Unfriendly Persuasion



Unfriendly Persuasion is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Detailed walkthrough
The second time the player returns after finding Jacobstown, Marcus will approach you with news of New California Republic mercenaries harassing the town. He'll then ask you to peacefully deal with them. When asked why the mutants don't kill them, Marcus says it's to avoid giving the NCR an excuse to terminate Jacobstown.

Finding the mercenaries is relatively easy, since they're directly in front of the town. To resolve the quest you can pay them 2500 caps or with a 65 Speech check, peacefully tell them to leave. If you have a very high NCR standing you may also be able to tell them that you're an NCR hero. Norton will recognize you and they'll leave without a Speech check or having to be paid off.

1. Use a long range suppressed weapon and mines to take them out with sneak attack criticals and explosions (Or just a silenced sniper rifle, head-shot sneak critical will kill them).

2. Take them out head on.
 * Note that there will always be 5 mercs (including Norton), all wearing metal armor/reinforced metal armor, combat armor and high-quality weaponry, so a head-on fight might prove difficult for some. Plus you'll lose A LOT of NCR reputation. This is not at all recommended (unless you're against the NCR of course, then it's highly recommended).

3. Attack them then run to Marcus (make sure he doesn't die, but he has 500HP and 15DT) and the other super mutant and let them kill the mercenaries. (easiest)

4. Shoot them one after another (headshots or other one-hit-kills) from a position where only the person you're currently killing would be able to see you. It doesn't even have to be a silenced (or scoped, if your manual aim is good enough) weapon; the others will become hostile for a short while, then turn back to friendly/neutral.

5. Before you finish the last chat, fast travel away. Check back periodically. The local cazadores will kill the mercenaries and you can just loot the bodies. If they kill Norton you can only get the aggressive ending, but if he lives to the last you can still get the peaceful one.

6. Prior to talking to Norton, use a silenced weapon to kill the four unnamed mercenaries for exp and their gear. Then, talk to Norton and resolve the issue peacefully however you wish. Do not kill Norton, doing so will close off certain dialog with Marcus. Let him walk away (you can also pickpocket him and get a little info on the reason for them attacking Jacobstown), then return to Marcus to claim your reward for 'peacefully' resolving the issue.

7. Talk to Norton and inquire about how much it would cost for the mercenaries to walk away. Then return to Marcus and ask for the caps (2,500 or 3,000 for bad karma). Then pass the speech test with Norton and you will get to keep the 2,500/3,000 caps and the mercenaries will leave Jacobstown alone.

After completing the quest you will gain 350 XP. (or 250 XP if you asked for caps from Marcus, regardless of whether you used a speech check or gave the caps to Norton.)

Bugs
After convincing Norton to walk away via caps, the area just south of Silver Peak Mine shows a non-hostile non-player character on the compass. The spot the compass points to shows an option to talk to Norton and one or more mercenaries. Doing so does not activate a dialog.