You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head

Fallout 3 side quest
You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head
...and so starts another arms race
Location	Underworld
Given by	Mister Crowley
Rewards	T-51b power armor and/or 300-700 caps
Actors	Dave Ted Strayer Dukov Allistair Tenpenny
Technical
Form ID	00014EA1

Fallout 3 achievement
You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head
Complete You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head
Bronze
20

 

“What? Fuck me sideways! No, better yet, fuck him! I swear, I'll jam a grenade so far up his ass...”— Dukov, about Crowley

You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head is a side quest in Fallout 3. It is also an Xbox 360, PC achievement and a PlayStation 3 Trophy.

Background

Allistair Tenpenny once hired five mercenaries: Mister Crowley, Tara, Dave, Dukov, and Jeff Strayer to find a rare weapon in Fort Constantine. In order to get a bigger share of the reward, Dukov trapped Mister Crowley (a ghoul) in a room with feral ghouls. Crowley, who survived despite what everyone else believed, is now a resident of Underworld. Tara died in Fort Constantine and the three remaining mercenaries escaped and completed the mission.

Quick walkthrough

Side Quest: You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head

Speak with Mister Crowley and agree to kill some ghoul haters.

Reward: Sniper rifle and five .308 caliber rounds

Agree to 100 caps per head shot.

Find out Crowley's true motive is their keys.

Reward: 100 caps

Find Ted Strayer in Rivet City.

Find Dukov at Dukov's Place.

Find Dave at the Republic of Dave.

Find Allistair Tenpenny at Tenpenny Tower.

Kill Ted or peacefully take his key.

Kill Dukov or peacefully take his key.

Kill Dave or peacefully take his key.

Kill Tenpenny.

Agree to Tenpenny's counter offer.

Kill Crowley.

Keep the keys for yourself and go to Fort Constantine.

Inform Crowley of Allistair's death and give him the keys.

Reward: 300 bottle caps

Reward: 300 XP and T-51b power armor

Reward: 300 XP and 100-400 bottle caps

Detailed walkthrough

Starting the quest

Talk to Mister Crowley in the Ninth Circle or at Carol's Place in Underworld, but do not insult him when you first speak to him or he will not give you the quest. He gives you the task of finding and killing Dave (at the Republic of Dave), Ted Strayer (in Rivet City), Dukov (at Dukov's Place), and Allistair Tenpenny (at Tenpenny Tower). He says they are ghoul-haters, and he wants them each killed with a shot to the head (as zombies are killed in fiction). For that purpose, he will give the player a sniper rifle and five .308 caliber rounds. Crowley offers 100 caps per death by headshot with the sniper rifle as payment. He says that "word will get around" if Tenpenny is killed, but he wants proof for the others: "something personal... like a key or a ring."

• Crowley will only pay 25 caps for any killing method other than a head shot, but you can lie about the act and get the full price by passing a somewhat difficult speech check. This does not apply to Tenpenny; he must be shot in the head by you to get the full reward, since word of his death would spread rather quickly.
• Killing anybody grants you negative Karma although killing Tenpenny grants you positive Karma.

Crowley's true motives

Bribing or passing a speech check with any of the named non-player characters in Underworld – Ahzrukhal, Carol, Doctor Barrows, Winthrop, Patchwork, Tulip, or Quinn – will raise doubts about the targets' bigotry. Under questioning, Crowley will admit that he actually wants a special key from each target except Tenpenny. He still wants Tenpenny killed with a shot to the head. Instead of 100 caps per headshot, he will sweeten the deal by offering 100 caps up front plus an additional 100 caps for each key. Mister Crowley's objective is the suit of T-51b power armor still stored at Fort Constantine. You can learn about Fort Constantine and the power armor from Crowley (with a speech check). Other than the additional reward, the conditions of the quest do not change by learning this.

Tenpenny's counter offer

Tell Allistair Tenpenny that Crowley sent you to kill him. Tenpenny will offer 300 caps if you agree to kill Crowley instead.

• Tenpenny pays 100 caps up front, so it is possible to double-cross him and just pocket the caps.
• Killing Crowley and returning to Tenpenny for the reward ends the quest.

Getting the keys

The keys can be obtained by Speech checks, pickpocketing, or by looting the key from the owner's corpse. They may be collected in any order and can be delivered to Crowley one at a time or all at once.

