Blood Ties

Blood Ties is a Fallout 3 side quest.

Quest start
The quest can be started by speaking with Lucy West in or around Moriarty's Saloon in Megaton, by talking to Evan King in Arefu or by reading "Regarding the Arefu Incident" in the Family's terminal in the Meresti Metro Station.

Deliver Lucy's Message
Lucy West asks the Lone Wanderer to deliver a letter to her family in Arefu. If the quest is accepted, Lucy will give the player character an envelope, and mark the location of Arefu on the Lone Wanderer's Pip-Boy 3000.

Report to Evan King
Evan King will toss a Frag Grenade as the player character approaches Arefu. King then apologizes and explains that the town has been under repeated attacks by The Family. Evan will ask the Lone Wanderer to check the Ewer, Schenzy, and West residences to make sure everyone is all right (this starts the quest for the player character if he/she did not pick it up from Lucy).

When checking in on the residents, the Lone Wanderer discovers that the Ewer and Schenzy families are safe, but further investigation finds the dead bodies of Lucy and Ian's parents; further examination shows they have bite marks on their necks (requires 30+ in Medicine skill) with no significant blood amount on their bodies (50+ Medicine skill), that the marks are from human teeth (70+ Medicine skill) and that there is train yard residue on the bodies (90+ Medicine skill).

When the player character reports back to Evan King, he will ask about Lucy's brother, Ian West. Upon discovery that he is missing, Evan will mention having seen Ian with Vance, the leader of the Family. He will also add three markers to the map if prompted: Hamilton's Hideaway, Moonbeam Outdoor Cinema and the Northwest Seneca Station - none of which are correct, though Murphy in the Seneca Station will tell the player character to follow the sewers if they ask about the Family. If the player character noticed the train yard residue, it will be possible to ask Evan if there are any train yards in the area. This will allow Evan to add a marker for the correct location, Meresti Trainyard.

If one has the Scoundrel perk, before finding Ian, one can return to Lucy and demand caps before going to look for her brother. She gives 100 caps, with no Karma penalty.

Locate the Family
The Family resides in the Meresti Metro station which can be reached easiest via the tunnels under the Meresti trainyard, or much more inconveniently, through the tunnels found under the radioactive barrels in the back of Murphy's place in Northwest Seneca Station. There are various traps, including bear traps, frag mines, a rigged baby carriage and an assortment of tripwire traps that set off rigged shotguns, grenade bouquets and even a pitching machine.

If the player character enters by Northwest Seneca Station, they will find Murphy's chem lab operation. To the right, in the back of his office one will find a hatch leading to the Meresti service tunnel. The player character will encounter two Mirelurks there. After going through the cave one will enter the old train trail, then make a left at the first train wreck with the dead mirelurks. The debris here conceals many traps: frag mines on either side, two bear traps in the middle. Heading left comes to two miniature tripwires between the carriages and walls. The first has a rigged shotgun straight ahead, the second a heavy weight that falls from the ceiling.

The front gate to the Family's hideout is guarded by Robert, who will allow the player character into the Family's home for 100 Caps, or for free if the Lone Wanderer has Lucy's letter for Ian. The player character can also gain peaceful entrance by passing a Speech check with Robert, or by using a speech option from the Cannibal perk, which also opens up many more speech options making the whole quest much easier. Alternatively, the player character can kill Robert and hack the terminal adjacent to his post to unlock the station door, although this and the option of sneaking past Robert will turn the family hostile.

Locate Ian West
The next task is to locate Ian West to determine if he is still alive. Several members of the Family will reveal Ian's location and the password to unlock the room where he is meditating. These are the possible scenarios:
 * The leader of the Family is Vance. If the player character fails a Speech check, Vance will advise the player character to learn the rules of the Family by asking other members and reading from the terminal in the main lobby. If the player character passes the Speech check, uses the Cannibal perk, or reads the rules and explains they understand the Family, Vance will give the passcode that allows entry into Ian's meditation room.
 * Alan notices that Justin has been trying to befriend Ian and suggests the player talk to Justin about him.
 * Justin believes that Ian belongs with the Family, having witnessed the murder of his parents and done nothing. If the player suggests that Ian needs an 'outside voice' to help and passes a Speech check, Justin will reveal the passcode that allows entry into Ian's meditation room. The Impartial Mediation perk gives a similar dialogue option with an identical result (even if one does not have Neutral Karma when asking the question).
 * Karl will become annoyed if asked about Ian. Karl can be seduced by a female Lone Wanderer if they have the Black Widow perk or convinced with high Strength (all characters). In either scenario, Karl gives the passcode to Ian's meditation room.
 * Brianna also feels that being with the Family is the best for Ian but that he could use an outside friend. If the Lone Wanderer is male and has the Lady Killer perk, Brianna can be seduced into handing over the password to the room where Ian is. The Scoundrel perk or a high Charisma will work as well.
 * Holly, Vance's wife, can be persuaded to reveal the passcode with the Scoundrel perk or a high Charisma.
 * Vance can be killed, and the passcode looted from his remains. This will cause the rest of the Family to become hostile toward the player character. Each family member killed will result in negative Karma. Ian will be angry that Vance has been killed but will give the player character the same options regardless, as long as one does not respond sarcastically to his death. Responding with "Well, he's worm food now" results in Ian turning hostile and the quest to fail.
 * One may also goad Vance with certain conversation options, finally calling him a "psycho," and he will order the Family to attack - this will allow one to follow the above option but result in no negative Karma from killing them. Note: This path must be taken before Ian comes to any decision.

