Raul (Fallout: New Vegas)

Raul Alfonso Tejada is a ghoul mechanic, gunslinger and potential companion from Mexico, imprisoned at Black Mountain in 2281.

Hidalgo Ranch
Born in 2047, Raul has had a long and storied history. Before the war, Raul was a delinquent living at Hidalgo Ranch outside Mexico City. He was a good shooter and mechanic, both of which occasionally got him in trouble with the law, although his family mostly kept him in line. The ranch survived the war due to its distance from the city, but the stream of refugees from more heavily-affected areas proved difficult to deal with. The Tejada family was as accommodating as they could be, but they soon began running out of food and lodgings, and had to start turning people away.

The situation at the ranch eventually became so violent and unstable that Raul and his father had to drive off the refugees with their guns. Later that night, after the Tejadas had gone to sleep, around two dozen people arrived, barred the doors, and set the house ablaze. Raul and his younger sister Rafaela managed to escape out a window, but his parents, grandmother, two brothers, and two other sisters were not as fortunate. Raul and Rafaela ran from the ranch being pursued by the group that attacked their home. He killed the ones that came after them, but the rest he left be, not wanting to risk Rafaela's safety for simple revenge.

Mexico City
After the fire, Raul knew that they could not stay at their ranch anymore and the refugees wanted him dead so badly they put a bounty out on him. Despite his sister's fears, he convinced her to come with him to Mexico City by promising to take her to see the vaqueros (cowboys). They thought they should go to Mexico City to look for help, not understanding the true danger of atomic detonations. Though it wasn't hit as hard as other places, by the time the Tejadas reached Mexico City, it could only be described as a "radioactive ruin." The people inside the city got by through looting, already forming the area's first raider tribes. The Tejadas were living like scavengers, constantly searching for both food and medicine for Raul's burns. This is the time Raul believes that his ghoulification began.

One day Raul found a novelty costume shop looking for something to slice up and bandage his burns with. He found an old vaquero outfit inside, still untouched on the rack, and wore it back to their camp. Rafaela loved it; it made her laugh for the first time since the bombs fell. However, it was dangerous to be dressed this noticeably. Between such a distinctive outfit and his stellar gunslinging skills, Raul started to become known and feared as the "Ghost of Mexico City," and while his reputation sometimes drove off trouble, it also attracted problems in the form of glory-seeking gunslingers hoping to gain fame by killing him. Though this worried him, Raul kept wearing the outfit due to how happy it made his sister, and his legend in the area continued to grow. Feeling increasingly optimistic about him and his sisters' chances, Raul started to play with the thought of carving out a permanent niche in Mexico City, but things would soon take a turn for the worse.

Getting increasingly sick and weak from radiation exposure, Raul eventually found himself too ill to go out scavenging with his sister (this illness was to be indicative of the early stages of "ghoulification"), and as such she was left to provide for the two on her own. One day, after she failed to return from a market where she had been scavenging for food, Raul went in search of her only to find her brutally murdered, her corpse so badly mutilated by the city's raiders that she was only identifiable by a tiny scar on her knee. Raul tracked down the raiders responsible at the market and killed them to the last man, afterward shunning the vaquero outfit that had brought him the fame that he felt had killed his sister.

Two Sun
Leaving every aspect of his former life behind - including, as Raul often jokes, "his face" - he wandered to the Gulf Coast and inhabited an unclaimed Petró-Chico refinery. He spent a long period of time here, thinking about his life so far. He found a Petró-Chico jumpsuit and began to wear it, taking the name "Miguel" from the suit's sewn-in nametag. He eventually arrived in the city of Tucson, Arizona, now known as Two Sun. He settled there, becoming a mechanic and a general handyman, his guns stashed away where they could do no further harm. After 75 years of relative peace, he met Claudia - a prostitute working in a local brothel who bore a striking resemblance to Rafaela. Spurred by this reminder of what he lost, he took the time to look out for her – though, for obvious reasons, he never visited her.

