Most know of the so-called messiah of the Capital Wasteland, the man known only as the Lone Wanderer. To the righteous, he is a saviour. To the evil, he is a nightmare made manifest. And to those who actually know what he's like as a person, he's a dangerous nutjob with some serious psychological issues.
Wanderer's Diary (Fallout 3 Dark Comedy)
- Thread starter DannyJ
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Week One
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Wanderer's Diary: Week One
Day 1: The Downward Spiral Begins...
Okay... where to start...
I guess by explaining things.
See, Dad just left the vault. By necessity, this also meant I had to leave the vault, because the Overseer and his people were coming after me because of him. I can only carry so much, so I just packed up all the important stuff that was close at hand and ran for it. By important stuff, I mean my BB gun and some shots for it, my baseball, glove, bat, cap, a few spare vault jumpsuits, Dad's bobblehead (since he didn't take it himself for some reason), and that copy of Grognak #9 that Amata got me.
You'll notice something important missing from that list – namely my old diary. Which is understandable; I didn't have time to boot up the computer and download and delete everything, being in a rush. Still, this is a problem, and not just because it's irritating to type journals with the Pip-Boy's keyboard. I recorded things in those diaries. Private things.
I sure am glad the Overseer is dead.
Oh, yeah. I think I've skipped some details. I killed some people on my way out. Actually, a lot of people. Officer Kendall was first. He came at me after he barely beat back a load of radroaches. He was weakened, and I think his arm was bad. Amata had offered me a gun earlier, but I didn't take it. So I beat him to death with my baseball bat.
I think something's severely wrong with me. I just said that I beat a crippled man to death with my bat, a man I have known for years, in fact, and I still don't actually care. Hell, I had a crush on his daughter for a while. And I killed him, and... nothing.
He wasn't the last, either. I killed O'Brian and Richards after they gunned down the Holdens. Snuck up on them, stole their guns, bullets through both their heads. I killed Paul Hannon's dad, the security chief. And on the way out, I killed Wolfe and Park in a melee. And those are just the ones I knew by name. There were others.
I did what I could to stop the bloodshed. Honestly I did. I saved Butch's mom, even though I hate Butch. I tried to talk down the Overseer after I found him and Officer Mack interrogating her about what happened to me, but that didn't work, and I accidentally killed him in the ensuing fist fight. Amata was not happy, but it wasn't like I was the only guy killing people in there. The security officers murdered people in cold blood too, and Amata shot Mack, so she's got no right to talk to me about that. And Jonas! They killed Jonas too! What did Jonas ever do to anyone?
Well, point is, with Amata's help, I did indeed exit the vault. She locked it behind me, so now I'm stuck outside.
And it has been an adventure, let me tell you, because the violence didn't stop at the vault door. There's this town called Springvale right outside the vault's entrance. It's where I am right now. I'm guessing that makes Vault 101's residents the descendants of the people of Springvale? I don't actually know. I guess so. That would make sense, but it's just speculation on my part. Well, true to what the history books said, the world has in fact been blown to hell by nukes, though the radiation isn't present anymore, at least not in the immediate area. This Pip-Boy has a Geiger counter, and it says the air's clean. The same is not true of the water. Or the rain.
That's also something that got me. Weather, and the sky. We learned about them in science class of course, but it's really something to see these things outside of a textbook. They're amazing in their own way, but radioactive water falling from the sky is going to be a problem. I'm going to have to make sure to never be outside when that's happening. I know there's a drug that can counteract the effects of radiation – RadAway – but I don't have any. There might have been some in Dad's clinic if I had searched around, now that I think about it, but at the time, the first thing on my mind was not raiding the supplies. I did get some stimpaks from the first aid kit in my room, but I've used those up already.
Anyway, the town's basically destroyed here, but there are two buildings around that are habitable and not boarded up. Those are the school, and a house where a lady named Silver lives. When I was in the vault, some terminal entries on the Overseer's computer mentioned that he had sent out scouts years before and found an inhabited town around the area, called Megaton. Silver came from there, fleeing some bastard called Moriarty that thought she owed him. I planned on talking with him, but I got distracted.
The distractions were many. First of all, I discovered from Silver that the local school was inhabited by raiders, which is a term outside people use for thieves and murderers. Pretty much the criminals of the wasteland, even if there is no real "law" out here. Wasteland is also incidentally the term for this whole place. Capital Wasteland to be precise, because pre-war Washington DC was the capital of America. Appropriate, I think.
So that was my first distraction. Cleaning the scum out of that school. They decorated the inside of the place with the mutilated bodies of their victims. Charming people.
Fortunately for me, my enemies were idiots. Their armour was just cobbled-together crap, and their weapons were in shit condition, because they were too stupid to figure out how to clean or repair them. I, however, am a super smart vault dweller with a slightly less crappy piece of damaged armour taken from a vault security guard I murdered (because I'm a morbid individual with no sense of shame), and I had a pistol that was not in shit condition, given to me by Amata, which I had already fixed up with parts from all the other security guards' weapons.
Well, I cleaned that place out, stole anything of value I found in there (including a book about explosives, a Chinese special ops manual, and a Nuka-Cola bottle that actually glowed), looted the bodies, and then went on my merry way.
I'll say it again, I think something's wrong with me. How many people did I kill today? The vault security and the raiders put together adds up to a big number, but I didn't exactly count them. And not once did I ever feel any kind of regret. No remorse at all. I didn't care then, and I still don't care. I was even searching the bodies for anything of value to steal. And that's what's bothering me. I should feel something.
Am I a sociopath?
This is something I should talk to Dad about when I find him. And I will find him. He can't have gotten far. He was only a few hours ahead of me, after all. When he died, Jonas was carrying a holotape on him, from Dad to me, expressing his wishes that I stay in the vault and not pursue him. That wasn't exactly an option by the point I found that tape, though.
He and I are going to have words.
Either way, it's late now. I'm staying in Silver's place tonight, and tomorrow I'm going to go up to Megaton and deal with this Moriarty character, while hopefully finding some information on Dad's whereabouts. Tomorrow, though. Definitely tomorrow. I've had enough adventure today. I mean, look at this entry. In my old diary, I rarely wrote over two paragraphs. This is a fucking massive wall of text. I hope this doesn't become a trend; If every day in the wasteland is this hectic, I may just die from the stress.
Well, that's enough rambling for now. I'm going to bed. After I'm done reading these books and listening to the local radio stations and their hosts. These people fascinate me.
Day 2: Town of the Tards.
I'm going to start this entry with a simple question: Who builds a town around a bomb?
The people of Megaton do. And they're still alive. Clearly, this is a horrible subversion of the laws of natural selection as I know them, and one so extreme that if they were animals, I would be forced to correct it. This lends credence to my earlier theory that I am a sociopath, but that same theory is also contested by the fact that I have not, in fact, detonated the bomb here and put these people out of their misery. Instead, I saved them. I'm a bit of a jackass like that.
I came into town earlier this morning, where I was greeted first by some old guy begging for water, then by a robot (not like Andy, this one was a Protectron, not a Mr. Handy), and finally by a guy dressed like a cowboy named Sheriff Lucas Simms. I thought he was a little weird at first, but I've come to like him. I saved his life later on, but that's skipping ahead a bit.
Simms told me a bit about the town, and naturally, the subject of the nearby undetonated nuclear weapon came up. I offered to disarm it for him, and he had no problem with that. Frankly, if he did, I would have been very concerned. At the time, though, I wanted to get my bearings first, so I wandered about town.
I went to Moriarty's first, both for Silver's sake, and because I'd been told he would be the best person to ask about Dad. He was an old guy. Spoke with an accent I've never heard before. And his bar was being tended by a walking corpse.
They're called ghouls. Three Dog, the DJ of one of the two radio stations I was listening to last night, explained a bit about them in one of his news segments for the benefit of ignorant vault dwellers like me. They're really just people who've been disfigured by radiation as far as I can tell, though I'm also told a lot of them have a tendency to go feral and try to kill you on sight. Gob, the bartender, so far has not.
I tried to get some information out of the people around the bar. Moriarty told me that Silver was actually a junkie who had stolen from him, and offered to tell me what I wanted if I could deal with her. I told him to go fuck himself. That meant I now had to pay for the information. Fortunately, Moriarty's other prostitute, Nova, was able to help me. I charmed her into giving me the password to his computer, and looked through his files.
They told me some interesting things, as did he. According to this guy, neither me or Dad were actually born in the vault, and he recalls seeing the both of us many years before when Dad was trying to get into the vault, and I was just a baby. When he told me this himself, I called bullshit, but I don't see any reason for him to lie about a person he's never met to his personal log.
Dad, what else have you been keeping from me?
He also had a few entries on the other people in town, from speculation about their own illicit activities, to things he knows they've done. The local doctor worked for slavers, the rival bar owner's brother is a junkie, there's a dude called Jericho around who tried to rape a girl, and he also had an entry on Mister Burke.
Burke was in the bar at the time, and he gestured for me to come over as I passed. He wanted me to detonate the bomb in the centre of town and murder everyone. Because he's an asshole. This time, instead of the standard "go fuck yourself" response, I played along until I found out who he was working for, some pricks from a place called Tenpenny Tower, which is my next destination after I'm done here. I reported him to Sheriff Simms, who went to arrest him and nearly got shot in the back by Burke. I killed Burke before he could, and then I went on and disarmed the bomb using my fancy vault education and knowledge of explosives (that I shouldn't really have with my upbringing, but whatever).
As a reward for my heroism, I was given a nice house to stay in, and by "nice" I mean that it keeps me safe from radioactive rain and does not have a nuke stored in it. I wouldn't have been surprised if it did. These people all give me bad vibes. I think I may actually get stupider if I hang around here too long. Not that I have much of a choice. This place is looking more and more like it might be my new home now, and I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing. At least they threw in a free Mr. Handy who dispenses purified water and tells jokes. That was nice of them.
I've also taken more time to listen to the local radio stations, because – get this – Dad had already left Megaton and went off to Galaxy News Radio to meet Three Dog before I arrived. So I've been listening carefully to anything he has to say. Three Dog's news reports actually mentioned me coming out of the vault at one point. He also said something about a town called Grayditch going quiet, and Tenpenny Tower refusing to allow some ghouls residence. Oh yeah, I'm definitely heading there next.
The other station is much clearer, and that's Enclave radio. I'm not sure what to think about them. Their leader, President Eden, seems like a stand-up guy. I'd vote for him. He wants to fix this blasted wasteland, and that's a goal I can empathise with. He still does sound a little suspicious at times, though. In the same way that the Overseer was. But even the Overseer wasn't all bad. Just kind of a dick, and with a twisted view of what was best for the vault. Their music is not as good, though.
But the radio stations and all the people I've spoken to have given me a clear list of objectives, which I will summarise as follows:
Day 3: If it Ain't Broke, Ya Still Gotta Do Maintenance.
From the moment I stepped into town, I pretty much assumed I was the smartest person here. Field research of subjects today confirms this. If I have to spend a significant amount of time around these people, I figured I'd get on the good side of as many of them as possible.
I started with that Leo Stahl guy I heard mentioned on Moriarty's terminal. We did some talking, and I convinced him to quit his habit. His brother and sister appreciated it too. This coincidentally landed me a nice supply of drugs. I don't exactly want to end up like Silver, but my Dad's a doctor, and I'm pretty knowledgeable about medicine too; these things do actually have some physical benefits. If I ever get into another fight, they might come in handy. I could use some of this Buffout stuff if I ever have to deal with raiders again.
Next I asked around town and got to know all the people.
Mr. and Mrs. Vargas were this old couple who've been in Megaton a long time. Nathan told me a little bit about the Enclave and how they're a continuation of the US government, which makes me even more eager to meet them, and Manya explained the history of Megaton, including shedding some light on why they built a town around a bomb and never removed it. Apparently it was this weirdo cult's fault. People who worship the bomb. Church of Atom they're called.
I was surprised to learn that there were in fact two factions that wanted to explode the bomb here who had nothing to do with each other, but the church are unable to actually do it now that I defused the thing, and seem unaware that I ever did it in the first place. And they never made any attempt to force it before. They're just harmless crazies; people to be looked down upon disdainfully, rather than people to shoot. I gave that Confessor Cromwell guy a pity cap. His wife looks old too.
Despite what Moriarty's terminal speculated, I kinda like Billy Creel too. He seems like a genuinely nice guy. A bit like Dad, except a dirty wastelander.
Okay! Okay! No more vault prejudices. I'll try to stop with the superiority complex now.
His daughter Maggie's nice too, I guess.
I stopped by to see that Doc Church guy next. After what I read on Moriarty's terminal, I want to make sure that this town is safe. For a guy who used to work for slavers, he really didn't act like it. Seemed like an okay guy, just concerned for his patients. And I don't often meet another man of medicine. Not that I'm a qualified doctor exactly, but I know my fair share. He even sold me some RadAway, so that's one problem solved. I decided that he gets to live.
Then I went to see Moira. She was cheery. Seems a bit delusional and crazy, but she means well. I offered to help her with a project. She's planning on writing a book called the Wasteland Survival Guide. Something like that would have been really helpful to have earlier. Being a vault dweller, she thought I could provide the foreword, by recalling life in the vault. She gave me an armoured vault jumpsuit as payment, apparently made for a previous vault dweller who escaped into the great outdoors but never came back to get it. Hell, I'm not complaining. This thing is nice.
So anyway, the first chapter was going to cover treating radiation sickness, so she requested I go out and catch some. I immediately went outside and took a good long drink of that disgusting irradiated water around the bomb, and went back to her with over six hundred rads on me according to the Pip-Boy. She was extremely pleased. Got her research done, and informed me that I have developed a permanent mutation thanks to my stupidity. It's benign, but that pisses me off. And all this was still not enough to get a free house refurbishment.
Bitch.
Next it was back up to the bar to deal with some problems. Burke's corpse had already been slung out when I got there, and I spent the next hour just mingling. I met the water treatment guy, Walter, who got me to go out and fix some pipes around town for him, and whom I set up a deal with, where I provide him with scrap metal in exchange for caps. I also met some woman called Lucy West who wanted me to deliver a letter to her brother in some settlement northwards, which I also plan to get to.
And I met this fuckhead Jericho, the man who nearly raped Jenny Stahl according to the terminal. He was the last guy on my list to check out. Former raider, and with an interest in returning to the old life too. He did not meet the standards of my "you get to live" trial. I followed him to his house later that night and left a live grenade in his bed. No-one suspected me, because when I later joined the crowd of people hanging around his house and asked what was going on, I had just returned from giving a bottle of my purified water to that beggar outside (whose name is Micky, by the way.)
After that, it was dinner with Lucas Simms and his boy, Harden. Them showing their appreciation for all the good I've done. I found a bobblehead like Dad used to have in his house, only dedicated to physical strength instead of knowledge of medicine. I stole it while he wasn't looking, because I'm a saint.
Then it was back home after a long day of murder, theft, self-harm, and giving water to the thirsty, to sit around in my house and pretend like I'm the nicest gosh-darn kid this town's ever seen. And to be fair, I've solved pretty much all of their immediate problems in the two days I've been here, so I have done them a lot of good. I just happen to have done it in a very shady way.
Oh, who the fuck cares? So they don't have Jericho to protect them anymore. They've got Simms, and they've got me. What else do they need? Quit complaining, Megaton!
Day 4: Take a Break.
Organisation was first priority today. After breakfast. I sorted all the shit I've collected into the appropriate containers.
The house came with two sets of lockers. In one, I stored all my clothes and armour, those being the jumpsuits from Vault 101, including the utility jumpsuit, and the security armour and helmet from the same place. I got a Tunnel Snakes outfit too. Butch gave it to me for saving his mom. My baseball cap also went in there. I guess I'm keeping them all as mementos. I don't think I'll ever be likely to play baseball again. And that makes me sad.
In the other, I will store my weapons and whatever other miscellaneous crap I collect. So that's where the ball, gloves, and baseball bat go, and my BB gun. Not the bobbleheads though. There's a stand in the house which conveniently looks like it'll be just perfect for holding a display of bobbleheads. Maybe I can start collecting? Take, buy, or steal them wherever they pop up, and see if I can get a full set? Because they look to be part of a set. I put the medicine and strength ones on already. They look nice there.
Then I went to see Moira again. I sold her all the crappy guns I got from the raiders I killed, .32s and Chinese pistols mostly. I only have a 10mm pistol for myself, but it's in pretty good condition. I took it from Mr. Burke, and fixed it up with the parts from Amata's gun. I did that rather than the other way around because Mr. Burke's gun has a silencer, and I'd be a fool to not take advantage of that. And if it turns out to not be enough, I always have the other grenades.
Given the caps I had afterwards, I brought a few stimpaks to keep me going, and ordered Moira to put a Nuka-Cola machine in my house. I could have gotten a jukebox, but the Pip-Boy is enough for now, and the Nuka-Cola machine certainly brightens up the place. I stole a few bottles of cola out of a vending machine back in Springvale, so I stuck them in there. According to Moira, they should be nice and chill when I ask it to dispense again.
I just had a thought. I'm living in an economy where these people use bottle caps instead of coins or notes like we had in the vault. With all the other strangeness going on, I barely even thought about that. I mean, the two-headed mutant cow thing (that I am informed is actually called a brahmin) barely got a mention in Wednesday's entry for Christ's sake! And now I get an extra bottle cap every time I drink a soda. That's... I don't know what to think about that. I gotta start drinking more Nuka-Cola, I guess.
And speaking of drinking Nuka-Cola, I tried that glowing blue bottle I found in the school the other day, and it made my piss glow. I don't think I'll be trying it again any time soon. Maybe I should just collect them like I do the bobbleheads, and use them as nightlights instead? Or I could get a whole bunch of them and leave them out in the wasteland, arranged to form words. Imagine some raider on the roof of their hideout looking out into the distance one night and seeing a bunch of glowing blue letters on the far away hill spelling out "YOU'RE DEAD". That would scare the piss out of me if I saw that.
Then again, maybe I'm giving these people too much credit by assuming they can read.
Oh look, there's that superiority complex again.
Aside from buying and selling, I've also busied myself listening to the radio today, trying to gather what else I can. President Eden on Enclave radio repeats himself a lot. It's mostly pre-recorded messages talking about the Enclave's values and what they hope to accomplish. It all sounds good, but it's repetitive, and I'm not fond of the music.
Three Dog, on the other hand, has been much more informative. Word has spread about my defusing the Megaton bomb, and he was very congratulatory for it. Apparently I'm a "defender" now. Yippee. Hope dad's listening, though. Maybe he'll hear I'm still in Megaton and come back.
The other reports were also interesting. Grayditch is still quiet, there's a large concentration of raiders around Evergreen Mills, and some weirdos that sound like something out of a pre-war comic book are fighting over in Canterbury Commons. I've also heard that Arefu (where I'm supposed to deliver the West girl's letter) is being harassed by some thugs right now. I should probably get over there tomorrow.
Oh, and I also murdered Moriarty.
Day 5: The Quest for Justice.
Hello journal! Today, I'm writing to you from scenic Tenpenny Tower!
I was torn. I knew shit was going down up north with Arefu, and Evergreen Mills, and I also think this Paradise Falls place that I've heard about a few times now is also in that direction. But equally, Burke was working for someone who came from Tenpenny Tower, and that's south. In the end, town-nuking won out against thugs and people who want to take you alive for slaving, so I decided to head over this way.
My Pip-Boy has a map of the DC area available, which I've never really turned on before now, but it's all pre-war landmarks. Mostly useless to me. I switched to a clear version of the map and have decided to make my own landmarks as I come across them. It can still tell me where I am relative to where I've been, so I can use it to find my way, and I can set a waypoint on it too, so I know where to go. I marked down Vault 101, Springvale, the school, and Megaton on the map, and then set a marker for Tenpenny and started trudging in that direction.
On my way, I came across more mutated wildlife, like giant flying insects spitting radioactive maggots, and an animal which I am going to guess is a molerat from how it matches up to the descriptions people have given me. I was also accosted at one point by a malfunctioning pre-war Protectron. It had lasers, which was bad, but I also now have some energy cells and scrap metal for Walter, which is good.
I passed by the old RobCo facility on my way here. I marked it down on the map; I'm coming back to take a look in there later. My inner scientist is curious about all the technology such a place could house. There was a roving trader just outside too, being followed by a number of robots. I tried to buy a Mister Gutsy I liked the look of from him, but he refused me. Jerk.
Anyway, now I'm in the tower, and it is here I shall be staying for the night. I had to lie to get myself in, but there's this old guy called Dashwood who let me stay with him for the night, because it was late by the time I got to the tower. He seems trustworthy. Intelligent even. I like him already.
Tomorrow, I'll ask around and sort out this nasty town-nuking business.
Day 6: Living in Luxury.
Dashwood's famous, as it turns out. He did some adventuring in his youth with a ghoul called Argyle, and they made a radio play series out of it that's broadcast on GNR. I honestly had no idea. I'm told that Argyle's been lost for years, though. Dashwood asked if I could perhaps find him, if I have time. I've got a billion things to do already, but hey, why not? He's been good to me. So I agreed.
We talked some more, he told me a bit about the tower, and about the thing with the ghouls too. Other residents are bigots. Don't want them in. That Roy Phillips guy is pissed. I think I saw him yesterday when I was trying to get in myself. I'll have to talk to Roy if I see him again.
That's all a side project for now, though. My goal was to find out who ordered Megaton destroyed, and I found my culprit in Mr. Alastair Tenpenny, a chap with a red suit who speaks weird and who owns this tower. I choked him to death and left his body out on the balcony.
Not before taking that suit of his, though! I needed some nice clothes, and that suit was fine. If I'm ever required to attend a formal gathering, I know what I'm wearing!
I think I need to see a psychologist.
Day 7: Adventuring East.
Left the tower today. Managed to get out without anyone suspecting anything. If I had left immediately after murdering Tenpenny, the guard would have probably gone in and found him dead, and I'd have been found out immediately. So instead, I stayed the night in Tenpenny's suite. When the guard came knocking to check on the old man, I answered the door half-naked and told him not to disturb us again. I let his mind fill in the blanks, and I was given no further trouble.
I snuck out early in the morning after tossing the body off the tower. A quick retrieval at ground level, chucked it over the fence, went out the front way, gave some more water to a beggar I didn't even notice before, and then I took the corpse and ran as far east as I could.
I eventually found a cave to stash the body, which as you'd guess, was full of raiders. Also, giant mutant black bears. It was worth it, though. Totally worth it. You wouldn't believe the haul I got from this trip.
One raider had a missile launcher, and ammo for it! I found a miniature nuclear bomb, meant to be fired from a shoulder-mounted weapon! I got another of the glowing Nuka-Cola bottles, which the label calls the "Quantum." And then there's the literature I found! Another Chinese Army manual on infiltration and espionage, but more importantly, a new Grognak comic! I haven't seen a new issue of Grognak since I was a kid! We only had the same several issues circulating the vault! I can start a library with these and the other books when I get back to Megaton!
Best of all, though, I found schematics for a way to turn those glowing bottles of cola into a high-powered grenade. And this thing looks fucking dangerous too. I don't even know if I trust my throwing arm to get it far enough away from me!
Well, I left Tenpenny there and marked the cliffside cavern on my map in case I needed a cave for whatever reason in future. Continued east. Passed an overlook drive-in full of those pre-war nuclear-powered cars. Raiders too. Shot one of the cars, and they all exploded and killed everyone. Stripped the bodies, marked the drive-in, moved on.
And that's when I arrived at my current location, Andale, whose residents I all killed because they turned out to be inbred cannibals who'd capture people in either a shed or a basement, kill them, and harvest their flesh. I let two kids live, and they're going to be raised by their... grandpa, I think. He claims to have reformed from cannibalism. How true that is, I don't know, but he tried to warn me when I first arrived, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.
I'm staying the night in the house of one of the families I killed. I've also taken the liberty of emptying their fridges of all that human meat. To dispose of it, of course.
Honestly, I'm not still carrying it or anything.
Really.
Day 1: The Downward Spiral Begins...
Okay... where to start...
I guess by explaining things.
See, Dad just left the vault. By necessity, this also meant I had to leave the vault, because the Overseer and his people were coming after me because of him. I can only carry so much, so I just packed up all the important stuff that was close at hand and ran for it. By important stuff, I mean my BB gun and some shots for it, my baseball, glove, bat, cap, a few spare vault jumpsuits, Dad's bobblehead (since he didn't take it himself for some reason), and that copy of Grognak #9 that Amata got me.
You'll notice something important missing from that list – namely my old diary. Which is understandable; I didn't have time to boot up the computer and download and delete everything, being in a rush. Still, this is a problem, and not just because it's irritating to type journals with the Pip-Boy's keyboard. I recorded things in those diaries. Private things.
I sure am glad the Overseer is dead.
Oh, yeah. I think I've skipped some details. I killed some people on my way out. Actually, a lot of people. Officer Kendall was first. He came at me after he barely beat back a load of radroaches. He was weakened, and I think his arm was bad. Amata had offered me a gun earlier, but I didn't take it. So I beat him to death with my baseball bat.
I think something's severely wrong with me. I just said that I beat a crippled man to death with my bat, a man I have known for years, in fact, and I still don't actually care. Hell, I had a crush on his daughter for a while. And I killed him, and... nothing.
He wasn't the last, either. I killed O'Brian and Richards after they gunned down the Holdens. Snuck up on them, stole their guns, bullets through both their heads. I killed Paul Hannon's dad, the security chief. And on the way out, I killed Wolfe and Park in a melee. And those are just the ones I knew by name. There were others.
I did what I could to stop the bloodshed. Honestly I did. I saved Butch's mom, even though I hate Butch. I tried to talk down the Overseer after I found him and Officer Mack interrogating her about what happened to me, but that didn't work, and I accidentally killed him in the ensuing fist fight. Amata was not happy, but it wasn't like I was the only guy killing people in there. The security officers murdered people in cold blood too, and Amata shot Mack, so she's got no right to talk to me about that. And Jonas! They killed Jonas too! What did Jonas ever do to anyone?
Well, point is, with Amata's help, I did indeed exit the vault. She locked it behind me, so now I'm stuck outside.
And it has been an adventure, let me tell you, because the violence didn't stop at the vault door. There's this town called Springvale right outside the vault's entrance. It's where I am right now. I'm guessing that makes Vault 101's residents the descendants of the people of Springvale? I don't actually know. I guess so. That would make sense, but it's just speculation on my part. Well, true to what the history books said, the world has in fact been blown to hell by nukes, though the radiation isn't present anymore, at least not in the immediate area. This Pip-Boy has a Geiger counter, and it says the air's clean. The same is not true of the water. Or the rain.
That's also something that got me. Weather, and the sky. We learned about them in science class of course, but it's really something to see these things outside of a textbook. They're amazing in their own way, but radioactive water falling from the sky is going to be a problem. I'm going to have to make sure to never be outside when that's happening. I know there's a drug that can counteract the effects of radiation – RadAway – but I don't have any. There might have been some in Dad's clinic if I had searched around, now that I think about it, but at the time, the first thing on my mind was not raiding the supplies. I did get some stimpaks from the first aid kit in my room, but I've used those up already.
Anyway, the town's basically destroyed here, but there are two buildings around that are habitable and not boarded up. Those are the school, and a house where a lady named Silver lives. When I was in the vault, some terminal entries on the Overseer's computer mentioned that he had sent out scouts years before and found an inhabited town around the area, called Megaton. Silver came from there, fleeing some bastard called Moriarty that thought she owed him. I planned on talking with him, but I got distracted.
The distractions were many. First of all, I discovered from Silver that the local school was inhabited by raiders, which is a term outside people use for thieves and murderers. Pretty much the criminals of the wasteland, even if there is no real "law" out here. Wasteland is also incidentally the term for this whole place. Capital Wasteland to be precise, because pre-war Washington DC was the capital of America. Appropriate, I think.
So that was my first distraction. Cleaning the scum out of that school. They decorated the inside of the place with the mutilated bodies of their victims. Charming people.
Fortunately for me, my enemies were idiots. Their armour was just cobbled-together crap, and their weapons were in shit condition, because they were too stupid to figure out how to clean or repair them. I, however, am a super smart vault dweller with a slightly less crappy piece of damaged armour taken from a vault security guard I murdered (because I'm a morbid individual with no sense of shame), and I had a pistol that was not in shit condition, given to me by Amata, which I had already fixed up with parts from all the other security guards' weapons.
Well, I cleaned that place out, stole anything of value I found in there (including a book about explosives, a Chinese special ops manual, and a Nuka-Cola bottle that actually glowed), looted the bodies, and then went on my merry way.
I'll say it again, I think something's wrong with me. How many people did I kill today? The vault security and the raiders put together adds up to a big number, but I didn't exactly count them. And not once did I ever feel any kind of regret. No remorse at all. I didn't care then, and I still don't care. I was even searching the bodies for anything of value to steal. And that's what's bothering me. I should feel something.
Am I a sociopath?
This is something I should talk to Dad about when I find him. And I will find him. He can't have gotten far. He was only a few hours ahead of me, after all. When he died, Jonas was carrying a holotape on him, from Dad to me, expressing his wishes that I stay in the vault and not pursue him. That wasn't exactly an option by the point I found that tape, though.
He and I are going to have words.
Either way, it's late now. I'm staying in Silver's place tonight, and tomorrow I'm going to go up to Megaton and deal with this Moriarty character, while hopefully finding some information on Dad's whereabouts. Tomorrow, though. Definitely tomorrow. I've had enough adventure today. I mean, look at this entry. In my old diary, I rarely wrote over two paragraphs. This is a fucking massive wall of text. I hope this doesn't become a trend; If every day in the wasteland is this hectic, I may just die from the stress.
Well, that's enough rambling for now. I'm going to bed. After I'm done reading these books and listening to the local radio stations and their hosts. These people fascinate me.
Day 2: Town of the Tards.
I'm going to start this entry with a simple question: Who builds a town around a bomb?
The people of Megaton do. And they're still alive. Clearly, this is a horrible subversion of the laws of natural selection as I know them, and one so extreme that if they were animals, I would be forced to correct it. This lends credence to my earlier theory that I am a sociopath, but that same theory is also contested by the fact that I have not, in fact, detonated the bomb here and put these people out of their misery. Instead, I saved them. I'm a bit of a jackass like that.
I came into town earlier this morning, where I was greeted first by some old guy begging for water, then by a robot (not like Andy, this one was a Protectron, not a Mr. Handy), and finally by a guy dressed like a cowboy named Sheriff Lucas Simms. I thought he was a little weird at first, but I've come to like him. I saved his life later on, but that's skipping ahead a bit.
Simms told me a bit about the town, and naturally, the subject of the nearby undetonated nuclear weapon came up. I offered to disarm it for him, and he had no problem with that. Frankly, if he did, I would have been very concerned. At the time, though, I wanted to get my bearings first, so I wandered about town.
I went to Moriarty's first, both for Silver's sake, and because I'd been told he would be the best person to ask about Dad. He was an old guy. Spoke with an accent I've never heard before. And his bar was being tended by a walking corpse.
They're called ghouls. Three Dog, the DJ of one of the two radio stations I was listening to last night, explained a bit about them in one of his news segments for the benefit of ignorant vault dwellers like me. They're really just people who've been disfigured by radiation as far as I can tell, though I'm also told a lot of them have a tendency to go feral and try to kill you on sight. Gob, the bartender, so far has not.
I tried to get some information out of the people around the bar. Moriarty told me that Silver was actually a junkie who had stolen from him, and offered to tell me what I wanted if I could deal with her. I told him to go fuck himself. That meant I now had to pay for the information. Fortunately, Moriarty's other prostitute, Nova, was able to help me. I charmed her into giving me the password to his computer, and looked through his files.
They told me some interesting things, as did he. According to this guy, neither me or Dad were actually born in the vault, and he recalls seeing the both of us many years before when Dad was trying to get into the vault, and I was just a baby. When he told me this himself, I called bullshit, but I don't see any reason for him to lie about a person he's never met to his personal log.
Dad, what else have you been keeping from me?
He also had a few entries on the other people in town, from speculation about their own illicit activities, to things he knows they've done. The local doctor worked for slavers, the rival bar owner's brother is a junkie, there's a dude called Jericho around who tried to rape a girl, and he also had an entry on Mister Burke.
Burke was in the bar at the time, and he gestured for me to come over as I passed. He wanted me to detonate the bomb in the centre of town and murder everyone. Because he's an asshole. This time, instead of the standard "go fuck yourself" response, I played along until I found out who he was working for, some pricks from a place called Tenpenny Tower, which is my next destination after I'm done here. I reported him to Sheriff Simms, who went to arrest him and nearly got shot in the back by Burke. I killed Burke before he could, and then I went on and disarmed the bomb using my fancy vault education and knowledge of explosives (that I shouldn't really have with my upbringing, but whatever).
As a reward for my heroism, I was given a nice house to stay in, and by "nice" I mean that it keeps me safe from radioactive rain and does not have a nuke stored in it. I wouldn't have been surprised if it did. These people all give me bad vibes. I think I may actually get stupider if I hang around here too long. Not that I have much of a choice. This place is looking more and more like it might be my new home now, and I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing. At least they threw in a free Mr. Handy who dispenses purified water and tells jokes. That was nice of them.
I've also taken more time to listen to the local radio stations, because – get this – Dad had already left Megaton and went off to Galaxy News Radio to meet Three Dog before I arrived. So I've been listening carefully to anything he has to say. Three Dog's news reports actually mentioned me coming out of the vault at one point. He also said something about a town called Grayditch going quiet, and Tenpenny Tower refusing to allow some ghouls residence. Oh yeah, I'm definitely heading there next.
The other station is much clearer, and that's Enclave radio. I'm not sure what to think about them. Their leader, President Eden, seems like a stand-up guy. I'd vote for him. He wants to fix this blasted wasteland, and that's a goal I can empathise with. He still does sound a little suspicious at times, though. In the same way that the Overseer was. But even the Overseer wasn't all bad. Just kind of a dick, and with a twisted view of what was best for the vault. Their music is not as good, though.
But the radio stations and all the people I've spoken to have given me a clear list of objectives, which I will summarise as follows:
- Go to Tenpenny Tower and facefuck everyone there.
- Find out where these Enclave guys are based, because they sound pretty cool, and less idiotic than my current neighbours.
- Go see Moira at Craterside Supply, because Simms said she can fix up this shitty house.
- Take a bottle of purified water to that beggar outside the town if he's still there tomorrow, because he just looks so pathetic.
- Kill Moriarty, because he's a prick.
- Go find Dad at Galaxy News Radio if I find time.
- Explore the town a bit.
- Avoid the following: raiders, slavers, super mutants, Brotherhood of Steel, Brotherhood Outcasts, feral ghouls, mutant wildlife like that fucked up thing I saw today with multiple heads, and rain.
- Get some fucking RadAway.
Day 3: If it Ain't Broke, Ya Still Gotta Do Maintenance.
From the moment I stepped into town, I pretty much assumed I was the smartest person here. Field research of subjects today confirms this. If I have to spend a significant amount of time around these people, I figured I'd get on the good side of as many of them as possible.
I started with that Leo Stahl guy I heard mentioned on Moriarty's terminal. We did some talking, and I convinced him to quit his habit. His brother and sister appreciated it too. This coincidentally landed me a nice supply of drugs. I don't exactly want to end up like Silver, but my Dad's a doctor, and I'm pretty knowledgeable about medicine too; these things do actually have some physical benefits. If I ever get into another fight, they might come in handy. I could use some of this Buffout stuff if I ever have to deal with raiders again.
Next I asked around town and got to know all the people.
Mr. and Mrs. Vargas were this old couple who've been in Megaton a long time. Nathan told me a little bit about the Enclave and how they're a continuation of the US government, which makes me even more eager to meet them, and Manya explained the history of Megaton, including shedding some light on why they built a town around a bomb and never removed it. Apparently it was this weirdo cult's fault. People who worship the bomb. Church of Atom they're called.
I was surprised to learn that there were in fact two factions that wanted to explode the bomb here who had nothing to do with each other, but the church are unable to actually do it now that I defused the thing, and seem unaware that I ever did it in the first place. And they never made any attempt to force it before. They're just harmless crazies; people to be looked down upon disdainfully, rather than people to shoot. I gave that Confessor Cromwell guy a pity cap. His wife looks old too.
Despite what Moriarty's terminal speculated, I kinda like Billy Creel too. He seems like a genuinely nice guy. A bit like Dad, except a dirty wastelander.
Okay! Okay! No more vault prejudices. I'll try to stop with the superiority complex now.
His daughter Maggie's nice too, I guess.
I stopped by to see that Doc Church guy next. After what I read on Moriarty's terminal, I want to make sure that this town is safe. For a guy who used to work for slavers, he really didn't act like it. Seemed like an okay guy, just concerned for his patients. And I don't often meet another man of medicine. Not that I'm a qualified doctor exactly, but I know my fair share. He even sold me some RadAway, so that's one problem solved. I decided that he gets to live.
Then I went to see Moira. She was cheery. Seems a bit delusional and crazy, but she means well. I offered to help her with a project. She's planning on writing a book called the Wasteland Survival Guide. Something like that would have been really helpful to have earlier. Being a vault dweller, she thought I could provide the foreword, by recalling life in the vault. She gave me an armoured vault jumpsuit as payment, apparently made for a previous vault dweller who escaped into the great outdoors but never came back to get it. Hell, I'm not complaining. This thing is nice.
So anyway, the first chapter was going to cover treating radiation sickness, so she requested I go out and catch some. I immediately went outside and took a good long drink of that disgusting irradiated water around the bomb, and went back to her with over six hundred rads on me according to the Pip-Boy. She was extremely pleased. Got her research done, and informed me that I have developed a permanent mutation thanks to my stupidity. It's benign, but that pisses me off. And all this was still not enough to get a free house refurbishment.
Bitch.
Next it was back up to the bar to deal with some problems. Burke's corpse had already been slung out when I got there, and I spent the next hour just mingling. I met the water treatment guy, Walter, who got me to go out and fix some pipes around town for him, and whom I set up a deal with, where I provide him with scrap metal in exchange for caps. I also met some woman called Lucy West who wanted me to deliver a letter to her brother in some settlement northwards, which I also plan to get to.
And I met this fuckhead Jericho, the man who nearly raped Jenny Stahl according to the terminal. He was the last guy on my list to check out. Former raider, and with an interest in returning to the old life too. He did not meet the standards of my "you get to live" trial. I followed him to his house later that night and left a live grenade in his bed. No-one suspected me, because when I later joined the crowd of people hanging around his house and asked what was going on, I had just returned from giving a bottle of my purified water to that beggar outside (whose name is Micky, by the way.)
After that, it was dinner with Lucas Simms and his boy, Harden. Them showing their appreciation for all the good I've done. I found a bobblehead like Dad used to have in his house, only dedicated to physical strength instead of knowledge of medicine. I stole it while he wasn't looking, because I'm a saint.
Then it was back home after a long day of murder, theft, self-harm, and giving water to the thirsty, to sit around in my house and pretend like I'm the nicest gosh-darn kid this town's ever seen. And to be fair, I've solved pretty much all of their immediate problems in the two days I've been here, so I have done them a lot of good. I just happen to have done it in a very shady way.
Oh, who the fuck cares? So they don't have Jericho to protect them anymore. They've got Simms, and they've got me. What else do they need? Quit complaining, Megaton!
Day 4: Take a Break.
Organisation was first priority today. After breakfast. I sorted all the shit I've collected into the appropriate containers.
The house came with two sets of lockers. In one, I stored all my clothes and armour, those being the jumpsuits from Vault 101, including the utility jumpsuit, and the security armour and helmet from the same place. I got a Tunnel Snakes outfit too. Butch gave it to me for saving his mom. My baseball cap also went in there. I guess I'm keeping them all as mementos. I don't think I'll ever be likely to play baseball again. And that makes me sad.
In the other, I will store my weapons and whatever other miscellaneous crap I collect. So that's where the ball, gloves, and baseball bat go, and my BB gun. Not the bobbleheads though. There's a stand in the house which conveniently looks like it'll be just perfect for holding a display of bobbleheads. Maybe I can start collecting? Take, buy, or steal them wherever they pop up, and see if I can get a full set? Because they look to be part of a set. I put the medicine and strength ones on already. They look nice there.
Then I went to see Moira again. I sold her all the crappy guns I got from the raiders I killed, .32s and Chinese pistols mostly. I only have a 10mm pistol for myself, but it's in pretty good condition. I took it from Mr. Burke, and fixed it up with the parts from Amata's gun. I did that rather than the other way around because Mr. Burke's gun has a silencer, and I'd be a fool to not take advantage of that. And if it turns out to not be enough, I always have the other grenades.
Given the caps I had afterwards, I brought a few stimpaks to keep me going, and ordered Moira to put a Nuka-Cola machine in my house. I could have gotten a jukebox, but the Pip-Boy is enough for now, and the Nuka-Cola machine certainly brightens up the place. I stole a few bottles of cola out of a vending machine back in Springvale, so I stuck them in there. According to Moira, they should be nice and chill when I ask it to dispense again.
I just had a thought. I'm living in an economy where these people use bottle caps instead of coins or notes like we had in the vault. With all the other strangeness going on, I barely even thought about that. I mean, the two-headed mutant cow thing (that I am informed is actually called a brahmin) barely got a mention in Wednesday's entry for Christ's sake! And now I get an extra bottle cap every time I drink a soda. That's... I don't know what to think about that. I gotta start drinking more Nuka-Cola, I guess.
And speaking of drinking Nuka-Cola, I tried that glowing blue bottle I found in the school the other day, and it made my piss glow. I don't think I'll be trying it again any time soon. Maybe I should just collect them like I do the bobbleheads, and use them as nightlights instead? Or I could get a whole bunch of them and leave them out in the wasteland, arranged to form words. Imagine some raider on the roof of their hideout looking out into the distance one night and seeing a bunch of glowing blue letters on the far away hill spelling out "YOU'RE DEAD". That would scare the piss out of me if I saw that.
Then again, maybe I'm giving these people too much credit by assuming they can read.
Oh look, there's that superiority complex again.
Aside from buying and selling, I've also busied myself listening to the radio today, trying to gather what else I can. President Eden on Enclave radio repeats himself a lot. It's mostly pre-recorded messages talking about the Enclave's values and what they hope to accomplish. It all sounds good, but it's repetitive, and I'm not fond of the music.
Three Dog, on the other hand, has been much more informative. Word has spread about my defusing the Megaton bomb, and he was very congratulatory for it. Apparently I'm a "defender" now. Yippee. Hope dad's listening, though. Maybe he'll hear I'm still in Megaton and come back.
The other reports were also interesting. Grayditch is still quiet, there's a large concentration of raiders around Evergreen Mills, and some weirdos that sound like something out of a pre-war comic book are fighting over in Canterbury Commons. I've also heard that Arefu (where I'm supposed to deliver the West girl's letter) is being harassed by some thugs right now. I should probably get over there tomorrow.
Oh, and I also murdered Moriarty.
Day 5: The Quest for Justice.
Hello journal! Today, I'm writing to you from scenic Tenpenny Tower!
I was torn. I knew shit was going down up north with Arefu, and Evergreen Mills, and I also think this Paradise Falls place that I've heard about a few times now is also in that direction. But equally, Burke was working for someone who came from Tenpenny Tower, and that's south. In the end, town-nuking won out against thugs and people who want to take you alive for slaving, so I decided to head over this way.
My Pip-Boy has a map of the DC area available, which I've never really turned on before now, but it's all pre-war landmarks. Mostly useless to me. I switched to a clear version of the map and have decided to make my own landmarks as I come across them. It can still tell me where I am relative to where I've been, so I can use it to find my way, and I can set a waypoint on it too, so I know where to go. I marked down Vault 101, Springvale, the school, and Megaton on the map, and then set a marker for Tenpenny and started trudging in that direction.
On my way, I came across more mutated wildlife, like giant flying insects spitting radioactive maggots, and an animal which I am going to guess is a molerat from how it matches up to the descriptions people have given me. I was also accosted at one point by a malfunctioning pre-war Protectron. It had lasers, which was bad, but I also now have some energy cells and scrap metal for Walter, which is good.
I passed by the old RobCo facility on my way here. I marked it down on the map; I'm coming back to take a look in there later. My inner scientist is curious about all the technology such a place could house. There was a roving trader just outside too, being followed by a number of robots. I tried to buy a Mister Gutsy I liked the look of from him, but he refused me. Jerk.
Anyway, now I'm in the tower, and it is here I shall be staying for the night. I had to lie to get myself in, but there's this old guy called Dashwood who let me stay with him for the night, because it was late by the time I got to the tower. He seems trustworthy. Intelligent even. I like him already.
Tomorrow, I'll ask around and sort out this nasty town-nuking business.
Day 6: Living in Luxury.
Dashwood's famous, as it turns out. He did some adventuring in his youth with a ghoul called Argyle, and they made a radio play series out of it that's broadcast on GNR. I honestly had no idea. I'm told that Argyle's been lost for years, though. Dashwood asked if I could perhaps find him, if I have time. I've got a billion things to do already, but hey, why not? He's been good to me. So I agreed.
We talked some more, he told me a bit about the tower, and about the thing with the ghouls too. Other residents are bigots. Don't want them in. That Roy Phillips guy is pissed. I think I saw him yesterday when I was trying to get in myself. I'll have to talk to Roy if I see him again.
That's all a side project for now, though. My goal was to find out who ordered Megaton destroyed, and I found my culprit in Mr. Alastair Tenpenny, a chap with a red suit who speaks weird and who owns this tower. I choked him to death and left his body out on the balcony.
Not before taking that suit of his, though! I needed some nice clothes, and that suit was fine. If I'm ever required to attend a formal gathering, I know what I'm wearing!
I think I need to see a psychologist.
Day 7: Adventuring East.
Left the tower today. Managed to get out without anyone suspecting anything. If I had left immediately after murdering Tenpenny, the guard would have probably gone in and found him dead, and I'd have been found out immediately. So instead, I stayed the night in Tenpenny's suite. When the guard came knocking to check on the old man, I answered the door half-naked and told him not to disturb us again. I let his mind fill in the blanks, and I was given no further trouble.
I snuck out early in the morning after tossing the body off the tower. A quick retrieval at ground level, chucked it over the fence, went out the front way, gave some more water to a beggar I didn't even notice before, and then I took the corpse and ran as far east as I could.
I eventually found a cave to stash the body, which as you'd guess, was full of raiders. Also, giant mutant black bears. It was worth it, though. Totally worth it. You wouldn't believe the haul I got from this trip.
One raider had a missile launcher, and ammo for it! I found a miniature nuclear bomb, meant to be fired from a shoulder-mounted weapon! I got another of the glowing Nuka-Cola bottles, which the label calls the "Quantum." And then there's the literature I found! Another Chinese Army manual on infiltration and espionage, but more importantly, a new Grognak comic! I haven't seen a new issue of Grognak since I was a kid! We only had the same several issues circulating the vault! I can start a library with these and the other books when I get back to Megaton!
Best of all, though, I found schematics for a way to turn those glowing bottles of cola into a high-powered grenade. And this thing looks fucking dangerous too. I don't even know if I trust my throwing arm to get it far enough away from me!
Well, I left Tenpenny there and marked the cliffside cavern on my map in case I needed a cave for whatever reason in future. Continued east. Passed an overlook drive-in full of those pre-war nuclear-powered cars. Raiders too. Shot one of the cars, and they all exploded and killed everyone. Stripped the bodies, marked the drive-in, moved on.
And that's when I arrived at my current location, Andale, whose residents I all killed because they turned out to be inbred cannibals who'd capture people in either a shed or a basement, kill them, and harvest their flesh. I let two kids live, and they're going to be raised by their... grandpa, I think. He claims to have reformed from cannibalism. How true that is, I don't know, but he tried to warn me when I first arrived, so I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.
I'm staying the night in the house of one of the families I killed. I've also taken the liberty of emptying their fridges of all that human meat. To dispose of it, of course.
Honestly, I'm not still carrying it or anything.
Really.
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DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Hey everybody! If you know me on this site, you probably know me for my Wormfics, in particular The Kaiser's New Clothes, but before I ever wrote for Worm, I primarily wrote MLP and Fallout. Given how KNC was so warmly received on Spacebattles, I figured I may as well port my old Fallout fics to SB/SV as well, since most of them are also dark comedies which strike a similar tone, and it's something to do while I continue to plug away at chapter seven of KNC.
The author's notes are also being ported from the AO3 version (as they contain a lot of commentary from me), so just to clarify for the SB/SV upload: I will be uploading chapters here semi-regularly for the next few days, but the completed story is already available on both AO3, FF.net, and the Google Docs index if you want to read ahead. But if you're just reading along as I post here, then by all means, tell me if you liked it! If there's interest, I'll post the rest of my Fallout fic here as well, and maybe even update a few of them.
The author's notes are also being ported from the AO3 version (as they contain a lot of commentary from me), so just to clarify for the SB/SV upload: I will be uploading chapters here semi-regularly for the next few days, but the completed story is already available on both AO3, FF.net, and the Google Docs index if you want to read ahead. But if you're just reading along as I post here, then by all means, tell me if you liked it! If there's interest, I'll post the rest of my Fallout fic here as well, and maybe even update a few of them.
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- Location
- The Internet?
Thank you for sharing the story here. I haven't read it elsewhere, but I enjoyed this first chapter.
buffalo raider just makes sense.
a machine gun, scrap metal, ho ho ho.
Oh God, it's where he keeps his... poetry.
Self-defense, you're just in shock.
Okay... let's revisit that earlier theory.
Who is 'her?' We know it's Amata, but it might be misinterpreted as Butch's mom based on her being the last woman mentioned before this. Replace it with 'Amata,' and if you wanted, you could swap the next Amata, at the top of the next sentence with 'She,' but really, having her name twice is probably fine.
"This 'outside' room's huge. I can't even see the ceiling!" I'm glad he doesn't feel like he's going to fall off the world with all that sky up there.
Owed him... money? Favors? I recall it's caps, but this could be an opportunity for our Dweller to introduce caps, even as just a brief aside.
That's just survival instinct, when you don't know what remains of civilization, using every part of the
Hey, at least you've hit the 'return' key a few times. I'd hardly call it a 'wall.' Thank you for that, by the way. Always appreciated.
Water bears? Tardigrades? Oh wait, this guy was raised in an alt!50s era that never quite ended. Ooof.
Hey, you haven't done it because nobody's paying you to do it. Oh wait, you turned down that quest line. Good for you.
Always nice to have a wise-cracking sidekick. Too bad his switch is toggled to 'butler' and not 'murder-bot.'
Man, James can beat feet when he gets it in his mind to do so.
"Go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint and wait for all this to blow over..."
It did, in fact, become a trend.
Of course not. It wouldn't be the will of Atom if they were to set the bomb off. All things come to those who wait in due time.
Well hey, that means two crazy people helping each other out. You can use her as a barometer for how nuts you are.
Well yeah, of course you took it when they weren't looking. These are people from the wasteland, they're the sort willing to fight to the death over a swiped pencil or bottle of dirty water. Same as those Nords. You're a saint because you didn't force them to let you kill them in self-defense like they would have if they saw you steal the smallest thing.
This is like an inverse list of 'arson, murder, and jaywalking,' and I am here for it.
You can probably play catch with Harden, it'll be okay, sport.
Do ya mean 'chilled?' I mean, I suppose it's good if the bottles are relaxed. Having such stiff necks can't be good for their health.
It's like my lush of a fictional Uncle always said, 'you've gotta drink money to make money.' God bless his made-up, dearly departed soul.
And since it would glow, that would just make it easier for the waiting sniper to take the shot. A real dicey situation, indeed.
I feel like this requires more elaboration.
Now I have
You probably need to see a cleaner first. I hear people void their bowels when they pass, and Alistair was old as dirt anyhow, plus I know I'd probably mess my britches if someone was killing me... just saying.
Well, you are what you eat, so... I'm glad grandpa ate some... good people? No, that's not right, goodness.
He is fulfilling his destiny, becoming the Pack Rat that the world needs him to be.
Week Two
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Wanderer's Diary: Week Two
Day 8: Urge to Kill, Rising...
Today I had an epiphany: I don't care about all the people I've killed because I really like doing it. It's not because they were jerks or deserved it. Not that they didn't. It's just that I like to kill people, and I want to start doing more of it.
I mean, think about it; I came out of the vault after just getting my first taste of blood, and killing God knows how many of my fellow vault dwellers, and I discovered Silver. She told me about Moriarty, and my first instinct was to find him and put a bullet in his head. But then she told me about the raiders, so I put a whole bunch of bullets in a whole bunch of people instead. And when I got to the relatively violence-free Megaton, I shot a man the first day I was there, killed another with a grenade the following day, and when the third day came and I was out of villainous enough people to off, I went after Moriarty with my brand new silenced pistol and put him down too. Then it was off to kill Tenpenny.
My whole life now has started to revolve around finding someone to kill. I only kill bad people because it gives me the excuse. The Capital Wasteland isn't like pre-war America or the vault; there are no laws out here. If you can claim self defence, that'll pretty much be the end of anyone's complaints. No-one cared even slightly when Burke died. And if I can't claim self defence, I can call it Wasteland Justice™ and that'll be just as valid an excuse.
The old world had a term for people like me. Serial killer. But after the apocalypse, most people are serial killers. However, those same people are also raiders, and hated. Me, though? I can just decide to kill douchebags, and everyone will love me. Ha! Stupid trusting jerks.
Anyway, so how did I come to have this epiphany?
Well, it all started when I was heading north towards Megaton. After the town of the cannibals, I wanted to get some rest and prepare myself for my next journey. While doing so, though, I came across a massive military complex, Fort Independence, home to the main contingent of the Brotherhood Outcasts that President Eden was warning me about.
My first instinct was to shoot them on sight. Then I looked at their armour, and realised that my pistol probably wouldn't do much to them. So I tried to approach peacefully. There was a raider attack, and they took them out as they came. I talked with a few. And this is the point where I nearly shot them anyway, because then these power armoured pricks were acting high and mighty because they were supposedly smart and educated and I was supposedly an ignorant tribal local. This one bitch had the nerve to act surprised when I caught that she was making a Moby Dick reference.
Hey, fuck you too, Outcasts! I came from a vault! You're dirty wastelanders just like the rest of these people as far as I'm concerned!
