Blood Ties

 is a Fallout 3 quest. It is also an Xbox 360 and PC achievement.

Lucy West is a citizen of Megaton who wants you to deliver a letter to her family in Arefu. The task is not as easy as it sounds; Arefu is under siege by the Family, a gang of wannabe vampires.

Deliver Lucy's message
Lucy West can be found in Moriarty's Saloon in Megaton, or wandering around outside. She asks you to deliver the letter even though she doesn't have any bottlecaps with her. The quest can be declined if one is selfish and aiming for the bad karma path.

Arefu is a small settlement built at an old freeway overpass located northwest of Vault 101. After cheating death complements of the trigger happy town sheriff Evan King you discover that Lucy's parents are dead. Further examination shows they have bite marks on their necks and Lucy's brother Ian West is missing.

Finding The Family
You are given three possible locations of The Family either Northwest Seneca Station, Hamilton's Hideaway or Moonbeam Outdoor Cinema. The Family is hiding in the Northwest Seneca Station. Upon entering the metro station you will be approached by a ghoul named Murphy asking you to find him Sugar Bombs so he can create Ultrajet. Next to Murphy will be a small room housing two barrels of radioactive waste; you need to go through the manhole in this room into a cave. Following the rough path eventually leads back into the next set of subway tunnels. There are creatures, mines and bear traps, so watch your step. Another two entrances into the same tunnels are at Meresti Trainyard northeast of Big Town and across the river.

At the end of one of the tunnels is a checkpoint entrance where you will find the sentry, Robert, who will allow you into The Family's home if you give him 100 caps, use the Speech skill to gain entry for free, or have the Cannibal perk. Then you will enter, via the maintenance tunnel, to Meresti, another Metro station. There, the Family have created their home.

Cannibals or Vampires?
The leader of The Family is Vance, a mysterious, charismatic man who is trying to help the members of his "Family" overcome their disturbing hunger for human flesh, and drink blood instead, somewhat akin to the mystical vampires in the old stories from before the Great War. You will have to talk with him (rudely or understandingly), and he will advise you to ask the rest of the family to tell you the rules they live by. He also gives you the password to the terminal to unlock the room where Ian is meditating. Inside the room you can find the aforementioned rules and a note from Vance about the Arefu incident. By talking to Vance or any of the other members of The Family, you will find that Ian is meditating in isolation as he decides whether to stay with The Family or go back to Arefu.

If you have the Lady Killer perk you can talk to one of the women in the auditorium with all the benches. She will give you the password for the computer terminal to get into Ian's room without having to go through Vance. If your Speech skill is high enough you can get it from any of the (5) characters in this section other than Vance as well.

If you have the Black Widow perk you will be able to seduce Karl, the rude, bitter storekeeper into giving you the password of the computer terminal that locks the door of the room where Ian is. The Terminal also gives you the choices of activate the electronic security of the station and activate the security robot. If your strengh is good enough you can threaten Karl, then he will give you the password for having "balls".

Confronting the Killer
Further questioning of the members of The Family or Ian will reveal that Ian killed his own parents in an outbreak of hunger. Talking to Ian will reveal the shocking truth: it turns out that he wasn't kidnapped, rather, he voluntarily joined the Family after killing his parents. Ever after a childhood encounter with a threatening Wastelander he's repeatedly been losing his mind as he craves human flesh and blood, even the blood of his mother and father. Now you have the choice of convincing him to leave by showing him his sister's letter or after a Speech check, or you can leave him to stay with The Family.

Drinking Blood
If you convince Ian to stay? then Vance can be convinced to protect or leave alone Arefu in exchange for donated blood packs.

Diplomatic behavior then donating bloodpacks will make the Family's headquarters a place where you can sleep and trade. Karl is the shopkeeper.

Returning Ian to Arefu and granting protection for them will give you some rewards from the inhabitants. Also, you may use one of the beds in the West family house.

Once you return to Arefu and tell Evan King the deal, return back to Vance to complete the whole quest, and Vance will reward you with the schematic for a neat little flaming sword, the Shishkebab. Vance will also dispatch someone to stand guard at Arefu, fulfilling his end of the deal. If you ask him to show you the ways of the vampire, you will receive the Hematophage perk which allow you to get 20hp from bloodpacks.

Bug (v. 1.00)
* If you attack any "vampire" the only way to get to Ian is to kill Vance and everyone else and search Vance's body for the code to unlock the security terminal by Ian's door. After you've talked to Ian and sent him home, Arefu will see you as a hostile since the game assumes that they're allies after the quest. The peaceful solution is to talk to the guard at the front of The Family hideout and tell him that you have a letter for Ian, he will acknowledge Ian as the "new kid" and open the gate for you. From there you can go and see Vance.