Unfriendly Persuasion



Unfriendly Persuasion is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Detailed walkthrough
The second time the player returns after finding Jacobstown, Marcus will approach you with news of New California Republic mercenaries harassing the town. He'll then ask you to peacefully deal with them. When asked why the mutants don't kill them, Marcus says it's to avoid giving the NCR an excuse to terminate Jacobstown.

Finding the mercenaries is relatively easy, since they're directly in front of the town. To resolve the quest you can pay them 2500 caps or tell them to leave with a Speech check of 65. If you have a very high NCR standing you may also be able to tell them that you're an NCR hero. Norton will recognize you and they'll leave.

Alternatively, you can also kill them, but this leads to less XP reward and lowered reputation with the NCR.


 * Use a long range suppressed weapon to take them out with sneak attack criticals.
 * Take them out head on.
 * Note that there will always be 5 mercs (including Norton), all wearing metal armor/reinforced metal armor, combat armor and high-quality weaponry, so a head-on fight might prove difficult for some.
 * Attack them then run to Marcus and the other super mutants and let them kill the mercenaries.
 * Prior to talking to Norton, use a silenced weapon to kill the four unnamed mercenaries for XP and their gear. Then, talk to Norton and resolve the issue peacefully however you wish. Do not kill Norton, doing so will close off certain dialog with Marcus. Let him walk away (you can also pickpocket him and get a little info on the reason for them attacking Jacobstown), then return to Marcus to claim your reward for 'peacefully' resolving the issue.

After completing the quest you will gain 350 XP, or 250 XP if you asked for caps from Marcus, regardless of whether you used a Speech check or gave the caps to Norton.

Bugs
After convincing Norton to walk away via caps, the area just south of Silver Peak Mine shows a non-hostile non-player character on the compass. The spot the compass points to shows an option to talk to Norton and one or more mercenaries. Doing so does not activate a dialog.