Vera Thornberg

Vera Thornberg is a general goods merchant for the Blue Ridge Caravan Company . She is found at the Middle Mountain Pitstop in Appalachia, and acts as the announcer and questgiver during Event: Safe and Sound.
==Background==
The daughter of a pre-War trucker who worked for Joanna Mayfield, Vera is a newly minted caravan worker, assigned to take care of the Middle Mountain Pitstop by Vinny Costa.Vault 76 dweller: "Who are you?"Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) While inexperienced, she is responsible for a vital part of Blue Ridge's operations in Appalachia, raising brahmin for use on the caravan trail, in addition to running the general store and looking after the stop.Vault 76 dweller: "What kind of stuff goes on around here?"Vera Thornberg: " "(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) She has a limited knowledge of the pre-War world, despite her father's stories, including a lack of clarity on what bed and breakfast means - although it also leads her to unorthodox solutions, such as creating ice cream by freezing brahmin milk with cryolators.
She actually got the job through her father's connection to Joanna,Vault 76 dweller: "So tell me about yourself."Vera Thornberg: " "(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) and her placement at the pitstop was a favor to Joanna from Vinny.Vault 76 dweller: "What can you tell me about Vera?"Vinny Costa: " "(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) She found the job exciting initially, as she and Clyde set up the pitstop, burying the dead and setting up the bar, store, and the rest stop. She considered it a new start,Middle Mountain Pitstop terminal entries, A New Start! and soon kept quite busy with caring for the brahmin and serving travelers and fellow workers, including Luca Costa, Vinny's nephew, and Grahm.Middle Mountain Pitstop terminal entries, Busy Days Eventually, Vera settled into a routine, with her typical workday focusing on running the general stare and looking after the brahmin at the Pitstop, including milking them every morning.Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) However, it left little time for anything else,Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) and eventually, mistakes started to pop upVault 76 dweller: "Any idea what's affecting her work ethic?"Vinny Costa: "No clue. Was doin' a good enough job, but after a while she just kept makin' dumb mistakes, like she's gettin' distracted by somethin'."(Vinny Costa's dialogue) ranging from relatively mild splashing of milk across her terminal to losing track of her herd or dumping the day's earnings into the outhouse.Vault 76 dweller: "[Lie] Vinny knows about all the mistakes you made, so he sent me."Vera Thornberg: " "(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) 
The reason for her distraction is simple: she assumed that being a caravan worker would have involved traveling, rather than working the pitstop,Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) in a seemingly endless loop of chores.Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) As she grew up on her father's stories about being a trucker, listening to his sage advice (e.g. "It ain't about the destination, but the pitstops along the way.")Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) and all-night hauling on the road, she feels stuckVera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) and a disappointment to her father. She wanted to share her travels with him, attaching photos of the places she visited across Appalachia, and this wanderlust has been distracting her, resulting in mistakes.Vera Thornberg: " "(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) Vinny has noticed the change and would like someone to fix the issue promptly, without violence, as his hide is on the line with Joanna if anything happens to Vera.Vault 76 dweller: "Want me to rattle her cage a little? Make her see sense?"Vinny Costa: ""(Vinny Costa's dialogue)
Between her father eagerly waiting to hear about her travels and the pitstop, she is very distracted. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the brahmin at the pitstop attract various predatorsMiddle Mountain Pitstop terminal entries, What Should I Do? and Vinny rebuffed Vera's suggestion to hire more guards for the pitstop or turning the brahmin into battle cattle with armor.Big Bend Tunnel terminal entries; Vinny Costa's terminal, Deleted Entries To combat this, Aries and Clyde have improvised a repeller system that uses soundwaves largely outside the range of human hearing to keep the animals at bay. However, the system malfunctions sometimes and attracts fauna, rather than repelling it.Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) As a result, the Vault 76 dwellers have to lend a hand every now and then to keep the wildlife contained.Middle Mountain Pitstop terminal entries, Stupid Repellers! If they do not, Vera and Clyde evacuate the Pitstop and return with the herd to Big Bend Tunnel, with Vinny none too pleased with the turn of events.Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue)
===Relationships===
Vera's most important relationship is with her father. She promised him that she would be traveling and would visit his old trucker route, making the photos particularly important for Vera.Vault 76 dweller: "Do I look like a tourist? Just do your job right."Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue)Vault 76 dweller: "Sure, I'll get those photos for you."Vera Thornberg: " "(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) They are not just some random landmarks: she specifically planned to visit stops from her father's pre-War trucker route and cheer him up, since he gave up traveling after her mother passed. Some are tied to her mother's memory, such as the Cow Spots Creamery (where her father kept buying ice cream just to meet her mother, despite him having unspecified "dairy problems")Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) or the Tyler County Fairgrounds, where he proposed to her, atop the Ferris wheel.Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) Others, like Mountainside Bed & Breakfast, are just pleasant memories of the trucking.Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) As such, photos would both provs that she traveled and help her father deal with the grief of losing his wife.Vault 76 dweller: "Why did you want these photos again?"Vera Thornberg: " "(Vera Thornberg's dialogue)