Well, they tried to set up a deal with me, where I'd exchange technology like energy weapons, power armour, sensor modules, etc. for my choice of payment, which could be ammo, medical supplies, stuff like that. Their leader, Protector Casdin, was more amiable than the rest, but I still didn't like him. I didn't like his attitude, I didn't like his face. So I was going to shoot him. And then I remembered my present company. And that's when I ran off westwards into the ruins of the nearby town to get away.
And then Hell descended.
Raiders everywhere. They were in the streets, they were in alleys, they were in buildings, they hid behind things... I couldn't keep track of all of them. Some just had pistols and other standard weapons, but one had a sawed-off shotgun, and at least one other had a missile launcher! Just like the raiders at the cave! Are missile launchers really standard issue for raiders?
I fought them, but I wasn't doing so well. I used up all my grenades battling them, ran out and collected their guns when it was safe because my own weren't up to the challenge, and kept trying to put off using either one of the two missile launchers I was now lugging around.
Then came salvation, in the form of Sam Warrick, who's a raider, and a crack shot with his sniper rifle. Thing is, he's a raider who hates other raiders, so he was stealing my kills. Well, that or saving my life. I thought of it as stealing my kills, though.
All I know is, the raiders soon went down. And I saw this guy, and my first thought was:
Ah! A challenge!
Out came the pistol, and then we were both going at it in the streets of Fairfax. Oh, it was so good! There was blood all over, and that look in his eyes when I made the fatal shot! I came running out from my cover, charged him, and stole his sniper rifle out of his hands! He looked up at me sadly, treating his own death all serious-like, and I was just dancing around and giggling like a maniac.
And then, I realised I didn't want to kill the Outcasts anymore. My urges were satisfied. I'd taken my share of lives for the day, and I was richer for it. So now I lay here, by a campfire, in one of the more intact buildings of the Fairfax ruins, creating an inventory of all the stuff I'd taken from the raiders as I write these journals.
Gonna start with breaking down the missile launchers and combining the best parts of both into one. I'm going to need the Fairfax raiders' full arsenal for tomorrow.
Because tomorrow, I assault Fort Independence.
Day 9: Cast Out Again. FROM LIFE.
Well, that's the end of the Brotherhood Outcasts.
They made a valiant effort, but I had a missile launcher, and once the guy with the minigun went down, I also had a minigun. After that, Protector Casdin barely stood a chance. Carrying both the heavy weapons was a bitch to do, but with personal armament like that, their armour was no longer a problem. And the best part was that I kept coming across more ammo as I went through their base.
It's really quite pathetic that these trained killers in power armour, who think they're so much better than the rest of the people in the wasteland, all couldn't stop one guy wearing a vault jumpsuit with a shoulder pad.
Well, after the total emasculation of the Brotherhood Outcasts was complete, I started picking out my prizes. Miniguns and missile launchers galore, and ammunition for all of them. One of the launchers was modified by the Outcasts to be more damaging and to fire in a weird way. Nothing that VATS can't properly direct, though. That's always a help when I can't make a shot by myself.
I also got a bunch of laser and plasma weapons, pistols and rifles alike, cells for all of them, plus cells for a kind of weapon I haven't even seen yet, a device that turns the user invisible(!), and all this damn power armour all over the place too. I wish I knew how to use power armour. I could be invincible if I wore this.
Then again, I took down the Outcasts all by myself. I may not even need it.
Still, though, this is valuable stuff. I've spent most of the day collecting up damaged power armour, stripping it down, and mashing the parts together again to make less damaged power armour. I've thrown the corpses into the basement, and tomorrow I am going to make a long journey back to Megaton, carrying with me multiple suits' worth of power armour components and heavy weapons, and a load of scrap metal for Walter, too.
It'll be tough, but hey, this is what will make me rich. I am so getting a jukebox when I get home!
Day 10: AUGH YEAH FOKES.
This is the Lone Wanderer, as titled by Three Dog, writing to you from my bachelor pad here in sunny Megaton, Virginia. Is this technically Virginia? Is there even a Virginia anymore?
Fuck it.
This place is looking swanky now. It was a long journey, but I was right about it being worth it. Power armour parts are real valuable, even without the frames, and despite the relative lack of people trained to wear it. It sold for a lot once I found a buyer, and by the time I found people to sell my excess of energy weapons to, I was swimming in caps.
Moira's done this place up good. I got a workbench to construct those grenades I found schematics for, I got a lab to brew up chems that also contains a supply of Fixer and Addictol like Doc Church uses, I got an infirmary to patch myself up, the jukebox I had my eye on (tuned to Galaxy News Radio, of course), and Moira's even done a whole redecoration of the house's style, to make it look like the vault.
Home sweet home.
I started that library, too. All the books I collected from the cave and the school are on my shelf now, as are all my new issues of Grognak, including one I forgot to mention earlier that I found in Andale. Actually I picked up a lot of stuff I didn't mention. There was a book about flamethrowers used by the US Army I found in Fairfax. Between Fairfax and Andale I found a book about a jerky vendor. And I picked up another pair of Quantum bottles too, one of which was actually in Fort Independence.
I find myself appreciating the reading on a whole new level since Independence. It's like that bitch who didn't expect me to have read Moby Dick was there in my head, subconsciously making me read more into the works. I could have been a book critic if I were born before the war. I do love this new issue, though. It reminds me of a time when I only murdered people in my fantasies, and my dad wasn't gallivanting around the wastes, likely getting himself killed by mutant bears.
The bears are called yao guai, by the way. At least that's what I'm told. And the insect thingies are bloatflies. While on the subject of mutant wildlife, I also came across some giant ants fighting some giant scorpions on my travels. The giant scorpions are called radscorpions. Like radroaches, except for scorpions. And yet the giant ants are just called giant ants. Weird.
What's left of my haul after the last adventure has all been gathered up, sorted, and put in its place. Tenpenny's suit will be right at home next to the spare vault jumpsuits and security armour, and I've surprisingly enough found that the other locker has enough space for me to keep both the minigun and the special missile launcher in there, with plenty of space left over.
By the way, the Outcasts named it Miss Launcher. Fuckheads.
I'd like to carry them with me on my adventures, but sadly it just isn't practical. I've already decided I'm going to keep the other stuff with me. That's a laser pistol, laser rifle, plasma pistol, plasma rifle, sniper rifle, sawed-off shotgun, silenced pistol, frag grenades, combat knife I took from Sam, and a pair of brass knuckles some raider had if all else fails.
That by itself is more than one man should ever need. I am not carrying around weapons meant to be used against buildings and tanks as well. I have enough. If I come across a target large enough to warrant that kind of firepower, then it's something I need to go back to Megaton and take a few days to plan the demise of anyway. I certainly don't plan to be making another Independence-style raid any time soon.
Do you even know how hard it is to strap all these weapons to myself?
Also been looking at those grenade schematics. I need to be on the lookout for Abraxo cleaner and turpentine. Tin cans I already have plenty of. Also on my shopping list is a conductor, fire hose nozzle, leaf blower, and a vacuum cleaner, because both Moira and the caravan guy I sold some of the power armour parts to were coincidentally selling the same schematics for a thing called the Rock-It Launcher.
Again, fuckheads.
They're both slightly different versions, though. I don't know whose idea the initial design was, but by putting them together, I think I can make a design that combines the best of both, if I get the parts. I think Moira sells what I need, but I can't be bothered to walk up to the shop again now. It's late, and the day's been busy enough.
Though I did find time to check in on the old saloon again while I was here. Nova and Gob are running the place together since Moriarty's death. Everyone seems a lot happier. And thus, my actions are justified.
Day 11: Trying New Techniques.
11:35.
Gave Walter the scrap metal I had after cleaning out Fort Independence before I left today. I no longer needed the caps because there's nothing else in town I want to buy, so I just gave it away. Helps boost my rep. He was ecstatic. I think Megaton's all set with regards to scrap metal for a while now. Moira also asked me to see about doing the mines portion of the research now. Since I'm heading in that general direction, I need to stop by Minefield, navigate my way through the town, and bring her back a landmine from there.
Anyway, today I've decided to head northwards and deal with the problems in that direction. I really do want to get back to tracking Dad, but these people are helpless without me, and I really feel like killing something today. I went all of yesterday without so much as shooting one of the vultures ominously circling the town.
I'm writing this just before I leave, because I want to keep track of everything. The Pip-Boy, in addition to this journal, contains a list of everything I need to do, and I like to keep it updated. I frequently forget to update until the end of the day, though, because every day out here is usually full of explosions, angry mutant animals, and people trying to run away from me who I want to kill. I haven't left out any important details yet, but I fear I might if I continue at this pace. So I'll cut this off here, and update periodically throughout the day.
14:47.
Fuck this place.
I was an idiot. The pre-war version of my map said that there was a place called the Jury Street Metro Station a little ways west of Megaton. It's also directly south of where Arefu is supposed to be. I figured, rather than go in a straight line that way, I'd head to this place to see what's here first. So what did I find?
Well, first I found raiders. They are now dead.
Then I found a radio signal that led me to a hidden underground bunker. There were raiders there. They are now dead. I also found a science book.
Then I went into the actual metro tunnels. I found a raider. Or a guy posing as one. Called Ryan Briggs. He is now dead. And good thing too, because this idiot was mixing glue into his food and thinking it was a good idea. People like that need to be put down, for their own good. Also added another book to the collection, this time Dean's Electronics. I love it when I find these things. Nothing beats a good book.
But that does not excuse the Fates for what they did to me next.
I decided to search the stores. Hank's Electrical Supply first, which contained nothing of note, except a scoped revolver I took out of a safe I broke open. Oh, and RAIDERS.
WHO ARE NOW DEAD. ARE YOU SEEING THE PATTERN YET?
Finally, Gold Ribbon. And that's where it all really went to shit. The inside of the place was booby trapped. Things exploded in my face and there was a bear trap and... it just wasn't pleasant, okay? I took everything I found, and there were things to be found there. More intact books! One on energy weapons, and another on locks, which could help me with my lockpicking a bit. It's been a good day for my library, but not much else. There were missiles here, though, which is always welcome. And another of those miniature nuclear bombs. If I can ever find whatever fires these, I'll be a happy man.
Then I stepped outside, and these assholes calling themselves Talon Company surrounded me. I have fucking mercenaries hunting me down. Someone paid these people to kill me.
Fuck. This. Place.
Oh, and the Talon mercenaries are now dead.
16:02.
Can you believe my luck? Diary, I found a fucking VAULT!
Seriously! I'm standing in the cave, looking at the open door to Vault 106 right now. I haven't dared step over the threshold yet, because I want to give vault security a chance to arrive. If 101's front door suddenly swung open one day when it wasn't supposed to, we'd probably be on high alert. I don't want anyone thinking this is an invasion.
It looks dark inside. I'm guessing there's not usually much call for the lights to be on in the vault entrance area. Lord knows they weren't constantly on in 101. Still though, this is exciting as all hell. I'm going to meet vault dwellers from another vault! This is huge! I will be an ambassador from both the wastes, and from a neighbouring vault! I will greet these people as they emerge, blinking in the sunlight.
This is a chance. A chance to put right what I did wrong back home. I'll show these new vault dwellers. I'll make Dad proud of me.
16:19.
It's been over a quarter of an hour, and no welcome party. I'm concerned.
Maybe they're waiting for me?
I should go inside.
23:36.
NEVER AGAIN.
Day 12: A Pale Imitation.
That vault was poison.
The scumfucks who ran it released a psychoactive drug into the vault through the vent system. Most of the residents went insane and killed each other. Some were immune, but as far as I can tell, none of them made it. They all just slowly went crazy and died. I found notes all over the place, by people worried about the state of things who hadn't gone insane yet, people slowly going insane, or already gone, even just people holding out against the insane ones.
To make it worse, it seems like a bunch of wastelanders, or raiders, or a combination of both maybe, got into the vault and were affected. There were a bunch of psychos that kept coming at me out of nowhere as I explored the place. At first I thought they were survivors of the event that killed everyone else, because they were wearing vault jumpsuits too. Taking a look, though, none of them wore Pip-Boys, which I did find on a few corpses, and they had wasteland weapons. Combat knives and swords particularly. Chinese swords. I took one to check it. Definitely Chinese. There was wasteland-standard leather and metal armour in the lockers too.
I figure they got into the vault, took to wearing the jumpsuits because they were cleaner than the usual wasteland apparel, put away their armour and got comfortable, stayed too long, and the drugs in the air got to them. Good thing that they're slow acting enough that I was out before I went mad too. Though I did have some hallucinations in there. I... don't really want to talk about them. Just know that they were unpleasant.
I wish I could have found a way to shut down the vents that were dispensing the hallucinogens and stayed the night in the vault. Decayed and ruined though it may have been, it still reminded me of home, in a way that my vault-imitating shack back in Megaton cannot truly achieve.
It wasn't all bad, though. I still managed to collect some interesting things there. More Nikola Tesla and tumbler books for the collection, another mini-nuke to slow me down until I find something to fire it with, and best of all, I found a new bobblehead. This one was extolling the virtues of science. I can appreciate that.
I consider myself a scientist, in a way. I used to be the Pip-Boy programmer back in 101. It was my own choice. I was originally slated by the GOAT to be a clinical test subject, which basically meant being experimented on by Dad. I was all for working with Dad in the clinic, but I wanted to be like Jonas, assisting in the actual doctor work, because that's what Dad trained me for. No such luck, though. My medical experience was rendered useless, so I put my computer programming skills to work instead. I was always something of an intellectual. Surprised I find myself outclassing most of the actual experienced fighters out here in the wastes. I really wasn't a fighter, outside of occasional scraps with Butch when he picked on Amata. Maybe I'm just lucky?
Who cares. Point is, Vault 106 is fucked, and I couldn't stay there. I killed everyone in the vault, looted what I could, and searched for an explanation of why my vision was going blue and I was seeing apparitions. Once I had done all that, I ran outside and headed east.
I stopped by the ruins of a pre-war bed and breakfast place, or at least that's what my Pip-Boy map called it, and what I marked it as. It was inhabited by raiders at the time. I killed them. One had a rather nice assault rifle, which I am now carrying along with me. I have too many weapons, and not enough reason to use most of them. The laser weapons for example are just less effective versions of the plasma ones. I think I'll sell most of these when I return to Megaton. Good thing I've since taken to carrying a backpack with me.
Well, I was hoping to find an intact building to sleep in, but it was half destroyed and exposed to the elements, and it could have started raining radioactive water down on me at any time, so I begrudgingly went back to Vault 106 and slept in the cave entrance just by the side of the wooden door. I didn't fall asleep until maybe four in the morning because that vault disturbed me so much.
That was all yesterday. Today I woke up at two in the afternoon, and intended to continue my journey to Arefu. And I did. After I returned to the bed and breakfast and found some new raiders there fighting a Brotherhood Outcast patrol, that is. One of the raiders had a flamethrower, and the Outcasts were followed by a robot. I wish I could have taken it all, plus that power armour, but I was already weighed down with too much crap, so I left it there, sadly.
I'm in Arefu right now. I eventually reached the place, and found that they were having problems with a local gang that have been harassing them, just as advertised. I found dead brahmin on my way in, and a fellow named Evan King nearly killed me as well, mistaking me for one of the members of this so-called "Family." He explained the situation and asked me to go check on the other residents, as he didn't have the time to.
One of them was a bit crazy. Most were just annoyed. But the West family, who I was supposed to deliver the letter to? Dead. Or at least the parents are. One guy called Ian is still missing, apparently Lucy West's brother. He may have been taken by the Family. I inspected the corpses while I was in the home, and found bite marks on the neck, though with no significant blood loss, strangely. No idea what bit them, though. Logical deduction is that the Family either have dogs, or have some sick motherfuckers in their gang. I lean towards the latter, because dogs wouldn't explain the lack of blood loss. I'll ask them when I come across them next.
Tonight, though, I'm staying in Arefu. I need a day to recover after the vault, and it was already late afternoon when I arrived anyway. Also, my sleeping pattern has been thrown off, and old Evan King can't watch the runway up to the village twenty-four seven, so in a few hours, I'll take over watch duties for him, and he can get some sleep. In exchange, I get to stay in the West house for now, which is where I currently am, and when he returns to his shift, I'll sleep in here for a while. He's agreed to wake me at midday, and then I'll set out to hunt down the Family for him. If I don't find them, I'll return here tomorrow afternoon, and we'll repeat the process ad nauseam until I find these guys.
I'm filling in this journal as I wait for my shift. After this I'm going to go through all the books I've collected since Jury Street Metro for the rest of my wait. That'll kill some time.
As a final note, I've decided not to do the thing where I fill this in as the day goes by, like I tried yesterday. It padded out my entry unnecessarily, and I don't like writing these. And, because I had already filled it in throughout the day, I didn't feel the need to add in the adventure in the vault when I did the last part yesterday, which just forced me to write it all down today. So no. None of that. I'll stick to my usual "this is how my day went" formula from now on.
Day 13: Nothin' Like a Good Slaughter.
Ohh... I am feeling so much better now. That vault really put me through a wringer. Now, though, I'm feeling like my old self again. All it took was a little bit of killing to set me right.
I stayed up until Evan's shift was over and did as I said I would. No activity to speak of, but I passed the time by updating my maps and marking the locations I've been to recently, as well as reorganising my Pip-Boy's files in general. It's funny, really. I never used this thing all that much in the vault, in spite of my job, but out here in the wastes, it's been a real life-saver.
Anyway, Evan came back, and I slept well for a little while. When he woke me, I threw all my extra stuff on the bed, saving myself carrying all that dead weight this time, set four markers on my map, and went out to find the Family.
First was a baseball field. Fordham Flash Memorial. I have to admit, I got a little emotional there. Brings back old memories, you know? I miss baseball. I was never any good at it, but... well, whatever. It was pretty apparent that the Family weren't there, so I checked the Moonbeam Outdoor Cinema. They were also not there either, though I did find a book called Pugilism Illustrated on a picnic table there, which I am finding to be a good read. It's about boxing.
Then I found a cave/bunker place built into the side of a small cliff nearby. Evan called it Hamilton's Hideaway. No Family, but there was a group of raiders, a Nuka-Cola Quantum, another Duck and Cover! copy (I'm thinking maybe I might be able to sell duplicates of books I've already read), and some cherry bombs that I'm certain I'll find some use for later. Also a locked door, which proved irritatingly resistant to my attempts to pick it. I'll be back for you later, door.
And finally, I came to Northwest Seneca Station. It was inhabited when I got there, by a pair of ghouls called Murphy and Barrett. Murphy's cooking up a new drug called ultrajet, which is jet, except ultra. One of the additional ingredients needed is Sugar Bombs, and he's offered to pay me caps to bring him some. The stupid prick for some reason didn't want to try scavenging in the old grocery store just above the station, where I immediately found multiple boxes to sell to him.
I found Talon mercenaries waiting for me on the steps too, granted, but I like to think of them more as free ammo dispensers rather than a threat. They're not hard to kill. And I needed some more Talon armour pieces to fix the damage done to my own by some white crab-like abomination that crawled out of the nearby river earlier that day. Did I mention that I've taken to wearing Talon armour now? Pretty sure I did. The stuff's good. Far more protective than metal or leather, and certainly better than the vault jumpsuit I've been wearing until now.
Anyway, a quick trip through an irradiated cave later, and I was in a metro tunnel again. The Family set traps to kill me, but I got through them. Disarmed the mines, and now I have a supply of mines. Disarmed the rigged shotguns, now I have a combat shotgun. Really, it was just giving me more things to kill them with.
Side note: While I have the mines already, I think I'll head over towards Minefield anyway. There might be other things there worth my time.
I met their guard, and he let me into the main station where the Family are based. I didn't immediately open hostilities, because I wanted to find out where Ian West was being kept. After asking around, I soon found their leader, Vance. Guy was a charismatic sort, but smug and pretentious as all fuck. Kept acting high and mighty with me for judging him, even after he revealed that the Family were cannibals (explaining the state of Ian's parents, I guess). I heard him out, though, because when a man has a badass coat like that and a flaming sword, you let him speak. It's just courtesy.
I let him make his case. He made his excuses about how the Family are just poor and misunderstood, and cannibalism really isn't so bad, and blah, blah, blah. He seemed to have forgotten that the reason I was there was because his gang were terrorising a small village, not because I'm trying to round up all the cannibals in the wasteland and gas them. Not that I wouldn't do that if I had the time and resources, but still.
Well, a slaughter soon followed. The firesword is mine, that damn fine coat is mine, and most of the things in this station that once belonged to the Family before I killed them all, are mine.
I found Ian West too, and let him out of his confinement. I explained the situation to him, but he seemed upset with me. Turns out he killed his parents and tried to eat them. Vance's people were "reforming" him. The Family's shtick is that while they are technically cannibals, they prefer to think of themselves as vampires. They have a bunch of rules and stuff, primarily that they only drink blood. No eating actual flesh, though, because that would be weird.
Whatever. I gave him his letter and sent him back to Arefu. I can dispense Wasteland Justice™ on him later if I can convince myself he deserves it. Honestly, though, I think he really couldn't help it.
Right now, I've got to finish claiming the spoils of my victory here, and find a way to get it all back to Arefu where the rest of my stuff is. But other than that, I've solved everything. I delivered my letter, I saved Ian, and I killed the Family. Arefu's finally safe. I can't wait to see the look on Evan King's face when I give him the good news.
Day 14: Wasteland Justice™
Arefu is gone. I wiped it out.
Fuck Evan King, and fuck all the rest of these dirty, mutated, cannibal-loving wasteland ingrates.
Day 8: Urge to Kill, Rising...
Today I had an epiphany: I don't care about all the people I've killed because I really like doing it. It's not because they were jerks or deserved it. Not that they didn't. It's just that I like to kill people, and I want to start doing more of it.
I mean, think about it; I came out of the vault after just getting my first taste of blood, and killing God knows how many of my fellow vault dwellers, and I discovered Silver. She told me about Moriarty, and my first instinct was to find him and put a bullet in his head. But then she told me about the raiders, so I put a whole bunch of bullets in a whole bunch of people instead. And when I got to the relatively violence-free Megaton, I shot a man the first day I was there, killed another with a grenade the following day, and when the third day came and I was out of villainous enough people to off, I went after Moriarty with my brand new silenced pistol and put him down too. Then it was off to kill Tenpenny.
My whole life now has started to revolve around finding someone to kill. I only kill bad people because it gives me the excuse. The Capital Wasteland isn't like pre-war America or the vault; there are no laws out here. If you can claim self defence, that'll pretty much be the end of anyone's complaints. No-one cared even slightly when Burke died. And if I can't claim self defence, I can call it Wasteland Justice™ and that'll be just as valid an excuse.
The old world had a term for people like me. Serial killer. But after the apocalypse, most people are serial killers. However, those same people are also raiders, and hated. Me, though? I can just decide to kill douchebags, and everyone will love me. Ha! Stupid trusting jerks.
Anyway, so how did I come to have this epiphany?
Well, it all started when I was heading north towards Megaton. After the town of the cannibals, I wanted to get some rest and prepare myself for my next journey. While doing so, though, I came across a massive military complex, Fort Independence, home to the main contingent of the Brotherhood Outcasts that President Eden was warning me about.
My first instinct was to shoot them on sight. Then I looked at their armour, and realised that my pistol probably wouldn't do much to them. So I tried to approach peacefully. There was a raider attack, and they took them out as they came. I talked with a few. And this is the point where I nearly shot them anyway, because then these power armoured pricks were acting high and mighty because they were supposedly smart and educated and I was supposedly an ignorant tribal local. This one bitch had the nerve to act surprised when I caught that she was making a Moby Dick reference.
Hey, fuck you too, Outcasts! I came from a vault! You're dirty wastelanders just like the rest of these people as far as I'm concerned!
Well, they tried to set up a deal with me, where I'd exchange technology like energy weapons, power armour, sensor modules, etc. for my choice of payment, which could be ammo, medical supplies, stuff like that. Their leader, Protector Casdin, was more amiable than the rest, but I still didn't like him. I didn't like his attitude, I didn't like his face. So I was going to shoot him. And then I remembered my present company. And that's when I ran off westwards into the ruins of the nearby town to get away.
And then Hell descended.
Raiders everywhere. They were in the streets, they were in alleys, they were in buildings, they hid behind things... I couldn't keep track of all of them. Some just had pistols and other standard weapons, but one had a sawed-off shotgun, and at least one other had a missile launcher! Just like the raiders at the cave! Are missile launchers really standard issue for raiders?
I fought them, but I wasn't doing so well. I used up all my grenades battling them, ran out and collected their guns when it was safe because my own weren't up to the challenge, and kept trying to put off using either one of the two missile launchers I was now lugging around.
Then came salvation, in the form of Sam Warrick, who's a raider, and a crack shot with his sniper rifle. Thing is, he's a raider who hates other raiders, so he was stealing my kills. Well, that or saving my life. I thought of it as stealing my kills, though.
All I know is, the raiders soon went down. And I saw this guy, and my first thought was:
Ah! A challenge!
Out came the pistol, and then we were both going at it in the streets of Fairfax. Oh, it was so good! There was blood all over, and that look in his eyes when I made the fatal shot! I came running out from my cover, charged him, and stole his sniper rifle out of his hands! He looked up at me sadly, treating his own death all serious-like, and I was just dancing around and giggling like a maniac.
And then, I realised I didn't want to kill the Outcasts anymore. My urges were satisfied. I'd taken my share of lives for the day, and I was richer for it. So now I lay here, by a campfire, in one of the more intact buildings of the Fairfax ruins, creating an inventory of all the stuff I'd taken from the raiders as I write these journals.
Gonna start with breaking down the missile launchers and combining the best parts of both into one. I'm going to need the Fairfax raiders' full arsenal for tomorrow.
Because tomorrow, I assault Fort Independence.
Day 9: Cast Out Again. FROM LIFE.
Well, that's the end of the Brotherhood Outcasts.
They made a valiant effort, but I had a missile launcher, and once the guy with the minigun went down, I also had a minigun. After that, Protector Casdin barely stood a chance. Carrying both the heavy weapons was a bitch to do, but with personal armament like that, their armour was no longer a problem. And the best part was that I kept coming across more ammo as I went through their base.
It's really quite pathetic that these trained killers in power armour, who think they're so much better than the rest of the people in the wasteland, all couldn't stop one guy wearing a vault jumpsuit with a shoulder pad.
Well, after the total emasculation of the Brotherhood Outcasts was complete, I started picking out my prizes. Miniguns and missile launchers galore, and ammunition for all of them. One of the launchers was modified by the Outcasts to be more damaging and to fire in a weird way. Nothing that VATS can't properly direct, though. That's always a help when I can't make a shot by myself.
I also got a bunch of laser and plasma weapons, pistols and rifles alike, cells for all of them, plus cells for a kind of weapon I haven't even seen yet, a device that turns the user invisible(!), and all this damn power armour all over the place too. I wish I knew how to use power armour. I could be invincible if I wore this.
Then again, I took down the Outcasts all by myself. I may not even need it.
Still, though, this is valuable stuff. I've spent most of the day collecting up damaged power armour, stripping it down, and mashing the parts together again to make less damaged power armour. I've thrown the corpses into the basement, and tomorrow I am going to make a long journey back to Megaton, carrying with me multiple suits' worth of power armour components and heavy weapons, and a load of scrap metal for Walter, too.
It'll be tough, but hey, this is what will make me rich. I am so getting a jukebox when I get home!
Day 10: AUGH YEAH FOKES.
This is the Lone Wanderer, as titled by Three Dog, writing to you from my bachelor pad here in sunny Megaton, Virginia. Is this technically Virginia? Is there even a Virginia anymore?
Fuck it.
This place is looking swanky now. It was a long journey, but I was right about it being worth it. Power armour parts are real valuable, even without the frames, and despite the relative lack of people trained to wear it. It sold for a lot once I found a buyer, and by the time I found people to sell my excess of energy weapons to, I was swimming in caps.
Moira's done this place up good. I got a workbench to construct those grenades I found schematics for, I got a lab to brew up chems that also contains a supply of Fixer and Addictol like Doc Church uses, I got an infirmary to patch myself up, the jukebox I had my eye on (tuned to Galaxy News Radio, of course), and Moira's even done a whole redecoration of the house's style, to make it look like the vault.
Home sweet home.
I started that library, too. All the books I collected from the cave and the school are on my shelf now, as are all my new issues of Grognak, including one I forgot to mention earlier that I found in Andale. Actually I picked up a lot of stuff I didn't mention. There was a book about flamethrowers used by the US Army I found in Fairfax. Between Fairfax and Andale I found a book about a jerky vendor. And I picked up another pair of Quantum bottles too, one of which was actually in Fort Independence.
I find myself appreciating the reading on a whole new level since Independence. It's like that bitch who didn't expect me to have read Moby Dick was there in my head, subconsciously making me read more into the works. I could have been a book critic if I were born before the war. I do love this new issue, though. It reminds me of a time when I only murdered people in my fantasies, and my dad wasn't gallivanting around the wastes, likely getting himself killed by mutant bears.
The bears are called yao guai, by the way. At least that's what I'm told. And the insect thingies are bloatflies. While on the subject of mutant wildlife, I also came across some giant ants fighting some giant scorpions on my travels. The giant scorpions are called radscorpions. Like radroaches, except for scorpions. And yet the giant ants are just called giant ants. Weird.
What's left of my haul after the last adventure has all been gathered up, sorted, and put in its place. Tenpenny's suit will be right at home next to the spare vault jumpsuits and security armour, and I've surprisingly enough found that the other locker has enough space for me to keep both the minigun and the special missile launcher in there, with plenty of space left over.
By the way, the Outcasts named it Miss Launcher. Fuckheads.
I'd like to carry them with me on my adventures, but sadly it just isn't practical. I've already decided I'm going to keep the other stuff with me. That's a laser pistol, laser rifle, plasma pistol, plasma rifle, sniper rifle, sawed-off shotgun, silenced pistol, frag grenades, combat knife I took from Sam, and a pair of brass knuckles some raider had if all else fails.
That by itself is more than one man should ever need. I am not carrying around weapons meant to be used against buildings and tanks as well. I have enough. If I come across a target large enough to warrant that kind of firepower, then it's something I need to go back to Megaton and take a few days to plan the demise of anyway. I certainly don't plan to be making another Independence-style raid any time soon.
Do you even know how hard it is to strap all these weapons to myself?
Also been looking at those grenade schematics. I need to be on the lookout for Abraxo cleaner and turpentine. Tin cans I already have plenty of. Also on my shopping list is a conductor, fire hose nozzle, leaf blower, and a vacuum cleaner, because both Moira and the caravan guy I sold some of the power armour parts to were coincidentally selling the same schematics for a thing called the Rock-It Launcher.
Again, fuckheads.
They're both slightly different versions, though. I don't know whose idea the initial design was, but by putting them together, I think I can make a design that combines the best of both, if I get the parts. I think Moira sells what I need, but I can't be bothered to walk up to the shop again now. It's late, and the day's been busy enough.
Though I did find time to check in on the old saloon again while I was here. Nova and Gob are running the place together since Moriarty's death. Everyone seems a lot happier. And thus, my actions are justified.
Day 11: Trying New Techniques.
11:35.
Gave Walter the scrap metal I had after cleaning out Fort Independence before I left today. I no longer needed the caps because there's nothing else in town I want to buy, so I just gave it away. Helps boost my rep. He was ecstatic. I think Megaton's all set with regards to scrap metal for a while now. Moira also asked me to see about doing the mines portion of the research now. Since I'm heading in that general direction, I need to stop by Minefield, navigate my way through the town, and bring her back a landmine from there.
Anyway, today I've decided to head northwards and deal with the problems in that direction. I really do want to get back to tracking Dad, but these people are helpless without me, and I really feel like killing something today. I went all of yesterday without so much as shooting one of the vultures ominously circling the town.
I'm writing this just before I leave, because I want to keep track of everything. The Pip-Boy, in addition to this journal, contains a list of everything I need to do, and I like to keep it updated. I frequently forget to update until the end of the day, though, because every day out here is usually full of explosions, angry mutant animals, and people trying to run away from me who I want to kill. I haven't left out any important details yet, but I fear I might if I continue at this pace. So I'll cut this off here, and update periodically throughout the day.
14:47.
Fuck this place.
I was an idiot. The pre-war version of my map said that there was a place called the Jury Street Metro Station a little ways west of Megaton. It's also directly south of where Arefu is supposed to be. I figured, rather than go in a straight line that way, I'd head to this place to see what's here first. So what did I find?
Well, first I found raiders. They are now dead.
Then I found a radio signal that led me to a hidden underground bunker. There were raiders there. They are now dead. I also found a science book.
Then I went into the actual metro tunnels. I found a raider. Or a guy posing as one. Called Ryan Briggs. He is now dead. And good thing too, because this idiot was mixing glue into his food and thinking it was a good idea. People like that need to be put down, for their own good. Also added another book to the collection, this time Dean's Electronics. I love it when I find these things. Nothing beats a good book.
But that does not excuse the Fates for what they did to me next.
I decided to search the stores. Hank's Electrical Supply first, which contained nothing of note, except a scoped revolver I took out of a safe I broke open. Oh, and RAIDERS.
WHO ARE NOW DEAD. ARE YOU SEEING THE PATTERN YET?
Finally, Gold Ribbon. And that's where it all really went to shit. The inside of the place was booby trapped. Things exploded in my face and there was a bear trap and... it just wasn't pleasant, okay? I took everything I found, and there were things to be found there. More intact books! One on energy weapons, and another on locks, which could help me with my lockpicking a bit. It's been a good day for my library, but not much else. There were missiles here, though, which is always welcome. And another of those miniature nuclear bombs. If I can ever find whatever fires these, I'll be a happy man.
Then I stepped outside, and these assholes calling themselves Talon Company surrounded me. I have fucking mercenaries hunting me down. Someone paid these people to kill me.
Fuck. This. Place.
Oh, and the Talon mercenaries are now dead.
16:02.
Can you believe my luck? Diary, I found a fucking VAULT!
Seriously! I'm standing in the cave, looking at the open door to Vault 106 right now. I haven't dared step over the threshold yet, because I want to give vault security a chance to arrive. If 101's front door suddenly swung open one day when it wasn't supposed to, we'd probably be on high alert. I don't want anyone thinking this is an invasion.
It looks dark inside. I'm guessing there's not usually much call for the lights to be on in the vault entrance area. Lord knows they weren't constantly on in 101. Still though, this is exciting as all hell. I'm going to meet vault dwellers from another vault! This is huge! I will be an ambassador from both the wastes, and from a neighbouring vault! I will greet these people as they emerge, blinking in the sunlight.
This is a chance. A chance to put right what I did wrong back home. I'll show these new vault dwellers. I'll make Dad proud of me.
16:19.
It's been over a quarter of an hour, and no welcome party. I'm concerned.
Maybe they're waiting for me?
I should go inside.
23:36.
NEVER AGAIN.
Day 12: A Pale Imitation.
That vault was poison.
The scumfucks who ran it released a psychoactive drug into the vault through the vent system. Most of the residents went insane and killed each other. Some were immune, but as far as I can tell, none of them made it. They all just slowly went crazy and died. I found notes all over the place, by people worried about the state of things who hadn't gone insane yet, people slowly going insane, or already gone, even just people holding out against the insane ones.
To make it worse, it seems like a bunch of wastelanders, or raiders, or a combination of both maybe, got into the vault and were affected. There were a bunch of psychos that kept coming at me out of nowhere as I explored the place. At first I thought they were survivors of the event that killed everyone else, because they were wearing vault jumpsuits too. Taking a look, though, none of them wore Pip-Boys, which I did find on a few corpses, and they had wasteland weapons. Combat knives and swords particularly. Chinese swords. I took one to check it. Definitely Chinese. There was wasteland-standard leather and metal armour in the lockers too.
I figure they got into the vault, took to wearing the jumpsuits because they were cleaner than the usual wasteland apparel, put away their armour and got comfortable, stayed too long, and the drugs in the air got to them. Good thing that they're slow acting enough that I was out before I went mad too. Though I did have some hallucinations in there. I... don't really want to talk about them. Just know that they were unpleasant.
I wish I could have found a way to shut down the vents that were dispensing the hallucinogens and stayed the night in the vault. Decayed and ruined though it may have been, it still reminded me of home, in a way that my vault-imitating shack back in Megaton cannot truly achieve.
It wasn't all bad, though. I still managed to collect some interesting things there. More Nikola Tesla and tumbler books for the collection, another mini-nuke to slow me down until I find something to fire it with, and best of all, I found a new bobblehead. This one was extolling the virtues of science. I can appreciate that.
I consider myself a scientist, in a way. I used to be the Pip-Boy programmer back in 101. It was my own choice. I was originally slated by the GOAT to be a clinical test subject, which basically meant being experimented on by Dad. I was all for working with Dad in the clinic, but I wanted to be like Jonas, assisting in the actual doctor work, because that's what Dad trained me for. No such luck, though. My medical experience was rendered useless, so I put my computer programming skills to work instead. I was always something of an intellectual. Surprised I find myself outclassing most of the actual experienced fighters out here in the wastes. I really wasn't a fighter, outside of occasional scraps with Butch when he picked on Amata. Maybe I'm just lucky?
Who cares. Point is, Vault 106 is fucked, and I couldn't stay there. I killed everyone in the vault, looted what I could, and searched for an explanation of why my vision was going blue and I was seeing apparitions. Once I had done all that, I ran outside and headed east.
I stopped by the ruins of a pre-war bed and breakfast place, or at least that's what my Pip-Boy map called it, and what I marked it as. It was inhabited by raiders at the time. I killed them. One had a rather nice assault rifle, which I am now carrying along with me. I have too many weapons, and not enough reason to use most of them. The laser weapons for example are just less effective versions of the plasma ones. I think I'll sell most of these when I return to Megaton. Good thing I've since taken to carrying a backpack with me.
Well, I was hoping to find an intact building to sleep in, but it was half destroyed and exposed to the elements, and it could have started raining radioactive water down on me at any time, so I begrudgingly went back to Vault 106 and slept in the cave entrance just by the side of the wooden door. I didn't fall asleep until maybe four in the morning because that vault disturbed me so much.
That was all yesterday. Today I woke up at two in the afternoon, and intended to continue my journey to Arefu. And I did. After I returned to the bed and breakfast and found some new raiders there fighting a Brotherhood Outcast patrol, that is. One of the raiders had a flamethrower, and the Outcasts were followed by a robot. I wish I could have taken it all, plus that power armour, but I was already weighed down with too much crap, so I left it there, sadly.
I'm in Arefu right now. I eventually reached the place, and found that they were having problems with a local gang that have been harassing them, just as advertised. I found dead brahmin on my way in, and a fellow named Evan King nearly killed me as well, mistaking me for one of the members of this so-called "Family." He explained the situation and asked me to go check on the other residents, as he didn't have the time to.
One of them was a bit crazy. Most were just annoyed. But the West family, who I was supposed to deliver the letter to? Dead. Or at least the parents are. One guy called Ian is still missing, apparently Lucy West's brother. He may have been taken by the Family. I inspected the corpses while I was in the home, and found bite marks on the neck, though with no significant blood loss, strangely. No idea what bit them, though. Logical deduction is that the Family either have dogs, or have some sick motherfuckers in their gang. I lean towards the latter, because dogs wouldn't explain the lack of blood loss. I'll ask them when I come across them next.
Tonight, though, I'm staying in Arefu. I need a day to recover after the vault, and it was already late afternoon when I arrived anyway. Also, my sleeping pattern has been thrown off, and old Evan King can't watch the runway up to the village twenty-four seven, so in a few hours, I'll take over watch duties for him, and he can get some sleep. In exchange, I get to stay in the West house for now, which is where I currently am, and when he returns to his shift, I'll sleep in here for a while. He's agreed to wake me at midday, and then I'll set out to hunt down the Family for him. If I don't find them, I'll return here tomorrow afternoon, and we'll repeat the process ad nauseam until I find these guys.
I'm filling in this journal as I wait for my shift. After this I'm going to go through all the books I've collected since Jury Street Metro for the rest of my wait. That'll kill some time.
As a final note, I've decided not to do the thing where I fill this in as the day goes by, like I tried yesterday. It padded out my entry unnecessarily, and I don't like writing these. And, because I had already filled it in throughout the day, I didn't feel the need to add in the adventure in the vault when I did the last part yesterday, which just forced me to write it all down today. So no. None of that. I'll stick to my usual "this is how my day went" formula from now on.
Day 13: Nothin' Like a Good Slaughter.
Ohh... I am feeling so much better now. That vault really put me through a wringer. Now, though, I'm feeling like my old self again. All it took was a little bit of killing to set me right.
I stayed up until Evan's shift was over and did as I said I would. No activity to speak of, but I passed the time by updating my maps and marking the locations I've been to recently, as well as reorganising my Pip-Boy's files in general. It's funny, really. I never used this thing all that much in the vault, in spite of my job, but out here in the wastes, it's been a real life-saver.
Anyway, Evan came back, and I slept well for a little while. When he woke me, I threw all my extra stuff on the bed, saving myself carrying all that dead weight this time, set four markers on my map, and went out to find the Family.
First was a baseball field. Fordham Flash Memorial. I have to admit, I got a little emotional there. Brings back old memories, you know? I miss baseball. I was never any good at it, but... well, whatever. It was pretty apparent that the Family weren't there, so I checked the Moonbeam Outdoor Cinema. They were also not there either, though I did find a book called Pugilism Illustrated on a picnic table there, which I am finding to be a good read. It's about boxing.
Then I found a cave/bunker place built into the side of a small cliff nearby. Evan called it Hamilton's Hideaway. No Family, but there was a group of raiders, a Nuka-Cola Quantum, another Duck and Cover! copy (I'm thinking maybe I might be able to sell duplicates of books I've already read), and some cherry bombs that I'm certain I'll find some use for later. Also a locked door, which proved irritatingly resistant to my attempts to pick it. I'll be back for you later, door.
And finally, I came to Northwest Seneca Station. It was inhabited when I got there, by a pair of ghouls called Murphy and Barrett. Murphy's cooking up a new drug called ultrajet, which is jet, except ultra. One of the additional ingredients needed is Sugar Bombs, and he's offered to pay me caps to bring him some. The stupid prick for some reason didn't want to try scavenging in the old grocery store just above the station, where I immediately found multiple boxes to sell to him.
I found Talon mercenaries waiting for me on the steps too, granted, but I like to think of them more as free ammo dispensers rather than a threat. They're not hard to kill. And I needed some more Talon armour pieces to fix the damage done to my own by some white crab-like abomination that crawled out of the nearby river earlier that day. Did I mention that I've taken to wearing Talon armour now? Pretty sure I did. The stuff's good. Far more protective than metal or leather, and certainly better than the vault jumpsuit I've been wearing until now.
Anyway, a quick trip through an irradiated cave later, and I was in a metro tunnel again. The Family set traps to kill me, but I got through them. Disarmed the mines, and now I have a supply of mines. Disarmed the rigged shotguns, now I have a combat shotgun. Really, it was just giving me more things to kill them with.
Side note: While I have the mines already, I think I'll head over towards Minefield anyway. There might be other things there worth my time.
I met their guard, and he let me into the main station where the Family are based. I didn't immediately open hostilities, because I wanted to find out where Ian West was being kept. After asking around, I soon found their leader, Vance. Guy was a charismatic sort, but smug and pretentious as all fuck. Kept acting high and mighty with me for judging him, even after he revealed that the Family were cannibals (explaining the state of Ian's parents, I guess). I heard him out, though, because when a man has a badass coat like that and a flaming sword, you let him speak. It's just courtesy.
I let him make his case. He made his excuses about how the Family are just poor and misunderstood, and cannibalism really isn't so bad, and blah, blah, blah. He seemed to have forgotten that the reason I was there was because his gang were terrorising a small village, not because I'm trying to round up all the cannibals in the wasteland and gas them. Not that I wouldn't do that if I had the time and resources, but still.
Well, a slaughter soon followed. The firesword is mine, that damn fine coat is mine, and most of the things in this station that once belonged to the Family before I killed them all, are mine.
I found Ian West too, and let him out of his confinement. I explained the situation to him, but he seemed upset with me. Turns out he killed his parents and tried to eat them. Vance's people were "reforming" him. The Family's shtick is that while they are technically cannibals, they prefer to think of themselves as vampires. They have a bunch of rules and stuff, primarily that they only drink blood. No eating actual flesh, though, because that would be weird.
Whatever. I gave him his letter and sent him back to Arefu. I can dispense Wasteland Justice™ on him later if I can convince myself he deserves it. Honestly, though, I think he really couldn't help it.
Right now, I've got to finish claiming the spoils of my victory here, and find a way to get it all back to Arefu where the rest of my stuff is. But other than that, I've solved everything. I delivered my letter, I saved Ian, and I killed the Family. Arefu's finally safe. I can't wait to see the look on Evan King's face when I give him the good news.
Day 14: Wasteland Justice™
Arefu is gone. I wiped it out.
Fuck Evan King, and fuck all the rest of these dirty, mutated, cannibal-loving wasteland ingrates.
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
And thank you for the commentary! Been a while since I had comments like this on this fic. It is a balm for my aching soul.
Ach. You might have a point. I really hoped I was done revising this thing after twelve years, but I'll make some corrections soon. One downside of cross-posting on so many sites is that it means more versions to edit whenever anything needs fixing...
Thank you.
Occasionally I do intentionally have the Wanderer forget to mention or elaborate on some things until later, as a character moment, or to add verisimilitude to the diary aspect of the story (and also, when I was originally writing this story, sometimes it gave me a narrative excuse to mention things later that I genuinely did forget about in earlier chapters). The bottle caps are one example of that.
Your mileage may vary on whether it works, but it's part of the story's identity now, and there's a limit to how much I'm willing to revise an already completed story, so this one I'm gonna leave as-is.
I chalk this more up to me still being in college when I wrote this, and it being the early 2010s. It was on the borderline for content that I considered removing in the 2021 rewrite, but I decided to keep it on the grounds that the word is still used pretty casually by at least some characters in the games even as recently as Fallout 4, so I think it still fits the setting.
Give it time...
Again, give it time...
In the sense of a chill wind? IDK, maybe this is just a Britishism on my part.
I'm going to headcanon that this is the reason that the Wanderer never actually wears Tenpenny's suit again after this.
- Location
- The Internet?
Yay, consistent and engaging updates! I'll get around to KNC eventually. It's on the list.
"Kill, kill, kill!"
"Putting that down as... spikes. Gel 'em hard enough and you just might get your wish! And lastly, do you want a teddy bear or baby doll as the creepy item for someone to find on your person if they kill you? You strike me as a big ol' teddy bear type. Oh, and they just finished installing your dismembered torso chained to a mattress in your quarters, so you're all set!"
Fort Independence Day?
But seriously, poor fella.
So you're saying he likes it, he loves it, he wants some more of it?
And on the seventh day, you rested?
Well, you could try to find your dad, too.
"Man, I would commit murder for some Sugar Bombs. Oh, different kind of cereal, got it."
You have so much in common, you're both great at looking down your noses at other people! Really, you should get along!
Are you sure you're actually DannyJ, and that your Wanderer isn't being played by
"Alright, one missile launcher, 5 missiles. 1 set of metal bikini top for girls, mesh and bandolier for boys... would you prefer a mohawk or a set of spikes?"
"Kill, kill, kill!"
"Putting that down as... spikes. Gel 'em hard enough and you just might get your wish! And lastly, do you want a teddy bear or baby doll as the creepy item for someone to find on your person if they kill you? You strike me as a big ol' teddy bear type. Oh, and they just finished installing your dismembered torso chained to a mattress in your quarters, so you're all set!"
Will the Outcasts go gentle in that good night, or are they going to fight on? Are they going to survive? Will tomorrow be their
I mean, it's one hell of a shoulder pad? Have you seen that thing? Iconic.
'Yearning for learning,' I hope he collected all those ruined books and what-not to give 'em to Yearling. And I hope his antipathy towards the Outcasts doesn't extend to the rest of those Brotherhood goons.
It's because those ants aren't rad enough.
Nobody tell him about the Deathclaws! Let it be a fun surprise.
Hey, they're not fuckheads, they're fun! Therefore they're a bunch of chuckle fucks.
Ex post facto is a wonderful phrase.
Yay! Free armor!
Aww, it wasn't as fun, then?
A bunch of crazy people, you ought to be right at home?
But seriously, poor fella.
So he's just jamming points into Intelligence and Luck, right? Maybe Perception, too?
Work smarter, not harder. So much time wasted spent trudging back and forth from the bottom of a subway or dungeon in Skyrim, Vegas, or DC because I was overloaded. Chucking everything into a corpse and carrying a body part actually worked like a charm, most of the time. Just gotta remember to pluck everything from it before you change locations, just in case.
Yay! He's come around.
Hooray, he saved 1 person? Killed however many to do it, though? Does Ian get to live with his sister in Megaton? Hopefully the Wanderer didn't decide enough was enough and kill the kid, too.
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Thanks. Hope you like that one too. Though be aware, if the one instance here bothered you, KNC goes a lot harder on the slurs, owing to it being a story about neo-Nazis.
Nonsense. A ridiculous suggestion. Who ever does the main quest first in a Bethesda game?
You would think, wouldn't you?
Are you sure you're actually DannyJ, and that your Wanderer isn't being played by
Close, but this Wanderer I think lacks DeVito's raw sexual magnetism.
This is probably exactly how it goes at Evergreen Mills. Why are there so many raider gangs in the Capital Wasteland, and why are they all the same? Obviously it's because they're franchising. Daniel Littlehorn pays them a certain amount to wear the spikes and hang up the human torsos.
I think it's only the pre-war books she collects, not the burned or ruined ones. AFAIK those had no use in F3 except as vendor trash or rock-it launcher ammunition. Old World Blues had a machine that recycles them into skill books, though.
I did track the stats behind the scenes while writing, and I think in game terms I had him at INT 9 until collecting the bobblehead. His Perception and Luck were meant to still be pretty low by the end of Week Two, but obviously, that can change quickly in F3.
Yeah, pretty much what I would do, whenever I could.
Oh no. I've got bad news for you...
Week Three
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Wanderer's Diary: Week Three
Day 15: Taking Stock
Went back and recovered the Brotherhood Outcast power armour pieces, energy weapons, and raiders' weapons, including flamer. Caravans stopped by Arefu. As in multiple of them. Explained the situation. We did business. I sold:
Not counting the stuff I would go on to sell to the caravans, I looted the following from Arefu and Maresti, where the Family were based:
And from the merchants, I purchased all the crap I need to build that rock-it launcher and the Nuka-grenades, which I will get right on as soon as I can bring myself to care.
For now, though, I really don't. My apathy is all-consuming. I'm going to stay in this ruined town for the rest of the day, and tomorrow, if I can work up enough of a fuck to give, I guess I'll journey out to see about completing some of the rest of my tasks. Maybe Minefield next. I sold all the mines today because I'm going to inevitably pick up more when I get there anyway.
At least Moira appreciates my work.
No. I'm not bitter. I'm not even going to think about Arefu.
Day 16: Ugly, Dumb, Mutant Scum
Okay, fine! You want to know what happened with Arefu?! I'll tell you!
I don't know what exactly happened, but I can take a wild fucking guess and say that this is that fucking cannibal Ian West's fault. The way I see it, he must have ran right back to Arefu after I rescued him, and told them all that Vance was the second coming of Jesus Christ, because he's such a fucking saint that when he eats people, he restricts himself to just sucking the blood out their necks. No doubt he praised the Family to high heaven and made me out to be the bad guy for wiping out the cannibal gang, and being stupid wastelanders, they believed this asshole immediately, and didn't think twice about shooting at me on sight when I returned to give them the news, never mind asking for my side of the story.
As far as I'm concerned, that lying motherfucker is responsible for Arefu's destruction, not me. What was I supposed to do? Shrug off the gunfire? There was no cover to hide behind on an open highway, I couldn't go anywhere other than jumping over the side of the bridge to my death, and one of those shots could have hit me in an unarmoured spot if I let them shoot at me long enough! I had to fight back. And by fighting back, Arefu got killed.
And Ian West IS a liar. He couldn't have told them anything resembling the truth if what he told them got them to throw explosives down the highway and shoot at me. And I knew that. That's why when I had finished walking through the rest of the town's residents, and I found Ian cowering in his house at the end, I didn't just kill him. I smeared him over the front of it and left a big red stain.
I digress, though. That's all in the past now. This is the present, and in the present, I have bigger problems than pissed off humans to deal with. Remember I wrote in this journal a few weeks ago about all the things that President Eden warned me about on Enclave Radio? Well, I came across another of them today.
Today, I met a super mutant.
Actually, that's wrong. The way I wrote that sentence implies I only met one of them. I met a whole fucking gang of them. After Arefu had turned out so bad, I headed north back to Seneca and began walking east in hopes of finding Minefield, and hopefully Canterbury Commons too, because I've been meaning to check that place out. On my way, I passed through a place called Hallowed Moors Cemetery, which was home to a whole group of these big ugly green bastards.
One of them had a minigun, a few others had hunting rifles, and the rest tried to beat me to death with whatever they had found. Things got worse when a malfunctioning pre-war Robobrain and some tentacle-faced abomination also entered the fray. I wanted to cower in the ruins of the old church and just wait for either the robot or the super mutants to die, but Minigun Mutant followed me inside, where they were also keeping a captive wastelander.
I couldn't risk the potential harm to the captive, so then I did something really dumb, and ran out into the open, just as the others had finished with the Robobrain. At least that machine had managed to kill Fuckface before the muties rushed me.
I swear, I have never taken a more painful beating in all my life. Growing up, I always thought Butch could throw a damn hard punch, but now I realise what a complete and utter pussy he really is. Firstly, because this green monstrosity, who managed to get within beating range just after I had dropped the last of his friends, almost knocked me out cold with a single punch. And secondly, because I hit the mutant back, and I PUNCHED HIS FUCKING HEAD OFF.
I'm not even kidding! His head literally separated from his shoulders and went flying back behind him. I didn't even realise I did it, until I punched again and hit the still standing corpse in the shoulder and separated his arm as well! I have never seen such a brutal dismemberment in all my life! And I did that! Accidentally! With my fists! I must have been mutated by the radiation to become super strong or something. It's this wasteland air. It's making me superhuman. I bet if I gave Butch a pat on the shoulders now, I'd liquidise him.