This peace was not to last. Arizona, overrun with raiders and tribals before the rise of Caesar's Legion brought stability to the region, brought 'Dirty Dave' and his six brothers to town looking for bullets. Raul sold them ammunition, hoping they would leave now that they had what they wanted - instead, they decided they wanted the brothel. Once in the brothel, Dave and his brothers killed four girls and took Claudia for their own use. Raul gave chase, and after a three-day pursuit across the wasteland, Raul caught up with them. By the time he found Claudia, she was already dead. Enraged, Raul charged in and killed all of them in the resulting showdown. Youth, however, was not on his side anymore and the battle left him severely injured; he only stayed alive out of pure spite for Dirty Dave and his brothers. Having taken several bullets, Raul stayed at their camp until he got the strength to get up and walk back to Two Sun and recovered.

Black Mountain
Feeling dejected, Raul wandered west to the Mojave Wasteland, where he built himself a small shack in a relatively quiet corner of the desert east of New Vegas, and settled down there, spending his days listening to the Black Mountain Radio. One day he lost the signal being transmitted and decided to wander up to Black Mountain to investigate. There he offered his services to Tabitha, the nightkin who broadcasted there, and fixed the transmitter, but to his dismay, Tabitha decided to imprison him for his efforts, and threatened him into working for her, mostly with repairing broken toasters for the super mutants as well as performing repairs to her broken Mr. Handy, Rhonda. If freed from captivity, he will join the player out of gratitude. A new taste of adventure reminds Raul of his tumultuous past, prompting him to consider if he should embrace his old gunslinging ways, in which case he will be forced to decide between two different ways of life.

When compared to the other humanoid companions of the Wasteland, Raul is perhaps the most tolerant towards the Legion when compared to everyone else who would suffer should the Legion be victorious. He is not affected by the Legion's presence on the wasteland and admires the security and order brought by the Legion, although being a ghoul he wouldn't be able to join them with their hatred towards all forms of mutants. He feels a similar indifference to the New California Republic, acknowledging both their successes and failures, like most pre-War governments had. He also has quite an insightful amount of knowledge about Mr. House, as Raul knows of House's pre-War exploits.

Quests

 * Crazy, Crazy, Crazy: Raul can be recruited as part of the quest, or simply by traveling to Black Mountain and busting him out. In order to free Raul, one needs to unlock his prison door, via the Very Hard-locked terminal next to the door. It can be accessed either by hacking it, or by receiving the password (123456789) for it, the latter of which can be found by reading entry 6 on the non-locked terminal in the same room.
 * Old School Ghoul: While Raul is an active companion, talk to and exhaust all dialogue options for Loyal, Corporal Sterling, and Ranger Andy. Upon finishing the last conversation, Raul will open up a new dialogue with the Courier. Note that killing any of the non-player characters will cause the quest to fail, resulting in Raul's new apparel to be unobtainable.

Other interactions

 * He is a very competent repairman, but will only offer repairs at his shack, and even then will not offer a discount. He must first be dismissed as a companion ("for the best") before repairs can be done. Dismissing him to the Lucky 38 will not enable repairs either.
 * Sample prices: (Barter skill of 65)
 * Laser RCW, CND +35% = 1,515 caps.
 * Q-35 matter modulator, CND +13% = 754 caps.
 * That Gun, CND +41% = 1,427 caps.
 * NCR Ranger patrol armor, CND +85%, DT +6 = 663 caps.
 * NCR salvaged power armor, CND +85%, DT +7 = 5,100 caps.
 * NCR Ranger combat armor, CND +86%, DT +8 = 12,873 caps.
 * Sierra Madre helmet, reinforced, +100%, DT +3 = 1,700 caps.
 * Sierra Madre armor, reinforced, +99%, DT +9 = 1,979 caps.
 * Raul will comment on, and eat, anything sweet put in his inventory, like Sunset Sarsaparilla. If a Sunset Sarsaparilla (or another sweet item, such as bubblegum) is put into his inventory, he'll say one of the following quotes:
 * "You're going to rot my teeth, boss. What's left of them anyways."
 * "How did you know I had sweet tooth, boss?"
 * "Ahh, sarsaparilla. That's just what this dry old throat needs."
 * Raul will make his state of being apparent if the player makes him do certain actions.
 * If made to wear heavy armor, he will complain that the player is going to "destroy [his] knees faster than nature."
 * When sneaking, he will make various remarks about how this won't go well. Primarily, he'll retort "Keeping quiet, unless my creaking knees give us away..." If convinced to take up his gun-slinging ways, he'll sarcastically comment on how well a ghoul vaquero will blend in with the scenery.
 * When asked to stay close, he will say "any closer and you'll need a RadAway, boss." Only glowing ones irradiate their surroundings, so this is just his sense of humor.
 * When damaged enough, he will say "Boss! The pain from my wounds is starting to outweigh the pain from my arthritis!" He will also say "Boss! Is my jaw still attached? Good, can I get some help to keep it that way?"
 * Raul has various sarcastic quips when the Courier is vilified by different factions such as the NCR, Caesar's Legion, and the Brotherhood of Steel.
 * A Courier with low Intelligence will end up taking Raul's sarcasm literally.

