Heartache by the Number

Heartache by the Number is a quest in Fallout: New Vegas. The quest is given by Cass, who can be found at the bar in the Mojave Outpost. This quest is intertwined in somewhat complex ways with You Can Depend on Me and Birds of a Feather. It is recommended to read those quests as well to get the complete picture.

Related quests

 * Birds of a Feather
 * You Can Depend on Me
 * Can You Find it in Your Heart?

Quick walkthrough

 * 1) Either;
 * 2) Begin You Can Depend on Me and continue that quest until given the task of convincing Cass to part with Cassidy Caravans
 * 3) Or meet Cass and talk to her until the quest begins.
 * 4) * If not already completed, do the first part of You Can Depend on Me
 * 5) Return to Cass and convince her to part with the title for Cassidy Caravans by doing one of the following:
 * 6) * (Barter 50) Pay her an extra 750 caps.
 * 7) * (Barter 75) Challenge her to a drinking contest and obtain 12 whiskeys.
 * 8) * (Speech 50) Either clear the roads so Jackson will let her leave by getting and completing the quest Can You Find it in Your Heart?, or kill Jackson quietly with no one seeing.
 * 9) * (Speech 75) Just convince her she should sell.
 * 10) Ask Cass to join you.
 * 11) Talk to her about what she wants to do next.
 * 12) Pay your respects with Cass at her caravan's grave.
 * 13) Investigate the wreckage of the Griffin Wares caravan with Cass.
 * 14) Track down Durable Dunn's missing caravan with Cass.
 * 15) Cass will want to kill McLafferty and Van Graff, but you can suggest a peaceful option:
 * 16) Option A: Investigate Crimson Caravans and the Silver Rush
 * 17) Crimson Caravan: The evidence is located inside a locked safe in McLafferty's office, next to her desk.
 * 18) Silver Rush: The evidence is located inside a hard locked safe behind a hard locked door. There is also a Hard computer terminal to unlock the safe.
 * 19) Take the evidence of the Caravan attacks to Jackson at the Mojave Outpost.
 * 20) Cass receives Calm Heart perk (+50 HP).
 * 21) Option B: Assassinate Alice McLafferty and Gloria Van Graff
 * 22) Kill McLafferty
 * 23) Kill Gloria Van Graff
 * 24) Cass receives Hand of Vengeance perk (+15% damage with guns).

Getting started
The player always gets this quest from Cass, even though they may be led to Cass via other quests (You Can Depend on Me or Birds of a Feather). If the player meets Cass first, the quest begins, but it just sends the player to the Crimson Caravan camp to start You Can Depend on Me.

If the player has not already completed You Can Depend on Me up to the point where Alice McLafferty gives them the Cassidy Caravans buyout offer, the first order of business is completing that quest up to that point. Then the player can return to Mojave Outpost and start trying to get Cass to sell her caravan.

Recruit Cass as a companion
Cass won't join your party because she owns a caravan, and her emotional attachment to it is such that she can't see leaving that life, even if in reality she's nearly broke and her "caravan" is destroyed. The player can convince her to sell the caravan via several methods, all of which involve either a barter or speech challenge: Obviously magazines can be very helpful in getting the skills to the required levels. If the player doesn't have adequate Barter or Speech even with a magazine the quest cannot be completed until the player levels up and gets one of those high enough to continue.
 * With 50 Barter the player can choose to sweeten the deal by throwing in an extra 750 caps.
 * With 75 Barter the player can challenge her to a drinking contest. The player will need to provide (and drink) 12 whiskeys. How well the player does depends on their endurance and whether or not they are currently suffering from alcohol addiction.  The latter can be more easily accomplished through the use of Dixon's Whiskey, which has a 50% addiction rate.
 * With 50 Speech the player can suggest that the Outpost is a pretty terrible place to be trapped.
 * Cass will agree, but will point out that Ranger Jackson won't let her leave.
 * The player can solve this problem by talking to Jackson and completing Can You Find it in Your Heart?, which involves clearing out the giant ants from the road down the hill, or can kill Jackson in a sneaky fashion (losing Karma in the process).
 * With 75 Speech the player can just challenge her by telling her she's responsible for the destruction of her caravan, and she'll reluctantly agree.

Once Cass agrees to sell, the player needs to ask her what she's going to do next, and eventually the option to ask her to join will can be selected. The next step is to talk to her (via the Companion wheel) and she'll eventually say that she wants to go visit the wreckage of her caravan.

The mystery of the caravans
When the player finds Cass's caravan, it's nothing but a dead brahmin and some miscellaneous loot (which Cass doesn't mind if the player takes). However, Cass notices something suspicious and suggests visiting the Griffin Wares Sacked Caravan, where a similar attack took place.

After visiting the remains of that caravan and poking around a bit, Cass will get even more suspicious and suggest looking over yet another caravan's remains: Durable Dunn's Sacked Caravan.

At Durable Dunn's Sacked Caravan, the bodies of a Van Graff thug and a Crimson Caravan guard suggest to Cass that something is fishy in the state of Nevada, and she comes to the conclusion that Alice McLafferty and Gloria Van Graff have been colluding to attack caravans and remove competition for the Crimson Caravan trading company. She wants to immediately go exact some justice, wasteland-style. The player can agree, or suggest a peaceful solution. If the player does not suggest the peaceful solution at this point, it is not possible to switch to it later, as the evidence notes will not be added to the safes and thus cannot be gathered.

