Alright, yeah. I think those fellas are fixing to shoot us. You say, mumbeling to yourself a bit.
How do you know? asks the kid. She seems really curious about it all.
Wanna give them the chance? Fuck 'em, we're out in the desert anyhow, nobody will miss them.Cold. I like it. Tenderloin laughs a little. It's a dark, soft little chuckle, the type you only hear as a prerequisite for some violence.
How do you wanna play this? I'll just, uh, steady my nerves a bit, and start taking them down. Time to see just how good this VATS stuff works. What's that?That fancy bracelet he's got lets him shoot better... What are we and the kid doing, meanwhile, or are we just sitting here with a thumb up our ass?Best if you didn't. I'll get into a good shooting position while you flank them. Kid? Remember that trick with the ashes? Just roll around a bit and keep low. They're not expecting to be ambushed.Right. I'll go the other way, got it kid? How good are you with that pistol?She had it less than a day. Try to stand out when you charge.I'll be really careful!You'd better. You and Tenderloin say, at the same time. You share a glance at eachother, while you pull out your dose of steady.
You don't pay too much attention to your two companions currently covering themselves in ash. You note both of them don't dig too deep, making sure to reach around. You probably should have told the kid to be careful with her ash-castles earlier, but she seems to get the point pretty well. Nothing to worry about! You just take a deep huff from your canister of steady, and it honestly feels like a you're remembering what its like to just live. How the hell do you survive this long without a hit? The worst one you had was about two weeks, and the way you solved that predicament was... unsavory. Well, anyhow, you feel like you could shoot the eye of a bloatfly at a hundred paces. As your companions sneak around, you activate VATS with a press of a button. After a short buzz, the pip-boy comes to life and shows you the figure you're aiming at. They look like they were scanned, and a green texture is over their "models". As you aim your pistol, you see percentages appear over different parts of the body, changing as you point your gun. Of course...
A .357 just can't hit anything at this range. The effective range of this thing isn't that great, even with your steady boost. There's wind to account for, and unrealistic bullet physics for the sake of challenge. However, the fact that you're still getting percentages seems to imply that your steady boost is really friggin' substantial. Still, you're not risking a 50% shot to hit their torso. Looks like you're coming closer as well. You cover youself in a thin layer of as, and crawl forward. You can see Tenderloin is already quite close, though it's about ten more meters before she can actually reach. The kid isn't nearly as fast, being around 20 meters away from these poor fools. Tenderloin might be more fleet-footed than she appears.
Considering you still need to sneak closer as well, you figure Blitz will figure it out by the time you're in range.
Sneak: 99. The dunes may appear barren and coverless, but you quickly figure out just where to crawl to get nice and close. Eventually, your pipboy claims to have a solid 95 percent chance to hit. You figure that's well within the acceptable ranges, and take a deep breath to make the killshot. With steady in your system, there's no reason not to go for headshots. It's not as if you'll miss. The Kid stands ready to fire, and Tenderloin is just waiting for a signal. You slowly pull the trigger, revelling at the sight of the hammer slamming forward. You swear you can see the little cube of acute lead poisoning fly, even if it was for just a fraction of a second. It enters the temple of the victim, and in your state of hightened awareness, you can see the skull crack and split as the pieces of brain matter go flying. His friend starts screaming, and quickly opens fire before he's even aiming. Blitz starts firing her own pistol, firing twice by the time you pulled back the hammer. She doesn't hit anything, mind you, and just as you're about to fire again, Tenderloin comes in from behind and slams her machete against the neck of the other man. He violently seizes up for a moment, bullets flying every which way from his submachinegun. All of those bullets just enter the ashes next to his foot, however, and the body goes completely limp when the machete is removed.
Blitz fired off yet more shots, and only her fourth and final shot actually hit the target. Poor show!
KID! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T FIRE! Tenderloin yells, though she isn't angry about it, or at least no more than if somebody bumped into her rather than risking to ventilate her body.
I-I'M SORRY! DID YOU GET HIT!?I'M STILL YELLIN', AREN'T I?You all come together around the corpses. Well, time for the ancient post-apocalyptic arts of free shit. You rub your hands with glee as you prepare to look through their pockets.
So, the guns were easy enough to figure out, obviously. Two submachine guns, though they use different calibres. The guy you personally perforated was the proud owner of a micro uzi. Chambered for millimeter, this gun can fire its entire magazine in the blink of an eye.
