Let's Play Fallout! (Will Be Image Heavy)

[ChaosTheory]

Julia.

(Tony Stark . . . does he get an METAL HEAD BONUS?)

[Himura.Kenshin]

I change my vote to Jay .

[antisocialmunky]

Meh, I always play a science and small guns person. Its a little boring after a while.

I'll throw in for Julia though.

I'd rather see Anna play through as a 1 intellegence with unarmed and heavy weapons tagged or pure thief with lock pick + steal.

[Himura.Kenshin]

Meh, I always play a science and small guns person. Its a little boring after a while.

I'll throw in for Julia though.

I'd rather see Anna play through as a 1 intellegence with unarmed and heavy weapons tagged or pure thief with lock pick + steal.

Huh?

[antisocialmunky]

You know, you get 2 tagged skills - 3 with gifted I think - that increase at double the rate if I'm not mistaken.

[Arcalane]

I change my vote to Jay .

Too late. No vote changing.

[Anna]

You know, you get 2 tagged skills - 3 with gifted I think - that increase at double the rate if I'm not mistaken.

Actually, you get three tagged skills. And gifted doesn't allow you to tag a forth. And each character has three tagged skills. Tony has Small Guns, Bartering and Gambling, Alison has First Aid, Sneak and Speech, Jay Cobb has Small Guns, Unarmed and Melee, and Julia has Small Guns, Science and Outdoorsman.

Anyway, Julia's won the vote by a decent margin, and it seems no one wanted to vote for Tony or Alison. Heh. I'll be putting up the first post in a few hours, most likely.

[Anna]

I'm the last hope for Vault 13.

Or so they said, anyway. The Water Purification Chip is on the fritz and we're running dangerously low on drinking water. So who do they decide to send out to find a new one? Me, of course. Just my luck. Of all the people they could have sent out into the wasteland outside Vault 13, they just had to send me. I swear, if there is a God, he's been toying me from the moment I was born. It's okay though. I'm smart, and I'm probably the best choice for the job. If they'd sent out any of the other three candidates, we probably would've been screwed. If I know Tony, he probably would've stopped in the first shanty-town he happened to find -- assuming anything survives in this wasteland -- and started drinking and gambling. Alison likely would have gotten herself killed, silly girl. I don't even know why they considered sending her out. And Jay? Well, if they sent out Jay, he likely would've massacred everything and everyone he came across. Not the best image for Vault 13.

But I digress, I'm rambling a bit. I do that sometimes. Upon checking through my equipment, I find a knife, a Colt 6520 10mm pistol with 72 spare hollow point rounds, some medical equipment, some flares, a lockpick, a toolset, three bottles of water -- thank heavens the idiots remembered to get me some water -- and some... drugs? Well, I didn't intend to take any of those, unless I had to. I uh... I've had some bad experiences with addiction in the past.

So, here I am, outside Vault 13, in some sort of cave. I'm the first person to leave the vault in decades, and I can't help but feel a little nervous. I mean, there could be all sorts of things out there. Or more troubling, there could be very little out there. I don't think I'll last very long without food or water if humanity has been completely wiped out. But oh well. I suppose I'd better get moving.

Before setting off, I realise I could probably use a few more rations and some more water -- I had no idea how long I'd be gone, and starving to death or dying of dehydration out in the wasteland wasn't a thought that appealed to me -- I moved to the console next to the large vault door and input my my access code.

Those scheming sons of bitches! They revoked my access code. Oh well, now I guess the only option is to set out. I spot a corpse next to the door, wearing a tattered old Vault jumpsuit, the body barely consisting of more than bones. As much as it disgusted me, I searched the body, and found another knife, as well as two magazines of armor piercing rounds. They could come in handy.

Gun in hand I set out to find the exit of the cave, and with each footstep I took, I could swear I heard the rustling of something else moving through the caves, and low squeaking noises. I raised my gun slightly, and hefted up my knife in the other hand, eyes darting around the caves. I was starting to really wish they'd sent out Jay.

Jesus Tap-dancing Christ, it's a rat! Not just any old rat either, it's huge! Easily two feet long, with large gnashing teeth and big red eyes, nothing like the small, cute little things I used to run my experiments on. It bolts towards me, and I consider running, and then I have a brilliant idea. Knife in hand, I plunge it into the creature's chest a few times, wincing at the pained squeals it emits until finally I hit something vital and it rolls over, dead. Then, glancing around, I kneel down and begin carving it up, noting its mutated biology with some interest while cutting away large chunks of meat that I could store for later use. I'd need to dry them out soon, so they would keep, but that could wait until after I got out of this cave.