Nevertheless, the captive was very grateful for my help, and got away clear. The church also had some interesting items. A mini nuke and another copy of the Big Book of Science were among the more mundane findings. My two favourite finds there were actually an issue of the DC Journal of Internal Medicine (which is about what you'd expect it to be, and which I am very happy to have found), and a holotape recording by a woman named Tina.
This thing is old. Pre-war. But it still plays. Turns out that this woman's brother was a soldier in the US Army, and he stole a pass code for a secure military bunker where they were going to ride out the apocalypse, because they couldn't get into a vault. Her number was five.
I wonder if they ever made it? It's sad to think, in a way. All the people that died. I never really thought about it before. The fact that we're living in a world destroyed long ago was just one of those facts of life I accepted and never really thought about. Hearing a voice from before the war, though... gets me thinking.
You know, they say that ghouls are the way they are because of radiation. They're apparently really long lived because of it too. Most ghouls are probably like the way they are because they were around when the bombs dropped. I wonder if Gob the bartender was there when the world died? If I ever see him again, I'm going to ask. I want to know his story.
Well, I got a decent hunting rifle out of it too, and another minigun. So there's also that. I was worried I wouldn't be able to carry all my stuff, but I've got a pretty strong back now after two weeks out here. I can handle it.
After that, I needed a doctor, so I wandered around for a bit until I eventually stumbled across Big Town, which is where I am now. They've got super mutants attacking them from one side, slavers from another, their town doctor has been captured and taken up to some place called Germantown, and they also had a severely injured man here too, a fellow called Timebomb. I may not be able to do anything about my own injuries, thanks to a lack of stimpaks, but I did have all the equipment on hand to perform an impromptu operation on Timebomb. Dad's lessons weren't wasted after all. I saved a man's life. Feels good.
The kidnapped doctor also had another Internal Medicine in her clinic, which I stole. Feels good too.
From now on, if any books I've found are just copies of something I've read before, I'm just going to skim it quickly to see if there are any real differences in quality or content, like pages missing from one version that weren't from another, and just sell off the inferior copies. Red's DC Journal here has a whole chapter that the one I found in the church didn't have, and the Big Book of Science from that same church has an index that was absent from the Jury Street Metro version.
Anyway, this town looks like it's going to go to shit pretty fast unless I do something. After Arefu, I'm really wary of going off to fight bad guys and rescue people, but I want to at least give them a chance to not be dicks to me. So, we're going to try the Arefu formula again; I marked Big Town and the cemetery on my map so I know where I'm starting from, set a waypoint for Germantown, and I've stored my equipment away in the clinic, which is where I'm staying for the night, and tomorrow I'm going to head over there to rescue this Red person and see if I can end the threat of the super mutants.
BUT.
I swear to GOD, if I find that Red is a super mutant, and I return to Big Town after rescuing her to find a bunch of fucknuggets shooting at me because she told them that the minigun-wielding hulks who attack people on sight were really just shy, and that I murdered them because I'm the antichrist, I'm going right over to Evergreen Mills, picking a fight with the raider leader, taking over their gang, and using them to bring down a rain of fucking destruction on this entire wasteland.
I am talking scorched earth and rivers of blood. I will personally kill every tenth wasteland scumbag I ever meet and use their teeth and rib cages to construct a fifty-storey tower dedicated to my greatness, so I can lord over the rest of these primitives, and throw these mini nukes I keep finding down on the general populace from on high.
Then I'm going to use my raider gang to dig out a cavern underneath my tooth-and-rib-cage tower, and build my own vault, entirely out of my victims' skulls, and I will seal myself inside it and just live in there by myself, alone, forever. Because no-one else in this hellhole has the required IQ to be allowed entry into my skull vault.
And maybe one day, an enterprising wasteland hero can breach my vault and kill me to rescue one of the many people I will inevitably kidnap for repair and maintenance materials, and he can take him or her back to their hometown and be shot at by them. And thus, the cycle will continue.
My skull vault will be a haven for the intellectual murderers of the Capital Wasteland for years to come. I will build a LEGACY, son!
Day 17: The Old Man Who Could
Well, things turned out okay, I guess. The super mutants of Germantown are dead. I got Red out of there, along with another guy called Shorty. Both got back to Big Town safe and sound. Neither of them, or the town itself, have tried to kill me. In fact, I helped save the town from further attack by getting some wrecked robots I found there up and running again, and turning them into sentries to protect the bridge in and out of the settlement. Those people love me now. That Timebomb guy gave me his lucky eight ball, which is a nice gesture, even if not particularly useful to me in any practical sense, and Red's offering her medical services to me for free from now on.
Big Town looks like it's going to survive. I didn't have much in the way of stimpaks, so I purchased all her spares off her. Surprisingly, she accepted the minigun and a few other spare weapons as payment. I guess Big Town doesn't have much in the way of firepower. I was happy to offload those at any rate.
And as always, let's talk loot.
By far the prize I'm happiest about is a great monster of weapon known as a Fat Man that I found in the police HQ in Germantown. This thing is what fires those mini nukes I've been finding around the place. Nobody can fuck with me now. This thing will utterly destroy all my enemies. In addition, more copies of the DC Journal of Internal Medicine, Lying, Congressional Style, and Tumblers Today, all good condition I might add, and another Nuka-Cola Quantum for my growing collection. I also picked up a new type of gun, a 10m submachine gun, which should be useful for medium-to-close range encounters. Shotguns are useful for close combat, and I prefer to keep the rifles for longer distance. This thing provides a happy mid-way point.
Still haven't offloaded a lot of my other equipment. I still have that raider's flamer from my encounter outside the bed and breakfast. I want to keep this, though. I keep finding flamer fuel tanks, and with this thing I can start up fires and cook meat just like that. Plus, it's surprisingly easy to fit into the backpack when I break it down.
After that, I returned to my journey. I had marked the police HQ earlier, so I headed back up there, knowing that Minefield was a ways east of it. Came across some wastelanders and some super mutants fighting on the way. Took care of it. Wastelanders were happy. And then I reached Minefield, which I have now discovered why people think is haunted. Because there was a sniper here who kills anyone who enters.
He wasn't just aiming for me, either. This guy was smart. He shot at cars near me, and tried to kill me with the miniature nuclear explosion that would result. To make matters worse, if I dived out of the way of the cars or his gunfire, I was likely to land on a mine. I'm pretty sure he placed all the mines here himself, too. It was all very meticulously planned out. This guy had to be some kind of tactical genius.
I had my own sniper rifle, thanks to my encounter with Warrick, but I didn't know if I could get him. He was too distant, and he knew when I had my sights on him. The Fat Man doesn't have the right range, there were still mines all around, and I could only disarm so many at a time. Plus if I spent too long out in the open, I was liable to get shot.
It took me a good few hours to get over to the ruined building he was in and get up to his position, but I did it. Stabbed him right in the shoulder with Vance's sword, and followed up with a decapitation. Got his name from him before he died. Arkansas. Like the state.
He had a key on him that allowed me entrance into the houses around Minefield, and I'm staying in one right now. Even now, though, I'm still thinking of him. He was a kill I had to earn, not one just given to me. That old man put up a fight. He was a worthy adversary, and I respect him, even in his death. After all, not just anyone can stand up to me.
Because let's face it, I am fucking awesome.
Day 18: Having a Plan
Disarmed all the mines in the town, marked it on my map, and looted the place before I left today. The houses contained a few books. Pugilism Illustrated, Tumblers Today, DC Journal of Internal Medicine, and another Grognak issue. All kind of a disappointment really. All things I'd read before, and not in particularly good condition either. Even the Grognak comic was an issue I've already read.
There were a few other old books, but nothing that interested me. Mostly boring stuff, or mediocre romance novels. A few weapons were around, but nothing new. There were some more stealth boys, though, which was good, because I used up the ones I already had with me yesterday, trying to avoid Arkansas.
After that, I left town. Came across some dogs on my way out, gathering around a corpse. They looked just like they did in our biology textbooks back in the vault. I'm surprised that they're not mutant abominations like the rest of the wildlife. I would have tried to tame one and take it as a pet if they hadn't kept trying to bite my arms off and forced me to shoot them.
Well, after that I looked at my map again, and realised that Canterbury Commons, the place I heard about on GNR, was just east. It was a long walk, but I decided it was for the best, since I don't know when I'm going to be up this way next. Now I'm actually in the town, staying the night in an old garage. There's only one bed here, and two people already living in this place, but I had the caps to convince them to rent me the bed for the night.
I'm not entirely convinced that they won't murder me in my sleep to take the rest of my money, because they saw that I had a lot. Just to be safe, I picked up a tire iron I found in here, and I'm sleeping on top of it. It's just uncomfortable enough that I'll probably be waking up periodically throughout the night, and if worst comes to the worst, I can beat these people to death with it. Because that's my survival strategy – Have a plan to kill everyone you meet. It's the only way to be sure.
Oh yeah, and there were a bunch of freaks in costumes commanding giant ants and robots to fight in the streets earlier, but I don't think that's anything out of the ordinary for the Capital Wasteland.
Day 19: It's a Sunny Day in Metropolis.
RIGHT.
So let's go in chronological order.
Woke up, still feeling tired. Checked that the people I stayed with didn't steal any of my shit. Found that they hadn't. Stole their copy of Dean's Electronics anyway, because I'm sure that in an alternate reality they probably did. Went out and got to know the residents of the town.
Uncle Roe appears to be the leader of this place. He was a pretty good guy. I spoke to him about the town and its history, and he mentioned that the caravan merchants I've been dealing with since Megaton actually circle the whole Capital Wasteland and make their final stop here. He let me know a bit about all of them too.
Then I had an idea, to unify the merchants that stop by Canterbury Commons into one greater company. By providing an investment of caps, they could all get better stock and expand their inventory, allowing greater trade and stimulating the economy of the wasteland. I think I just found a way to help pick this place up a bit. Almost three thousand caps of mine I put into the caravans. I hope they're worth it.
Anyway, by that point I had been ignoring the proverbial elephant in the room long enough, and I asked about the two quote unquote "superheroes" from yesterday. There was a rational explanation for both, talking about childhoods, loss of parents, obsessions with robots... Like a comic book origin story. I will just sum up the deal with both of them right now though, to keep it short and sweet: They're both fucking crazy.
The douche with the bucket on his head is Scott Wollinski. He calls himself the Mechanist after the old Silver Shroud villain, has robot minions to fight for him, used to be the town's mechanic or something, and makes his base in the robot repair centre north of the town. The bitch in the ant costume is Tanya Christoff. She commands an army of ants, somehow, calls herself the AntAgonizer after the Grognak character, and lives in some hole south of the town. I scouted out both the places real quick and marked them both, plus Canterbury Commons itself on my map. I wasn't really sure what to do about either of them, to be honest.
According to the townspeople, the AntAgonizer just by herself was barely a threat when she first appeared alone, and was something of an amusement. Then Scott took it all seriously and started fighting her with robots, and now they think this is getting out of hand. That's why I'm unsure of which moral path to take here. Scott's got good intentions, but he's clearly the bigger threat to the town. Whereas ant bitch is actively trying to destroy these people, but they never had a problem with her until the fights escalated, which wasn't her fault in the first place.
I spent most of the day just hanging around town, trying to decide what to do. Met some of the merchants while I was. That guy who I sold some of the Outcast power armour to and purchased the rock-it launcher schematics from back in Megaton was one of them. Crazy Wolfgang is his name. He thanked me for my investments by giving me some stealth boys. I also reunited with a weapons trader who I've seen around before and sold some stuff to. Lucky Harith. Seems pleasant enough. Gave me another mini nuke for my new Fat Man. He also took the liberty of relieving me of all my spare guns, mines, grenades, and to my surprise, chems too. I wasn't expecting him to buy my chems, but I certainly wasn't complaining. I've found surprisingly little use for them. Especially the Mentats.
Well, after that, I rented out that garage again to stay another night. My temporary landlords weren't happy about it, but they weren't about to turn down the caps. I think they've been sleeping on the floor since I arrived. Hey, I don't care what happens to them. They're wastelanders. They're probably used to this. But I'm a vault dweller. I expect a certain level of comfort, like a bed. I tried sleeping on a cave floor once, and that was the worst night of my life.
I'm still going to hide my stuff somewhere underneath some rubble in town and sleep on top of that tire iron again in case of night murders. They're more pissed off with me than they were before, so it helps to be safe.
God, I'm getting jittery lately. It's been too long since I've killed someone. I keep getting paranoid. That's what this is. I'm probably convincing myself that Dominic and Machete are going to murder me so that I can justify it in my own mind if I decide to murder them myself later on. Well no, brain. It's not going down like that. Even if it is more for practical reasons than anything, I actually do have a moral code which outlaws that kind of behaviour.
Not that that means I'm not keeping the tire iron anyway. I've grown attached to it.
Actually, you know what? Fuck it. Tomorrow, I'm going to just pick a superhero and kill them.
Day 20: Adventures of the Wasteland Wanderer, Issue #3.
I stormed the Mechanist's forge first. Yes, I decided to take down the hero first and deal with the villain later. Bite me.
It was all easily dealt with. There were a lot of robots in there, the most annoyingly persistent being the Sentry Bots, but I happened across a supply of pulse grenades while in there, which are especially made for dealing with robots, and quite effectively ruined them. Sad I used them all up, because those could have been useful to me in future. Unlike the frags (which I've started selling as soon as possible to lighten my load), I have no risk of dying if one of these accidentally goes off. Plus, I do still plan to raid the facility near Tenpenny Tower one day.
I confronted the Mechanist once all his minions were dead. He was a good guy, so I gave him a chance to back down. I talked him out of his stupidity, and he gave me his costume and left. That was easy. I took the copies of Nikola Tesla and Lying, Congressional Style I found in there too. These look to be good quality, though not as good as the versions I already have. Might fetch a nice price, though. Additionally, I happened across a Nuka grenade while here, of exactly the design my schematics were specifying. I took it with me, hoping to test its effectiveness. I want to see how much punch one of these really packs before I try to make my own.
Next, the AntAgonizer. I went back to her lair next, and made my way through the caves. I shot my way through an army of ants and found her at the very end of the place, seeming rather pleased that I had defeated her nemesis for her. She asked me to hand over his stupid-looking armour, but little did she know that I was still carrying my shotgun not because I wanted to lean on it as I got down on one knee to pledge my allegiance to her, but because I was about to remove her head with it.
Damn, her body was a mess afterwards. It was like that super mutant all over again. I just seem to witness the bloodiest deaths.
Anyway, I stripped the armour off the remains of her corpse, sort of as a way to prove I took down both the superheroes. I also picked up another Quantum and another stealth boy in there. I returned to town later with my new trophies to prove my victory. They were very pleased with me, and I made six hundred caps in reward money. Because I really needed more caps. Seriously.
Another merchant also approached me to thank me for investing in his caravan too. This one was a doctor, called Hoff, who gave me some stimpaks. Those are always good.
Well, I did it. I cleansed the world of superheroes and supervillains in a day. Really, I was disappointed to find that both were all theatrics and no fight. Their underlings did all the work really, and the Mechanist was stopped by just talking to him. There was no challenge. Arkansas was a better superhero than either of these two. They really didn't live up to their namesakes.
But then I realised, I still had the armour of both... I had the powers of both... While the AntAgonizer may have been too weak to fight properly, and the Mechanist too easily swayed from his path, I have the strengths of both and none of the weaknesses! So tonight, I put on the helmet of the ant queen and the body armour of the master of machines, equip my flamethrower, and descend from my new lair in the robot repair centre down onto the town.
Tremble, Capital Wasteland! For you are witnessing the rise of the Steel Insect!
Day 21: A Stupid, Foolish Mistake.
Okay, so the wasteland isn't ready for the rise of the Steel Insect just yet, but my day will come.
I say that mainly because I came out the front of the repair centre this morning, and found a bunch of Talon Company mercs politely waiting just outside my door for me. I soon found the Mechanist's armour to be woefully inadequate for stopping gunfire compared to Talon Company's own armour, a mistake that cost me several stimpaks to correct. Though testing has revealed that Talon mercs are still vulnerable to flamethrowers.
Well, after that I went south. I stumbled across two things of note. First of all, a vault, which immediately sent me running screaming when I saw it. Second of all, the Corvega factory. That's a place where they made cars before the war. I went inside in search of adventure and fortune, and was immediately set upon by giant mutant ants. Sadly, dressing like a spastic didn't seem to work for me like it did for Miss Christoff, and I had to kill them all. I now have ant meat to last me for days, and a surprisingly large number of books I found in and around there as well, which I'll get to later. One in particular was hard to get to because it was stuck in a footlocker that, try as I might, I couldn't bust open. Good thing I found a key.
Then I headed southwest towards Megaton, and stumbled across the Chryslus building, which is the headquarters of the company behind Corvega. This place held super mutants instead of ants, and that made me sad. There I found something that made me smile. Guns and Bullets? Could it be? A book that interests me that I don't have thirty extra copies of already because I'm too retarded to sell them while I'm in the town where all the trade caravans congregate? Ooh... I'm saving this for later.
After that, I checked my map again. It turns out I came around in a circle from Big Town, and I was coming to the close of it. I figured, "Hey, I got an idea. Instead of going to Megaton, I should close the circle. I'll go north here and return to Big Town to stay for the night, and in between I'll hit all the pre-war ruins where there might be interesting things."
So I did.
BAM! Hit one: Bethesda. All kinds of crap there, but the thing that makes it all worth it was the bobblehead. Adding another vault boy to the collection. Thank you, random pre-war corporation of unknown function.
BAM! Hit two: A raider outpost just east of Bethesda. Nothing much of note there aside from more ammo and parts to repair my weapons, though I did pick up a combat knife there (off a dead raider) that I've taken a liking to. I don't know why. I just like it. Maybe the handle just feels more comfortable than the last one I had? I call it Stabhappy. I think I'm going to use this.
BAM! Hit three: Wheaton Armoury, where I am now, and where things really went to shit. I fought my way through the raiders inside and out just fine, but then I made the mistake of assuming that I was infallible, because as a vault dweller, very little is able to pose a challenge to me.
Ah, the hubris! Sometimes, I need to be reminded that I am not, in fact, immortal. I know, it's an easy mistake to make. But yes, it's true; I do have weaknesses.
One of those is radiation.
I heard the Pip-Boy warning me, but I needed to plunder the armoury. That was the point of this excursion; to loot things. Still though, I pressed on through the place with a bit of Rad-X and the occasional dose of RadAway. I eventually did reach the armoury itself at the bottom, and I got the door open. I think that that armoury door was the toughest lock to date I ever successfully picked, even if I did use Mentats to do it. The Mentats weren't enough for that footlocker...
Anyway, in there, I found more anti-radiation supplies, which was good, because I sold a lot of my stock due to the fact I didn't seem to use it a lot. I found suits for radiation protection too, and put one on. While I was at it, I began collecting up everything I found. I couldn't help it. It was like being in Fort Independence again. So many missile launchers and miniguns and sniper rifles and ammunition boxes and various other killing equipment. I couldn't leave it all behind. I had to drag it to the surface.
And I did. And now I'm on the top level of the armoury again with all the weapons and ammunition I collected. My problem, though? Well, there are a few problems.
I've gone over a number of scenarios, and the way I see it, I can't carry all this with me and also live. It's one or the other. So, here's my solution: All the weapons of the same make, I'm going to break down. I'll use the parts to build one single weapon in almost pristine condition. That'll probably be less value, but also less weight. Still not light enough to carry, but that's only one part of the plan. I'm also going to keep all my extra equipment here in the armoury, hidden in an out of the way place on this floor where there's not too much radiation. I'll separate it into two piles. Things I want to sell, and things I want to keep.
I need medical help, and I need to move fast. So I'll dump everything here except the lightweight radiation suit, some caps to pay for services, the scoped revolver, the SMG, and Stabhappy. That'll be enough for me to move quickly and still defend myself. Once I'm better off, I can make a few runs between the armoury and Canterbury Commons to sell this stuff a bit at a time, until my load is light enough that I can carry it all in the backpack again.
And this will be a lesson to me to not pick up every little thing I might find interesting, because that shit gets heavy.
I've marked down the major locations I've been to so I can get a clearer idea of where I am and where I've been. Chryslus, Corvega, Bethesda, Vault 108, and Wheaton. I think the closest place is actually Canterbury Commons, but there's no doctor there. Unless Doc Hoff stuck around, but I doubt it. My best hope now is to make a run for Big Town, and hope there are no super mutants in the area.
Well, here goes nothing I guess. Wish me luck.
Day 21, Part Deux: Ouch
Hey, diary? I think I'm dying.
I was going to get to Big Town. I really was. But there was this rocky sort of area in the way. A small chasm with a bunch of boulders on one side, but apparently a path through, because there was a rope bridge up ahead. I was heading for the rope bridge, when I saw that... thing...
"Thing" is the only word for it. It was like Satan fucked a lizard, and I was meeting the baby. Only it was all grown up. It was chasing down this wastelander. Whoever he was, he managed to cripple the thing's leg by the time I arrived, which slowed it down a bit. I tried to save him from it. I shot at it with the revolver, but it was pretty tough, and didn't go down. It gutted him, and then turned on me. And yes, while it was crippled, that thing still moved fast. And I was already in close range. I was backed up against the chasm and shooting at it.
I did kill it, but it got a swipe at me first. It wasn't a deep cut, and my radiation suit cushioned the blow slightly, so that by itself wasn't fatal, but as it happened, the suit was destroyed, and I fell into the chasm. I've broken a leg and both my arms.
Because the suit was torn to ribbons and falling off anyway, I removed it. That left me in just a thin vest and some boxers. I'm bleeding from the stomach, I have broken limbs, I have radiation sickness, I'm laying in the dirt, without my radiation suit to protect me...
And then came the radioactive rain.
Did I? Yes, I did. I just coughed up blood.
Well, it's been a good run. I'm fucked. Guess this proves God is real after all. No doubt this divine punishment for all those murders. I'm sure I read in the Bible once that that's a sin. Pretty big one too. I only wish I could say I was sorry for them.
Maybe when Three Dog gets news of this and tells my story on GNR, Dad will hear it. I did some good. I saved Megaton. I saved Big Town. I saved Canterbury Commons. Maybe he'll hear about those. And maybe he'll be proud of me for them. And maybe he won't judge me too harshly for Arefu. In fact, that's my one real wish. That when I'm gone, people will examine my actions, see all the people I saved, and then ask:
"Why would this upstanding individual slaughter an innocent town then?"
And they will conclude that the people of Arefu were simply dicks.
BECAUSE THEY WERE.
YES. I KNOW IT'S BEEN A WEEK. I'M STILL NOT OVER IT. FUCK YOU IAN WEST. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!
Day 15: Taking Stock
Went back and recovered the Brotherhood Outcast power armour pieces, energy weapons, and raiders' weapons, including flamer. Caravans stopped by Arefu. As in multiple of them. Explained the situation. We did business. I sold:
- The Brotherhood Outcast power armour sets.
- All but one assault rifle.
- Pistols. All my .32s, Chinese, and 10mms, including my silenced one I got from Burke; with the scoped magnum, I have no need for handguns that weak.
- The sawed-off shotgun.
- Laser rifles.
- Laser pistols.
- Plasma pistols.
- All but one plasma rifle.
- All my mines; I have no need for an explosive weapon I can't throw.
- Chinese sword from Vault 106.
- Combat knife from Sam Warrick.
- So much other leftover shit from the Family that I am not even going to bother listing it.
Not counting the stuff I would go on to sell to the caravans, I looted the following from Arefu and Maresti, where the Family were based:
- Vance's coat, because it looks nice. Yes, I pulled the clothes off a dead man because I wanted them. I know I'm shameless. I already did this to a vault security guard back in 101 and to Tenpenny.
- Vance's flaming sword, which he apparently built himself, and a set of blueprints for how to make my own. The technical term for it is "shishkebab."
- A pristine condition regular sword taken from a cabinet in Vance's room, referred to by the cabinet's label as "Vampire's Edge."
- Another mini nuke.
- Another bobblehead for the collection, found in Evan King's house. This one is for repair.
- Three more books for my library. One new one, Lying, Congressional Style, which I have read already and found to be hilarious. Two copies of books I already own, Tumblers Today and Pugilism Illustrated.
And from the merchants, I purchased all the crap I need to build that rock-it launcher and the Nuka-grenades, which I will get right on as soon as I can bring myself to care.
For now, though, I really don't. My apathy is all-consuming. I'm going to stay in this ruined town for the rest of the day, and tomorrow, if I can work up enough of a fuck to give, I guess I'll journey out to see about completing some of the rest of my tasks. Maybe Minefield next. I sold all the mines today because I'm going to inevitably pick up more when I get there anyway.
At least Moira appreciates my work.
No. I'm not bitter. I'm not even going to think about Arefu.
Day 16: Ugly, Dumb, Mutant Scum
Okay, fine! You want to know what happened with Arefu?! I'll tell you!
I don't know what exactly happened, but I can take a wild fucking guess and say that this is that fucking cannibal Ian West's fault. The way I see it, he must have ran right back to Arefu after I rescued him, and told them all that Vance was the second coming of Jesus Christ, because he's such a fucking saint that when he eats people, he restricts himself to just sucking the blood out their necks. No doubt he praised the Family to high heaven and made me out to be the bad guy for wiping out the cannibal gang, and being stupid wastelanders, they believed this asshole immediately, and didn't think twice about shooting at me on sight when I returned to give them the news, never mind asking for my side of the story.
As far as I'm concerned, that lying motherfucker is responsible for Arefu's destruction, not me. What was I supposed to do? Shrug off the gunfire? There was no cover to hide behind on an open highway, I couldn't go anywhere other than jumping over the side of the bridge to my death, and one of those shots could have hit me in an unarmoured spot if I let them shoot at me long enough! I had to fight back. And by fighting back, Arefu got killed.
And Ian West IS a liar. He couldn't have told them anything resembling the truth if what he told them got them to throw explosives down the highway and shoot at me. And I knew that. That's why when I had finished walking through the rest of the town's residents, and I found Ian cowering in his house at the end, I didn't just kill him. I smeared him over the front of it and left a big red stain.
I digress, though. That's all in the past now. This is the present, and in the present, I have bigger problems than pissed off humans to deal with. Remember I wrote in this journal a few weeks ago about all the things that President Eden warned me about on Enclave Radio? Well, I came across another of them today.
Today, I met a super mutant.
Actually, that's wrong. The way I wrote that sentence implies I only met one of them. I met a whole fucking gang of them. After Arefu had turned out so bad, I headed north back to Seneca and began walking east in hopes of finding Minefield, and hopefully Canterbury Commons too, because I've been meaning to check that place out. On my way, I passed through a place called Hallowed Moors Cemetery, which was home to a whole group of these big ugly green bastards.
One of them had a minigun, a few others had hunting rifles, and the rest tried to beat me to death with whatever they had found. Things got worse when a malfunctioning pre-war Robobrain and some tentacle-faced abomination also entered the fray. I wanted to cower in the ruins of the old church and just wait for either the robot or the super mutants to die, but Minigun Mutant followed me inside, where they were also keeping a captive wastelander.
I couldn't risk the potential harm to the captive, so then I did something really dumb, and ran out into the open, just as the others had finished with the Robobrain. At least that machine had managed to kill Fuckface before the muties rushed me.
I swear, I have never taken a more painful beating in all my life. Growing up, I always thought Butch could throw a damn hard punch, but now I realise what a complete and utter pussy he really is. Firstly, because this green monstrosity, who managed to get within beating range just after I had dropped the last of his friends, almost knocked me out cold with a single punch. And secondly, because I hit the mutant back, and I PUNCHED HIS FUCKING HEAD OFF.
I'm not even kidding! His head literally separated from his shoulders and went flying back behind him. I didn't even realise I did it, until I punched again and hit the still standing corpse in the shoulder and separated his arm as well! I have never seen such a brutal dismemberment in all my life! And I did that! Accidentally! With my fists! I must have been mutated by the radiation to become super strong or something. It's this wasteland air. It's making me superhuman. I bet if I gave Butch a pat on the shoulders now, I'd liquidise him.
Nevertheless, the captive was very grateful for my help, and got away clear. The church also had some interesting items. A mini nuke and another copy of the Big Book of Science were among the more mundane findings. My two favourite finds there were actually an issue of the DC Journal of Internal Medicine (which is about what you'd expect it to be, and which I am very happy to have found), and a holotape recording by a woman named Tina.
This thing is old. Pre-war. But it still plays. Turns out that this woman's brother was a soldier in the US Army, and he stole a pass code for a secure military bunker where they were going to ride out the apocalypse, because they couldn't get into a vault. Her number was five.
I wonder if they ever made it? It's sad to think, in a way. All the people that died. I never really thought about it before. The fact that we're living in a world destroyed long ago was just one of those facts of life I accepted and never really thought about. Hearing a voice from before the war, though... gets me thinking.
You know, they say that ghouls are the way they are because of radiation. They're apparently really long lived because of it too. Most ghouls are probably like the way they are because they were around when the bombs dropped. I wonder if Gob the bartender was there when the world died? If I ever see him again, I'm going to ask. I want to know his story.
Well, I got a decent hunting rifle out of it too, and another minigun. So there's also that. I was worried I wouldn't be able to carry all my stuff, but I've got a pretty strong back now after two weeks out here. I can handle it.
After that, I needed a doctor, so I wandered around for a bit until I eventually stumbled across Big Town, which is where I am now. They've got super mutants attacking them from one side, slavers from another, their town doctor has been captured and taken up to some place called Germantown, and they also had a severely injured man here too, a fellow called Timebomb. I may not be able to do anything about my own injuries, thanks to a lack of stimpaks, but I did have all the equipment on hand to perform an impromptu operation on Timebomb. Dad's lessons weren't wasted after all. I saved a man's life. Feels good.
The kidnapped doctor also had another Internal Medicine in her clinic, which I stole. Feels good too.
From now on, if any books I've found are just copies of something I've read before, I'm just going to skim it quickly to see if there are any real differences in quality or content, like pages missing from one version that weren't from another, and just sell off the inferior copies. Red's DC Journal here has a whole chapter that the one I found in the church didn't have, and the Big Book of Science from that same church has an index that was absent from the Jury Street Metro version.
Anyway, this town looks like it's going to go to shit pretty fast unless I do something. After Arefu, I'm really wary of going off to fight bad guys and rescue people, but I want to at least give them a chance to not be dicks to me. So, we're going to try the Arefu formula again; I marked Big Town and the cemetery on my map so I know where I'm starting from, set a waypoint for Germantown, and I've stored my equipment away in the clinic, which is where I'm staying for the night, and tomorrow I'm going to head over there to rescue this Red person and see if I can end the threat of the super mutants.
BUT.
I swear to GOD, if I find that Red is a super mutant, and I return to Big Town after rescuing her to find a bunch of fucknuggets shooting at me because she told them that the minigun-wielding hulks who attack people on sight were really just shy, and that I murdered them because I'm the antichrist, I'm going right over to Evergreen Mills, picking a fight with the raider leader, taking over their gang, and using them to bring down a rain of fucking destruction on this entire wasteland.
I am talking scorched earth and rivers of blood. I will personally kill every tenth wasteland scumbag I ever meet and use their teeth and rib cages to construct a fifty-storey tower dedicated to my greatness, so I can lord over the rest of these primitives, and throw these mini nukes I keep finding down on the general populace from on high.
Then I'm going to use my raider gang to dig out a cavern underneath my tooth-and-rib-cage tower, and build my own vault, entirely out of my victims' skulls, and I will seal myself inside it and just live in there by myself, alone, forever. Because no-one else in this hellhole has the required IQ to be allowed entry into my skull vault.
And maybe one day, an enterprising wasteland hero can breach my vault and kill me to rescue one of the many people I will inevitably kidnap for repair and maintenance materials, and he can take him or her back to their hometown and be shot at by them. And thus, the cycle will continue.
My skull vault will be a haven for the intellectual murderers of the Capital Wasteland for years to come. I will build a LEGACY, son!
Day 17: The Old Man Who Could
Well, things turned out okay, I guess. The super mutants of Germantown are dead. I got Red out of there, along with another guy called Shorty. Both got back to Big Town safe and sound. Neither of them, or the town itself, have tried to kill me. In fact, I helped save the town from further attack by getting some wrecked robots I found there up and running again, and turning them into sentries to protect the bridge in and out of the settlement. Those people love me now. That Timebomb guy gave me his lucky eight ball, which is a nice gesture, even if not particularly useful to me in any practical sense, and Red's offering her medical services to me for free from now on.
Big Town looks like it's going to survive. I didn't have much in the way of stimpaks, so I purchased all her spares off her. Surprisingly, she accepted the minigun and a few other spare weapons as payment. I guess Big Town doesn't have much in the way of firepower. I was happy to offload those at any rate.
And as always, let's talk loot.
By far the prize I'm happiest about is a great monster of weapon known as a Fat Man that I found in the police HQ in Germantown. This thing is what fires those mini nukes I've been finding around the place. Nobody can fuck with me now. This thing will utterly destroy all my enemies. In addition, more copies of the DC Journal of Internal Medicine, Lying, Congressional Style, and Tumblers Today, all good condition I might add, and another Nuka-Cola Quantum for my growing collection. I also picked up a new type of gun, a 10m submachine gun, which should be useful for medium-to-close range encounters. Shotguns are useful for close combat, and I prefer to keep the rifles for longer distance. This thing provides a happy mid-way point.
Still haven't offloaded a lot of my other equipment. I still have that raider's flamer from my encounter outside the bed and breakfast. I want to keep this, though. I keep finding flamer fuel tanks, and with this thing I can start up fires and cook meat just like that. Plus, it's surprisingly easy to fit into the backpack when I break it down.
After that, I returned to my journey. I had marked the police HQ earlier, so I headed back up there, knowing that Minefield was a ways east of it. Came across some wastelanders and some super mutants fighting on the way. Took care of it. Wastelanders were happy. And then I reached Minefield, which I have now discovered why people think is haunted. Because there was a sniper here who kills anyone who enters.
He wasn't just aiming for me, either. This guy was smart. He shot at cars near me, and tried to kill me with the miniature nuclear explosion that would result. To make matters worse, if I dived out of the way of the cars or his gunfire, I was likely to land on a mine. I'm pretty sure he placed all the mines here himself, too. It was all very meticulously planned out. This guy had to be some kind of tactical genius.
I had my own sniper rifle, thanks to my encounter with Warrick, but I didn't know if I could get him. He was too distant, and he knew when I had my sights on him. The Fat Man doesn't have the right range, there were still mines all around, and I could only disarm so many at a time. Plus if I spent too long out in the open, I was liable to get shot.
It took me a good few hours to get over to the ruined building he was in and get up to his position, but I did it. Stabbed him right in the shoulder with Vance's sword, and followed up with a decapitation. Got his name from him before he died. Arkansas. Like the state.
He had a key on him that allowed me entrance into the houses around Minefield, and I'm staying in one right now. Even now, though, I'm still thinking of him. He was a kill I had to earn, not one just given to me. That old man put up a fight. He was a worthy adversary, and I respect him, even in his death. After all, not just anyone can stand up to me.
Because let's face it, I am fucking awesome.
Day 18: Having a Plan
Disarmed all the mines in the town, marked it on my map, and looted the place before I left today. The houses contained a few books. Pugilism Illustrated, Tumblers Today, DC Journal of Internal Medicine, and another Grognak issue. All kind of a disappointment really. All things I'd read before, and not in particularly good condition either. Even the Grognak comic was an issue I've already read.
There were a few other old books, but nothing that interested me. Mostly boring stuff, or mediocre romance novels. A few weapons were around, but nothing new. There were some more stealth boys, though, which was good, because I used up the ones I already had with me yesterday, trying to avoid Arkansas.
After that, I left town. Came across some dogs on my way out, gathering around a corpse. They looked just like they did in our biology textbooks back in the vault. I'm surprised that they're not mutant abominations like the rest of the wildlife. I would have tried to tame one and take it as a pet if they hadn't kept trying to bite my arms off and forced me to shoot them.
Well, after that I looked at my map again, and realised that Canterbury Commons, the place I heard about on GNR, was just east. It was a long walk, but I decided it was for the best, since I don't know when I'm going to be up this way next. Now I'm actually in the town, staying the night in an old garage. There's only one bed here, and two people already living in this place, but I had the caps to convince them to rent me the bed for the night.
I'm not entirely convinced that they won't murder me in my sleep to take the rest of my money, because they saw that I had a lot. Just to be safe, I picked up a tire iron I found in here, and I'm sleeping on top of it. It's just uncomfortable enough that I'll probably be waking up periodically throughout the night, and if worst comes to the worst, I can beat these people to death with it. Because that's my survival strategy – Have a plan to kill everyone you meet. It's the only way to be sure.
Oh yeah, and there were a bunch of freaks in costumes commanding giant ants and robots to fight in the streets earlier, but I don't think that's anything out of the ordinary for the Capital Wasteland.
Day 19: It's a Sunny Day in Metropolis.
RIGHT.
So let's go in chronological order.
Woke up, still feeling tired. Checked that the people I stayed with didn't steal any of my shit. Found that they hadn't. Stole their copy of Dean's Electronics anyway, because I'm sure that in an alternate reality they probably did. Went out and got to know the residents of the town.
Uncle Roe appears to be the leader of this place. He was a pretty good guy. I spoke to him about the town and its history, and he mentioned that the caravan merchants I've been dealing with since Megaton actually circle the whole Capital Wasteland and make their final stop here. He let me know a bit about all of them too.
Then I had an idea, to unify the merchants that stop by Canterbury Commons into one greater company. By providing an investment of caps, they could all get better stock and expand their inventory, allowing greater trade and stimulating the economy of the wasteland. I think I just found a way to help pick this place up a bit. Almost three thousand caps of mine I put into the caravans. I hope they're worth it.
Anyway, by that point I had been ignoring the proverbial elephant in the room long enough, and I asked about the two quote unquote "superheroes" from yesterday. There was a rational explanation for both, talking about childhoods, loss of parents, obsessions with robots... Like a comic book origin story. I will just sum up the deal with both of them right now though, to keep it short and sweet: They're both fucking crazy.
The douche with the bucket on his head is Scott Wollinski. He calls himself the Mechanist after the old Silver Shroud villain, has robot minions to fight for him, used to be the town's mechanic or something, and makes his base in the robot repair centre north of the town. The bitch in the ant costume is Tanya Christoff. She commands an army of ants, somehow, calls herself the AntAgonizer after the Grognak character, and lives in some hole south of the town. I scouted out both the places real quick and marked them both, plus Canterbury Commons itself on my map. I wasn't really sure what to do about either of them, to be honest.
According to the townspeople, the AntAgonizer just by herself was barely a threat when she first appeared alone, and was something of an amusement. Then Scott took it all seriously and started fighting her with robots, and now they think this is getting out of hand. That's why I'm unsure of which moral path to take here. Scott's got good intentions, but he's clearly the bigger threat to the town. Whereas ant bitch is actively trying to destroy these people, but they never had a problem with her until the fights escalated, which wasn't her fault in the first place.
I spent most of the day just hanging around town, trying to decide what to do. Met some of the merchants while I was. That guy who I sold some of the Outcast power armour to and purchased the rock-it launcher schematics from back in Megaton was one of them. Crazy Wolfgang is his name. He thanked me for my investments by giving me some stealth boys. I also reunited with a weapons trader who I've seen around before and sold some stuff to. Lucky Harith. Seems pleasant enough. Gave me another mini nuke for my new Fat Man. He also took the liberty of relieving me of all my spare guns, mines, grenades, and to my surprise, chems too. I wasn't expecting him to buy my chems, but I certainly wasn't complaining. I've found surprisingly little use for them. Especially the Mentats.
Well, after that, I rented out that garage again to stay another night. My temporary landlords weren't happy about it, but they weren't about to turn down the caps. I think they've been sleeping on the floor since I arrived. Hey, I don't care what happens to them. They're wastelanders. They're probably used to this. But I'm a vault dweller. I expect a certain level of comfort, like a bed. I tried sleeping on a cave floor once, and that was the worst night of my life.
I'm still going to hide my stuff somewhere underneath some rubble in town and sleep on top of that tire iron again in case of night murders. They're more pissed off with me than they were before, so it helps to be safe.
God, I'm getting jittery lately. It's been too long since I've killed someone. I keep getting paranoid. That's what this is. I'm probably convincing myself that Dominic and Machete are going to murder me so that I can justify it in my own mind if I decide to murder them myself later on. Well no, brain. It's not going down like that. Even if it is more for practical reasons than anything, I actually do have a moral code which outlaws that kind of behaviour.
Not that that means I'm not keeping the tire iron anyway. I've grown attached to it.
Actually, you know what? Fuck it. Tomorrow, I'm going to just pick a superhero and kill them.
Day 20: Adventures of the Wasteland Wanderer, Issue #3.
I stormed the Mechanist's forge first. Yes, I decided to take down the hero first and deal with the villain later. Bite me.
It was all easily dealt with. There were a lot of robots in there, the most annoyingly persistent being the Sentry Bots, but I happened across a supply of pulse grenades while in there, which are especially made for dealing with robots, and quite effectively ruined them. Sad I used them all up, because those could have been useful to me in future. Unlike the frags (which I've started selling as soon as possible to lighten my load), I have no risk of dying if one of these accidentally goes off. Plus, I do still plan to raid the facility near Tenpenny Tower one day.
I confronted the Mechanist once all his minions were dead. He was a good guy, so I gave him a chance to back down. I talked him out of his stupidity, and he gave me his costume and left. That was easy. I took the copies of Nikola Tesla and Lying, Congressional Style I found in there too. These look to be good quality, though not as good as the versions I already have. Might fetch a nice price, though. Additionally, I happened across a Nuka grenade while here, of exactly the design my schematics were specifying. I took it with me, hoping to test its effectiveness. I want to see how much punch one of these really packs before I try to make my own.
Next, the AntAgonizer. I went back to her lair next, and made my way through the caves. I shot my way through an army of ants and found her at the very end of the place, seeming rather pleased that I had defeated her nemesis for her. She asked me to hand over his stupid-looking armour, but little did she know that I was still carrying my shotgun not because I wanted to lean on it as I got down on one knee to pledge my allegiance to her, but because I was about to remove her head with it.
Damn, her body was a mess afterwards. It was like that super mutant all over again. I just seem to witness the bloodiest deaths.
Anyway, I stripped the armour off the remains of her corpse, sort of as a way to prove I took down both the superheroes. I also picked up another Quantum and another stealth boy in there. I returned to town later with my new trophies to prove my victory. They were very pleased with me, and I made six hundred caps in reward money. Because I really needed more caps. Seriously.
Another merchant also approached me to thank me for investing in his caravan too. This one was a doctor, called Hoff, who gave me some stimpaks. Those are always good.
Well, I did it. I cleansed the world of superheroes and supervillains in a day. Really, I was disappointed to find that both were all theatrics and no fight. Their underlings did all the work really, and the Mechanist was stopped by just talking to him. There was no challenge. Arkansas was a better superhero than either of these two. They really didn't live up to their namesakes.
But then I realised, I still had the armour of both... I had the powers of both... While the AntAgonizer may have been too weak to fight properly, and the Mechanist too easily swayed from his path, I have the strengths of both and none of the weaknesses! So tonight, I put on the helmet of the ant queen and the body armour of the master of machines, equip my flamethrower, and descend from my new lair in the robot repair centre down onto the town.
Tremble, Capital Wasteland! For you are witnessing the rise of the Steel Insect!
Day 21: A Stupid, Foolish Mistake.
Okay, so the wasteland isn't ready for the rise of the Steel Insect just yet, but my day will come.
I say that mainly because I came out the front of the repair centre this morning, and found a bunch of Talon Company mercs politely waiting just outside my door for me. I soon found the Mechanist's armour to be woefully inadequate for stopping gunfire compared to Talon Company's own armour, a mistake that cost me several stimpaks to correct. Though testing has revealed that Talon mercs are still vulnerable to flamethrowers.
Well, after that I went south. I stumbled across two things of note. First of all, a vault, which immediately sent me running screaming when I saw it. Second of all, the Corvega factory. That's a place where they made cars before the war. I went inside in search of adventure and fortune, and was immediately set upon by giant mutant ants. Sadly, dressing like a spastic didn't seem to work for me like it did for Miss Christoff, and I had to kill them all. I now have ant meat to last me for days, and a surprisingly large number of books I found in and around there as well, which I'll get to later. One in particular was hard to get to because it was stuck in a footlocker that, try as I might, I couldn't bust open. Good thing I found a key.
Then I headed southwest towards Megaton, and stumbled across the Chryslus building, which is the headquarters of the company behind Corvega. This place held super mutants instead of ants, and that made me sad. There I found something that made me smile. Guns and Bullets? Could it be? A book that interests me that I don't have thirty extra copies of already because I'm too retarded to sell them while I'm in the town where all the trade caravans congregate? Ooh... I'm saving this for later.
After that, I checked my map again. It turns out I came around in a circle from Big Town, and I was coming to the close of it. I figured, "Hey, I got an idea. Instead of going to Megaton, I should close the circle. I'll go north here and return to Big Town to stay for the night, and in between I'll hit all the pre-war ruins where there might be interesting things."
So I did.
BAM! Hit one: Bethesda. All kinds of crap there, but the thing that makes it all worth it was the bobblehead. Adding another vault boy to the collection. Thank you, random pre-war corporation of unknown function.
BAM! Hit two: A raider outpost just east of Bethesda. Nothing much of note there aside from more ammo and parts to repair my weapons, though I did pick up a combat knife there (off a dead raider) that I've taken a liking to. I don't know why. I just like it. Maybe the handle just feels more comfortable than the last one I had? I call it Stabhappy. I think I'm going to use this.
BAM! Hit three: Wheaton Armoury, where I am now, and where things really went to shit. I fought my way through the raiders inside and out just fine, but then I made the mistake of assuming that I was infallible, because as a vault dweller, very little is able to pose a challenge to me.
Ah, the hubris! Sometimes, I need to be reminded that I am not, in fact, immortal. I know, it's an easy mistake to make. But yes, it's true; I do have weaknesses.
One of those is radiation.
I heard the Pip-Boy warning me, but I needed to plunder the armoury. That was the point of this excursion; to loot things. Still though, I pressed on through the place with a bit of Rad-X and the occasional dose of RadAway. I eventually did reach the armoury itself at the bottom, and I got the door open. I think that that armoury door was the toughest lock to date I ever successfully picked, even if I did use Mentats to do it. The Mentats weren't enough for that footlocker...
Anyway, in there, I found more anti-radiation supplies, which was good, because I sold a lot of my stock due to the fact I didn't seem to use it a lot. I found suits for radiation protection too, and put one on. While I was at it, I began collecting up everything I found. I couldn't help it. It was like being in Fort Independence again. So many missile launchers and miniguns and sniper rifles and ammunition boxes and various other killing equipment. I couldn't leave it all behind. I had to drag it to the surface.
And I did. And now I'm on the top level of the armoury again with all the weapons and ammunition I collected. My problem, though? Well, there are a few problems.
- I panicked when my rads were getting too high, and used up too much RadAway too quickly. More than I should have. I have since ran out.
- I still have some minor radiation sickness despite that, and I feel fucking awful.
- There is simply too much equipment here for me to carry it all any further. Not just the stuff I picked up here, either. There's just too much crap in general.
I've gone over a number of scenarios, and the way I see it, I can't carry all this with me and also live. It's one or the other. So, here's my solution: All the weapons of the same make, I'm going to break down. I'll use the parts to build one single weapon in almost pristine condition. That'll probably be less value, but also less weight. Still not light enough to carry, but that's only one part of the plan. I'm also going to keep all my extra equipment here in the armoury, hidden in an out of the way place on this floor where there's not too much radiation. I'll separate it into two piles. Things I want to sell, and things I want to keep.
I need medical help, and I need to move fast. So I'll dump everything here except the lightweight radiation suit, some caps to pay for services, the scoped revolver, the SMG, and Stabhappy. That'll be enough for me to move quickly and still defend myself. Once I'm better off, I can make a few runs between the armoury and Canterbury Commons to sell this stuff a bit at a time, until my load is light enough that I can carry it all in the backpack again.
And this will be a lesson to me to not pick up every little thing I might find interesting, because that shit gets heavy.
I've marked down the major locations I've been to so I can get a clearer idea of where I am and where I've been. Chryslus, Corvega, Bethesda, Vault 108, and Wheaton. I think the closest place is actually Canterbury Commons, but there's no doctor there. Unless Doc Hoff stuck around, but I doubt it. My best hope now is to make a run for Big Town, and hope there are no super mutants in the area.
Well, here goes nothing I guess. Wish me luck.
Day 21, Part Deux: Ouch
Hey, diary? I think I'm dying.
I was going to get to Big Town. I really was. But there was this rocky sort of area in the way. A small chasm with a bunch of boulders on one side, but apparently a path through, because there was a rope bridge up ahead. I was heading for the rope bridge, when I saw that... thing...
"Thing" is the only word for it. It was like Satan fucked a lizard, and I was meeting the baby. Only it was all grown up. It was chasing down this wastelander. Whoever he was, he managed to cripple the thing's leg by the time I arrived, which slowed it down a bit. I tried to save him from it. I shot at it with the revolver, but it was pretty tough, and didn't go down. It gutted him, and then turned on me. And yes, while it was crippled, that thing still moved fast. And I was already in close range. I was backed up against the chasm and shooting at it.
I did kill it, but it got a swipe at me first. It wasn't a deep cut, and my radiation suit cushioned the blow slightly, so that by itself wasn't fatal, but as it happened, the suit was destroyed, and I fell into the chasm. I've broken a leg and both my arms.
Because the suit was torn to ribbons and falling off anyway, I removed it. That left me in just a thin vest and some boxers. I'm bleeding from the stomach, I have broken limbs, I have radiation sickness, I'm laying in the dirt, without my radiation suit to protect me...
And then came the radioactive rain.
Did I? Yes, I did. I just coughed up blood.
Well, it's been a good run. I'm fucked. Guess this proves God is real after all. No doubt this divine punishment for all those murders. I'm sure I read in the Bible once that that's a sin. Pretty big one too. I only wish I could say I was sorry for them.
Maybe when Three Dog gets news of this and tells my story on GNR, Dad will hear it. I did some good. I saved Megaton. I saved Big Town. I saved Canterbury Commons. Maybe he'll hear about those. And maybe he'll be proud of me for them. And maybe he won't judge me too harshly for Arefu. In fact, that's my one real wish. That when I'm gone, people will examine my actions, see all the people I saved, and then ask:
"Why would this upstanding individual slaughter an innocent town then?"
And they will conclude that the people of Arefu were simply dicks.
BECAUSE THEY WERE.
YES. I KNOW IT'S BEEN A WEEK. I'M STILL NOT OVER IT. FUCK YOU IAN WEST. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!
Author's notes:
Fallout 3 is a game with many quirks. Though I greatly enjoyed it back when I first played it, I have always found it deeply flawed in many ways, and Wanderer's Diary was just as much a parody of the game as it was a tribute to it. The slaughter of Arefu and the Wanderer's enduring hatred for Ian West may seem like an out of left field development for comedy's sake, and it kind of is, but it's also something that actually happens in the game. In one of my first playthroughs, I actually did slaughter the Family, only to come back and find Arefu hostile for no logical reason, because Bethesda just assumed that players would take the peaceful ending to the quest, and had set Arefu and the Family as allies regardless of whether or not you actually broker an alliance. So naturally, when this happens to the Wanderer, he blames Ian West, because there's really no other person it could logically be.
Much of the rest of the early story is also based on moments from my own playthroughs, particularly the Wanderer's first encounter with super mutants, and the fact that he headed north towards Arefu before ever going after his dad. Unlike my later Fallout stories, Wanderer's Diary was not directly adapted from any one playthrough, and was instead mostly constructed from memory and wiki consultation, but a few select moments here and there are drawn from my own experiences of the game. More on that later.
On a final note, this chapter also contains the first minor story change of the rewrite, covering a minor plot hole. When I wrote the original version, I was not aware that the Mechanist and AntAgonizer were meant to be literally cosplaying fictional characters in their universe. I thought that they were just taking on generic superhero identities of their own creations. To be fair, I don't think that the lore about the Mechanist being a Silver Shroud villain was established until Fallout 4, but the AntAgonizer at least was meant to be a Grognak villain, and as a self-proclaimed Grognak fan, the Wanderer should have recognised and acknowledged what she was doing. Now he does.
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- Location
- The Internet?
I'm too much of a goody two shoes to encounter that Arefu situation you did. That sounds like it sucked.
"Watch out, he'll peel you right out of your clothes!"
"I'm going to murder whoever came up with that name!"
Lucy: So did he get my letter?
Wanderer: Well, yes, but your parents are dead, and he's dead, oh, and the whole settlement of Arefu is wiped out, too.
Lucy:
0/10 Mutant Mob.
a hammer murder, why not try doing some hammering murdering?
What do you think I am, some sort of snowflake? I wouldn't throw a fit.
God, can you even imagine? You'd be so low level!
Oh yeah, it seems like everyone had a stint as a raider. They've got decent hours, but the pay varies depending on where you're set up, and the less said about the medical plan, the better!
God, it's been a minute since I played through that game. Time makes fools of us all, I guess.
They only had a few flavors at the ice cream party Lucy threw for her brother, and the Wanderer didn't get any sprinkles?
"My God, it's the Stripper!"
"Watch out, he'll peel you right out of your clothes!"
"I'm going to murder whoever came up with that name!"
I mean, you're wearing that Talon Company armor, ain'tcha? Seems only neighborly.
Well, shiiiiiit, remind me to never ask you for a favor.
Lucy: So did he get my letter?
Wanderer: Well, yes, but your parents are dead, and he's dead, oh, and the whole settlement of Arefu is wiped out, too.
Lucy:
You're saying they had no Missile Launchers?
0/10 Mutant Mob.
Bruh, where do you think that music on your radio comes from?
You have gained Kar-
You have lost Karma!
Red's actually pretty chill, don't stress, my guy.
Wow, I guess the Butcher really does lead the Teeth.
The escort missions. The escort mission never changes.
Who run Bartertown? Not Red, apparently.
Dogmeat is some dog meat in this timeline? Sad.
Well, if all you have is
Hooray! The peaceful solution still lives.
If only he had a bird, then he could be some sort of Hawk Guy.