That's about the only thing it has going for it. This thing is too heavy for accurate bursts, and too light for a stream of bullets. Not to mention, you don't have nearly enough bullets to keep that thing supplied, even with all the rounds the guy had on him, you've only got about 65 9mm bullets. That's enough for three reloads at best. The magazine capacity isn't great for something that fires that fast. Really, it's probably best to keep the pistol going, even if it is kind of a cheap gun. But, at least you can sell this bangstick.
The second customer, however, had a much more interesting sub-machine gun, though he sadly pissed away his entire magazine in his panic/convulsions from having a machete rammed in its central nervous system. A 10mm submachine gun, a bit more complex than you're used to, the blocky design and plethora of rails make it a bit hard to carry. But the 10mm round allows for relatively high power and low recoil, allowing it to do its job properly. Still, the asshole only had one extra magazine in his pocket, so that's a shame.
Other than that, they don't have much. About fifty caps between them (56, to be exact) and a solid pair of boots that Tenderloin is quick to appropriate. You also steal the guy's shirt, which seems to be in a better condition than yours, blood stains not withstanding. The guys themselves certainly looked like raiders, though. Shitty hair, for one, a buzzcut and a mohawk, and the guy you shot in the noggin has a wide collection of scars. The other guy is nearly pristine, other than the large chunk missing from his neck. Otherwise, they're empty. Not a total waste, though, you got more bullets than you spent (though you aren't getting the .357 back) and some spending money. Not to mention Tenderloin looks real pleased about the boots.
Well, time to get the brahmin and keep moving.
The rest of the journey is uneventful, apart from a dead ghoul. Seems to have died of thirst, against the odds. Tenderloin still cuts the head off, just to make sure. You introduce the concept of a double tap to Blitz, in the meantime. The ghoul was naked, of course, nothing on him. When you arrive, you see that there's a guy waiting for you. Just in case, you keep your weapon handy.
Well, shit. Look what it is. You the guy Bartholomew wanted?Correct. Now, you wouldn't mind if I were to go ahead and check the merch, would you?The guy is as greasy as they come. He clearly tried to style a pompadour, but he doesn't have the hair or complexity for it. The guy's a ginger, for cryin' out loud. Best he could do was a sort of half-afro. You touch your own slab of virile beauty on the top of your head, once again thanking the lord for giving you such great hair, even if it seems to have cost you your height. He compensates with a tough-looking leather jacket, and some ripped jeans. It would probably work if he wasn't wearing fucking socks with sandals.
Fuck me, it's all there. You did good work, my man. BOYS! You look up, and notice a few others inside the cave. He didn't come alone. You can't see what they have in there, but you doubt they're holding thank you cards.
Now... You didn't happen to come across any trouble along the way, right? No raiders or people... following you?Why do you care?Oh, well, y'see, I sent two guys out a while ago, as scouts. To, uh, warn me if anything of interest came by. You might know them from their submachine guns... rare pieces of kit, y'know. I don't care if they died, but... well. Doesn't matter. Did you see those fellas?C-can we leave?Ohhh, I wasn't told you were bringin' a kid! Shit, Donovan will like her.He has a very greasy sort of laugh, the kind that's closer to a roar. You put the kid behind you as she starts clutching your shirt. Tenderloin is starting to bend forward a little, getting into a stance.
Oh, what!? Don't you know how lucrative of a business that can be!? Fuck it. I'll just take it myself!In a move that he probably thought was going to be really slick, he reveals a switchblade from his sleeve and rushes in to stab you. Of course, you were ready to shoot since he started talking, and you kind of have the upper hand in close quarters combat.
Her name is 12 gauge, and she is a mean bitch.
Gunfire bursts loose from the cave as the ginger idiot goes flying off, but it's inaccurate and only ends up hitting Bessie! The brahmin bellows in fear and alarm, but is soon cut down when a particularly lucky bullet hits it in the spine.
The upside is, you now have something resembling cover.
I won't be able to get close, toss me a gun!You are getting fired at from a cave about 20 meters away. You cannot see the attackers accurately, but the sheer volume of fire implies that there are at least four with guns. You are currently safe behind a slab of meat that you once called Bessie, but damn it all, this isn't good.
