My very first solo rpg: Fallout Wasteland Wanderer. Let me know how it reads! Thanks! (NSFW for language only)
Part 1: Finding Joy in My Life Again (Round 1)
*beeeeeep* You have been given permission to hear the last series of audio logs on this Pip-Boy. These have been collated by the previous user and account for the entirety of the data left on this device. Recordings begin after the beep. *beeeeeep*
Date Recorded: 22:43, May 11^(th), 2254
A long, drawn-out sigh ends in a hitch.
Well, that’s the end of that. I cannot deny my involvement any more than I can take back what happened to them all. It shouldn’t have done…I couldn’t even…what was I supposed to do?
Sobbing can be heard.
As I watched, my entire community – my family, my friends, my fellow blood worshippers, all of them – died right before my eyes. I couldn’t fathom it. I can’t fathom it. It’s just too much.
I’m still in shock – I think I need to just sit down for a while. I’ll…I’ll be back.
Date Recorded: 06:27, May 12^(th), 2254
The sound of a chair being dragged backwards screeches through the recording.
I went back. I couldn’t stop myself. Some part of me had to know for sure that they were all gone. That…none of them had somehow survived.
Silence, followed by nervous coughing.
They were…they were still there. In the same positions that I’d left them in.
A nervous chuckle.
That’s good, at least. Means none of them got up and moved, you know…after the fact.
Silence.
I’ve decided to leave. There’s nothing here for me anymore. With the reactor vented and slowly winding down and the people…well, the people…
Silence.
Suffice it to say that there’s no life in this vault anymore. I need to pack some things and see if I can go find that Follower’s settlemen…wait, what’s…?
An alarm can be heard beginning to go off in the background.
Oh…oh, shit that’s…that’s bad. That’s so bad. I have to…I can’t stay here anymore. I have to go now!
The sound of a chair falling over and running footsteps can be heard as the recording ends.
Date Recorded: 07:03, May 12^(th), 2254
The scraping sound of rock on rock and panting.
What the fuck. What the actual fucking fuck, Dad? What the shit was that crap I saw on your terminal? What the fuck is going on? What fucking experiment, Dad?! What the fuck does “Vault 42 experiment failed” even mean? And what the fuck results got sent to Vault-Tec HQ?
WHAT THE FUCK IS VAULT-TEC HQ, DAD?!
Sound of a rock smashing.
Oh, god…you’re not even here to answer these questions. You’re back there, sealed in that room with everyone else.
Fuck…
I…can never go home again. My home is now an irradiated tomb sealed behind a 2 ton buttplug. That alarm was the radiation warning. The engineering level wasn’t fully sealed and it began leaking. Kinda fucked-up funny when you think about it. What happened to everyone else almost happened to me, except this time it wasn’t my fault. Falon didn’t seal the doors correctly for the sacrifice and now the whole damned vault is filled.
I mean, it’s not like I was gonna stay there anyways.
I barely had time to run to Dad’s office for his laser pistol and grab some food before I had to skedaddle. When I was searching through his desk, Dad’s terminal lit up and some text started scrolling. Apparently, we were all part of some kind of experiment? Did Dad even know?
I fucking can’t with this, right now. I…I need to keep moving. Find the Followers. They can help.
Date Recorded: 13:52, May 12^(th), 2254
Sounds of pained breathing and slow steps.
Merciful Kleeborg, it’s hot. It’s been most of the day and half my food is gone and BOY am I not used to walking this much. Whewwwww, I feel like I’m gonna throw up. I need a sec…
Heavy breathing is heard.
That Followers’ settlement should be close but I really have no idea. I’ve been out of the vault before but never actually left the area just outside the entrance. I have no idea what I’m doing right now. I don’t even know what I could do right now except this.
Fuck, gimme a sec…
Hard retching is heard followed by the sound of a canteen being used.
Blech, this sucks! This sucks so hard! The outside world is awful…I hate this place so much.
I’m just gonna sit here for a minute, catch my breath.
I saw…something…earlier. It was huge and brown and lumbering. I hid behind a rock as it passed. I am not cut out for this surface world, I think. I have no plan except to look for help and I barely know how to do that and there are monsters up here and the bright thing in the sky is literally killing me right now and…oh. What’s that? Something just started reflecting in the distance. Is that the Followers? Oh, Kleeb, I hope so.
Alright, one more minute of sitting and then I’ll go…
Date Recorded: 14:34, May 12^(th), 2254
I think this is it. There’s no signs anywhere but it must be the place. I see people with weapons standing on stacks of metal, behind a metal fence that stretches both ways. They don’t look nice…not exactly mean but certainly not friendly. I watched a caravan rolling away to the east as I approached, though, so they can’t all that bad.
I guess I’ll just have to introduce myself and see if they can help. If it is the Followers they should be willing to at least give me some water…I hope.
Sounds of distant yelling are heard.
What? No, I’m here looking for help! Can I enter, please? I’m barely armed and I just need some inf…
More yelling, but closer this time, still indistinguishable.
You won’t? Not even give me some water? Look, I don’t know what’s happening but I’m from Vault 42 to the south of here and…
The voice is closer now but is still hard to hear.
No! I’m not a rabid cultist and I’m not here to kidnap anyone, I just need hel…woah, woah, woah, put the gun down! There’s no need for that! Look, my hands are up, you can’t just shoo…
There is a gunshot and a cry as the recording ends.
Date Recorded: 15:44, May 12^(th), 2254
Well…that fucking sucked. Seems to be a day for firsts. First time I’ve ever killed anyone, first time I’ve ever truly left the safety of my vault and the first time I’ve been shot.
