Red (Fallout 3)

 is the only doctor and merchant residing in Big Town in the year 2277.

Background
Red moved to Big Town when she became too old to stay in Little Lamplight.

Big Town has been under attack from Super Mutants who captured her, so she will not be around at first. To retrieve her and the other survivor, Shorty (in order to complete Big Trouble in Big Town), you must travel to the Germantown police headquarters where she is imprisoned.

Once freed from the super mutants, Red will resume selling medical supplies in Big Town.

Effects of player actions
Once rescued you can escort her back to town. To escort her the fastest way possible, fast travel to Big Town. If you ask for a reward she may give you up to 300 caps. You can get 200 more if your Speech skill is high enough, but you will lose karma. At this point she will tell you that another Super Mutant attack is coming. You can choose to return the extra caps or help them with the other options that are presented. If your Science skill is high enough you can show them how to defend the town by fixing the junk robots they have in their scrapyard. You can also use your Small Guns skill to teach them to shoot, your Sneak skill to teach them to hide, or your Explosives skill to teach them how to plant mines. After you show them how to defend themselves they will use that skill against Slaver and Super Mutant attacks.

She is one of the targets for enslavement that Eulogy puts a special bounty on. However, if you enslave Red before she returns to Big Town, you will not be able to finish the Big Trouble in Big Town quest because one of the objectives is "escort Red back to Big Town." The only way to finish the quest then is if you break into the slave pens in Paradise Falls and either kill her or take the Slave Collar off of her if your Explosives skill is high enough.

As a follower
Some players may choose to keep Red as a follower before finally taking her to Big Town (or Paradise Falls, alternatively). While Red has marginally more health than most standard human NPCs and can be given better armor to help keep her alive, she does not have any combat skills, and the only reason worth the trouble of keeping her safe would be carrying equipment. Due to her low HP and lack of healing, she will eventually become very fragile, at which point it is best to bring her home.

You will not have the dialogue option to retrieve any items given to Red once the two of you reach Big Town. You will have to pickpocket or kill her, so be sure to get your things back before entering the town. Red will use aid items (Stimpaks) if given any, but only during combat. She will not, however, automatically heal after combat, and she doesn't often use her Stimpaks, even when severely injured.

Appearances
only appears in Fallout 3.

Bugs

 * Red always seems to die if the other residents of Big Town are killed. There will be a confirmation message telling you that she has died, and she will be dead in her cell in Germantown Police HQ. Even if you enslave her and she is in Paradise Falls, if the other townspeople die, you will get a message stating she is dead and her corpse can be found at Paradise Falls.
 * Sometimes (at least in the Xbox 360 version) Red will not be in her cell when you go into the Germantown Police station. She will be standing in the office directly next to her cell and still talk as if she is locked up until you unlock the unoccupied cell.
 * Sometimes (at least in PC version) Red will not be in her cell, instead, she will be killing the Super Mutants. After all the Super Mutants are dead, she will be in her cell.
 * Sometimes if you visit Big Town after completing Big Trouble in Big Town, Red will be found dead in the clinic for no reason at all. This also happened to Bittercup, who is lying dead in the common house. The other residents of Big Town are missing (Confirmed on PS3).
 * Sometimes (in xbox 360 GOTY edition) if you go directly to Germantown Police HQ and find her companion he asks you to find her. When you go to her cell she is not there but she is dead by the lockers.
 * Sometimes (at least in PC verison) Red will be out of her cell and if you see her she will be hostile torwards you and you can't rescue her.
 * Sometimes, after escorting Red to Big Town after rescuing her from Paradise Falls, she will have the speech options of an escaped slave and talk about going to the Temple of the Union. This fixes itself after the super mutants are dealt with (either by explosives, small guns, science, sneak, or by killing the mutants yourself).