G.I. Blues is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough
The Courier is asked to perform several tests of loyalty for The Kings.
| Side Quest: G.I. Blues | |||||||||||||
| Talk to The King. | |||||||||||||
| Purchase the services of Orris the bodyguard. | |||||||||||||
| Follow him till a suspicious ambush. | |||||||||||||
| Expose Orris as a fraud. | Kill Orris. | ||||||||||||
| Report the result back to The King. | |||||||||||||
| Talk to the victims of the attack. | |||||||||||||
| Bring your findings to the King. | (Optional) Talk to Julie Farkas and receive information about an NCR benefactor. | ||||||||||||
| Speak with the NCR missionaries. | |||||||||||||
| Bring your findings to the King. | |||||||||||||
| Resolve the firefight between Pacer and the NCR. | |||||||||||||
| Reward: 500-1500 XP Freeside fame One favor of the Courier's choice If the firefight is resolved with hostilities: NCR infamy | |||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough
Orris the bodyguard
The first request from The King is to hire the bodyguard named Orris, and see why he's so popular with the local tourists. You have two options:
Hiring him the first time
The King will supply you 200 caps in order to hire Orris. Orris can be found among the other bodyguards in Freeside, near the north entrance. The competing guards all offer services to incoming tourists of the town. You are tasked by The King to act as a tourist in order to hire Orris in order to investigate his suspicious ways.
Once hired, Orris will boast about his reputation as a bodyguard, and will give you a quick tour throughout Freeside. You will be asked to follow him directly without sidetracking, giving you quick rundowns of the town's notable locations. He will first show you the Old Mormon Fort, which is the first destination you will pass. Then you will both continue running through the gate to the next area. Here, you will pass by the King's School of Impersonation, the Atomic Wrangler casino, and the Silver Rush. Finally, you will continue to the path toward the Strip North Gate, where the tour will seemingly end.
But just as the tour will conclude, Orris will insist on taking a detour, sensing some "thugs" ahead. As you run through this detour, Orris will then suddenly run ahead and shoot his gun against four thugs waiting to ambush, killing them. He will reassure you that there's "nothing to worry about," and will continue towards the conclusion of the tour. You will be given an option to further examine the sudden turn of events by doing the following:
- With an Intelligence of 6, you can question why Orris fired three shots from his gun while there were four thugs present. If successful, Orris will claim that he precisely shot two thugs with one bullet. If you claim that he is lying, he will suggest that you keep the theory to yourself.
- You can threaten Orris's illegitimacy with a following Barter check of 50. If successful, he will pay you with 348 caps. If you fail, he will reluctantly reject your threat and will suggest finishing up the tour.
- With a Medicine skill of 30, you can check the thugs' bodies. If successful, you will find out that they are merely pretending to be dead.
Once you have acquired proof that Orris is a fraud, you must report back to The King. He will tell you that Orris will be pulled out of the streets "when no one's looking." Now that you have proven to be reliable, The King will task you with another job that is a "little bit more important."
Hiring him the second time
There are two possible ways that can lead you to hiring him a second time:
- Not investigating Orris' con further by either not examining the bodies, or failing the required Intelligence and Medicine checks.
- Encountering Freeside thugs along the way. Once they are killed, Orris will tell you to be more careful and will return to his original spot.
Not noticing anything peculiar with him will lead you to report back to The King, claiming that he appears to be legitimate. The King will not be satisfied with this, and will ask you to hire him a second time, without providing the 200-cap fund.
Once you rehire him, Orris will lead you directly to the final destination of the tour. He will claim that he saw you "being friendly" with The King, according to his men, who were the four thugs from earlier. This will turn him hostile, forcing you to fight him and his gang of four thugs.
After they have been dealt with, report back to The King. Shrugging off the error with Orris aside, you will be tasked with another job.
Additional notes
- You can wake up the thugs by attacking them. This will cause both Orris and the thugs to become hostile toward you. This is also the same case if you attack Orris.
- Attacking and killing Orris instead of hiring him carries no penalty and still allows you to complete the quest.
