 | For the Fallout 76 location, see Black Mountain Ordnance Works. |
|---|
“Travelers along the Long 15 have complained to NCR rangers that caravans have been harassed and attacked by fearsome super mutants living in the irradiated ruins of Black Mountain.”— Fallout: New Vegas loading screens
Black Mountain is a location in the Mojave Wasteland that serves as a radio station for the State of Utobitha. Neil's Shack is situated at the bottom of the mountain and marks the start of the road.
Background
The satellite array was a pre-War Hermes Communications, Inc. monitoring station. Before the war, the location reported increased activity from China's satellite network.[1] During the Great War, the operators wrote that readings across the board indicated multiple launches, and that the opposing force "must've thrown everything they had" and that "we didn't hold back either."[2] The broadcast tower was shielded from the full impact of a detonation by the mountain, but those within suffered from high levels of radiation.[3]
After the war, Marcus and his group of Super Mutants discovered the array was still operational and the mountain provided a secluded and defensible place in which to settle.[4] One of the inhabitants, Tabitha, was instructed by Marcus to keep a journal in the tower to distract her from the loss of her Mister Handy robot, Rhonda.[5] Tabitha realized that the facility could serve as a radio station and began broadcasting, the content of which caused conflict in the group.[6] The disagreements over the radio station led to Marcus' group departing, subsequently settling in Jacobstown.[7][8]
Without Marcus intervention, Tabitha began instructing her followers to kill all humans on sight via the Black Mountain Radio broadcasts, referring to herself as the "supreme commander" of the "State of Utobitha."[9] She has imprisoned a ghoul named Raul Tejada who attempted to help fix the radio transmitter.[10][11]
Publications
“Black Mountain, the dominant feature of the area, was unoccupied for over a century after the war. The victim of a direct strike, most of Black Mountain’s radar arrays were knocked out immediately. Even though valuable materials were in the buildings that surrounded the arrays, the area was so irradiated that no one survived in it for more than an hour or so. After the fall of the Master, many of the first generation Super Mutants headed east. In Black Mountain, they were able to find a place to set up a camp where they could avoid most of the rest of the world. It took a long time for the Super Mutants to settle in and repair the equipment in the array, but they were finally able to enlist the help of some Ghouls to make the array operational.
Over time, Nightkin—more psychotic and temperamental Super Mutants thanks to their predisposition and eventual addiction to Stealth technology—and the more thuggish second generation Super Mutants trickled into Black Mountain, which eventually caused problems. The de-facto leader of the community was Marcus, from Broken Hills. Unfortunately, the influx of less-mentally stable super mutants proved to be more than he could handle. Eventually, he was pushed out of the group at Black Mountain. He left with a small group of (mostly first generation) super mutants, ghouls, and friendly humans to found Jacobstown. This left the Nightkin and second generation Super Mutants to fend for themselves. Within weeks, a paranoid schizophrenic NIghtkin named Tabitha (and Rhonda) progressively turned the satellite array into a fortress against any and all outsiders. She hallucinates regularly, and has convinced the other super mutants (especially the idiotic second-gen ones) that only she can see the threats against them, due to her “magic eyes” (actually a pair of oversized child sunglasses which—of course—she won’t let anyone else touch).”— Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide/Faction Profiles
Over time, Nightkin—more psychotic and temperamental Super Mutants thanks to their predisposition and eventual addiction to Stealth technology—and the more thuggish second generation Super Mutants trickled into Black Mountain, which eventually caused problems. The de-facto leader of the community was Marcus, from Broken Hills. Unfortunately, the influx of less-mentally stable super mutants proved to be more than he could handle. Eventually, he was pushed out of the group at Black Mountain. He left with a small group of (mostly first generation) super mutants, ghouls, and friendly humans to found Jacobstown. This left the Nightkin and second generation Super Mutants to fend for themselves. Within weeks, a paranoid schizophrenic NIghtkin named Tabitha (and Rhonda) progressively turned the satellite array into a fortress against any and all outsiders. She hallucinates regularly, and has convinced the other super mutants (especially the idiotic second-gen ones) that only she can see the threats against them, due to her “magic eyes” (actually a pair of oversized child sunglasses which—of course—she won’t let anyone else touch).”— Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide/Faction Profiles
“A slightly unhinged Super Mutant named Tabatha (and also Rhonda) has installed herself (with the indentured help of a Ghoul named Raul) in this mountain-top radar installation, and is broadcasting her particular brand of insanity throughout much of the Wasteland. There are two ways to reach her lair; both of which are covered in the Side Quest.”— Fallout: New Vegas Official Game Guide/Tour of the Mojave Wasteland
Layout
On the road to Black Mountain, there is an overturned satellite dish that is used as a makeshift camp. It contains several trunks, two of which contain several hundred Caps. There is also a transceiver, whereupon passing a 75 Speech check, Tabitha will declare death to all "dumb-dumbs," and after which the transceiver will stop working.
