Vera Thornberg

Vera Thornberg is a general goods merchant for the Blue Ridge Caravan Company in Fallout 76, introduced in the Once in a Blue Moon update. 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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

She actually got the job through her father's connection to Joanna,^[4] and her placement at the pitstop was a favor to Joanna from Vinny.^[5] 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,^[6] and soon kept quite busy with caring for the brahmin and serving travelers and fellow workers, including Luca Costa, Vinny's nephew, and Grahm.^[7] 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.^[8] However, it left little time for anything else,^[9] and eventually, mistakes started to pop up^[10] 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.^[11]

The reason for her distraction is simple: she assumed that being a caravan worker would have involved traveling, rather than working the pitstop,^[12] in a seemingly endless loop of chores.^[13] 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.")^[14] and all-night hauling on the road, she feels stuck^[15] 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.^[16] 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.^[17]

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 predators^[18] and Vinny rebuffed Vera's suggestion to hire more guards for the pitstop or turning the brahmin into battle cattle with armor.^[19] 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.^[20] As a result, the Vault 76 dwellers have to lend a hand every now and then to keep the wildlife contained.^[21] 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.^[22]

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.^[23][24] 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")^[25] or the Tyler County Fairgrounds, where he proposed to her, atop the Ferris wheel.^[26] Others, like Mountainside Bed & Breakfast, are just pleasant memories of the trucking.^[27] As such, photos would both provs that she traveled and help her father deal with the grief of losing his wife.^[28]

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.^[29] She voiced her concerns to Vinny before, but he has not really given it any mind.^[30]

Vera is also close with Clyde, her co-worker, enough to realize that he is soft-hearted under his toughened exterior.^[31] 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)^[32] or agree to her suggestions of escorting her to the pitstops across Appalachia.^[3]

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.^[33] 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.^[34] She does not mind taking care of the cattle (although she hates the "muck"), but would prefer to be on the caravan trail.^[35]

Interactions with the player character[]

Interactions overview[]

Interactions
	This character cannot be killed.
	This character is a vendor.	Accepts Sells: General goods
	This character is involved in quests.	Costa Business: Vera
	This character starts events.	Event: Safe and Sound

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:^[36] 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,^[37] guilt over lying to her father,^[38] realizing that the photos were about helping him, not her,^[39] to feeling motivated to visit these locations if she admits the truth, but keeps the photos as a memento.^[40] In this case, she will actually gather enough courage to ask for time off and get Clyde to escort her.^[3] Her father supports her either way.^[41][42][43]

Inventory[]

Appearances[]

Vera Thornberg appears only in Fallout 76, introduced in the Once in a Blue Moon update.

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.^{[Non-game 1]}

Gallery[]

Vera at the start of Safe and Sound

References[]

Non-game

v · d · e Fallout 76 vendors Legendary scrip Purveyor Murmrgh Gold bullion Minerva · Mortimer · Reginald "Regs" Stone · Samuel Stamps Giuseppe Della Ripa Caps Allies (): Adelaide · Beckett · Daphne · Del Lawson · Grandma Junko · Joey Bello · Katherine Swan · Leo Petrov · Maul · Sam Nguyen · Solomon Hardy · Steven Scarberry · Xerxo · Yasmin Chowdhury Ally associates: ATHENA () · Emerson Hale () The Whitespring: Alexis · Antoine · Brotherhood vendor · Bubbles · Cap'n · Cunningham · Doc Stanley · Flauresca · Flintlock · Free States vendor · Friedrich · Helena · Marie · MODUS medical terminal · MODUS armory terminal · MODUS production terminal · MODUS science terminal · Pendleton · Raiders vendor · Responders vendor · Shopping mall vendor · Tannin · Tweed · The Whitespring Station vendor Crater: Ae-Ri · Molly · Raf Foundation: Sunny (Armory) · Sunny (General) · Sunny (Kitchen) Blue Ridge: Carver Timmerman · Eugenie · Rudy Fernandez · Vera Thornberg · Clyde Nuka-World on Tour: Betty Hill · Chloe the Clown · Del Walsh Atlantic City: Carmen · Fast Nicky · Pete Rutledge Other: Duchess · Grahm () · Mr. Squeeze () Scavenger trader () · Smiley () · Traveling merchant () · Vendor bot Bob · Vendor bot Chad · Vendor bot Greg · Vendor bot Mack · Vendor bot Phoenix · Vendor bot Raider · Vendor bot Resin · Vendor bot Responder · Vendor bot Responder () · Vendor bot Wallace · Watoga vendor bot

v · d · e Once in a Blue Moon Quests and events Costa Business Costa Business: Kieran · Costa Business: Eugenie · Costa Business: Libby · Costa Business: Rudy · Costa Business: Herschel · Costa Business: Vera · Costa Business: Carver · Protocol Adonais Events Beasts of Burden · Safe and Sound Locations Middle Mountain Pitstop · Sacramental Glade Items Apparel Blue Devil outfit · Blue Ridge scout helmet · Cowboy chaps · Cowboy duster · Cowboy hat · Cryptid hunter boonie hat · Milkman outfit · Ogua hunter outfit · Trucker uniform · Vera's outfit Weapons Blue Ridge branding iron · Cryptid jawbone knife · Cultist Piercer · Elder's Mark · Holy Fire · Luca's switchblade · Ogua gauntlet · The Kabloom Other See list of plans · See holotapes and notes Characters New Luca Costa · Clyde · Grandma Junko · Joey Bello · Vera Thornberg · Jack Hunter Expanded Aries · Carver Timmerman · Eugenie · Herschel Klein · Kieran Kennedy · Libby Wen · Rudy Fernandez · Vinny Costa Creatures Cryptids Blue Devil · Ogua Brahmin Boil & Foil · Hocus & Pocus · Shock & Awe · Vikki & Vance · Moona Lisa Shoot for the Stars (Season 13) Fight for Freedom (Season 14)