Such polite chaps, didn't even bother to smoke him out.
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Well, you never know these days...
I actually still haven't completed the main quest of Skyrim to this day.
I have like a thousand hours logged in the game.
Yeah... I dunno... I don't really think Ian's gonna be up for a party...
I think this Wanderer would make a great Butcher. He's already insane enough that the voices probably wouldn't affect him.
Ah, no, these are random encounter dogs. THE Dogmeat is first found at Scrapyard, which the Wanderer will hit in... Week Four, IIRC.
FOR NOW.
Week Four
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Wanderer's Diary: Week Four
Day 22: IT'S ALIVE!
So it turns out I can spontaneously regenerate my lost flesh and heal any wounds when sufficiently irradiated.
Who knew?
Oh yes, I'm still dying of radiation sickness, but I no longer have any other injuries. All my broken limbs? Fine. Massive stomach wound? Gone. Mental state? Eh, could be better, but nothing to complain about. Agatha says I'm probably being slowly ghoulified. I like to hope that's not the case, but I guess we'll see when my flesh starts peeling off in the next few weeks. For now, though, I'm taking the fact that the radiation still makes me feel awful as a sign that, for the moment, I can look forward to keeping all my fleshy bits.
Oh yeah, Agatha. I should explain. She's the one who found me, and took me in to safety. She is just the sweetest thing. The kind of harmless, decent person that I didn't think I'd ever find outside of my home vault in this land of savages. Even the people out here who I do consider moralistic individuals are probably dangerous killers in their own rights.
Still, though, Agatha's been great to me. She told me her story, about how she came to be here. Her husband built their house, which is where I am for the moment, and they lived here together for many years. He's dead now, sadly. The house is nestled in the cliffs and boulders, just the other side of that rope bridge across the chasm I fell down. The isolation has made poor Agatha lonely, but it's kept out the rest of the wasteland horrors.
I'm informed that deathclaw attacks (the Satan-lizard thing was called a deathclaw) are actually really uncommon out here. They're normally more frequent up north, further from the DC ruins. I guess I and that other wastelander just had really shitty luck. (In related news, my new friend has informed me that the crab abominations that live in the water are called mirelurks, and that the fuckfaced tentacle things that accompany super mutants around are called centaurs).
Agatha found me after she heard the gunshots, and took me in to take care of me. It was a good thing I took down that monster before it got me, otherwise she would have walked right out onto that. She retrieved my weapons for me too, so I still have the revolver, the SMG, and Stabhappy to keep me safe. Still no armour, though. But then again, that may have been a good thing. Agatha knows who Talon Company are. If she had found me in that state and assumed I was a Talon merc, she may well have left me there. I don't know that for sure, but the way she speaks of them, I don't think she has a high opinion of them.
She also assumed the other wastelander was a friend of mine and brought his body inside. Not the case. We've no idea who he was. But we buried him all the same. He was carrying something interesting on him, though – schematics for a gauntlet that one can craft with a deathclaw's claws. If I could slice right through armour like that thing could...
Needless to say, I've since retrieved that damn lizard thing's body and ripped its hand off. I'm going to make this thing.
I'm still stuck here for the day, because this radiation is keeping me down, but Agatha says that the caravan traders often pass through this way, and they know she lives here. Maybe, if I'm really lucky, I'll have beaten Doc Hoff here from Canterbury Commons, and he'll arrive soon with some spare RadAway to sell. And if I see either Crazy Wolfgang, Lucky Harith, or a guy I haven't met yet called Crow after I've had my radiation treated, I can show them to the armoury and offload some of the gear there.
On a final note, Agatha's a violinist, but her instrument is wearing down. She mentioned that her great great etc. grandmother, Hilda, lived in Vault 92 way back when, which was a vault dedicated entirely to musical prodigies. Hilda had apparently been in possession of a Stradivarius violin, which is a very high quality instrument, and exactly what she needs. She's requested of me that if I ever find the time, that I could look into possibly getting it for her.
She can't really offer me any payment aside from a revolver of the same make as the one I already have and some ammunition from her husband's old boxes, and she doesn't even have any idea where Vault 92 is. But damn it, I will get that violin. Because Agatha saved my life, she's been good to me, she deserves this, and following the Big Town/Arefu formula, I always make sure that everyone gets exactly what they deserve.
So next time I head down to DC, I'll be stopping by the Vault-Tec headquarters.
Day 23: Give the Dog a Bone.
Hallelujah!
Radiation can't keep me down. The good doctor was able to save my life when he stopped by late last night. I was asleep at the time, but he stayed in with Agatha until I woke to help make sure I survived. I owe this man a debt as well now, at least in my mind. He, on the other hand, is still of the mind that he still owes me for investing in his caravan, even if he did already give his thanks for that.
I've since returned to the armoury and picked up all my regular stuff. Hoff accompanied me, because he was interested in purchasing the excess chems and other such things from me. He also took all my books, except the ones I want to put in the library, and one of the many small guns I picked up, for personal use.
The rest I've sorted into three piles, and hidden away in different locations around the armoury, all where they're unlikely to be found. In one pile, weapons and ammunition. In another, armour and other apparel, and in the third, whatever other crap I picked up. When I meet the other three merchants, I'll tell them each about one of the stashes in Wheaton. They can go pick up their own shares, go on and sell it all, and pay me back for them in their own time. This way, I don't have to make any extra runs, and the issue of weight isn't my problem anymore. And the fact that I'm not demanding payment upfront should earn me some more goodwill from the caravan traders. I must be the best thing to have happened to these guys for a while.
I marked Agatha's house on the map so I knew where to return to, and set about exploring the immediate area around it, since I never got the opportunity to last time I was around. I also marked a trainyard I came across while doing so, because I believe it may lead directly into the Family's old lair. I can't find an entrance, but if I ever do, this might make a good hideout one day. I found another Tumblers book, too. This one's terrible quality, and I plan to sell it soon. I've learned my lesson about carrying all these around.
I also met some old guy there who was having issues with a Mr. Handy, which I fixed up for him. That's one more person wandering the wastes now who owes me a favour. I like to think that's going to help me one day. If I somehow get every random nobody I come across to owe me one, then one day I can collect on all my debts, and conscript an army capable of leveling DC. That'd be nice.
After that, I then hit the last place I was intending to go to before Big Town on my journey, and that was a scrapyard. There, I met my other new friend.
Remember back in Minefield, how I came across those three rabid dogs, and talked about how I'd hoped to tame one and take it as a pet, because they're relatively unmutated despite how every other animal in the wasteland turned out? Well, now I don't have to! I found an already tamed dog here. His master was killed by raiders. And this dog fucked those raiders up in return. I heard the shots going off, and I arrived on the scene to find this dog standing over four bodies. One was a regular wastelander who was full of bullet wounds, and the other three were raiders, completely lacking in bullet wounds, but almost ripped apart.
I call him Dogmeat. Morbid, maybe, but it fits. He responds to it, too. However vicious he was to the raiders, he seems to love me, and all the food I have with me too. What's more, he already knows tricks. He comes when I tell him to, sits, lays, stays, and he can even track down and find things for me. I jokingly asked if he could find me a weapon, and he brought me one of the raiders' guns. This dog is smart.
The two of us patrolled around that scrapyard looking for any old treasures to dig up. The best we found was a Quantum and an old box, containing one copy of US Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes, and another copy of Guns and Bullets. Speaking of which, I finally did get around to reading that during my stay with Agatha, and it was actually very informative. Turns out I've been holding my guns in an improper fashion this whole time and didn't know it.
There was also another Grognak comic, and this one is actually an issue I haven't seen yet. Better yet, it's the conclusion of a trilogy. I've been hoping to find this particular issue since I was ten years old. I know it's hard to convey emotion through green text on a wrist-mounted computer, but trust me, I'm ecstatic.
There was one curiosity that got to me, though. There's an office here that I can't get into. It's locked up tight, and there's no way inside. I've examined the lock on the door, and I thought about picking it, but I don't think I can. Now, don't get me wrong, I know how that sounds. I've picked a lot of locks by now. I've read extensively about the subject. I think it's fair to say that I've pretty much mastered the art. I probably don't even need Mentats to do it anymore. But I've looked at this lock, and it's one of the very few I've seen where picking it simply isn't physically possible. Whichever pre-war company constructed that lock should be proud. In my short time in the wasteland, I've broken into military bases where the security wasn't as comprehensive.
Of course, this means I now have a new obsession. Whatever's behind that door, I really want to know. I've marked the scrapyard on my map, because I'm coming back here one day. I'm certain there's something in there worth my time, if I can only find a key.
If only, if only...
On our way out of the scrapyard, we also came across another Talon Company squad. I think they were on their way to ambush me, but we actually got the jump on them. And Dogmeat demonstrated to me that he's more than capable of pulling his weight. While I was busy shooting two of them, he ran up to the other dude and ripped his throat out. I love this dog already.
After that, we headed east again to stay the night in Canterbury Commons once more, or more accurately, the robot repair centre. Because one thing still looms over me, and that is the vault I ran away from. Vault 108. I've been thinking, and I've decided that if I'm going to go plundering old abandoned vaults for Agatha, I need to get over my crippling fear of vaults first, because that might present a problem. They say the best way to get over your fears is to face them head on, so I'm going back to Vault 108 tomorrow, and I'm going to prove to myself that abandoned vaults are nothing to fear.
I mean, come on. Just because one of them was full of fucked up shit, doesn't mean they all are. Right?
Day 24: Questions Upon Questions.
Oh boy, did I ever pick a stupid way to end yesterday's entry.
Yeah, Vault 108 was fucked too. I think it was even more deteriorated than the last vault I entered, and I'm not even kidding, it was populated entirely by numbered clones of a single man called Gary. I killed off all the crazed clones, plus any other pests I found in there. Searching around for an explanation, though, I just couldn't find much of one. The place had a cloning lab, and these guys were definitely intentional creations. But for the life of me, I just can't understand why.
Why would you build a vault with a cloning lab? Why would you make dozens of clones of a single man called Gary? Why can the clones only say their own name and attack people?
I think the most pertinent question, though, is that if this vault was entered before or during the Great War, then how were the clones still alive until I killed them? I mean, geez. Did this single vault in Washington DC actually discover the secret to halting the aging process altogether, just as the world was destroyed in nuclear Armageddon? That's just sad.
Anyway, standard procedure. Looting the vault, picking up whatever's interesting. A few guns, but nothing notable. A Pugilism Illustrated, a stealth boy, a Quantum, a Lying, Congressional Style, and my personal favourite find, an extra bobblehead for my collection.
I made a quick stop by Canterbury Commons again, and there I finally met Crow, the armour dealer. He thanked me for my previous investment with a stupid-looking hat, made out of an Enclave eyebot. They're these little robots that float around the place playing Enclave radio aloud. I don't know if I've mentioned them or not yet, because they were more of a background detail, and I've mostly been ignoring them. I think they're the reason that Enclave radio reaches further than GNR does. Each one of them probably acts as a signal booster. Scatter enough of them across the wasteland, you've got complete coverage.
Crow was happy when I informed him of my little gift for him in Wheaton, though. So much so that he paid me in advance for some of it. I gave the caps right back to him and got a set of combat armour instead. His armour is slightly better than the Talon kind, and wearing this one makes sure I won't be mistaken for one of their mercs. Not that I have been so far, but I don't want to risk it. And I picked up some sunglasses and a bandanna too, just because it looks cool.
Tonight, I'm heading back to Megaton to dump off all this stuff. I'm done exploring for a few days. I need to cool off. After my near-death experience and all the shit I've gone through since I was last home, I think I've earned a reprieve.
Day 25: Way Back Home...
It feels so good to be back in a familiar place.
I spent the day just hanging around the town and getting my affairs in order. Nova and Gob are happily working the saloon without Moriarty now, and that Stahl girl seems very pleased that Jericho isn't around anymore. Lucas Simms won't admit it, but I can tell he's also much happier for having the seedier members of the town dealt with. I think on some level, the people here suspect that I'm responsible for it. Those deaths did immediately follow my arrival, after all. Even if there's no evidence to directly connect me, it's not much of a leap to assume that I'm the killer. However, none of them are complaining, and none of them have dared to say anything. I think they know that what I did was nothing but a benefit to them.
Now, Lucy West on the other hand? She despises me. Somehow (I'm not sure how), word got to her of what I did in Arefu. She hasn't said more than a few words to me, but she's probably aware of what I did to her brother. In retrospect, I probably should have remembered before I killed Ian that I was looking for him in the first place because his sister was worried for him. And it'd be bad enough if I had just killed him in a firefight or caused his death accidentally, but I actually tortured the man, and decorated the front wall of his house with Ian guts, creating a work of modern art that I like to call "raider chic."
And do you know what? I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. Fuck that guy.
Moira was also pleased to receive my gift of landmines and an informative description of my adventure in Minefield. I made sure to make special mention of Arkansas. I want that man's name written down in this book, so that his legacy can live forever. He deserves that. Guy was the most hardcore badass I've ever killed, and he fought me without either power armour, fancy weapons, or an army of robots. I was rewarded for my effort with a few grenades and schematics to make a mine using bottlecaps.
Speaking of schematics, once I was done going about town for the day, I had to return home to get back to organising my shit. Thanks to the materials I purchased from Crazy Wolfgang a while back, I was able to build that rock-it launcher, and construct a Nuka grenade too. Since I also found one of those already built in the Mechanist's forge, I now have two of the things, thus rendering my Fat Man redundant.
Speaking of, the Fat Man has found a new home in my weapons locker, alongside Miss Launcher and the minigun. It's a great weapon, but not one with much in the way of practical application. I will make sure to bring it along next time I plan on assaulting a large fortress, though. I've also dropped off the raider's flamer, the shishkebab, and Vance's Chinese sword, and also that tire iron I picked up in Canterbury Commons, which I didn't even know I still had until I emptied the backpack to unload all my loot. I also tossed that lucky eight ball Timebomb gave me in there. No sense carrying that around for nothing.
And for my other locker, I finally offloaded the two superhero costumes, the armoured vault jumpsuit, and that stupid fucking eyebot helmet. After making repairs, of course. In my travels, I have become an unparalleled master of equipment upkeep and maintenance, and I want all my stuff to be in top condition in case I ever need any of it again.
I'm keeping Vance's coat with me for now, though. I can't wear armour all the time; I need to have some kind of casual clothing.
I've also organised the library, putting all the Grognak comics I've collected and the best quality version of all the books I've been picking up in there, and selling all the excess copies to Moira. And my three newest bobbleheads are also right at home on that stand.
Dogmeat's settled in well, too. He likes the house, and is not too bothered by Wadsworth, the robot butler. I'm not sure about whether I should get any bedding for him or not. He seems to find the floor comfortable enough, and this place is warmer than the outside at any rate.
On a more personal note, Dad has apparently not returned to Megaton in my absence, so I'm forced to assume he probably doesn't know that I left the vault. I've had enough distractions already. I need to get back to finding him soon. And Three Dog at Galaxy News Radio is my best bet. I need to head into DC soon.
Day 26: Last Errands to Run.
Moira asked me to do one last bit of work for this chapter. I needed to head to the Super-Duper Mart and scavenge for food there. Well, loath as I was to put off the hunt for Dad, this wasn't too inconvenient. The Super-Duper Mart was on my way to DC anyway, so I figured, why not? I raided the place, as promised. There were raiders there, but they didn't last long. There was a Protectron there in storage too. I had great fun letting him loose on the place. I picked up a mini nuke, three Quantums, another Jerky Vendor book, and just as Moira wanted, some food and medicine. Also ammunition.
I was about to head back to Megaton to sell and store all the stuff I'd picked up there that I didn't need, but then... he showed up.
Remember I mentioned Three Dog's broadcast some time back, saying that a town called Grayditch went quiet? I now know why. It was overrun with giant, fire-breathing ants. Some massive cunt called Dr. Lesko experimented on the ants to make them this way, and it pretty much wiped out the whole town aside from him and this one kid called Bryan Wilks, who's now without a family thanks to him, and who approached me outside the Super Duper Mart to do something about it.
Needless to say, I put a stop to it. Lesko wanted to continue his experiments, and tried to appeal to me to help him by sparing the ant queen, but I didn't. I destroyed the mutagen sample that caused this, used his systems' fail-safes to send out a pulse to kill all the damn insects in Grayditch, and went back to Lesko to give him a thorough scolding for his irresponsibility with his experiments. I consider myself a scientist, and seeing this prick cause this mess in the name of science infuriates me.
Why I didn't kill him, I have no idea. Maybe because, despite everything, he could admit he was wrong? I honestly don't think there's any danger of him pulling this kind of crap again. He even gave me his lab coat and injection of a formula to make me stronger as a way of making up for it. Yes, I do understand that letting strange men inject me with serums is probably a bad idea, but it's okay. I know it's not harmful. I wouldn't have allowed it otherwise.
Side note: Dogmeat tried to kill the ant queen and her guardians with his teeth when we encountered them. Stupid mutt nearly killed himself, and I used up good stimpaks on him. Will need to keep a closer eye on him in future.
That still left the problem of Bryan, though. He says he has relatives in Rivet City, the other side of DC, so maybe I ask around there? Either way, that's all a project for later. He's staying in his father's old place in Grayditch for now, and I'll get back to him when I find a new place he can live. I'm hoping that Lesko will at least have the decency to keep an eye on him for the time being.
After that, I just had to get back to Megaton. What was supposed to be just tying up loose ends today spiralled into a whole other adventure, completely by accident. I've marked the major places I've been to today on the map (the Super-Duper Mart, Grayditch, and Marigold Station), and I'm going to head back that way once I've reached Rivet City. I also marked a sewer waystation I passed on the way to Grayditch, because I want to explore that some time, too. Not now, though. Priorities.
Also of interest, while I was in the station, I found a dead guy with a recording on him. I think he was named Grady. The recording was made in case he was murdered, and it instructed whoever found it to go get a key hidden in the station and unlock a safe, containing a package to be delivered to a man in a town called Girdershade.
I got the package. Do you know what it is? Sleepwear. No joke. And someone came in after me demanding it, too. I don't know who he was, what his deal was, or anything about him other than that his brains were a very non-standard colour. I guess I should deliver this if I ever find the opportunity to, but this is fucking weird. Just throwing that out there.
Anyway, back in Megaton now. Lesko's lab coat has found a nice home in my locker, and Moira is happy that I completed the research for the first chapter at long last. She gave me some stimpaks, iguana bits, and a weird little machine that should cut down the radiation in my food. Always a plus. I also sold her all the extra stuff I found in and around the places I explored today, including a missile launcher I found in a Grayditch home, and another copy of Guns and Bullets.
Next, Moira asked if I could go see her next time I get critically injured. A bit like what I did for the radiation portion of the research, except I don't feel like deliberately breaking my own arm just for this book. I still agreed, though; I injure myself regularly enough out here without even trying to. What's the harm in putting off healing myself until I can let her study my injuries? Hell, my limbs can regenerate.
Speaking of, I really should conduct some research on myself to find out why they do that. I'm still not seeing any of my skin coming off, so I don't think I'm turning into a ghoul. Or does it take longer than that?
Whatever. No more distractions. Tomorrow, I'm going to DC and hunting down Dad.
Day 27: A Distraction Appears.
What's this? Waking up to the sound of a distress signal on my Pip-Boy? Brotherhood Outcasts in need of assistance? What do I do, Dogmeat?!
It's a distraction! You need to go find Dad!
Oh, but getting distracted is so much fun!
Good point!
And that's how I came to be here in Bailey's Crossroads, sitting on a pile of super mutant and Outcast corpses. I walked into a battle and wiped out both sides, because that's just how I roll.
Side note: Dogmeat can bite the Outcasts through their power armour. I may not have ever actually required anything more than my silenced pistol to take down Fort Independence; these guys are pussies.
What's more, they were sitting on something big here. This facility houses a simulation pod. They were interested in this place because if you can complete the simulation (which is of the battle for Anchorage, Alaska), then it unlocks a vault full of technology.
I can't tell you how psyched I am for this. I've stuffed everything of mine in the backpack and tossed it into a side room along with all the Outcast bodies and power armour, and my faithful companion is going to be watching it for me while I'm in the simulation. I'll get to work exploring and looting the rest of this facility later. Because the biggest prizes are inside that vault, and as it happens, I have the necessary technology to access and play the simulation.
All I need to do is win the Great War.
And really, is there any doubt at all that I'm going to have the Chinese army's total unconditional surrender within the hour?
I'm putting on the sim suit now. Alaska, here I come!
Day 28: ...
War is Hell.
Day 22: IT'S ALIVE!
So it turns out I can spontaneously regenerate my lost flesh and heal any wounds when sufficiently irradiated.
Who knew?
Oh yes, I'm still dying of radiation sickness, but I no longer have any other injuries. All my broken limbs? Fine. Massive stomach wound? Gone. Mental state? Eh, could be better, but nothing to complain about. Agatha says I'm probably being slowly ghoulified. I like to hope that's not the case, but I guess we'll see when my flesh starts peeling off in the next few weeks. For now, though, I'm taking the fact that the radiation still makes me feel awful as a sign that, for the moment, I can look forward to keeping all my fleshy bits.
Oh yeah, Agatha. I should explain. She's the one who found me, and took me in to safety. She is just the sweetest thing. The kind of harmless, decent person that I didn't think I'd ever find outside of my home vault in this land of savages. Even the people out here who I do consider moralistic individuals are probably dangerous killers in their own rights.
Still, though, Agatha's been great to me. She told me her story, about how she came to be here. Her husband built their house, which is where I am for the moment, and they lived here together for many years. He's dead now, sadly. The house is nestled in the cliffs and boulders, just the other side of that rope bridge across the chasm I fell down. The isolation has made poor Agatha lonely, but it's kept out the rest of the wasteland horrors.
I'm informed that deathclaw attacks (the Satan-lizard thing was called a deathclaw) are actually really uncommon out here. They're normally more frequent up north, further from the DC ruins. I guess I and that other wastelander just had really shitty luck. (In related news, my new friend has informed me that the crab abominations that live in the water are called mirelurks, and that the fuckfaced tentacle things that accompany super mutants around are called centaurs).
Agatha found me after she heard the gunshots, and took me in to take care of me. It was a good thing I took down that monster before it got me, otherwise she would have walked right out onto that. She retrieved my weapons for me too, so I still have the revolver, the SMG, and Stabhappy to keep me safe. Still no armour, though. But then again, that may have been a good thing. Agatha knows who Talon Company are. If she had found me in that state and assumed I was a Talon merc, she may well have left me there. I don't know that for sure, but the way she speaks of them, I don't think she has a high opinion of them.
She also assumed the other wastelander was a friend of mine and brought his body inside. Not the case. We've no idea who he was. But we buried him all the same. He was carrying something interesting on him, though – schematics for a gauntlet that one can craft with a deathclaw's claws. If I could slice right through armour like that thing could...
Needless to say, I've since retrieved that damn lizard thing's body and ripped its hand off. I'm going to make this thing.
I'm still stuck here for the day, because this radiation is keeping me down, but Agatha says that the caravan traders often pass through this way, and they know she lives here. Maybe, if I'm really lucky, I'll have beaten Doc Hoff here from Canterbury Commons, and he'll arrive soon with some spare RadAway to sell. And if I see either Crazy Wolfgang, Lucky Harith, or a guy I haven't met yet called Crow after I've had my radiation treated, I can show them to the armoury and offload some of the gear there.
On a final note, Agatha's a violinist, but her instrument is wearing down. She mentioned that her great great etc. grandmother, Hilda, lived in Vault 92 way back when, which was a vault dedicated entirely to musical prodigies. Hilda had apparently been in possession of a Stradivarius violin, which is a very high quality instrument, and exactly what she needs. She's requested of me that if I ever find the time, that I could look into possibly getting it for her.
She can't really offer me any payment aside from a revolver of the same make as the one I already have and some ammunition from her husband's old boxes, and she doesn't even have any idea where Vault 92 is. But damn it, I will get that violin. Because Agatha saved my life, she's been good to me, she deserves this, and following the Big Town/Arefu formula, I always make sure that everyone gets exactly what they deserve.
So next time I head down to DC, I'll be stopping by the Vault-Tec headquarters.
Day 23: Give the Dog a Bone.
Hallelujah!
Radiation can't keep me down. The good doctor was able to save my life when he stopped by late last night. I was asleep at the time, but he stayed in with Agatha until I woke to help make sure I survived. I owe this man a debt as well now, at least in my mind. He, on the other hand, is still of the mind that he still owes me for investing in his caravan, even if he did already give his thanks for that.
I've since returned to the armoury and picked up all my regular stuff. Hoff accompanied me, because he was interested in purchasing the excess chems and other such things from me. He also took all my books, except the ones I want to put in the library, and one of the many small guns I picked up, for personal use.
The rest I've sorted into three piles, and hidden away in different locations around the armoury, all where they're unlikely to be found. In one pile, weapons and ammunition. In another, armour and other apparel, and in the third, whatever other crap I picked up. When I meet the other three merchants, I'll tell them each about one of the stashes in Wheaton. They can go pick up their own shares, go on and sell it all, and pay me back for them in their own time. This way, I don't have to make any extra runs, and the issue of weight isn't my problem anymore. And the fact that I'm not demanding payment upfront should earn me some more goodwill from the caravan traders. I must be the best thing to have happened to these guys for a while.
I marked Agatha's house on the map so I knew where to return to, and set about exploring the immediate area around it, since I never got the opportunity to last time I was around. I also marked a trainyard I came across while doing so, because I believe it may lead directly into the Family's old lair. I can't find an entrance, but if I ever do, this might make a good hideout one day. I found another Tumblers book, too. This one's terrible quality, and I plan to sell it soon. I've learned my lesson about carrying all these around.
I also met some old guy there who was having issues with a Mr. Handy, which I fixed up for him. That's one more person wandering the wastes now who owes me a favour. I like to think that's going to help me one day. If I somehow get every random nobody I come across to owe me one, then one day I can collect on all my debts, and conscript an army capable of leveling DC. That'd be nice.
After that, I then hit the last place I was intending to go to before Big Town on my journey, and that was a scrapyard. There, I met my other new friend.
Remember back in Minefield, how I came across those three rabid dogs, and talked about how I'd hoped to tame one and take it as a pet, because they're relatively unmutated despite how every other animal in the wasteland turned out? Well, now I don't have to! I found an already tamed dog here. His master was killed by raiders. And this dog fucked those raiders up in return. I heard the shots going off, and I arrived on the scene to find this dog standing over four bodies. One was a regular wastelander who was full of bullet wounds, and the other three were raiders, completely lacking in bullet wounds, but almost ripped apart.
I call him Dogmeat. Morbid, maybe, but it fits. He responds to it, too. However vicious he was to the raiders, he seems to love me, and all the food I have with me too. What's more, he already knows tricks. He comes when I tell him to, sits, lays, stays, and he can even track down and find things for me. I jokingly asked if he could find me a weapon, and he brought me one of the raiders' guns. This dog is smart.
The two of us patrolled around that scrapyard looking for any old treasures to dig up. The best we found was a Quantum and an old box, containing one copy of US Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes, and another copy of Guns and Bullets. Speaking of which, I finally did get around to reading that during my stay with Agatha, and it was actually very informative. Turns out I've been holding my guns in an improper fashion this whole time and didn't know it.
There was also another Grognak comic, and this one is actually an issue I haven't seen yet. Better yet, it's the conclusion of a trilogy. I've been hoping to find this particular issue since I was ten years old. I know it's hard to convey emotion through green text on a wrist-mounted computer, but trust me, I'm ecstatic.
There was one curiosity that got to me, though. There's an office here that I can't get into. It's locked up tight, and there's no way inside. I've examined the lock on the door, and I thought about picking it, but I don't think I can. Now, don't get me wrong, I know how that sounds. I've picked a lot of locks by now. I've read extensively about the subject. I think it's fair to say that I've pretty much mastered the art. I probably don't even need Mentats to do it anymore. But I've looked at this lock, and it's one of the very few I've seen where picking it simply isn't physically possible. Whichever pre-war company constructed that lock should be proud. In my short time in the wasteland, I've broken into military bases where the security wasn't as comprehensive.
Of course, this means I now have a new obsession. Whatever's behind that door, I really want to know. I've marked the scrapyard on my map, because I'm coming back here one day. I'm certain there's something in there worth my time, if I can only find a key.
If only, if only...
On our way out of the scrapyard, we also came across another Talon Company squad. I think they were on their way to ambush me, but we actually got the jump on them. And Dogmeat demonstrated to me that he's more than capable of pulling his weight. While I was busy shooting two of them, he ran up to the other dude and ripped his throat out. I love this dog already.
After that, we headed east again to stay the night in Canterbury Commons once more, or more accurately, the robot repair centre. Because one thing still looms over me, and that is the vault I ran away from. Vault 108. I've been thinking, and I've decided that if I'm going to go plundering old abandoned vaults for Agatha, I need to get over my crippling fear of vaults first, because that might present a problem. They say the best way to get over your fears is to face them head on, so I'm going back to Vault 108 tomorrow, and I'm going to prove to myself that abandoned vaults are nothing to fear.
I mean, come on. Just because one of them was full of fucked up shit, doesn't mean they all are. Right?
Day 24: Questions Upon Questions.
Oh boy, did I ever pick a stupid way to end yesterday's entry.
Yeah, Vault 108 was fucked too. I think it was even more deteriorated than the last vault I entered, and I'm not even kidding, it was populated entirely by numbered clones of a single man called Gary. I killed off all the crazed clones, plus any other pests I found in there. Searching around for an explanation, though, I just couldn't find much of one. The place had a cloning lab, and these guys were definitely intentional creations. But for the life of me, I just can't understand why.
Why would you build a vault with a cloning lab? Why would you make dozens of clones of a single man called Gary? Why can the clones only say their own name and attack people?
I think the most pertinent question, though, is that if this vault was entered before or during the Great War, then how were the clones still alive until I killed them? I mean, geez. Did this single vault in Washington DC actually discover the secret to halting the aging process altogether, just as the world was destroyed in nuclear Armageddon? That's just sad.
Anyway, standard procedure. Looting the vault, picking up whatever's interesting. A few guns, but nothing notable. A Pugilism Illustrated, a stealth boy, a Quantum, a Lying, Congressional Style, and my personal favourite find, an extra bobblehead for my collection.
I made a quick stop by Canterbury Commons again, and there I finally met Crow, the armour dealer. He thanked me for my previous investment with a stupid-looking hat, made out of an Enclave eyebot. They're these little robots that float around the place playing Enclave radio aloud. I don't know if I've mentioned them or not yet, because they were more of a background detail, and I've mostly been ignoring them. I think they're the reason that Enclave radio reaches further than GNR does. Each one of them probably acts as a signal booster. Scatter enough of them across the wasteland, you've got complete coverage.
Crow was happy when I informed him of my little gift for him in Wheaton, though. So much so that he paid me in advance for some of it. I gave the caps right back to him and got a set of combat armour instead. His armour is slightly better than the Talon kind, and wearing this one makes sure I won't be mistaken for one of their mercs. Not that I have been so far, but I don't want to risk it. And I picked up some sunglasses and a bandanna too, just because it looks cool.
Tonight, I'm heading back to Megaton to dump off all this stuff. I'm done exploring for a few days. I need to cool off. After my near-death experience and all the shit I've gone through since I was last home, I think I've earned a reprieve.
Day 25: Way Back Home...
It feels so good to be back in a familiar place.
I spent the day just hanging around the town and getting my affairs in order. Nova and Gob are happily working the saloon without Moriarty now, and that Stahl girl seems very pleased that Jericho isn't around anymore. Lucas Simms won't admit it, but I can tell he's also much happier for having the seedier members of the town dealt with. I think on some level, the people here suspect that I'm responsible for it. Those deaths did immediately follow my arrival, after all. Even if there's no evidence to directly connect me, it's not much of a leap to assume that I'm the killer. However, none of them are complaining, and none of them have dared to say anything. I think they know that what I did was nothing but a benefit to them.
Now, Lucy West on the other hand? She despises me. Somehow (I'm not sure how), word got to her of what I did in Arefu. She hasn't said more than a few words to me, but she's probably aware of what I did to her brother. In retrospect, I probably should have remembered before I killed Ian that I was looking for him in the first place because his sister was worried for him. And it'd be bad enough if I had just killed him in a firefight or caused his death accidentally, but I actually tortured the man, and decorated the front wall of his house with Ian guts, creating a work of modern art that I like to call "raider chic."
And do you know what? I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. Fuck that guy.
Moira was also pleased to receive my gift of landmines and an informative description of my adventure in Minefield. I made sure to make special mention of Arkansas. I want that man's name written down in this book, so that his legacy can live forever. He deserves that. Guy was the most hardcore badass I've ever killed, and he fought me without either power armour, fancy weapons, or an army of robots. I was rewarded for my effort with a few grenades and schematics to make a mine using bottlecaps.
Speaking of schematics, once I was done going about town for the day, I had to return home to get back to organising my shit. Thanks to the materials I purchased from Crazy Wolfgang a while back, I was able to build that rock-it launcher, and construct a Nuka grenade too. Since I also found one of those already built in the Mechanist's forge, I now have two of the things, thus rendering my Fat Man redundant.
Speaking of, the Fat Man has found a new home in my weapons locker, alongside Miss Launcher and the minigun. It's a great weapon, but not one with much in the way of practical application. I will make sure to bring it along next time I plan on assaulting a large fortress, though. I've also dropped off the raider's flamer, the shishkebab, and Vance's Chinese sword, and also that tire iron I picked up in Canterbury Commons, which I didn't even know I still had until I emptied the backpack to unload all my loot. I also tossed that lucky eight ball Timebomb gave me in there. No sense carrying that around for nothing.
And for my other locker, I finally offloaded the two superhero costumes, the armoured vault jumpsuit, and that stupid fucking eyebot helmet. After making repairs, of course. In my travels, I have become an unparalleled master of equipment upkeep and maintenance, and I want all my stuff to be in top condition in case I ever need any of it again.
I'm keeping Vance's coat with me for now, though. I can't wear armour all the time; I need to have some kind of casual clothing.
I've also organised the library, putting all the Grognak comics I've collected and the best quality version of all the books I've been picking up in there, and selling all the excess copies to Moira. And my three newest bobbleheads are also right at home on that stand.
Dogmeat's settled in well, too. He likes the house, and is not too bothered by Wadsworth, the robot butler. I'm not sure about whether I should get any bedding for him or not. He seems to find the floor comfortable enough, and this place is warmer than the outside at any rate.
On a more personal note, Dad has apparently not returned to Megaton in my absence, so I'm forced to assume he probably doesn't know that I left the vault. I've had enough distractions already. I need to get back to finding him soon. And Three Dog at Galaxy News Radio is my best bet. I need to head into DC soon.
Day 26: Last Errands to Run.
Moira asked me to do one last bit of work for this chapter. I needed to head to the Super-Duper Mart and scavenge for food there. Well, loath as I was to put off the hunt for Dad, this wasn't too inconvenient. The Super-Duper Mart was on my way to DC anyway, so I figured, why not? I raided the place, as promised. There were raiders there, but they didn't last long. There was a Protectron there in storage too. I had great fun letting him loose on the place. I picked up a mini nuke, three Quantums, another Jerky Vendor book, and just as Moira wanted, some food and medicine. Also ammunition.
I was about to head back to Megaton to sell and store all the stuff I'd picked up there that I didn't need, but then... he showed up.
Remember I mentioned Three Dog's broadcast some time back, saying that a town called Grayditch went quiet? I now know why. It was overrun with giant, fire-breathing ants. Some massive cunt called Dr. Lesko experimented on the ants to make them this way, and it pretty much wiped out the whole town aside from him and this one kid called Bryan Wilks, who's now without a family thanks to him, and who approached me outside the Super Duper Mart to do something about it.
Needless to say, I put a stop to it. Lesko wanted to continue his experiments, and tried to appeal to me to help him by sparing the ant queen, but I didn't. I destroyed the mutagen sample that caused this, used his systems' fail-safes to send out a pulse to kill all the damn insects in Grayditch, and went back to Lesko to give him a thorough scolding for his irresponsibility with his experiments. I consider myself a scientist, and seeing this prick cause this mess in the name of science infuriates me.
Why I didn't kill him, I have no idea. Maybe because, despite everything, he could admit he was wrong? I honestly don't think there's any danger of him pulling this kind of crap again. He even gave me his lab coat and injection of a formula to make me stronger as a way of making up for it. Yes, I do understand that letting strange men inject me with serums is probably a bad idea, but it's okay. I know it's not harmful. I wouldn't have allowed it otherwise.
Side note: Dogmeat tried to kill the ant queen and her guardians with his teeth when we encountered them. Stupid mutt nearly killed himself, and I used up good stimpaks on him. Will need to keep a closer eye on him in future.
That still left the problem of Bryan, though. He says he has relatives in Rivet City, the other side of DC, so maybe I ask around there? Either way, that's all a project for later. He's staying in his father's old place in Grayditch for now, and I'll get back to him when I find a new place he can live. I'm hoping that Lesko will at least have the decency to keep an eye on him for the time being.
After that, I just had to get back to Megaton. What was supposed to be just tying up loose ends today spiralled into a whole other adventure, completely by accident. I've marked the major places I've been to today on the map (the Super-Duper Mart, Grayditch, and Marigold Station), and I'm going to head back that way once I've reached Rivet City. I also marked a sewer waystation I passed on the way to Grayditch, because I want to explore that some time, too. Not now, though. Priorities.
Also of interest, while I was in the station, I found a dead guy with a recording on him. I think he was named Grady. The recording was made in case he was murdered, and it instructed whoever found it to go get a key hidden in the station and unlock a safe, containing a package to be delivered to a man in a town called Girdershade.
I got the package. Do you know what it is? Sleepwear. No joke. And someone came in after me demanding it, too. I don't know who he was, what his deal was, or anything about him other than that his brains were a very non-standard colour. I guess I should deliver this if I ever find the opportunity to, but this is fucking weird. Just throwing that out there.
Anyway, back in Megaton now. Lesko's lab coat has found a nice home in my locker, and Moira is happy that I completed the research for the first chapter at long last. She gave me some stimpaks, iguana bits, and a weird little machine that should cut down the radiation in my food. Always a plus. I also sold her all the extra stuff I found in and around the places I explored today, including a missile launcher I found in a Grayditch home, and another copy of Guns and Bullets.
Next, Moira asked if I could go see her next time I get critically injured. A bit like what I did for the radiation portion of the research, except I don't feel like deliberately breaking my own arm just for this book. I still agreed, though; I injure myself regularly enough out here without even trying to. What's the harm in putting off healing myself until I can let her study my injuries? Hell, my limbs can regenerate.
Speaking of, I really should conduct some research on myself to find out why they do that. I'm still not seeing any of my skin coming off, so I don't think I'm turning into a ghoul. Or does it take longer than that?
Whatever. No more distractions. Tomorrow, I'm going to DC and hunting down Dad.
Day 27: A Distraction Appears.
What's this? Waking up to the sound of a distress signal on my Pip-Boy? Brotherhood Outcasts in need of assistance? What do I do, Dogmeat?!
It's a distraction! You need to go find Dad!
Oh, but getting distracted is so much fun!
Good point!
And that's how I came to be here in Bailey's Crossroads, sitting on a pile of super mutant and Outcast corpses. I walked into a battle and wiped out both sides, because that's just how I roll.
Side note: Dogmeat can bite the Outcasts through their power armour. I may not have ever actually required anything more than my silenced pistol to take down Fort Independence; these guys are pussies.
What's more, they were sitting on something big here. This facility houses a simulation pod. They were interested in this place because if you can complete the simulation (which is of the battle for Anchorage, Alaska), then it unlocks a vault full of technology.
I can't tell you how psyched I am for this. I've stuffed everything of mine in the backpack and tossed it into a side room along with all the Outcast bodies and power armour, and my faithful companion is going to be watching it for me while I'm in the simulation. I'll get to work exploring and looting the rest of this facility later. Because the biggest prizes are inside that vault, and as it happens, I have the necessary technology to access and play the simulation.
All I need to do is win the Great War.
And really, is there any doubt at all that I'm going to have the Chinese army's total unconditional surrender within the hour?
I'm putting on the sim suit now. Alaska, here I come!
Day 28: ...
War is Hell.
Mechasaurian
Big Bossu
- Location
- Lost among fields of history
- Pronouns
- They/Them
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Thanks! Good to be here.
The last decade's been a gradual process of rolling out my stories to more and more distant sites to go where the audience is, so I was bound to get to SV eventually.
- Location
- The Internet?
Agatha deserves nothing but the best because she is a dear sweet cinnamon roll, don't go killing her, Wanderer!
Dear God, the madmen, they finally cracked it. They were making a PérsonMon, and who better than the grandson of the greatest scientists in the field. Gary Oak, what did they do to you?
Aw, so you can be more like your hero, me,
Lucas Simms never struck me as much of an investigator.
Well, she said 'hey, go to Arefu,' and a few days later, word comes to town that Arefu's friggin' gone. She's got at least 2 brain cells to rub together, so it's not the biggest leap.
You gotta explode money to make money. That's how that expression goes, right?
"Have fun storming the
Not gonna maximize those Special scores if you keep this up, bud. Eh, Wadsworth's probably fine without any be- ohhh, you meant the dog. Yeah, be a good fur parent and take care of your friend!
You need to have a full conversation with him to set his tactics properly. Also, see if you can harness his inventory capacity.
The only reason you'd know that is if you made his inside parts some outside parts. At least you could verify he had some brains. Just didn't matter 'cause he wasn't using them.
Protector Casdin: At least you've proven that your Raditz is still stronger than our Raditz.
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Still waiting on the mod to throw out pokéball grenades which spawn friendly Garys to attack your enemies.
Lucas Simms doesn't need evidence. He operates purely off of vibes.
Weirdly enough, he never does, despite his skill stats being pretty munchkin-y (even though this is one of the few Fallout games where 10 in every SPECIAL is absolutely possible).
Ah yes, Fallout, a game where it's completely reasonable to ask the dog to carry several missile launchers for you on his back.
Week Five
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Wanderer's Diary: Week Five
Day 28 Part 2: War Has Apparently Never Changed.
I don't even want to go into what happened in that simulation. You could never understand, diary! You weren't there, man! You weren't there!
Actually, I think I'm exaggerating a bit. Seeing simulation soldiers get killed and their bodies dissolving into pixels hardly tugs at the heartstrings when I see real death on a regular basis, and am often the cause of it. I strangled an old man to death on his balcony, decapitated a guy with a Chinese sword, blasted a woman in the face with a shotgun, and punched a super mutant so hard it separated his body parts. Hell, even before I came into this facility, there was some sneering Outcast prick getting superior with me, who made the mistake of not wearing his helmet, and I planted Stabhappy in his eye socket. And that's not even mentioning what I did to Ian.
What got me, though, was this little view of the pre-war world. I know it's hardly accurate to say I fought in the Great War now, but that's what it was meant to be. I was fighting in a war, alongside all these soldiers. I was a soldier of America, old world America. We were battling some nefarious enemy for a resource that must have seemed so important at the time. And all the while, I was there, knowing exactly how pointless this would all end up being. Who cares about the oil? I certainly didn't. I live in a world where even if we had succeeded, and America had ended up controlling all of the oil, we'd have no use for it. I've wandered the wastes for weeks now, and I've still not found any working vehicles or machines that could use oil. This war would end up destroying the whole world, and these people were fighting it over some gunky black shit.
Hey, guys? Electricity? Hello?
Oh, what am I talking about? I never lived in pre-war America. If there was an alternative to going to war, I'm sure they would have taken it. I don't really know enough about the old world to make judgement calls like that.
Sure, if I had been the guy in charge, I'd have made it so all our cars and other transport relied on electricity rather than oil. Hell, even the nuclear-powered engines that most cars in the wasteland used are viable, even if they do tend to explode a lot. But I'm sure there's some kind of practical reason why they didn't build everything like that. If I can think of that alternative, I'm sure they did. And if they didn't go with it, I'll give the old world people the benefit of the doubt, and assume there's a reason why they didn't. I mean, come on. Would America have really fought a full-scale war that could've and did end in nuclear Armageddon if they didn't legitimately need the stuff?
Still, though, I have never before been more aware of the fact that I'm living in a world that's already ended. It's a sobering thought. One that I will have to rectify with more drinking.
Tomorrow, I'll collect up everything and move out of this base. I've marked the locations of the outpost and Bailey's Crossroads in case I need to come here again, though I doubt I ever will.
Anyway, I got into that vault and got my prizes. In the way of weapons, there were two that got me really excited, those being the Gauss rifle (which I actually already used in the simulation, and can vouch for the effectiveness of, even if it does have some annoying quirks), and a special Chinese sword that was once used by General Jingwei himself, whom I beat to death as my final test in the simulation. It has a current running through it, so anyone who gets stabbed by it also gets electrocuted. Nasty business.
Another new toy I've picked up is a set of winterised power armour, stronger than anything the Outcasts were using. And even better? I can actually use this.
As a reward for completing the simulation, when the final battle concluded, I was given additional training, and a nice little card saying I was now further qualified for field duties. The training included how to use power armour without getting stuck and embarrassing myself, and for some sneaky snake espionage I pulled as part of some optional briefcase collection challenge, it also gave me some minimal extra training in the fields of computer science, lockpicking, and tactical weapons use, which I guess are skills the Army valued highly. Not much use to me, though, aside from the firearms training; locks and computers are two of the things I understand best.
Still, I am really happy about this power armour. Finally, I can use these monstrous things. With this set, I could probably just walk through most raiders. Super mutants wouldn't be anything more than an irritation. Outcasts, if there even are any left, would fail even harder than ever. And raiders would be reduced to the level of molerats for me. And even molerats know not to fuck with me anymore. Now they just sniff the air and back away when I pass by. They can probably smell all the blood I regularly get bathed with.
The Outcast power armour is still dead weight to me, though. I want to sell it, because it feels wrong to leave tech as advanced as power armour just lying around when I'm sure someone somewhere could still use it, but even if I leave the frames behind, this shit gets heavy. For now, I'm doing what I do best. I'm taking all the suits apart, and using the good pieces to fix the broken ones, putting them back together as one single, far stronger, better condition suit. Maybe I'll bring one of the good frames back, and just keep it spare to give to someone I like?
Another prize I'm extremely satisfied with is a stealth suit developed by the Chinese. It can turn the wearer invisible, just like those stealth boys I keep finding around, except the stealth suit has no time limit. At least not in the same sense. I don't think that the cloaking is as effective, but I can't deny the usefulness of a suit that turns me invisible. I'm taking this with me.
Other than that, just the standard stuff in here. A few decent weapons. Nothing I haven't seen before, aside from a few plasma explosives. I'll keep the grenades, but I'm selling the mines.
When I leave tomorrow, I need to get all this back to Megaton. That won't be a fun journey.
I should also comment that while exploring, I found that the Outcasts had found and captured one of the Gary clones from that vault, trying to get his Pip-Boy so they could do the simulation. They sawed his arm off.
...What the fuck, guys?
Day 29: Many Things are Afoot in Megaton.
Today, I hauled all my stuff back to Megaton. I think it gave me back pains.
Still though, I've sold all the excess crap and gotten rid of it now. Lucky Harith took most of it off my hands. In return, I got a set of schematics from him. I thought it was going to be something new, but it turned out to just be the shishkebab that Vance had plans for. It's just like how both Wolfgang and Moira had plans for that shoulder-mounted junk canon. I have to wonder who it was that originally thought these up.
I also got rid of a few other things I felt I could do without. Combat armour for one, these stupid brass knuckles that I've carried around and still not used for another, and the bandanna and sunglasses, which while awesome, I can't wear underneath a big steel helmet.
I went back to that school in Springvale and scavenged through the place for parts. I got at least one of anything I thought could be used for something and brought it back home. This happened to include all the parts necessary to make my own shishkebab, which I did, just to see if I could. It turned out alright. Not the best. Thing was a little clunky. I cannibalised (HA!) Vance's shishkebab for parts to fix it up a bit. It's still got nothing on the electro-sword though.
I built a few explosives too. Nuka grenades and some mines that use bottle caps, which Moira gave me the designs for after that expedition to Minefield. My attempts at tinkering could have gone worse, but I still wasn't ultimately happy with the results. I don't think any of these designs are quite perfect. I'd improve on them myself, but I really don't have the time. I sold my errant creations to Moira. Mines first, then that rock-it launcher, because I was finding no use for it, and then, yes, the shishkebab. I don't need one of those when I have Jingwei's sword, and even that I don't plan to carry around everywhere. That goes in my weapons locker with the other novelties.
Speaking of novelties, I went out for dinner tonight at the Stahl family's bar dressed in that ant costume, just for the fuck of it. Their reactions were priceless.
But yeah. Awesome as it is, I don't think I'm much of a sword user. I mean, what would I do if I came across another swordsman, and I don't even know proper duelling technique? I suppose I could imitate the moves I've seen in Grognak comics, like I've been doing so far, but I really much prefer small knives, like Stabhappy, or blunt instruments, like that tire iron. I should think of a name for that too...
Or alternatively, I could use the one new creation that I didn't throw away, the deathclaw gauntlet.
Oh yes. I did. I took a claw capable of slicing through power armour (if my experiments with that Outcast set I had was any indication), turned it into a glove, and stuck it on my hand. Do you know what that means? It means that the next time I meet an Outcast, stabbing is a viable option for dealing with them.
Speaking of killing, Lucy West is irritating me with her casual mentions of Arefu every time I see her. I'm surprised no-one has asked about it with how often she brings it up. Everyone still acts like I'm the second coming of Christ around here. Maybe they just don't believe that I'm capable of what she's accusing, and they're just ignoring her?
I don't know. I mean, they all seem to silently acknowledge that I murdered two people while here. Three if you count Burke. Even if they don't say it, they probably do know that I'm not a saint. Enough so that if I were them, I'd definitely be asking questions right now.
I'm not sure how long I can get away with this. Even in a post-apocalyptic environment where it's kill or be killed, and there's no governing body to conduct investigations, or forensics to link someone to a crime scene, or even that many people who could solidly prove I did anything through old-fashioned detective skills, it's still possible to slip up. And I get the feeling that someone, somewhere, is going to want justice for Arefu sooner or later. Lucy West could very well hire out additional Talon Company hit squads on me. I don't think she actually would. She seems content for now to just bitch at me when I see her, and bitch about me to everyone else when she thinks I can't see her. The woman's definitely bitter, though, and I would not put some form of vengeance below her.
Right now, I'm debating whether or not I should kill her. I really don't want to, because she hasn't done anything wrong, exactly, and the townsfolk are only quiet about the other deaths because they all deserved it, but I really don't want to wake up to find her standing over my bed pointing my own plasma rifle at me. Just to be safe, I've got Dogmeat with me, and I've instructed Wadsworth to kill Miss West with fire if she ever comes in here.
Another thing worth mention is that I stopped by Doc Church's clinic to see if I could buy some more medical supplies from him, because that's just about all I spend my money on nowadays. I found a holotape while I was there. A curious one. It was by some woman, sent to Church, asking if he could act as a surgeon for a runaway android. Yes, an android. A synthetic man. A robot more advanced than any other I've seen, and capable of imitating humans perfectly. One of them had apparently gained free will and fled from his slave masters, and wanted a doctor and a mechanic to fix him up, wipe his memories, and give him a new face, perhaps seeking to start life over as a normal human under a new identity.
Damn, that just blew my mind when I heard it. I've never even heard of something like that. I asked Church about it, but he apparently thought he was being had, and that this android thing was a joke. I can sympathise. I asked Moira about it, too. She had a holotape allegedly by the android himself which basically said the same thing, but she didn't believe it was real either.
Can I just tell you, diary, that I'm really excited? Just think of it! Androids! Synthetic men! The most advanced form of robots ever constructed, and they might even be real! There could be one here, in the Capital Wasteland! I have to meet it. I have to study it. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I can't possibly let this go. I'm going to investigate this and find the android. And when I do, I think I will have a new best friend.
While I was asking Moira about androids, the subject of my task to come back to her mutilated also came up, but I realised that with my new power armour, I'm unlikely to ever seriously injure myself again. I told her as such, and she was disappointed, but that's how I came up with a brilliant new idea, which I really should have thought of sooner – write the chapter myself. I'm a doctor, after all. Well, I might as well be; I was trained in medicine in the vault, and my skills have only improved since I got out here, so I know what I'm talking about. I've even got experience treating people after Big Town, so why not?
It took a large part of the day, but I did it. I was given a load of Med-X and an environment suit for my troubles, which is a radiation protection suit like the one that the deathclaw ruined, and which also found home in my locker. And now my next task is... wait for it...
Hitting molerats with a big stick.
So yeah, I clearly don't have anything else important to do around here. I'm taking a break from all this errand-running stuff. Tomorrow, I head down into DC, for serious this time.
Day 30: Of All the Things That Could Happen...
DC is a nightmare. I just don't know what went wrong. I really don't. It all started so well, too.
So, where to begin? Well, I guess where it started. That would be Farragut West Metro Station. Compared to the rest of my day, it was a fucking walk in the park, but I didn't think it would be at the time. It says something that the low point of my day involved a gas explosion and a bunch of ghouls gone feral trying to eat me. Guess Three Dog and all the others I've heard talk about it were right after all. Some ghouls do lose their minds. And when they do, they're fucking scary.
This tunnel eventually led out into another tunnel which I could take either way. I went the wrong way, and had an encounter with a ghoul who glowed radioactive green and could cause radiation explosions with what I can only describe as magic. He was making grand arm gestures while summoning it, like a tribal shaman, and all the other ghouls seemed to recognise him as the leader. What else can it be? It's fucking magic.
Wizards are still susceptible to being bitten by angry dogs, though, as my trusty companion proved. Maybe the heretics will think twice next time before trying to practice their Satanic arts on me, for I shall set my dog upon them, and slay them in the name of the Lord! Praise Jesus!
We eventually left the tunnel, ending up in a place called Friendship Heights, where there was a raider camp. I cleared it out, and took a look around, but it quickly became apparent that this was the wrong way. My map indicated I had just gone eastwards into DC instead of south like I wanted. I did stumble across what appeared to be a National Guard base while there, but exploring it was the last thing on my mind at the time. I have marked the location to return there later, though.
