Still in the Dark

 is a quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Quick Walkthrough

 * Locate the Brotherhood of Steel in Hidden Valley Bunker
 * Speak with Paladin Ramos
 * Speak with Elder McNamara
 * Deal with the NCR Ranger
 * Speak with Elder McNamara
 * Retrieve 3 Holodisks from fallen Brotherhood paladins
 * Return to Elder McNamara, and give him the 3 holodisks
 * Meet with 3 Brotherhood scouts and obtain their reports
 * Give Elder McNamara the 3 scout field reports
 * Retrieve the parts for the air filtration system
 * Return to Hidden Valley and give parts to Lorenzo

Detailed Walkthrough
is obtained at the Brotherhood of Steel compound at the western entrance to the Hidden Valley bunker. To gain access to the interior of the bunker, the PC needs to either have a lockpick skill of 100 (Very Hard) or perform certain other actions to be able to interact with the intercom, such as:
 * Randomly discovering the bodies of dead BOS Paladins anywhere in the world:
 * REPCONN Headquarters' 3rd floor
 * Near Moe around Black Mountain
 * Outside of Nellis Air Force Base main entry, there are two Brotherhood T-51b Power Armor Paladins. (Artillery bombing may have moved them from their from original position.)
 * The holotape in their inventory will have a password on it which becomes a speech option when using the intercom at the first door within the bunker.
 * Being sent by Mr. House or Yes Man to learn about the Brotherhood of Steel. When entering the bunker from the northern entrance, a patrol will run out. This will cause the door to open, allowing you to enter.
 * Getting far enough in any factions storyline to be asked to find the Brotherhood of Steel.
 * Having Veronica as a companion, which allows you to use the intercom to open the gate.
 * After getting two playbacks from ED-E, eventually a Brotherhood Paladin manages to hack in to ED-E's communication systems, asking you to find a Brotherhood patrol so they can have a look at ED-E's databanks.

If using the password you will be greeted by a BoS squad and required to relinquish your entire inventory. A short scene follows in which you are questioned by Senior Paladin Ramos about the password itself. Afterwards you are led to Elder McNamara and assigned your first quest. Note: Once you've regained your gear, all BoS within the bunker will become hostile if an attempt to enter dressed as NCR is made; companions are not exempt. Removing the outfit may or may not not stop hostility (PC confirmed to stop).


 * WARNING If you have the YCS/186 in your possession when you enter with the BoS squad, it will NOT be returned to you with your other equipment.


 * Note: The box with your gear may not give all of it back when Taking All. Check the box a second time.


 * Note: If entry is gained with Veronica as a companion, you are allowed a number of exceptions to the quest line. Your gear is not confiscated, the exploding collar is not placed on you, and the first quest (Below: NCR ranger) is skipped.

The Elder will explain the secretive nature of the location and the need to test you. You are fitted with an explosive collar, which will detonate if you pass beyond a certain range of the area.


 * Your first task is to remove an NCR ranger who has set up shop in a nearby bunker. Success is rewarded with removal of the collar, free movement about the BoS bunker, and the next quest.
 * The player can convince him to leave by passing a speech check (50).
 * The player can also ask about his radio, wait until daylight when he leaves the bunker, select his radio and choose the option to smash it. (Smashing the radio with him in the room will make turn hostile. If The player has a companion with them, they can simply break the radio with the ranger still in the room and let the companion kill him; this will result in negative karma and a reduction of your reputation with the NCR. (Confirmed: PS3))
 * The final option is to kill him.


 * The second task to to locate several patrols that have gone missing. The paladins must be brought back, or if found dead, their mission holotapes returned.

The moment you exit the Elder's chamber, you are confronted by Head Paladin Hardin who tells you that he believes the Elder's policy of keeping them isolated from the outside world will be their doom, and wants you to help him oust Elder McNamara. He asks you to find out more about what leads to an Elder being replaced and tells you to update him on all the quests the Elder gives you. These are all marked as optional parts of the same quest.

REPCONN Headquarters
Once finished with the tour, enter the door to the left in the Planetarium and up the stairs to get the keycard. Go back to the first room and through the locked door using the card. Find the door to the second floor and take the first door on the left. Hack the terminal (Very Easy), beside a Nikola Tesla and You, and select the first option which gives you unlimited access to the second floor. Find the door heading to the third floor and enter. A waiting security bot will question you. If you cannot pass a Luck check (Luck 7), it will tell you that you must leave in 30 seconds. Search the Paladin near the rubble and leave (there is also a 3rd Level Security Pass located on a corpse).

Nellis Air Force Base
The location of the paladin can change game to game because of the artillery the boomers fire at you when you approach Nellis. Here is one probable location: After you get the boomers to stop bombing you, stand at the entrance to Nellis. Head S-SW up the hill and pass between the car and road barricade. You should see a bombed house directly in front of you. Continue S-SW down the road to the house next door. There is a backyard behind that house bordered by a wall with ornamental decorations. In the backyard, there is a crater with a car in it. The paladin should be in or nearby that crater.

