Flak, Red, Susan, and Arkansas end up in the slave house once the Lone Wanderer captures them. If one's Science skill is high enough, they can get their collars off. However, they simply wander out and get killed by the slavers. Moreover, Arkansas starts shooting at anyone wearing a slave collar, once one frees him. If one kills all of the slavers and then free the slaves, Susan Lancaster remains in the slave house repeating, "Oh my God! You're killing everyone!" but does not leave the slave house.
• After the quest is completed, Grouse will give the Lone Wanderer a slave collar, thus starting the Strictly Profitable quest. He may give them more than one. Slave collars can't be dropped since they are quest items. However, one can use them on other non-player characters and get a caps reward from Grouse.
• Using the console command RemoveFromFaction 2f561 on a freed slave will remove them from the faction "FreedSlaveFaction". This can be useful if the Lone Wanderer wants to deal with non-player characters like Flak or Red again after freeing them.
• During the Big Trouble in Big Town quest, one can enslave Red before completing the quest, then go to the slave pen to free her. She will follow them, saying she "can't wait to get back to Big Town", as if one did not enslave her to complete the quest. If one walks outside the front entrance with her in tow, Grouse will open fire on her and will most likely kill her. It's best to fast travel once outside the entrance to Paradise Falls to prevent this. One will get to complete the quest with the normal dialogue, but she will revert to the "thanks for saving me" line afterward.
• If one acquires multiple slave collars, they still have to speak with Grouse after each VIP is enslaved to complete the objective in the quest notes. If the Lone Wanderer enslaves multiple targets without speaking to Grouse, they will appear in the slave pens, but one will only receive confirmation and payment for the last one enslaved. The other VIPs won't register and it will not be possible to complete the quest.
• After freeing the VIPs, Arkansas can then be found back at the Minefield and will not be hostile to the player. His dialogue when the player tries to interact with him will be "You saved me from those bastards. I won't forget it."
• Flak can be found back at Rivet City, although one is now unable to trade with him, as all he says is "You saved me from those bastards. I won't forget it." One must speak to Shrapnel, then.
• Susan can be found inside Tenpenny Tower with the same interactions as Flak and Arkansas. If the Lone Wanderer did help the ghouls to enter the Tenpenny Tower previously, Susan will still be on the VIP list. One will just need to go back to the tower and enter to complete the objective and the mission. They will receive the award and complete the mission but it won't display the message on the screen nor give the experience points. Then after, just go back to see Grouse and he will let the Lone Wanderer enter Paradise Falls.
• After putting the slave collar on Red, if the last dialogue option (You're a slave now. Nothing personal. Get to Paradise Falls if you want to live.) is chosen, she may run away screaming "assault, assault!" and trigger the whole town to turn hostile towards the Lone Wanderer. Whereas the first dialogue option (Give my regards to the slavers in Paradise Falls. Move, or your head goes boom!) will send her to Paradise Falls without the town becoming hostile.
• Killing Grouse will result in a message appearing on-screen stating: "Grouse has died," and the quest will fail.
• Once one has mezzed Susan Lancaster and put the collar on her and she runs off screaming and alerts the guard outside her room and he turns hostile, mezzing him seems to turn him friendly again.

