Three-Card Bounty



Three-Card Bounty is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Overview
Major Dhatri has been running into some problems with the raider gang known as the Fiends, who are terrorizing the area outside Camp McCarran. The Fiends have three known leaders: Violet, Cook-Cook, and Driver Nephi. They have killed many NCR troopers from the camp; those they did not kill, they left traumatized. Dhatri wishes for them to be assassinated, so that he can put a major dent in the Fiends' leadership and morale.

Detailed walkthrough
Once the Courier offers help, they are tasked by Major Dhatri to assassinate the three Fiend leaders operating around the South Vegas ruins. Dhatri will advise against headshots, since he needs the bounties' heads as proof of their deaths. As a result, the full reward is only given for an intact head.

Violet
Unlike the other Fiend leaders, Violet doesn't have Fiend henchmen; instead, she has vicious guard dogs. Her camp is due south of the Poseidon Gas Station, which is a short distance southwest of Cook-Cook's camp. Her camp is built on top of an abandoned trailer park, allowing both Violet, who will herself stand on the first floor of the middle structure, and her dogs to see you from a fair distance. The number of dogs may vary. There is a Nuka-Cola Quartz in a box on a shelf, up the ramp and to the left.

Violet is dressed in standard raider armor, and almost has the same amount of health as standard Fiend raiders. She is armed with a hunting rifle, and is fairly accurate with it. Once you acquire her head, collect your bounty from Major Dhatri.

Cook-Cook
Cook-Cook is the closest of the bounties to the airport, located just north of the South Vegas Ruins West Entrance in a makeshift camp built out of a broken-down building. He is surrounded by four to eight Fiends gang members, and a small brahmin herd. Cook-Cook himself is distinguished by his use of metal armor and an incinerator, as well as a flamer.

In his camp there is his Recipes - Cook-Cook's Fiend stew on a shelf or on the ground near a campfire.

Little Buster, a soon-to-be-retired bounty hunter found in McCarran, has been known to scout Cook-Cook. If you talk to him, he will reveal to you that Cook-Cook has a brahmin pet named Queenie, and that killing it can make him careless. Not only this, however - it will also cause him to attack anyone in sight, including his own men, who will fight back. If the player snipes Queenie from a distance, this can cause the Fiends to kill Cook-Cook without your intervention at all - however, this will most likely result in his head being mangled, thus making it impossible to gain the full 250 caps reward.

Once you acquire Cook-Cook's head, turn it in to Dhatri for your reward. Additional rewards can also be gained by speaking to corporal Betsy at McCarran (or Forlorn Hope if Nephi is already killed) and Pretty Sarah in Westside (in the Casa Madrid Apartments), who will reward you for your "service to humanity".

Driver Nephi
Driver Nephi is the farthest away of the three, located northwest of the Samson Rock Crushing Plant. He will be guarded by some unfriendly Fiends, usually more than Cook-Cook would have. Like Violet, Driver Nephi is not particularly tough because he wears raider armor and is armed with a melee weapon. However, Nephi's skill with his namesake golf club is considerable.

Prior to this portion of the quest, you can speak with Lieutenant Gorobets to request that he assemble the sniper team known as 1st Recon at the Samson Rock Crushing Plant. They will take up position at the plant, and will fire upon Nephi if you lure him into range. Merely assembling them is enough to get a 300-cap bonus, even if you don't let them take a shot at Nephi. They tend to kill with headshots, so they may prevent you from getting the full reward if hired. They will set five frag mines along their path to the plant. Once you acquire Nephi's head, claim your bounty from Major Dhatri.

Conclusion
Major Dhatri, with all the major Fiend leaders gone, will express his relief and thank the Courier heavily, for undertaking a task that seemed nearly impossible. As a result of not needing more manpower to keep the Fiends in check, Dhatri will move the entire 1st Recon to Camp Forlorn Hope.

Quest stages
* The assassinations can be performed in any order, which will change the order of the journal entries.

Behind the scenes
The title of this quest is a play on the name of the confidence game, Three-card Monte.

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