Talking to Ian will confirm he was not kidnapped but voluntarily joined the Family after killing his parents. After a childhood encounter with a threatening wastelander, Ian has craved human flesh and blood. One is then faced with the choice of convincing Ian to leave - which requires either the letter from his sister Lucy or passing a Speech check if Vance is still alive - or leaving him with the Family.

Settling accounts
Ian's decision must be relayed to Evan King back in Arefu. Depending on which choice Ian made, the appropriate parties will react with enthusiasm or disappointment. Reporting the news of Ian's decision to King will result in a sizable amount of good Karma regardless of Ian's ultimate choice. After Ian's decision, the Family and the residents of Arefu are considered to be the same faction even before the deal is made with Vance.

Vance may also be convinced to either not attack or to defend Arefu if he and the family are not already dead. If one simply asks Vance to stop attacking Arefu, he will agree. Through a successful Speech, Medicine, or Intelligence check, the player character can also convince Vance to enter into a deal to use blood packs instead of attacking the residents of Arefu. Regardless of the conversation choice, Vance will award the player character with the Shishkebab schematics, after the initial conversation about the deal is over.

If one has brokered a deal between the family and Arefu, they can return to Vance after the deal is relayed to King and ask to be shown the ways of the vampire. One will then be taught to drink blood and awarded the Hematophage perk which modifies blood packs to heal 20 HP instead of 1 HP.

If one suggested the Family guard the town in exchange for blood, Alan will be dispatched to Arefu, fulfilling their end of the deal. At that point, one can enter Alan's residence in Arefu (located at the entrance to town, near the Brahmin pen) to find a copy of Pugilism Illustrated on a table in the corner.

After successfully dealing with the problem of Arefu, each of its inhabitants will show their gratitude in the following ways:
 * Evan King will (only once) give Beer, wine, Scotch, vodka, or whiskey to the player.
 * Ken Ewers will repair items (up to 47%) for a price.
 * Brailee Ewers will give her "old-fashioned chocolate chip cookies" (which is actually a Tin Can) to the player character.
 * Karen Schenzy will mark several locations on the player's Pip-Boy.

Behind the scenes
"Vespertilio", the password to Ian's cell, is a real world genus of bats of the same name.

Bugs

 * Upon first approaching Arefu, Evan King may run past the player character to attack an enemy if they led them there. If this happens, the explosion will still occur and one will be frozen in place as the game waits for the encounter to occur. You can either load a previous save from when not on the bridge and kill the enemy, or wait for Evan King to come back, which can take a while. Eventually, he will return to his usual position, in which the dialogue sequence will then initiate. The game may freeze.
 * If the Family is inexplicably hostile, Vance may never appear in the game, making the quest impossible due to the lack of password for the terminal.
 * If Robert or another member of the Family has already been killed, but one has not yet received the message that this faction is now hostile, you can restart this by repeatedly pressing the "wait-button". Doing this, one can still talk to Evan and finish the quest successfully. Waiting for 24 hours seems to work the best.
 * While the Family's terminals are not read when highlighted (it will be your regular HUD color, as if open-use), being seen hacking into them by any member of the Family will result in the Family turning hostile as soon as one exits.
 * While checking on the residents of Arefu, after the player character checks on one, the door is locked.
 * Sometimes, after getting Ian West to return to Arefu, the residents of Arefu will turn hostile for no reason and the quest will fail.
 * Rarely, upon starting the quest normally from Lucy in Megaton then talk to Vance, giving the letter to Ian when talking to him will not remove it from one's inventory.
 * After checking in on the Ewers, one will sometimes find Evan King in combat with a Mirelurk outside. The mirelurk will easily kill Evan, thus making the quest impossible to complete. This can be fixed by reloading the previous save.
 * In the entrance area to the Family's hideout, just behind the guard, there is a radio that is marked in red upon hovering over it, which is tuned to Enclave Radio. If the radio is turned off without being hidden, the guard will immediately turn hostile.
 * Sometimes, Lucy will die inexplicably. This means one cannot get a reward from her for completing the quest.

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