At the same time, Vera cannot just up and leave. She is a worker, not a fighter, but more importantly, she feels a sense of loyalty towards Joanna Mayfield for setting her up with the job, and doesn't want to disappoint her.Vault 76 dweller: "What's so important about getting these photos?"Vera Thornberg: " "(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) She voiced her concerns to Vinny before, but he has not really given it any mind.Vault 76 dweller: "Vera wanted some photos to send back to her father. I got them for her."Vinny Costa: ""(Vinny Costa's dialogue)
Vera is also close with Clyde, her co-worker, enough to realize that he is soft-hearted under his toughened exterior.Vault 76 dweller: "Clyde doesn't talk much, does he?"Vera Thornberg: "Clyde? Don't take offence to the silent treatment. Is more account on him losin' his tongue. Never got a clear answer about what happened. Rumour is he had a bad run in with raiders. Others reckon he just lost it to a bad Radscorpion stew. Anyways, he runs security at the Pitstop. A big softy really once he gets to know ya. Hear he used to work for Vinny back in the day."(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) However, despite the familiarity, Clyde still refuses to carry a notepad to communicate (Vera started thinking that he might be wise, given that wastelanders at large might not be able to read him)Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) or agree to her suggestions of escorting her to the pitstops across Appalachia.Middle Mountain Pitstop terminal entries; General store terminal, I Made Up My Mind 
Finally, Vera is close with the brahmin she looks after. While she was still alive, her mother taught her a number of things about the brahmin, including her view that each head is its own individual. As such, she continues the tradition by giving each a pair of names, passing them to new brahmin whenever they are replaced by Blue Ridge.Vault 76 dweller: "[Charisma 4+] So what's the deal with the Brahmin having two names?"Vera Thornberg: " "(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) The replacement takes place once the brahmin are fully raised by Vera, with her jokingly calling the moment "graduation" and passing the name to new calves when the grown brahmin are taken onto the caravan trail.Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) She does not mind taking care of the cattle (although she hates the "muck"), but would prefer to be on the caravan trail.Vault 76 dweller: "What's caring for Brahmin like?"Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue)
==Interactions with the player character==
===Interactions overview===
===Quests===
* Event: Safe and Sound: Vera's pitstop comes under attack by ornery wildlife due to a malfunction of the repeller system and she needs the Vault dwellers' aid to clear the outpost. A different version of the event occurs if it has failed before on the server, where the first stage focuses on clearing the pitstop and retaking it. 
* Costa Business: Vera: Vera is distracted by the need to give her father a reply concerning her travels across Appalachia. She wants to include some photographs with her response. The three locations to photograph with the ProSnap Deluxe camera are the Mountainside Bed & Breakfast, Cow Spots Creamery and the Ferris Wheel at Tyler County Fairgrounds. 
**Once the player returns, they need to help Vera resolve her quandary:Vera Thornberg: " "Vault 76 dweller: "You sure? He'd probably love to see his old pitstops."Vera Thornberg: ""Vault 76 dweller: "It's not cheating. It's just a preview of places you're planning to visit."Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue) whether to send the photos and lie that she has been traveling, tell the truth and burn the photos, or send them anyway and explain that they are previews of her travel. While the decision has no gameplay impact, it does affect how Vera feels, ranging from giving up entirely,Middle Mountain Pitstop terminal entries, I Give Up... guilt over lying to her father,Middle Mountain Pitstop terminal entries, Finally Sent The Letter realizing that the photos were about helping him, not her,Middle Mountain Pitstop terminal entries, Sent The Letter Finally!!! to feeling motivated to visit these locations if she admits the truth, but keeps the photos as a memento.Middle Mountain Pitstop terminal entries, Sent The Letter Finally! In this case, she will actually gather enough courage to ask for time off and get Clyde to escort her. Her father supports her either way.Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue)Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue)Vera Thornberg: ""(Vera Thornberg's dialogue)
==Inventory==
==Appearances==
Vera Thornberg appears only .
==Behind the scenes==
Vera is voiced by actress Natasha Chandel, who also voiced Ryleigh in Starfield. Although Starfield was released after Once in a Blue Moon, Chandel recorded work on Starfield first. Chandel was invited to voice Vera in Fallout 76 following her work on Starfield.Natasha Chandel on Twitter
==Gallery==
FO76OB Safe and Sound Vera and Clyde.png|Vera at the start of Safe and Sound
==References==
Non-game
Category:Once in a Blue Moon human characters
Category:Blue Ridge Caravan Company characters