Cards Under The Table is a quest in Fallout: New California.
This quest becomes available during the Join The War Machine quest. Completing Cards Under The Table successfully puts the Player Character in the NCR questline.
Detailed Walkthrough[]
Once Elsdragon gives the key to the Athens-Tec mine barracks, the Player Character leaves the mine to get ready for the mission with Nos. Just outside the mine entrance is Wilson Wilco, another raider and your presumptive captor. If you have the Way Seer perk from Kurtz, he can be accused of being an NCR spy and the Cards Under The Table quest will start. Alternatively, without the perk, talking to Kurtz about ways to escape will reveal he thinks that Wilson Wilco is hiding something which will start the quest. It's also possible to start the quest by telling Wilson that you have inside information from Mandrake that Wilson is a spy.
Wilson Wilco has the Player Character follow him off to the side and if they pass the various checks, he will tell them how to escape to Union City with their friends. Failing the checks or telling him you are with the Enclave will fail the quest. Wilson suggests selling companions to the slave dealer and rescuing them later from Black Horse Ranch. Then, a way to deactivate the slave collars must be found before joining Nos for the raid on the NCR position.
Talking to Casio Aralias who is standing outside the Temple to the Thundergods tent will result in Casio telling the Player Character that he will help them if they retrieve a Mars idol from the Legion centurion sitting by the campfire. Gaius Diocletian is an emissary from Caesar, trying to recruit Elsdragon's tribes into the Legion. Speaking to the centurion results in him willingly giving the idol and provides some backstory on Dr. Rossman's scouts.
Presenting the idol back to Casio and passing subsequent checks will grant access to the computer terminals in his tent. The Player Character can then hack the terminal and turn off the explosive collars of their companions. An option to detonate the collars is also available via the terminal, which will fail the quest.
The Player Character can then return to their companions, share their plans, and then join Nos on the vertibird platform. During the vertibird ride to the raid, Nos orders the Player Character to kill Captain Jameson. Following Nos' orders and eliminating the NCR leaders will fail the quest.
After exiting the vertibird, the Player Character can join the NCR side and aid Ranger Kerry Vargas at the bridge. This will begin the next quest, Bridge Over I-15. Subsequently killing Nos and proceeding to Union City with Captain Jameson and Ranger Vargas will allow the Player Character to rescue their friends from Black Horse Ranch and complete the quest.