There Stands the Grass

There Stands the Grass is a quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Quick walkthrough

 * Speak to Dr. Thomas Hildern at Camp McCarran.


 * Enter Vault 22 and download the research data found there.


 * (Optional) Find Keely, a researcher who has gone missing at Vault 22 - You will only get this optional quest if you speak to Dr Williams.


 * Meet Keely at her base of operations on the second level.


 * Find the vents Keely is pumping gas through and somehow ignite the gas.


 * Return to Keely and let her know the spores have been purged.


 * Return to Dr. Hildern at Camp McCarran with the research data+.


 * Return to Camp McCarran and tell Dr. Williams that Keely is safe+.

+XP granted for this quest (as stated below) is wholly dependent on whom you return to first with the news of what occurred in Vault 22. If you manage to both save Keely and download the data, you will get the highest XP return but only if you speak with Dr Williams first.

+If you deliver the data to Dr. Hildren before finding Keely, she will lock the vault door and you will be stuck inside the vault.

Detailed walkthrough
To start the quest, you have to speak to Dr. Hildern in the Camp McCarran station. Dr. Hildern can be found in his office located inside the Camp McCarran Terminal building at the east side of the terminal in the south wing. After speaking to him, he will tell you that Vault 22 has data on its computers that will help him prevent a food shortage. He will give you the location to Vault 22 and ask you to enter and download the experimental data onto your Pip-Boy. Before leaving the base, make sure to speak to Dr. Williams so you get the optional objective to find Keely, a researcher who went to the vault before and has become missing. You find out from Dr. Williams that Dr. Hildern has sent other people on his task but none of them have returned.

The vault is easily found by following the map marker. There are quite a few Cazadors who roam the area. Just outside the vault entrance are 4 Giant Mantis hiding in the foliage. The door is permanently open and full of overgrown plants. Inside the Vault are numerous Manti and what are known as Spore carriers. In the Pest Control there are Spore plants who shoot toxic vomit much like the Centaurs are known for.

Once inside you have the choice to repair the elevator (with a skill check) or walk the five levels by stairs. There are Spore carriers hiding in most of the patches of plant growth. Whether you choose the elevator or the stairs you need to find the Overseer's office, which is located in the Common Area. Follow the arrow through the common area to the computer in the Overseer's office to unlock three doors. The third door will actually be a malfunction error of "Manual Override at Door". This means that unless you have 75 lockpick, you need to head for the Crew Quarters (now unlocked via the Overseer's computer). There is a key card in the first room on the left side of the hall as you enter the crew quarters. Be careful, there are three Spore Carriers waiting inside. With the key climb the stairs(you can not use the stairs because they are blocked) or take the elevator to Level 5, Pest Control. Follow the arrow to the door (if you picked up the key card it will just open, otherwise pick the lock).

You do not need the keycard to access the databanks. One of the first two doors that unlock from the overseer's office is the databank door.

Finding Keely is a bit more difficult. To find her you must go to the 5th floor. Find a room with an opening into a cave system. Keely can be found at the far end of the caves. Keely turns out to be a Ghoul. She credits being a ghoul with saving her from the abominations, as the Mantis creatures captured her and were going to feed her to the Spore Plants but they were not interested in Ghoul flesh. On the pest control level she is found by leaving the vault through a hole in one of the labs and traveling through a short cave to a large open cavern filled with Giant Mantis and Spore Plant creatures. She is on the south end of the cavern sitting alone next to a Mantis pod.

Follow Keely to the second floor (Oxygen Level). Keely will tell you about her plan to eliminate the contagious spores.
 * There is a duffel bag with frag grenades beside Keely in the room were you met up with her on level 2 (Oxygen level). To find the duffle bag turn right (West) after entering the room with Keely's terminal in it, it's in the corner on the floor.
 * On the bottom level of the common area (where you found the overseers office)there is a room marked Utility, which contains a Flamer in the far corner along with plenty of fuel.

Keely tells you to find the vents through which she is pumping the flammable gas on the fifth level (Pest Control), and directly ignite them, possibly without killing yourself in the process.

First solution The vents are located right outside the server room where you downloaded the data, next to the room with the upper-entrance to the cavern. The safest way to ignite them is by using any sort of explosive mine (C4 or Frag Mine) and a Detonator. Place the mine right in front of the vents, then back-away into the server-room, close the door, step away from it, and trigger the mine using the Detonator.

Other possible ways This may be difficult to do as most places on the fifth floor are consumed by flames. It can however be safely done by throwing an explosive, like dynamite or a frag grenade out of the doorway into the hall from the room with the data. Once the explosive is thrown you must quickly close the door so as not to be caught in the explosion. An Atomic Cocktail should allow you to withstand the flames with minor damage, although any followers may be momentarily knocked unconscious. Alternatively you can fire a 40/25mm grenade from inside the data room, then quickly move behind cover to the right of the room without closing the door. C4 and a  Detonator will do the trick as well; drop the C4 near the vents, select the Detonator from your inventory, get clear, and pull the trigger. You can also consume a Turbo, shoot a laser at the vent from the end of the hall and simply run to the elevator. Standing behind the gas, right where the vent is, doesnt do as much damage as standing in the hall, so if you have a relatively high level, then you can stand there and shoot a laser and not die. The absolute best way is to create a Time Bomb (explosives skill 50) on a workbench. Drop it by the vents. You will have enough time to run to the elevator, wait for the thump of the explosion, and then run through the elevator. A final, if expensive approach, is to stock up on stimpacks and hotkey them. Repeatedly pressing the hotkey fast enough will outpace the DPS dealt by the fire, but will burn through 10-20 stimpacks, depending on medicine skill.