- Prison Building: When entering the radio facility via the road, the closest building to the player character will be the Prison Building. Inside there is an imprisoned ghoul mechanic named Raul Tejada, who is a potential companion. The door to his room is locked, and the Courier must either have a Science skill of 100 to hack the nearby terminal, a key to open the door, or must access the second terminal near the building's entrance to read entry 6. This gives the Courier the password, which is "123456789," to unlock the door without hacking the terminal.
- Broadcast Building: At the far end of the property and is identifiable from the single satellite dish on the roof. The building is two floors high and has two doors on the ground floor, one of which is inaccessible from the outside. Once entering the building, the other door can be accessed, it leads to a staircase which then leads to Tabitha's room. A key is required to access her room, which can be found underneath the staircase. The door to the first floor inside the fence can be interacted with from the outside, potentially granting access to the top floor while bypassing enemies.
- Storage Building: Located between the two buildings, the Storage Building contains several random items, including a Nuka-Cola Vending Machine, locked chests, and a broken Mister Handy robot by the name of Rhonda that requires 60 Science to fix.
Loot
- Cuddles' Toy Car - In the prison building, on the table. Details of the item are mentioned in the nearby computer terminal. If the entry is not viewed, it remains labeled as a generic Toy Car.
- Annabelle - A unique missile launcher, on the Nightkin Sniper standing on the radio tower platform.
- One Nuka-Cola Victory - In the Storage Building.
- A Sunset Sarsaparilla Star Bottle Cap - In the storage building, between two Sarsaparilla crates on the bottom shelf, left of the training dummy.
- Sheet Music Book - On a stand in Tabitha's room.
- Repair Note #3 - A note, on a console in Tabitha's room.
- Treasure hunt - A note, attached to the training dummy's midsection inside the storage building.
Inhabitants
| Image | Name | Dialogue | Editor ID | Form ID |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Cuddles | |||
|
Moe | 00173FB0 | ||
|
Neil | Neil (Fallout: New Vegas)/Dialogue | BMNeil | 000E60F0 |
|
Nightkin Sniper | 000E794E | ||
|
Paladin Fairbanks | |||
|
Paladin Hughes | HVPaladinDead05 | 0015A7B7 | |
|
Raul | Raul (Fallout: New Vegas)/Dialogue | RaulTejada | 000E60EF |
|
Rhonda | Rhonda/Dialogue | BMRhonda | 000E84A2 |
|
Tabitha | Tabitha/Dialogue | 000E60F1 |
Endings
Narrated by Neil
| # | Slide | Voice-over narration | In-game condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Though some Super Mutants and Nightkin continued to journey to the legendary Utobitha, they found little trace of its existence. Some eventually found their way to Jacobstown, but many wandered off into the wastes, confused and disheartened. |
Kill Tabitha |
| 2 |  |
Tabitha and Rhonda went east, through Caesar's land. Occasionally tales of their exploits found their way back west, though few believed them. Eventually the stories concerning the duo were collected and published, and proved to be quite popular with children. |
Repair Tabitha's robot, Rhonda. |
| 3 | |
Black Mountain Radio continued to broadcast its peculiar form of propaganda. Raul Tejada faced his execution each day, though pardoned in the end. Travelers venturing too near Black Mountain continue to be harassed by Tabitha's followers. |
Do not approach Black Mountain. |
| 4 | |
Tabitha, enraged by Raul's escape, took the remaining nightkin of Black Mountain with her and vanished without a trace. Travelers in the region soon learned to avoid the roads at night, as caravans were repeatedly attacked by unseen assailants. |
Release Raul, do not complete Crazy, Crazy, Crazy. |
Notes
- The exterior sounds of Black Mountain include thunder (AMBDesertNoiseThunder [SOUN:0015BA20]).
- By fast traveling or returning to Black Mountain, super mutant masters will spawn, generally in groups of threes. They will not be hostile to the player character, and cannot be spoken to. Killing one will not cause the others to attack. This is in line with Neil stating that super mutants are still streaming in, and he is going to stay and direct them to Jacobstown. The nightkin encountered will still be hostile however.