Returning to the metro tunnel, I tried the other end. There are many possible paths through most metro tunnels, I've found, but you can usually rely on most of them to be blocked off somehow. The very few paths left are pretty straightforward. The one I took led me to a super mutant, who'd been fighting some of the ghouls. Good to know the mutated horrors of the wasteland hate each other as much as they hate me.
Eventually, I ended up in a place called Chevy Chase. This is where I had the honour of meeting the famous Brotherhood of Steel for the first time.
Despite the warnings I heard from President Eden and the Enclave, I once again decided to approach them first. Back when I first approached the Outcasts, I did so because I thought that I couldn't fight them. This time, equipped with power armour and a number of dangerously powerful guns, I knew for a fact I could smear these guys across the pavement if I so wanted, but I decided to give them the chance. The Outcasts were kicked out of the Brotherhood of Steel because they didn't want to be heroes. They were douchebags and proud of it. I figured, how douchey could the Brotherhood proper be?
Not very, it turns out, but it was still apparent that those guys were once on the same side. They shared that arrogant attitude. Despite my power armour, they for some reason assumed that I didn't know what I was doing, and that I needed their help to get through this mess, which is especially ironic considering how the battle ended.
They were there to clear the super mutants out of the area, as they were heading to Galaxy News Radio as well. The Brotherhood and Three Dog are allies of a kind. He shelters them in his studio, which is one of the few safe places in the city, and they protect it for him in return. I had to help them with that, of course. Despite their boasting, they turned out to be too incompetent to put down the threat by themselves. Fortunately for them, I was there with my Gauss rifle to blow the mutants into literal pieces. It was disgusting, but satisfying.
And then the giant showed up.
It was my finest hour, without a doubt, but I don't really want to brag. All you need to know is that super mutants can grow as large as houses, that they start using fire hydrants on sticks as weapons at such a size, and that I had to kill one of these with a convenient Fat Man dropped by one of the idiots who got themselves killed. Also, Dogmeat is stronger than fire hydrant sticks.
That certainly got Sentinel Lyons' attention. Teach her to doubt my abilities. These Brotherhood types will know better than to fuck with me now. I didn't even need to reveal myself as the one who ended the Outcasts. I just proved my badassery all over again, even though I could have just listed some of my accomplishments and left it at that.
Still, I'll be watching her in future. And not just because I'm having vivid sexual fantasies about her, but also because she seems like a pretty big deal in the Brotherhood of Steel, and she personally knows me and knows what I can do now. If I ever feel like I need a favour from the Brotherhood, it'd be good to keep her in mind.
As you'd expect, I shortly afterwards met Three Dog himself. And yes, he has seen Dad, who he told me went off in the direction of Rivet City after coming to see him. And according to the date and times he gave me, Dad had just left his station moments after I had left the vault!
I never knew my dad was an Olympic sprinting champion.
I wonder if there's even any point to going to Rivet City by now? I'll probably find he's not there either. If his current rate of progress is anything to go by, the man is probably on one of the moons of Jupiter by now.
Three Dog was also an interesting guy himself. Had a story or two to tell. I found out that most of his broadcasts are pre-recorded and repeat continuously until they're out of date, so as to make sure the radio's always on the air. In fact, even in the middle of talking to him, I heard his radio reporting on my acts of heroism in Canterbury Commons and Big Town.
And STILL no mention of Arefu.
I even asked about Arefu, and he's heard no news at all relating to it. He hasn't even heard that it's gone dark like he did when it happened to Grayditch. I guess it makes sense, considering the only witnesses were the ones who got killed, but in that case, how the fuck did Lucy West find out? Even the caravan guys who stopped by the ruined town, I never actually told the truth to. When I was selling stuff to them, and they were asking about where the residents were, I just told them the Family wiped it out, and that I was squatting there. So what the fuck?
Me and that West girl will be having words later.
Well, at that point it was still daylight outside, and I figured I could make some more progress before the day was out. Three Dog also had a favour to ask, too. Since his signal range is shit right now, thanks to his broadcaster in the Washington Monument being damaged, he wants me to get a replacement dish from some museum and fix it. In exchange, he'll give me a key to a weapons cache. Count me in.
So then it was back into the underground, where I suffered more ghouls, and found a bunch of dead raiders. I shortly afterwards emerged into a place called Vernon Square. And this is where things got really batshit.
My first stop was the Vault-Tec headquarters. There, I fought super mutants and robots by the hundreds, and battled my way to the top floor to hack their mainframe and get the location of that vault for Agatha. I did so, while also getting some information on several other vaults as well. Strangely, I found a terminal entry there referencing a Vault 112, but its location wasn't on the mainframe. Weird. I also had to fight a monstrosity called the Masterbrain, but that's small-time stuff compared to everything else I did today.
Anyway, then I went outside and continued my exploration. At one point, I even dredged through a sewer to deal with some super mutants. It was disgusting, but it was just as I finished doing that that I received a distress signal from some mercenaries trapped on the roof of a nearby hotel. They said that if assistance was not possible, I had to go find their leader, Reilly, in some place called Underworld. I had no fucking idea what that meant, but by that point my power armour was battered, I was injured, and it's difficult to inject stimpaks into the correct area or take RadAway when in a big bulky suit like that, so I decided not to risk another super mutant excursion, and to take my chances trying to find this Underworld place before it got dark.
After running all over the damn place, I headed back into the metro tunnel from whence I came, and tried other routes through it until I found myself in a new area, called Dupont Circle. There I experienced all-new hell, as I fought raiders and ghouls, somehow ended up in an irradiated sewer, wandered into a fashion boutique, blew up some cars, and eventually fell down some steps into a metro station to continue my journey – God's way of urging me along, I like to think.
It didn't work, though. I wandered around in Dupont Circle Station for a short while, went through another tunnel that was completely wrecked, and exited into Dupont again. Guess it really was a Dupont circle. Aha! I'm so clever.
I took me a bit to un-fuck myself and go back to the metro to try again. Eventually, though, I found my way through Metro Central, and exited near a museum just after sunset. Specifically, the Museum of History. And what do you know? It turns out that Underworld is a city full of ghouls based out of that exact museum!
I had actually been really hoping to get to Reilly as soon as possible and deal with the Rangers' situation, but... fuck it. I need sleep. I need food. I need to get my armour repaired. And Dogmeat's been following behind and fighting with me all day, and he's damn near dead after all he's been through.
I turned in my equipment to some guy to fix, rented a bed, and I've been sitting here on it for the past half an hour, alternately eating preserved boxes of pre-war food, injecting myself with stimpaks and painkillers, and writing this gigantic journal entry. And after I'm done, I'm going to drop unconscious and remain so for the rest of the week.
Fuck DC and fuck everything in it.
Day 31: Getting in Gear.
First priority today was organising myself. Yesterday's excursions through the wastes of DC left me with a veritable cornucopia of unwanted shit. In particular, books. I have a weakness for them. There aren't many of them left intact in the world, so I don't like seeing them left around to rot in sewers or under rubble.
To the goal of fighting that outcome, I sold to the town's merchant, Tulip, two copies each of Junktown Jerky Vendor, Big Book of Science, Lying, and 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes, as well as one copy each of Nikola Tesla, the Journal of Internal Medicine, Dean's, and one of the Grognak the Barbarian comics I had already read (I kept the other two I found). This in addition to two other random books I found about nothing important, but it was starting to feel hypocritical of me to let the elements claim some of the only surviving books in the wasteland just because I didn't like them. Thinking back on it, I feel bad for not saving that mediocre romance novel I left back in Minefield.
I also found two Quantums and three stealth boys yesterday, but I'm keeping them. You never know...
After that I went to see about finding Reilly. And I found her, alright. In a coma.
Doctor Barrows was afraid, but I had the necessary medical training/experience to safely wake her up and ask her what the fuck was going on. Despite it having been a day already, she was confident that her men were still alive. She told me about how they got trapped on the roof, how and why she got away, the unfortunate fate of one of the mercs named Theo, and about the ammo box he was carrying that they left behind, which she gave me the code for.
Well, given all that, I couldn't help but take her up on her request and go to rescue them. I picked up my repaired armour and weapons from Winthrop, and set out back the way I came.
Dupont and the metro tunnels were still a maze, but Dogmeat remembered the way we came yesterday, and led the way back to Dupont. From there, we located the entrance to some sewers (not the irradiated sewers; different sewers) full of Talon mercs who were struggling against some super mutants. Happy day. Hadn't seen those guys in a while. I was glad for the opportunity to test out the power armour and Gauss rifle against them.
Me and Dogmeat broke into the local hospital from the sewers, and from there fought an army of super mutants to get up to the second floor, while also enlisting the help of robots and the turret security systems. T'was all good fun.
Incidentally, I at one point came across two super mutants, unaware of my presence. They were talking about how they had not found any of "the green stuff" here. I had the pleasure of speaking to Reilly about it later, and she thought that the super mutants were in high concentration in Vernon because they were looking for something. I don't know what "the green stuff" is, or why it would be in a hospital, but I think she was right about that.
So, why did we cause all that chaos in the hospital? Because that was the only way into the Statesmen Hotel.
We had to cross a fallen radio mast to enter it on one of its upper floors. It was precarious, and I had to actually carry Dogmeat across. Poor pup was afraid of heights. But he's sure got no fear of super mutants. Immediately after I put him down on the other side and he stopped shivering, one of the first things he did was run in and break one's kneecap with his teeth.
Such a good dog.
The hotel was a maze as well. There were mutants, there were traps, and there was a note left by a dying man to his daughter which just depressed the hell out of me. There were also books, but as a way of being practical, I've decided from now on to list out the books I've discovered at the end of each entry or when I sell them, rather than during them, to save myself time and effort.
I found Theo's ammo box, and emptied it out as per Reilly's instructions. Then, after a quick bit of maintenance on the elevator in the restaurant, I was on my way up to the roof. There, I finally met the Rangers, standing in the middle of a sea of super mutant corpses. Trapped or not, Reilly was right. These guys were badasses.
Though they were disappointed that me and a dog were the only help coming, they were willing to accept my help either way. I distributed Theo's ammo amongst them, repaired the other elevator on the roof (something that they couldn't do themselves without replacing the parts entirely), and together we blazed through the remaining super mutants at the speed of my dad.
The Rangers all left to go back to their headquarters after that. They pinpointed it on my map for me, and invited me to stop by to see Reilly about my reward for saving their asses. Glad to see some gratitude. Braving this hellhole is hard work.
After that, I decided to explore Vernon a bit. There were places I hadn't been yet, after all. My first port of call was a metro station tunnel full of super mutants and mirelurks, which led me to a place called Takoma Park. It was an isolated-looking place, which I decided to look around. I found two inhabitable buildings there, a garage and a pawnshop. The latter had a little leaguer baseball cap there, which I had to take because I saw it and I nostalgia'd hard.
Then I stepped out and found some Talon mercs waiting for me. I didn't think these pricks would be determined enough that they'd follow me into the heart of Washington DC, especially after how many of them I've killed, and especially considering the recent additions to my arsenal, but I guess these ones were just extra confident. Or not. Maybe they were actually in the area fighting super mutants, but they just saw me going into the pawnshop, and decided to set up an impromptu ambush.
There was also a huge load of super mutants in the area that I had to clear out, though this time I had artillery strikes to help me with it. There was another of those big ugly fuckers like the one at GNR as well. I call them Behemoths. I also considered Leviathans, but that has a more oceanic connotation. If I ever meet a mirelurk that size, those will be the Leviathans.
I explored the factory around that area too, but found nothing. Though coming out of it again, I did find a campsite, set up by a dead couple who had been studying feral ghouls, who got killed by their own stupidity. Then I was attacked by feral ghouls. Who'd have thunk it?
Making my way back to Vernon Square, I then tried the other metro tunnel there, which led me to Pennsylvania Avenue. It was a long street full of super mutants and mines that were linked up to a big switch which I found. You can guess what happened.
After blowing up the whole street, I proceeded to the very end of it, where I discovered the remnants of the White House, home of the pre-war presidents, and one of the most iconic landmarks of the old world, now nuked to hell. Stupidly, I even visited the crater where it used to be, despite the radiation. I just needed to see it, to know if there was anything left. It was a bit of history, after all. Nothing remained of the structure, but while there, I did find a number of glowing ghouls. Perhaps they were politicians before the war? In which case, I've also killed a bit of history. That's a unique claim.
There was a Fat Man there, too.
I went back to the main street again and looked around some more. I found a hotel where a Brotherhood of Steel paladin was sleeping. I left them alone, and decided against stealing anything in there for once. Later, Dogmeat sniffed out a scavenger who was hanging around the area. We traded. He gave me lunch, and I gave him shitloads of books. Two Special Ops Training manuals, one Flamethrower Recipes, one Internal Medicine, one Pugilism, one old Grognak issue, one Dean's, two Tumblers Today, two copies of Lying, Congressional Style, and one other piece of shite. I don't even remember what it was. Cookbook, I think?
After that I headed through a metro tunnel again and found myself in Seward Square, location of the Rangers' compound. There was some chaos going on with Talons and super mutants, but it was nothing another artillery strike couldn't deal with. Been finding a lot of those today.
Then there was some crazy psycho fuck ranting about a worm and some trees in the north, and holding some guy hostage. I killed him and disarmed his explosives. Fucking mini nukes. No idea how he got them. Hostage was grateful. After that was all done, I went off and met the Rangers.
Finally, after everything, I was recognised for my help. I was given a choice of either armour or Brick's modified minigun, Eugene, for payment. I picked Eugene, because when you have power armour, anything less is just not worth it. The others had rewards for me, too. Donovan will repair equipment if I need it from now on, while Butcher can provide medical services. Reilly also had additional jobs for me. She gave me a geo-mapping module, which I can record map information from my Pip-Boy on, and give back to her with location data for payment. That's convenient for me, because I've been wandering DC for the past few days making my own map of the place, and I also mapped out a lot of the wasteland around the city.
In addition to the locations already mentioned in previous entries, I have mapped out twenty-eight new locations in the previous few days (most of which I split into several locations just now so that I could get paid more for it). In no particular order, I mapped out Vernon Square (divided into the north section, east section, station, hospital, hotel, and Vault-Tec HQ), Dupont Circle (divided into the east, northeast, west, and station), Pennsylvania Avenue (the north, northwest, south, east, Metro Central entrance, and the White House plaza), Chevy Chase (north, east, and GNR building), Takoma (divided into Takoma Park and the industrial area), and Seward Square (the southeast, northwest, the north part where the metro is, and the Ranger compound).
Yes, I even got paid for mapping the Rangers' own compound. Sweet.
I also added the Museum of History, Friendship Heights, and the White House itself.
It still isn't that late out yet, but I'm not going out again today. I'm exhausted. My two days in DC so far have been as busy as four outside it. It just makes more sense for me to stay here at the compound tonight and get into the habit of sleeping in half-days. At least Dogmeat likes it here. He didn't like Underworld quite so much.
I think it's because of the smell. Must be even worse for a dog than for me. I got nothing against ghouls really, but fuck, those guys stink worse than Moriarty must do by now.
Day 32: Business as Usual.
The metro tunnels in DC go everywhere, so I've made it my quest to scour every corner of this blasted ruin and find any and all hidden treasure it may hide. Now that I know there's a ghoul city in the middle of it, I have a convenient place to sell my finds too. So why not? I mean, fuck it. It's not like Dad would actually be at Rivet City if I went there right now, right? He's bound to have left it by now. And if he hasn't already, then he'll probably stay there a little while more. I've got time.
First we went back to Pennsylvania Avenue, this time taking a sewer line instead of a metro, just to see what was down there. There was a stash of ammo, but not much else. So, then we picked another unexplored metro tunnel and went through it, ending up in a new district called Georgetown. Now that I'm getting paid for mapping places, I am doing so with new vigour. I marked the north, south, east and west ends of the place as separate locations (quadruple your money!) and searched the place for anything of importance.
By far my most depressing find was a still functioning Mr. Handy in a residential home, which after I input the command in the terminal to see what it would do, sung a poem about mankind perishing. I don't know what the poem is called or who it's by, but whoever they are can go fuck themselves. Not just because it was so ironic given the situation, but also because the robot was singing it to a child's corpse as part of its routine to read bedtime stories. I would have cried if I weren't a strong, manly man who never cries at anything ever, but instead I drank some beer and did some bench-pressing. Stop reminding me of what a shitty world I live in, random robot butler!
The hotel was far less depressing. Just the standard super mutant attacks, mini nukes, and stealth boys. Convenient that I've been finding these again since I picked up that extra Fat Man from the Brotherhood of Steel. I'm surprised that Lyons forgot to demand this back from me. I'd have thought that this was a rare and expensive piece of hardware.
The grocery store had nothing of note, but the Radiation King next door housed a scavenger, whom I talked to about the horribly depressing sight I saw in the house, and whom I certainly did not break down in front of, and who definitely didn't need to pat me on the back and give me life advice. Because we were both masculine warriors who need no emotions, we instead concluded my story with mutual hearty laughs and a round of shirtless wrestling. Not gay. He did take what guns and new books I had found off my hands, though. Two copies of Lying, one of Tumblers, and one of Flamethrower Recipes. Three I had found today, but one of the Lying books was picked up yesterday in Seward.
While in there, he also directed me to a leaflet advertisement for a group called the Regulators, apparently dedicated to fighting evil in the Capital Wasteland. Says it might help me. It provides a map to some place up north, and tells me to contact someone called Sorona Cruz there if I'm interested. I really am, actually, if only to make sure that I don't somehow make their list. But mostly I was just shocked to learn that there even is a law enforcement agency operating in the Capital Wasteland, because it sure doesn't fucking seem like it. I thought I was the only one around dispensing justice, and I'm just as much of a villain as some of the people I kill.
I looked around Georgetown some more after that. I found one raider-infested metro tunnel to follow, and it just led me back out to Dupont again, so fuck that. I took a side path into another tunnel, which was mirelurk-infested instead, and that led me into a utility station that had mirelurks and raiders, at the same time. SHOCK HORROR!
It soon led me above ground into a place called Arlington, which hosts a massive cemetery. I was planning to explore and map this place too, but then I realised that I was somehow on the other side of the damn Potomac River, so I decided to mark my immediate location as Arlington Cemetery North and make a note to come back there later. So I returned to Georgetown again, and then explored a different underground route. This led me through some more raider-filled sewers, and I emerged on the far west side of the DC ruins again.
This time, though, it was more interesting. This was coincidentally the place where Moira had sent me to test out her molerat repellent, and there were several here. I figured, why not? So I started bashing them, and then they exploded. All in all, I'd say the repellent was a huge success.
I mapped the sewer entrance, and since I saw a sign nearby a local building that seemed to suggest someone was living in it, I went in to say hello. The inhabitants were a scumbag named Dukov, who I instantly disliked, and his two prostitutes. He turned out to be important later, and I need to go see him again soon, but I didn't think much of him at the time. I might still kill him if I feel like it later. If I start feeling a need to. But I highly doubt I'll run out of people to kill in DC with all the super mutants, raiders, ghouls, mirelurks, and other hideous abominations around. Still, it's an inhabited location. As far as I'm concerned, that means it's important enough for me to map and thus get paid for.
Back to Georgetown yet again, and this time exploring the last metro there I hadn't checked, leading to the Mall. That's the name for the area where the museum and Underworld is. The station where I came out, I mapped as Mall Northwest. From there, I returned to the Museum of History. Dogmeat is not happy to be back here, but I am. This place fascinates me.
I spent the remainder of my day getting to know the locals and learning the settlement's history, just as I did back in Megaton when I first arrived there. I already met Doc Barrows and Nurse Graves yesterday, the two resident medical practitioners. Notably, they're studying ghouls and trying to find a way to slow or cure the ghoul condition. An admirable and noble goal, if I do say so myself, even if I doubt they'll succeed. They've even actually captured live glowing ones to study. My inner scientist applauds them.
Winthrop is another one I met already. He's the technician of Underworld. He repaired my stuff. Much like Walter in Megaton, he's asked me to bring him scrap metal to help fix up the place. I'll keep it in mind for him.
Carol and Greta are a lesbian couple (I think), and run Carol's Place together. That's the place I rented out last time I was here. It serves food too. Carol told me her story, which was interesting. She's been here since the Great War, and her and the other survivors of the immediate blasts actually ghoulified while setting up the town here. She's also a sort of adoptive mother to Gob from Megaton, and was glad to hear when I told her about him, and how he's running his own bar.
There were others I met. Willow is the woman who scouts outside the museum and watches for super mutants, humans, and other travellers. Snowflake is a jet-user and a hairdresser. Patchwork is the town drunk. Quinn is a ghoul who goes out trading across the wastes and occasionally returns to Underworld to supply Tulip. Cerberus is a reprogrammed Mr. Gutsy, who hates ghouls, but thanks to his programming is forced to protect the settlement anyway. Not much to say about any of them.
I saved the really interesting stuff for last, though.
There were two people of note in the local bar. It was called the Ninth Circle, and it was tended by some bastard called Ahzrukhal, and guarded by his bouncer, Charon. I asked him about Charon, who was a bit weird in that he refused to talk to me at all and directed me to his boss instead. Turns out Charon has some weird thing where he absolutely has to follow the orders of whoever holds his contract. Not because he's a slave or anything. It's all his choice. But for some reason he chooses to blindly follow his contact-holder no matter what, even if he personally finds it morally reprehensible.
This was relevant to my interests, so I purchased his contract, even though Ahzrukhal wanted to give me the contract for free if I murdered Greta for him. Well, I didn't want to. I was actually planning on murdering him later that night for that request. But wouldn't you know it? When I told Charon he worked for me now, and he realised Ahzrukhal didn't have his contract anymore, he beat me to the punch and killed Ahzrukhal himself. In front of the whole bar.
What a stand-up guy.
Then there's Tulip. Oh boy, Tulip. Turns out there's more levels to her than I thought. She's part of some secret society dedicated to helping androids escape from the Commonwealth where they're made. She confessed this after I found a holotape in her shop about the android, talking about how they had all the stuff they needed now to perform facial reconstruction surgery. I don't think this so-called "Railroad" wants me hunting down this android guy, but screw them. Real life androids, man! I need to see this!
Before I forget, I also sold her one copy each of Dean's Electronics, Nikola Tesla and You, DC Journal of Internal Medicine, US Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes, and Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual, as well as two other unwanted pre-war books. Plus guns. I also obtained from her shop a set of schematics for a rifle that fires railway spikes, which I want to build once I get back to Megaton, just for the novelty of it. And she's provided me with the one single interesting-looking book I've seen so far that I haven't already read. It's called Paradise Lost, and I can't wait to read it when I get the chance.
Oh, and on a final note, there's a guy called Crowley here who has a thing about bigots who have a problem with ghouls. He kept a list of prominent ones, and offered me a hundred caps to kill each one of the four remaining on the list, so long as I did it with a head shot. Any other way it was twenty-five caps. He also wants something personal from each to prove I did it, like a key or a ring. This guy gives me serious Burke vibes. I don't trust him.
Interestingly, I looked at the list, and found two names I recognised. Tenpenny and Dukov. I informed him that Tenpenny was already dead, and he actually believed me, but he was surprised that he hadn't already heard about it. He says that news of Tenpenny's death should have travelled fast. Maybe it's because I hid the body, and no-one actually knows for sure if he's dead? Or maybe that head of security guy realised that he's the next highest up on the hierarchy, and took over the tower while covering it all up? All possibilities. All worthy of consideration.
Dukov, though... Hmm... I'll pay him a visit later. See what's what. This guy has my attention now.
Anyway, it's been an eventful day, and for now I just want to sleep it off. Tomorrow promises a brand new adventure with my new assistant, and my new goals.
I'm coming for you, Replicated Man.
Day 33: Shopping in the Mall.
FUCK super mutants. Fuck all the super mutants!
So, once I got out of Underworld this morning, I checked over my map and decided to start checking all the undiscovered areas I had made a note of. Charon and Dogmeat of course came along. First we went into the museum metro again before moving on to the Metro Central. That place, I went over with a fine-toothed comb (even though I had already been there several times) until I was certain I had discovered all of its secrets, one of them being a dead slave with a note on his body talking of a place north of Canterbury Commons called the Temple of the Union. Another place to check out, added to my ever-growing list.
We took the exit up to Pennsylvania Avenue again. There was a single metro tunnel there I hadn't yet explored and which I wanted to, but it turned out to just lead back to somewhere else in the Mall. I mapped my exit as Mall Northeast. Exiting the place, we came across super mutants, Talons, and all other kinds of scum. I decided then that today's project was clearing the Mall out.
No small task, even though I was at the top of my game and had assistance this time. We went from one end of the Mall to the other, killing everything we came across aside from Willow and some Brotherhood of Steel guys. It was a bastard to do, and took half the day, but we did it. But even then, we still had to head into the underground areas, like that fucking bunker, the museum metro directly beneath the place, and the mirelurk lair. I mapped the area near the lair as Mall Southwest. I mapped several other locations around the area too, like the Museum of Technology, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the National Archives, the Capitol Building, and the Museum Authority Building.
I've made it our mission to check out and clear them all, the Washington Monument and Museum Authority being the clear exceptions, because they're an active Brotherhood of Steel outpost and boarded-up, respectively. Well, the Lincoln Memorial was outside already, so it was easiest to check out. There were some shady-looking guys there, who I already didn't trust from the outset. Then I met their leader, and found out who they really were.
Hey, do you know what Abraham Lincoln is famous for? Once upon a time, America as a nation supported slavery. Specifically of black people. Lincoln is remembered and honoured even today because he brought an end to the slave trade, even though it meant fighting a civil war. Today, his legacy lives on. I'm sure he'd be honoured and humbled to know that there now exists no racial prejudice among humans, because in this new post-apocalyptic world, where every man is truly equal, now even black people are allowed to take, keep, and sell slaves, as evidenced by the multi-ethnic slavers occupying the Lincoln memorial. Isn't that wonderful?
Well, in a way, yes. In terms of social progress, I'd say that the elimination of racism amongst humans is a definite plus. But this whole slavery business is still iffy to me. While I'm happy that who gets enslaved isn't decided based on race anymore, I don't like the fact that it's seemingly random like a lottery either.
Ideally, you'd have it so that there's a wasteland police force like the Regulators who can fairly and accurately create laws and a justice system for the wasteland which would prohibit the activities of raiders and other such scum, and who would capture criminals instead of killing them, and then you'd enslave the convicts and sell them instead of innocent people. And to prevent this system from being played, it would be punishable by enslavement to free convicts, or to own a slave if you have a criminal record. That way, you can hopefully avoid raiders buying back their own people.
As you can see, I've put a lot of thought into this system, and I debated with the slaver leader for hours about this, long into the night. He raised several good counterpoints, and we argued ethics and morality in the context of enslavement, as well as the economic side of it, and the practicality of setting up such a system. He agreed that it was theoretically a good idea, but that it just wouldn't be possible in practice. I nodded, sadly agreed that he was right, and then I shot him in the head. Then me, Charon, and Dogmeat proceeded to kill everyone else at the memorial.
What? I'm fine with slavery and all, but I can't let it continue if it's not on my terms. That simply won't do.
The day of killing and looting netted lots of guns, lots of ammo, one copy each of Pugilism, Dean's, Duck and Cover!, a previously-read Grognak issue, and two copies of the Chinese stealth manual. Also just realised there's like seven Nuka Cola Quantum bottles and a stealth boy with me that I hadn't even mentioned in these journals yet.
Should I even bother mentioning stealth boys and Quantums? Or these books for that matter? Why am I even bothering to keep a record of the shit I sell?
Oh yeah, that's right. Boredom.
Day 34: Fixing Things for Three Dog.
Today's first target was the Museum of Technology. It had a lot of interesting exhibits on American history, including ones about the space race and moon landing, which I was always enamoured with as a child. There was a replica of the Valiant 11 there, the lunar lander used in the Virgo II mission which saw Captains Richard Wade, Mark Garris, and Michael Hagen land on the moon. And I even saw the skeleton of Captain Carl Bell there! He showed those commies who was BOSS by being the first man in space! This guy was like my idol as a kid.
I'm not even a patriotic individual, given that the country I supposedly belong to was wiped out in nuclear hellfire hundreds of years ago, but damn it, how can I not punch the air in triumph at the mere thought of such a thing? First man in space! AMERICA, son! These guys were fucking heroes, and if any of them were alive today I would stalk them obsessively. Learning about outer space is so much fun.
I wish I could go to space...
This shows you how much I'm psyched about the space program thing. I got so excited about it, I haven't even mentioned the vault replica that was also in the museum, made as a promotion for the vaults. I have surprisingly little to say about that. It was a novelty, but unremarkable.
Well, either way, I was there in the first place because I needed the relay dish on the lander. It seemed a shame to desecrate it, but in this ruined world, it's a simple fact of life that the history of the old world is something to be thought on and admired, but not something to be preserved at the expense of the present. The relics of the old world have only one role in the present, and that is to help us rebuild. And rebuild is what we did. Three Dog was very happy, and summoned me back in a live broadcast on GNR, which I've been listening to a lot while in DC.
In other news, Charon continues to impress. The man doesn't talk much, but he's a crack shot and doesn't die easy. Certainly not as easy as Dogmeat, who had several near-death experiences yesterday, and even more today as we went up against the super mutant residents of the museum.
Also, while in the museum, I found that the terminals were full of messages from some guy called Prime for another guy called Jiggs. I think Jiggs was expected to show up at the museum at some point, and the terminals had a set of number puzzles for him to solve so that he could get a location from the final terminal, telling them where to meet to split the loot that Prime had already taken. It was easy to figure out. His name was Prime. I had to choose the prime numbers. Clever, actually. Easy for me to decipher, and presumably Jiggs too, but the usual wasteland trash wouldn't have a clue what any of the numbers had in common. The location is a diner in Jury Street Metro Station. I'm going there at soonest opportunity.
Anyway, after that, we travelled back through the ruins to Three Dog at GNR, and he gave me the key to the weapons cache as promised. The weapons cache in Hamilton's hideaway. Looking back at my old journals, yes, that is the place with the door I failed to get through. Looks like this little excursion paid off after all.
But there were still things to do. I headed back to the Mall, because there was a metro tunnel there I'd yet to explore. Well, less a metro tunnel, more an irradiated cave full of shit. Hazmat disposal site L5. Full of ghouls, of course. Fortunately, Charon has no problem with killing ferals, and in fact, he's exceptionally good at it. Still can't get him to talk to me, though.
We emerged into a plaza full of super mutants. Cleared them out with some effort, and explored. Not much of note. But we did find something there. A grave. A grave for a man named Henry. I found a note in it. The writer and two others named Kaya and Emmet were from Canterbury Commons, and they came into the city looking for a woman called Cheryl, who had apparently been to a place called the Citadel, where she was given medicine, and sent off to the Rangers' compound. That's where the party was heading next.
Curious.
I marked L'Enfant Plaza on the map, and I marked L'Enfant south separately so I could get more money. As I will do to any district in DC that I think is big enough that I can get away with it. The most interesting other thing in L'Enfant was the Capitol Post building. There were two things that caught my eye in there. One, a freshly decapitated body belonging to a man named Gibson, who carried with him a key and a piece of paper simply telling me to "search the house." Two, some old newspaper articles.
There were six that I was particularly interested in. One about food riots going on before the war, one about a child serial killer called the Pint-Sized Slasher, one about the US annexing Canada, one about the United Nations disbanding, and the two that interested me most, both concerning the war: "Development of Super Weapon Confirmed," and "Communists Crushed, Alaska Liberated!" It jumped out to me, because the former made mention of General Chase, and both were talking about the Anchorage campaign. Oh, I don't need no pre-war newspaper to tell me about Alaska. I was there. I experienced it first-hand. That place was a special kind of hell.
Still, I couldn't spend all day dwelling on old papers. Though, I was able to at least get a surprised reaction from Charon by telling him that I had been in Anchorage. For a brief moment, I think he thought I was a ghoul too, because I had yet to take off my helmet in front of him by then. I told him I wasn't, and even showed him, but didn't explain how I could have been at Anchorage. I just let him stew on that and come to his own conclusions. Maybe it'll teach him not to give me the silent treatment.
We found another way out of L'Enfant and decided to explore that too for the fuck of it. It was an irradiated metro tunnel full of ghouls with nothing much of interest. Charon rather liked it. I did not. It just led out to the Potomac River, so I mapped the location and turned back the way we came.
Eventually, we were back in Seward Square again, and I was consulting the terminal in the Rangers' compound for information on the search party looking for Cheryl. Apparently, Reilly sent them in the direction of a bridge on the Potomac, where we had just came from. At that point I couldn't be asked to go chasing that too. Instead, we took a look at the map, saw how close Rivet City was looking, and made a run for that. Seward Square had one last metro tunnel we hadn't checked. The last one on this side of the Potomac, I think. It was full of raiders, but they weren't even a challenge. Barely worth noting anymore.
When we left the tunnels, we were ambushed by Talon Company mercenaries. This time, I didn't even need to worry about them. Charon took care of them for me. He's about the same level as a Talon merc himself. He's got a combat shotgun and armour just like theirs. Only difference tactically is that he's got more experience than any of them. He's getting slowly more curious about me too, especially now that he knows I'm dangerous enough to warrant assassins. Good.
By then, though, we were there. Rivet City. Or at least, the station just before Rivet City, known as Anacostia. I marked Anacostia and Rivet City separately. The place is a massive, half-sunken battleship, with a bridge between the ship and a nearby platform, which they can raise and lower as they please. The head of security personally greeted us as we entered. Guy called Harkness. This place looks nice, too. Though, I'm a little concerned to see that even here, there's a water beggar outside the gate, even though this place seems to have no entry requirements other than "don't fuck shit up." I'm suspicious of this one. I wasn't of the other two, but this guy...
Anyway, it was already too late to visit the market or to see anyone by the time we got here, so I just went and rented a room in a hotel that'd let me, Charon, and Dogmeat stay. The proprietor is Vera Weatherly, Bryan Wilks' aunt. I was able to tell her what happened and ask her to take him in, and she said she's happy to. Tomorrow, I set out to bring Bryan the good news. It'll take all day to get there and back again with him, but it'll be worth the trip. The boy's finally got a home.
Day 35: Today is a Day for Family.
I love happy endings.
Day 28 Part 2: War Has Apparently Never Changed.
I don't even want to go into what happened in that simulation. You could never understand, diary! You weren't there, man! You weren't there!
Actually, I think I'm exaggerating a bit. Seeing simulation soldiers get killed and their bodies dissolving into pixels hardly tugs at the heartstrings when I see real death on a regular basis, and am often the cause of it. I strangled an old man to death on his balcony, decapitated a guy with a Chinese sword, blasted a woman in the face with a shotgun, and punched a super mutant so hard it separated his body parts. Hell, even before I came into this facility, there was some sneering Outcast prick getting superior with me, who made the mistake of not wearing his helmet, and I planted Stabhappy in his eye socket. And that's not even mentioning what I did to Ian.
What got me, though, was this little view of the pre-war world. I know it's hardly accurate to say I fought in the Great War now, but that's what it was meant to be. I was fighting in a war, alongside all these soldiers. I was a soldier of America, old world America. We were battling some nefarious enemy for a resource that must have seemed so important at the time. And all the while, I was there, knowing exactly how pointless this would all end up being. Who cares about the oil? I certainly didn't. I live in a world where even if we had succeeded, and America had ended up controlling all of the oil, we'd have no use for it. I've wandered the wastes for weeks now, and I've still not found any working vehicles or machines that could use oil. This war would end up destroying the whole world, and these people were fighting it over some gunky black shit.
Hey, guys? Electricity? Hello?
Oh, what am I talking about? I never lived in pre-war America. If there was an alternative to going to war, I'm sure they would have taken it. I don't really know enough about the old world to make judgement calls like that.
Sure, if I had been the guy in charge, I'd have made it so all our cars and other transport relied on electricity rather than oil. Hell, even the nuclear-powered engines that most cars in the wasteland used are viable, even if they do tend to explode a lot. But I'm sure there's some kind of practical reason why they didn't build everything like that. If I can think of that alternative, I'm sure they did. And if they didn't go with it, I'll give the old world people the benefit of the doubt, and assume there's a reason why they didn't. I mean, come on. Would America have really fought a full-scale war that could've and did end in nuclear Armageddon if they didn't legitimately need the stuff?
Still, though, I have never before been more aware of the fact that I'm living in a world that's already ended. It's a sobering thought. One that I will have to rectify with more drinking.
Tomorrow, I'll collect up everything and move out of this base. I've marked the locations of the outpost and Bailey's Crossroads in case I need to come here again, though I doubt I ever will.
Anyway, I got into that vault and got my prizes. In the way of weapons, there were two that got me really excited, those being the Gauss rifle (which I actually already used in the simulation, and can vouch for the effectiveness of, even if it does have some annoying quirks), and a special Chinese sword that was once used by General Jingwei himself, whom I beat to death as my final test in the simulation. It has a current running through it, so anyone who gets stabbed by it also gets electrocuted. Nasty business.
Another new toy I've picked up is a set of winterised power armour, stronger than anything the Outcasts were using. And even better? I can actually use this.
As a reward for completing the simulation, when the final battle concluded, I was given additional training, and a nice little card saying I was now further qualified for field duties. The training included how to use power armour without getting stuck and embarrassing myself, and for some sneaky snake espionage I pulled as part of some optional briefcase collection challenge, it also gave me some minimal extra training in the fields of computer science, lockpicking, and tactical weapons use, which I guess are skills the Army valued highly. Not much use to me, though, aside from the firearms training; locks and computers are two of the things I understand best.
Still, I am really happy about this power armour. Finally, I can use these monstrous things. With this set, I could probably just walk through most raiders. Super mutants wouldn't be anything more than an irritation. Outcasts, if there even are any left, would fail even harder than ever. And raiders would be reduced to the level of molerats for me. And even molerats know not to fuck with me anymore. Now they just sniff the air and back away when I pass by. They can probably smell all the blood I regularly get bathed with.
The Outcast power armour is still dead weight to me, though. I want to sell it, because it feels wrong to leave tech as advanced as power armour just lying around when I'm sure someone somewhere could still use it, but even if I leave the frames behind, this shit gets heavy. For now, I'm doing what I do best. I'm taking all the suits apart, and using the good pieces to fix the broken ones, putting them back together as one single, far stronger, better condition suit. Maybe I'll bring one of the good frames back, and just keep it spare to give to someone I like?
Another prize I'm extremely satisfied with is a stealth suit developed by the Chinese. It can turn the wearer invisible, just like those stealth boys I keep finding around, except the stealth suit has no time limit. At least not in the same sense. I don't think that the cloaking is as effective, but I can't deny the usefulness of a suit that turns me invisible. I'm taking this with me.
Other than that, just the standard stuff in here. A few decent weapons. Nothing I haven't seen before, aside from a few plasma explosives. I'll keep the grenades, but I'm selling the mines.
When I leave tomorrow, I need to get all this back to Megaton. That won't be a fun journey.
I should also comment that while exploring, I found that the Outcasts had found and captured one of the Gary clones from that vault, trying to get his Pip-Boy so they could do the simulation. They sawed his arm off.
...What the fuck, guys?
Day 29: Many Things are Afoot in Megaton.
Today, I hauled all my stuff back to Megaton. I think it gave me back pains.
Still though, I've sold all the excess crap and gotten rid of it now. Lucky Harith took most of it off my hands. In return, I got a set of schematics from him. I thought it was going to be something new, but it turned out to just be the shishkebab that Vance had plans for. It's just like how both Wolfgang and Moira had plans for that shoulder-mounted junk canon. I have to wonder who it was that originally thought these up.
I also got rid of a few other things I felt I could do without. Combat armour for one, these stupid brass knuckles that I've carried around and still not used for another, and the bandanna and sunglasses, which while awesome, I can't wear underneath a big steel helmet.
I went back to that school in Springvale and scavenged through the place for parts. I got at least one of anything I thought could be used for something and brought it back home. This happened to include all the parts necessary to make my own shishkebab, which I did, just to see if I could. It turned out alright. Not the best. Thing was a little clunky. I cannibalised (HA!) Vance's shishkebab for parts to fix it up a bit. It's still got nothing on the electro-sword though.
I built a few explosives too. Nuka grenades and some mines that use bottle caps, which Moira gave me the designs for after that expedition to Minefield. My attempts at tinkering could have gone worse, but I still wasn't ultimately happy with the results. I don't think any of these designs are quite perfect. I'd improve on them myself, but I really don't have the time. I sold my errant creations to Moira. Mines first, then that rock-it launcher, because I was finding no use for it, and then, yes, the shishkebab. I don't need one of those when I have Jingwei's sword, and even that I don't plan to carry around everywhere. That goes in my weapons locker with the other novelties.
Speaking of novelties, I went out for dinner tonight at the Stahl family's bar dressed in that ant costume, just for the fuck of it. Their reactions were priceless.
But yeah. Awesome as it is, I don't think I'm much of a sword user. I mean, what would I do if I came across another swordsman, and I don't even know proper duelling technique? I suppose I could imitate the moves I've seen in Grognak comics, like I've been doing so far, but I really much prefer small knives, like Stabhappy, or blunt instruments, like that tire iron. I should think of a name for that too...
Or alternatively, I could use the one new creation that I didn't throw away, the deathclaw gauntlet.
Oh yes. I did. I took a claw capable of slicing through power armour (if my experiments with that Outcast set I had was any indication), turned it into a glove, and stuck it on my hand. Do you know what that means? It means that the next time I meet an Outcast, stabbing is a viable option for dealing with them.
Speaking of killing, Lucy West is irritating me with her casual mentions of Arefu every time I see her. I'm surprised no-one has asked about it with how often she brings it up. Everyone still acts like I'm the second coming of Christ around here. Maybe they just don't believe that I'm capable of what she's accusing, and they're just ignoring her?
I don't know. I mean, they all seem to silently acknowledge that I murdered two people while here. Three if you count Burke. Even if they don't say it, they probably do know that I'm not a saint. Enough so that if I were them, I'd definitely be asking questions right now.
I'm not sure how long I can get away with this. Even in a post-apocalyptic environment where it's kill or be killed, and there's no governing body to conduct investigations, or forensics to link someone to a crime scene, or even that many people who could solidly prove I did anything through old-fashioned detective skills, it's still possible to slip up. And I get the feeling that someone, somewhere, is going to want justice for Arefu sooner or later. Lucy West could very well hire out additional Talon Company hit squads on me. I don't think she actually would. She seems content for now to just bitch at me when I see her, and bitch about me to everyone else when she thinks I can't see her. The woman's definitely bitter, though, and I would not put some form of vengeance below her.
Right now, I'm debating whether or not I should kill her. I really don't want to, because she hasn't done anything wrong, exactly, and the townsfolk are only quiet about the other deaths because they all deserved it, but I really don't want to wake up to find her standing over my bed pointing my own plasma rifle at me. Just to be safe, I've got Dogmeat with me, and I've instructed Wadsworth to kill Miss West with fire if she ever comes in here.
Another thing worth mention is that I stopped by Doc Church's clinic to see if I could buy some more medical supplies from him, because that's just about all I spend my money on nowadays. I found a holotape while I was there. A curious one. It was by some woman, sent to Church, asking if he could act as a surgeon for a runaway android. Yes, an android. A synthetic man. A robot more advanced than any other I've seen, and capable of imitating humans perfectly. One of them had apparently gained free will and fled from his slave masters, and wanted a doctor and a mechanic to fix him up, wipe his memories, and give him a new face, perhaps seeking to start life over as a normal human under a new identity.
Damn, that just blew my mind when I heard it. I've never even heard of something like that. I asked Church about it, but he apparently thought he was being had, and that this android thing was a joke. I can sympathise. I asked Moira about it, too. She had a holotape allegedly by the android himself which basically said the same thing, but she didn't believe it was real either.
Can I just tell you, diary, that I'm really excited? Just think of it! Androids! Synthetic men! The most advanced form of robots ever constructed, and they might even be real! There could be one here, in the Capital Wasteland! I have to meet it. I have to study it. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, and I can't possibly let this go. I'm going to investigate this and find the android. And when I do, I think I will have a new best friend.
While I was asking Moira about androids, the subject of my task to come back to her mutilated also came up, but I realised that with my new power armour, I'm unlikely to ever seriously injure myself again. I told her as such, and she was disappointed, but that's how I came up with a brilliant new idea, which I really should have thought of sooner – write the chapter myself. I'm a doctor, after all. Well, I might as well be; I was trained in medicine in the vault, and my skills have only improved since I got out here, so I know what I'm talking about. I've even got experience treating people after Big Town, so why not?
It took a large part of the day, but I did it. I was given a load of Med-X and an environment suit for my troubles, which is a radiation protection suit like the one that the deathclaw ruined, and which also found home in my locker. And now my next task is... wait for it...
Hitting molerats with a big stick.
So yeah, I clearly don't have anything else important to do around here. I'm taking a break from all this errand-running stuff. Tomorrow, I head down into DC, for serious this time.
Day 30: Of All the Things That Could Happen...
DC is a nightmare. I just don't know what went wrong. I really don't. It all started so well, too.
So, where to begin? Well, I guess where it started. That would be Farragut West Metro Station. Compared to the rest of my day, it was a fucking walk in the park, but I didn't think it would be at the time. It says something that the low point of my day involved a gas explosion and a bunch of ghouls gone feral trying to eat me. Guess Three Dog and all the others I've heard talk about it were right after all. Some ghouls do lose their minds. And when they do, they're fucking scary.
This tunnel eventually led out into another tunnel which I could take either way. I went the wrong way, and had an encounter with a ghoul who glowed radioactive green and could cause radiation explosions with what I can only describe as magic. He was making grand arm gestures while summoning it, like a tribal shaman, and all the other ghouls seemed to recognise him as the leader. What else can it be? It's fucking magic.
Wizards are still susceptible to being bitten by angry dogs, though, as my trusty companion proved. Maybe the heretics will think twice next time before trying to practice their Satanic arts on me, for I shall set my dog upon them, and slay them in the name of the Lord! Praise Jesus!
We eventually left the tunnel, ending up in a place called Friendship Heights, where there was a raider camp. I cleared it out, and took a look around, but it quickly became apparent that this was the wrong way. My map indicated I had just gone eastwards into DC instead of south like I wanted. I did stumble across what appeared to be a National Guard base while there, but exploring it was the last thing on my mind at the time. I have marked the location to return there later, though.
Returning to the metro tunnel, I tried the other end. There are many possible paths through most metro tunnels, I've found, but you can usually rely on most of them to be blocked off somehow. The very few paths left are pretty straightforward. The one I took led me to a super mutant, who'd been fighting some of the ghouls. Good to know the mutated horrors of the wasteland hate each other as much as they hate me.
Eventually, I ended up in a place called Chevy Chase. This is where I had the honour of meeting the famous Brotherhood of Steel for the first time.
Despite the warnings I heard from President Eden and the Enclave, I once again decided to approach them first. Back when I first approached the Outcasts, I did so because I thought that I couldn't fight them. This time, equipped with power armour and a number of dangerously powerful guns, I knew for a fact I could smear these guys across the pavement if I so wanted, but I decided to give them the chance. The Outcasts were kicked out of the Brotherhood of Steel because they didn't want to be heroes. They were douchebags and proud of it. I figured, how douchey could the Brotherhood proper be?
Not very, it turns out, but it was still apparent that those guys were once on the same side. They shared that arrogant attitude. Despite my power armour, they for some reason assumed that I didn't know what I was doing, and that I needed their help to get through this mess, which is especially ironic considering how the battle ended.
They were there to clear the super mutants out of the area, as they were heading to Galaxy News Radio as well. The Brotherhood and Three Dog are allies of a kind. He shelters them in his studio, which is one of the few safe places in the city, and they protect it for him in return. I had to help them with that, of course. Despite their boasting, they turned out to be too incompetent to put down the threat by themselves. Fortunately for them, I was there with my Gauss rifle to blow the mutants into literal pieces. It was disgusting, but satisfying.
And then the giant showed up.
It was my finest hour, without a doubt, but I don't really want to brag. All you need to know is that super mutants can grow as large as houses, that they start using fire hydrants on sticks as weapons at such a size, and that I had to kill one of these with a convenient Fat Man dropped by one of the idiots who got themselves killed. Also, Dogmeat is stronger than fire hydrant sticks.
That certainly got Sentinel Lyons' attention. Teach her to doubt my abilities. These Brotherhood types will know better than to fuck with me now. I didn't even need to reveal myself as the one who ended the Outcasts. I just proved my badassery all over again, even though I could have just listed some of my accomplishments and left it at that.
Still, I'll be watching her in future. And not just because I'm having vivid sexual fantasies about her, but also because she seems like a pretty big deal in the Brotherhood of Steel, and she personally knows me and knows what I can do now. If I ever feel like I need a favour from the Brotherhood, it'd be good to keep her in mind.
As you'd expect, I shortly afterwards met Three Dog himself. And yes, he has seen Dad, who he told me went off in the direction of Rivet City after coming to see him. And according to the date and times he gave me, Dad had just left his station moments after I had left the vault!
I never knew my dad was an Olympic sprinting champion.
I wonder if there's even any point to going to Rivet City by now? I'll probably find he's not there either. If his current rate of progress is anything to go by, the man is probably on one of the moons of Jupiter by now.
Three Dog was also an interesting guy himself. Had a story or two to tell. I found out that most of his broadcasts are pre-recorded and repeat continuously until they're out of date, so as to make sure the radio's always on the air. In fact, even in the middle of talking to him, I heard his radio reporting on my acts of heroism in Canterbury Commons and Big Town.
And STILL no mention of Arefu.
I even asked about Arefu, and he's heard no news at all relating to it. He hasn't even heard that it's gone dark like he did when it happened to Grayditch. I guess it makes sense, considering the only witnesses were the ones who got killed, but in that case, how the fuck did Lucy West find out? Even the caravan guys who stopped by the ruined town, I never actually told the truth to. When I was selling stuff to them, and they were asking about where the residents were, I just told them the Family wiped it out, and that I was squatting there. So what the fuck?
Me and that West girl will be having words later.
Well, at that point it was still daylight outside, and I figured I could make some more progress before the day was out. Three Dog also had a favour to ask, too. Since his signal range is shit right now, thanks to his broadcaster in the Washington Monument being damaged, he wants me to get a replacement dish from some museum and fix it. In exchange, he'll give me a key to a weapons cache. Count me in.
So then it was back into the underground, where I suffered more ghouls, and found a bunch of dead raiders. I shortly afterwards emerged into a place called Vernon Square. And this is where things got really batshit.
My first stop was the Vault-Tec headquarters. There, I fought super mutants and robots by the hundreds, and battled my way to the top floor to hack their mainframe and get the location of that vault for Agatha. I did so, while also getting some information on several other vaults as well. Strangely, I found a terminal entry there referencing a Vault 112, but its location wasn't on the mainframe. Weird. I also had to fight a monstrosity called the Masterbrain, but that's small-time stuff compared to everything else I did today.
Anyway, then I went outside and continued my exploration. At one point, I even dredged through a sewer to deal with some super mutants. It was disgusting, but it was just as I finished doing that that I received a distress signal from some mercenaries trapped on the roof of a nearby hotel. They said that if assistance was not possible, I had to go find their leader, Reilly, in some place called Underworld. I had no fucking idea what that meant, but by that point my power armour was battered, I was injured, and it's difficult to inject stimpaks into the correct area or take RadAway when in a big bulky suit like that, so I decided not to risk another super mutant excursion, and to take my chances trying to find this Underworld place before it got dark.
After running all over the damn place, I headed back into the metro tunnel from whence I came, and tried other routes through it until I found myself in a new area, called Dupont Circle. There I experienced all-new hell, as I fought raiders and ghouls, somehow ended up in an irradiated sewer, wandered into a fashion boutique, blew up some cars, and eventually fell down some steps into a metro station to continue my journey – God's way of urging me along, I like to think.
It didn't work, though. I wandered around in Dupont Circle Station for a short while, went through another tunnel that was completely wrecked, and exited into Dupont again. Guess it really was a Dupont circle. Aha! I'm so clever.
I took me a bit to un-fuck myself and go back to the metro to try again. Eventually, though, I found my way through Metro Central, and exited near a museum just after sunset. Specifically, the Museum of History. And what do you know? It turns out that Underworld is a city full of ghouls based out of that exact museum!
I had actually been really hoping to get to Reilly as soon as possible and deal with the Rangers' situation, but... fuck it. I need sleep. I need food. I need to get my armour repaired. And Dogmeat's been following behind and fighting with me all day, and he's damn near dead after all he's been through.
I turned in my equipment to some guy to fix, rented a bed, and I've been sitting here on it for the past half an hour, alternately eating preserved boxes of pre-war food, injecting myself with stimpaks and painkillers, and writing this gigantic journal entry. And after I'm done, I'm going to drop unconscious and remain so for the rest of the week.
Fuck DC and fuck everything in it.
Day 31: Getting in Gear.
First priority today was organising myself. Yesterday's excursions through the wastes of DC left me with a veritable cornucopia of unwanted shit. In particular, books. I have a weakness for them. There aren't many of them left intact in the world, so I don't like seeing them left around to rot in sewers or under rubble.
To the goal of fighting that outcome, I sold to the town's merchant, Tulip, two copies each of Junktown Jerky Vendor, Big Book of Science, Lying, and 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes, as well as one copy each of Nikola Tesla, the Journal of Internal Medicine, Dean's, and one of the Grognak the Barbarian comics I had already read (I kept the other two I found). This in addition to two other random books I found about nothing important, but it was starting to feel hypocritical of me to let the elements claim some of the only surviving books in the wasteland just because I didn't like them. Thinking back on it, I feel bad for not saving that mediocre romance novel I left back in Minefield.
I also found two Quantums and three stealth boys yesterday, but I'm keeping them. You never know...
After that I went to see about finding Reilly. And I found her, alright. In a coma.
Doctor Barrows was afraid, but I had the necessary medical training/experience to safely wake her up and ask her what the fuck was going on. Despite it having been a day already, she was confident that her men were still alive. She told me about how they got trapped on the roof, how and why she got away, the unfortunate fate of one of the mercs named Theo, and about the ammo box he was carrying that they left behind, which she gave me the code for.
Well, given all that, I couldn't help but take her up on her request and go to rescue them. I picked up my repaired armour and weapons from Winthrop, and set out back the way I came.