Investigate the NCR attacks
The King will claim that the town's locals have resented the sheer number of newcomers since the Strip was built. The newcomers, which are mostly made up of NCR citizens, have gotten ornery of being resented. And so, violence between the locals and the NCR citizens brewed. Some of The King's friends have fallen victim to this violence; he asks you to investigate who caused the attacks. They are located in the Old Mormon Fort, currently recovering from the attack.
The King's Friends
The victims will be found at the tent to the right once you enter the fort. You must first talk to Roy, who wishes to be left alone with his friend and fellow victim. Mentioning The King will change his attitude, and will want to reveal everything he can to find their attackers. He will say that they were attacked at night, after they had just spent their caps at the Atomic Wrangler. They ended up in the squatter side of town, where they engaged in an argument against two "big guys" after asking them if they were locals. He managed to only get a quick glance, as he found himself face down in the dirt the whole time the fight happened. He will prompt you to talk to his friend Wayne, the other victim, who saw more action than he did. As Wayne suffered more from the fight, he has trouble remembering what he saw. At first, he will claim that the men were "better dressed" than most Freesiders. Upon further thought, he recalls that one of the guys uttered the name "Lou Tenant." Roy will correct him, saying that the word is "Lieutenant."
NOTE: If the player questions Wayne's story by asking, "You're not hiding something from me, are you?" the player will lose Fame in Freeside.
Inform The King that his friends were attacked by soldiers. He will ask you to look around at the squatter areas where the "NCR folk hang", so that he can clear up the rumor that the NCR is taking over much of New Vegas. He will also ask you to talk to Julie Farkas, who might have some information about the presence of the NCR in Freeside.
The NCR
You are tasked to find out why more and more NCR citizens are entering the town. You must go to the squatter areas, where NCR missionaries can be found.
Alternatively, you can go to the NCR soup kitchen after speaking to Julie Farkas. Speak to the NCR Troopers guarding the door, they will ask for the password, but you can ask to speak to the Major with a Speech check of 30.
If you decide to talk to the missionaries, they will ask if you are a citizen of the NCR, since they are offering free meals. If you agree that you are a citizen, they will administer a quick test to "verify your citizenship status." The three questions are as follows:
- Question 1 - Who is the most popular NCR President of all time?
- Question 2 - What was the original capital of the NCR?
- Question 3 - What animal is on the NCR Flag?
These are the correct answers for the questions:
- Question 1 - President Tandi.
- Question 2 - Shady Sands.
- Question 3 - Two-Headed Bear.
If you fail the test the first time, you will be able to retake it again, though the missionary will have doubts. Alternatively, you can bribe the missionary with ten caps if you pass a Barter check of 70. Once you are successful, the missionary will tell you the location of the soup kitchen and password ("Hope") to enter it. You can also bribe Rotface, a street ghoul knowledgeable about Freeside, for both information on the soldiers and the password.
- Note: You can try to pass 2 barter checks with Rotface first, then return to the missionary for the 70 Barter check if you want to burn caps for xp.
- Another Option: The missionaries carry a note that you can steal without karma loss to pass this part of the quest.
Aside from the missionaries, The King also suggested talking to Julie Farkas about the NCR in Freeside. She will claim that a friend of hers has been distributing food to the poor a little west of the fort. Telling her to mention Julie's name will make her open up about discussing the matter.
The NCR soup kitchen is located at the train station area in the north-west corner of Freeside. The path toward the soup kitchen will be difficult to follow, as it will be somewhat hidden by rubble. The entrance will be guarded by two NCR troopers in casual attire, and will ask you for the password in order to enter the soup kitchen.
Once there, talk to Elizabeth Kieran, the administrator of the relief effort. She will be at the front counter, and will give you free food once you engage in conversation with her. If you ask her why she only serves food to NCR citizens, she will say that it isn't a "pleasant topic of conservation." If you talked to Julie Farkas earlier, mentioning her name will make Elizabeth reveal more.
Conflict with the Kings
She will claim that she sent an envoy to The King before, offering to coordinate the relief effort. However, the envoy returned brutally beaten; because of this, Elizabeth was ordered by her superiors to scrap the project. She continues the effort anyway, but with less supplies to distribute; therefore, she can only distribute food to NCR citizens and not the rest of Freeside.