Ted Strayer

Jeff Strayer is dead, but his son, Ted Strayer, is now in possession of his father's key. Ted lives in Rivet City.

• Ted can be paid for his key.
• He can be convinced with a Speech check.
• He can be threatened (Strength 6+ or Toughness perk)

Dukov

Dukov can be found at Dukov's Place.

• Dukov can be paid for his key.
• The Black Widow perk can be used to convince him to give up the key.
• Male characters with the Lady Killer perk can persuade Fantasia to get the key.
• Cherry will retrieve the key if the player passes a Speech check and agrees to take her to Rivet City. The Speech check option appears only once. If you reject taking her to Rivet City you won't get the chance a second time.
• With a successful Speech check, Dukov can be intimidated into giving up the key. However, this speech check is very hard to pass, even with a Speech skill of 100.

Dave

Dave can be found at The Republic of Dave.

• With a Speech success, Dave will accept the player as a "Wasteland Ambassador" and present his key as a gift. He will also give you the key if you pass another speech check that is given if you failed the ambassador one.
• After completing the unmarked quest Election Day in favor of either Rosie or Bob, you can take the key from his body in Old Olney.

Obtaining the T-51b power armor

Deliver the Keys to Crowley

Kill Allistair Tenpenny and give Mister Crowley all three keys to collect your reward. He will then proceed to Fort Constantine to retrieve the armor. He will return to Underworld after a few days (provided he did not get killed in the Wasteland). At this point you can kill him, which will turn all ghouls in Underworld hostile, or use reverse-pickpocketing in order to obtain the armor (he will be wearing it).

• Reverse-pickpocketing will be difficult, because the armor has a DR of 50, one of the highest in the game.
• Crowley may get stuck in bomb storage, even if he had all the keys. You need 100 lockpick skill to open the door.
• Using the mesmetron (if successful) will turn him hostile, but everyone else will turn on him and kill him. This way, you can loot the armor off his body without angering the Underworld residents.

Retrieve the Armor Yourself

Proceed to Fort Constantine after obtaining the keys. Fort Constantine is located near the northern edge of the map, east of Raven Rock. When you arrive at the fort you will encounter some Brotherhood of Steel Outcasts fighting protectrons and Mister Gutsies. Go to the small house labeled "CO Quarters", located downhill from Bomb Storage, and head downstairs. In the basement you will find a dead wastelander by an open safe. The door by the safe requires Strayer's key, and allows you access to the Launch Control Bunker. Don't forget to grab the "Bobblehead - Big Guns" from the safe! Continue down the stairs towards Bomb Storage; you gain access here with Dukov's key. Inside the Bomb Storage facility, you will find Tara's body opposite of the two Very Hard locked doors. Go to the nearby door, open it with Dave's key and disable the stasis field to acquire the T-51b power armor and T-51b power helmet.

There is a warhead storage key on Tara's body. It unlocks a door that's just up a set of steps from here. This leads to a large room where nuclear warheads are stored, and the area is consequently highly radioactive. This key also opens either of the Very Hard locked doors topside that lead to the Bomb Storage facility.

If you choose this solution, Mister Crowley can still be found in Carol's Place in the Underworld. He does not become hostile, but refuses to interact with the PC anymore, only repeating his line: "You stole what was rightfully mine..."

Deliver the Keys to Crowley and Retrieve the Armor Yourself

Kill Allistair Tenpenny and give Mister Crowley all three keys to collect your reward, then follow Crowley on his long journey to Fort Constantine. He will require a lot of protection from enemies in the Wasteland or else he will die along the way. Crowley will become hostile upon reaching Fort Constantine, at which point you can kill him to retrieve the keys.

If you don't want to follow Crowley, you can give him the keys and pickpocket them back. You can also go to Fort Constantine first if you've been there already, open all the doors but don't grab the armor, and give Crowley the keys to get the reward. Then fast travel back and grab the armor. Or you can simply follow him into the lobby of the museum and kill him there (you will not lose any Karma).