After that, I made a bolt for the cave entrance, and it seems I picked up a few more rats on my trail. I didn't really have time for them, though, and had no need to carry around more fresh, stinking mutant-rat meat. I dashed past them and kept running with long strides, and fortunately I easily lost them by the time I reached the exit of the cave.

I looked up, wincing as the brightness of the great glowing ball in the sky -- the Sun, they call it -- burned my eyes, even through the protective goggles I was wearing. It was a desert out here, but if those rats were any indication, things had survived the nuclear holocaust that had engulfed the planet more than a generation ago. At this point, I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I pull out my PipBoy and look at my electronic map, setting off to the East towards Vault 15, in search of another Water Chip. Knowing my shitty luck, there won't be one there.

Oh well, there's only one way to find out. Let's go.

[Another update will likely be up in a few hours. Feedback is appreciated.

[Lizzie]

So how are you supposed to get back with the water purifier exactly.

[Danny420Dale]

First priority: find a rifle.

[Anna]

After five days of travel I was starting to get tired. I was trudging along on foot, through the barren wasteland, with only three flasks of water, a few trail rations, and the dried rat meat I'd gathered earlier in the cave. Suffice to say, after the first few days, my food became problematic. So when I stumbled across a small town called Shady Sands at roughly 3am, you can be damn certain I was relieved. My stomach was empty, my throat was parched, and I think I was starting to hear voices. One of them kept saying "get a rifle, get a rifle". I'm not sure if I should be worried.

This is Shady Sands, population: tiny. But it was nice to finally be able to meet new people. Speaking of which, there were two people -- and a strange four legged animal that I believe is called a "dog" -- waiting at the gate. That's odd. Just standing around at three in the morning. But then, I'd been walking pretty much constantly for the last five days, so I can't really call them odd for just... standing.

I moved to speak to the man at the gate, and he introduced himself as Seth, the leader of the town guard. That would explain the standing.

"Pleased to meet you, Seth. I'm Julia." I greeted him as warmly as a could, though I imagine my voice sounded rather hoarse at the time, "What can you tell me about this place?"

He cleared his throat and put on a friendly smile, "Shady Sands is a peaceful community. We have our own irrigation system, so we can grow our own food. If we were not plagued with raiders and Radscorpians. We'd have no problems."

Raiders weren't anything interesting to me, I'd been prepared from the start that if I encountered any living humans out here in the wasteland, that many of them would be thieves, brigands and murderers. But Radscorpions, now those sounded intriguing. I made a show of casually brushing my hand over the hilt of my gun, smiling and stepping closer. I'd watched that daft girl Alison do it enough times to have a vague idea of how to pull off that "sweet and innocent and naive" attitude, that all the men seemed so interested in.

"So, Radscorpions, huh? They sound dangerous. What can you tell me about them?"

"Those damn Radscorpions have been after our Brahmin since we moved here. Not a week goes by that someone doesn't get poisoned trying to keep them out of the pens." He frowned, raising a hand to scratch at his beard, "Last week they took my brother Jarvis. Razlo, our doctor, is looking for an antidote as quickly as he can. Hey, if you have the means to help us, why don't you talk to our leader, Aradesh."

So many questions. He didn't exactly tell me what the Radscorpions were, and then there were these "Brahmin" he mentioned. Probably some sort of cattle. Regardless, I was in no position to hunt down these Radscorpions just yet. I only had a pistol and a knife, and I was starting to suffer from dehydration, not to mention a minor rash that Seth told me was called "sunburn". Makes sense, I suppose. Anyway, I needed to stock up on water and food here, while I could. But first...

"Okay, what about those raiders?" I asked, resisting the urge to scratch at my sunburned face.

I nodded my head and said goodbye to Seth, turning to leave before he grabbed my elbow, leaning in to whisper into my ear.

"You should speak to Aradesh, our leader. He likes to meet all of our visitors. He should be in our Town Hall, the building to the south."

"All right, I'll do that." I replied, frowning a little and yanking my elbow free. Filthy ruffian needs to learn how to treat a lady.

I figured I should go in search of this "Aradesh" before getting food and water -- hell, maybe he could supply me with some -- especially since he may have information regarding Vault 15 or a Water Chip. I made my way down the streets, glancing left and right, taking in the sights of the town. It was a simple enough place, but it had a certain rustic charm, especially when compared to the narrow, sterile corridors of Vault 13. At the southern-most end of the town I found a large building that I could only assume was the Town Hall that Seth had refered to. Stepping inside, I noticed some tables and chairs, as well as some fairly flimsy looking walls seperating different "rooms" from each other. Aradesh was easy to spot; a well tanned man with short hair and an important looking robe. I approached him casually, offering him a friendly smile.