Return to The King with this new piece of information. Just as you enter the building, Pacer, The King's right-hand man, will interfere and engage in conversation with you. He will claim that Elizabeth's side of the story is a lie, and it has nothing to bother The King with. The envoy they sent was more of a "spy" that "wasn't tough enough to last in Freeside." From here, you have a few options to respond:
- You can demand caps from him for your silence; Pacer will give you 200 caps. With a Barter skill of 50, he will give you an additional 100 caps.
- Ignore him and tell The King anyway.
- Shake him down for 200 caps, and tell The King anyway. There is no Karma or Reputation loss for this, and Pacer will not turn hostile.
Any of these options will lead to Pacer leaving the premises, saying that he has "business" to take care of.
Tell the King that the NCR is distributing food to NCR citizens only. This will lead The King to conclude about the "goons" attacking locals. He will be surprised if you mention the envoy, who was sent to talk to him; apparently, he has no knowledge of such occurrence. Just as The King is piecing together the evidence, a henchman of his will interrupt the conversation. He will say that a shootout between Pacer and the NCR has erupted in the train station. The King will order you to defuse the situation right away.
Additional notes
- The missionary does not comment on whether your answers are correct or not until you have passed the whole test, which can lead to misunderstanding if one of the first two questions was answered incorrectly. This is not a bug but an intended feature.
- Finding the soup kitchen may prove difficult if you rely only on your compass marker. Approaching it from town guided by just the compass markers will make it look like you are there already. There is a simple way to get there from the Silver Rush building:
- Looking out from the Silver Rush doors, cross the street and enter the small destroyed building in which Bill Ronte would be found.
- Take the door located on the ground floor. On the other side, head north, and then turn left under the motorway bridge pillars.
- As you reach the burnt out car (next to the train tracks), turn left and follow the road heading south-west, parallel to more motorway bridge pillars. The building will be on the left-hand side.
- If you do not mention the envoy to the King, you will have no choice but to defuse the situation between the NCR and Pacer violently. It is possible to avoid knowing about the envoy if you do not talk to and mention Julie Farkas when talking to Elizabeth.
Conclusion
Once you get to the train station (which is nearby the NCR soup kitchen), you will find dead King's gang members scattered around and Pacer hiding behind a waiting station booth, receiving heavy fire from the NCR troopers.
If you chose to be honest with The King and tell him what Elizabeth said about sending an envoy, then you will need to confront NCR to defuse the situation (Peaceful good resolution.) In order to approach the NCR without them pointing their guns at you, you must holster your weapons (even if you are unarmed). There you will find Elizabeth Kieran, standing behind the NCR troopers who have opened fire. Tell her that The King is willing to cooperate. Elizabeth will feel apprehensive at first, once again reiterating the conflict with the envoy. But once you clear up that it wasn't The King's fault for the envoy's condition, she will agree and will want to work something out with the Kings. She will then tell her men to stand down.
Return to The King with the news that the situation has been defused peacefully. He will say that "it's time for a little more talkin' and a little less fightin'."
If, on the other hand, you just tell the King that they are serving to NCR Residents, then you will be instructed to "Head to the supply drop building and see if Pacer needs help". Pacer can then be found at the bus stop near the ruined store where the hand-outs were taking place. When you get there, talk to him; if you have 50 barter, a dialog option is available to shake down his remaining 150 caps. Pacer will leave and you will have to fight the troops. You will receive NCR infamy and negative Karma for killing them.
Return to The King with the news that the situation ended the way it did and he is happy that the matter's been resolved. You will gain NCR infamy and Freeside fame.
The King's favor
For all of your deeds, The King will offer you one favor from him. This favor can be:
- Free entrance to the Strip. With The King's word, Ralph of Mick & Ralph's will forge you a fake passport for free.
- Permission to join the Kings, giving you a Kings outfit and free haircuts from Sergio, the Kings' hair stylist.
- 1000 bottle caps.