Dupont and the metro tunnels were still a maze, but Dogmeat remembered the way we came yesterday, and led the way back to Dupont. From there, we located the entrance to some sewers (not the irradiated sewers; different sewers) full of Talon mercs who were struggling against some super mutants. Happy day. Hadn't seen those guys in a while. I was glad for the opportunity to test out the power armour and Gauss rifle against them.
Me and Dogmeat broke into the local hospital from the sewers, and from there fought an army of super mutants to get up to the second floor, while also enlisting the help of robots and the turret security systems. T'was all good fun.
Incidentally, I at one point came across two super mutants, unaware of my presence. They were talking about how they had not found any of "the green stuff" here. I had the pleasure of speaking to Reilly about it later, and she thought that the super mutants were in high concentration in Vernon because they were looking for something. I don't know what "the green stuff" is, or why it would be in a hospital, but I think she was right about that.
So, why did we cause all that chaos in the hospital? Because that was the only way into the Statesmen Hotel.
We had to cross a fallen radio mast to enter it on one of its upper floors. It was precarious, and I had to actually carry Dogmeat across. Poor pup was afraid of heights. But he's sure got no fear of super mutants. Immediately after I put him down on the other side and he stopped shivering, one of the first things he did was run in and break one's kneecap with his teeth.
Such a good dog.
The hotel was a maze as well. There were mutants, there were traps, and there was a note left by a dying man to his daughter which just depressed the hell out of me. There were also books, but as a way of being practical, I've decided from now on to list out the books I've discovered at the end of each entry or when I sell them, rather than during them, to save myself time and effort.
I found Theo's ammo box, and emptied it out as per Reilly's instructions. Then, after a quick bit of maintenance on the elevator in the restaurant, I was on my way up to the roof. There, I finally met the Rangers, standing in the middle of a sea of super mutant corpses. Trapped or not, Reilly was right. These guys were badasses.
Though they were disappointed that me and a dog were the only help coming, they were willing to accept my help either way. I distributed Theo's ammo amongst them, repaired the other elevator on the roof (something that they couldn't do themselves without replacing the parts entirely), and together we blazed through the remaining super mutants at the speed of my dad.
The Rangers all left to go back to their headquarters after that. They pinpointed it on my map for me, and invited me to stop by to see Reilly about my reward for saving their asses. Glad to see some gratitude. Braving this hellhole is hard work.
After that, I decided to explore Vernon a bit. There were places I hadn't been yet, after all. My first port of call was a metro station tunnel full of super mutants and mirelurks, which led me to a place called Takoma Park. It was an isolated-looking place, which I decided to look around. I found two inhabitable buildings there, a garage and a pawnshop. The latter had a little leaguer baseball cap there, which I had to take because I saw it and I nostalgia'd hard.
Then I stepped out and found some Talon mercs waiting for me. I didn't think these pricks would be determined enough that they'd follow me into the heart of Washington DC, especially after how many of them I've killed, and especially considering the recent additions to my arsenal, but I guess these ones were just extra confident. Or not. Maybe they were actually in the area fighting super mutants, but they just saw me going into the pawnshop, and decided to set up an impromptu ambush.
There was also a huge load of super mutants in the area that I had to clear out, though this time I had artillery strikes to help me with it. There was another of those big ugly fuckers like the one at GNR as well. I call them Behemoths. I also considered Leviathans, but that has a more oceanic connotation. If I ever meet a mirelurk that size, those will be the Leviathans.
I explored the factory around that area too, but found nothing. Though coming out of it again, I did find a campsite, set up by a dead couple who had been studying feral ghouls, who got killed by their own stupidity. Then I was attacked by feral ghouls. Who'd have thunk it?
Making my way back to Vernon Square, I then tried the other metro tunnel there, which led me to Pennsylvania Avenue. It was a long street full of super mutants and mines that were linked up to a big switch which I found. You can guess what happened.
After blowing up the whole street, I proceeded to the very end of it, where I discovered the remnants of the White House, home of the pre-war presidents, and one of the most iconic landmarks of the old world, now nuked to hell. Stupidly, I even visited the crater where it used to be, despite the radiation. I just needed to see it, to know if there was anything left. It was a bit of history, after all. Nothing remained of the structure, but while there, I did find a number of glowing ghouls. Perhaps they were politicians before the war? In which case, I've also killed a bit of history. That's a unique claim.
There was a Fat Man there, too.
I went back to the main street again and looked around some more. I found a hotel where a Brotherhood of Steel paladin was sleeping. I left them alone, and decided against stealing anything in there for once. Later, Dogmeat sniffed out a scavenger who was hanging around the area. We traded. He gave me lunch, and I gave him shitloads of books. Two Special Ops Training manuals, one Flamethrower Recipes, one Internal Medicine, one Pugilism, one old Grognak issue, one Dean's, two Tumblers Today, two copies of Lying, Congressional Style, and one other piece of shite. I don't even remember what it was. Cookbook, I think?
After that I headed through a metro tunnel again and found myself in Seward Square, location of the Rangers' compound. There was some chaos going on with Talons and super mutants, but it was nothing another artillery strike couldn't deal with. Been finding a lot of those today.
Then there was some crazy psycho fuck ranting about a worm and some trees in the north, and holding some guy hostage. I killed him and disarmed his explosives. Fucking mini nukes. No idea how he got them. Hostage was grateful. After that was all done, I went off and met the Rangers.
Finally, after everything, I was recognised for my help. I was given a choice of either armour or Brick's modified minigun, Eugene, for payment. I picked Eugene, because when you have power armour, anything less is just not worth it. The others had rewards for me, too. Donovan will repair equipment if I need it from now on, while Butcher can provide medical services. Reilly also had additional jobs for me. She gave me a geo-mapping module, which I can record map information from my Pip-Boy on, and give back to her with location data for payment. That's convenient for me, because I've been wandering DC for the past few days making my own map of the place, and I also mapped out a lot of the wasteland around the city.
In addition to the locations already mentioned in previous entries, I have mapped out twenty-eight new locations in the previous few days (most of which I split into several locations just now so that I could get paid more for it). In no particular order, I mapped out Vernon Square (divided into the north section, east section, station, hospital, hotel, and Vault-Tec HQ), Dupont Circle (divided into the east, northeast, west, and station), Pennsylvania Avenue (the north, northwest, south, east, Metro Central entrance, and the White House plaza), Chevy Chase (north, east, and GNR building), Takoma (divided into Takoma Park and the industrial area), and Seward Square (the southeast, northwest, the north part where the metro is, and the Ranger compound).
Yes, I even got paid for mapping the Rangers' own compound. Sweet.
I also added the Museum of History, Friendship Heights, and the White House itself.
It still isn't that late out yet, but I'm not going out again today. I'm exhausted. My two days in DC so far have been as busy as four outside it. It just makes more sense for me to stay here at the compound tonight and get into the habit of sleeping in half-days. At least Dogmeat likes it here. He didn't like Underworld quite so much.
I think it's because of the smell. Must be even worse for a dog than for me. I got nothing against ghouls really, but fuck, those guys stink worse than Moriarty must do by now.
Day 32: Business as Usual.
The metro tunnels in DC go everywhere, so I've made it my quest to scour every corner of this blasted ruin and find any and all hidden treasure it may hide. Now that I know there's a ghoul city in the middle of it, I have a convenient place to sell my finds too. So why not? I mean, fuck it. It's not like Dad would actually be at Rivet City if I went there right now, right? He's bound to have left it by now. And if he hasn't already, then he'll probably stay there a little while more. I've got time.
First we went back to Pennsylvania Avenue, this time taking a sewer line instead of a metro, just to see what was down there. There was a stash of ammo, but not much else. So, then we picked another unexplored metro tunnel and went through it, ending up in a new district called Georgetown. Now that I'm getting paid for mapping places, I am doing so with new vigour. I marked the north, south, east and west ends of the place as separate locations (quadruple your money!) and searched the place for anything of importance.
By far my most depressing find was a still functioning Mr. Handy in a residential home, which after I input the command in the terminal to see what it would do, sung a poem about mankind perishing. I don't know what the poem is called or who it's by, but whoever they are can go fuck themselves. Not just because it was so ironic given the situation, but also because the robot was singing it to a child's corpse as part of its routine to read bedtime stories. I would have cried if I weren't a strong, manly man who never cries at anything ever, but instead I drank some beer and did some bench-pressing. Stop reminding me of what a shitty world I live in, random robot butler!
The hotel was far less depressing. Just the standard super mutant attacks, mini nukes, and stealth boys. Convenient that I've been finding these again since I picked up that extra Fat Man from the Brotherhood of Steel. I'm surprised that Lyons forgot to demand this back from me. I'd have thought that this was a rare and expensive piece of hardware.
The grocery store had nothing of note, but the Radiation King next door housed a scavenger, whom I talked to about the horribly depressing sight I saw in the house, and whom I certainly did not break down in front of, and who definitely didn't need to pat me on the back and give me life advice. Because we were both masculine warriors who need no emotions, we instead concluded my story with mutual hearty laughs and a round of shirtless wrestling. Not gay. He did take what guns and new books I had found off my hands, though. Two copies of Lying, one of Tumblers, and one of Flamethrower Recipes. Three I had found today, but one of the Lying books was picked up yesterday in Seward.
While in there, he also directed me to a leaflet advertisement for a group called the Regulators, apparently dedicated to fighting evil in the Capital Wasteland. Says it might help me. It provides a map to some place up north, and tells me to contact someone called Sorona Cruz there if I'm interested. I really am, actually, if only to make sure that I don't somehow make their list. But mostly I was just shocked to learn that there even is a law enforcement agency operating in the Capital Wasteland, because it sure doesn't fucking seem like it. I thought I was the only one around dispensing justice, and I'm just as much of a villain as some of the people I kill.
I looked around Georgetown some more after that. I found one raider-infested metro tunnel to follow, and it just led me back out to Dupont again, so fuck that. I took a side path into another tunnel, which was mirelurk-infested instead, and that led me into a utility station that had mirelurks and raiders, at the same time. SHOCK HORROR!
It soon led me above ground into a place called Arlington, which hosts a massive cemetery. I was planning to explore and map this place too, but then I realised that I was somehow on the other side of the damn Potomac River, so I decided to mark my immediate location as Arlington Cemetery North and make a note to come back there later. So I returned to Georgetown again, and then explored a different underground route. This led me through some more raider-filled sewers, and I emerged on the far west side of the DC ruins again.
This time, though, it was more interesting. This was coincidentally the place where Moira had sent me to test out her molerat repellent, and there were several here. I figured, why not? So I started bashing them, and then they exploded. All in all, I'd say the repellent was a huge success.
I mapped the sewer entrance, and since I saw a sign nearby a local building that seemed to suggest someone was living in it, I went in to say hello. The inhabitants were a scumbag named Dukov, who I instantly disliked, and his two prostitutes. He turned out to be important later, and I need to go see him again soon, but I didn't think much of him at the time. I might still kill him if I feel like it later. If I start feeling a need to. But I highly doubt I'll run out of people to kill in DC with all the super mutants, raiders, ghouls, mirelurks, and other hideous abominations around. Still, it's an inhabited location. As far as I'm concerned, that means it's important enough for me to map and thus get paid for.
Back to Georgetown yet again, and this time exploring the last metro there I hadn't checked, leading to the Mall. That's the name for the area where the museum and Underworld is. The station where I came out, I mapped as Mall Northwest. From there, I returned to the Museum of History. Dogmeat is not happy to be back here, but I am. This place fascinates me.
I spent the remainder of my day getting to know the locals and learning the settlement's history, just as I did back in Megaton when I first arrived there. I already met Doc Barrows and Nurse Graves yesterday, the two resident medical practitioners. Notably, they're studying ghouls and trying to find a way to slow or cure the ghoul condition. An admirable and noble goal, if I do say so myself, even if I doubt they'll succeed. They've even actually captured live glowing ones to study. My inner scientist applauds them.
Winthrop is another one I met already. He's the technician of Underworld. He repaired my stuff. Much like Walter in Megaton, he's asked me to bring him scrap metal to help fix up the place. I'll keep it in mind for him.
Carol and Greta are a lesbian couple (I think), and run Carol's Place together. That's the place I rented out last time I was here. It serves food too. Carol told me her story, which was interesting. She's been here since the Great War, and her and the other survivors of the immediate blasts actually ghoulified while setting up the town here. She's also a sort of adoptive mother to Gob from Megaton, and was glad to hear when I told her about him, and how he's running his own bar.
There were others I met. Willow is the woman who scouts outside the museum and watches for super mutants, humans, and other travellers. Snowflake is a jet-user and a hairdresser. Patchwork is the town drunk. Quinn is a ghoul who goes out trading across the wastes and occasionally returns to Underworld to supply Tulip. Cerberus is a reprogrammed Mr. Gutsy, who hates ghouls, but thanks to his programming is forced to protect the settlement anyway. Not much to say about any of them.
I saved the really interesting stuff for last, though.
There were two people of note in the local bar. It was called the Ninth Circle, and it was tended by some bastard called Ahzrukhal, and guarded by his bouncer, Charon. I asked him about Charon, who was a bit weird in that he refused to talk to me at all and directed me to his boss instead. Turns out Charon has some weird thing where he absolutely has to follow the orders of whoever holds his contract. Not because he's a slave or anything. It's all his choice. But for some reason he chooses to blindly follow his contact-holder no matter what, even if he personally finds it morally reprehensible.
This was relevant to my interests, so I purchased his contract, even though Ahzrukhal wanted to give me the contract for free if I murdered Greta for him. Well, I didn't want to. I was actually planning on murdering him later that night for that request. But wouldn't you know it? When I told Charon he worked for me now, and he realised Ahzrukhal didn't have his contract anymore, he beat me to the punch and killed Ahzrukhal himself. In front of the whole bar.
What a stand-up guy.
Then there's Tulip. Oh boy, Tulip. Turns out there's more levels to her than I thought. She's part of some secret society dedicated to helping androids escape from the Commonwealth where they're made. She confessed this after I found a holotape in her shop about the android, talking about how they had all the stuff they needed now to perform facial reconstruction surgery. I don't think this so-called "Railroad" wants me hunting down this android guy, but screw them. Real life androids, man! I need to see this!
Before I forget, I also sold her one copy each of Dean's Electronics, Nikola Tesla and You, DC Journal of Internal Medicine, US Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes, and Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual, as well as two other unwanted pre-war books. Plus guns. I also obtained from her shop a set of schematics for a rifle that fires railway spikes, which I want to build once I get back to Megaton, just for the novelty of it. And she's provided me with the one single interesting-looking book I've seen so far that I haven't already read. It's called Paradise Lost, and I can't wait to read it when I get the chance.
Oh, and on a final note, there's a guy called Crowley here who has a thing about bigots who have a problem with ghouls. He kept a list of prominent ones, and offered me a hundred caps to kill each one of the four remaining on the list, so long as I did it with a head shot. Any other way it was twenty-five caps. He also wants something personal from each to prove I did it, like a key or a ring. This guy gives me serious Burke vibes. I don't trust him.
Interestingly, I looked at the list, and found two names I recognised. Tenpenny and Dukov. I informed him that Tenpenny was already dead, and he actually believed me, but he was surprised that he hadn't already heard about it. He says that news of Tenpenny's death should have travelled fast. Maybe it's because I hid the body, and no-one actually knows for sure if he's dead? Or maybe that head of security guy realised that he's the next highest up on the hierarchy, and took over the tower while covering it all up? All possibilities. All worthy of consideration.
Dukov, though... Hmm... I'll pay him a visit later. See what's what. This guy has my attention now.
Anyway, it's been an eventful day, and for now I just want to sleep it off. Tomorrow promises a brand new adventure with my new assistant, and my new goals.
I'm coming for you, Replicated Man.
Day 33: Shopping in the Mall.
FUCK super mutants. Fuck all the super mutants!
So, once I got out of Underworld this morning, I checked over my map and decided to start checking all the undiscovered areas I had made a note of. Charon and Dogmeat of course came along. First we went into the museum metro again before moving on to the Metro Central. That place, I went over with a fine-toothed comb (even though I had already been there several times) until I was certain I had discovered all of its secrets, one of them being a dead slave with a note on his body talking of a place north of Canterbury Commons called the Temple of the Union. Another place to check out, added to my ever-growing list.
We took the exit up to Pennsylvania Avenue again. There was a single metro tunnel there I hadn't yet explored and which I wanted to, but it turned out to just lead back to somewhere else in the Mall. I mapped my exit as Mall Northeast. Exiting the place, we came across super mutants, Talons, and all other kinds of scum. I decided then that today's project was clearing the Mall out.
No small task, even though I was at the top of my game and had assistance this time. We went from one end of the Mall to the other, killing everything we came across aside from Willow and some Brotherhood of Steel guys. It was a bastard to do, and took half the day, but we did it. But even then, we still had to head into the underground areas, like that fucking bunker, the museum metro directly beneath the place, and the mirelurk lair. I mapped the area near the lair as Mall Southwest. I mapped several other locations around the area too, like the Museum of Technology, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the National Archives, the Capitol Building, and the Museum Authority Building.
I've made it our mission to check out and clear them all, the Washington Monument and Museum Authority being the clear exceptions, because they're an active Brotherhood of Steel outpost and boarded-up, respectively. Well, the Lincoln Memorial was outside already, so it was easiest to check out. There were some shady-looking guys there, who I already didn't trust from the outset. Then I met their leader, and found out who they really were.
Hey, do you know what Abraham Lincoln is famous for? Once upon a time, America as a nation supported slavery. Specifically of black people. Lincoln is remembered and honoured even today because he brought an end to the slave trade, even though it meant fighting a civil war. Today, his legacy lives on. I'm sure he'd be honoured and humbled to know that there now exists no racial prejudice among humans, because in this new post-apocalyptic world, where every man is truly equal, now even black people are allowed to take, keep, and sell slaves, as evidenced by the multi-ethnic slavers occupying the Lincoln memorial. Isn't that wonderful?
Well, in a way, yes. In terms of social progress, I'd say that the elimination of racism amongst humans is a definite plus. But this whole slavery business is still iffy to me. While I'm happy that who gets enslaved isn't decided based on race anymore, I don't like the fact that it's seemingly random like a lottery either.
Ideally, you'd have it so that there's a wasteland police force like the Regulators who can fairly and accurately create laws and a justice system for the wasteland which would prohibit the activities of raiders and other such scum, and who would capture criminals instead of killing them, and then you'd enslave the convicts and sell them instead of innocent people. And to prevent this system from being played, it would be punishable by enslavement to free convicts, or to own a slave if you have a criminal record. That way, you can hopefully avoid raiders buying back their own people.
As you can see, I've put a lot of thought into this system, and I debated with the slaver leader for hours about this, long into the night. He raised several good counterpoints, and we argued ethics and morality in the context of enslavement, as well as the economic side of it, and the practicality of setting up such a system. He agreed that it was theoretically a good idea, but that it just wouldn't be possible in practice. I nodded, sadly agreed that he was right, and then I shot him in the head. Then me, Charon, and Dogmeat proceeded to kill everyone else at the memorial.
What? I'm fine with slavery and all, but I can't let it continue if it's not on my terms. That simply won't do.
The day of killing and looting netted lots of guns, lots of ammo, one copy each of Pugilism, Dean's, Duck and Cover!, a previously-read Grognak issue, and two copies of the Chinese stealth manual. Also just realised there's like seven Nuka Cola Quantum bottles and a stealth boy with me that I hadn't even mentioned in these journals yet.
Should I even bother mentioning stealth boys and Quantums? Or these books for that matter? Why am I even bothering to keep a record of the shit I sell?
Oh yeah, that's right. Boredom.
Day 34: Fixing Things for Three Dog.
Today's first target was the Museum of Technology. It had a lot of interesting exhibits on American history, including ones about the space race and moon landing, which I was always enamoured with as a child. There was a replica of the Valiant 11 there, the lunar lander used in the Virgo II mission which saw Captains Richard Wade, Mark Garris, and Michael Hagen land on the moon. And I even saw the skeleton of Captain Carl Bell there! He showed those commies who was BOSS by being the first man in space! This guy was like my idol as a kid.
I'm not even a patriotic individual, given that the country I supposedly belong to was wiped out in nuclear hellfire hundreds of years ago, but damn it, how can I not punch the air in triumph at the mere thought of such a thing? First man in space! AMERICA, son! These guys were fucking heroes, and if any of them were alive today I would stalk them obsessively. Learning about outer space is so much fun.
I wish I could go to space...
This shows you how much I'm psyched about the space program thing. I got so excited about it, I haven't even mentioned the vault replica that was also in the museum, made as a promotion for the vaults. I have surprisingly little to say about that. It was a novelty, but unremarkable.
Well, either way, I was there in the first place because I needed the relay dish on the lander. It seemed a shame to desecrate it, but in this ruined world, it's a simple fact of life that the history of the old world is something to be thought on and admired, but not something to be preserved at the expense of the present. The relics of the old world have only one role in the present, and that is to help us rebuild. And rebuild is what we did. Three Dog was very happy, and summoned me back in a live broadcast on GNR, which I've been listening to a lot while in DC.
In other news, Charon continues to impress. The man doesn't talk much, but he's a crack shot and doesn't die easy. Certainly not as easy as Dogmeat, who had several near-death experiences yesterday, and even more today as we went up against the super mutant residents of the museum.
Also, while in the museum, I found that the terminals were full of messages from some guy called Prime for another guy called Jiggs. I think Jiggs was expected to show up at the museum at some point, and the terminals had a set of number puzzles for him to solve so that he could get a location from the final terminal, telling them where to meet to split the loot that Prime had already taken. It was easy to figure out. His name was Prime. I had to choose the prime numbers. Clever, actually. Easy for me to decipher, and presumably Jiggs too, but the usual wasteland trash wouldn't have a clue what any of the numbers had in common. The location is a diner in Jury Street Metro Station. I'm going there at soonest opportunity.
Anyway, after that, we travelled back through the ruins to Three Dog at GNR, and he gave me the key to the weapons cache as promised. The weapons cache in Hamilton's hideaway. Looking back at my old journals, yes, that is the place with the door I failed to get through. Looks like this little excursion paid off after all.
But there were still things to do. I headed back to the Mall, because there was a metro tunnel there I'd yet to explore. Well, less a metro tunnel, more an irradiated cave full of shit. Hazmat disposal site L5. Full of ghouls, of course. Fortunately, Charon has no problem with killing ferals, and in fact, he's exceptionally good at it. Still can't get him to talk to me, though.
We emerged into a plaza full of super mutants. Cleared them out with some effort, and explored. Not much of note. But we did find something there. A grave. A grave for a man named Henry. I found a note in it. The writer and two others named Kaya and Emmet were from Canterbury Commons, and they came into the city looking for a woman called Cheryl, who had apparently been to a place called the Citadel, where she was given medicine, and sent off to the Rangers' compound. That's where the party was heading next.
Curious.
I marked L'Enfant Plaza on the map, and I marked L'Enfant south separately so I could get more money. As I will do to any district in DC that I think is big enough that I can get away with it. The most interesting other thing in L'Enfant was the Capitol Post building. There were two things that caught my eye in there. One, a freshly decapitated body belonging to a man named Gibson, who carried with him a key and a piece of paper simply telling me to "search the house." Two, some old newspaper articles.
There were six that I was particularly interested in. One about food riots going on before the war, one about a child serial killer called the Pint-Sized Slasher, one about the US annexing Canada, one about the United Nations disbanding, and the two that interested me most, both concerning the war: "Development of Super Weapon Confirmed," and "Communists Crushed, Alaska Liberated!" It jumped out to me, because the former made mention of General Chase, and both were talking about the Anchorage campaign. Oh, I don't need no pre-war newspaper to tell me about Alaska. I was there. I experienced it first-hand. That place was a special kind of hell.
Still, I couldn't spend all day dwelling on old papers. Though, I was able to at least get a surprised reaction from Charon by telling him that I had been in Anchorage. For a brief moment, I think he thought I was a ghoul too, because I had yet to take off my helmet in front of him by then. I told him I wasn't, and even showed him, but didn't explain how I could have been at Anchorage. I just let him stew on that and come to his own conclusions. Maybe it'll teach him not to give me the silent treatment.
We found another way out of L'Enfant and decided to explore that too for the fuck of it. It was an irradiated metro tunnel full of ghouls with nothing much of interest. Charon rather liked it. I did not. It just led out to the Potomac River, so I mapped the location and turned back the way we came.
Eventually, we were back in Seward Square again, and I was consulting the terminal in the Rangers' compound for information on the search party looking for Cheryl. Apparently, Reilly sent them in the direction of a bridge on the Potomac, where we had just came from. At that point I couldn't be asked to go chasing that too. Instead, we took a look at the map, saw how close Rivet City was looking, and made a run for that. Seward Square had one last metro tunnel we hadn't checked. The last one on this side of the Potomac, I think. It was full of raiders, but they weren't even a challenge. Barely worth noting anymore.
When we left the tunnels, we were ambushed by Talon Company mercenaries. This time, I didn't even need to worry about them. Charon took care of them for me. He's about the same level as a Talon merc himself. He's got a combat shotgun and armour just like theirs. Only difference tactically is that he's got more experience than any of them. He's getting slowly more curious about me too, especially now that he knows I'm dangerous enough to warrant assassins. Good.
By then, though, we were there. Rivet City. Or at least, the station just before Rivet City, known as Anacostia. I marked Anacostia and Rivet City separately. The place is a massive, half-sunken battleship, with a bridge between the ship and a nearby platform, which they can raise and lower as they please. The head of security personally greeted us as we entered. Guy called Harkness. This place looks nice, too. Though, I'm a little concerned to see that even here, there's a water beggar outside the gate, even though this place seems to have no entry requirements other than "don't fuck shit up." I'm suspicious of this one. I wasn't of the other two, but this guy...
Anyway, it was already too late to visit the market or to see anyone by the time we got here, so I just went and rented a room in a hotel that'd let me, Charon, and Dogmeat stay. The proprietor is Vera Weatherly, Bryan Wilks' aunt. I was able to tell her what happened and ask her to take him in, and she said she's happy to. Tomorrow, I set out to bring Bryan the good news. It'll take all day to get there and back again with him, but it'll be worth the trip. The boy's finally got a home.
Day 35: Today is a Day for Family.
I love happy endings.
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- Location
- The Internet?
"Not so smug without depth perception, are you?"
"Dying sounds-"
"That's what I thought."
Yeah yeah yeah, but tell me more about this
America: You talking shit about me? I'll fight you righ' now!
"Go home, America, you're drunk."
"Psh' yeah, drunk on power, you try it some time."
As if their day isn't bad enough, they're already getting stabbed.
They weren't Outcasts for no reason, ya know? They're just kinda some dicks.
I feel like it works either way, but I think it's worth mentioning that you could say 'mentioning' instead of mention.
Magic, she's a witch! That or the two brain cells thing.
But there was time now... there was finally time.
View: https://youtu.be/QMGUWboWmos?si=mKYbYsrEgEcZJ2zz
I shudder to think what he'd clarify as a Simurgh.
Yeah, because Cross would played baseball with you if you did. It's just she'd have used her sledge, and you'd be the ball
"I don't smell! I don't smell anything!"
"Harold, your nose fell off centuries ago."
Toxic masculinity. Toxic masculinity never changes.
She was probably worried you'd give back the ammo first, via the rail launcher.
Why do you dislike Dukov, clown shoes?"🤡
"Racism was not a problem
Heh. Careful what you wish for...
For the glory of the Elders.
I can't wait for his mental justifications for some of the achievements!🤔
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Obviously those reskinned Skyrim dragons from Fallout 76, right? What do they call them? Scorchbeast queens? IDK, I never played it, but from what I've heard, they fly, are really strong, and apparently the scorch plague turns its victims into some sort of zombie hivemind thing under their psychic control, which sounds awfully Simurgh-y to me. I think Todd Howard should pay Wildbow royalties.
Harold must be one of those Fallout 4 ghouls.
Not an unwarranted fear with this Wanderer.
I'm pretty sure this unironically is the case in Fallout canon.
Well, except "civilized" wastelander racism against tribals. That still seems pretty prevalent.
GIVE IT TIME...
I don't remember if this was something I was thinking about as I wrote, as I forgot that Fallout 3 even had achievements. But taking a look at the list, I think he'd get most of them just from the natural completionist playstyle anyway. They're all either from completing the quests, collecting a lot of a thing, or doing a standard gameplay thing like picking a lock a bunch of times.
Psychotic Prankster is the only outlier as a specific non-quest, non-collecting action that you might not think to do in normal gameplay, but I'd personally count the way he killed Jericho as qualifying for it, since reverse-pickpocketing a mine onto him while he slept was how I killed him in my playalong.
The only achievements he definitely wouldn't get in the course of Wanderer's Diary would be all the ones for reaching certain levels at different karma alignments, since they by design require multiple playthroughs.
EDIT: Actually, come to think of it, there are a rare few quest achievements that he would also be locked out of for... uh... reasons.
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Week Six
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Wanderer's Diary: Week Six
Day 36: Tightening the Rivets.
Ahhhh... So where was I?
Oh, right! Sorry for the briefness of my last entry, diary. At the time it was something like two in the morning, and I had just spent the day running all the way to Grayditch and back again, with the entire run back to Rivet City also being an escort of Bryan Wilks. It was a largely uneventful day, and I didn't feel much of a need to expand on it in a journal. I just wanted to sleep again.
All you need to know is that three major things happened. One, Bryan now lives in comfort with his Auntie Vera here in Rivet City. Two, I found another grave, belonging to Emmet from that search party, with a note saying that they're going to continue searching, though it's vague about where. And three, I stopped by Dukov's place while on my journey too, and he had some very interesting things to tell me regarding Crowley.
I think I was right to be suspicious of him, because Dukov claims that he's not a racist at all, and seems to believe that Crowley wants him dead for his key. Apparently, Tenpenny hired Crowley and four others some time ago to do a job northwest in some place called Fort Constantine. I think it was to get some kind of gun or something? I don't know. What I do know is that of the four people Crowley wanted dead, one hired him for this job, and three others worked with him on it. The only one of his former associates Crowley doesn't want me to blast in the head is a woman called Tara. I don't know why. This warrants further investigation.
I threatened Dukov into surrendering his key either way. It'll act as proof I killed him should I choose to hand it in for pay, but far more likely I'm going to collect these keys for myself and see just what it is in Constantine he wants so bad.
But whatever. That was yesterday, and this entry should be for today. And today, I explored the glorious Rivet City, while my companions just wandered. And even though I've only really been here a day, I've already started making waves.
First order of business was finding out about Dad, so I went to the science lab to see what the deal was there. I never entered, though, because I met the woman I was looking for, Dr. Madison Li, in the corridor just outside. She said that they worked together on something called Project Purity back in the day, along with my mother, the goal of which was to purify the entire tidal basin to bring about fresh, clean drinking water for all. Supposedly, Dad came back to see her because he has an interest in restarting the project, which was based out of the old Jefferson Memorial.
She told me all about him and my mother and the project, but I still didn't completely trust her word. Just to be sure, I broke into her quarters and looked around a bit. I found three holotapes in there, made by Dad. Old ones, dating back to his original work on the project. They talk about mom, and her pregnancy with me, and the project's many setbacks, and the strain on their relationship with the Brotherhood of Steel, who were meant to protect them from mutants while this was going on. They confirm her story, so Li wasn't lying like I suspected, but I don't regret stealing these. It was good just to hear his voice again.
I... don't know what my next move is. Dad could be over in the Jefferson Memorial right now, but I don't want to go there yet. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe I'm just afraid to see him after all this time? Afraid of what he'll think? Regardless, I know I'll have to swallow my pride and go there sometime soon. Tomorrow, most likely. Today, though, I just moped around town a bit longer, checking everything out.
The next most interesting thing that happened to me today wass the influence I had on local politics. Bannon, the clothing store guy, is a member of the city council, and a rival shopkeeper called Seagrave Holmes was looking to take his seat. At Bannon's request, I did some snooping, and discovered that Seagrave was involved with slavers way back when.
Now, he has put that behind him, and was refusing to work with the slave boss, this Eulogy Jones person, but he was still a slaver, and Bannon as far as I can tell never was. Ergo, Bannon is probably the better person to be in a position of power in Rivet City. I gave the letter to a high-ranking security guard, and Seagrave was dealt with. Not dead dealt with. Just no longer plotting against Bannon. I may have to rectify that myself with my shotgun at a later date, but for the time being, Bannon was thankful enough for my work to give me a discount at his store and some schematics for a deathclaw gauntlet. Yes, I know I already have schematics for that, but his ones were better. So there.
After that, I wandered for a while, getting to know all the inhabitants of the city.
Flak and Shrapnel are two guys who run the gun store. They gave me a shiny new Chinese assault rifle in exchange for my not-quite-as-shiny American one, and provided Charon with some much needed combat armour and alternate weapons. I'm pretty sure they're gay. I have no evidence for that, but they just really set off my gaydar. And my gaydar is never wrong.
The Staleys are a father and daughter that run a restaurant. Gary acts as the chef, and Angela serves as the waitress between entertaining fantasies of seducing an acolyte of the local church.
Speaking of which, yeah, there's a church. A Christian church, too! Not worshipping the boat's engines or anything; a legitimate continuation of the old world religion. And as far as I can tell, it hasn't much distorted the original faith. I didn't even think about it until now, because we had education about old world religion and practiced it in the vault, but it's very likely that Dad learned about Christianity and heard his favourite Revelations quote for the first time here in Rivet City, probably in this same church.
Father Clifford, the man who runs the church, was kind enough to tell me all about the church's history too, as well as Saint Monica. I decided to donate some caps. Because that's what you do at church. That and pray. And listen to sermons. But the sermons only happen on Sundays and today is a Friday, so none of that for now.
Then I got acquainted with two very different families. The Young family, who are a couple and their daughter, and the Hargrave family, which is just some drunken, abusive bitch and her troublemaker son. They're an interesting study in polar opposites. Right now I'm debating whether or not to kill Tammy Hargrave. I think that boy will be genuinely better off without her.
I also met another couple who work in the marketplace peddling drugs. As part of a store, not as shady dealers who hang around in bars, though that's not much better. The husband is the biggest addict of all, though, so I guess karma is real after all.
I stopped by the American history museum. Yes, they have one of those too. Not very accurate history, mind you, but the guy who runs the place is enthusiastic at least. He wants me to go out to loot some museum in the DC ruins and bring back the Declaration of Independence. Another task to add to the list.
There was also the Muddy Rudder, a bar full of lowlifes doing lowlife things. I don't know what I expected, but at least the alcohol was good.
And the final person of note I met (aside from Dr. Preston, who was nice but unremarkable), is Mei Wong, a former slave to none other than my original nemesis, Alistair Tenpenny. She apparently escaped captivity and is hiding out here in Rivet City, terrified to death of an agent of Paradise Falls named Sister, who is also here.
Looks like I'm not done cleaning the scum out of DC just yet. Already that's three people potentially on my list in this city alone. I still haven't made up my mind about killing that asshole Dukov yet, and now that I've got a name to put to this slavery business, Eulogy Jones isn't safe either. Not to mention Crowley, the scumfuck, who I want to teach a lesson about honesty to. At least I'm not hurting for targets if my urges start acting up again. Though, I think I may want to stagger those out a bit. Save some of them for later.
In inventory news, I sold at the marketplace:
Hmm...
Day 37: An Average Day in the Capital Wasteland.
Today was weird.
So, first of all I set out from Rivet City with Charon and Dogmeat and began my trek towards the Jefferson Memorial. On my way there, a bunch of super mutants got in the way. I'm in the middle of dashing about this place and blasting body parts off of them with my shotgun, when out of nowhere, some creepy mofo in a trenchcoat and fedora appears, kills a mutant that was about to get me, and vanishes into thin air.
Who the fuck was that guy, why the fuck did he save me, and why the fuck did he run away after?
Secondly, we get into the memorial itself (naturally added to the map for Reilly), and after fighting through more super mutants and searching the place, I find Dad's quarters, full of scotch and holotapes. There were three personal logs there, with Dad talking to himself about resurrecting the project and getting help from Dr. Li. It was rather poignant. Until I found another tape of Dad feeling up Mom while she was working.
Ew.
Thirdly, I come outside again briefly for some fresh air, and some woman then came right the fuck out of nowhere to yell at me for trying to find out who the android is, because androids are people too, yada, yada, yada. I only wanted to meet the android, and here's this bitch trying to guilt-trip me for being curious about the modern equivalent to a mythical fucking creature apparently walking the wasteland. So, I naturally told her to go fuck herself.
She took exception to that. I think the encounter ended in a firefight. My memory is a bit hazy. All I recall by that point is lots of blood, shouting, gunshots, and my armoured fists pounding something into the dirt. Psycho does that to a person.
Fourthly, Three Dog on the radio starts talking about having once seen trees. Living ones. Just like that psycho by the Rangers' headquarters. I'm starting to think this might not be bullshit.
Anyway, after that I resumed my exploration of the memorial. I found loads more holotapes. In the sub-basement, only old ones where Dad states his intentions to abandon the project. But in the rotunda, site of the main project itself, the clue I needed. Three tapes stating that while in Vault 101, he continued research for Purity, and found information about a "Garden of Eden Creation Kit," or "GECK," developed by someone called Braun. Dad wanted to find a GECK for Project Purity, but Vault 101 lacked one. He thinks that there might be one to be found in Vault 112, the missing mystery vault that not even Vault-Tec HQ had the location of. Apparently, it's hidden beneath a garage near Evergreen Mills.
Guess I have my next destination.
After that, we headed back to Rivet City to stay the night. There I met the fifth thing that made my day weird. Dr. Zimmer, a representative of the Institute, and the Commonwealth, the people who created the android. And he's hunting for it here. And he wants my help in doing so. Told me to ask Dr. Preston for him, while he was waiting to speak with Dr. Li.
I don't know if I even should. I'm actually rather conflicted about this. That girl from the Railroad was probably trying to stop me because she thought I was working with this guy. Yet... he holds the secrets to everything I was curious about. He even has another android with him working as his bodyguard! Armitage, his name is. I swear, I must have orgasmed when I was told who and what he was.
I go to bed feeling uneasy, but also excited. I read Paradise Lost at long last to calm my nerves. Damn good stuff, actually. Guess I know now why it was considered a classic. But it only distracted me for so long. Who knows what happens now?
Also I should confess right now that the Rivet City science lab housed another bobblehead. I stole it. Do you expect any less?
Day 38: Sunday Stroll.
Busy day. I started with covertly killing Sister, which earned eternal thanks from Mei Wong, though Charon was less than happy. Then I met one of the men on Crowley's list, Ted Strayer. He's actually my age, and it wasn't him that accompanied Crowley and the others on the mission, but his father. This guy just inherited the key, and for that, Crowley wants him dead. Cunt. Still got the key, though. Convinced him to give it to me.
After that, I convinced a suicidal old man to stop being suicidal, because I can just do that, because I'm awesome.
Then I attended mass. No, you didn't hear wrong. I went to church. I don't know if I believe in God or not, but the gesture feels right at least. Even if it's silently thinking it to myself, confessing sins definitely makes me feel better. And I've got a lot of them. Some of them I'm even sorry for.
Charon refused to attend for some reason.
Well, that was that. From there, I decided that androids or no, I needed to get out of Rivet City for a little while. That place was suffocating me. I didn't even care that I was for once surrounded by people of vault-level intelligence. I just needed a break.
We made a trek up north again, leaving Rivet City behind and heading back towards Megaton. Though, we only got as far as Dukov's place before it started getting too dark to continue. Dukov was unwilling to house me and my companions, but by that point I was sick of this guy and sick of all the bullshit people were putting me through, so I introduced him to Eugene and painted the walls with his blood. Not the precise headshot kill that Crowley wanted, but he can go die in a fire for all I care.
Charon seemed to think the hookers were a threat as well, so when they started acting up after I pulled the minigun, he put a bullet in their heads too. And that still didn't stop him from acting like I was a bastard for putting down Dukov. Hypocritical jackass.
He and I are having ideological differences. Even if it is just to mutter his disapproval at me, though, I'm glad I've finally started getting some kind of reaction out of him. The man is a stone wall unless something crazy or interesting is going on. That's why I was so pleased to have him with me yesterday when all the weird shit was going down. Even if he never actually questioned things aloud like I did, his face at times revealed his confusion in a most amusing manner.
Anyway, tomorrow we get home.
Day 39: Bitches in the Bachelor Pad.
Uggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
So I get back to Megaton today, and what's the first thing I have to deal with?
That great cunt Lucy West did indeed break into my house while I was gone, likely looking to murder me just as I suspected. And like a good remorseless kill-droid, my butler cooked her to perfection, so I had a nice little present waiting for me when I walked through the door.
Jesus Christ, the awkward levels were off the charts. I marched through town in power armour carrying a roasted corpse slung over my shoulder, and dropped it in front of Sheriff Simms just as his son walked out the door, and then I had to explain to the both of them that "I just found her like this. In my house."
Yes, it's true, but come on. Does that honestly sound like a good enough explanation for this shit?
Lucky for me Simms really likes me, and he actually believed me. I think they buried her somewhere and had a funeral, but I didn't attend. I had no desire to after what I suspect she was in my house to do. Simms and the others, though, said that they understand completely after what she was saying about me. Further pressing finally revealed the truth.
Turns out Lucy didn't know that I massacred Arefu. She had heard that Arefu was wiped out, and just assumed that I was responsible. By sheer coincidence, she just happened to be right, while everyone else in town is still on my side over the issue, because they think that I didn't do it, and that she was making baseless assumptions and jumping to conclusions.
*Slow clap.*
Bravo, Capital Wasteland. That is a whole new level of fucking stupid right there.
Moira was glad to receive my findings on the molerats at least, and has given me my final assignment for this chapter, which is to go to the Anchorage memorial and plant a device there to help her gain information on mirelurks, preferably without killing any.
I spoke to Gob up in his saloon after that. Told him I saw Carol in Underworld, and passed on a message from her to him. It was nice to see him happy about something. That ghoul deserves the good fortune he's come into since I intervened. After so many years of what can only be described as slavery, he's living the dream. If I'm not horribly misreading things, I think he might even have a thing going with Nova now. Which is disgusting, but sweet, simultaneously. Charon had a similar opinion when I told him my suspicions, which surprised me. He tells me he has no interest in human women now, just like how I imagine most humans feel about ghouls.
How does becoming a ghoul affect one's sexuality anyway? Are all ghouls just attracted to rotting flesh like they themselves have? If so, would a ghoul fucking an actual corpse be a normal thing for them? I want to ask Charon these questions, but I don't want to seem racist.
Bah. I'm thinking too much about this. The last several days have been chaotic enough without me giving myself additional worries. Now that I've had a relatively normal day for once, I want to just appreciate it and be quiet and still for a moment.
My normal days involve finding extra-crispy bodies in my house and wondering about how ghoul sex works. In the vault, my normal days had me fix a Pip-Boy or two and hang out with Amata.
What have I become?
Day 40: Trekking Across the Wastes.
Today I stashed away everything I've collected on my journeys through DC to lighten the load somewhat. The bobblehead from Rivet City found a nice home on my stand. The Nuka machine upstairs is now filled to the brim with Quantums. My fridge is full of spare preserved food if I ever feel like eating in. And my clothes and armour locker has seen the additions of the baseball cap I found in Takoma, and Vance's coat, which while still nice-looking, I haven't actually worn at any point, despite its purpose ostensibly being casual clothes I can wear while not out fighting.
Even in Rivet City, I walked around in power armour, just minus the helmet. That's how paranoid I am that I'll get into a fight. And if there ever is a situation where I want something lighter than power armour, there's always the Chinese stealth armour.
For weapons, I've changed up my armament again. This time I wanted to offload most of the heavy equipment I've picked up. So I broke down my old minigun and used it to fix up Eugene, and did the same to the Fat Man I used to have before I got this new one. So now I have only one of each, in better condition. Though, they're still heavy as fuck, so I left them in Megaton, along with the flamer. I mean, come on. I'm already carrying enough weapons to kill anything that moves. Between the revolver, SMG, shotgun, sniper rifle, hunting rifle, assault rifle, plasma rifle, Gauss rifle, Stabhappy, and deathclaw gauntlet, I think I'm covered.
Charon wanted a decent knife, though, so I gave him a trench knife I picked up in the vault after that Anchorage simulation. I used it to cut myself out of the neural interface suit when it wouldn't come off.
After that, I decided to head north in the direction of Big Town. Rather than go directly there, though, we first stopped in Hamilton's Hideaway, the location of the cache that Three Dog gave me the key for. It contained a copy of Guns and Bullets, a mini nuke, a stealth boy, and some other weapons and armour unworthy of comment which I made Charon carry.
Big Town was our next stop. They took most of the cache off me, and gave me caps in return. The place is doing a lot better now, and they've started trading with the outside world now that it's safe to do so. I later in the day met a trader on his way to Big Town who said the same. He was going there to sell parts for their robots.
Then we went to see Agatha. She was disappointed I hadn't returned with the violin, but I told her that I had made progress in finding the vault, after the trip to the Vault-Tec Headquarters. She asked if I had regenerated any more limbs, or was seeing any skin peeling off yet, but I told her no. Charon's face was great, especially since no-one actually explained to him what we were talking about. Sooner or later, he's going to have to start asking questions. I'll break him yet.
Doc Hoff and Crow were also there. Crow paid me for the rest of the Wheaton stash I gave him a while back, and from Hoff I purchased more schematics. Turns out that he had designs for the Nuka grenades too, only his actually show a way I can exploit the design to make more grenades from the same materials. Surprised a doctor has weapon schematics, but I'm not complaining.
Then I found myself in Minefield again, finally giving me a chance to correct my past mistakes and get back that crappy romance novel I left to rot last time, and the other abandoned books too.
While there, I was also reminded of a little model house in one of the actual houses there, which I had ignored before. I had a hunch about it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I was right. That guy who I found decapitated in the Capitol Post building left a note telling me to search the house, and it was this house. He left a key for the lock on the model. The key also fits the front door as well. The craziest thing is, the model didn't even have anything of interest inside it. Just some preserved food, Buffout, and pre-war money. What the hell was the deal with this place? I had believed Minefield to be uninhabited since the war, aside from Arkansas, but apparently not. Whoever he was, I think that guy might have lived here. What the hell happened to him that he ended up decapitated in the middle of DC with a mysterious note leading here?
I guess I'll never really know. And that irritates me.
Final stop for the night was Canterbury Commons. They were pleased to see me again, and I even met Crazy Wolfgang once more, who I was finally able to tell all about the stash in Wheaton I left for him too. Paid me right on the spot, and then ran to go get it. Guess I'm just that trustworthy. And now I'm just settling down for bed in the Mechanist's forge, while Charon's gone to look around the place a bit and fix up his equipment. It's been a long day for all of us, and we're just looking for rest now.
I've looked back on my old journals, and realised that my worst fears came true. After the first day I spent in the outside world, my entries did indeed all become giant-sized, with only a few exceptions. I didn't even notice.
Day 41: The Strangeness in the North.
Started the day with a Talon squad waiting outside the door for me, in a major case of deja-vu. Even considering the power armour, though, the idiots still didn't think to bring more than three men along. I didn't care, though. It just meant more stuff to sell to the merchants in town, and more ammunition for me and Charon.
We went west first, where we found the headquarters of the Regulators, just as promised. They claim to have agents all over the wasteland, just that I probably haven't noticed them. It sounds like bullshit, but then again, I've noticed that Lucas Simms has very similar clothes to these guys. They gave me my own Regulator outfit, and told me that I can now work freelance for them. I just have to go out and kill bad people, and bring back their fingers as proof I did it. Then they'll pay me for it.
I don't really need extra money, but I feel it goes without saying that this is a major boon for me. These people are the closest thing to law enforcement the wasteland has, and now I'm one of them. Getting away with murder just became five times easier.
See someone I don't like?
BOOM.
"It's okay, ma'am. He was a bad guy. Regulator business, people. Go back to your drinks while I cut off this guy's finger..."
Not to mention if they ever do get wind that I did something bad, since I'm one of them, they'll be more likely to believe my story, rather than sending squads to hunt me down. Awesome.
We proceeded north from there, where we then came across the fabled Temple of the Union that I heard about, a refugee hold for escaped slaves. Their leader, Hannibal Hamlin, wants to set up a new base in the Lincoln Memorial in the DC ruins. I told him that I had recently cleared it of slavers, and he was very happy about that.
Also of note is that these people (for some reason) have the head that belongs on the statue of Lincoln. They want to fix it back on, but they need a reference for that, so they want me to go find a picture of the memorial in one piece for them. I can probably find that in the history museum where Underworld is based. They already left to head for the memorial, so I'm going to find them there later when I've got that picture.
Mapped both the Regulator HQ and TotU, and continued north.
Side note: Three Dog finally caught wind of my saving Bryan Wilks, Grayditch, and Reilly's Rangers, because he's started adding reports of those heroics to his news broadcasts. Glad to see some recognition. I should have a cult formed around me.
Though, the situation with Tenpenny Tower doesn't sound like it's gotten any better.
Well, we still had Vault 92 and Dave to find up north, so we pressed on. On the way, we came across an old diner full of raiders, and a relay tower. I marked both on the map, as Grisly Diner and Relay tower KX-B8-11 respectively.
KX broadcasted another distress signal once we got the power on there, which depressingly led into a drainage chamber with two skeletons. However, the guy on the signal, Bob, said he and his family were in there with their sick child, and I found only two skeletons, adult-sized. No child skeleton. It gives me some hope that the kid got away. Maybe "family" included a grandfather or auntie who got the kid to safety. At least I hope so.
The diner, meanwhile, contained something just as interesting (and depressing). It's another pre-war audio tape. Remember that one I found in Hallowed Moors from that woman, Tina, talking about how her family were planning to hide out in a bunker her brother stole the passcode to? In the diner, I found a tape by her sister, Candace. It was a recording of her witnessing the bombs falling and talking about the mushroom clouds.
Jesus.
While in the area, I also saved a group of wastelanders fleeing from an injured deathclaw. In thanks, they gave me a map to a place where they were supposedly going to go looking for treasure. It was in some caverns just north of DC, right by Friendship Heights.
Damn, I am never going to get all this done...
Went north again. This time we found a ruined farm where some raiders and rogue robots were fighting it out. Killed everyone. Looted the place. Mapped it. Went east. Found a power station. Looted the place. Mapped it. Went north again.
And that's when I arrived at the Republic of Dave, which is Crazytown if ever I saw it. I can't even be bothered to go into that right now, though, because that's a whole other entry by itself. They had no space there to stay the night, so we're going to stay at that power station instead for the time being, but I was able to convince some woman to buy some of the books I'd found off me. One Junktown, one Internal Medicine, two Guns and Bullets, one Pugilism, and one Grognak issue, plus another pre-war book I had no interest in. War propaganda I think.
That's all I was able to get done for today. I'll have to speak with Dave later on tomorrow, because it's getting late already. By the time I reached the Republic, all I had the energy to do was sell my shit, steal another bobblehead I found in their quote unquote "museum," and ask about beds.
Whatever. I marked the Republic on my map, and I'll be back tomorrow to finish everything off.
Oh, and I should also note that I've also picked up eight Nuka-Cola Quantums throughout the day, most of which came from a crashed truck I found on a highway. I could make so many Nuka grenades with these it's unreal, especially with the improved schematics. I only wish I had some targets strong enough to warrant their use. I pulled one out for that deathclaw earlier, and I've tossed one or two about when dealing with large clusters of Talons or super mutants, but there's no enemies I encounter on a regular basis who really need Nuka grenades. It saddens me.
There's also a signal my Pip-Boy started picking up just now as I've been writing. Sounds like gibberish to me, though I am curious about where it's coming from. I've left my stuff with Charon and Dogmeat, and told them to stay where they are and wait for me. I need to see what this is real quick. I can always come back if I need backup.
Day 42: Aliens Exist.
Hey, diary. Quick update for you. The signal came from a crashed alien spacecraft, and I was abducted and beamed onto their mothership. I'm now in a cell with another wastelander captive. She says they're going to experiment on us. We may very well die here, and the situation looks pretty bleak. Sad to say, this may be my last entry.
For a while, anyway. I'm going to be too busy to update my journal for the foreseeable future. I have an entire ship full of aliens to kill. This is going to take a long time. So, forgive me if my next few entries are briefer than usual. I have unholy vengeance to enact on a vessel full of squishy little green midgets.
HERE COMES THE WANDERER!
Day 36: Tightening the Rivets.
Ahhhh... So where was I?
Oh, right! Sorry for the briefness of my last entry, diary. At the time it was something like two in the morning, and I had just spent the day running all the way to Grayditch and back again, with the entire run back to Rivet City also being an escort of Bryan Wilks. It was a largely uneventful day, and I didn't feel much of a need to expand on it in a journal. I just wanted to sleep again.
All you need to know is that three major things happened. One, Bryan now lives in comfort with his Auntie Vera here in Rivet City. Two, I found another grave, belonging to Emmet from that search party, with a note saying that they're going to continue searching, though it's vague about where. And three, I stopped by Dukov's place while on my journey too, and he had some very interesting things to tell me regarding Crowley.
I think I was right to be suspicious of him, because Dukov claims that he's not a racist at all, and seems to believe that Crowley wants him dead for his key. Apparently, Tenpenny hired Crowley and four others some time ago to do a job northwest in some place called Fort Constantine. I think it was to get some kind of gun or something? I don't know. What I do know is that of the four people Crowley wanted dead, one hired him for this job, and three others worked with him on it. The only one of his former associates Crowley doesn't want me to blast in the head is a woman called Tara. I don't know why. This warrants further investigation.
I threatened Dukov into surrendering his key either way. It'll act as proof I killed him should I choose to hand it in for pay, but far more likely I'm going to collect these keys for myself and see just what it is in Constantine he wants so bad.
But whatever. That was yesterday, and this entry should be for today. And today, I explored the glorious Rivet City, while my companions just wandered. And even though I've only really been here a day, I've already started making waves.
First order of business was finding out about Dad, so I went to the science lab to see what the deal was there. I never entered, though, because I met the woman I was looking for, Dr. Madison Li, in the corridor just outside. She said that they worked together on something called Project Purity back in the day, along with my mother, the goal of which was to purify the entire tidal basin to bring about fresh, clean drinking water for all. Supposedly, Dad came back to see her because he has an interest in restarting the project, which was based out of the old Jefferson Memorial.