"Greetings." He said in a voice that seemed to hold little cheer, "Your business in Shady Sands might be?"

I briefly considered lying, then decided against it, raising a hand to brush my long and rather dirty black hair from my face and letting out a sigh, "I'm Julia. Nice of you to ask. You're Aradesh, I assume? I'm from a Vault to the west. My people are dying from thirst, and I need to find a water purifier chip for them to survive."

My, that was so very helpful of him. I was half tempted to introduce his face to my knuckles, but no, that wouldn't be such a great idea. Not the fastest way to make friends, but then again, I never was very good at that anyway. I scuffed my shoe on the dirty floor, glancing up at him and taking a moment to evaluate him. I had no doubt my every action in Shady Sands would be watched by his guards, but then, I didn't really plan on doing anything too incriminating, so that's not too much of a concern. While I was here, though, perhaps I could get some information.

"Could I ask you a few questions?"

"Certainly." He stated in that dull, monotonous tone of his, "What do you wish to know?"

I thought for a moment, before asking "Are there any other towns around here?"

"Junktown lies south of here," He replied, "Though there is little in the way of visitation. From stories, I'm certain there are cities south of that."

I nodded, "Okay. What about Shady Sands? I hear that you've been having some trouble with raiders and... um... Radscorpions?"

His eyes went wide at the mention of those, "Oh my yes! Great packs of Rad Scorpions are killing our herds. We don't know where they're from, and no matter how many we kill, there's always more!"

I nodded, pulling out my PipBoy and taking some notes, "Go on."

"And now the monsters are attacking my people! Razlo is trying to find a cure for their poison, but I'm not sure how it goes." When it came to the subject of those creatures, Aradesh seemed to get quite upset.

Considering my options for a moment, I bit my lower lip. These Radscorpion creatures certainly sounded like they would be interesting to study, but on the other hand, combat isn't really something I specialised in, and it would likely take me out of my way. I really needed to get to Vault 15 and find that Water Chip. Then again, maybe I could use this to my advantage.

"I can help you." I said, and as he was about to reply, I added, "For a price, of course."

His features hardened, "As Dharma said, 'Those who tend their own flock, know the shepherd.'"

What was that even supposed to mean, anyway?

"I know it's hard for you to trust, but I would like to help," was the best response I could think of. It was true, I did want to help. If it helped me.

His firm expression suddenly disappeared as he broke into a fit of babbling, "Ummm, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes! Please talk to Razlo. He possesses more information on these creatures than I."

I told him I would, and asked him whether I'd be able to acquire some food and water while I was here. He informed me that the cook in the back would be more than happy to offer me some food. So I went into the back room and was offered a large bowl of some strange smelling -- and even stranger looking -- stew of some variety, but I eagerly wolfed it down, and it was surprisingly quite tasty, with juicy fresh Brahmin meat. While I was eating, she informed me that Brahmin were a type of two-headed cattle. Well, that's most interesting. One thing's for sure, fresh two-headed cow tastes much better than the dried and salted meat of the one-headed variety, which we had eaten in the Vault. I borrowed a bed in the back of the Town Hall and napped there until morning, glad to finally have somewhere soft to rest, then I set about my day.

The voices in my head hadn't gone away though. How odd. Maybe I'd suffered "heat-stroke". One of them kept insisting to get a rifle, and at this point I was most inclined to agree. But first, what should I do? I could help these people with their Radscorpion problem, and perhaps even with the raiders, but that could be more trouble than its worth. Or I could head to Junktown to the south... which would definately be going out of my way. If I do leave to somewhere else, it should probably be to Vault 15, further to the east, but I don't know. Maybe the voices in my head will have something to say on the matter.

For now, I stand in the middle of town, thinking and drinking down some fresh, cool water, and hoping I don't get poisoned by it.

[osilus]

Go after the raiders, they might have useful supplies.

Edit: and get a rifle.

[BlkRdgPharmPRSTAFF]

Get a BIG GUN.

[Master Chief]

Get a rifle!

Oh and talk to Razlo. I want Julia to learn about how to own the Radscorpions, whatever they are. They sound surprisingly dangerous.

[Atrum]

Get a rifle and help the people, you know you want to, you KNOW you want to.