Jericho

Formerly the Jericho Desalination Plant of New Canaan, Jericho is all that is left of the Mormon city. The town's prosperity revolves around the fresh water the still-working plant produces. However, the plant is old and inefficient, and Jericho is a long way from being the economic powerhouse it wants to be.

People

Anson

The owner of the local bar. He sells booze and a variety of recreational medicines. He also has, as he puts it, three lovely young ladies who are experts at lying on their backs. One of them is…

Marianne

She made one gamble too many and got myself in debt to some really bad guys. They ended up selling her to Anson. The player can buy her services (25 caps for a Jericho Special, 50 for a Round the Wasteland), but does not have the option to buy her freedom; Anson insists that it's her debt, and he says she has to work it off lying on her back like an honest woman.

Doc Lane

He runs the general store, and is also the town doctor. A PC with a decent medical skill will be able to find out that the good doc does not actually have any medical training. Probably depending on the character's speech skill, the player could now negotiate a discount of up to 30% for his silence; or he could teach him some real medical skills.

Mike O'Connor

He's the sheriff and mayor of Jericho, and an advocate of swift and often lethal justice. His function in the game is mainly to give some quests, similar to the sheriff of Redding in Fallout 2.

Caulwell

He runs the desalination plant, which has a workforce of convicts.

The Mormons

Somewhere outside Jericho there is a Mormon camp. Here is how their leader, Jeremiah, relates their story:

Our town, New Canaan, once stood on that land. It was destroyed several years ago, and now when we return to rebuild, we find these squatters on the ashes of our old home.

It was a beacon of morality in this forsaken wasteland. We took in lost souls, fed them, clothed them, and introduced them to God. The number of refugees became overwhelming, and we didn't have enough food, water, and shelter for them all. We were forced to turn many away. The situation became ugly. A large group of men decided to take from us what we couldn't give. They battered down our gates, overwhelmed our militia, burned our homes, and murdered our people.

God spoke to me, and His words were clear. We must rebuild where Jericho now stands, and this can't happen until those sinners have been driven off.

To expel the "sinners", they have started attacking the water caravans and have succeeded in destroying three wagons.

We haven't killed anyone. We've destroyed property, yes, but we're not murderers. The water caravans feed that den of sin. We'll squeeze the town dry until they have no choice but to get off our land.

This leads to the maybe most complex quest for the area. O'Connor will pay you 1000 caps to assassinate Jeremiah, without killing any of the women or children in the camp. The quest can be solved in three ways:

• Kill Jeremiah, as per commission.
• Convince O'Connor that the Mormons are planning to attack Jericho. He will then gather a posse and attack the camp. It seems that regardless of your speech skill he will retain some suspicion and dislike you.
• Negotiate a peaceful solution by convincing Jeremiah he should see living alongside the "sinners" as a challenge, and O'Connor that Jericho should allow the Mormons in. This is the "perfect" solution and seems to have netted the highest material reward, along with, presumably, some hefty experience and karma.

The whole story is a bit like the Modoc/Ghost Farm thing in Fallout 2.

Quests

Catch the Thief for Anson

Anson says that someone is stealing from his bar late at night. He suggested that the PC could either wait in ambush for the thief, or search other people's belongings for Anson's stolen merchandise. Reward is a choice from Anson's drugs: one package of Mentats, Buffout, or Afterburner Gum. Depending on speech skill, the player can negotiate for two or even all three.

After she's confronted with some drugs found in her room, Marianne confesses. The player now has the option to blackmail her out of her savings. There are three ways of finishing the quest:

• Tell Anson it was Marianne; he will beat her up.
• Tell Anson it was Doc Lane; he will report him to the sheriff, and the doc will be hanged.
• Tell Anson it was a bearded stranger. Depending on speech skill, he might or might not believe this.

Track Down Ivan

Ivan is one of the convicts working at the desalination plant, and he has escaped. As it turns out, the deputy on duty had decided to go take a little break with one of Anson's girls. Ivan snuck out, hid in a water barrel, and got shipped out with the water caravan next morning.

Caulwell suggests the player look for Ivan in the main caravan destinations: Hoover Dam, Fort Abandon, Denver. It would be interesting to know whether it was random at which location Ivan would be found. Once he has been found, there are two options:

• Let him go and tell the sheriff that Ivan was already dead. In this case there will be no reward for the player. The same is true if the player killed Ivan. The bounty (500 caps) is only good for a live man.
• Take him back to Jericho. It turns out that the penalty for escaping conviction is death. With some speech skill and intelligence (it does not work for a stupid character) the player can convince O'Connor to give Ivan a different duty and just add six months to his sentence.

Inspect Water Plant

For 50 caps, the player can inspect and repair the desalintion plant's equipment. Good mechanics will notice that the desalination process could be sped up with an automated pump. I guess you'll have to look for the necessary parts all over the Wasteland then. It seems that after building the pump and a generator to power it, O'Connor awards the player a 5% share in the plant.

Exterminate Animals

100 caps for wiping out the wasps at Union Station, the cockroaches in the northwest part of town, and the giant rats in the old sewers.

Stop the Mormons

Stop Jeremiah and the Hands of God from attacking Jericho's caravans. The details are outlined in the Mormon section above.

Union Station

• Ogden Union Station
• Hostlers Model Railroad Club
• Ogden City
• Union Station Ogden Utah