What do you do?
Pip-boy color changed! Would you like to keep this color?Statistics and inventory.Combat Stats
HP: 215/215
Limb health: No issues
Weapons: .357 revolver (6 shots remaining) (requires 0.3 second to fire, 0.7 to cock the hammer for the next shot) (reloading takes 0.7 seconds per bullet) (Can be "aimed" for a bonus to hit and allowing you to hit specific parts of the body) (Loses accuracy beyond 10 meters, by 5 percent per meter) (60 percent chance to hit, not modified for range) (does 36 damage)
Sawed-off 12gauge (2 shots, fully loaded.) (requires 0.2 seconds to fire) (Reloading takes 2,5 seconds) (Cannot be aimed with precision, but you can still get a bonus to hit if you take care to aim) (Loses DAMAGE, not chance to hit, beyond three meters. 10 dmg per meter) (Does 70 damage) (70 percent chance to hit
9mm Micro Uzi (20 shots, fully loaded) (fully automatic, fires at 10 rounds per second.) (reloading takes 3 seconds) (Cannot be aimed with precision, aiming bonus still applies) (a burst causes five rolls to be done for damage, with an accuracy debuff of 5 percent per shot) (effective range is 10 meters, loses acc by 5 percent per meter beyond that) (10 dmg per shot) (50 percent base chance to hit)
10mm submachine gun. (30 shots, empty magazine!) (fully automatic, fires at 15 rounds per second.)(reloading takes 4 seconds (Insufficient Guns skill!)) (can be aimed with precision) (burst causes 5 rolls to be done for damage, with an accuracy debuff of 2 percent per shot) (Effective range is 14 meters, loses acc by 5 percent per meter beyond that) (15 dmg per shot) (70 percent base chance to hit.)
Ammo:
5 .357 bullets
12 12-gauge shotgun shells
65 9mm bullets
30 10mm bullets
Inventory
Comfy Bloodstained Raider Rags (1 DT) (equipped) (Light armor)
Scrap armguard (1 DT) (low quality) (equipped)
Scrap Leg armor. (1 DT) (low quality) (equipped)
Eight Water bottles
1 Bread
Two stimpacks (Heal 30 HP)
Two units of Nuts and Bolts
Emergency Shank (unequipped, takes 0.3 seconds to take out. 0.5 seconds to stab something)
78 caps
S.P.E.C.I.A.L.
STRENGTH 7
PERCEPTION 5
ENDURANCE 6
CHARISMA 7
INTELLIGENCE 4
AGILITY 5
LUCK 6
Skills
Barter: 33
Energy Weapons: 15
Explosives: 15
Guns:35
Lockpick: 30
Medicine:13
Melee weapons: 19
Repair: 30
Science: 13
Sneak:35
Speech:21
Survival: 27
Unarmed: 19
Perks
Iron Stomach: Your extended life as an outcast left you with a strong stomach. Radiation and general filth does not affect you nearly as much
Weird Wasteland: Maybe it's that blow to the head, but things seem a little more loopy and funny. Some things seem to happen that shouldn't. Well, it's nothing bad, at least.
Cold as Ice: You're not exactly the pinnacle of romance, and why would you be? You easily see through people trying to manipulate you, but you suffer a -15 to all convincing checks.
Party membersTenderloin: Wields two machetes.
Heavy Machetes: Onehanded. Takes 0.2 seconds to swing from a readied position, almost a full second to swing again. Does 25 damage on a successful strike. Dual-wielding allows for attacks to be twice as fast, although the basic swing will not speed up.
Status: Healthy.
Blitz: wields 9mm pistol. Has 65 total bullets remaining. Magazine is 12 bullets. 13 with the chambered round.
9mm pistol (kind of alright) (12 bullets remaining) Requires 0.2 seconds to fire. (Reloading takes 1.5 seconds) (Can be aimed to a specific body part) (Loses accuracy beyond 12 meters) (70 percent chance to hit, not modified for range) (15 DMG) (Blitz' chance to hit is 60 percent)
Status: Healthy.
Quest logBrahmin Delivery:
Deliver the brahmin with chems to Broc Flower Cave.
Survive!
Addiction status: Ready for action! You get a 30 percent hit bonus!EXP 'till next Level-up: 40/400 (Armed opponent 20XP)
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