“ I'm an open book, boss. Granted, the book's in Spanish and some of the pages have fallen out, but I'm an open book.” —Raul |
Raul Alfonso Tejada is a ghoul mechanic and gunslinger living in the Prison building at the top of Black Mountain in 2281.
[edit] Background
Born in 2047, Raul has had a long and storied history. Before the war, Raul was a delinquent living at Hidalgo Ranch outside Mexico City. He was a good shooter and mechanic, both of which occasionally got him in trouble with the law, although his family mostly kept him in line. The ranch easily survived the war, being far from any major settlements, but the stream of refugees from the cities proved more difficult to deal with. The Tejada family were as accommodating as they could be, but they eventually simply ran out of room and food, and had to start turning people away. Raul and his father had to chase off around two dozen people, who returned later that night, complete with torches and pitchforks. Raul survived the fire that destroyed his ranch, and managed to rescue his sister Rafaela, but his two sisters, two brothers, parents, and grandparents were killed.
The pair traveled to the "radioactive ruin" of Mexico City to begin anew, amidst the large number of looters in the city. There, Raul found an old Vaquero outfit at a costume store while looking for cloth to wrap his numerous burns with. Rafaela liked it, so Raul began to wear it and soon became a legend in the area. His post-apocalyptic gunslinging antics attracted the attention of glory seekers, but he always saw them off. Sickened by radiation, Raul spent some time too ill to go scavenging with his sister (this illness was to be indicative of the early stages of "ghoulification"), and as such she was left to provide for the two on her own. One day, after she failed to return from a market where she had been scavenging for food, Raul went in search of her only to find her brutally murdered, her corpse violated by raiders so horribly that she was only identifiable by a tiny scar on her knee. Raul tracked down the raiders at the market responsible and killed them to the last man, discarding the Vaquero outfit that had attracted him the attention that he felt had killed his sister.
Leaving every aspect of his former life behind, including as Raul cleverly says, "his face", he wandered to the Gulf Coast and inhabited an unclaimed Petró-Chico refinery. He spent a long period of time here, thinking about his life so far. He found a Petró-Chico jumpsuit and began to wear it, taking the name "Miguel"; the name on the nametag. He eventually arrived in the Arizona town of Tucson, now known as Two Sun. He settled there, becoming a mechanic and a general handyman, his guns stashed away where they could do no further harm. After 75 years of relative peace, he met Claudia - a prostitute working in a local brothel who bore a striking resemblance to Rafaela. Spurred by this reminder of what he lost, he took the time to look out for her - though for obvious reasons never visited her.
This peace was not to last. Arizona, overrun with raiders and tribals before the rise of Caesar's Legion brought stability to the region, brought 'Dirty Dave' and his six brothers to town looking for bullets. Raul sold them ammunition, hoping they would leave now that they had what they wanted - instead, they decided they wanted the brothel. They attacked it, killing most of them and taking Claudia as a prisoner. Raul gave chase, and after a three day pursuit across the wasteland, Raul found them. Youth was not on his side anymore, however, and the battle left him severely injured. By the time he found Claudia, she was already dead. Dejected, Raul wandered west to the Mojave Wasteland, where he listened to the Black Mountain Radio. One day he lost the signal being transmitted and decided to go have a look. There he offered his services to Tabitha, the nightkin who broadcasted there, and fixed the transmitter, but to his dismay Tabitha decided to keep him around, mostly repairing broken toasters for the super mutants as well as performing repairs to Rhonda.
If freed from captivity, he will join the player out of gratitude. A new taste of adventure reminds Raul of his tumultuous past, prompting him to consider if he should embrace his old gunslinging ways. In which case he will be forced to decide between two different ways of life.
When compared to the other human companions of the Wasteland, Raul is perhaps the most tolerant towards the Legion when compared to everyone else who would suffer should the Legion be victorious. He is not affected by the Legion's presence on the wasteland and admires the security and order brought by the Legion, although being a ghoul he wouldn't be able to join them with their hatred towards all forms of mutants. He also has quite an insightful amount of knowledge about Mr. House, as Raul knew of House's pre-War exploits.
