Booted is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.
Quick walkthrough
| Side Quest: Booted | |||||
| Speak with Boxcars in the Nipton General Store. | |||||
| Reach the Legion raid camp to free the captives. | |||||
| Reward: 100 XP Powder Ganger fame | |||||
Detailed walkthrough
Lottery winner
When one first arrives in Nipton, they are met by Oliver Swanick, a former Powder Ganger overjoyed about winning "the lottery". Going further into the town, it's evident that the Legion invaded the town and killed nearly everyone. For this quest, it is required to enter the general store, situated on the corner just after entering the town from the west.
Inside resides another convict named Boxcars, the other survivor of the Legion attack though not without getting his legs crippled. His initial reaction to the player character will depend on their reputation with the Powder Gangers. Asking about the state of the town leads to him explaining about the lottery that the Legion played with the town of Nipton, including that he saw some other convicts being taken away as slaves by the Legion, going east, though he won't care one way or another if one offers to go and rescue them.
Raiding the raiders
The quest marker will point to the location of the Legion raid camp, northeast of Wolfhorn Ranch. The two captives are found kneeling around campfire being watched by legionaries. If one has a positive reputation with the Legion, they can freely enter the camp, however, freeing the hostages will immediately turn them hostile and attack. It is also possible to untie the slaves undetected, resulting in the guards remaining friendly. Freeing the captives this way will garner Powder Gangers fame without any effect on Legion reputation (whereas killing them while detected, as always, will garner Legion infamy). The convicts will flee into the wasteland, completing the quest.
Quest stages
Notes
- Killing Boxcars during the quest will cause it to fail, even if he is killed after telling the player character about the Legion's slaves and no longer being relevant to the quest.
- Completing this quest with Boone as an active companion will earn 1 of 5 required "history" points towards triggering his companion quest, I Forgot to Remember to Forget.
- Like with other Legion-controlled locations, Boone will automatically attack the legionnaires once he's in range, earning Legion infamy. He will not attack, however, if the player character is wearing Legion faction armor at the time.
- If one rescues the prisoners before even talking to Boxcars and/or starting this quest, they can still talk to Boxcars and start the quest later, causing it to automatically complete, and still earn the "history" points towards Boone's quest if he is present.
- Once rescued, the two Powder Gangers will run south to the old nuclear test site, where they will most likely be killed by the feral ghouls in the area. Even if they are killed beforehand and the area cleared, the Powder Gangers will simply stand around the area in front of Trash's shack until the ghouls respawn.
- Boxcars will not offer any new dialogue options related to the captives' freedom after completing the quest.
- If one waits too long near the Legion raid camp during this quest, they may find it overrun by a night stalker attack, with all the Legion members dead and both of the prisoners gone. In this case, it seems impossible to finish the quest.
- If one also waits too long and fast travels to the Legion raid camp during this quest, they may find it being attacked by the night stalkers, which can attack both the Legion members and the prisoners. If the prisoners are killed by the night stalkers, the quest will fail.
Behind the scenes
The quest name is a reference to the 1952 song of the same name written by Rosco Gordon that achieved status as a No.1 bestseller.
Bugs
Sometimes, the player character will see the Powder Gangers up and walking freely, they will flee (although not far) if one gets into combat with the legionaries. After defeating the legionaries, the Powder Gangers will keep walking around, when one tries and "talk" to them, they will get an option to untie them or leave them tied regardless of them walking around freely. [verified]- Sometimes, after killing the Legion guards, the player character cannot untie the Powder Gangers. Waiting a few in-game hours may fix this. [verified]
- Rarely, a Legion guard may be tied up and the prisoner standing next to him. Talking to the guard makes him speak as usual. One will still have the option to untie the prisoner standing next to the guard. [verified]
- If the Courier has ED-E with them as a companion, it may attack the Powder Ganger prisoners and fail the quest. This is more likely if one's reputation with the Powder Gangers is Vilified. [verified]
- Rarely, if one unties one of the Powder Gangers, a Legion guard will take his place sitting on the ground. Talking to the guard offers the same dialogue options as when he is on duty.[verified]
- When reaching the Powder Gangers, they will sometimes appear dead but still be tied up. [verified]
- Sometimes, after freeing the Powder Gangers, they will roam around freely, and after killing all the Legion guards, they will kneel back onto the ground and become tied up again. This time, however, they cannot be untied, though the quest is finished. [verified]
- Sometimes, untying Powder Gangers will not make Legion guards hostile. [verified]
- Sometimes, the Powder Ganger prisoners will walk around freely, but they cannot be untied. They will eventually go back to a sitting position, but they still cannot be untied, i.e. talking to them instead of untying them. [verified]
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