There Stands the Grass

There Stands the Grass is a side quest in Fallout: New Vegas.

Synopsis
The New California Republic's Office of Science and Industry is convinced that important agricultural data is inside Vault 22. This information could be useful in preventing inevitable famine in the coming decade.

Walkthrough

 * 1) Speak to Dr. Thomas Hildern at in the Camp McCarran terminal building.
 * 2) Enter Vault 22 and download the research data found on Level 5 - pest control.
 * 3) One can repair the elevator with a Repair of 50; otherwise, one must go through all the other levels to get to level 5.
 * 4) With a Lockpick of at least 75, the door to the data storage room on Level 5 can be unlocked and entered; otherwise, the door has to be unlocked from the Overseer's office, on Level 4 - common areas, using a key card located in the first room on the left side of the hall as one enters the crew quarters, on a shelf to the right of the entrance.
 * 5) Find Keely, a researcher who has gone missing within Vault 22.
 * 6) On Level 5, there is a Hard locked door that leads to the cavern where Keely is stranded. Without a Lockpick of 75, the same cavern can be entered in the next room over, where the entrance is hidden behind a computer wall panel that is slightly ajar from the wall.
 * 7) Go to Level 2 - oxygen recycling and help Keely with her tasks.
 * 8) Find the vents through which Keely is pumping gas on Level 5, near the data storage room, and somehow ignite the gas. This can be done by throwing an explosive or discharging an energy weapon near the vents and then quickly closing the data storage room door to shield one's self from the explosion.
 * 9) Return to Keely and let her know that the spores have been purged and tell her about the downloaded data (or don't).
 * 10) Telling her about the download and destroying the data results in good Karma and a cap reward from Williams
 * 11) Telling her about the download and refusing to destroy the data results in Keely becoming hostile. Killing her results in NCR infamy and allows one to loot the code to unlock the vault exit off her corpse.
 * 12) Lie to her about downloading the data. This results in a loss of Karma, but saving Keely grants the same amount lost, plus 50 more.
 * 13) With a Science of 70, Keely can be convinced that failure in science is just as important as success, and to not delete the data. However, this option only appears after telling Keely that Hildern sent the Courier.
 * 14) If Veronica's companion quest I Could Make You Care is active, and Keely is told that Hildern sent the Courier for the data, she can then be told that Veronica is part of a larger organization that can use the data to help people.
 * 15) Return to Dr. Hildern at Camp McCarran with the research data. With Barter or Speech of 50, the reward of 1200 caps can be raised to 1800 caps. If the data was deleted, the quest ends without any cap reward and reduced experience (1200 instead of 1500).
 * 16) Tell Dr. Williams that Keely is safe for an extra reward of 800 caps.

Bugs

 * If you obtain the research data before starting the quest, giving the research data to Hildern upon starting this quest to complete it without leaving the room will result in the player character from being unable to move or interact with anything upon leaving the room and having Dr. Williams start up conversation, however she won't mention Keely as scripted because the quest has already been finished. This can be avoided by talking with Dr. Williams before completing the quest.
 * After speaking with Dr Hildern, while leaving his office you may get stuck in place and can only look around. Likely caused by the trigger occuring too early, or Angela getting stopped by an obstruction (e.g. a follower). PC workaround: Enter  in the console.
 * If you shut both doors in the fifth level of the vault when igniting the gas, the flames will go through the door and you will die. Closing only the door closest to the gas will keep you safe.
 * You may experience problems in Vault 22 completing Keely's quest igniting the gas if you have already cleared Vault 22 and got the data before starting the quest. Firstly you may already have taken the grenades and laser weapons making it hard to ignite the gas. Secondly, there may be a bug in that if you have already obtained the data, prior to starting the quest, at the end of Keely's dialogue she goes through the data deletion dialogue meaning you cannot give it to Dr. Hildern. It's possible to reset the mainframe terminal by using the console command ; you can then re-download the data to complete the objective.
 * Sometimes it becomes impossible to reach the fifth level to burn all the spores. Every time you use the elevator to the fifth level the game crashes to the desktop. The solution is pretty easy, leave your companions on the second level and complete the quest alone. That should prevent the game from crashing.
 * Occasionally, Keely may get stuck beneath the floor in second level for no apparent reason. Using console commands seems to be the only remedy to this.
 * Sometimes the game glitches and you can continually pass Williams' speech check (35) for infinite experience by asking about her feelings on Dr. Hildern.
 * If you have ED-E with you when you start, and have not gotten the second (possibly first) record log from ED-E, it may begin to play after talking to Dr. Hildern as you leave his room and before Williams talks, causing you to freeze in place and only able to look around.
 * ED-E might disappear in the explosion and be lost indefinitely. To prevent this, save before you light the gas and make sure your companions are in a safe location.
 * After rescuing Keely and going through the dialogue in which she tells you to meet her in her lab on the second floor, sometimes she will run to the elevator and go through an animation in which she is attempting to repair it. When you engage her in dialogue, she notes the good work you did in repairing it, but then instead of entering it, she walks into the food production tunnels nearby, and then aimlessly runs throughout them. If approached, she will engage in dialogue normally as if she is in her lab. If other bugs result in her disappearing (see above), you may want to check the food production tunnels for a possible location.