• If you have Broken Steel installed, Crowley will glitch outside of the Museum of History and get stuck in a pillar after you give him the keys. You can fix this problem by waiting by the entrance and skipping 2 in-game hours. Crowley should appear at the entrance and proceed to Fort Constantine. If you have the Point Lookout add-on, then you can also fix this problem if you exit Underworld following Mr. Crowley with the double-barrel shotgun equipped and drawn, then when you arrive in the lobby, he will be there running towards the entrance to the Museum. You have to do the same when exiting the Museum. This may work with other weapons too (though it does not work with all weapons).

Completing the quest

The quest is marked as completed and the Achievement/Trophy given under any of the following conditions:

• The player delivers the keys from Dukov, Ted Strayer, and Dave to Mr. Crowley.
• The player acquires the power armor in Fort Constantine.
• The player kills Crowley after having been hired by Tenpenny.
• Xbox 360 The player picks up (if previously dropped) or equips (him/herself or his/her follower PC) the winterized T-51b power armor that was gained from the Anchorage Simulation (glitch).

Quest stages

Stage	Status	Description
10		Kill Allistair Tenpenny.
20		Kill Dukov and get his key.
25		Find Dukov's key.
30		Kill Ted Strayer and get his key.
35		Find Ted Strayer's key.
40		Kill Dave and get his key.
45		Find Dave's key.
50		Tell Mister Crowley that Allistair Tenpenny is dead.
60		Bring Dukov's key to Mister Crowley.
70		Bring Ted Strayer's key to Mister Crowley.
80		Bring Dave's key to Mister Crowley.
90		(Optional) Kill Mister Crowley.
100		Collect reward from Allistair Tenpenny.

Notes

• If you took the T-51b power armor Crowley will say, "You stole what was rightfully mine! Get lost."
• If you give the keys to Mr. Crowley and then successfully pickpocket them from him, when you talk to him next he will simply say, "You have stolen what was rightfully mine; get lost."
• Killing Crowley anywhere other than Underworld will not make the residents of Underworld hostile, nor will killing him quickly or silently. If you complete the quest by giving Crowley the keys, the earliest he can be safely killed (if you intend to take the keys from his corpse) is in the Museum Entrance (between Underworld and the outside).
• If you encounter Crowley on his way back to Underworld from Fort Constantine, he will thank you again and ask you how you like his new armor.
• If you accept Tenpenny`s counter-offer to kill Mister Crowley and then kill Crowley by using the Sandman perk, Tenpenny will not give you the reward due to some sort of bug.
• Crowley's trip from Underworld to Fort Constantine is scripted, so if the player gives him the keys then acquires the T-51b power armor anyway (via either method detailed above), he will still eventually show up and be hostile as noted.
• Placing mines in the power armor room to kill Crowley when he arrives at Fort Constantine to pick up the armor will not work. The armor disappears, but the mines do not go off.
• If you did the Tenpenny Tower quest in such a way that the ghouls take over the tower, then Allistair Tenpenny will likely be dead by the time you reach him, if he isn't dead before the quest even starts. In the event of this happening, you cannot take up Crowley's request to kill Tenpenny, but you can still take credit for the death. However, you will get the amount of 50 caps due to it not being via head shot. There's a slight plot discontinuity in that you can finish the Tenpenny Tower quest, but not re-visit the tower afterward and learn that the ghouls have taken over the building, you can still tell Crowley that Allistair Tenpenny is dead.
• Investigating Mister Crowley's original story will provide easy speech challenges with 7 named ghoul citizens in Underworld. You do not need to complete all of the speech challenges to ask Mr. Crowley about his true intentions.
• If completing this quest in a non-violent way, lying to get the full reward will result in Three Dog reporting that you murdered Crowley's targets in his Galaxy News Radio broadcasts.
• If you tell Crowley you are keeping the keys, he will become hostile. Everyone else will also turn hostile on you for doing this.
• If you decided to give the keys to Crowley he will say that he finally has all four keys "including his," but you only need three keys to obtain the armor.
• If you deliver the keys to Mr. Crowley and travel to the fort within three days of doing so, you will find him in the basement extension of the Bomb storage shelter, not hostile and wearing the T-51b armor and smoking. Interacting with him will only give dialogue options as if he were in Underworld. Note that you can still kill him and take the armor, keys and many other items (as everyone would comment in Underworld that he was 'preparing') without any Karma loss.
• If you give Mister Crowley some of the keys, but not all, you are able to pickpocket them back, and give them to him all over again. The full-price dialogue will not be available, so each key will only earn you 25 caps. This can be repeated as much as desired, and incurs no Karma loss when pickpocketing. The keys are rather easy to successfully pickpocket, even with a medium Sneak skill, so it can be a way to earn a few extra caps.
• When entering Dukov's house, hostile enemies in close proximity may follow you inside.
• Even if you give him the keys but still take the armor, Crowley will track you down and try to kill you. Killing him will not affect your Karma.