Black Mountain
Head right after exiting the BoS bunker to a hole in the fence and follow the trail. You will encounter Moe and possible 5-6 additional centaurs in and around an irradiated crater (+1-11 Rad/sec).

^^^Better detail: After exiting the Hidden Valley Bunker, look on your compass and aim directly in between Northeast and East. It is very close. There are ~5 Evolved centaurs, which are essentially disgusting mutated blobs that walk on four legs and have humanoid faces, and that spit green poison at you, so be careful. They are very easy to kill; I suggest use the Incinerator and take Veronica with you. Keep good armor on and avoid the poison which they can spit very far. Stay at a distance, they are not very fast. Veronica will punch them out if you have her with you. The palidin is at the bottom of a huge crater with bones, you can't miss it. The centaurs come out of the crater.

Return to the BoS bunker and hand over the tapes to Elder McNamara, or talk to Head Paladin Hardin who will accept the holotapes and use them as evidence to oust McNamara.

Ousting McNamara
If you choose to help Head Paladin Hardin, you may not be able to oust McNamara until after fixing the filtration system or reading the causes of previous dismissals of elders. After finishing the filtration system quest, you will get a new dialog option to give the holotapes to Hardin--even though you've already finished the holotapes and filtration quest. Hardin then says he'll prepare to confront McNamara, which will take a few days. You will not be able to talk to either character during this time and doing so will also abruptly end the quest. Once resolved Hardin will change into Elder robes and talking to him will present a new discussion topic about joining the Brotherhood.

Scouts
Head to each scout and start a conversation; the first option should mention "Are the bears still hunting?" Choose this and you will receive the scouts reports. Collect all three and give them to McNamara.

The first scout is located on the northeast end of the NCR Correctional Facility, relatively close to the facility and relatively low to the ground. He is close to the fence bordering the facility.

The second scout is on the far northeast side of Nipton, quite afar off and very high up. You should see the water tower in Nipton afar off ahead on the right side of the the town of Nipton, if you are at the right place. Head northeast from the water tower and scale the mountain, and remember that it is not close to the town, not like the scout over at the NCR facility. This guy is the most difficult to find of the three.

The third scout is easier to find than the second; he is located to the southwest end of the NCR Camp Forlorn Hope. He is up on a rock overlooking the valley on the southern side of the camp, in plain view of the Ranger tower on the far south side of the camp. The rock which the scout is on is not adjacent to the rocks surrounding the camp; there is a large gap in between the rock that the scout is on, and the Ranger tower on the southern side of the camp. The rock is approximately the same elevation as the ranger tower, although slightly higher in elevation. You cannot see him from the Ranger tower; you have to go up the rock to find him.

NOTE: If you are enemies with the NCR, I wrote a walkthrough for Camp Forlorn Hope, but moved it to the Camp Forlorn Hope page because it really has nothing to do with the mission.

Vault 22
The 6 HEPA 20 Cartridge Filters are in a Locker on the 3rd Level - Food Production behind a Cave Door that requires the Vault 22 Cave Door Keycard to open. The vault is populated with several Spore Plants and Spore Carrier Savages.

If you cannot find the card or you are blocked out, another way to reach it is to go to Fifth Level - Pest Control, walking away from the elevators turn left, or straight ahead if you've come from the stairs (entering the only unlabelled doorway of the three. It has some foliage infront of it), go up the stairs, turn left and enter the door to "Vault 22 - Food Production". Turn right and follow the path upward, and take the second right and you'll get to the wooden door that takes you to "Vault 22 - Oxygen Recycling" and the locker is located in the far right corner of the room.


 * Note: It is highly recommended you fix the elevator in this vault as it will make traveling much easier (requires 50 repair).

Firstly, navigate towards the 4th Floor (Common Areas). Head into the large area and drop down to the level below. From here, go through the door labeled "Quarters." An average lock is on this door, but can be bypassed by using the terminal in the Overseer's Office in the 4th Floor. Be wary of the corridor, as there are several Spore Carrier Savages. A Vault 22 Cave Door Keycard is in the first room on the left (the one with a baby carriage and crib) with a couple spore carrier savages. Look on the shelves to the right of the room. The Vault 22 Cave Door Keycard is on the third shelf from the bottom.

When you have obtained the keycard, head back up to 3rd Level - Food Production and enter the room with a terminal and the cave door (the door cannot be lockpicked and requires the keycard). Use the terminal on the left to unlock the door.

Once you enter the cave, take your first right and head down that path. You will eventually come to a wooden door labeled Oxygen Recycling; enter this door. You will find 6 HEPA 20 Cartridge Filters in a locker here.

