Three-Card Bounty is an NCR side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Side Quest: Three-Card Bounty | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speak to Maj. Dhatri at Camp McCarran; ask about the Fiends and problems with them. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Select the bounty for Violet. | Select the bounty for Cook-Cook. | Select the bounty for Driver Nephi. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| (Optional) Speak with Little Buster to learn about Cook-Cook's pet brahmin, Queenie. | (Optional) Speak with Lt. Gorobets to have First Recon as support. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reach the trailer compound near the Poseidon gas station. | Reach Cook-Cook's camp near the South Vegas ruins west entrance. | Reach Driver Nephi's camp northwest of the Samson rock crushing plant. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Kill Violet and acquire Violet's head/Violet's mangled head. | Kill Cook-Cook and collect Cook-Cook's head/Cook-Cook's mangled head. | Kill Driver Nephi and collect Driver Nephi's head/Driver Nephi's mangled head. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| First Recon will relocate from Camp McCarran to Camp Forlorn Hope. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bring the collected head(s) as proof of the bounty to Maj. Dhatri. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Reward: 250 caps + 100 XP per bounty NCR fame 500 caps + 500 XP (after all three) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
The quest is started by traveling to Camp McCarran outside the south wall of the Strip and speaking with Major Dhatri; Dhatri normally wanders to one of three spots around the tarmac outside the terminal building. Speaking with him, asking about problems with the Fiends leads to Dhatri offering up a bounty of caps if they can find and assassinate one or more of a trio of high-ranking Fiends known to camp out around their stronghold in the South Vegas ruins. He will advise against using any methods that might damage the head since he needs their decapitated craniums in recognizable shape to ensure proof of death, thus one only receives the full caps amount for a bounty by bringing in an intact head; if their head is damaged/dismembered when killing them, a mangled head will appear that one will receive a reduced caps amount for when turned in.
The three Fiends leaders as well as their locations and circumstances are as follows:
Violet[]
Unlike the other Fiend leaders, Violet doesn't have any Fiend henchmen; instead, she has a pack of Fiend dogs, including a particularly vicious one named Violetta. Her camp is found south of the Poseidon gas station, which is a short distance southwest of Cook-Cook's camp, built on top of an abandoned trailer park, allowing both Violet, who will herself stand on the first floor of the middle structure, and her dogs to see the player character from a fair distance; the number of dogs may vary but typically stands at around 5-6. Violet is dressed in standard raider armor, and almost has the same amount of health as standard Fiend raiders. However, she is armed with a hunting rifle and is fairly accurate with it. Among Violet's pack will be Violetta, who has slightly more health than the other dogs, and when killed drops Violetta's brain which is relevant to the companion quest Nothin' But a Hound Dog.
Cook-Cook[]
Cook-Cook is the closest of the bounties to the airport, located just north of the South Vegas ruins west entrance in a makeshift camp built out of a broken-down building. He is surrounded by four to eight Fiends gang members, and a small brahmin herd. Cook-Cook himself is distinguished by his use of metal armor and an incinerator, as well as a flamer.
When taking Cook-Cook's bounty, one can ask Dhatri for advice and he will direct them to speak with Little Buster, a soon-to-be-retired bounty hunter found in McCarran that has been known to scout Cook-Cook. If one talks to him, he will reveal that Cook-Cook has a brahmin pet named Queenie that he highly values, and were anything to happen to her, it would send Cook-Cook over the edge. True to his word, if one attacks and kills Queenie undetected, Cook-Cook will go wild and possibly wipe out his own henchmen, making for a somewhat easier fight; conversely, if one starts the quest at a moderate-to-high level, it is possible for his Fiend henchmen to have powerful weapons and kill Cook-Cook instead (this poses a risk of destroying his head and reducing the bounty earned).
Along with turning in his head, one can earn additional rewards for Cook-Cook's death by speaking to Corporal Betsy at McCarran (or Forlorn Hope if Nephi is already killed) and Pretty Sarah at the Casa Madrid Apartments in Westside (one must speak to Sarah, then find out about her trauma from Marco first), who will both reward the player character for their "service to humanity."
