How Little We Know

How Little We Know is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Detailed walkthrough (NCR/House/Yes Man)
Warning: It is tricky to avoid permanently locking options in this quest. It is best taken after completing Bye Bye Love, as completing this quest will render Bye Bye Love either unobtainable or unable to be completed. Also, If you don't speak to Liza O'Malley before starting How Little We Know, then you will not be able to complete For the Republic, Part 2, see Bugs below. And, completing this quest incorrectly prevents you from acquiring the Pimp-Boy 3 Billion.

This quest can be given by Mick at Mick & Ralph's after asking him for work. He mentions that the Omertas have stopped buying guns from him without a word as to why.

This quest can also be activated after talking to Yes Man. If you are going to do the Wild Card quests, make sure to ask him about the Omertas, so that new speech options progress the quest when exploring Gomorrah. Otherwise, you will have to return to Yes Man and opt to ignore the Omertas, if you've given up finding clues.

For the Republic, Part 2, you will be asked to get some information regarding the Omertas by Colonel Moore. She will then tell the Courier to talk to Liza O'Malley to start this quest.

You can also automatically receive this quest when you accept The House Always Wins IV from Mr. House.

Cachino
Once the quest starts, you can talk to the receptionist in the main entrance of Gomorrah. If she has a Speech option for you to ask her information about "the outstanding balance", then she can point you to Cachino, a low level lieutenant. You can ask a few of the dealers/bouncers/hookers for Cachino's whereabouts. They will be unfriendly to this and not answer, but Cachino will still turn up after this. Having the Confirmed Bachelor and/or Terrifying Presence perks gives you additional speech options for the same result.

Your inquiries will prompt Cachino to approach you when you enter the Brimstone club. Once you meet him, you need to find proof of Cachino's work that he's been pulling on the side. The Family doesn't know about this because it goes against Omerta rules, putting his life at risk if it ever gets out. There is a journal in his desk directly to the left as you enter the bedroom of his suite and another on his person that can be pickpocketed, this is the evidence needed. You can get the key to his suite from the receptionist either by paying 300 caps, passing a 8 Strength check (making it free of charge,) or passing a 55 Barter check which lowers the bribe to 200 caps. (You can pay her the 300 caps, then pickpocket her to get it back.) Alternatively, you can just pickpocket Cachino since he is carrying a copy of the journal. Once you confront Cachino with his journal, he will give you 100 caps to get the journal back; a 60 Barter check makes him give you an additional 200 caps. He tells you about two people in the club who were hired by the bosses as part of their plans and says to talk to Clanden and Troike about specifics.

Clanden
Take the elevator to the suites level to find Clanden. He will not give you any clues or talk with you about what he does at all, even if you mention that Cachino sent you. If you go back and speak to Cachino, he'll mention he did some asking around and the bosses' plans would be screwed if Clanden wasn't around, so he asks you to kill Clanden discreetly. Alternatively, you can steal Clanden's key off him, which opens a safe behind the dresser next to his bed, or you can just pick the safe's lock if you have at least 75 Lockpick skill. Inside the safe are the Snuff tapes. You can take the evidence back to Cachino, who will give you the option to confront Clanden with the tapes, or you can just confront Clanden with them. Telling Clanden that you have the tapes gives you the option of telling him to leave and never come back. A 50 Barter check makes him leave after giving you 200 caps. Alternatively, you can can choose to keep the tapes, at which point he will become hostile and attack you. His room key that unlocks the safe also unlocks the door to the 100 Lockpick maintenance room (on the same suite level to the west.) Inside is a dead hooker, which you can inspect with 35 Medicine.

Troike
Troike is found in the lower brimstone level. When talking to him, you can choose a 30 Medicine check, saying that the story he tells you about blacking out doesn't make sense. You can find evidence of foul play by looking for the blackmail note in a safe in Big Sal's office that proves the bosses set Troike up. '''If you pick up the note, you CANNOT free Troike from his contract. This makes it impossible to legitimately obtain the Pimp-Boy 3 Billion.''' Alternatively, you can talk to Big Sal and convince him to free Troike from his contract with a high enough Speech (53) or Barter (45) skill. This frees Troike without having to investigate the dead hooker incident or find any evidence. If you have a Speech skill of 80, you can lie to Troike (giving you bad Karma) and mention to him you'll tell the NCR of his dealing, bypassing the hooker investigation and talking to Big Sal.