[edit] Interactions with the player character
[edit] Interactions overview
| General |
Services |
Quests |
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| Merchant: |
No |
| Repairman: |
Yes |
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| Doctor: |
No |
| Rents bed/room: |
No |
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| Starts quests: |
Yes |
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| Involved in quests: |
Yes |
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[edit] Quests
- Crazy, Crazy, Crazy: Raul can be recruited as part of the quest Crazy, Crazy, Crazy, or simply by traveling to Black Mountain and busting him out.
- Old School Ghoul: While Raul is an active companion, talk to and exhaust all dialogue options for Loyal, Corporal Sterling, and Ranger Andy. Upon finishing the last conversation, Raul will open up a new dialogue with the Courier. (Note: Obviously, killing any of the non-player characters will cause the mission to fail resulting in Raul's new apparel to be unobtainable, except through console commands)
[edit] Other interactions
- He is a very competent repairman, but will only offer repairs at his shack, and even then will not offer a discount. He must first be dismissed as a companion ("for the best") before repairs can be done.
- Before he is a companion he will do repair jobs for free (this bug was fixed by patch 1.3.0.452).
- Raul has a sweet tooth, and will comment and eat anything sweet put in his inventory like Sunset Sarsaparilla.
[edit] Effects of the player's action
- If the player obtains Raul as a companion before killing/helping Tabitha, and while listening to Black Mountain Radio, the player will hear Tabitha on the radio say "No! I wont let you take my Raul!" Afterwards the station will no longer play music.
- Nightkin: Head voices know smelly ghoul. He old and good with guns.
- NCR civilians: Your Ghoul friend better not be radioactive.
- Boomers: I've never seen a ghoul up close. Not sure I wanted to.
- Fiends: Your pet ghoul smells like ass.
- Legion: What a revolting sight. To call that a friend?
- Brotherhood of Steel: Oh good, now I have to put up with the stench of rotting ghoul as well. I hope the air filters are working.
- Powder Gangers: Wouldn't want to live forever if I had to look like a ghoul.
- Great Khans: Your pal's one ugly motherfucker.
- Followers: I'll never get used to the sight of ghouls.
- Freesiders: That's one ragged Ghoul you've got with you. Seems like a good guy, though.
- The Kings: Nice to see a human palling around with a ghoul. I see a lot of people around here avoid them.
- Strip Securitrons: Be advised, visitors will be held responsible for the behavior of any non-human sapients accompanying them.
- Strip MPs: They let Ghouls into the Strip, now?
- Outer Vegas denizens: All humans are welcome here, even Ghouls.; We tolerate Wasteland savages, as long as they respect our rule around here.
- General: "Your friend smells like a bag of rotting meat", "Your friend is one ugly motherfucker!"
[edit] Endings
| #
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Slide
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Voice-over narration
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In-game condition
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| 1
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After a long and eventful life, Raul's luck finally ran out during his time with the Courier.
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Raul dies.
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| 2
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Still grappling with self-doubt over his usefulness in the face of old age, Raul was never able to find peace with himself. Eventually, he left the Mojave and assumed a new name, as he had done so many times before.
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Free Raul or acquire him as a companion, do not complete his personal quest Old School Ghoul.
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| 3
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Invigorated by his travels with the Courier, Raul once more took up his guns in memory of his lost Rafaela. Soon after, the Mojave was filled with tales of the ghost-vaquero who hunts down those who prey on the weak.
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Acquire Raul as a companion and complete his personal quest, Old School Ghoul, by convincing him to become a vaquero again.
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| 4
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Convinced that his time as a gunslinger was past, Raul made peace with the idea of growing old. After traveling with the Courier for a time, he retired and settled down in Outer Vegas, where he would spend his days fixing ancient machinery.
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Acquire Raul as a companion and complete his personal quest, Old School Ghoul, by agreeing that his time as a gunslinger has passed.
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[edit] Inventory
- Raul is the only character in Fallout: New Vegas (excluding add-ons) who can Repair up to 100% condition, that is not affected by any faction reputation.
- Like Desmond Lockheart, Raul's mustache survived his ghoulification.
- Like Jason Bright, Dean Domino, and (if Megaton is destroyed) Moira Brown, Raul's voice is not raspy or hoarse, a trait rare among ghouls.
- If you ask Raul to Stay Close in regular dialogue, he will say, "Any closer and you'll need a RadAway, boss." Only glowing one ghouls irradiate their surroundings, and not other ghouls, so this is probably his normal sense of humor.