She told me all about him and my mother and the project, but I still didn't completely trust her word. Just to be sure, I broke into her quarters and looked around a bit. I found three holotapes in there, made by Dad. Old ones, dating back to his original work on the project. They talk about mom, and her pregnancy with me, and the project's many setbacks, and the strain on their relationship with the Brotherhood of Steel, who were meant to protect them from mutants while this was going on. They confirm her story, so Li wasn't lying like I suspected, but I don't regret stealing these. It was good just to hear his voice again.
I... don't know what my next move is. Dad could be over in the Jefferson Memorial right now, but I don't want to go there yet. I'm not sure what it is. Maybe I'm just afraid to see him after all this time? Afraid of what he'll think? Regardless, I know I'll have to swallow my pride and go there sometime soon. Tomorrow, most likely. Today, though, I just moped around town a bit longer, checking everything out.
The next most interesting thing that happened to me today wass the influence I had on local politics. Bannon, the clothing store guy, is a member of the city council, and a rival shopkeeper called Seagrave Holmes was looking to take his seat. At Bannon's request, I did some snooping, and discovered that Seagrave was involved with slavers way back when.
Now, he has put that behind him, and was refusing to work with the slave boss, this Eulogy Jones person, but he was still a slaver, and Bannon as far as I can tell never was. Ergo, Bannon is probably the better person to be in a position of power in Rivet City. I gave the letter to a high-ranking security guard, and Seagrave was dealt with. Not dead dealt with. Just no longer plotting against Bannon. I may have to rectify that myself with my shotgun at a later date, but for the time being, Bannon was thankful enough for my work to give me a discount at his store and some schematics for a deathclaw gauntlet. Yes, I know I already have schematics for that, but his ones were better. So there.
After that, I wandered for a while, getting to know all the inhabitants of the city.
Flak and Shrapnel are two guys who run the gun store. They gave me a shiny new Chinese assault rifle in exchange for my not-quite-as-shiny American one, and provided Charon with some much needed combat armour and alternate weapons. I'm pretty sure they're gay. I have no evidence for that, but they just really set off my gaydar. And my gaydar is never wrong.
The Staleys are a father and daughter that run a restaurant. Gary acts as the chef, and Angela serves as the waitress between entertaining fantasies of seducing an acolyte of the local church.
Speaking of which, yeah, there's a church. A Christian church, too! Not worshipping the boat's engines or anything; a legitimate continuation of the old world religion. And as far as I can tell, it hasn't much distorted the original faith. I didn't even think about it until now, because we had education about old world religion and practiced it in the vault, but it's very likely that Dad learned about Christianity and heard his favourite Revelations quote for the first time here in Rivet City, probably in this same church.
Father Clifford, the man who runs the church, was kind enough to tell me all about the church's history too, as well as Saint Monica. I decided to donate some caps. Because that's what you do at church. That and pray. And listen to sermons. But the sermons only happen on Sundays and today is a Friday, so none of that for now.
Then I got acquainted with two very different families. The Young family, who are a couple and their daughter, and the Hargrave family, which is just some drunken, abusive bitch and her troublemaker son. They're an interesting study in polar opposites. Right now I'm debating whether or not to kill Tammy Hargrave. I think that boy will be genuinely better off without her.
I also met another couple who work in the marketplace peddling drugs. As part of a store, not as shady dealers who hang around in bars, though that's not much better. The husband is the biggest addict of all, though, so I guess karma is real after all.
I stopped by the American history museum. Yes, they have one of those too. Not very accurate history, mind you, but the guy who runs the place is enthusiastic at least. He wants me to go out to loot some museum in the DC ruins and bring back the Declaration of Independence. Another task to add to the list.
There was also the Muddy Rudder, a bar full of lowlifes doing lowlife things. I don't know what I expected, but at least the alcohol was good.
And the final person of note I met (aside from Dr. Preston, who was nice but unremarkable), is Mei Wong, a former slave to none other than my original nemesis, Alistair Tenpenny. She apparently escaped captivity and is hiding out here in Rivet City, terrified to death of an agent of Paradise Falls named Sister, who is also here.
Looks like I'm not done cleaning the scum out of DC just yet. Already that's three people potentially on my list in this city alone. I still haven't made up my mind about killing that asshole Dukov yet, and now that I've got a name to put to this slavery business, Eulogy Jones isn't safe either. Not to mention Crowley, the scumfuck, who I want to teach a lesson about honesty to. At least I'm not hurting for targets if my urges start acting up again. Though, I think I may want to stagger those out a bit. Save some of them for later.
In inventory news, I sold at the marketplace:
- One Nikola Tesla and You.
- One Guns and Bullets.
- One US Army: 30 Handy Flamethrower Recipes.
- One Big Book of Science.
- One Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual.
- One Pugilism Illustrated.
- Lots of guns and ammunition I picked up from super mutants and raiders in DC.
- Lots of chems and medicine that I don't need.
Hmm...
Day 37: An Average Day in the Capital Wasteland.
Today was weird.
So, first of all I set out from Rivet City with Charon and Dogmeat and began my trek towards the Jefferson Memorial. On my way there, a bunch of super mutants got in the way. I'm in the middle of dashing about this place and blasting body parts off of them with my shotgun, when out of nowhere, some creepy mofo in a trenchcoat and fedora appears, kills a mutant that was about to get me, and vanishes into thin air.
Who the fuck was that guy, why the fuck did he save me, and why the fuck did he run away after?
Secondly, we get into the memorial itself (naturally added to the map for Reilly), and after fighting through more super mutants and searching the place, I find Dad's quarters, full of scotch and holotapes. There were three personal logs there, with Dad talking to himself about resurrecting the project and getting help from Dr. Li. It was rather poignant. Until I found another tape of Dad feeling up Mom while she was working.
Ew.
Thirdly, I come outside again briefly for some fresh air, and some woman then came right the fuck out of nowhere to yell at me for trying to find out who the android is, because androids are people too, yada, yada, yada. I only wanted to meet the android, and here's this bitch trying to guilt-trip me for being curious about the modern equivalent to a mythical fucking creature apparently walking the wasteland. So, I naturally told her to go fuck herself.
She took exception to that. I think the encounter ended in a firefight. My memory is a bit hazy. All I recall by that point is lots of blood, shouting, gunshots, and my armoured fists pounding something into the dirt. Psycho does that to a person.
Fourthly, Three Dog on the radio starts talking about having once seen trees. Living ones. Just like that psycho by the Rangers' headquarters. I'm starting to think this might not be bullshit.
Anyway, after that I resumed my exploration of the memorial. I found loads more holotapes. In the sub-basement, only old ones where Dad states his intentions to abandon the project. But in the rotunda, site of the main project itself, the clue I needed. Three tapes stating that while in Vault 101, he continued research for Purity, and found information about a "Garden of Eden Creation Kit," or "GECK," developed by someone called Braun. Dad wanted to find a GECK for Project Purity, but Vault 101 lacked one. He thinks that there might be one to be found in Vault 112, the missing mystery vault that not even Vault-Tec HQ had the location of. Apparently, it's hidden beneath a garage near Evergreen Mills.
Guess I have my next destination.
After that, we headed back to Rivet City to stay the night. There I met the fifth thing that made my day weird. Dr. Zimmer, a representative of the Institute, and the Commonwealth, the people who created the android. And he's hunting for it here. And he wants my help in doing so. Told me to ask Dr. Preston for him, while he was waiting to speak with Dr. Li.
I don't know if I even should. I'm actually rather conflicted about this. That girl from the Railroad was probably trying to stop me because she thought I was working with this guy. Yet... he holds the secrets to everything I was curious about. He even has another android with him working as his bodyguard! Armitage, his name is. I swear, I must have orgasmed when I was told who and what he was.
I go to bed feeling uneasy, but also excited. I read Paradise Lost at long last to calm my nerves. Damn good stuff, actually. Guess I know now why it was considered a classic. But it only distracted me for so long. Who knows what happens now?
Also I should confess right now that the Rivet City science lab housed another bobblehead. I stole it. Do you expect any less?
Day 38: Sunday Stroll.
Busy day. I started with covertly killing Sister, which earned eternal thanks from Mei Wong, though Charon was less than happy. Then I met one of the men on Crowley's list, Ted Strayer. He's actually my age, and it wasn't him that accompanied Crowley and the others on the mission, but his father. This guy just inherited the key, and for that, Crowley wants him dead. Cunt. Still got the key, though. Convinced him to give it to me.
After that, I convinced a suicidal old man to stop being suicidal, because I can just do that, because I'm awesome.
Then I attended mass. No, you didn't hear wrong. I went to church. I don't know if I believe in God or not, but the gesture feels right at least. Even if it's silently thinking it to myself, confessing sins definitely makes me feel better. And I've got a lot of them. Some of them I'm even sorry for.
Charon refused to attend for some reason.
Well, that was that. From there, I decided that androids or no, I needed to get out of Rivet City for a little while. That place was suffocating me. I didn't even care that I was for once surrounded by people of vault-level intelligence. I just needed a break.
We made a trek up north again, leaving Rivet City behind and heading back towards Megaton. Though, we only got as far as Dukov's place before it started getting too dark to continue. Dukov was unwilling to house me and my companions, but by that point I was sick of this guy and sick of all the bullshit people were putting me through, so I introduced him to Eugene and painted the walls with his blood. Not the precise headshot kill that Crowley wanted, but he can go die in a fire for all I care.
Charon seemed to think the hookers were a threat as well, so when they started acting up after I pulled the minigun, he put a bullet in their heads too. And that still didn't stop him from acting like I was a bastard for putting down Dukov. Hypocritical jackass.
He and I are having ideological differences. Even if it is just to mutter his disapproval at me, though, I'm glad I've finally started getting some kind of reaction out of him. The man is a stone wall unless something crazy or interesting is going on. That's why I was so pleased to have him with me yesterday when all the weird shit was going down. Even if he never actually questioned things aloud like I did, his face at times revealed his confusion in a most amusing manner.
Anyway, tomorrow we get home.
Day 39: Bitches in the Bachelor Pad.
Uggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
So I get back to Megaton today, and what's the first thing I have to deal with?
That great cunt Lucy West did indeed break into my house while I was gone, likely looking to murder me just as I suspected. And like a good remorseless kill-droid, my butler cooked her to perfection, so I had a nice little present waiting for me when I walked through the door.
Jesus Christ, the awkward levels were off the charts. I marched through town in power armour carrying a roasted corpse slung over my shoulder, and dropped it in front of Sheriff Simms just as his son walked out the door, and then I had to explain to the both of them that "I just found her like this. In my house."
Yes, it's true, but come on. Does that honestly sound like a good enough explanation for this shit?
Lucky for me Simms really likes me, and he actually believed me. I think they buried her somewhere and had a funeral, but I didn't attend. I had no desire to after what I suspect she was in my house to do. Simms and the others, though, said that they understand completely after what she was saying about me. Further pressing finally revealed the truth.
Turns out Lucy didn't know that I massacred Arefu. She had heard that Arefu was wiped out, and just assumed that I was responsible. By sheer coincidence, she just happened to be right, while everyone else in town is still on my side over the issue, because they think that I didn't do it, and that she was making baseless assumptions and jumping to conclusions.
*Slow clap.*
Bravo, Capital Wasteland. That is a whole new level of fucking stupid right there.
Moira was glad to receive my findings on the molerats at least, and has given me my final assignment for this chapter, which is to go to the Anchorage memorial and plant a device there to help her gain information on mirelurks, preferably without killing any.
I spoke to Gob up in his saloon after that. Told him I saw Carol in Underworld, and passed on a message from her to him. It was nice to see him happy about something. That ghoul deserves the good fortune he's come into since I intervened. After so many years of what can only be described as slavery, he's living the dream. If I'm not horribly misreading things, I think he might even have a thing going with Nova now. Which is disgusting, but sweet, simultaneously. Charon had a similar opinion when I told him my suspicions, which surprised me. He tells me he has no interest in human women now, just like how I imagine most humans feel about ghouls.
How does becoming a ghoul affect one's sexuality anyway? Are all ghouls just attracted to rotting flesh like they themselves have? If so, would a ghoul fucking an actual corpse be a normal thing for them? I want to ask Charon these questions, but I don't want to seem racist.
Bah. I'm thinking too much about this. The last several days have been chaotic enough without me giving myself additional worries. Now that I've had a relatively normal day for once, I want to just appreciate it and be quiet and still for a moment.
My normal days involve finding extra-crispy bodies in my house and wondering about how ghoul sex works. In the vault, my normal days had me fix a Pip-Boy or two and hang out with Amata.
What have I become?
Day 40: Trekking Across the Wastes.
Today I stashed away everything I've collected on my journeys through DC to lighten the load somewhat. The bobblehead from Rivet City found a nice home on my stand. The Nuka machine upstairs is now filled to the brim with Quantums. My fridge is full of spare preserved food if I ever feel like eating in. And my clothes and armour locker has seen the additions of the baseball cap I found in Takoma, and Vance's coat, which while still nice-looking, I haven't actually worn at any point, despite its purpose ostensibly being casual clothes I can wear while not out fighting.
Even in Rivet City, I walked around in power armour, just minus the helmet. That's how paranoid I am that I'll get into a fight. And if there ever is a situation where I want something lighter than power armour, there's always the Chinese stealth armour.
For weapons, I've changed up my armament again. This time I wanted to offload most of the heavy equipment I've picked up. So I broke down my old minigun and used it to fix up Eugene, and did the same to the Fat Man I used to have before I got this new one. So now I have only one of each, in better condition. Though, they're still heavy as fuck, so I left them in Megaton, along with the flamer. I mean, come on. I'm already carrying enough weapons to kill anything that moves. Between the revolver, SMG, shotgun, sniper rifle, hunting rifle, assault rifle, plasma rifle, Gauss rifle, Stabhappy, and deathclaw gauntlet, I think I'm covered.
Charon wanted a decent knife, though, so I gave him a trench knife I picked up in the vault after that Anchorage simulation. I used it to cut myself out of the neural interface suit when it wouldn't come off.
After that, I decided to head north in the direction of Big Town. Rather than go directly there, though, we first stopped in Hamilton's Hideaway, the location of the cache that Three Dog gave me the key for. It contained a copy of Guns and Bullets, a mini nuke, a stealth boy, and some other weapons and armour unworthy of comment which I made Charon carry.
Big Town was our next stop. They took most of the cache off me, and gave me caps in return. The place is doing a lot better now, and they've started trading with the outside world now that it's safe to do so. I later in the day met a trader on his way to Big Town who said the same. He was going there to sell parts for their robots.
Then we went to see Agatha. She was disappointed I hadn't returned with the violin, but I told her that I had made progress in finding the vault, after the trip to the Vault-Tec Headquarters. She asked if I had regenerated any more limbs, or was seeing any skin peeling off yet, but I told her no. Charon's face was great, especially since no-one actually explained to him what we were talking about. Sooner or later, he's going to have to start asking questions. I'll break him yet.
Doc Hoff and Crow were also there. Crow paid me for the rest of the Wheaton stash I gave him a while back, and from Hoff I purchased more schematics. Turns out that he had designs for the Nuka grenades too, only his actually show a way I can exploit the design to make more grenades from the same materials. Surprised a doctor has weapon schematics, but I'm not complaining.
Then I found myself in Minefield again, finally giving me a chance to correct my past mistakes and get back that crappy romance novel I left to rot last time, and the other abandoned books too.
While there, I was also reminded of a little model house in one of the actual houses there, which I had ignored before. I had a hunch about it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I was right. That guy who I found decapitated in the Capitol Post building left a note telling me to search the house, and it was this house. He left a key for the lock on the model. The key also fits the front door as well. The craziest thing is, the model didn't even have anything of interest inside it. Just some preserved food, Buffout, and pre-war money. What the hell was the deal with this place? I had believed Minefield to be uninhabited since the war, aside from Arkansas, but apparently not. Whoever he was, I think that guy might have lived here. What the hell happened to him that he ended up decapitated in the middle of DC with a mysterious note leading here?
I guess I'll never really know. And that irritates me.
Final stop for the night was Canterbury Commons. They were pleased to see me again, and I even met Crazy Wolfgang once more, who I was finally able to tell all about the stash in Wheaton I left for him too. Paid me right on the spot, and then ran to go get it. Guess I'm just that trustworthy. And now I'm just settling down for bed in the Mechanist's forge, while Charon's gone to look around the place a bit and fix up his equipment. It's been a long day for all of us, and we're just looking for rest now.
I've looked back on my old journals, and realised that my worst fears came true. After the first day I spent in the outside world, my entries did indeed all become giant-sized, with only a few exceptions. I didn't even notice.
Day 41: The Strangeness in the North.
Started the day with a Talon squad waiting outside the door for me, in a major case of deja-vu. Even considering the power armour, though, the idiots still didn't think to bring more than three men along. I didn't care, though. It just meant more stuff to sell to the merchants in town, and more ammunition for me and Charon.
We went west first, where we found the headquarters of the Regulators, just as promised. They claim to have agents all over the wasteland, just that I probably haven't noticed them. It sounds like bullshit, but then again, I've noticed that Lucas Simms has very similar clothes to these guys. They gave me my own Regulator outfit, and told me that I can now work freelance for them. I just have to go out and kill bad people, and bring back their fingers as proof I did it. Then they'll pay me for it.
I don't really need extra money, but I feel it goes without saying that this is a major boon for me. These people are the closest thing to law enforcement the wasteland has, and now I'm one of them. Getting away with murder just became five times easier.
See someone I don't like?
BOOM.
"It's okay, ma'am. He was a bad guy. Regulator business, people. Go back to your drinks while I cut off this guy's finger..."
Not to mention if they ever do get wind that I did something bad, since I'm one of them, they'll be more likely to believe my story, rather than sending squads to hunt me down. Awesome.
We proceeded north from there, where we then came across the fabled Temple of the Union that I heard about, a refugee hold for escaped slaves. Their leader, Hannibal Hamlin, wants to set up a new base in the Lincoln Memorial in the DC ruins. I told him that I had recently cleared it of slavers, and he was very happy about that.
Also of note is that these people (for some reason) have the head that belongs on the statue of Lincoln. They want to fix it back on, but they need a reference for that, so they want me to go find a picture of the memorial in one piece for them. I can probably find that in the history museum where Underworld is based. They already left to head for the memorial, so I'm going to find them there later when I've got that picture.
Mapped both the Regulator HQ and TotU, and continued north.
Side note: Three Dog finally caught wind of my saving Bryan Wilks, Grayditch, and Reilly's Rangers, because he's started adding reports of those heroics to his news broadcasts. Glad to see some recognition. I should have a cult formed around me.
Though, the situation with Tenpenny Tower doesn't sound like it's gotten any better.
Well, we still had Vault 92 and Dave to find up north, so we pressed on. On the way, we came across an old diner full of raiders, and a relay tower. I marked both on the map, as Grisly Diner and Relay tower KX-B8-11 respectively.
KX broadcasted another distress signal once we got the power on there, which depressingly led into a drainage chamber with two skeletons. However, the guy on the signal, Bob, said he and his family were in there with their sick child, and I found only two skeletons, adult-sized. No child skeleton. It gives me some hope that the kid got away. Maybe "family" included a grandfather or auntie who got the kid to safety. At least I hope so.
The diner, meanwhile, contained something just as interesting (and depressing). It's another pre-war audio tape. Remember that one I found in Hallowed Moors from that woman, Tina, talking about how her family were planning to hide out in a bunker her brother stole the passcode to? In the diner, I found a tape by her sister, Candace. It was a recording of her witnessing the bombs falling and talking about the mushroom clouds.
Jesus.
While in the area, I also saved a group of wastelanders fleeing from an injured deathclaw. In thanks, they gave me a map to a place where they were supposedly going to go looking for treasure. It was in some caverns just north of DC, right by Friendship Heights.
Damn, I am never going to get all this done...
Went north again. This time we found a ruined farm where some raiders and rogue robots were fighting it out. Killed everyone. Looted the place. Mapped it. Went east. Found a power station. Looted the place. Mapped it. Went north again.
And that's when I arrived at the Republic of Dave, which is Crazytown if ever I saw it. I can't even be bothered to go into that right now, though, because that's a whole other entry by itself. They had no space there to stay the night, so we're going to stay at that power station instead for the time being, but I was able to convince some woman to buy some of the books I'd found off me. One Junktown, one Internal Medicine, two Guns and Bullets, one Pugilism, and one Grognak issue, plus another pre-war book I had no interest in. War propaganda I think.
That's all I was able to get done for today. I'll have to speak with Dave later on tomorrow, because it's getting late already. By the time I reached the Republic, all I had the energy to do was sell my shit, steal another bobblehead I found in their quote unquote "museum," and ask about beds.
Whatever. I marked the Republic on my map, and I'll be back tomorrow to finish everything off.
Oh, and I should also note that I've also picked up eight Nuka-Cola Quantums throughout the day, most of which came from a crashed truck I found on a highway. I could make so many Nuka grenades with these it's unreal, especially with the improved schematics. I only wish I had some targets strong enough to warrant their use. I pulled one out for that deathclaw earlier, and I've tossed one or two about when dealing with large clusters of Talons or super mutants, but there's no enemies I encounter on a regular basis who really need Nuka grenades. It saddens me.
There's also a signal my Pip-Boy started picking up just now as I've been writing. Sounds like gibberish to me, though I am curious about where it's coming from. I've left my stuff with Charon and Dogmeat, and told them to stay where they are and wait for me. I need to see what this is real quick. I can always come back if I need backup.
Day 42: Aliens Exist.
Hey, diary. Quick update for you. The signal came from a crashed alien spacecraft, and I was abducted and beamed onto their mothership. I'm now in a cell with another wastelander captive. She says they're going to experiment on us. We may very well die here, and the situation looks pretty bleak. Sad to say, this may be my last entry.
For a while, anyway. I'm going to be too busy to update my journal for the foreseeable future. I have an entire ship full of aliens to kill. This is going to take a long time. So, forgive me if my next few entries are briefer than usual. I have unholy vengeance to enact on a vessel full of squishy little green midgets.
HERE COMES THE WANDERER!
- Location
- Maybe?
LPs are underrated. I really enjoy reading this playthrough!
A problem might be that there's just not much to talk about.
A problem might be that there's just not much to talk about.
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Thanks. Glad you're liking it. Hopefully there'll be a bit more to comment on later, once things start diverging from the game a bit more.
Though I'm not sure if I can rightly call it a playthrough if it wasn't actually based on one. It's more like a novelisation of a hypothetical playthrough, I guess? I don't know what to really call that. This is a lot more clear-cut with the sequels, which actually were directly based on test playthroughs.
- Location
- The Internet?
Don't disparage mobile arf-tillery like that! 😂
"You went through my trash?"
"Please. I go through everyone's trash."
What dial is he turning on his Pip-boy to access that feature?
I mean, attendance at the Church of the Motor dropped like an anchor when the last pastor died. I heard he only left a small wake. They were never a group to make waves.
That's how stealthy those boys are!
Booo, unnecessary murder. For shame.
When 'you're gonna break it off' is more than a figure of speech, I would imagine it works very carefully.
Poor Charon😂
If you can turn poison into medicine, I suppose you can also turn soda into people melting explosive.
"Okay, but this time we really try to get him!"
Ask if any of them wear a fedora!
Wow, now you've got almost as much training as a regular cop!
I've said it before, but be careful what you wish for!
Week Seven
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Wanderer's Diary: Week Seven
Day 43: Puny Earthlings.
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Man 1: [Heavy breathing] This thing on? Testing, testing, one-two-three. Hey, it is. That's super.
Wait, what the...? Man 1? Fucking... I thought I already set my name on this transcription? What the fucking... At least it puts a line break when I tell it to. I should be thankful for small mercies I suppose. Anyway, this is the Lone Fucking Wanderer if the transcription isn't making that clear. And hey, look, it even capitalised my name, "fucking" and all. And it put "fucking" in quotes just now! And again! And exclamation marks! Oh boy, I've changed my mind. I love this thing now.
Woman 1: Hey, what are you doing?
Lone Fucking Wanderer: Recording an entry for my log, Somah. Ever since the day I left the vault, I write an entry in my journal every day to put down my thoughts, record what I've found and sold, make notes for future plans, that sort of thing. Helps keep me organised. But I haven't got time for that shit right now, so I figured I'd put everything on this holotape instead, and stick on the automatic transcription. Then I have an audio and written version, and it takes me less time to do... Wait... Oh my fucking god! I'm being transcribed as "Lone Fucking Wanderer!" [Laughter] Oh Jesus, that's hysterical! I'm even more impressed now. This thing can actually pick up my name from context and put that as my tag! It's not my real name, but I call myself Lone Fucking Wanderer, and suddenly it transcribes my voice as Lone Fucking Wanderer. That's just magical.
Somah: [Pause] Great.
Lone Fucking Wanderer: It did it for you, too! It even put in a tag indicating your awkward pause! This is the best automatic transcription software I have ever seen. This must be some pre-war kind of shit right here...
Somah: Well, why not tell it your real name so you can be transcribed properly?
Lone Fucking Wanderer: Oh hell no. Lone Fucking Wanderer all the way, baby. I don't want to put my real name on shit when I can be called that even by transcription software. Why do you think I haven't given it to you yet?
Somah: I assumed Lone Wanderer was your actual name.
Lone Wanderer: [Pause] Really?
Somah: Really. Not like there's a registry anywhere. People call themselves or their children all kinds of strange shit. Ghouls do it all the time. Like that guy you were telling me about, Charon. Think that's his real name? Think he was born with the name Charon?
Lone Wanderer: No, but still. Lone Wanderer as my actual name? That'd be pretty... [Shouting] Oh fuck you!
Somah: What?
Lone Wanderer: It dropped the "fucking" from my name because you said it without it! Oh, you absolute bitch!
Somah: Whatever. Fuck you too.
Lone Wanderer: I'll get you back for this!
Somah: [Snorts derisively] Whatever you say, crazy bastard.
Lone Wanderer: I'm going to fuck your mouth later.
Somah: Looking forward to it. [Footsteps]
Lone Wanderer: [Pause] I'll get her... [Pause] Anyway, so, time to log everything of importance.
We are currently situated in the engineering core of the ship. By "we," I mean myself, Somah, Sally, and a few other people we found around the place. It's not just been the two of us around here. As we've found frozen cryo pods, or holding cells like the ones we were in, we've let out whoever we found trapped. In the area we were initially located, we found a cell with a little girl in it, named Sally. She's been helping us get around the place and reaching all the areas we couldn't otherwise. She's damn good at it, too. There was another cell with a Rivet City security guard in it, but the man had lost his mind. I had to put him down. Shame. Someone else with combat training could have been real useful.
Three other companions joined us for the journey, though. Paulson, who's a cowboy abducted during the time of the American old west, before they even had cars, let alone energy weapons and nuclear power; Elliot, who's a medic and a soldier from before the apocalypse, who served in Anchorage; and some guy who I think is a samurai from feudal Japan. Yeah, it's pretty fucking weird. However, it is also awesome. I get to learn about ancient history from people who experienced it. The samurai doesn't speak my language, so I can't do anything to help him other than indicate through body language that I wish him no harm, which he seems to understand. Paulson and Elliot, on the other hand, have been interesting to talk to.
Paulson for one was astonished by me and Elliot's recounting of American history since his time, and he in turn told us all about what the old west was like. Elliot was also grimly fascinated by my stories of the wasteland that now exists where the world he once knew used to be, though it upset him greatly to know his efforts in the war were all in vain. I could relate. I served too, in a sense, and I told him as such. It's not the same as actually living the real thing, but all the same, I think we felt some kinship through that, catching a glimpse of each other's worlds and all.
Anyway, we beat the shit out of a bunch of aliens, and I got back all the stuff I was missing almost right out of the holding cells. 'Course, I left my backpack with Charon, so that wasn't much. Just my power armour, and my weapons, since I have holsters and harnesses for all my weapons on the armour's exterior. So I still have all my rifles, the shotgun, the SMG, the revolver, the gauntlet, and Stabhappy. What I don't have is chems, medical supplies, stealth boys, food or water, extra ammunition, spare clothing, etcetera. I've been getting by without it, but it's been harder than it would have been had I access to all my equipment.
The aliens have been helpful, though. As we kill them, we've been able to take their weapons from them, and they've got some good shit. So far, the aliens have come at us with three primary weapons. The first is some kind of baton that shocks you with an electric current. The other two are energy weapons, though they don't use microfusion cells or anything of the sort for obvious reasons. I can't quite tell what they shoot, actually. It's not plasma, but I don't think it's a laser either. They come in the form of rifles and pistols. The rifle version I call the disintegrator. The pistol I call the atomiser.
The aliens also naturally have their own robots. Though almost uniquely among robots, these ones I can actually pull the weapons off, and they'll still function. Instead of being built in, these drone cannons are handheld, and the robots just have appendages for operating them. They shoot energy projectiles that bounce off the walls like grenades. It was unwieldy at first, but it quickly became my best friend in here.
Rooting around the place has also turned up some interesting finds. The aliens like collecting things from Earth, so every once in a while we'll find conventional weapons and ammunition for them, or the usual pre-war food, packed with preservatives to last two hundred years. I've got to say, though, I've really gained a taste for some of the alien food we've found. Worm and squid-like creatures on metal trays. It was strange to begin with, but I've gained a taste for them. Somah still looks at me weird whenever I have some, though.
Somah: [Distantly] That's because you're a freak!
Lone Wanderer: And you're a skank! [Pause] Now, where was I? Oh yes. That's right.
We've also found a bunch of gels and chemicals around the place. One is made for ingesting, but it is of questionable safeness to our biology. I didn't want to try it myself, but Elliot found a way to adapt it to be not quite as bad. It can still have unpredictable effects, but they're thankfully temporary, and the gel also heals us, which is good when I have so few stimpaks on me. The other chemical we've found in abundance is a kind of epoxy made for weapon maintenance. It works on alien weapons, and conventional ones too, so it's a godsend. I've begun collecting it wherever I can. [Footsteps]
Other gadgets picked up include these neat little grenades and mines that Elliot whipped up with the cryogenic technology we came across while exploring earlier. Unlike my guns, I don't keep straps or pouches on me to carry explosives. I keep those in the backpack. So I've been lacking my Nuka grenades. Which is a shame, because I was musing before I came here that I needed something to use them on, and these aliens are perfect for that.
And—
Man 2: Why do you keep saying
?
Lone Wanderer: Oh, hey Paulson. I'm saying it because that's the vocal command to put in a line break in the auto-transcription, otherwise it just shows up as a wall of text.
Paulson: Huh? Auto-what now?
Lone Wanderer: This thing writes down what I say as I say it. If I don't keep saying
though, then it all appears as one giant block of words. Every time I say it, it puts in a line break. That way it's separated into readable chunks.
Paulson: Huh. This more scavenged alien junk, or another future thing?
Lone Wanderer: It's human technology, so yes. It wouldn't be in English if it were alien.
Paulson: [Pause] Alright, then. [Footsteps]
Lone Wanderer: Anyway, we've got a plan to take down the aliens, one way or another. It involves destroying these three generators around the ship to take out the oxygen in one area, which I will then travel through in a spacesuit we took from a dead astronaut we found in stasis. Once I'm through the place, I have to activate a teleporter to help everyone else follow me. So far, we've hit two.
Me and Elliot raided the one in the cryo lab. [Footsteps] While there, he came across his old squadmates. Three already dead and being experimented on by aliens, and two in stasis, who we revived so that they [Lighter lighting] could spend their final moments helping us kill some damn aliens. What a way to go out. [Cigarette puffing]
Somah: Damn right.
Lone Wanderer: There were other people frozen in there. Unfortunately, they were raiders, ghouls, and super mutants, all needing to be put down. Don't understand why the raiders attacked us, though. Must have lost their minds from being frozen. I know I wouldn't attack the first other human I saw on sight if I were in their position. I'd even be willing to work with a raider if it was against aliens. Yeah, I'd probably shoot them in the head afterwards, but—
Somah: Wait, what? Why would you shoot them in the head if they helped you?
Lone Wanderer: Because they're raiders. I kill raiders.
Somah: If they attack you, you mean?
Lone Wanderer: No, I mean regardless. Raiders need to be exterminated. I don't care if they're hostile to me or not. If I see a raider, I shoot them. Just like feral ghouls, super mutants, malfunctioning robots, mutant animals, Talon mercenaries, Brotherhood Outcasts, and slavers.
Somah: [Stuttering] Slavers?
Lone Wanderer: Yes. Slavers. You know what slavers are, right?
Somah: Yeah! Of course I do! I mean... You'd really kill a slaver for being a slaver, even if they helped you out?
Lone Wanderer: Yes.
Somah: Even if they saved your life?
Lone Wanderer: Without a second thought.
Somah: [Pause] Uh, good. Good for you. Keep... bringing that good fight.
Lone Wanderer: I will. [Footsteps] Such a nice girl. And she and I went through the robot assembly place to get the second generator. I also picked up a beautiful little control device in there that allows me to get drones in storage to reactivate and defend me from the aliens, and also to shut down all the drones in an area if there are no aliens there for them to defend. Immensely useful. Additionally, I've explored a few other rooms linked to the engineering core. The engine room, the cargo hold, and the maintenance level and waste disposal, which was an adventure in itself, but that's another story.
Down there, we came across a few interesting items. A mini nuke and several pieces of conventional Earth weaponry for one, up to and including missile launchers and miniguns, some of which my companions have taken. Then there was the special shock baton that some alien had been performing modifications on. It no longer actually shocked, but it had some other enhancements to give it more stopping power, so I took it. I take all alien weapons I come across, because they're going to be valuable as shit back in the wasteland, but this one I want to make particular note of.
Another interesting find was a special experimental plasma pistol, called the MPLX Novasurge. It was locked in a safe that the aliens had found, remotely connected to a terminal. Entries on the terminal indicate that they were both meant to be buried in the desert. The pistol was apparently supposed to be evidence for exposing some kind of conspiracy that this group thought existed. Quaere Verum was their name. Latin for "seek the truth." They stole this from a secure base, but were betrayed. The rest of the group was eradicated, and the last survivor did the burying. Then it was somehow taken by aliens. I don't know what this conspiracy is, but it all seems rather irrelevant given what happened to the world a few short years after.
I also happened across a shipment meant for Anchorage, Alaska addressed to General Chase. I met him in the simulation. It contained a general's overcoat as well, just like he wore. This is apparently what the top guys in the pre-war military used. I gave it to Somah to look after for me. And I found that samurai's missing sword. He was pleased to have it back, but then he disappeared on me, off to who knows where.
Right now, we're slowly making a defensible base in the engineering core. While me and Elliot (and later me and Somah) were out blowing up generators, the others stuck around to help entrench us here. It's become a home base of sorts. Especially useful, since it seems to act as a hub to a lot of the rest of Mothership Zeta, as I have dubbed it. This also means regular attacks, but like I said, we've been fortifying it. Good thing, too, because I need a place to lie down and sleep. I was abducted... Wednesday, I think? Late Wednesday night, just after we had set up in the power station, after being turned away from the Republic of Dave. My last entry was early morning, Thursday, according to my Pip-Boy. Now it's 2AM on a Friday. I need to get to bed. Fortunately, Paulson, Elliot, and the samurai are as wide awake as ever, so I'll be safe to take a rest for a while. And when they need to sleep, I'll be there to defend them. We can sleep in shifts.
I've... I've also been finding audio logs around the ship, from captives of the aliens. It's... horrifying stuff, honestly. I've been trying not to think about them, but I thought I should make mention of them before I sign off for the night. I've downloaded the lot, that they might not be forgotten. [Pause] Anyway, that's it for now. I'll get back to you, diary. Hopefully, by my next entry this nightmare will be over.
Day 43 Part 2: Life Ain't Fair.
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: I do so try to be optimistic, but how can I be when the world is this fucked up? The aliens have been taking humans and mutating them into... something. Abominations are the only word for them. They're very much like the aliens themselves, except even they hate aliens. I've now had to contend with several of those in addition to alien menaces. It has not been fun.
In terms of good news, though, me and Paulson went through the hangar and destroyed the final generator. Found the crashed alien ship that was beamed up with me, too. So at least now I know where it went. I then got the space suit on and walked over the exterior of the ship to reach the observation deck, and as promised I let my companions up through the teleporter. The aliens fired the ship's death ray to try and scare us, but it didn't work. They're still gonna die.
We made our way through the ship despite their best attempts. Weapons lab turned out some good finds. Modified versions of the weapons I've already come across, mostly. A fully automatic version of the disintegrator rifles for one, a more high-powered atomiser pistol for another, and my favourite one of all, a drone cannon whose energy blasts don't bounce off the walls like I'm launching grenades. I practiced with them a bit on a shooting range I found, killing raiders and robots and radscorpions and whatever else came out. I think I'm getting good with these.
And that fedora motherfucker is here too. The one from the Jefferson memorial. Popped out of nowhere and killed an alien right before my eyes. Then he ran down a dead end corridor and vanished. Am I seeing ghosts? I don't know. I really hope it's just Paulson fucking with me. If this guy, whoever he is, followed me onto Zeta, and didn't try to rescue me from my cell earlier, I'd be pretty pissed.
Currently, I'm fighting my way through biological research to the death ray controls, so I can disable them. These aliens are in for quite a shock.
Day 43 Part 3: Death Ray Update.
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] ALRIGHT! Death ray fucking destroyed! Or powered down. Or whatever the fuck. Point is these little green shitheads got nothing now. We're storming the bridge. After I fight my way through the living quarters.
Day 43 Part 4: [ENTER NAME].
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: Gentlemen, the ship is ours. It took a nasty final battle on the bridge against the alien captain and his security squad, and things got pretty hairy after a second alien mothership just as huge as Zeta that wasn't nearly as fucked up inside came out of nowhere with intent to destroy us, but we saw it through. And I hope these aliens have other ships in space, or that their home planet is still inhabited, because otherwise their race is officially extinct. [Shouting] NATURAL FUCKING SELECTION, BABY! SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, AND THE HUMAN RACE STANDS TRIUMPHANT!
Paulson: [Pause] You're a strange one, boy. Have I ever told you that?
Lone Wanderer: Yep, and you can tell me again, because honestly, I just wiped out an alien race and captured my very own spaceship, so I'm in way too good of a mood for anything you say to bother me.
Day 43 Part 5: [ENTER NAME].
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: [Slurred speech] I don't want to set the woooooorld... onnnnn... fiiiire! Iiiiii... just want to staaaaart... a flame in your heaaaaaaaaart! [Shouting] GOD I LOVE THIS SONG! [Swallowing] Ahhh... And I love whiskey... And I love... love... [Belching] Planet Earth! Which is, with all due respect to Mars and Neptune, the most wonderful planet of them all! God, if this planet were a person, I would crush its spine with a hug right now. But it's noooot. Fuuuuuuuuck. Guess I'll just have to break Charon's spine when I see him instead. He better not have left that power station. If he has then I'll... I'll hunt him down and... fucking... stab him in the eye socket... [Long pause] I hope I can find my way back to the power station in the dark...
Day 44: [ENTER NAME].
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: [Clanging] [Shouting] GUESS WHO'S BACK, YOU WALKING MAGGOT FARM?!
Man 3: [Deep, gravelly voice] Gah! Boss! Where did you come from?!
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] FROM THE STARS THEMSELVES! I WAS ABDUCTED BY ALIENS! WHO I THEN KILLED! YES! I KILLED AN ENTIRE ALIEN MOTHERSHIP BY MYSELF! WITH SOME HELP FROM A COWBOY, A SAMURAI, A LITTLE GIRL, A MEDIC OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY, AND A WASTELANDER! AND TOGETHER, WE COMMITTED GLORIOUS GENOCIDE! SHIP-TO-SHIP COMBAT! KABOOM!
Man 3: [Pause] [Deep, gravelly voice] Are you feeling alright?
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] NEVER BETTER, CHARON! NEVER BETTER! NOW GET ME MY BACKPACK! WE'RE GOING INTO SPACE! TO LOOT! WE'RE GOING TO MY PERSONAL SPACESHIP TO SCAVENGE ALIEN TECHNOLOGY TOGETHER!
Charon: [Deep, gravelly voice] Now?
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] YES! NOW!
Charon: [Deep, gravelly voice] It's four in the morning. Is now really the best time?
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] BUT... SPACESHIP, CHARON!
Charon: [Deep, gravelly voice] You're off your rocker, boss.
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] SPACESHIP...! IN SPACE...! ALIEN GENOCIDE!
Charon: [Deep, gravelly voice] Let's get you to bed. You're not well.
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] IT WAS SOOOOOO GOOD! I KILLED SO MANY ALIENS! I WANT TO SHOW YOU IT!
Charon: [Deep, gravelly voice] There, there. Calm down. I'll get the chems... [Dog whines]
Lone Wanderer: CALL ME ARES! FOR I AM A GOD OF WAR!
Day 44 Part 2: Xenotech.
It's almost hard to believe that the last two days actually happened, but I have the audio logs to prove it. And looking back on them, I see the inherent problem with using audio logs. They're likely to be interrupted, they make my entries even longer somehow, being that I can talk for way longer than I can type, and sometimes I'll capture moments on tape that I'm not proud of. I mean, I've gotten drunk and done embarrassing shit a few times since coming out into the wastes, but I've always been able to pretend those times didn't happen before. Now I can't.
Anyway, Charon shut up with calling me crazy since I took him up to the ship. Where the alien craft used to be, there's now a beacon that allows me to teleport up anytime I want. And only me as well, so no risk of dumbfucks stumbling across my treasure trove of technology from a dead alien race, though I've set it up so that Charon and Dogmeat can now come aboard too. And put the location on the map for Reilly, though I probably won't tell her what it actually is.
I introduced Charon to Sally, Elliot, and the samurai. They all decided to stay onboard the ship. I think they're afraid of what they'll find on Earth, and honestly, I can't blame them. Of the three of them, Elliot would probably be the best off down there; even though everything would be ruined, he would at least recognise it all (about as much as I did, anyway). Not to mention he has military training. But the samurai would have the culture shock of his life in post-apocalyptic America. I mean, he comes from a time before guns! At least Paulson knew that much.
So Elliot and Sally decided to stay here and scavenge technology from around the ship instead. The samurai? I think he's just decided to live here and deal with it. Paulson and Somah were the only two who actually left. Went down to the planet's surface to wander the wastes. Somah took some alien technology with her (a modest amount; enough to get her a good few caps for her ordeal). Makes me sad that I won't have a monopoly over this stuff after all, but whatever. And Paulson? I don't know what his plans are. A cowboy from the old west wandering the wastes... I wonder what will become of him?
Well, I guess it doesn't matter for now. We came here to pick up everything I scavenged during my adventure on Zeta. And now that we've done that, Charon can carry it. Because I have to carry everything else.
Oh, and I should also note I found another new alien weapon type. It appears to be a pistol, of a different type than the atomiser. I found two. One in pristine condition, which I took from the corpse of the alien captain who commanded Zeta, and another, rustier one which was near the beacon where the crashed ship used to be. I think it was the property of the pilot. For some reason, the rusty one found in the wasteland is actually more powerful than the disintegrator rifles. But the captain's version is not. I must say, it greatly confuses me. I've since named these variants the blasters. I think I'll be keeping both of them.
But whatever. Tonight, we sleep in the comfortable living quarters of a fully heated spaceship. Tomorrow, we venture back onto post-apocalyptic Earth, to continue the mundane, non-alien-related duties of a wasteland hero.
Ah, life. I miss when you had some semblance of normalcy.
Day 45: To Lead a Revolution.
I think something's different about me now. I can't tell what. I didn't notice it onboard Zeta with how much else was going on, the weird gravity, and the non-standard nature of the combat situation, but... now I'm back on Earth, and fighting familiar enemies again, I can compare. I definitely feel a lot heavier than before. Heavy as in "something inside me is weighing me down," not as in "I'm getting fat." I think that operation the aliens performed did something weird to me. Can't be certain right now. Will need to look into it later.
Anyway, so today, we did our business in the Republic of Dave. Now, last I checked, I was going to launch into a long rant about how it was completely insane, and the people who live there must be wackos, because they believe that their little compound is a sovereign nation, and blah, blah, blah. Whatever. I spent last Friday beating the shit out of aliens. This place doesn't even phase me anymore. So I'll be quick in summing up its fate:
Our arrival in the town they call Old Olney was heralded by the sound of screaming deathclaws. Screaming because I blew their legs off with grenades before I sniped them in their heads with the disintegrator rifle. I am now out of Nuka grenades. Will need to stock up on supplies to get some more. Also out of cryo grenades and mines as well, but they weren't as effective as I was hoping anyway. Still got plenty of plasmas, so we're all good on that front.
We cleared the town of pests, and did our standard search. Nothing much in the town, except a note left by some dead guy who was delivering a shipment of Quantum to Olney, reporting that he crashed on the highway. Explains that truck full of Quantum I found, I guess. But other than that, nothing. So we went west towards the vault entrance.
Oh wait, yes. We found Dave dead in Olney. But that's not important.
Vault 92 turned out to be just as fucked as all the others I've been to. The situation with this one is that all the residents were exposed in their sleep to white noise through the loudspeakers. The white noise was meant to allow them to implant subliminal suggestions so that they could get the residents to do whatever they wanted. A kind of mind control, if you will.
But the head scientist, Professor Malleus, was deceived. He was all for the mind control experiments, but he thought that they were largely harmless, and he was only practicing on a few musicians in the sound studio. Then it turned out that the Overseer was implanting kill commands through the white noise. And not just on them. On the entire vault. I think at that point Malleus's conscience got the better of him, and he tried to put a stop to it. The Overseer's terminal simply says that he was "removed."
Sometimes, I wish people like Vault 92's overseer survived. When I read that, I wanted no more than to look under the desk and find a starving and crippled ghoul in a vault overseer's jumpsuit, drag him out, and beat him repeatedly before feeding him to the mirelurks that had since made their home here. Sadly, no such thing could happen. The man is long dead, and I can't punish the dead. Not unless Elliot finds some really interesting technology up there.
Regardless, we escaped the vault just fine, and I even got Agatha's violin for her. Just as a special treat, I also found a sheet music book, so she'll have more songs to learn and play. I hope she likes it. She's such a nice woman.
From there it was west again towards Constantine. We didn't make it all the way, though. We stopped when we came across a selection of shacks occupied by super mutants and holding a hostage. We killed them all and freed the hostage, who was very thankful, and then decided to stop there for the night.
Also, before I forget, we also raided a waste disposal site earlier this morning between the Republic and the beacon where we teleported down from Zeta. I've since marked Old Olney, Vault 92, Greener Pastures Disposal Site, and the clifftop shacks on the map. Can't forget that.
All in all, a day of scavenging vaults, abandoned pre-war towns, disposal sites and super mutant villages has turned up:
Though, it should be noted that we're starting to get weighed down here. Even me and Charon between us can't carry much more than this. We're going to have to head to Megaton or Big Town, and either store away or sell some of this shit. It's getting too much.
That's a concern for tomorrow, though. For now, we sleep.
Day 46: Ya Keep Comin' Back.
Getting back to Megaton was easier than I thought it would be. Less wild animal attacks than usual. Rogue robots were all weaker models. Only one Talon Company ambush, and these guys are getting more and more pathetic as I keep finding new shit to kill them with, this time goddamn alien weapons, and they just keep coming at me in the same armour and with the same standard armament.
It's good to be home again, though, and Jesus Christ, I just realised I think of Megaton as my home now. That's how bad my standard of living has gotten. I consider this trash heap a safe haven to return to. Also, I have no spare beds in my house, so Charon has to sleep on the metal bench downstairs. He's never happy when that happens. I jokingly suggested that we could share a bed, but he didn't seem to find it amusing.
What the fuck is even with him? Since we've met, I've revealed that I have regeneration capabilities, told him that I served in Anchorage and yet I'm not a ghoul, revealed that I'm hunting down an android, showed him a goddamn alien spaceship, and he still hasn't asked anything about my past or who I am. This prick is so jaded, I'm not entirely unconvinced that he's an android himself.
We had a chance to offload all the extra crap, though. I added my two newest bobbleheads to the collection, and they're looking right at home there. General Chase's overcoat and the spacesuit from Zeta also found a home in the armour locker, while the weapons locker saw the additions of the Board of Education, the modified variants of the shock baton, drone cannon, atomiser, and disintegrator, both the alien blasters, and all the ammunition that powers the alien weapons.
Side note: Remember a while back I found some ammunition of a type I was unsure of while raiding Fort Independence? Turns out it was for one of the alien blasters. So the Outcasts have scavenged alien technology too. Nothing quite to the degree of what I've found, but hey, give them credit; they actually found something.
All the rest of the alien weapons, by the way, I left onboard Zeta. I took the unique variants so I could store them here as trophies of my conquest, but the standard weapons I had so many of that I left them behind in the care of Elliot and Sally. When I find someone who I think will pay good money for them, I'll take them to the ship and they can buy however many they want then and there. But what I'm really hoping for is that Elliot can find me a way to produce new alien weapons and ammunition using the materials on the ship, or hell, even just Earth materials. If we could produce our own alien weapons, I'd be post-apocalyptic America's first east coast weapons baron. I could build my skull vault without having to kill all the people myself.
Anyway, Moira gladly purchased all of my books save the new Grognak comic (which is in my library), and my excess stealth boys too. I've decided to start selling those, since I'm carrying around the Chinese stealth armour everywhere, and that turns me invisible anyway. And I gathered the necessary supplies and constructed several dozen Nuka grenades, since I'm now fresh out of plasmas, too. Also a railway rifle, using the parts I scavenged from the school a while back. The railway rifle doesn't seem particularly strong, but I like it, because I'm a sucker for novelty weapons. Could have been better, though. Will need to make another some time.
Carrying all these rifles on the exterior of my armour is getting difficult, though. Some keep falling off. I can't keep up carrying so many. Even in spite of everything I dropped off, I'm still hauling around five rifles with the railway one marking the sixth, two pistols, a shotgun, an SMG, a knife, and a gauntlet with a deathclaw's hand strapped to it. I've decided that from now on, I'll keep the ammunition, the melee weapons, one energy rifle, one standard rifle, and one sidearm on me, and Charon will carry the rest of my stuff in a backpack of his own that I got for him. And he'll hand me whatever I need when I want to switch. A good system, no?
I was reminded to make a railway rifle because I came across some more schematics for them earlier in the day. While walking south to Megaton, we came across a power station, which I mapped as "MDPL-13 Power Station." Full of ghouls, and that Talon ambush I was talking about occurred as we left, but worth the excursion. I also found a power fist in there. Neat, but I got my deathclaw gauntlet, so into the locker it goes.
That's today all done, though. Tomorrow, we go back to the clifftop shacks, and continue heading west from there until we find Constantine. I want to know what Crowley is up to.
Day 47: There and Back Again.
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: [Multiple heavy footsteps] [Dog panting] Hey, diary. Don't think I'll have much time to update you today, because we're constantly walking, and by the time I find a bed, I'm just gonna fall on it and remain there for twelve hours or so. So here's another voice recording in place of a written entry.
Charon: [Filtered voice] You keep a diary?
Lone Wanderer: 'Course I fucking do. How else do I confirm to myself that this waking nightmare is real? [Pause] "Pause." I love that. This transcription software is really quite genius.
Charon: [Pause] [Filtered voice] Alright then, boss.
Lone Wanderer: Come on, keep walking. [Multiple heavy footsteps] Now, as I was saying. We dropped off the violin with Agatha, who was overjoyed, to say the least. She showed me how to tune into her radio station as thanks, so now in the unlikely event I get tired of the Ink Spots or Enclave Radio, I can switch over to hear some violin pieces.
She—
Charon: [Filtered voice] Why did you just say
?
Lone Wanderer: Oh fuck off, Charon.
She was also happy about the sheet music I found. Good call, I think. She gave me a scoped revolver in return. A special one, named Blackhawk. It wasn't in top condition, but I fixed it up with my old revolver's parts. And it does have more power behind it than a standard point forty-four, so I've taken to using it as my current sidearm instead of the modified plasma pistol from Zeta, which Charon is carrying.
Charon: [Filtered voice] Along with everything else.
Lone Wanderer: I'm carrying my share, too. Quit your bellyaching. You're supposed to be my bodyguard, and I'm still the one who does most of the killing.
Charon: [Filtered voice] Because you keep firing at everything I do with stronger guns! It's like you're jealous when I kill something instead of you, so you keep racing me to try and get to it first! What am I supposed to do?
Lone Wanderer: I'll tell you what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to provide covering fire when I'm overwhelmed, kill the animals and robots that I can't be asked to deal with myself, and when some big ugly green motherfucker whips out a minigun, you aim for the weapon and try to either damage it or knock it out of his hands. Because if you aim for his head, the most you can hope for with a shotgun at long range is to blind him, and then he's just going to be spraying minigun fire everywhere, which is no help. That is what you do.
Charon: [Filtered voice] That'd still leave you doing most of the killing.
Lone Wanderer: That's fine. I like killing.
Charon: [Filtered voice] You don't say?
Lone Wanderer: You watch your mouth. I'm not in the mood right now. My veins are full of radscorpion poison and I'm fucking starving.
Charon: [Filtered voice] You and me both. [Dog panting]
Lone Wanderer: Don't worry, Dogmeat. We'll find something soon. [Dog whining] Anyway, we didn't go straight towards the clifftop shacks, either. Once we reached the power station, we continued in a northwest direction. We passed through the ruins of what my pre-war version of the map identifies as Reclining Groves Resort Homes, which I added to my normal map as such, and did some looting there. Found three books of note. Junktown Jerky Vendor, Special Ops Training Manual, and Flamethrower Recipes. Also came across an Outcast patrol there, being stalked by deathclaws. Guys were terrified. Even better, though, I was able to kill the deathclaws before they too badly damaged the Outcasts' armour. So then afterwards, I was able to butcher the Outcasts with some simple headshots with the Gauss rifle—
Charon: [Filtered voice] Murdering bastard.
Lone Wanderer: And recover their power armour. Three sets of it, which with some quick adjustments I was able to break down into a single suit and helmet in like-new condition. And then Charon here surprised everyone by revealing that he had the necessary training to wear power armour too.
Charon: [Filtered voice] Hmm.
Lone Wanderer: Hasn't taken off his helmet since I gave it to him, either.
Charon: [Filtered voice] You shouldn't have taken off yours. We're still in the open.
Lone Wanderer: Oh, what's the worst that could— [Shotgun fire] [Splattering] [Pause] Kay, point taken. Is that edible?