Behind the scenes

• The title is a reference to the common convention in zombie fiction that the undead can only be killed by destroying their brain. Mister Crowley himself refers to these legends. Allistair Tenpenny also mentions this if you tell him that Mr. Crowley is still alive.

Bugs

• PC After completion of Operation: Anchorage!, when picking up the winterized T-51b power armor and equipping it, the trophy/achievement for this quest may suddenly become unlocked. If you drop it from your inventory and do not have a convenient game save, leave it where you dropped it and retrieve it after completing the quest. ^[verified]
• PC Mr. Crowley often gets "stuck" while traveling, particularly when swimming. ^[verified]
• Xbox 360 Mr. Crowley may appear at your Megaton house and follow you inside. When speaking with him he acts as if he's still in Underworld. However, once he exits the house and you speak to him as he exits Megaton, he begins saying, "You took what was rightfully mine," without becoming hostile. He then disappears from the game. ^[verified]
• Xbox 360 He may also show up in Megaton hostile, gun drawn, but not firing. All the citizens of Megaton will ignore him. ^[verified]
• PC After accepting Allistair's offer and killing Mr. Crowley, Allistair may not have a speech option to finish the quest. If this happens, you can: ^[verified]
  • Repeatedly talk to Tenpenny and he will eventually recognize that Crowley is dead and give you your reward.
  • Take the T-51b power armor from Fort Constantine and complete the quest. If you do this, you will miss out on the reward for killing Crowley.
• PC After accepting Allistair's offer and killing Mr. Crowley, Allistair may give you a reward, but the quest will not end. It will keep telling you to collect your reward from Tenpenny. If you talk to Allistair again, he acts as though you have not even mentioned Crowley yet. The quest can be completed by going to Fort Constantine and retrieving the power armor. This can be fixed on the PC through the console by typing setstage 14ea1 100. ^[verified]
• PC If you have Bloody Mess and/or the body's head explodes, it will not be registered as a head shot, and you will not be able to receive the full 100 caps for the kill. ^[verified]
• Playstation 3 The quest will sometimes complete itself when switching to a different quest, granting the achievement and registering that you have killed people that you have never met. ^[verified]
• Playstation 3 If you kill Tenpenny, then kill Mr. Crowley, you will not fail the quest. It will tell you to talk to Tenpenny, and then to talk to Crowley, making it impossible to finish the quest. ^[verified]
• Playstation 3 If you have completed Operation: Anchorage, and continue until the Waters of Life quest, upon exiting Tranquility Lane, you may be informed that you completed "You Gotta Shoot 'em In the Head." ^[verified]
• Xbox 360 It is possible that after completing the quest, Crowley can show up in the Mobile Crawler at Adams Air Force Base. ^[verified]
• Playstation 3 On his way to the Fort, Crowley may get stuck between Underworld and the Mall. This glitch can sometimes be fixed by reentering the underworld and the Ninth Circle, then exiting the museum to the mall Mr Crowley will be there. ^[verified]
• Playstation 3 You may be able to tell Crowley you killed Tenpenny but not have the dialogue option of saying you shot Tenpenny in the head, even if you did. ^[verified]
• Xbox 360 Sometimes when you give Crowley multiple keys, then talk to him about his true motives, the speech dialog only allows you to receive non-headshot kills for 25 caps for every key afterwards, even though he promises 100 per key. ^[verified]
• Xbox 360 If you acquire all keys, turn them in to Mr. Crowley to get the reward, and then kill him, you can take his items off of his corpse. However, if you accepted Tenpenny's counter offer, you will be unable to receive the reward from him. When you talk to him, there is no option to tell him that Crowley is dead, but you can do a speech check (if you haven't done it before) and earn another 200 caps. ^[verified]
• Xbox 360 Giving the Winterized version of the armor to a follower such as Fawkes may cause the mission to be completed. Doing this will cause dialogue with Crowley as though you have completed the mission by taking the T-51b power armor from him. ^[verified]
• PC Option to acquire Dukov's Key through "Black Widow" perk does not appear. ^[verified]
• Xbox 360 Killing any of Crowley's targets with the Silenced 10mm pistol does not count as a headshot kill, regardless of where you shot them. ^[verified]
• PC If you have already accepted Crowley's mission, installing Operation: Anchorage! during this mission as an add-on will show this mission as complete without any indication of it's completion, and can still be done with full rewards from it. ^[verified]
• Playstation 3 On rare occasions, upon entering the room with the power armor, you may find the helmet on the floor while the power armor itself is still on stasis. ^[verified]
• PC If you have completed Tenpenny Tower and have the ghouls move in with the other non-ghoul residents, Roy Philips will kill Tenpenny. Causing his body to not be available to search. You will now not be able to get his key. ^[verified]
• PC With Broken Steel sometimes Crowley will not appear so you cannot start the quest. ^[verified]