- Raul is exceedingly difficult to pickpocket, even with aid of a Stealth Boy.
- All caps you have given him for repairs will vanish from his inventory when/if he becomes your companion again.
- When Raul is first taken to Jacobstown, he will comment "If these super mutants take us hostage and make us fix toasters for them, it's on you", referring to his time at Black Mountain.
- When you first meet him you can ask who he is, then, after ending dialog once you can ask him the same question again, where he asks you if you got shot in the head because you forget so fast.
- He is similar to Vic from Fallout 2 because they are both enslaved, both are repairmen, and refer to the player character as Boss.
[edit] Notable quotes
- "My name is Raul Alfonso Tejada. Can I leave now? Or did you want to come back and ask me again in five minutes?"
- "[Sigh] No boss. I'm a prisoner of the crazy Super Mutant with the wig and glasses, and I was kind of hoping you'd set me free. Or maybe I'm not a pretty enough damsel for that, huh?"
- "Sure, boss. I'd be happy to prolong my captivity and psychological abuse to tighten some lug nuts for you."
- "Sure, boss, the old man will crawl around in the dirt to keep hidden."
- "Don't worry, Boss, the decrepit old man can carry all your stuff for you. Really."
- "Hey, I'm one of you! Don't eat me, eat the smoothskin! Oh, uh, sorry boss." - When entering REPCONN Test Site
- "If these super mutants take us hostage and make us fix toasters for them, it's on you." - When entering Jacobstown
- "I guess hunting ghouls down like they're wild animals is okay. I mean, they're probably going to die anyways, right boss?" - When participating in We Will All Go Together
- "It's like looking into a mirror. A tacky, cowboy-festooned mirror." - After talking to Festus
- "Right, because a ghoul in a vaquero outfit is really going to blend in with the scenery."
- "Any closer and you'll need a RadAway, boss."
- "Ahh, sarsaparilla. That's just what this dry old throat needs."
[edit] Appearances
Raul only appears in Fallout: New Vegas.
[edit] Behind the scenes
- Raul Tejada was written by Travis Stout.
- His quote about the super mutants asking him to fix toasters is yet another Fallout nod to the strangely useful skill in Wasteland, "Toaster Repair."
- PC
PlayStation 3
Xbox 360
Unlike other companions, Raul won't walk around while in the Lucky 38, merely standing in the main room to the right of the door until spoken to.
- Xbox 360 After fast traveling to a location Raul will occasionally start running away as quick as he can for no reason. Also if you catch up to him up to him you cannot talk to him. To correct this either enter a building (That makes your game load a new area) or fast travel to another location.
- Xbox 360 The recon armor helmet seems glitchy and does not fully wrap around his head.
- PC Xbox 360 The back of his head clips through many hats and other forms of headgear.
- Xbox 360 Raul will only repair if you dismiss him and then talk to him in his shack while he is not a companion, and he will ask for caps for the repairs, despite being your follower.
- Xbox 360 Not sure if this is actually a bug, but Raul won't fight the Legion. During Eureka! he stays by Oliver's compound. He seems to respect what Caesar has done, and expresses displeasure as you work through NCR quests, however, he will fight any Legion kill squads if the Courier has a bad reputation with them.
- Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 When Raul awakens after being knocked unconscious, sometimes he will claim to have had a nightmare of Petro Chico Boy "stealing his chicharrones (spanish for pork rinds)", but the subtitles will incorrectly use the word "chitlins" instead of "chicharrones".
- Xbox 360 Sometimes if the player speaks to him in the lucky 38 presidential suite a great khan may spawn the reason is unknown.
- Xbox 360 The Desert Ranger combat helmet will glitch, causing the back of Raul's head to be visible through the helmet.
- PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 By pressing "Take All" when pickpocketing Raul, the caps will still appear in the player's inventory despite being caught. To repeat this again, take him outside his shack and fire him. this means you can get infinite free repairs.
- Xbox 360 When leaving a casino, if given a weapon, the weapon's weight will be present, but no item can be seen.
- PlayStation 3 If you have Raul as a companion and the "Oh Baby!", knocking him out will lead to him launching into the air upon regaining consciousness.
