Raul (Fallout: New Vegas)

Raul Alfonso Tejada, born 2047, is a 234 year old half blind ghoul mechanic living in the Mojave Desert in 2281. He can join the Courier as a companion.

Location
Raul Tejada is on Black Mountain in the building marked "Prison Building". The Prison Building is the first building on your left as you look towards the "Broadcast Building". It's the one directly south of the "Storage Building".

Background
Raul is a ghoul who has had a long and storied history. Before the war, Raul was a delinquent living in Hidalgo Ranch, Mexico. He was a good shooter and mechanic, both which occasionally got him in trouble with the law, although his family mostly kept him in line. After the war, he survived on his families' ranch in Mexico until his family ran out of space for refugees and the refugees got violent. Raul and his father had to chase off around 2 dozen people, they later came and burnt his house down. His Mother, Father, 2 sisters and 2 brothers all died in the fire. He was able to save one sister, Rafaela, and they went to Mexico City to begin a new life. One day, while scavenging, he found a Vaquero outfit at a costume store. He began wearing it and became sort of a legend that began to attract people trying to make a name for themselves. While his sister was out one day scavenging, she was brutally murdered by a band of raiders, identifiable only by a tiny scar on her knee. Raul, who was unable to go with his sister because his "ghoulification" made him sick, tracked down the raiders' market and killed everyone in retaliation. Seeing it as a reason for his problems, he got rid of his vaquero outfit and found a Petro-Chico jumpsuit with the name tag "Miguel". After being freed from captivity, he will join the player out of gratitude. A new taste of adventure reminds Raul of his tumultuous past, prompting him to consider if he should embrace his old gunslinging ways.

Interactions with the player character
Raul is a mechanic and can become a follower for you, should you visit the State of Utobitha and release Raul from captivity.

Raul can offer repair services, like several other NPCs, but Raul's repair skill is at 100%, making him a noteworthy NPC for repair services. Like other NPCs offering repairs, Raul charges caps for his services (unlike merchants you have favor with, he does not give a discount). However, Raul only offers this service if he is told to return to his shack (near Nellis Airforce Base). For some reason, his repair services won't be available if he's told to wait at the Lucky 38 Presidential Suite, most likely because of his lack of supplies there with which to repair.


 * One workaround to get Raul's repair services without traveling to his shack is to dismiss him (and tell him to go home to his shack), and then talk to him as he's walking away. The game will think he is back in his shack, allowing you to use his repair skill. When you're done, talk to him again to get him to follow you. (This also reveals the location of his shack, if you haven't been there already.)


 * You can also acquire free repairs from Raul by pick-pocketing him after paying for his services, the "Take all" option seems to work all the time to steal, even when caught and just re-hire him as a follower and leave the shack, and you should be able to attempt this upon the next visit all over again. Great for making repairs to very expensive items.( I could never successfully pickpocket him, even with a stealth boy while he's sleeping)(Though other items you may have left on him can be successfully pickpocketed, unless there are some special conditions not describe here, there is no way to consistently get away with pickpocketing your caps back from him, if it is even possible at all.) This works better with Major Knight, saving before hand and reloading until you succeed.


 * Banking caps with Raul (a cold-blooded method that is not recommend, but works). All caps you have spent on his repairs will remain in his inventory until/unless you get him to follow you again and will be lootable if you kill him (if you make him an active follower again all caps he had will instantly disappear). If say for example you no longer wish to have him as a companion (don't do this unless you are absolutely sure you are done with him) and you want to play it cold-blooded, begin taking him (or stockpiling ahead of time) everything you loot, that he can repair, so you can sell them at full value, then say for example when he has accumulated 800,000 - 1,200,000 caps for repairs, at that point it may be worth killing him for the caps back or sooner depends on how many caps is killing him worth to you. Obviously this is a one time deal, then no more "banking caps" with him for repairs, while getting full value for the repaired items you sell. Using Major Knight and pickpocketing him is a better option.

XP Rewards
The first time you talk to Raul, if you choose to send Raul on his way instead of immediately taking him as a Companion, you are rewarded with 500 XP. You can then choose to recruit him as a Companion as soon as the conversation ends. (Tested on PC. He stays in the Prison Building with no option to leave.)

Quests
To unlock his prison door in Crazy, Crazy, Crazy, hack the computer to the right or check the computer to the left for Entry number six.

Raul's "free quest," Old School Ghoul upgrades Raul to either a better gunslinger or a better mechanic. Depending on game patch level and the NPCs interacted with, this quest may be impossible to begin or complete without the use of the console. See the Bugs section below (or the Bugs section on the Old School Ghoul page) for more details.

Endings

 * After the game is completed, if Raul was used as a companion, you never released him, or you didn't do any quests for him, the aftermath cutscene may say he left the Mojave and assumed a new name, as he had so many times before.


 * If you influence Raul to take up his old gunslinging ways, eventually he parts with the Courier after the Battle of Hoover Dam. The Mojave Wasteland is soon filled with stories of a "ghost-vaquero" who roams the wastes protecting the weak and fighting evil.


 * If you convince Raul that his time as a gunslinger is over, he travels with the Courier for a time before parting ways. He eventually retires to Outer Vegas and spends the rest of his days fixing ancient pre-War machinery.

Appearances
Raul only appears in Fallout: New Vegas.

Notable quotes

 * "I'm an open book, Boss. Granted, the book's in Spanish and some of the pages have fallen out, but I'm an open book."
 * "Sure boss, I'm sure making an entire well armed army angry with you was a great idea, Boss. How could it not be, you thought it up."
 * "Just putting this out there, boss: if these Super mutants kidnap us and force us to fix toasters for them, it's on you."
 * "Oh, sure. Lay mines around the arthritic old man who doesn't see so good. Thanks, boss."
 * "Hey, I'm one of you! Don't eat me, eat the smoothskin! Oh, uh, sorry boss."
 * "Angry, soldier, robots with bazookas. I'm sure they'll make a great police force."
 * "Right, because a ghoul in a vaquero outfit really blends into the scenery."

Bugs

 * If you kill Tabitha, she will have the key. Unfortunately, when you do this Raul will not be in the room.
 * Likewise with all companions that use weapons in New Vegas, sometimes via script such as entering casinos will remove their "companion only" weapon. Upon leaving you will receive it in your inventory and can even use it, but if you happen to drop it on the ground, you cannot pick it back up when you click it -- it will only say "steal" with no weapon name shown.
 * In order to complete his side quest and get his vaquero outfit you have to recruit him as a companion before you meet Ranger Andy for the first time or you will never be able to complete his side quest, or get the new outfit, or bonus perk. Speaking to Loyal in the Nellis Air Force Base hangar may trigger Raul to talk.
 * When meeting Andy for the first time, ask him to tell you his story but DON'T select the speech check option. Then walk out and Raul should speak to you.
 * Raul will sometimes "vanish" during certain quests. You'll still be able to hear his voice upon doing stuff like crouching, but will not be able to see him, the only way to fix this is to use the moveto console commands. This also may happen during the vaquero side quest, upon which Raul would normally speak with you (such as after talking to the corporal) he will randomly be wandering the wastelands, in which once again; you will have to use the console command. Upon doing so, he will speak to you and you will be able to complete the quest.
 * When exiting buildings in the Strip, Raul will not leave the building with you, and then die. Reloading the autosave will fix this.
 * If Raul disappears, just travel to Vault 22 and use the elevator and he will spawn next to you. This will also work for him disappearing at the strip even if you don't hear him talking.
 * It is possible to get Raul, Veronica and ED-E as followers at the same time.

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