One way also is to crouch as far back into the data room as possible and fire (near the terminal that you get the computer files from). The flames wont even touch you if you are standing in the right location.

When you return to Keely to collect your reward, she'll talk about destroying the files from the computer. If you have the files she'll discover they were downloaded and you have multiple options from here:


 * Tell her the truth and destroy the codes for good karma. If she lives you will get caps or Karma depending on what you bartered with Dr. Williams.


 * Tell her the truth and refuse to destroy where she will become hostile. Killing gives you her password to leave. Make sure to use her computer to unlock the door. This gives you NCR infamy.


 * Tell her the truth and refuse to destroy it, and flee the area. Go back in and she should be non-hostile again. Pickpocket the password from her.


 * Lie and let her live. You will lose karma for lying but gain it for saving her. This results in a net *gain* of about 50 karma.


 * With a Science skill of 70, you can keep the data while Keely Remains alive. She will unlock the door for you and you receive positive karma. You must choose the speech option of telling Keely that Dr. Hildern sent you for the data in order to get the Science speech option.


 * If you are on the companion quest with Veronica you will have another option to save the data without bloodshed.


 * If you tell her Dr. Hildern send you, you can say that your friend is part of a big organization that can use this data to help people. She will then state that you have given her no reason not to trust you and opens the door for you.


 * If you've already handed in the data with Dr. Hildern, Keely will tell you that the data should be deleted but will not confront you. This can result in a situation of being locked in the vault, to escape either pickpocket or kill Keely for her password, and use her terminal to open the locked door.

After that, whatever you chose you must return to Dr. Hildern.


 * If you saved the data he will give you 1200 caps and you can get an additional 600 with a high enough Barter(50) or Speech(50) skill.


 * If you deleted the data, the quest will end with you informing Dr. Williams that Keely is safe or dead. Dr. Hildern will suspect her responsible for the data being gone. No matter what response you choose afterwards, he will suspect you as an accomplice and angrily demand that you leave the lab.


 * If Keely died, you can tell Dr. Williams a lie with a speech check. You get 800 caps and lose Karma this way. If you don't, you won't get anything but you won't lose karma.

If you do not have the files downloaded she will tell you she has set it up where she can delete all the files from her computer.

Bugs

 * Keely might not turn hostile at all when you tell her you won't delete the data, but instead claim how you leave her no other choice, stand up, and sit back down at the computer. No further interactive dialog is available.


 * No NCR imfamy may be gained if Keely is killed by Rex, after gaining hostility due to lying.


 * When attempting to access the door from the Oxygen Recycling level that is "Locked - Requires Key" the terminal to the left of the door that allows access with the keycard from the Crew Quarters may not be there at all! To fix this leave the Vault and re-enter. The terminal should come back.


 * It's possible to earn infinite experience points with 25 speech from Dr. Williams. After you get the quest from Dr. Hildern, you can ask Dr. Williams about how she feels about Dr. Hildern. If you pass the 25 speech check you'll earn 25 exp.
 * If you complete this quest prior to beginning You Can Depend on Me it may be impossible to give the invoice to Dr. Hildern to progress in the quest.


 * Veronica, Boone, ED-E, Arcade Gannon, and Rex turn up by the elevator every time after using it, even though they had been told to wait. (Pretty sure this works for all companions, only need Lily confirmation)


 * When detonating the gas, you don't need to close the door to the computer room. The fire doesn't enter, even though it's wide open. (Not true in my game)


 * A glitch causes your companion to die in the explosion if standing next to the closed door in the Data room. To prevent this, physically push your companion into the far corner.


 * If you download data from Vault 22 before you get the quest from Dr. Williams, the quest list still shows "Enter Vault 22 and download the research data found there", but you can't download it again.


 * If you download data from Vault 22 before you get the quest from Dr. Williams, you can turn in data right away when the quest is initiated, but if you choose to help Keely and detonate the gas, you cannot download the data, or do Keely's speech check, or turn in the data afterwards. The only option is "The data is destroyed"


 * If you download data from Vault 22 before you get the quest from Dr. Williams, Keely may disappear from the game entirely and cannot even be brought back with console commands.


 * If you choose to use Turbo and run to the elevator and Boone falls unconcious in the process, when you go through the elevator and Boone has woken up, he may appear to be in an unarmed ready and be sliding when he moves.


 * Sometimes it becomes impossible to reach the Fifth level to burn all the spores. Everytime you use the elevator to the Fifth level the game crashes to the Desktop. The solution is pretty easy, leave your companions on the second level and complete the quest alone. That should prevent the game from crashing.

Behind the scenes

 * The title of the quest is a nod to a 1950s country song "There Stands the Glass", sung by Webb Pierce.