Dean Domino

Dean Domino, also credited as the King of Swing, is a famous pre-War lounge singer, now ghoulified and trapped in the Sierra Madre in 2281. <!--

Self explanatory.

Even in dire straights...

The whole sad story!

The Courier: ''"Are you all right?" Dean Domino: "Yeah, now. Talk about a captive audience. Or captive entertainer? Eh - whatever. Look, I'm more about the short goodbyes than long thankful speeches... but I appreciate you bailing me out of a tight spot there - partner. I know you didn't do it out of the goodness of your heart. So let me give you something a little more practical - a way we both come out ahead." The Courier: "What do you mean?" Dean Domino: "I'm not an idiot. I know the reason I'm in here now is because of the old guy - and you. And you're wearing a collar, so I trust you a little more than the old guy. He's more controlling than I'd like. Thing is, here's where being my partner pays off. See, I know how to get into the casino vault." The Courier: "What do you mean?" Dean Domino: "There's a private elevator, Sinclair's elevator. It's up in the Executive Suites, in Vera's room. Not a coincidence. Vera. She was... my other partner, before the Bomb. Took some legwork. Some convincing, made it happen." The Courier: "How so?" Dean Domino: "Sinclair was already puppy-eyed, so all I had to do was the introductions. She smiled, fluttered her eyes, showed a little leg... ...and he built this whole place for her. Made her the key to his vault, like a joke, cause of her name. Her fake Hollywood name. Except Sinclair didn't know I'd been there first. I could twist her whatever direction I wanted." The Courier: "Go on." Dean Domino: "All she had to do was get inside the Sierra Madre for the Gala, then use her voice to open the door. After that... smooth sailing. Would have been the biggest heist in history. Sinclair left holding the bag. Ruined." The Courier: "So what happened?" Dean Domino: "The Bomb. Vera got sealed in here. A few hundred years go by, give-or-take. Almost the end of the story - then you came along. Now we finish the job. Rob the Sierra Madre, rip out its heart. Last chapter of Frederick Sinclair, close the book."'' (Dean Domino's dialogue)

The Courier: "What was your problem with Sinclair?" Dean Domino: "Problem? All high-and-mighty. Lording it over everyone. Acting so self-righteous, like nothing could touch him. He was the one with the problem. Never got mad at anything. Nothing seemed to shake him. Even after... his life kept getting dragged through the dirt. Always kept looking for the bright, shining future in everything. So... I decided to take everything from him." The Courier: "But what did he do to you?" Dean Domino: "Do to me? What, weren't you listening? He thought he was better than me. Don't believe me? Look around. This big casino, this big colossal monument - think it was for some woman? No, all ego, all self-righteous-in-lights, fit him perfect. Had to take him down a few pegs, bring him down to my level. "Begin again?" Some things you don't get up from... I was going to prove it." The Courier: ''"So you're going to prove it now? How?" Dean Domino: "I didn't know at first. Then the old man showed up. You showed up. Then... that woman showed up, covered in scars. The one who makes all the hand signs, a little tight around the corners of her mouth. I put her in the Clinic, tuned her like an instrument. If she heals up, it's not going to be her voice speaking any more. That is, if the Sierra Madre didn't get her. If it did... well, there's enough of Vera around for me to spend a few years piecing a book together." The Courier: "And if she is alive?" Dean Domino: "Then she can make some beautiful music. I'm not banking on it. So here's the short of it - piece together Little Miss Vera Keyes' song in the right order? Sierra Madre opens its legs, we're in business." The Courier: "All right, I'll head out and see what I can do on my end." Dean Domino: "Go knock yourself out. I'm just going to catch my breath a bit. That performance... well, more pressure than I was expecting."'' (Dean Domino's dialogue)

It's over.... NVDLC01DeanTheaterToSelfOverTopic01, 2, and 3

I am out of here... well, not to the Villa, just out of the damn theater first chance I get.

Got to say this for Sinclair, he sure knew how to keep things locked down, the tight-assed prick.

Not going to be performing here again, that's for sure.