Bugs

• PC Playstation 3 Xbox 360 If one enslaves and orders a victim to go to Paradise Falls, and then die/reload previous save, the character who was enslaved before reloaded the save may appear in the Paradise Falls slave pen, without a slave collar on, and with all of the dialogue options they normally had (for instance, one can still trade with Flak in the slave pen if he does not have a slave collar). Reloading the save will not fix this problem every time, so one may have to somehow get the target to come near them in the slave pen where the player is able to mesmerize and fit a collar onto the target. If Arkansas was the target, he will pull out his sniper rifle and begin shooting everyone around him. ^[verified]
• PC Playstation 3 Xbox 360 When mezzing a person in V.A.T.S. with the Mysterious Stranger perk active, the Mysterious Stranger may appear. The Mysterious Stranger will look and move around, but no gunshots will be fired. If there is another enemy close by, however, the Stranger will shoot them instead. ^[verified]
• PC Playstation 3 Xbox 360 One may be able to get paid multiple times for each of the VIP slaves captured. After getting paid the normal money when one reaches Paradise Falls, they can pickpocket a key to the slaves' pen. After talking to each of the VIP slaves that have been captured, return to the Paradise Falls entry and talk to Grouse and collect the 250 caps reward for each VIP slave spoken to in the slave pen. Grouse will repeat his speech as if they had just captured one of the slaves. If one finishes the dialogue with Grouse and speaks to him again he will then repeat his speech for one of the other VIP slaves spoken to in the slave pen. This can be repeated by talking to Grouse for each VIP slave spoken to in the slave pen collecting the 250 caps reward each time Grouse is spoken to for a total of up to 1000 caps at a time if one has captured and spoken to all four VIP slaves. It is possible to repeat this glitch for an unlimited amount of caps. ^[verified]
• Playstation 3 Xbox 360 If one enslaves Flak, Shrapnel may disappear from Rivet City. He will return only once in a long while (every few days/weeks). He can be seen wandering the wastes and even in Paradise Falls likely looking for Flak. All dialogue will be normal as if he was still in Rivet City selling goods. Apparently, Shrapnel's wandering after enslaving Flak is caused by an AI script that says the two should sleep near one another. Enslaving Flak thus causes Shrapnel to wander the wasteland trying to get to him. This also works if you enslave Shrapnel. ^[verified]
• Xbox 360 Sometimes, everyone in Rivet City will turn hostile when enslaving Flak. If the player character dies in the encounter, Flak will wander the wasteland when the save is re-loaded. All dialogue will be normal as if he was still in Rivet City selling goods. This will usually cause Red's removal from the quest list and all people of Big Town will be found in a pile dead with only the robot roaming around. ^[verified]
• Xbox 360 If Red is enslaved right after they freed her from the prison and fast travel to Paradise Falls, it will complete the task "bring back Red to Big Town" and "enslave Red from Big Town" at the same time, if Strictly Business and Big Trouble in Big Town are both quests in the Pip-Boy. However, after fast traveling back to Big Town, one can see Red on her way to Paradise Falls, one can remove her slave collar and then ask for their reward for bringing her back to Big Town. ^[verified]

Quests in Fallout 3 Main quests Baby Steps · Growing Up Fast · Future Imperfect · Escape! · Following in His Footsteps · Galaxy News Radio · Scientific Pursuits · Tranquility Lane · The Waters of Life · Picking Up the Trail · Rescue from Paradise · Finding the Garden of Eden · The American Dream · Take it Back! · Project Impurity Side quests Agatha's Song · Big Trouble in Big Town · Blood Ties · Head of State · The Nuka-Cola Challenge · Oasis · The Power of the Atom · Reilly's Rangers · The Replicated Man · Stealing Independence · Strictly Business · The Superhuman Gambit · Those! · Tenpenny Tower · Trouble on the Homefront · Wasteland Survival Guide · You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head Unmarked quests A Manhandled Manservant · A Nice Day for a Right Wedding · Happy Birthday to You · Church Donations · Collecting Holotags · Council Seat · Economics of Violence · Election Day · Fungus Deal · Gallows Humor · Geomapping with Reilly · Grady's Package · Hired Help · I Want to Drink Your Blood · Jiggs' Loot · Just for the Taste of It · Keller Family Refuge · Leo's Drug Habit · Lincoln's Profit Margins · Merchant Empire · Mississippi Quantum Pie · Murphy's Bombing Run · Nectar Collecting for Fun and Profit · Our Little Secret · Ryan Brigg's Wonder Meat · Searching for Cheryl · Slave Hunt · Strictly Profitable · The Kid-Kidnapper · The Lost Initiate · The Outcast Collection Agent · This Old House · Treatment · Walter's Scrap Metal · Water Beggars · Yearning for Learning · Zip's Nuka Fix Cut quests Infiltration · Last Rites · MS07 · Matchmaker Add-on quests Operation: Anchorage Aiding the Outcasts · The Guns of Anchorage · Paving the Way · Operation: Anchorage! The Pitt Free Labor · Into The Pitt · Mill Worker · Toys for Tots · Unsafe Working Conditions · Wild Bill's Last Stand · Slave Snitch Broken Steel The Sorrowful Suitor · Blood Brotherhood · Death From Above · Getting Ready for Prime Time · Shock Value · Who Dares Wins · Holy Water · Protecting the Water Way · The Amazing Aqua Cura! · Wastelander Water Request Point Lookout The Local Flavor  · Walking with Spirits · Hearing Voices · Tailing the Tomboy · Thought Control · A Meeting of the Minds · A Spoonful of Whiskey · An Antique Land · Plik's Safari · The Dark Heart of Blackhall · The Velvet Curtain Mothership Zeta Not of This World · Among the Stars · This Galaxy Ain't Big Enough... · The Legend of Zeta

Big Town Characters Bittercup · Dusty · Flash · Kimba · Pappy · Red · Shorty · Sticky · Timebomb Buildings Clubhouse · Common house  · Red's clinic · Town hall Quests Big Trouble in Big Town · Strictly Business · Happy Birthday to You · Bittercup Runneth Over ·