Climb Ev'ry Mountain is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough
A sniper is killing NCR soldiers and civilian refugees in the Bitter Springs Refugee Camp. Captain Gilles wants you to track down this unknown assailant, who has been hiding in one of the hillside caves to the north of Bitter Springs.
Head to Bitter Springs and speak to Captain Gilles located in the tent behind the infirmary, follow the dialogue asking about Bitter Springs with her to begin the quest. | |||||||||||||||||||
Head out to the Great Khan supply cave, located northwest of Bitter Springs, to find Oscar Velasco. | |||||||||||||||||||
Talk to Oscar, asking him if he is the assassin will get him to divulge his opinion of the "refugee camp". | |||||||||||||||||||
Bad Karma option Convince Oscar to exact revenge upon the people responsible for killing his family, the NCR (Speech 50). | Good Karma option Convince Oscar to let go of his anger and move on, returning to the Great Khans (Speech 50). | ||||||||||||||||||
Kill Oscar | |||||||||||||||||||
Head back to Bitter Springs and talk to Gilles again, tell her you have solved her problem to complete the quest. | |||||||||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough
Head down to Bitter Springs which is located east of the Brotherhood of Steel Safehouse. If you follow the road east of the New Vegas Medical Clinic all the way, Bitter Springs should be just to the north near the end of the road, when the road curves north. Talk to Captain Gilles who should be located in a tent behind the infirmary up the slope to the back of the town. Ask her about Bitter Springs and she will mention that someone is picking off her people at night. Pursue the issue, and she mentions that 8 refugees and 3 NCR troopers have been killed, always by a single bullet to the head. She knows the assassin is hiding up in the caves somewhere but she doesn't have the manpower to go searching for him.
After conversation, the quest marker points to an area slightly northwest of Bitter Springs, almost directly east from Bloodborne Cave. The easiest way to reach this place is to head up behind the NCR tents until you reach the second Great Khan Supply Cave. Facing the entrance, hug the wall left of the cave and head back towards Bitter Springs. You should be unsuccessfully climbing a steep hill. Soon enough you will be able to fall onto a large rock attached to this hill. Get on the rock then continue trying to climb the hill while moving forwards and falling down onto some more rocks. You'll reach flat ground after the rock and can head towards the marker. You'll find a valley full of some small rocks. Hug the right wall of this valley until you can see a very slim opening in 2 large grey rocks. Also, when you get to a rock that has a small tree growing on it, look directly to the north and you should be able to see the opening leading up to the cave.
Once inside the cave, a Great Khan known as Oscar Velasco will talk to you after setting a few steps into the cave. If you're disguised as NCR or have Boone as a companion, he will shoot on sight. Picking the first conversation option will immediately turn him hostile. Asking him if he is the assassin will get him to divulge his opinion of the "refugee camp". You learn that he is trying to exact revenge upon the NCR for killing his family during the Bitter Springs massacre. Passing a speech check of 50 will allow you to persuade him to either leave peacefully or exact revenge upon the people responsible, the NCR. He will run off to Camp McCarran and undoubtedly get killed, resulting in bad karma. The best option is to persuade him to head back to Red Rock Canyon. He will give you a key which unlocks the gates in the Great Khan Supply Cache's located around the mountains, also resulting in good karma. The cave has two ammunition boxes with a small amount of .308 caliber rounds. The is also a gate at the entrance of the cave which the key unlocks, leading to a Great Khan Supply Cache (the item, not an extra cave), some scrap metal, a hunting rifle, another ammunition box and a footlocker containing a small amount of drugs.
Head back to Bitter Springs and talk to Gilles again and tell her you have solved her problem. This completes the quest.
Quest stages
Notes
- Outside the cave Oscar Velasco is hiding in is a location with a good view of the northern end of the map and New Vegas.
- Wearing NCR attire or having Boone follow you (because of the 1st Recon's infamy among the Great Khans) causes Oscar to become hostile.
- You can both use the speech option for good karma, and then kill him for more good karma. However, killing him will cause Infamy with the Great Khans, unless he kills himself with his grenade launcher, you kill him while hidden, or you kill him using the note below.
- If Oscar Velasco is killed by the Mysterious Stranger while you are wearing a fatigue weapon (i.e. boxing tape, boxing gloves, etc.) you will not get Infamy from the Great Khans.
- The 'peaceful' speech option does not yield any Infamy with the Great Khans.
- If your companion kills Oscar without you intervening you will not get negative rep with the Great Khans.
- Boone can be left waiting just outside the entrance. When Velasco exits the cave, he disappears immediately from the game, and no combat takes place between him and Boone. However, since Boone may find it difficult to follow you to the cave, making it hard to find/talk to him, you can briefly enter the cave (causing Boone to appear beside you) and immediately leave again, then leave him outside.
- If the quest is completed by passing the speech (50) check, Oscar Velasco can be seen walking roughly towards Red Rock Canyon, but he might not arrive there due to possible wildlife encounters.
- If he is convinced to take his revenge on Camp McCarran, he will show up there the next time you enter and attack the forces of the NCR with a mere knife. He will also attack you if you're dressed as a member of the NCR.
- When entering one of the caves, there is a scripted event in which a pack of nightstalkers will attack the player. This is inevitable no matter how stealthy the player is. They can still be killed regardless of it being scripted.
Behind the scenes
The quest name is most likely a reference to the The Sound of Music song Climb Ev'ry Mountain (1959).
Bugs
- Pip-Boy as if you haven't completed it. Completing the quest No, Not Much should open up the Captain Giles dialogue tree about Oscar, even if you previously spoke to her and the option to tell her about Oscar was not available. Even if you've been to the cave on top of the mountain and completed the quest, you'll get the reward, but the quest will still be active in your
- If Victor the robot is following you, he will get stuck by the entrance inside the cave, completely blocking the exit, forcing you to load a previous saved game. Even if you knock him unconscious and drag the hunk of metal out of the way, you will not be able to exit the cave.