Dialogue paths not chosen - still researching

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Background
Domino and his orchestra gave performances across the United States and Europe (including Paris and had a particularly bad experience in Madrid), as well as the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. He was invited to play at the Sierra Madre, but found himself in the shadow of the casino's founder, Frederick Sinclair. While Domino was quite irritated by this, it was the fact that Sinclair, despite suffering several quite severe financial losses throughout the 2070s, still maintained a unwavering optimistic and easy-going attitude that especially triggered his ire. Soon, Domino found himself consumed with jealousy and he became single-mindedly determined to put Sinclair "in his place" by taking everything from him that he held dear. He enlisted the help of his former lover Vera Keyes, a starlet who had caught Sinclair's eye. Domino introduced them as part of his plan to break into the casino vault, where he would take whatever it was that Sinclair had there that was so important. However, Keyes got cold feet, so in order to ensure her continued cooperation, Domino began to blackmail her with evidence of a Med-X addiction, apparently unaware that her addiction was a result of her being terminally ill. His final gig was to be at The Tampico, but that all changed when the bombs dropped; the security holograms activated and the Gala Event turned into a massacre.

Domino survived the apocalypse and the casino's security systems, but refused to let go of the Sierra Madre's treasure, becoming obsessed with it. He would spend the next two hundred years, as he underwent ghoulification, plotting his grand heist, oblivious to the fact that Sinclair had long since discovered Domino's plan and prepared a trap within the casino vault. However, he was captured by Dog, fitted with an explosive collar, and forced to work for Father Elijah in breaking into the casino (and already managed to trigger the Gala event at least once for him). . Although his ability to obtain the treasure may have diminished with this development, his lust for it most certainly has not. Nor did his desire for freedom: Dean has killed several victims Elijah tried to use to crack the Sierra Madre, in order to examine the workings of their collars and figure out a way to remove his own.

Needing a replacement for Keyes' part of his plan, Domino finally found an opportunity when Christine Royce was captured by Dog and brought to Sierra Madre. While she was still out cold, he dragged her to the Villa's clinic, and placed her in an Auto-Doc, which he programmed to perform surgery on her vocal cords, altering her voice to sound like Keyes', so she could at some point be used to unlock the vault. It was something of a leap in the dark on his part, as he actually held some doubt towards Royce making the intended recovery from the procedure.

Personality and abilities
Domino is a quick thinker, and is quite skilled with guns, specifically pistols, having spent some of his free time back in the pre-War days at the shooting range, and uses a knife for a side arm. He is very paranoid, setting up many booby traps and hiding several 'secret stashes' throughout the Villa - perhaps understandably, considering the ghost people who inhabit it.

His ego is very fragile, and the Courier is encouraged to take care not to bruise it when dealing with Domino, lest it carry dire consequences down the line. Expressing irritation, aggression, or contempt will earn his ire. Also, passing the Barter skill checks in his dialogues will turn him murderous later, as he takes the Courier's competence as a personal insult. Skill checks other than Barter checks are okay, as they are the only ones that will have a negative impact.

Miraculously, his own voice has been unaltered by ghoulification; it remains clear and accented as opposed to gravelly like other ghouls.

Quests

 * Find Collar 14: Dean Domino: The Courier has to find, and recruit, Dean in the Residential District.
 * Strike Up the Band: The Courier has to escort Dean to Puesta del Sol south for him to connect a circuit.
 * Curtain Call at the Tampico: The Courier has to confront Dean in the Sierra Madre Casino in the Tampico.

Other interactions

 * Domino can make Sierra Madre martinis, and can give the Courier the Sierra Madre Martini perk with the correct dialogue choices.
 * Low-intelligence characters (3 or below), upon first meeting Domino, will have several options to say nothing more than questioning sounds, like "Hnh?" and "Ummmm.", which achieves nothing but frustrating Domino.
 * He has unique idle dialogue for locations around the Sierra Madre:

Appearances
Dean Domino is mentioned in Fallout: New Vegas and Lonesome Road, and appears in the add-on Dead Money.

Behind the scenes

 * Dean Domino's name may be an amalgamation of Dean Martin, American singer/actor/comedian, and Fats Domino, American rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. Dean Domino mentions that he worked for Imperial Records, which is a real life company that Fats Domino worked for.
 * If the player has the Wild Wasteland trait, Dean will reference Army of Darkness when he kills a ghost person for the first time, "He's not dead, it's a trick. Get an axe.".
 * When asked about the nature of the ghost people, Dean will attempt to quote (though incorrectly both times) the famous exchange between Hamlet and Horatio; "There is more to heaven and earth than is dreamt of in your philosophy."