- If the Courier enters the storage room and doesn't fix Rhonda within three in-game days, she will disappear. To repair Rhonda, don't enter the storage room until a 60 Science skill is achieved.
- The ambiance that plays at Black Mountain is City of the Dead, the same ambiance that plays at Necropolis in Fallout.
Appearances
Black Mountain appears in Fallout: New Vegas.
Behind the scenes
Black Mountain is a real world location of the same name, within the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area near Henderson, Nevada.
Bugs
When using the terminal in the prison building, the screen may become blurred but not bring up the monitor interface for the computer. This will fix itself by leaving the building and re-entering but using scoped weapons will now show the image of the computer terminal.
When climbing back down the mountain after reuniting Tabitha with Rhonda, it is possible that attacking any nightkin or Centaur will cause Rhonda and Tabitha to join the fight and attack you. After the original attackers are dead they will disappear altogether. Fast traveling to Jacobstown will show that Tabitha is still hostile to the player.
When fast traveling or climbing the mountain, random non-player characters will spawn at Tabitha's compound or in the crater area. They will be non-hostile to both the super mutants/nightkin and to the player. If the player starts a fight with the mutants/nightkin, they will not join regardless of faction reputation.- When meeting Neil for the mission that begins with him, you may be given the optional task to meet him by the overturned satellite dish. Meeting him there, he will ask if you are ready. No matter what reply you give him ("Let's go" or the equivalent of "No not yet. There's some things I have to do first"), he will always respond to the latter. A possible fix for this is telling Neil you're ready to go BEFORE you talk to the super mutant on the radio.
- A variety of non-player characters may spawn on the roads on your way to the summit including, Sunny Smiles, an NCR Trooper, a Powder Ganger, some Boomers, and a Great Khan. They won't be attacked by the super mutants if you're around them, they will go straight to you and completely disregard the other non-player characters.
- Sometimes the nightkin sniper will not spawn, making it impossible to get Annabelle.
- The back door to the ground floor of the broadcast building can be entered from outside the fence.
Gallery
Collapsed satellite dish
Collapsed satellite dish interior
Radio tower platform
Looking towards New Vegas
Main buildings
Nightkin with Annabelle
References
- ↑ Black Mountain terminal entries; broadcast tower terminal, Log 672
- ↑ Black Mountain terminal entries; broadcast tower terminal, Log 674
- ↑ Black Mountain terminal entries; broadcast tower terminal, Log 675
- ↑ Black Mountain terminal entries; broadcast tower terminal, Log 676
- ↑ Black Mountain terminal entries; Marcus made me type this
- ↑ Black Mountain terminal entries; On the air!
- ↑ Black Mountain terminal entries; Tabitha's terminal, Alone at last!
- ↑ Courier: "How did Tabitha end up in control?"
Neil: "For years, Black Mountain was a peaceful community. Its leader, Marcus, broadcast an invitation to Mutants throughout the wasteland. That's how I found Black Mountain. So did others, most of them second generation Mutants. Marcus welcomed everyone - that was his mistake. The community ended up being mostly second gen - not very bright, but easy to influence. Fine, until the Nightkin came along, led by Tabitha... In a week she had most of the second-gens thinking she was some kind of prophet - and that she should be broadcasting her "truth," not Marcus. Marcus saw what was coming and decided to leave before things got out of hand. He smashed the radio and left to found Jacobstown."
(Neil's dialogue) - ↑ Courier: "What makes this a 'dangerous place?'"
Neil: "You must've heard her radio broadcasts? Though why a human would follow her invitation here is beyond me... unless you didn't listen very closely. The voice on the radio belongs to Tabitha, the "supreme commander" of Black Mountain - or, as she calls it, the "State of Utobitha." She took control of this place almost two years ago. The Super Mutants here do whatever she says - and she says humans are to be killed on sight."
(Neil's dialogue) - ↑ Courier: "But how did Tabitha find you in the first place?"
Raul Tejada: "Ah, it's stupid, boss. I used to listen to the radio broadcasts, just to pass the time. Well, one day the signal stops, so I figured I'd try to find transmitter. I'm a pretty good repairman, or I was before the eyes started to go. Anyway, I found Black Mountain and offered my services, but Tabitha decided I was useful enough to keep around. Permanently."
(Raul (Fallout: New Vegas)/Dialogue) - ↑ Tabitha: "The execution of master mechanic Raul Tajeda has again been commuted for a period of 24 hours to allow time for important repairs."
(Tabitha/Dialogue)
| |||||||||||||||||