Charon: [Filtered voice] Radscorpion? Hell no. Not this species anyway.
Lone Wanderer: Worth a shot. Anyway, after the resort home, we came to the Montgomery County Reservoir. That was our next stop, wasn't it?
Charon: [Filtered voice] Yep.
Lone Wanderer: Kay. So we stopped there, but there wasn't much of interest, so we just added it to the map and moved on. After that we came to, oh,
by the way. Shit. Did it mid-sentence. Try again.
That's better. We came to Broadcast Tower LP-Eight. Not much of interest there either. It emitted a Morse code signal when I hit a switch, which led us into a sewer chamber where there was a Big Book of Science, but that was it. I'm finding a lot of these places, sending out signals that lead into underground areas with random shit and dead people. It's beginning to annoy me. We also found some raiders attacking some wasteland settlers. Nothing real important, but we saved them and killed the raiders. That was actually northeast of the reservoir, but we just wanted to check it out. So from there, we went west again.
Now it's getting dark, and right now, forgetting Constantine, we're just hoping to reach some kind of shelter soon. The pre-war map indicates there's a power station in the direction we're heading. Hopefully, there'll be some actual beds there. But I doubt it.
Charon: [Filtered voice] You're the one who forces us into this misery.
Lone Wanderer: We have to reach Constantine, though.
Charon: [Filtered voice] Why?
Lone Wanderer: To find out what Crowley wants there!
Charon: [Filtered voice] What business is it of ours what Crowley wants? You said he hired you to kill these three guys. Why didn't you just kill them for him and be done with it?
Lone Wanderer: Because I'm not some ignorant wasteland fuck who kills people just because he's told to. When I kill someone, it's because I decided they deserve it. I don't assassinate people without damn good reason. Bigotry might count as a good reason, if it's particularly extreme, but I never set out from Underworld with the intent to kill the three on my list. I wanted to find out their side of the story, and discover why Crowley wanted them dead. I knew he was lying from the moment he asked, and I wanted to confirm it. He wanted me to kill an innocent man, that Strayer kid, for whatever is inside Constantine. Dave too, asshole though he may have been. Now I have to know what it is. Because what's inside that Crowley believes is worth those three lives will determine whether he lives or dies.
Charon: [Pause] [Filtered voice] Hmm.
Lone Wanderer: Yeah. "Hmm." That showed me. You keep up with those hmms you jaded, stoic fuck.
Day 48: Starving.
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: [Multiple heavy footsteps] MDPL-Twenty-One power station had no bed. What a surprise. It did have a Nikola Tesla book, but fuck if that helps at all.
Charon: [Deep, gravelly voice] Have we really got no more food left?
Lone Wanderer: What we had last night was it. Sorry.
Charon: [Deep, gravelly, voice] I'm starved.
Lone Wanderer: I know, buddy. Just hang in there. Something edible will try to kill us sooner or later.
So, I mapped the power station, and we've continued west. I'm hoping against hope that we'll find some food when we reach—
Charon: [Deep, gravelly, voice] Hey, turn that off. I think I see some traders.
Lone Wanderer: Food? Yes! We're saved!
Day 48 Part 2: Not Starving.
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: [Multiple heavy footsteps] Mmmm. Delicious. I don't know what meat those three hunters were selling. Tasted like no wasteland animal I've ever tried. Shit was nice, though. Charon didn't seem to like it quite as much. But he wouldn't do, because he complains about everything, like a bitch.
Charon: [Filtered voice] I can hear you, you know.
Lone Wanderer: Like. A. Bitch.
Charon: [Filtered grumbling]
Lone Wanderer: Hey, we're there. This is it. SatCom Array NN-Zero-Three-D.
Charon: [Filtered voice] And what are we doing here?
Man 4: [Distantly] I'm gonna skin you alive!
Lone Wanderer: There's your answer. [Shotgun cocking] [Plasma rifle priming] We ready?
Charon: [Filtered voice] Ready.
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] "'THEN YOU CALL ON THE NAME OF YOUR GOD, AND I WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD! THE GOD WHO ANSWERS BY FIRE – HE IS GOD!'" [Shotgun fire] [Plasma fire] [Distant screaming] "THEN THE FIRE OF THE LORD FELL AND BURNED UP THE SACRIFICE," [Plasma fire] [Distant screaming] [Sloshing liquid] "THE WOOD, THE STONES FROM THE SOIL, AND ALSO LICKED UP THE WATER IN THE TRENCH!" [Grenade pin release] [Screaming] [Explosion]
Man 5: [Distant shouting] You stupid bastard! That's the Lone Wanderer! [Submachine gun fire] [Explosion]
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] "WHEN THE PEOPLE SAW THIS," [Submachine gun fire] "THEY FELL PROSTRATE, AND CRIED, 'THE LORD – HE IS GOD! THE LORD – HE IS GOD!'" [Plasma fire] [Shotgun fire]
Man 6: [Distant shouting] Fuck! Fuck! Just fucking run! How can he move that fast?! [Shotgun fire] [Screaming]
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] "THEN ELIJAH COMMANDED THEM, 'SEIZE THE PROPHETS OF BAAL.'" [Plasma rifle priming] "'DON'T LET ANYONE GET AWAY!'" [Plasma fire] [Screaming] [Sloshing liquid]
Man 7: [Shouting] Holy shit! He melted Quinn's face off! [Plasma fire] [Screaming]
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] "THEY SEIZED THEM, AND ELIJAH HAD THEM BROUGHT DOWN TO THE KISHON VALLEY AND SLAUGHTERED THERE!"
Man 7: [Shouting] OH PLEASE NO! [Plasma fire] [Screaming]
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] IS ANYONE HERE GETTING THE METAPHOR?! OR AM I BEING TOO SUBTLE FOR YOU?! [Multiple explosions] [Submachine gun fire] [Shotgun fire] CLEARLY I AM! LET'S TRY SOMETHING LOUDER! [Distant screaming] DON'T THINK YOU CAN FUCKING RUN! CHARON! GET ME SOMETHING WITH A SCOPE!
Day 48 Part 3: Not Insane.
I've never heard an audio recording of me in combat before. I didn't realise I yelled Bible quotes when fighting, but Charon says I do it all the time. That's worrying; I didn't even know that I'd memorised the Bible.
Well, whatevs. After my last audio entry, we raided SatCom. Constantine too. I'll skip ahead and reveal the answer to the burning question right now. Crowley wanted a set of power armour being kept here in the fort. It's of a more advanced model than the kind that the Brotherhood or the Outcasts use. It's actually a non-winter version of the armour I wear. Imagine that.
So, what does this mean for Crowley? Well, means he's fucking dead, for a start. He wanted me to kill that Strayer kid so he could have some shiny new armour? Fuck that. He's getting bitch-slapped hard for this. Oh, and the reason he didn't want me to kill the woman who was on his team was because she was already dead and laying in the fort. Still had her key on her.
I've done a count-up of what we've gathered since the last time I checked our loot as well. I'll start off small. Stealth boys – two of them. Mini nukes – five in total. A Nuka-Cola Quantum. Two copies of Guns and Bullets, and one each of Duck and Cover!, Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual, Pugilism Illustrated, Nikola Tesla and You, the DC Journal of Internal Medicine, and the Big Book of Science. Three other pre-war books of no importance.
In terms of more important things, I got another new Grognak issue, and I think this is actually the last one in this series of Grognak, meaning I finally have a complete collection for my shelf in Megaton. Also of interest, another Fat Man to fire all the mini nukes with, yet another set of schematics for the shishkebab (which I want to take back to Megaton to compare against the others), and another bobblehead for my collection.
Lots of other strange shit happened around the fort while we were here, too. The fedora guy showed up yet again, and just like the last two times, I was the only one who spotted him. He killed a robot for me outside the fort itself.
And there was also an Outcast patrol just outside when we arrived. Since Charon was decked out in Outcast armour, though, and since I had my helmet on at the time and was wielding plasma weapons, they mistook us for Outcasts too, though they weren't quite sure what to make of the fact that my armour wasn't painted like theirs. From them, we asked about what was going on with the Outcasts. I tried to get information out of them, and see just how many of their number were left. One said that to his knowledge, there were three or four squads other than them in the Capital Wasteland, maximum. I said thank you and shot him in the gut, and then the rest.
And the last odd event of the day worth mentioning is that I located some ICBM launch codes while in Constantine. I tried to aim some missiles at China to see if I could finish the job this time and wipe out the Asian Wasteland, but alas, I don't think it worked, because it told me there was an error, and the security system spazzed out.
I kid, though. I've seen Earth from space, and there's nothing but a great big yellow splotch on the planet where China used to be. Or in other words - what Asian Wasteland?
Day 49: Chillin' Out.
Geez. Never thought I'd be able to say this, but today I just lounged around Fort Constantine and relaxed. Me and Charon took a break. We played some chess with a makeshift board and mock pieces. Baseball too. Played some catch with Dogmeat. Did some hunting in the area around the fort to get us something for dinner. Cooked us a brahmin steak. It was nice. I needed a quiet day, after everything. So much walking, and fighting, and looting, and... it just gets a little much sometimes, you know?
That's over now, though. Tomorrow, we need to leave here and get back to work. It's nice to have some leisure time, but too much of it, and you just get bored. I need something to keep myself busy. Something fun, though. I don't want another super serious operation. Fighting badly-armed raiders is just pointless slaughter with no challenge or reward. Super mutants are strong, but they're too dumb to be tough opponents. Robots I find no joy in destroying like flesh-and-blood creatures, and wild animals have the same issues as super mutants. I need to find the right balance of challenge and fun, carefree slaughter.
...Ah, what the hell? Let's wipe out Paradise Falls.
Day 43: Puny Earthlings.
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Man 1: [Heavy breathing] This thing on? Testing, testing, one-two-three. Hey, it is. That's super.
Wait, what the...? Man 1? Fucking... I thought I already set my name on this transcription? What the fucking... At least it puts a line break when I tell it to. I should be thankful for small mercies I suppose. Anyway, this is the Lone Fucking Wanderer if the transcription isn't making that clear. And hey, look, it even capitalised my name, "fucking" and all. And it put "fucking" in quotes just now! And again! And exclamation marks! Oh boy, I've changed my mind. I love this thing now.
Woman 1: Hey, what are you doing?
Lone Fucking Wanderer: Recording an entry for my log, Somah. Ever since the day I left the vault, I write an entry in my journal every day to put down my thoughts, record what I've found and sold, make notes for future plans, that sort of thing. Helps keep me organised. But I haven't got time for that shit right now, so I figured I'd put everything on this holotape instead, and stick on the automatic transcription. Then I have an audio and written version, and it takes me less time to do... Wait... Oh my fucking god! I'm being transcribed as "Lone Fucking Wanderer!" [Laughter] Oh Jesus, that's hysterical! I'm even more impressed now. This thing can actually pick up my name from context and put that as my tag! It's not my real name, but I call myself Lone Fucking Wanderer, and suddenly it transcribes my voice as Lone Fucking Wanderer. That's just magical.
Somah: [Pause] Great.
Lone Fucking Wanderer: It did it for you, too! It even put in a tag indicating your awkward pause! This is the best automatic transcription software I have ever seen. This must be some pre-war kind of shit right here...
Somah: Well, why not tell it your real name so you can be transcribed properly?
Lone Fucking Wanderer: Oh hell no. Lone Fucking Wanderer all the way, baby. I don't want to put my real name on shit when I can be called that even by transcription software. Why do you think I haven't given it to you yet?
Somah: I assumed Lone Wanderer was your actual name.
Lone Wanderer: [Pause] Really?
Somah: Really. Not like there's a registry anywhere. People call themselves or their children all kinds of strange shit. Ghouls do it all the time. Like that guy you were telling me about, Charon. Think that's his real name? Think he was born with the name Charon?
Lone Wanderer: No, but still. Lone Wanderer as my actual name? That'd be pretty... [Shouting] Oh fuck you!
Somah: What?
Lone Wanderer: It dropped the "fucking" from my name because you said it without it! Oh, you absolute bitch!
Somah: Whatever. Fuck you too.
Lone Wanderer: I'll get you back for this!
Somah: [Snorts derisively] Whatever you say, crazy bastard.
Lone Wanderer: I'm going to fuck your mouth later.
Somah: Looking forward to it. [Footsteps]
Lone Wanderer: [Pause] I'll get her... [Pause] Anyway, so, time to log everything of importance.
We are currently situated in the engineering core of the ship. By "we," I mean myself, Somah, Sally, and a few other people we found around the place. It's not just been the two of us around here. As we've found frozen cryo pods, or holding cells like the ones we were in, we've let out whoever we found trapped. In the area we were initially located, we found a cell with a little girl in it, named Sally. She's been helping us get around the place and reaching all the areas we couldn't otherwise. She's damn good at it, too. There was another cell with a Rivet City security guard in it, but the man had lost his mind. I had to put him down. Shame. Someone else with combat training could have been real useful.
Three other companions joined us for the journey, though. Paulson, who's a cowboy abducted during the time of the American old west, before they even had cars, let alone energy weapons and nuclear power; Elliot, who's a medic and a soldier from before the apocalypse, who served in Anchorage; and some guy who I think is a samurai from feudal Japan. Yeah, it's pretty fucking weird. However, it is also awesome. I get to learn about ancient history from people who experienced it. The samurai doesn't speak my language, so I can't do anything to help him other than indicate through body language that I wish him no harm, which he seems to understand. Paulson and Elliot, on the other hand, have been interesting to talk to.
Paulson for one was astonished by me and Elliot's recounting of American history since his time, and he in turn told us all about what the old west was like. Elliot was also grimly fascinated by my stories of the wasteland that now exists where the world he once knew used to be, though it upset him greatly to know his efforts in the war were all in vain. I could relate. I served too, in a sense, and I told him as such. It's not the same as actually living the real thing, but all the same, I think we felt some kinship through that, catching a glimpse of each other's worlds and all.
Anyway, we beat the shit out of a bunch of aliens, and I got back all the stuff I was missing almost right out of the holding cells. 'Course, I left my backpack with Charon, so that wasn't much. Just my power armour, and my weapons, since I have holsters and harnesses for all my weapons on the armour's exterior. So I still have all my rifles, the shotgun, the SMG, the revolver, the gauntlet, and Stabhappy. What I don't have is chems, medical supplies, stealth boys, food or water, extra ammunition, spare clothing, etcetera. I've been getting by without it, but it's been harder than it would have been had I access to all my equipment.
The aliens have been helpful, though. As we kill them, we've been able to take their weapons from them, and they've got some good shit. So far, the aliens have come at us with three primary weapons. The first is some kind of baton that shocks you with an electric current. The other two are energy weapons, though they don't use microfusion cells or anything of the sort for obvious reasons. I can't quite tell what they shoot, actually. It's not plasma, but I don't think it's a laser either. They come in the form of rifles and pistols. The rifle version I call the disintegrator. The pistol I call the atomiser.
The aliens also naturally have their own robots. Though almost uniquely among robots, these ones I can actually pull the weapons off, and they'll still function. Instead of being built in, these drone cannons are handheld, and the robots just have appendages for operating them. They shoot energy projectiles that bounce off the walls like grenades. It was unwieldy at first, but it quickly became my best friend in here.
Rooting around the place has also turned up some interesting finds. The aliens like collecting things from Earth, so every once in a while we'll find conventional weapons and ammunition for them, or the usual pre-war food, packed with preservatives to last two hundred years. I've got to say, though, I've really gained a taste for some of the alien food we've found. Worm and squid-like creatures on metal trays. It was strange to begin with, but I've gained a taste for them. Somah still looks at me weird whenever I have some, though.
Somah: [Distantly] That's because you're a freak!
Lone Wanderer: And you're a skank! [Pause] Now, where was I? Oh yes. That's right.
We've also found a bunch of gels and chemicals around the place. One is made for ingesting, but it is of questionable safeness to our biology. I didn't want to try it myself, but Elliot found a way to adapt it to be not quite as bad. It can still have unpredictable effects, but they're thankfully temporary, and the gel also heals us, which is good when I have so few stimpaks on me. The other chemical we've found in abundance is a kind of epoxy made for weapon maintenance. It works on alien weapons, and conventional ones too, so it's a godsend. I've begun collecting it wherever I can. [Footsteps]
Other gadgets picked up include these neat little grenades and mines that Elliot whipped up with the cryogenic technology we came across while exploring earlier. Unlike my guns, I don't keep straps or pouches on me to carry explosives. I keep those in the backpack. So I've been lacking my Nuka grenades. Which is a shame, because I was musing before I came here that I needed something to use them on, and these aliens are perfect for that.
And—
Man 2: Why do you keep saying
?
Lone Wanderer: Oh, hey Paulson. I'm saying it because that's the vocal command to put in a line break in the auto-transcription, otherwise it just shows up as a wall of text.
Paulson: Huh? Auto-what now?
Lone Wanderer: This thing writes down what I say as I say it. If I don't keep saying
though, then it all appears as one giant block of words. Every time I say it, it puts in a line break. That way it's separated into readable chunks.
Paulson: Huh. This more scavenged alien junk, or another future thing?
Lone Wanderer: It's human technology, so yes. It wouldn't be in English if it were alien.
Paulson: [Pause] Alright, then. [Footsteps]
Lone Wanderer: Anyway, we've got a plan to take down the aliens, one way or another. It involves destroying these three generators around the ship to take out the oxygen in one area, which I will then travel through in a spacesuit we took from a dead astronaut we found in stasis. Once I'm through the place, I have to activate a teleporter to help everyone else follow me. So far, we've hit two.
Me and Elliot raided the one in the cryo lab. [Footsteps] While there, he came across his old squadmates. Three already dead and being experimented on by aliens, and two in stasis, who we revived so that they [Lighter lighting] could spend their final moments helping us kill some damn aliens. What a way to go out. [Cigarette puffing]
Somah: Damn right.
Lone Wanderer: There were other people frozen in there. Unfortunately, they were raiders, ghouls, and super mutants, all needing to be put down. Don't understand why the raiders attacked us, though. Must have lost their minds from being frozen. I know I wouldn't attack the first other human I saw on sight if I were in their position. I'd even be willing to work with a raider if it was against aliens. Yeah, I'd probably shoot them in the head afterwards, but—
Somah: Wait, what? Why would you shoot them in the head if they helped you?
Lone Wanderer: Because they're raiders. I kill raiders.
Somah: If they attack you, you mean?
Lone Wanderer: No, I mean regardless. Raiders need to be exterminated. I don't care if they're hostile to me or not. If I see a raider, I shoot them. Just like feral ghouls, super mutants, malfunctioning robots, mutant animals, Talon mercenaries, Brotherhood Outcasts, and slavers.
Somah: [Stuttering] Slavers?
Lone Wanderer: Yes. Slavers. You know what slavers are, right?
Somah: Yeah! Of course I do! I mean... You'd really kill a slaver for being a slaver, even if they helped you out?
Lone Wanderer: Yes.
Somah: Even if they saved your life?
Lone Wanderer: Without a second thought.
Somah: [Pause] Uh, good. Good for you. Keep... bringing that good fight.
Lone Wanderer: I will. [Footsteps] Such a nice girl. And she and I went through the robot assembly place to get the second generator. I also picked up a beautiful little control device in there that allows me to get drones in storage to reactivate and defend me from the aliens, and also to shut down all the drones in an area if there are no aliens there for them to defend. Immensely useful. Additionally, I've explored a few other rooms linked to the engineering core. The engine room, the cargo hold, and the maintenance level and waste disposal, which was an adventure in itself, but that's another story.
Down there, we came across a few interesting items. A mini nuke and several pieces of conventional Earth weaponry for one, up to and including missile launchers and miniguns, some of which my companions have taken. Then there was the special shock baton that some alien had been performing modifications on. It no longer actually shocked, but it had some other enhancements to give it more stopping power, so I took it. I take all alien weapons I come across, because they're going to be valuable as shit back in the wasteland, but this one I want to make particular note of.
Another interesting find was a special experimental plasma pistol, called the MPLX Novasurge. It was locked in a safe that the aliens had found, remotely connected to a terminal. Entries on the terminal indicate that they were both meant to be buried in the desert. The pistol was apparently supposed to be evidence for exposing some kind of conspiracy that this group thought existed. Quaere Verum was their name. Latin for "seek the truth." They stole this from a secure base, but were betrayed. The rest of the group was eradicated, and the last survivor did the burying. Then it was somehow taken by aliens. I don't know what this conspiracy is, but it all seems rather irrelevant given what happened to the world a few short years after.
I also happened across a shipment meant for Anchorage, Alaska addressed to General Chase. I met him in the simulation. It contained a general's overcoat as well, just like he wore. This is apparently what the top guys in the pre-war military used. I gave it to Somah to look after for me. And I found that samurai's missing sword. He was pleased to have it back, but then he disappeared on me, off to who knows where.
Right now, we're slowly making a defensible base in the engineering core. While me and Elliot (and later me and Somah) were out blowing up generators, the others stuck around to help entrench us here. It's become a home base of sorts. Especially useful, since it seems to act as a hub to a lot of the rest of Mothership Zeta, as I have dubbed it. This also means regular attacks, but like I said, we've been fortifying it. Good thing, too, because I need a place to lie down and sleep. I was abducted... Wednesday, I think? Late Wednesday night, just after we had set up in the power station, after being turned away from the Republic of Dave. My last entry was early morning, Thursday, according to my Pip-Boy. Now it's 2AM on a Friday. I need to get to bed. Fortunately, Paulson, Elliot, and the samurai are as wide awake as ever, so I'll be safe to take a rest for a while. And when they need to sleep, I'll be there to defend them. We can sleep in shifts.
I've... I've also been finding audio logs around the ship, from captives of the aliens. It's... horrifying stuff, honestly. I've been trying not to think about them, but I thought I should make mention of them before I sign off for the night. I've downloaded the lot, that they might not be forgotten. [Pause] Anyway, that's it for now. I'll get back to you, diary. Hopefully, by my next entry this nightmare will be over.
Day 43 Part 2: Life Ain't Fair.
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: I do so try to be optimistic, but how can I be when the world is this fucked up? The aliens have been taking humans and mutating them into... something. Abominations are the only word for them. They're very much like the aliens themselves, except even they hate aliens. I've now had to contend with several of those in addition to alien menaces. It has not been fun.
In terms of good news, though, me and Paulson went through the hangar and destroyed the final generator. Found the crashed alien ship that was beamed up with me, too. So at least now I know where it went. I then got the space suit on and walked over the exterior of the ship to reach the observation deck, and as promised I let my companions up through the teleporter. The aliens fired the ship's death ray to try and scare us, but it didn't work. They're still gonna die.
We made our way through the ship despite their best attempts. Weapons lab turned out some good finds. Modified versions of the weapons I've already come across, mostly. A fully automatic version of the disintegrator rifles for one, a more high-powered atomiser pistol for another, and my favourite one of all, a drone cannon whose energy blasts don't bounce off the walls like I'm launching grenades. I practiced with them a bit on a shooting range I found, killing raiders and robots and radscorpions and whatever else came out. I think I'm getting good with these.
And that fedora motherfucker is here too. The one from the Jefferson memorial. Popped out of nowhere and killed an alien right before my eyes. Then he ran down a dead end corridor and vanished. Am I seeing ghosts? I don't know. I really hope it's just Paulson fucking with me. If this guy, whoever he is, followed me onto Zeta, and didn't try to rescue me from my cell earlier, I'd be pretty pissed.
Currently, I'm fighting my way through biological research to the death ray controls, so I can disable them. These aliens are in for quite a shock.
Day 43 Part 3: Death Ray Update.
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] ALRIGHT! Death ray fucking destroyed! Or powered down. Or whatever the fuck. Point is these little green shitheads got nothing now. We're storming the bridge. After I fight my way through the living quarters.
Day 43 Part 4: [ENTER NAME].
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: Gentlemen, the ship is ours. It took a nasty final battle on the bridge against the alien captain and his security squad, and things got pretty hairy after a second alien mothership just as huge as Zeta that wasn't nearly as fucked up inside came out of nowhere with intent to destroy us, but we saw it through. And I hope these aliens have other ships in space, or that their home planet is still inhabited, because otherwise their race is officially extinct. [Shouting] NATURAL FUCKING SELECTION, BABY! SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, AND THE HUMAN RACE STANDS TRIUMPHANT!
Paulson: [Pause] You're a strange one, boy. Have I ever told you that?
Lone Wanderer: Yep, and you can tell me again, because honestly, I just wiped out an alien race and captured my very own spaceship, so I'm in way too good of a mood for anything you say to bother me.
Day 43 Part 5: [ENTER NAME].
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: [Slurred speech] I don't want to set the woooooorld... onnnnn... fiiiire! Iiiiii... just want to staaaaart... a flame in your heaaaaaaaaart! [Shouting] GOD I LOVE THIS SONG! [Swallowing] Ahhh... And I love whiskey... And I love... love... [Belching] Planet Earth! Which is, with all due respect to Mars and Neptune, the most wonderful planet of them all! God, if this planet were a person, I would crush its spine with a hug right now. But it's noooot. Fuuuuuuuuck. Guess I'll just have to break Charon's spine when I see him instead. He better not have left that power station. If he has then I'll... I'll hunt him down and... fucking... stab him in the eye socket... [Long pause] I hope I can find my way back to the power station in the dark...
Day 44: [ENTER NAME].
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: [Clanging] [Shouting] GUESS WHO'S BACK, YOU WALKING MAGGOT FARM?!
Man 3: [Deep, gravelly voice] Gah! Boss! Where did you come from?!
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] FROM THE STARS THEMSELVES! I WAS ABDUCTED BY ALIENS! WHO I THEN KILLED! YES! I KILLED AN ENTIRE ALIEN MOTHERSHIP BY MYSELF! WITH SOME HELP FROM A COWBOY, A SAMURAI, A LITTLE GIRL, A MEDIC OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY, AND A WASTELANDER! AND TOGETHER, WE COMMITTED GLORIOUS GENOCIDE! SHIP-TO-SHIP COMBAT! KABOOM!
Man 3: [Pause] [Deep, gravelly voice] Are you feeling alright?
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] NEVER BETTER, CHARON! NEVER BETTER! NOW GET ME MY BACKPACK! WE'RE GOING INTO SPACE! TO LOOT! WE'RE GOING TO MY PERSONAL SPACESHIP TO SCAVENGE ALIEN TECHNOLOGY TOGETHER!
Charon: [Deep, gravelly voice] Now?
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] YES! NOW!
Charon: [Deep, gravelly voice] It's four in the morning. Is now really the best time?
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] BUT... SPACESHIP, CHARON!
Charon: [Deep, gravelly voice] You're off your rocker, boss.
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] SPACESHIP...! IN SPACE...! ALIEN GENOCIDE!
Charon: [Deep, gravelly voice] Let's get you to bed. You're not well.
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] IT WAS SOOOOOO GOOD! I KILLED SO MANY ALIENS! I WANT TO SHOW YOU IT!
Charon: [Deep, gravelly voice] There, there. Calm down. I'll get the chems... [Dog whines]
Lone Wanderer: CALL ME ARES! FOR I AM A GOD OF WAR!
Day 44 Part 2: Xenotech.
It's almost hard to believe that the last two days actually happened, but I have the audio logs to prove it. And looking back on them, I see the inherent problem with using audio logs. They're likely to be interrupted, they make my entries even longer somehow, being that I can talk for way longer than I can type, and sometimes I'll capture moments on tape that I'm not proud of. I mean, I've gotten drunk and done embarrassing shit a few times since coming out into the wastes, but I've always been able to pretend those times didn't happen before. Now I can't.
Anyway, Charon shut up with calling me crazy since I took him up to the ship. Where the alien craft used to be, there's now a beacon that allows me to teleport up anytime I want. And only me as well, so no risk of dumbfucks stumbling across my treasure trove of technology from a dead alien race, though I've set it up so that Charon and Dogmeat can now come aboard too. And put the location on the map for Reilly, though I probably won't tell her what it actually is.
I introduced Charon to Sally, Elliot, and the samurai. They all decided to stay onboard the ship. I think they're afraid of what they'll find on Earth, and honestly, I can't blame them. Of the three of them, Elliot would probably be the best off down there; even though everything would be ruined, he would at least recognise it all (about as much as I did, anyway). Not to mention he has military training. But the samurai would have the culture shock of his life in post-apocalyptic America. I mean, he comes from a time before guns! At least Paulson knew that much.
So Elliot and Sally decided to stay here and scavenge technology from around the ship instead. The samurai? I think he's just decided to live here and deal with it. Paulson and Somah were the only two who actually left. Went down to the planet's surface to wander the wastes. Somah took some alien technology with her (a modest amount; enough to get her a good few caps for her ordeal). Makes me sad that I won't have a monopoly over this stuff after all, but whatever. And Paulson? I don't know what his plans are. A cowboy from the old west wandering the wastes... I wonder what will become of him?
Well, I guess it doesn't matter for now. We came here to pick up everything I scavenged during my adventure on Zeta. And now that we've done that, Charon can carry it. Because I have to carry everything else.
Oh, and I should also note I found another new alien weapon type. It appears to be a pistol, of a different type than the atomiser. I found two. One in pristine condition, which I took from the corpse of the alien captain who commanded Zeta, and another, rustier one which was near the beacon where the crashed ship used to be. I think it was the property of the pilot. For some reason, the rusty one found in the wasteland is actually more powerful than the disintegrator rifles. But the captain's version is not. I must say, it greatly confuses me. I've since named these variants the blasters. I think I'll be keeping both of them.
But whatever. Tonight, we sleep in the comfortable living quarters of a fully heated spaceship. Tomorrow, we venture back onto post-apocalyptic Earth, to continue the mundane, non-alien-related duties of a wasteland hero.
Ah, life. I miss when you had some semblance of normalcy.
Day 45: To Lead a Revolution.
I think something's different about me now. I can't tell what. I didn't notice it onboard Zeta with how much else was going on, the weird gravity, and the non-standard nature of the combat situation, but... now I'm back on Earth, and fighting familiar enemies again, I can compare. I definitely feel a lot heavier than before. Heavy as in "something inside me is weighing me down," not as in "I'm getting fat." I think that operation the aliens performed did something weird to me. Can't be certain right now. Will need to look into it later.
Anyway, so today, we did our business in the Republic of Dave. Now, last I checked, I was going to launch into a long rant about how it was completely insane, and the people who live there must be wackos, because they believe that their little compound is a sovereign nation, and blah, blah, blah. Whatever. I spent last Friday beating the shit out of aliens. This place doesn't even phase me anymore. So I'll be quick in summing up its fate:
- Dave surrendered his key willingly, so I now have all of them. Unless Crowley has a key himself, I might be able to check out Constantine to see what he wanted so bad.
- There was an election going on in the Republic when I arrived, which Dave is always the only candidate for. I rigged it so that he would lose, because I thought it would be funny, and one of his wives took over his job. He ran off into the wastes. Shit was priceless.
- She gave me a hunting rifle called Ol' Painless, and it's pretty nice compared to the standard model, so I fixed it up with parts from my usual hunting rifle, and have now added it to my armament.
- There was a bobblehead and a bottle of Quantum in the settlement. I stole them.
Our arrival in the town they call Old Olney was heralded by the sound of screaming deathclaws. Screaming because I blew their legs off with grenades before I sniped them in their heads with the disintegrator rifle. I am now out of Nuka grenades. Will need to stock up on supplies to get some more. Also out of cryo grenades and mines as well, but they weren't as effective as I was hoping anyway. Still got plenty of plasmas, so we're all good on that front.
We cleared the town of pests, and did our standard search. Nothing much in the town, except a note left by some dead guy who was delivering a shipment of Quantum to Olney, reporting that he crashed on the highway. Explains that truck full of Quantum I found, I guess. But other than that, nothing. So we went west towards the vault entrance.
Oh wait, yes. We found Dave dead in Olney. But that's not important.
Vault 92 turned out to be just as fucked as all the others I've been to. The situation with this one is that all the residents were exposed in their sleep to white noise through the loudspeakers. The white noise was meant to allow them to implant subliminal suggestions so that they could get the residents to do whatever they wanted. A kind of mind control, if you will.
But the head scientist, Professor Malleus, was deceived. He was all for the mind control experiments, but he thought that they were largely harmless, and he was only practicing on a few musicians in the sound studio. Then it turned out that the Overseer was implanting kill commands through the white noise. And not just on them. On the entire vault. I think at that point Malleus's conscience got the better of him, and he tried to put a stop to it. The Overseer's terminal simply says that he was "removed."
Sometimes, I wish people like Vault 92's overseer survived. When I read that, I wanted no more than to look under the desk and find a starving and crippled ghoul in a vault overseer's jumpsuit, drag him out, and beat him repeatedly before feeding him to the mirelurks that had since made their home here. Sadly, no such thing could happen. The man is long dead, and I can't punish the dead. Not unless Elliot finds some really interesting technology up there.
Regardless, we escaped the vault just fine, and I even got Agatha's violin for her. Just as a special treat, I also found a sheet music book, so she'll have more songs to learn and play. I hope she likes it. She's such a nice woman.
From there it was west again towards Constantine. We didn't make it all the way, though. We stopped when we came across a selection of shacks occupied by super mutants and holding a hostage. We killed them all and freed the hostage, who was very thankful, and then decided to stop there for the night.
Also, before I forget, we also raided a waste disposal site earlier this morning between the Republic and the beacon where we teleported down from Zeta. I've since marked Old Olney, Vault 92, Greener Pastures Disposal Site, and the clifftop shacks on the map. Can't forget that.
All in all, a day of scavenging vaults, abandoned pre-war towns, disposal sites and super mutant villages has turned up:
- x2 Quantums.
- x4 stealth boys.
- x1 Big Book of Science.
- x2 DC Journal of Internal Medicine.
- x1 Guns and Bullets.
- x1 Duck and Cover!
- x1 Nikola Tesla and You.
- x1 Tales of a Junktown Jerky Vendor.
- x1 Pugilism Illustrated.
- x1 Grognak the Barbarian (unread issue).
- x6 other miscellaneous pre-war books.
Though, it should be noted that we're starting to get weighed down here. Even me and Charon between us can't carry much more than this. We're going to have to head to Megaton or Big Town, and either store away or sell some of this shit. It's getting too much.
That's a concern for tomorrow, though. For now, we sleep.
Day 46: Ya Keep Comin' Back.
Getting back to Megaton was easier than I thought it would be. Less wild animal attacks than usual. Rogue robots were all weaker models. Only one Talon Company ambush, and these guys are getting more and more pathetic as I keep finding new shit to kill them with, this time goddamn alien weapons, and they just keep coming at me in the same armour and with the same standard armament.
It's good to be home again, though, and Jesus Christ, I just realised I think of Megaton as my home now. That's how bad my standard of living has gotten. I consider this trash heap a safe haven to return to. Also, I have no spare beds in my house, so Charon has to sleep on the metal bench downstairs. He's never happy when that happens. I jokingly suggested that we could share a bed, but he didn't seem to find it amusing.
What the fuck is even with him? Since we've met, I've revealed that I have regeneration capabilities, told him that I served in Anchorage and yet I'm not a ghoul, revealed that I'm hunting down an android, showed him a goddamn alien spaceship, and he still hasn't asked anything about my past or who I am. This prick is so jaded, I'm not entirely unconvinced that he's an android himself.
We had a chance to offload all the extra crap, though. I added my two newest bobbleheads to the collection, and they're looking right at home there. General Chase's overcoat and the spacesuit from Zeta also found a home in the armour locker, while the weapons locker saw the additions of the Board of Education, the modified variants of the shock baton, drone cannon, atomiser, and disintegrator, both the alien blasters, and all the ammunition that powers the alien weapons.
Side note: Remember a while back I found some ammunition of a type I was unsure of while raiding Fort Independence? Turns out it was for one of the alien blasters. So the Outcasts have scavenged alien technology too. Nothing quite to the degree of what I've found, but hey, give them credit; they actually found something.
All the rest of the alien weapons, by the way, I left onboard Zeta. I took the unique variants so I could store them here as trophies of my conquest, but the standard weapons I had so many of that I left them behind in the care of Elliot and Sally. When I find someone who I think will pay good money for them, I'll take them to the ship and they can buy however many they want then and there. But what I'm really hoping for is that Elliot can find me a way to produce new alien weapons and ammunition using the materials on the ship, or hell, even just Earth materials. If we could produce our own alien weapons, I'd be post-apocalyptic America's first east coast weapons baron. I could build my skull vault without having to kill all the people myself.
Anyway, Moira gladly purchased all of my books save the new Grognak comic (which is in my library), and my excess stealth boys too. I've decided to start selling those, since I'm carrying around the Chinese stealth armour everywhere, and that turns me invisible anyway. And I gathered the necessary supplies and constructed several dozen Nuka grenades, since I'm now fresh out of plasmas, too. Also a railway rifle, using the parts I scavenged from the school a while back. The railway rifle doesn't seem particularly strong, but I like it, because I'm a sucker for novelty weapons. Could have been better, though. Will need to make another some time.
Carrying all these rifles on the exterior of my armour is getting difficult, though. Some keep falling off. I can't keep up carrying so many. Even in spite of everything I dropped off, I'm still hauling around five rifles with the railway one marking the sixth, two pistols, a shotgun, an SMG, a knife, and a gauntlet with a deathclaw's hand strapped to it. I've decided that from now on, I'll keep the ammunition, the melee weapons, one energy rifle, one standard rifle, and one sidearm on me, and Charon will carry the rest of my stuff in a backpack of his own that I got for him. And he'll hand me whatever I need when I want to switch. A good system, no?
I was reminded to make a railway rifle because I came across some more schematics for them earlier in the day. While walking south to Megaton, we came across a power station, which I mapped as "MDPL-13 Power Station." Full of ghouls, and that Talon ambush I was talking about occurred as we left, but worth the excursion. I also found a power fist in there. Neat, but I got my deathclaw gauntlet, so into the locker it goes.
That's today all done, though. Tomorrow, we go back to the clifftop shacks, and continue heading west from there until we find Constantine. I want to know what Crowley is up to.
Day 47: There and Back Again.
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: [Multiple heavy footsteps] [Dog panting] Hey, diary. Don't think I'll have much time to update you today, because we're constantly walking, and by the time I find a bed, I'm just gonna fall on it and remain there for twelve hours or so. So here's another voice recording in place of a written entry.
Charon: [Filtered voice] You keep a diary?
Lone Wanderer: 'Course I fucking do. How else do I confirm to myself that this waking nightmare is real? [Pause] "Pause." I love that. This transcription software is really quite genius.
Charon: [Pause] [Filtered voice] Alright then, boss.
Lone Wanderer: Come on, keep walking. [Multiple heavy footsteps] Now, as I was saying. We dropped off the violin with Agatha, who was overjoyed, to say the least. She showed me how to tune into her radio station as thanks, so now in the unlikely event I get tired of the Ink Spots or Enclave Radio, I can switch over to hear some violin pieces.
She—
Charon: [Filtered voice] Why did you just say
?
Lone Wanderer: Oh fuck off, Charon.
She was also happy about the sheet music I found. Good call, I think. She gave me a scoped revolver in return. A special one, named Blackhawk. It wasn't in top condition, but I fixed it up with my old revolver's parts. And it does have more power behind it than a standard point forty-four, so I've taken to using it as my current sidearm instead of the modified plasma pistol from Zeta, which Charon is carrying.
Charon: [Filtered voice] Along with everything else.
Lone Wanderer: I'm carrying my share, too. Quit your bellyaching. You're supposed to be my bodyguard, and I'm still the one who does most of the killing.
Charon: [Filtered voice] Because you keep firing at everything I do with stronger guns! It's like you're jealous when I kill something instead of you, so you keep racing me to try and get to it first! What am I supposed to do?
Lone Wanderer: I'll tell you what you're supposed to do. You're supposed to provide covering fire when I'm overwhelmed, kill the animals and robots that I can't be asked to deal with myself, and when some big ugly green motherfucker whips out a minigun, you aim for the weapon and try to either damage it or knock it out of his hands. Because if you aim for his head, the most you can hope for with a shotgun at long range is to blind him, and then he's just going to be spraying minigun fire everywhere, which is no help. That is what you do.
Charon: [Filtered voice] That'd still leave you doing most of the killing.
Lone Wanderer: That's fine. I like killing.
Charon: [Filtered voice] You don't say?
Lone Wanderer: You watch your mouth. I'm not in the mood right now. My veins are full of radscorpion poison and I'm fucking starving.
Charon: [Filtered voice] You and me both. [Dog panting]
Lone Wanderer: Don't worry, Dogmeat. We'll find something soon. [Dog whining] Anyway, we didn't go straight towards the clifftop shacks, either. Once we reached the power station, we continued in a northwest direction. We passed through the ruins of what my pre-war version of the map identifies as Reclining Groves Resort Homes, which I added to my normal map as such, and did some looting there. Found three books of note. Junktown Jerky Vendor, Special Ops Training Manual, and Flamethrower Recipes. Also came across an Outcast patrol there, being stalked by deathclaws. Guys were terrified. Even better, though, I was able to kill the deathclaws before they too badly damaged the Outcasts' armour. So then afterwards, I was able to butcher the Outcasts with some simple headshots with the Gauss rifle—
Charon: [Filtered voice] Murdering bastard.
Lone Wanderer: And recover their power armour. Three sets of it, which with some quick adjustments I was able to break down into a single suit and helmet in like-new condition. And then Charon here surprised everyone by revealing that he had the necessary training to wear power armour too.
Charon: [Filtered voice] Hmm.
Lone Wanderer: Hasn't taken off his helmet since I gave it to him, either.
Charon: [Filtered voice] You shouldn't have taken off yours. We're still in the open.
Lone Wanderer: Oh, what's the worst that could— [Shotgun fire] [Splattering] [Pause] Kay, point taken. Is that edible?
Charon: [Filtered voice] Radscorpion? Hell no. Not this species anyway.
Lone Wanderer: Worth a shot. Anyway, after the resort home, we came to the Montgomery County Reservoir. That was our next stop, wasn't it?
Charon: [Filtered voice] Yep.
Lone Wanderer: Kay. So we stopped there, but there wasn't much of interest, so we just added it to the map and moved on. After that we came to, oh,
by the way. Shit. Did it mid-sentence. Try again.
That's better. We came to Broadcast Tower LP-Eight. Not much of interest there either. It emitted a Morse code signal when I hit a switch, which led us into a sewer chamber where there was a Big Book of Science, but that was it. I'm finding a lot of these places, sending out signals that lead into underground areas with random shit and dead people. It's beginning to annoy me. We also found some raiders attacking some wasteland settlers. Nothing real important, but we saved them and killed the raiders. That was actually northeast of the reservoir, but we just wanted to check it out. So from there, we went west again.
Now it's getting dark, and right now, forgetting Constantine, we're just hoping to reach some kind of shelter soon. The pre-war map indicates there's a power station in the direction we're heading. Hopefully, there'll be some actual beds there. But I doubt it.
Charon: [Filtered voice] You're the one who forces us into this misery.
Lone Wanderer: We have to reach Constantine, though.
Charon: [Filtered voice] Why?
Lone Wanderer: To find out what Crowley wants there!
Charon: [Filtered voice] What business is it of ours what Crowley wants? You said he hired you to kill these three guys. Why didn't you just kill them for him and be done with it?
Lone Wanderer: Because I'm not some ignorant wasteland fuck who kills people just because he's told to. When I kill someone, it's because I decided they deserve it. I don't assassinate people without damn good reason. Bigotry might count as a good reason, if it's particularly extreme, but I never set out from Underworld with the intent to kill the three on my list. I wanted to find out their side of the story, and discover why Crowley wanted them dead. I knew he was lying from the moment he asked, and I wanted to confirm it. He wanted me to kill an innocent man, that Strayer kid, for whatever is inside Constantine. Dave too, asshole though he may have been. Now I have to know what it is. Because what's inside that Crowley believes is worth those three lives will determine whether he lives or dies.
Charon: [Pause] [Filtered voice] Hmm.
Lone Wanderer: Yeah. "Hmm." That showed me. You keep up with those hmms you jaded, stoic fuck.
Day 48: Starving.
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: [Multiple heavy footsteps] MDPL-Twenty-One power station had no bed. What a surprise. It did have a Nikola Tesla book, but fuck if that helps at all.
Charon: [Deep, gravelly voice] Have we really got no more food left?
Lone Wanderer: What we had last night was it. Sorry.
Charon: [Deep, gravelly, voice] I'm starved.
Lone Wanderer: I know, buddy. Just hang in there. Something edible will try to kill us sooner or later.
So, I mapped the power station, and we've continued west. I'm hoping against hope that we'll find some food when we reach—
Charon: [Deep, gravelly, voice] Hey, turn that off. I think I see some traders.
Lone Wanderer: Food? Yes! We're saved!
Day 48 Part 2: Not Starving.
Audio file embed. Automatic transcription as follows.
Lone Wanderer: [Multiple heavy footsteps] Mmmm. Delicious. I don't know what meat those three hunters were selling. Tasted like no wasteland animal I've ever tried. Shit was nice, though. Charon didn't seem to like it quite as much. But he wouldn't do, because he complains about everything, like a bitch.
Charon: [Filtered voice] I can hear you, you know.
Lone Wanderer: Like. A. Bitch.
Charon: [Filtered grumbling]
Lone Wanderer: Hey, we're there. This is it. SatCom Array NN-Zero-Three-D.
Charon: [Filtered voice] And what are we doing here?
Man 4: [Distantly] I'm gonna skin you alive!
Lone Wanderer: There's your answer. [Shotgun cocking] [Plasma rifle priming] We ready?
Charon: [Filtered voice] Ready.
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] "'THEN YOU CALL ON THE NAME OF YOUR GOD, AND I WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD! THE GOD WHO ANSWERS BY FIRE – HE IS GOD!'" [Shotgun fire] [Plasma fire] [Distant screaming] "THEN THE FIRE OF THE LORD FELL AND BURNED UP THE SACRIFICE," [Plasma fire] [Distant screaming] [Sloshing liquid] "THE WOOD, THE STONES FROM THE SOIL, AND ALSO LICKED UP THE WATER IN THE TRENCH!" [Grenade pin release] [Screaming] [Explosion]
Man 5: [Distant shouting] You stupid bastard! That's the Lone Wanderer! [Submachine gun fire] [Explosion]
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] "WHEN THE PEOPLE SAW THIS," [Submachine gun fire] "THEY FELL PROSTRATE, AND CRIED, 'THE LORD – HE IS GOD! THE LORD – HE IS GOD!'" [Plasma fire] [Shotgun fire]
Man 6: [Distant shouting] Fuck! Fuck! Just fucking run! How can he move that fast?! [Shotgun fire] [Screaming]
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] "THEN ELIJAH COMMANDED THEM, 'SEIZE THE PROPHETS OF BAAL.'" [Plasma rifle priming] "'DON'T LET ANYONE GET AWAY!'" [Plasma fire] [Screaming] [Sloshing liquid]
Man 7: [Shouting] Holy shit! He melted Quinn's face off! [Plasma fire] [Screaming]
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] "THEY SEIZED THEM, AND ELIJAH HAD THEM BROUGHT DOWN TO THE KISHON VALLEY AND SLAUGHTERED THERE!"
Man 7: [Shouting] OH PLEASE NO! [Plasma fire] [Screaming]
Lone Wanderer: [Shouting] IS ANYONE HERE GETTING THE METAPHOR?! OR AM I BEING TOO SUBTLE FOR YOU?! [Multiple explosions] [Submachine gun fire] [Shotgun fire] CLEARLY I AM! LET'S TRY SOMETHING LOUDER! [Distant screaming] DON'T THINK YOU CAN FUCKING RUN! CHARON! GET ME SOMETHING WITH A SCOPE!
Day 48 Part 3: Not Insane.
I've never heard an audio recording of me in combat before. I didn't realise I yelled Bible quotes when fighting, but Charon says I do it all the time. That's worrying; I didn't even know that I'd memorised the Bible.
Well, whatevs. After my last audio entry, we raided SatCom. Constantine too. I'll skip ahead and reveal the answer to the burning question right now. Crowley wanted a set of power armour being kept here in the fort. It's of a more advanced model than the kind that the Brotherhood or the Outcasts use. It's actually a non-winter version of the armour I wear. Imagine that.
So, what does this mean for Crowley? Well, means he's fucking dead, for a start. He wanted me to kill that Strayer kid so he could have some shiny new armour? Fuck that. He's getting bitch-slapped hard for this. Oh, and the reason he didn't want me to kill the woman who was on his team was because she was already dead and laying in the fort. Still had her key on her.
I've done a count-up of what we've gathered since the last time I checked our loot as well. I'll start off small. Stealth boys – two of them. Mini nukes – five in total. A Nuka-Cola Quantum. Two copies of Guns and Bullets, and one each of Duck and Cover!, Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual, Pugilism Illustrated, Nikola Tesla and You, the DC Journal of Internal Medicine, and the Big Book of Science. Three other pre-war books of no importance.
In terms of more important things, I got another new Grognak issue, and I think this is actually the last one in this series of Grognak, meaning I finally have a complete collection for my shelf in Megaton. Also of interest, another Fat Man to fire all the mini nukes with, yet another set of schematics for the shishkebab (which I want to take back to Megaton to compare against the others), and another bobblehead for my collection.
Lots of other strange shit happened around the fort while we were here, too. The fedora guy showed up yet again, and just like the last two times, I was the only one who spotted him. He killed a robot for me outside the fort itself.
And there was also an Outcast patrol just outside when we arrived. Since Charon was decked out in Outcast armour, though, and since I had my helmet on at the time and was wielding plasma weapons, they mistook us for Outcasts too, though they weren't quite sure what to make of the fact that my armour wasn't painted like theirs. From them, we asked about what was going on with the Outcasts. I tried to get information out of them, and see just how many of their number were left. One said that to his knowledge, there were three or four squads other than them in the Capital Wasteland, maximum. I said thank you and shot him in the gut, and then the rest.
And the last odd event of the day worth mentioning is that I located some ICBM launch codes while in Constantine. I tried to aim some missiles at China to see if I could finish the job this time and wipe out the Asian Wasteland, but alas, I don't think it worked, because it told me there was an error, and the security system spazzed out.
I kid, though. I've seen Earth from space, and there's nothing but a great big yellow splotch on the planet where China used to be. Or in other words - what Asian Wasteland?
Day 49: Chillin' Out.
Geez. Never thought I'd be able to say this, but today I just lounged around Fort Constantine and relaxed. Me and Charon took a break. We played some chess with a makeshift board and mock pieces. Baseball too. Played some catch with Dogmeat. Did some hunting in the area around the fort to get us something for dinner. Cooked us a brahmin steak. It was nice. I needed a quiet day, after everything. So much walking, and fighting, and looting, and... it just gets a little much sometimes, you know?
That's over now, though. Tomorrow, we need to leave here and get back to work. It's nice to have some leisure time, but too much of it, and you just get bored. I need something to keep myself busy. Something fun, though. I don't want another super serious operation. Fighting badly-armed raiders is just pointless slaughter with no challenge or reward. Super mutants are strong, but they're too dumb to be tough opponents. Robots I find no joy in destroying like flesh-and-blood creatures, and wild animals have the same issues as super mutants. I need to find the right balance of challenge and fun, carefree slaughter.
...Ah, what the hell? Let's wipe out Paradise Falls.
DannyJ
Not Sorry
- Location
- In your walls
Even the trash of people who've been dead for two hundred years.
In fact, especially those people.
It's a legacy feature from the 2000 models. You need to access the command console to activate it. The Wanderer was a Pip-Boy technician, so he knows these things.
I mean...
*vaguely gestures at the wasteland*
To be fair, he already had a lot of previous experience going into the job, what with having killed hundreds of people and all.
- Location
- The Internet?
Ha!
How
I mean, I'm an armchair general, and a keyboard warrior, so I must be twice the soldier he is!
I still have flashbacks whenever someone asks me what side of the Cola Wars I fought on...
And that, kids, is how I
She probably just likes her Gagh store-bought, like a lunatic.
At first, I was going to say that you've got a grammatical error, but then I figured it out, and it made me chortle. Well done.
Aww, he got to do a space walk, just like Revan in KOTOR 1!
"Door back to Earth Nun."
"Which one is that again?"
"The irradiated one, why do you ask?"
"Just curious, is it because-"
"Yep. Because 'nun' of 'em get to live a happy life."
"Back for just a second, don't mind me. 'Door to Alien Spacecraft.'"
"Did he just say an Alie-" "Yeah, we try not to think about it too much."
Man, Contessa's descendants have some odd priorities.
Do you mean the area of the ship is dedicated to bio-research, or the laboratory experiments? Probably not worth going through all the places it's posted, but saying 'through biological research wing...' or 'through biological research specimens...' might clarify it some. Again, probably not worth the trouble.
"An' alien homing beacon,' huh? I kinda want to call you out on it, but an upstanding guy like you wouldn't be trying to pad this project for more caps, would you?"
Awww, good for Somah, she didn't get shot in the face!
And earlier he'd been lamenting not getting to use his grenades on anyone.
Oh no. Anyway...
Well, I bet it's where the life is the loveliest?
Ought to be capitalized.
So he's a glorified caddy of carnage. Facilitator of fatality. Sherpa of swods and shells...
This gag's got almost as much legs as the pair must have, wandering the wastes like they do. I'm still enjoying it.
"I am sworn to carry your burdens." Really, Charon, you oughta read the fine print of your contract.
You can always switch to a better, mid-range weapon, y'know. It's not like the Wanderer doesn't have enough to share with the rest of the class.
Top 'What're you gonna do, shoot me?' Tier humor.
Reminds me of a Mass Effect fic I read, where Wrex and Liara were riding in an elevator with Shepard. Liara was talking about the top tier armor she'd bought to join Shepard's crew, so Wrex pulled out his pistol and shot her in the head. Sure enough, the armor was some good quality. Shepard was not amused.
Charon: I know, that's why I shot it.
We don't talk about
Oh, you poor idjit.
🤢 The flavor's kinda like pork, but the taste lingered long in the tooth? The taste varies from person to person?I'd complain too, if my employer fed me some Soylent Green.
Y'know, a lil' light genocide, just for funsies.
Rude. Like America's really doing much better.
Was Charon pitching or catching? 🤨
The baseball!😳🫣
How else do you think we got that expression? It's where all the best treasure is!