Smiling Larry

Smiling Larry is a traveling merchant appearing in the Commonwealth in 2287.

Background
Larry is one of several random encounters throughout the game. He can be recruited as a weapons vendor and sent to an allied settlement when the total linked settlement population reaches 30. When asked about his story, he says "People want something, Smiling Larry finds it and brings it to them. The whole Commonwealth knows me."

Possible encounter locations

 * He may be found walking along the railroad under the rope bridge near Tenpines Bluff.
 * Can be encountered near Reeb Marina as a random encounter.
 * Can be encountered along the road south of Cambridge Polymer Labs.
 * He can also be found walking along the road just southwest of Parsons Creamery.
 * Can be found walking the road South of Med-Tek Research.
 * Northeast of Boston Police rationing site at a Red Rocket.

Appearances
Smiling Larry appears only in Fallout 4.

Bugs

 * If Larry disappears after being sent to a settlement, he may end up in the "Quick test cell" limbo which is a very small test room, with other random NPC such as Scribe, Ness, Mr. Gutsy, etc. Ness will be hostile and may possibly kill any non-essential NPC. If he disappears, use to find him and other NPC.
 * Some Level 4 Merchants won't travel to or stay at your settlement after being assigned there. Solution: after the merchant has been assigned, disable them and any other traveling companions they spawned with, such as accompanying mercenaries ("prid [ref id]", "disable"); fast travel away from the area they spawned in; then walk, don't fast travel, back to that exact same area and a different random encounter should occur, such as wild mongrels or synths; if so, re-enable the merchant ("prid [ref id]", "enable"); fast travel to your settlement; and finally, move the merchant to you ("prid [ref id]", "moveto player"). Now the merchant should stay put.
 * As of patch 1.9.4.0 Smiling Larry now shows up at his assigned settlement and works properly.
 * It is likely that Larry will never appear at a settlement once hired.
 * It is possible to assign him to tasks by using the console: target him with, enter , and , then fast travel to a remote location and return, after that you will be able to command him using the workshop menu.
 * Another solution is to head to the settlement where he is wanted, type in the console to select Larry, then, , and finally.
 * It is possible for Smiling Larry to spawn dead.
 * Sometimes the option to recruit Smiling Larry to your settlement isn't there. Instead, it is replaced with the 'curious' option when speaking to him. The same problem could also apply to The Scribe.
 * On PC, this problem can be worked around by traveling to the settlement at which you want to recruit Smiling Larry; using, , , , , , ; "moving" Smiling Larry to the settlement using the workshop menu; and when the option becomes available after a short while, assigning Smiling Larry to a task using the workshop menu.