Effects of the player's actions

 * If the player obtains Raul as a companion before dealing with Tabitha, she will broadcast her displeasure through her radio station, saying "No! I won't let you take my Raul!" Afterward, the station will no longer play music. She will then appear outside the prison building and attack with a few other nightkin.
 * If the Courier deals with Tabitha and frees Raul but does not recruit him, he will take note of the Black Mountain radio silence and asks if he can leave.

Comments

 * He has unique idle dialogue for locations around the Mojave:

Non-player character comments

 * Most wastelanders will often comment negatively about his ghoul state, saying things such as "Your friend smells like a bag of rotting meat," or "Your friend is one ugly motherfucker!"
 * The Fiends in Vault 3 will often remark "Your friend smells like ass," and "Take your pet ghoul away from me!" when fighting them.
 * Gomorrah floor managers will treat Raul normally like other gamblers, assuring him that he can "have a good time" even if he's a ghoul.
 * Hookers dancing in front of Gomorrah will occasionally comment "Mmm, I haven't had a ghoul before. Do I get to keep the tip?" - This is a reference to a dirty joke in which a man with leprosy hires a prostitute and says he "let her keep the tip," referring to a specific part of his anatomy detaching.
 * Gamblers will remark on Raul being on the Strip, saying "I thought they didn’t allow ghouls on the Strip."
 * Boomers will say "I've never seen a ghoul up close before. Not sure I wanted to."
 * Brotherhood of Steel members will say "Oh good, now I have to put up with the stench of rotting ghoul as well. I hope the air filters are working."
 * There will be unique dialogue when Raul is taken to certain locations:
 * When brought into the NCR Embassy at the Strip, an MP will randomly approach the player just to comment on Raul (more specifically, to the presence of ghouls on the Strip).

Appearances
Raul Tejada appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Behind the scenes

 * Raul Tejada was written by Travis Stout.
 * Raul was featured on the PlayStation blog "Fallout: New Vegas for PS3: PlayStation Blog Meet the Companions" preview in September 2010.
 * His quote about the super mutants asking him to fix toasters is a reference to the "Toaster Repair" skill in Wasteland.
 * The holodisk Ghoul in trouble, indicating that Raul was being held captive on Black Mountain, was to be given to the player character after listening to a radio broadcast.

Bugs

 * When asked to go to the Lucky 38, a notification will pop up saying he has gone there. When you go looking for him in the Lucky 38 later, he's nowhere to be found. It turns out that he stays at the last location you asked him to leave.
 * Unlike other companions, Raul won't walk around while in the Lucky 38, merely standing in the main room to the right of the door until spoken to.
 * After fast-traveling to a location, Raul will occasionally start running away as quickly as he can for no reason, and cannot be interacted with. Loading to a new area or simply waiting for him to turn around will correct this. This also happens with Cass as a companion.
 * When Raul awakens after being knocked unconscious, he will sometimes claim to have had a nightmare of Petro Chico Boy "stealing his chicharrones (Spanish for pork rinds)", but the subtitles will incorrectly use the word "chitlins" instead of "chicharrones".
 * Sometimes if the player speaks to him in the Lucky 38 presidential suite, a generic Great Khan will spawn.
 * By pressing "Take All" when pickpocketing Raul, the caps will still appear in the player's inventory despite being caught. To repeat this again, take him outside of his shack and dismiss him as a companion. This means you can get infinite free repairs.
 * When leaving a casino, if Raul is given a weapon, the weapon's weight will be present, but no item can be seen.
 * His voice will change if given a stimpak.