They Went That-a-Way

They Went That-a-Way is a main quest and achievement/trophy .
==Quick walkthrough==
==Detailed walkthrough==
The quest is started after completing Back in the Saddle by talking to Trudy at the Prospector Saloon in Goodsprings and asking about finding the man who shot the player character in the head. She mentions that the checkered coat-wearing man frequently mentioned the Strip and directs them to take Highway 93 to follow them. Looking at the delivery order that Doc Mitchell gave during Ain't That a Kick in the Head also points to the nearby town of Primm for potential clues on the package they were carrying that lead to them being ambushed.
===Primm===
Entering the town of Primm from the north results in a trooper of the New California Republic Army intercepting the player character and warning them about the town's recent invasion by escaped convicts from the NCRCF; one can respond positively or negatively. Crossing the bridge between the west and east parts of Primm leads to the main street going up to three buildings of interest: the Nash residence (with the glowing Mojave Express sign on top), the Vikki and Vance Casino, and the Bison Steve Hotel. Upon arrival, there are four convicts roaming the area, two are outside the Casino while the other two are walking along the north and south sections of the rollercoaster track surrounding the Hotel. The quest marker points to the doors of the Casino to proceed, so the former two will have to be dealt with, while the latter two are optional for gaining XP and minor loot.
Inside the Vikki and Vance Casino, one will immediately begin talking to Johnson Nash who reveals more details about the courier job that lead to the player character getting ambushed. When asked about locating the thieves, Nash says the only one who might know something is the town deputy, Beagle who was captured by the convicts and taken prisoner inside the Bison Steve Hotel. This also starts My Kind of Town, which decides the fate of Primm after the game ends.
To obtain the next location to head to, one must enter the Hotel either through the front doors or an alternate entrance connected to the coaster track on the south side. Beagle is being held in the kitchen connected to the Hotel mess hall on the ground floor, near where several convicts including the group's leader are situated. If going through the main doors, there will be at least two near the lobby one enters that might alert one more if openly attacked. Behind a counter to the right of the main doors is an employee lounge (locked by an Average-locked door or by hacking an Easy-locked terminal) where a key to the maintenance hallway connected to the kitchen can be found on the table along with an Average-locked safe.
Upon reaching Beagle, tied up in the back end of the kitchen, either by sneaking in or killing the convicts beforehand, when he's asked about the thieves' whereabouts, he refuses to provide details until he's freed from his bindings. To get the information, the player character can either threaten Beagle (40 Speech required), free him from the convicts, or obtain his journal. The latter option has three possible solutions: 
* Free Beagle from the convicts. After this, he can be convinced to help clear out the rest of the hotel with a Speech skill of at least 25. If he is spoken to before exiting the hotel and the Courier offers to give him a gun, his inventory will be opened. There his journal can be taken. Note that this is the only way to obtain the journal without accruing negative Karma.
* Kill Deputy Beagle and loot the journal off his corpse.
* Pickpocket the journal from Deputy Beagle. Doing this at any time will cause negative Karma.
In any case after gaining the information, either from Beagle himself or his journal, it's revealed that the man in the checkered coat and the Great Khans were heading through Nipton to reach Novac to meet up with a contact.
===Nipton===
From Primm, walking south and following Interstate 15 will typically take one near the Nevada Highway Patrol station where two members of the Jackals patrol and will attack, whereas on the other side of the road is the Ivanpah race track where many giant ants roam. The road forks west and east, where the latter leads past the Nipton Road reststop and up to the Mojave Outpost controlled by the New California Republic (landmarked by the pair of statues shaking hands). Going west instead onto Nevada State Route 164, it goes up a hill towards the next town. Typically, it's here that one witnesses a pair of wastelanders attacking each other; depending on the winner of the fight, they'll approach the player character and open dialogue.
Continuing on into the town of Nipton, the player character will discover that it has been attacked and decimated by Caesar's Legion. One of the few survivors, Oliver Swanick is celebrating just ahead of the main street, cheering at his luck in winning "the lottery"; he will run away after exhausting all dialogue options. From there, the player character can continue down the eastward street. The Nipton General Store is on the left and inside, one can talk to Boxcars and learn about the Legion's attack, including their enslaving some people. At this point, one can simply continue east past a barrier of burning tires towards the quest marker, bypassing an optional encounter near the Nipton Town Hall.
Should one choose to instead turn north and approach the Town Hall, there they will meet several legionnaires with a few hounds, led by the frumentarius, Vulpes Inculta. Neither he nor the other legionnaries will attack, and he asks the player character to spread word of Nipton's destruction, especially to places under NCR control, starting Cold, Cold Heart. If one responds to Vulpes by complimenting his brutal methods, a small amount of Caesar's Legion fame will be earned.
If one has a Vilified reputation with the Legion and/or has Boone as an active companion when first entering Nipton, Vulpes will not initiate dialogue and instead will be immediately hostile.
===Novac===
Leaving the ruins of Nipton, the player character will go through a bend in the state road, where an ambush set up by the Vipers will happen, consisting of at least three frag mines hidden under traffic cones, as well as gunmen hiding on rocky ridges to the northwest and southeast. Surviving that, the player character can follow the road north past Wolfhorn ranch. Turning north from State Road 164, near a bridge, one can witness a scripted encounter where four recruit legionnaires will attack a two-brahmin traveling merchant band; one can intervene and kill either the legionnaires or the merchants, where only the former will incur Legion infamy.