- Using the favor later on to clear a matter regarding the Kings' continued violence against the NCR.
You will also be awarded with 1500 experience points.
Quest stages
Notes
- If you attack one of the thugs pretending to be dead, one of them will say "Okay. Orris isn't paying us enough to put up with this crap. Let's just kill this one and get it over with." All four will turn hostile afterward. If this happens when Orris's escorting has been done and he's returned to his original position, he won't know it's you killing them. AND every King will be hostile toward Orris, though he's tough enough to survive all the fights to the final ambush. still, when you hire him the second time, he will lead you to the final ambush, though this time the four dead thugs won't help him.
- The NCR missionary might be killed by Freeside thugs before the player can arrive at his location. If this happens, the player incorrectly gains infamy with the NCR, as if the missionary was killed by the player. This will not fail the quest, however.
- After dealing with Orris, but before being confronted by Pacer, the King will be found at the third floor of the building instead of the first floor.
- If you use turbo as Orris runs ahead, you can watch the thugs 'die'. One of them falls before Orris starts shooting.
- When attempting to defuse the situation between the NCR and Pacer, you must not have a weapon drawn (including raising your fists), or they will become hostile.
- While the NCR troopers are shooting at Pacer, they will not be present in the ruined store, nor will any of the squatters from the NCR. After the shootout, the NCR will return to the building.
- Killing Pacer during the mission will result in a mission failure.
- Following the quest marker to Elizabeth is misleading, so you will need to look at the local map to correctly follow it. While in Freeside and near the door to Atomic Rush, the quest marker for her will appear to point towards the door to the Atomic Rush area due to the positioning of the building she's in. After going through the door, the marker will point towards the door again, since your objective is in Freeside.
Behind the scenes
- When interrogating Wayne, he will mention he heard someone say "Lou", and upon further thought, "Lou Tenant." Roy then corrects him by saying that he means "Lieutenant", then calls him "dumber than a mutant". This is a reference to Lou, the Master's right hand super mutant from Fallout.
- G.I. Blues is the name of a movie starring Elvis Presley. It is also the name of a song that is sung by Elvis.
- The victims you are sent to speak with at Mormon Fort are Roy, Wayne, and Farris. Roy Wayne Farris is better known as the WWF/WWE professional wrestler Honky Tonk Man.
- The King's line of dialogue "Maybe it's time for a little more talkin' and a little less fightin'." is a reference to the song "A Little Less Conversation" which was written for and performed by Elvis Presley.
Bugs
After hiring Orris, you can encounter a bug where he just stands there pointing his gun instead of shooting the thugs. You can fix this two ways. First, you can kill the thugs yourself which will advance the quest. However, after Orris runs off, he can sometimes die mysteriously before making it back to Freeside's north entrance. Second, you can run around the block - from Orris's position, head past the thugs and back on to the main road. Turn right and proceed down the road Orris initially detoured on, then right again, and you'll find yourself at Orris, having circled the building. Run up to Orris and talk to him, using whatever speech options you like, and when you close the dialog, he will activate again and continue with you to the New Vegas gate as normal. This bug may be caused by pick pocketing Orris's ammunition, even though he will still have some in his gun. Reloading another save will also fix this bug. [verified]- When asked to investigate the presence of NCR soldiers in Freeside, if the player doesn't ask Julia Farkas about the NCR before talking to Elizabeth Kieran, you may encounter a bug when asked to back up Pacer in the shootout with the NCR, where Pacer simply runs continuously into a wall with no dialogue options available. [verified]
- Sometimes if you look close enough, a King's member will be standing with the "men who don't look good up ahead". If you attack Orris and the thugs, the member will assist you. After the fight, the member will become stuck in place with an aggressive expression stuck on his face with his gun still drawn. No interactions are possible with the King member at this point. [verified]
- Sometimes after returning to Orris, the King might disappear, making the quest impossible to finish. [verified]
- When the Kings gang member interrupts the King's conversation, the player might get stuck in the cutscene. The Kings gang member will get stuck, trying to run through Rex. After some time, the gang member will reach the intended spot. [verified]
