Private Halford

Private Halford is a New California Republic Army military policeman stationed at Camp Guardian $$ The sole survivor of a lakelurk attack, he can be found injured in the Camp Guardian caves.

Background
Under the command of Sergeant Banner, Private Halford and eleven others were stationed at Camp Guardian. After clearing the long-neglected hiking trails to establish an NCR outpost, the camp began to suffer from supply problems. A week after their official request for a radio from Camp McCarran, they still had received nothing. Seeking to acquire a way to contact their superiors, they sent a runner to Ranger Station Bravo (an hour-long journey at full sprint) to request any kind of radio equipment they could spare, even if it was a handheld.

The Rangers at Bravo gave the soldiers a handheld radio so they could use their equipment as a relay to Camp McCarran. Private Halford was put in charge of the handheld, as well as making their daily reports to Camp McCarran. The handheld worked well enough, though the camp's problems only got worse.

Lakelurks attacked Camp Guardian one night, while some were sleeping in their tents. In the ensuing struggle, the camp was torn apart, and its logs scattered. Private Halford was the sole survivor of the attack. As the unknown beasts dragged all his servicemen away, he managed to record a distress signal over the radio while trying to reach ranger station Bravo. Before this, Private Halford believed the lakelurks were as make-believe as mermaids.

He claims that, at the time of the attack, he was cleaning his firearm, and was knocked down and dragged down into the caves. He managed to get his knife out and got a good throw into a lakelurk's back. Once the mutant was on the ground with him, he beat and choked the creature to death. In the fight, the creature inflicted some nasty lacerations and dislocated his leg joint. By this point, he was in the entrance of the cavern. Unable to travel far, he pulled himself to the back of the fork in the cavern path to hide from these creatures, and to await the reinforcements he believed were coming. Unbeknownst to him, ranger station Bravo did not even get his distress call.

Eventually, he lost hope of ever seeing another human face; these fears are tempered should the Courier arrive, although he will have reservations with how small the rescue party is. Should the Courier intervene, they can treat his injuries and convince him to help clear out the lakelurk nest. Whether he is convinced to help clear out the caves or not, when Halford leaves, he will go AWOL to travel back to California. He does not wish to die and is just plain sick of NCR incompetence. He will be satisfied once the creatures are dealt with, and will ask the Courier to return their dogtags to the NCR. He hopes that his squadmates will not have died in vain, and that his superiors will actually listen to what happened there so the men could be properly avenged.

Quests

 * Help for Halford: Halford is the only remaining soldier in the platoon that used to be stationed at Camp Guardian and is now a broken man in the Guardian caves. With a doctor's bag or Medicine skill 50+, one can heal his leg.

Effects of player's actions

 * Once healed, he wishes to get out of the cave. With a Speech skill of 50 he can be convinced to join the player character as a temporary companion while inside the Camp Guardian caves to assist in clearing out the cave's population of lakelurks. If the Courier goes near an exit Halford will leave, even if the player character has convinced him to help clear out the cave.
 * Once Halford leaves the caves, he will travel across the map to the Mojave Outpost, where he disappears from the game. Unlike most non-player characters, Halford does not fast-travel when the player character is not present in the same map cell, and will not reach his destination unless followed by the Courier.
 * If rescued by the Courier, he can serve as a temporary companion after a successful Speech check. Private Halford has somewhat more hit points and significantly better combat skills than a standard NCR trooper, and serves as a serviceable ally for purposes of clearing out the hostile cave creatures, although he will be overwhelmed and killed if left alone in combat. He will leave, when talking to him, after leaving the cave. The player can use quick travel to get to the Mojave Outpost before talking to him.

Other interactions

 * Halford will drop Halford's note if he dies, or once all the lakelurks in the cave have been cleared. It contains a crafting recipe for the dog tag fist weapon. If the player character has convinced Halford to help them clear the cave, he will also give them the note upon reaching an exit.

Appearances
Private Halford appears only in Fallout: New Vegas.

Bugs

 * After cleaning out the cave with Halford and leaving through the underwater exit, he will still be following the player character outside the caves, but only if they do not speak to him.
 * Sometimes, if one heals his leg and tells him the exit is clear, instead of running to the Guardian Peak exit, he will run through the lakelurk-infested cave trying to get to the underwater exit.
 * Sometimes, if one heals his leg, passes the 50 Speech check to get him to follow the player character, then leads him to the Guardian Peak exit, he will give them the 'I'm leaving' speech but then he will turn away from the safe exit and run through the lakelurk-infested cave trying to get to the underwater exit.
 * If the Courier clears out the cave before talking with Halford for the first time, he will use his final speech to thank them with the note. The dialogue using Medicine skill will not even appear. After that he sits in his place and does not run anywhere.
 * Sometimes, when exiting through the lake entrance while living lakelurks remain in the cave, Halford will keep following the player character, even though they have already escaped.