Sharp hiss as if through clenched teeth.
Yeah, that’s gonna hurt for a bit. That fucker got me in the shoulder; gonna be babying this arm for a couple days. Pretty sure they would have killed me if it hadn’t been for Joy.
So, here I am, sitting on a bench in the shade while the people of this settlement stare at me like I’m some kind of monster.
Heh. Probably doesn’t help I look like I’m talking to myself.
Voice raised.
It’s a Pip-Boy! I’m from a vault! I’m not crazy! Jeez…
Voice lowered.
Joy is inside this shop I’m sitting in front of, getting some supplies for me. She’s just like I remember her, when she and some of the Followers came to the vault to trade with us. Dad brought me up there to meet the strangers from outside and she was one of the guards. She looked so pretty and cool with her armor and the way she carried herself…
I wish I could be as cool as her…
Thank Kleeb she remembered me. She stopped the gate guards from filling me with bullets and had them bring me in. I get the distinct impression that I’m not well-liked around here. Apparently, they think the scary people from Vault 42 are blood-drinking monsters who come at night to steal away their people…
Guess it doesn’t help I’m dressed all in dark clothes…
Oh, here comes Joy, now. I’ll talk later, Dad.
Date Recorded: 18:02, May 12^(th), 2254
Wow, okay. I can’t even process this. Things are moving so fucking fast. Just last night I was party to the death of my entire vault, and now I’m, what? Infiltrating a fucking compound full of xenophobic gun nuts?
Sound of fingers running through hair and an exasperated sigh.
Blehhhhhhhh…
Okay. Okay.
Okay.
Here it is.
Joy says she thinks Samsa, the leader of the Followers – by the way, did I mention that this IS the Followers’ settlement? – she thinks Samsa will be able to help point me in the right direction to track down whatever this Vault-Tec HQ is. I’ve been thinking about it a little bit and clearly it has something to do with the Vault we lived in – duh – but it’s the first time I ever saw that name specifically.
Anyways, these people think I’m a dangerous lunatic and the only thing keeping them from kicking me out is Joy. Thank fuck for Joy. She just has a way about her, like she can make the sun rise with just a smile and scare off the baddest monster with just a scowl…fuck, she’s cool…
ANYWAYS…Joy says I can help out the town and change the way they see me, if I help her with a problem she’s having. I don’t know, it all seems…too much, too fast. But where else am I going to find help? I don’t know this world; it’s not mine. I’m directionless, I have no home, no one to help me except Joy…
If she can’t help me, no one can.
Long sigh.
Joy said that her people, The Followers of the Apocalypse (and they’re calling ME a lunatic when they have a name like that…okay)
Audible eyeroll.
…the Followers have need of some supplies that may or may not be in the basement of a hospital some distance from here. And, apparently, some faction from the south called the NCR have a loose hold over that area, but Joy says they aren’t capable enough to wipe their own asses, let alone efficiently run a government that will actually help people with those supplies, so she wants to see that stuff in the hands of the Followers, who can do good with them.
Thing is, the hospital storage is in the basement, behind a locked door that the NCR can’t past because they don’t have the key. But guess who does have the key? Drumroll, please…
Sound of hands slapping thighs.
Some close-ranked group of people that, according to Joy, “couldn’t find their way out of a wet paper bag if there wasn’t some technology they wanted to keep away from folk what can actually use it, fuckin’ assholes”. She called them the Brotherhood and apparently, they’re just the worst. She says they horde helpful technology to prevent the human race from making the mistakes of the past, which honestly doesn’t sound bad to me; I mean, the whole point of our yearly sacrifice was to keep the blood prince of the 5^(th) Realm sated and stop it from entering this reality and triggering the Second Apocalypse, so I can understand where they’re coming from.
But Joy…sheesh, she has some deep hatred for them that I don’t understand.
Deep breath.
So, the Brotherhood have something in their possession that can open that locked door, but they don’t realize what they have yet. They just moved into the neighborhood, Joy said, not too long ago and set up their base somewhere south in an old factory. They’re still getting their feet under themselves, but it won’t be long before they find out what’s down there and move to take the hospital.
And Joy says they won’t be nice about it.
She said that a commune of farmers lives in the area around the hospital and those people will be forced out or killed when the Brotherhood move in, and they don’t always care which it is.
Oh…she’s right. They do sound like fucking assholes.
At least in the vault we never killed anyone but the willing to stop the end of the world, right, Dad?
Tomorrow, I have to travel south and somehow get this item that can unlock the door without the Brotherhood realizing its potential, then make my way to the hospital and give it to Joy. THEN, I need to somehow distract the NCR while her team moves in and grabs the stuff.
Simple, she said.
How am I supposed to steal from some gun-loving xenophobes and then distract a standing army, even if it is a small one? I said.
She grabbed my shoulder, looked me in the eye and said, “You’ll figure it out, Scritch. You’re smarter than you give yourself credit.”
…she thinks I’m smart.
Oh, man, I’m melting right now thinking about that.
She also gave me a card that apparently has Brotherhood credentials on it and a piece of technology that she says is worthless but should keep them distracted for a time. I asked her where she got them but she wouldn’t say. Said it’s better I not know for now.
So…I don’t know. Maybe I have a chance?
It’s just…so much. Can I even do this? Should I do this? Just yesterday all my friends and family were happy and excited, readying for the ceremony, and now…I’m alone.
If I don’t do this, I’ll have nothing.
Okay, well…talk to you in the morning, Dad.
I love you.
I miss you.