Anywhere I Wander

Anywhere I Wander is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Quest start
On a small road between Camp Nelson and Techatticup Mine you will be approached by a wheezing Private Renolds. He explains to you that his squad was ambushed by Caesar's Legion and "That bastard Alexus" was the one who was apparently responsible. There are two possible responses to begin this quest. The first is letting him know you'll take a look. The second is to say, "You sure they're still alive?" This will give you the option of a Barter check of 45 to gain more of an "encouragement" in cap form.

Rescue the NCR hostages from the Techatticup Mine
A few hundred yards up the road, outside of the Techatticup Mine itself, two Legion recruits are found patrolling the slightly elevated entrance. You can walk by them or fight them. Whichever is decided be sure to look for, and enter, the scarred door to the Techatticup Mine. There are a couple of options in pursuing the freedom of the prisoners. The first is if you are shunned or vilified by Caesar's Legion, then they will attack you on sight. You will have to fight your way to the lower cavern to locate Alexus.

The second option is if you are liked by Caesar's Legion then you can walk on through to Alexus and you can try reasoning with him, but in the end you can either kill him or pickpocket the storage key. The final way is to simply pick the locks to the cells.

The third option is if you are liked by both factions, or simply do not intend to gain any infamy from the Legion: Use a strong silenced weapon (i.e. the Ratslayer) to take out all the guards from the entrance to the prisoners, while sneaking. Sneak attacks do automatic critical damage, and will most likely take out all enemies with one shot to the head. If nobody witnesses the silent kills, you will not suffer any Karma or reputation loss. When you have cleared the guards from the entrance to the prison, either pickpocket the key from Alexus, or simply pick the locks, and you should be able to untie them and free them, without any loss of Legion fame.
 * Note: As soon as the gates to the prisoners open, the Legion soldiers will attack. However, if the Legion are neutral or like you they will not attack.
 * Also you do not have to chaperon either prisoner on the way out, but if both prisoners die you will fail the quest.
 * If you are shunned or vilified by Caesar's Legion the ones inside and the two outside the cave might be friendly. So the easy way is to kill them anyway, so they don't kill the prisoners, if you have already untied them.
 * For characters who are evil, trying to keep a negative reputation with NCR, or who simply feel like killing the two NCR soldiers if they have failed the quest, killing the two captives within sight of the Caesar's Legion soldiers will not cause them to attack you.

The fourth option is for the player that want to maintain a neutral reputation with the Legion. Simply free the two hostages while hidden and race to the exit. If done right, provided that the two didn't die before you reached the exit, you can complete this quest while losing no reputation with Legion.

Report back to Private Renolds
Private Renolds is back on the road where you left him. Inform him of your completion and he will tell you of Camp Forlorn Hope (which is nearby) and will reward you 100 XP as well as NCR Fame.

Behind the scenes

 * Frank Loesser wrote Anywhere I Wander in 1951.

Bugs

 * Alexus may not be there at all.
 * You may not be able to interact with the NCR prisoners until you're given the quest by Private Reynolds.
 * Alexus and other Legionaries may already be dead before entering the mine.
 * Private Reynolds may get killed by the Legionary assassin at the exit and the mission won't fail.
 * After rescuing the hostages, Private Reynolds is unresponsive to complete the quest.

Das Wandern ist des Bergmanns Lust Где бы я ни бродил…