Curtain Call at the Tampico is one of the three penultimate main quests in the Fallout: New Vegas add-on Dead Money.
Quick walkthrough[]
| Main Quest: Curtain Call at the Tampico | |||||||||||||
| Enter the Tampico theater. | |||||||||||||
| Navigate the speakers to the front of the stage. | |||||||||||||
| Take the sheet music from the music stand. | |||||||||||||
| Go backstage and confront Dean. | |||||||||||||
| Kill Dean. | Convince Dean to give you the key. | ||||||||||||
| Leads to: Last Luxuries | |||||||||||||
Detailed walkthrough[]
Enter the theater area; there will be a computer and cash register on a desk. The computer can be accessed either by passing an Easy Science check (25) or by taking the Tampico front desk terminal password off the ground near two skeletons in the next lobby. Hack the terminal to discover the Tampico's listings of how the show operates and find a Sierra Madre security code (which the player character will already have).
Near the desk are the main doors, which are inaccessible. Two paths lead left and right; the path to the right has a vending machine at the end, while the left leads to an unshielded speaker. Both paths lead into the theater, where there are four shielded speakers which cover most of the room. Shooting the unshielded speaker and entering on the left will allow the Courier to access a small safe zone: enter the theater and move behind the concessions stand to the right along the back wall.
There is a Very Easy locked safe, usually containing pre-War money and/or Sierra Madre chips. There is also a first aid box with items like dirty water, stimpaks, and RadAway. A selection of wines, whiskeys, and scotch lines the shelves.
To get to the middle of the room beneath the stage, this safe zone from the speakers extends along the wall to the main door, then juts out into the center of the room. Alternatively, one can run to the center of the room from either entrance without the collar detonating. Just in front of the stage, there is a music stand with some Mentats and purified water on the ground. Grab the sheet music (Vera Keyes' partitures), which will also provide the backstage key.
As soon as the Courier has the key, Dean Domino will appear on a gantry above the stage for a conversation. How well this conversation goes depends on how well the Courier has treated Dean in conversation up to this point: if the Courier recruited Dean during Find Collar 14: Dean Domino by agreeing to cooperate with him, and helped him by activating the security holograms during Strike Up the Band, he will trust the Courier and help them get safely backstage. By succeeding Speech and Intelligence challenges, he can be prompted for more hints. If you refused to cooperate and recruited Dean by telling him about the linked bomb collars, and/or threatened to break Dean's legs to make him stay at his Gala Event position, he'll be angry at the Courier and just say the hologram security will deal with the Courier properly.
Whether Dean is happy with the Courier or not, security holograms will appear, so quickly run through the backstage door to the right (he'll say left but he means his left; an Intelligence 6+ check will allow you to ask for clarification about this from him).
Backstage, there are minor, avoidable spots of the Cloud. As soon as one enters the corridor, there is a hologram emitter above near the ceiling. It requires 100 Repair to disable, but can be destroyed with a well-aimed shot. Along the corridor is Dean's room, which has a radio inside. The Courier’s collar will keep beeping after it's destroyed, so run back to where one entered backstage to reset the beeping. Just past the door to Dean's room and around the corner are some skeletons and an unshielded speaker nearby. The speaker is closest after turning the corner near Dean's room, on the wall above a mannequin. Destroy the speaker and return to Dean's room. On his desk are Vera's backstage key and his safe. Under his desk is a gun case. Directly behind Dean's desk in his bathroom area is a first aid box. The sink here also has non-irradiated water.
The next room along the corridor is the backstage props room, which also has an unshielded speaker. The speaker is to the left of the entrance, somewhat hidden above some tall packing crates. If one heads towards a door in the room that has Cloud leaking from it, they can stay there without their collar activating. If one turns away from the door, they can see the blue unshielded speaker. In the corner of the room there is a hologram emitter behind a couch which can be deactivated (Repair 50) or destroyed.
The final radio is in the corner of Vera's room, farther along the corridor to the right as one exits the backstage props room. In this room are also a song for Vera, written by Dean, on the same table as the radio, and Vera's master key, which is needed. The key works for Vera's medicine box, found in her bathroom. To search Vera's dressing room freely without the collar beeping, one must also disable the theater speakers via the terminal across from Vera's room. This will deactivate the speakers in the theater.
Go back into the theater through the door which was previously locked. Avoid any remaining security holograms by sneaking or running. The stairs to the projector room are in the far left corner of the theater when facing the projector room (make sure one has Vera's master key). There is a copy of Lying, Congressional Style found here on the shelf.
Activate the projector with the holotape, and the security holograms will disappear. There is a copy of Tæles of Chivalrie next to the projector. Go backstage again; the stage door opposite Vera's room is now open, so enter and climb the stairs to find Dean. He'll initiate a conversation the moment he sees the Courier.
Again, how well one treated Dean (as outlined above) will affect how this meeting goes. There's also an option to bring up Vera's blackmail situation. If one chose the more confrontational speech options, they can pass a Speech check of 75 to attempt to convince him to give the key to the exit, but one must still kill him for the key. Then run for the exit, as killing Dean results in his collar activating, and the room must be escaped in under a minute. The key does not need to be taken from Dean's body; it will be immediately added to the inventory. Running up the stairs, past the locked stage terminal, and right out onto the gantry above the stage, there is a Sierra Madre playing card at the bottom of the ramp that is part of the Dead Man's Hand challenge.
If one avoided any confrontation and/or avoided insulting Dean's ego, he'll tell of his plans (following the right Speech path) and allow the Courier to finish his work.
Quest stages[]
Notes[]
- In order to avoid killing Dean, the player MUST agree to work for Dean in their initial meeting; otherwise, the player will insult Dean's ego. Furthermore, the player MUST also activate the holograms when bringing Dean to his gala position rather than threatening him, as this will show Dean the Courier is trustworthy.
- You can use a Stealth Boy and loot the 2 keys on Dean, instead of killing him at the start. However, you will still have to kill him later to tie up the final pieces to open the elevator.
- It is possible to get backstage to Dean by taking the stairs on the right of the stage and squeezing past the metal ramp behind the curtain, but the quest will not proceed normally, and Dean will only have dialogue options for recruiting him (although he never follows) and ending the conversation.
- This quest alongside Last Luxuries does not appear in the Pip-Boy quest log until the casino's power is turned on during Put the Beast Down.
Behind the scenes[]
The 1948 film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre was partially filmed in Tampico, Mexico, hence the name Curtain Call at the Tampico.
Bugs[]
Even if you do have the backstage key the objective will be marked as incomplete and the game won't let you go through the doors required to continue. If this does occur, another back stage door is at your right after acquiring the key that doesn't appear to be affected by this bug. Use it instead, but be prepared, as a poisonous cloud is on the other side. [verified]- If you are sneaking when you grab Vera Keyes' partitures (sheet music) with the key in it and you remain in sneak mode and move away from the stage, it may skip the automatic conversation with Dean Domino and automatically start up the security holograms. It will also mark all current quest objectives as complete and give no indication as to how to proceed next. [verified]
- It is possible that the Dean Domino hologram will be silent. [verified]
- After you destroy the hologram emitter behind the door after getting the backstage key, the holograms will turn red when they see you, but will delay attacking you for a short amount of time. [verified]
- Sometimes when you go backstage, the red cloud always affects you even if you are not in hardcore mode. [verified]
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