Going north still, the player character may encounter a patrolling group of Vipers coming from near Harper's shack to the northwest. In a small canyon further beyond, one can discover Ranger Station Charlie, though most of the items in the place are marked owned and taking them incurs Karma loss. At a distance, one can soon see the towering statue of Dinky the T-Rex, town mascot of Novac. The quest marker sits in the center of town, pointing at nothing in particular. Victor appears again near the "No Vac" sign and can suggest going into the main office of the nearby Dino Dee-lite Motel to ask about information as well as renting a room and trading supplies. Depending on the time of day, Jeannie May Crawford is either standing near the reception desk or sleeping at her house just to the west of the Motel.
Upon asking her about the man in the checkered coat, she dismisses him as any sort of gentleman and says that he and the Great Khans with him talked to Manny Vargas, the town's daytime sniper. Manny can be found either in the sniper's nest in the T-rex mouth during the day, or in his room on the first floor of the motel at night. Talking to him reveals that he did meet with the checkered man and his group, but refuses to say anything more unless the player character does a favor for him. He asks them to find out the source of an infestation of feral ghouls coming from the nearby REPCONN test site and clear them out before they overrun the town, starting Come Fly With Me.
There are a few alternative methods to learn the information without needing to complete that quest:
* Pickpocket or kill Manny and take the holotape from his inventory.
* Enter Manny's motel room and access the terminal in the back, which has a single entry that also offers the holotape.
* If one has the Confirmed Bachelor perk, completing the side quest can be bypassed, though Manny will still offer it to be done if desired.
Note: Even if the information is gained by completing the side quest or using the Confirmed Bachelor option, it is worthwhile to pick up the holotape too as it will be important later.
In any manner that it is obtained, the player character is informed that the checkered coat-wearing man is named Benny and he and the Great Khans were still heading north in the direction of Boulder City, believed to be because Benny had yet to pay up for the Goodsprings job.
===Boulder City===
Going north out of Novac, the player character will walk along the eastern side of the Ivanpah Dry Lake, infested with fire ants both regular and giant. Along the right side of the road also offers an optional encounter with The Lonesome Drifter (though he offers no special dialogue for this quest). Once at the T-junction at the northern end of the Dry Lake, going east will lead to the wrecked township of Boulder City.
Outside the Big Horn Saloon, one can find Pvt. Kowalski standing in front of the Boulder City Memorial; he offers a few ancillary details about the world but is otherwise not any special encounter. Walking further east will lead to a small outpost outside the Boulder City ruins where Lt. Monroe is standing. He warns the player character that the area is locked down due to an ongoing standoff with a group of Great Khans in the ruins who have taken hostages, starting Boulder City Showdown. The player character can offer to negotiate with the Khans or to sneak in and try to rescue the hostages, either choice gaining Monroe's permission to enter.
In the Boulder City ruins, the NCR troopers are on the east end while the Great Khans are posted around their hideout, where the quest marker is pointing. If one chose to sneak in, they will all be hostile and attack as soon as the player character is spotted or the hostages are released. If one chose to negotiate, they will be non-hostile and allow free reign of the area. Whether they do or do not attack, the objective is to enter the hideout.
Inside, the player character meets Jessup, one of the two Khans that stood beside Benny when he shot them in the head. If coming to negotiate, Jessup will express his astonishment at their survival and reveal that Benny escaped when the NCR attacked their group, fleeing back to the Strip with the platinum chip and leaving the Great Khans behind. He can be asked about further details such as Benny's affiliation with the Chairmen in New Vegas and what little he knows about the chip. The quest completes as soon as Jessup reveals Benny's whereabouts, followed by the start of Ring-a-Ding-Ding!.
If the hostages were rescued beforehand, he and the one other Khan in the hideout will be hostile and attack; from Jessup's body, one must take and then read the Chairmen job offer note and the engraved cigarette lighter to complete the quest.
==Quest stages==
==Notes==
* This quest can be completed at any time by simply going inside the Tops casino and finding Benny there.
* If this quest is completed before speaking with Trudy from Goodsprings, it prevents her from displaying a dialogue option which initiates the unmarked quest Trudy's Radio Repair.
* If the quest My Kind of Town is completed before talking to Deputy Beagle about Benny, the dialogue option will not be present, although this can be fixed by pickpocketing his journal off him.
* Inside the Great Khan hideout in the Boulder City ruins, in a room behind the counter where Jessup is hiding, one can find the body of McMurphy, the mustached Great Khan that was to Benny's right during the intro.
==Behind the scenes==
* The name of this quest is a frequently used and parodied Western B-movie line, much like, "Let's head 'em off at the pass!"
* Upon first talking to Jessup, one of the possible responses to his surprise at the Courier's survival is "I got better..." This is a reference to Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Category:Fallout: New Vegas quests
es:Se fueron por allí
de:Da sind sie lang!
pt:They Went That-a-Way
ru:Расследование
uk:Розслідування
zh:他们往那边走了