Driver Nephi[]
Driver Nephi is the farthest away of the three, located northwest of the Samson rock crushing plant. He will be guarded by multiple Fiends, usually more than Cook-Cook would have. Like Violet, Driver Nephi is not particularly tough because he wears raider armor and is armed with a melee weapon. However, his skill with his signature golf club is considerable, likely to kill an underpowered character with a few swings.
When taking Driver Nephi's bounty, Dhatri himself will suggest speaking with Lieutenant Gorobets to request getting First Recon's Alpha Team to act as support, the team having a personal score to settle with Nephi. After agreeing to help, the team will then leave McCarran and travel to the Samson rock crushing plant slightly southeast of the Fiends' camp, where they will take up firing positions. Once the player character attacks the Fiends, if any of them including Nephi are drawn towards the plant, the snipers will open fire until all hostiles are killed. It is advised however to attempt to kill Nephi directly as the snipers tend to kill with headshots and may damage the head preventing getting the full bounty. If this does end up the case, one will still receive a reward slightly better than the bounty as Gorobets will gift 300 caps for giving them the chance to take revenge on the Fiend; the reward is given even if Nephi never leaves his camp for them to shoot him.
After bringing Nephi's head to Maj. Dhatri, he will arrange for Alpha Team to be relocated to Camp Forlorn Hope to assist in bolstering the camp; if We Are Legion was completed beforehand by wiping out Forlorn Hope, they will remain at McCarran.
Results[]
Once the player character has delivered all three of the Fiend leaders' heads to Maj. Dhatri, he will express his relief and thank them for undertaking a task that seemed nearly impossible, completing the quest and garnering NCR fame as well as an additional 500 caps.
Quest stages[]
* The assassinations can be performed in any order, which will change the order of the journal entries.
Notes[]
- Even if one chooses a specific bounty, it is still possible to find and kill all three bounty targets and turn in their collected heads to Dhatri at once (though this will prevent additional rewards in the case of collecting the bounty on Driver Nephi if his is not initially selected and one cannot take the optional objective to recruit First Recon's support).
- If one takes the Bloody Mess perk, its secondary effect might prevent the player character from getting an intact head and thus not get the full bounty during this quest, since the perk increases the chance of an enemy kill resulting in dismemberment including destroying the head. One can circumvent this by having a companion be the one to deal the killing shot/blow (though companions still have a chance of damaging or smashing the bounty’s head; Rex for example is only capable of using melee attacks, and may mangle the target’s face in the process).
- If Alpha Team was recruited to help in killing Driver Nephi, each member except for Gorobets will have a unique response when talked to afterward, if they were the one to deal the killing shot on the Fiend:
- Cpl. Betsy: "You did good out there. Glad you let me have a piece of Nephi."
- Sgt. Bitter-Root: "That's one less drugged-out waster. Best part of the job - shootin' folks who deserve it."
- Cpl. Sterling: "Nothing like a job done right. I wish I had a cigar."
- 10 of Spades: "Right here, Fiends! This is what payback looks like! First Recon, hooah!"
- Alpha Team will relocate to Camp Forlorn Hope immediately after turning in Driver Nephi's head, even if he is not the last to be taken out. If one wants to receive the reward for Cook-Cook's death from Betsy, as well as complete the side quest I Don't Hurt Anymore that involves Alpha Team, it is advisable to save Nephi's bounty for last.
- Driver Nephi's body disappears a while after killing him, so it is best to kill him when the quest is given, or a quest marker to the railroad track northwest of Samson Rock Crushing plant will be placed there forever, rendering the quest impossible to finish.
- If Driver Nephi is killed before speaking to Major Dhatri about the bounty and without looting his head, Lieutenant Gorobets will be aware that Driver was killed by the player character (he behaves as if the bounty had been completed and the head turned in). The same is true for Cook-Cook and Little Buster.
Behind the scenes[]
The quest name is a play on Three-card Monte, a confidence game in which the "mark"/victim is tricked into betting a sum of money on the assumption that they can find the "money card" among three face-down playing cards; it can be considered a sibling to the shell game, only using flipped-over playing cards instead of hiding a ball under one of three cups.
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