Once Troike has been freed of his contract, he will cooperate and tell you about his involvement with the Omertas. He'll tell you he was smuggling guns in NCR supply shipments and you can discuss destroying the guns. He'll give you a key and some thermite to destroy the guns the Omertas have been gathering for their secret plans; with 70 Speech, you can tell him to plant the thermite himself. The guns are behind a unique door in the hotel, with two footlockers containing a random assortment of flamers, sniper rifles, and assault carbines (these might help later in the next part of the quest.) Place the thermite on the 4 crates of weapons and set off the detonator via the now active panel in the hallway near the closest door to the room. If Troike plants the thermite himself, he'll get caught and rat you out before the Omertas kill him, but this won't ruin any of your objectives.

The bosses
After you speak to Cachino upon completion of both objectives, he'll tell you Big Sal and Nero need to be killed now. Luckily, they just put him in charge of finding out who's responsible for ruining their plans, and he'll lead you to a small room where the two bosses are. It is possible to convince Cachino to wait for your initiation signal with a Speech of 80 before the assassination. If you didn't get the guns from the room before you used the thermite, you can use the sawed-off shotgun Cachino gives you to kill the bosses, or you could use the holdout weapons you might have smuggled into the casino.

Upon entering the room, the bosses will ask you to have a seat, and a conversation will begin. They talk about how they know you've been ruining their plans and how they want to kill you. At any point in the conversation you can start combat through a dialogue option, but it is possible with a 80 Speech check to have Big Sal explain the whole plan to you, then you can lie and convince him that Nero wanted him dead. This results in Big Sal killing Nero when combat starts, allowing time for you and Cachino to kill Big Sal. If you want to avoid combat, you can quickly loot the office key from Big Sal and run outside. The various Omerta thugs in the casino will kindly assist you with killing Nero.

The quest is complete when the bosses are dead. Cachino takes over the casino, earning you Strip Fame. If you speak to him after the fight, he'll give you 50 Gomorrah chips.

Alternative solution
If you inform the guard at the door to the Gomorrah Club that you have proof that one of their guys is dealing on the side, he will let you in to see the bosses. (Note: You can only do this after you have informed Cachino you have his journal and have decided to keep it.) You can talk to Big Sal and offer him Cachino's journal for 100 or 200 caps if you succeed in a Barter check (60). After that, everyone is brought into Big Sal's office for a meeting where Button man will kill Cachino after he begs for his life. Talk to Big Sal afterward, he'll ask you to take over for Cachino then offer you a job aiding Clanden and Troike in their plans.

For Clanden, it means helping him kill "a large amount of people in a short amount of time". If you have a high enough Science skill (60), you can persuade Clanden to make a Chlorine Bomb; otherwise Clanden will tell you what is needed. Container of chlorine can be stolen from the Ultra-Luxe casino or purchased from Ralph in Freeside. The Chlorine from Ultra-Luxe is found in a small supply closet with an Easy lock on it, in the area behind Mortimer's counter. You can also persuade Ralph to give you Chlorine for free by passing a Science speech check of 60.

Troike will tell you that he is a gun smuggler and inform you that he needs someone to retrieve a crate of guns stolen by the Fiends. The location will be marked on your map, guarded by 3 Fiends. Once you retrieve the disassembled weapons shipment, return to Troike.

Once the chlorine is given to Clanden and the weapons to Troike, you will then be told to see Big Sal. Upon informing Big Sal of having fulfilled his request to aid Clanden and Troike, he rewards you with 400 caps. You can also speak to him about 50 Gomorrah tokens. Choosing this solution will cause the player to gain infamy with the New Vegas Strip, and during the Wild Card: Side Bets quest, a dialogue option will appear when talking to Yes Man saying that you support the Omerta's plans of attacking and taking over the Strip.

Behind the scenes

 * "(How Little It Matters) How Little We Know" is a song written by Carolyn Leigh and Phil Springer, and recorded and released by Frank Sinatra in 1956.
 * "How Little We Know" is a song written by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer, and recorded by Lauren Bacall for the film, To Have and Have Not, in 1944.
 * Troike being setup by the Omertas is very similar to the film The Godfather Part II, where Michael Corleone has Tom Hagen turn Senator Geary by drugging him and making him think he killed a prostitute. Tom then promises to cover up the incident in return for the senator's loyalty.

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