Finally, go back into the cave and retrace your steps to go back to 3rd Level - Food Production, and proceed to the vault exit.

Vault 3
Upon entering the vault via the control panel next to the door labeled "Vault 3 Recreation center", in the south Vegas ruins, you will encounter a Fiend who asks your business inside the vault:
 * Note: The Vault 3 maintenance key can be obtained from Bryce Anders in the Living Quarters.

If you choose to free the prisoners, one of them will give you the password to the Overseer's Quarters.
 * If you can pass the Speech check (64), she will be persuaded that you are a Great Khan selling the Fiends' chems. Just follow the main halls and you will end up in the Motor-Runner's room. The Reverse Pulse Cleaner will be in a locker in the same room as Motor-Runner and will not be considered "stolen" if you take it.
 * If you cannot pass the speech check, then the Fiends in the vault will turn hostile. Head to the southern part of the map and look for the door to the Living Quarters. Head left and and (after dodging some traps) enter the door titled Recreation Area. After speaking with the ranger either convince him to go help you kill the fiend leader or just kill him for the maintenence room key.

Vault 11
You will find the Differential Pressure Controller in a Locker under water in the flooded section of the Lower Level. go towards the overseers office but before you do, take the turning towards the utility room and head down the stairs into the flooded hallway, keep going and take the first room on your right and its in the locker on the right hand side of the room. See the Vault 11 page for a detailed guide.

Once you have all three items return to Hidden Valley and tell Lorenzo. You will receive 1000XP and a Brotherhood Safehouse Key in return. Upon re-entering the bunker you will have access to a special footlocker by the entrance that re-stocks energy weapon ammo every time you re-enter the room.

Bugs
-Warning- This quest has been known to cause a save file glitch. It is recommended that you save your game before you start the quest line. Keep the save file as a rollback save in case you encounter this glitch. Also play through the quest line in one straight shot

If you give ED-E to Lorenzo to repair (as part of the quest ED-E My Love quest) before the part of where you have to talk to Lorenzo to start fixing the air filtration system, he will not be visible. The quest map marker will lead you to the position where Lorenzo is supposed to be, but he will not be there. To solve this, just wait a few days until he is finishing upgrading ED-E. Also note that if you have all the parts needed to fix the air filtration system but you've not yet completed the quest ED-E My Love and you've been already contacted by Lorenzo asking to have a look at it, the dialogue to give him the parts won't come up at all until you either hand ED-E to him or to the Followers of the Apocalypse.

Helping Hardin to take over the chapter and repairing the filtration system are intended to be mutually exclusive quests. You must pick one or the other, with Hardin's route being easier but resulting in less faction rep (the average player ending up at "accepted") and McNamara's being harder but leaving the average player at "liked." Note also that the quests following their transitions are completely different.

Alternatively, if you are pursuing Still In the Dark and Ed-E, My Love quests at the same time before choosing which faction to give ED-E to, Lorenzo will not offer the option to report you have all of the components from each of the vaults. You must do some of the dialogue pertaining to ED-E before the option to report you have the components becomes available. It appears afterwards you lose the option of giving ED-E to Lorenzo for some odd reason.

Talking to Scribe Ibsen in his bedroom may result in another Scribe getting him stuck under the stairs for several hours, or until you leave or come back.

However, there is a bug that allows the player to seemingly complete both options. For this error state to occur, you must tell Hardin about the "Chain that Binds" but NOT tell him about McNamara's orders to find scouts/paladins/filtration parts. The player can then turn in the filtration parts, tell McNamara you've turned in the parts, and finally tell Hardin about the orders. This is the only order of events that works, as the "Chain that Binds" dialogue options disappear from Hardin after turning in the filtration parts.

This route generates more immediate XP, but leaves the two NPCs in an error state. They will, for the rest of the game, both only tell the player to come back later. This prevents you from continuing on to the next part in the chain.

Note that both legitimate options will result in a brief period wherein the player cannot speak to their elder of choice, but this does not mean that they're bugged - leave the cell and wait for a few days to ensure they've made the transition.

To fix the error state, you will need to open the console and reset the quest with the following two lines (WARNING - using the console will disable Steam achievements. You will need to exit and restart the game to re-enable them.):

During the quest, having Veronica as a follower, if you tell her to wait previously, she will randomly pop up throughtout the vaults, fighting the spores. Then she stands there waiting for you to tell her to follow you oncemore.

Note this quest can be completed following McNamara's route, then the quests "Eyesight to the Blind" and "I Could Make You Care" can be completed. The player can then talk to Hardin and get the XP even though the quest has been marked as completed. This was done by completing Hardin's route just unto the point before he takes over. This seems to still leave Hardin and McNamara in the error state but doesn't matter as all Brotherhood of Steel quest have been completed.

Behind the scenes
"Still in the Dark" is a 1950 blues song by Big Joe Turner.