Violent Solution
Alice McLafferty is relatively easy to kill, though the trick is to do so in a way that doesn't turn the rest of the Crimson Caravan hostile. A sneak attack critical headshot while hidden is a good choice, or planting C4 on her and setting it off remotely. In any case, it's a good idea to finish You Can Depend on Me and Pressing Matters first, since they won't be available once McLafferty's dead.

Killing the Van Graffs is a more difficult task, though there are innumerable ways of going about it. Just to touch on a few that may not be obvious:
 * Simon, the door guard, will turn hostile if attacked. This will attract most of the guards outside, where an ambush can be set. The other guards won't come out if he is killed in an instant or sneaky manner.
 * Weapons can be stolen inside, either boldly and obviously or via stealth. It's possible to drag weapons (using the "pick up" feature) out of sight and then steal them without turning the guards hostile.
 * If the player finishes the "guard the door" section of Birds of a Feather, they will be allowed into the Silver Rush with their weapons, making it much easier to kill the Van Graffs.
 * If the player starts Birds of a Feather, during the "guard the door" sequence the fourth patron has a bomb. If the player lets him inside, he sets it off, killing everyone inside.
 * It is possible to kill Gloria Van Graff silently without causing the guards to become hostile. Finding an unseen vantage point from which to do this is difficult without use of a Stealth Boy, however.

Once both targets are dead, the player just needs to speak to Cass to finish the quest.

The reward is 500xp and the Hand of Vengeance perk, which provides Cass with +15% damage with guns.

Peaceful Solution
The evidence the player needs is in two safes: one in Alice McLafferty's office at the Crimson Caravan Camp and one in the office at the Silver Rush. They can be searched in either order. The evidence notes are not added to the safes until the player and Cass decide to start the investigation. It's not a problem if the player has already looted one or both safes earlier in the game; the player can return to them at the appropriate time and find the notes.

The one at the Crimson Caravan is right next to McLafferty's desk. It has an average lock. The office is empty at night, so the player can lockpick undisturbed. Alternatively, the key to the safe can be pickpocketed from McLafferty. Once the incriminating note has been obtained, the player should talk to Cass and show her the evidence.

At the Silver Rush, it's a good idea to have Cass wait outside, as she or Jean-Baptiste Cutting may turn hostile after a period of time, even if they seem fine just after entering. The safe is in the office, right off the main room. The door has a hard lock, or the key can be picked or looted from any of the Van Graffs, including Simon and the other guards (but not the crier). The door can generally be picked openly without turning the guards hostile, though they may say something vaguely threatening. The safe lock is also hard, and does not have a key, but there is a terminal attached to it with a hard lock. Again, once the evidence has been obtained, the player should talk to Cass. She'll suggest taking the evidence to her old pal Ranger Jackson.

The player should then talk to Ranger Jackson at the Mojave Outpost. After the player gives him the news of the conspiracy, they can speak to Cass to end the quest.

The reward is 500xp and the Calm Heart perk, which gives Cass +50 HP.

Bugs

 * If the player completes Can You Find it in Your Heart? and starts You Can Depend on Me before talking to Cass, When the player does talk to Cass this quest will begin abruptly with the "Clear the roads for Jackson..." and "(Optional) "Remove" Jackson as an obstacle..." completed, and no suggested next step.
 * Solution: Continue the quest; get her to sell her caravan and recruit her as a follower.


 * If the player killed the Van Graffs before first meeting Cass, upon meeting her, she will tell you that she's glad the Van Graffs have been dealt with and that all that's left is to kill McLafferty. The quest will begin with "Kill McLafferty" as the goal.
 * Possible solution: recruit her as before, and either travel to her caravan to see if it gets that section of the quest to trigger, or just kill McLafferty and end the quest.


 * Sometimes if the Van Graffs were killed before starting this question, the murder of McLafferty will not end the quest, nor change options. It will appear that the quest is impossible to complete, as the marker will be shown at her body.
 * Solution: After waiting long enough Cass may start the dialogue that ends the quest. Also, talking to Cass after killing McLafferty may initiate the completion of the quest.


 * After taking Cass to any caravan wreckage or other location that triggers a conversation she may stop following the player and become passive.


 * When attempting to get the evidence at Silver Rush the terminal attached to the safe might not activate.


 * After killing the Van Graffs it is possible to get locked out of the Las Vegas strip. The North Gate to the Las Vegas strip says it requires a key.
 * This is a global bug, probably unrelated to this quest. Sometimes people get locked out of the Strip.
 * Solution: kill or pickpocket one of the strip gate guards, or use one of the other methods listed on The Strip page.


 * Sometimes you have to actively talk to Cass (choosing the option from the companion menu) at each of the assaulted Caravan sites in order to trigger the dialogue that advances the quest.


 * When traveling from the east gate of Crimson Caravan Camp to Durable Dunn's Sacked Caravan, the questmarker may lead the player through Isaac's House.


 * Despite being dismissed, Cass may appear in the Crimson Caravan office when the player enters and kill McLafferty.

Behind the Scenes
This is one of many quests that are named after songs that can be heard on the radio, in this case the Guy Mitchell song Heartaches by the Number, which is broadcast in-game on Radio New Vegas.