Quests in Fallout 3 Main quests Baby Steps · Growing Up Fast · Future Imperfect · Escape! · Following in His Footsteps · Galaxy News Radio · Scientific Pursuits · Tranquility Lane · The Waters of Life · Picking Up the Trail · Rescue from Paradise · Finding the Garden of Eden · The American Dream · Take it Back! · Project Impurity Side quests Agatha's Song · Big Trouble in Big Town · Blood Ties · Head of State · The Nuka-Cola Challenge · Oasis · The Power of the Atom · Reilly's Rangers · The Replicated Man · Stealing Independence · Strictly Business · The Superhuman Gambit · Those! · Tenpenny Tower · Trouble on the Homefront · Wasteland Survival Guide · You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head Unmarked quests A Manhandled Manservant · A Nice Day for a Right Wedding · Happy Birthday to You · Church Donations · Collecting Holotags · Council Seat · Economics of Violence · Election Day · Fungus Deal · Gallows Humor · Geomapping with Reilly · Grady's Package · Hired Help · I Want to Drink Your Blood · Jiggs' Loot · Just for the Taste of It · Keller Family Refuge · Leo's Drug Habit · Lincoln's Profit Margins · Merchant Empire · Mississippi Quantum Pie · Murphy's Bombing Run · Nectar Collecting for Fun and Profit · Our Little Secret · Ryan Brigg's Wonder Meat · Searching for Cheryl · Slave Hunt · Strictly Profitable · The Kid-Kidnapper · The Lost Initiate · The Outcast Collection Agent · This Old House · Treatment · Walter's Scrap Metal · Water Beggars · Yearning for Learning · Zip's Nuka Fix Cut quests Infiltration · Last Rites · MS07 · Matchmaker Add-on quests Operation: Anchorage Aiding the Outcasts · The Guns of Anchorage · Paving the Way · Operation: Anchorage! The Pitt Free Labor · Into The Pitt · Mill Worker · Toys for Tots · Unsafe Working Conditions · Wild Bill's Last Stand · Slave Snitch Broken Steel The Sorrowful Suitor · Blood Brotherhood · Death From Above · Getting Ready for Prime Time · Shock Value · Who Dares Wins · Holy Water · Protecting the Water Way · The Amazing Aqua Cura! · Wastelander Water Request Point Lookout The Local Flavor  · Walking with Spirits · Hearing Voices · Tailing the Tomboy · Thought Control · A Meeting of the Minds · A Spoonful of Whiskey · An Antique Land · Plik's Safari · The Dark Heart of Blackhall · The Velvet Curtain Mothership Zeta Not of This World · Among the Stars · This Galaxy Ain't Big Enough... · The Legend of Zeta

Underworld Locations Carol's Place · The Chop Shop · The Ninth Circle · Underworld Outfitters Characters Ahzrukhal · Carol · Cerberus · Charon · Doctor Barrows · Ethyl · Greta · Griffon  · Meat · Mister Crowley · (Moira Brown) · Nurse Graves · Patchwork · Quinn · Reilly · Snowflake · Sydney · Tulip · Willow · Winthrop · Underworld resident Quests You Gotta Shoot 'Em in the Head · Reilly's Rangers · (Wasteland Survival Guide) · Hired Help · This Old House · The Amazing Aqua Cura!