Deal with the Vipers

"Yes. The Vipers in the canyon disturb my village, but we are at an impasse ? neither side can defeat the other. Perhaps the help of an outsider like yourself can tip the balance in our favour."

- Azkee

Deal with the Vipers was going to be a quest in Van Buren, the canceled Fallout 3 by Black Isle Studios.

Background
A month ago, as punishment for defying her, Hecate sent a band of Vipers to lay siege to the village of Mesa Verde. There's only a handful of healthy Cipher warriors in the village, but they're in an extremely defensible position. Unfortunately, there are not enough of them to take to the fight to the Vipers. At the same time, the Vipers are unable to breach the village's narrow entrance, so they're biding their time, letting hunger weaken the Ciphers before the next assault begins.

Walkthrough
The Mesa Verde design document suggests four different ways of finishing this quest.

Science Boy
Help the Ciphers finish constructing their Laser Cannon. Construction of the Cannon began several weeks ago to boost the village's defenses, but the project was abandoned when Trig couldn't get it to work. She thought she could just use the Laser Pistol schematic and build a giant version, but it's not working as she hoped it would. If the PC could complete it and get it working, it will be a very useful weapon to use on the Vipers (Science, Mechanics/Average). However, Trig doesn't have the parts necessary to make the Cannon work, so the player will need to explore elsewhere in the wasteland to find them. A Doctor can create drugs to buff up the Cipher warriors and give them an edge over the Vipers, as well as supply them with stimpaks (Medic/Average).

Stealth Boy
Sneak into the Viper camp (Sneak/Average) and poison their food and water. It won't kill all of them, but the survivors will be weak and easy pickings for the Cipher warriors. If the player steals some of the supplies instead (Steal/Average), he'll get props from the Ciphers (and an xp bonus). Or, rig explosives (Traps/Average or Traps/Easy + High Luck) on the nearby unstable cliff so that when the cliff collapses it lands right on the Viper camp and crushes most of them.

Combat Boy
Eliminate the Vipers with brute force. This will be a fairly tough fight, since the Vipers aren't your usual band of Raiders. They're skilled fighters, they fight with fanatical determination, and there are almost two dozen of them.

Charisma Boy
A female PC can dress up like a Daughter of Hecate and deceive the Vipers, ordering them to leave the Ciphers alone (Deception/Easy). Likewise, a male PC can disguise himself as a Viper and pass himself off as a survivor from another group (Deception/Hard). He can then claim the Vipers have been ordered to withdraw from Mesa Verde. A persuasive, combat-oriented PC can ask Azkee to send some of his best Cipher warriors to help the PC kill the Vipers (Persuasion/Average).

Journal Entry
There were two proposed Journal Entries. One would be the regular entry, and the other would be a "Dumb Journal Entry" presumably the one you'd see if you had low Intelligence. The entry also shows the different ways of finishing the quest.

Regular Journal Entry

 * Azkee asked me to remove the Vipers harassing his people.
 * I finished construction on Trig's Laser Cannon and fired it at the Vipers. The results were... impressive.
 * I slipped into the Viper camp undetected and poisoned their food and water supply. (I had the foresight to swipe some of their supplies for the Ciphers).
 * The Vipers never had a chance when the explosion went off and the cliff came down. Most of them lie buried beneath a ton of rock now.
 * I attacked the Viper camp head on and was victorious.
 * I posed as a Daughter of Hecate and tricked the Vipers into leaving Mesa Verde. / I posed as a Viper and tricked the Vipers into leaving Mesa Verde.

Dumb Journal Entry

 * Painted guy say make snake men go away.
 * Big light work now. Went zap! zap! zap! Lotsa crispy snake men.
 * I put bad stuff in snake men's food. (I also take food for painted people.)
 * I make big boom. Rock fall on snake men. All dead now.
 * Killed all the snake men.