PowerArmorGuy
patreon
Fallout Wastelander - Chapter 58: The Tunneling Begins
🕑 Added 2024-10-29 22:07:23 +0000 UTCAfter traveling through the halls for some time, we at long last came across another door, which Michael opened upon us arriving in front of it. The second he activated the blast door, it quickly opened up and slid into its recess in the floor, presenting us with Michael's and his group's living space as well as a bunch of ghoul residents that were instantly frightened upon seeing us following right behind him.
"M-Michael, who are these people you brought?" A male ghoul asked in a frightened tone, obviously misunderstanding the situation.
"These people here have a proposition they wish to present to us, one that I've already taken the liberty to accept myself regardless of what you guys decide to do. That being said, I would highly recommend you guys do so as well, because your lives will improve drastically if you agree to the terms." Michael answered whilst attempting to calm them down from us barging into their home unannounced.
From there, we calmed them down and explained the situation in extensive detail, including who we are and what kind of deal I had for them. Which they accepted relatively easily once they found out that we weren't a bunch of bigoted wastelanders like many were out in the wastes. The food I handed each of the four ghouls also helped win them over, since it was the best thing they'd eaten in a very long, long time.
"So with all of that cleared up and our introductions out of the way, can you guys introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about each of yourselves?" I asked the four ghouls that were part of Michael's group.
"Doesn't look like my friends here want to start so I'll go first. The names Roy Rodney Phillips and I used to be a cop before the bombs, but that was a long time ago, as you very well know." Roy piped up after none of the other ghouls said anything for a couple of seconds.
"As for what I am now, I was leading this group here and just trying to get by, just like most others nowadays. But since you'll be the boss from now, you get to be the lucky bastard that gets to carry that burden now, haha." He continued jokingly, with a hint of relief in his raspy ghoul voice.
The minute Roy was done introducing himself, the female ghoul standing directly to his right began somewhat timid initially. "M-my name is Bessie Carol Lynn and I am Roy's girlfriend and I was participating in beauty pageants as a hobby and going to school for pharmacology. Sadly, I didn't get that far into it, so I didn't really learn all that much."
Following Bessie's introduction, the next ghoul started speaking in the signature rough voice, ghouls were known for, although higher pitched than a male ghoul's voice. "I guess it's my turn to introduce myself. My name is Romona Dana Clayman, and I was working as an accountant prior to everything falling apart."
After Romona's brief and to the point introduction was over with, the last ghoul began. "My name is Hector Dennis Hughes, and I was a handyman for a number of years before I landed a job at General Atomic doing similar work fixing simple problems that would occasionally come up in the factory I was working at."
I spoke with them for a short while and eventually decided to get a move on. "Again, it's nice to meet you all and I'm glad that you all decided to join our small but growing group."
"Alright, now that everyone introduced themselves and knows a bit about each other, let's get a move and head back home and get you guys situated there." I told them before the ghouls began to gather a few of their things that were important to them.
...
When they were finished gathering up their belongings, I led the way and backtracked the way we came from originally. However, before we set out, I sent a signal with Mechu-deru to my robots back at base to begin setting up rooms for our new incoming residents. And while I was at it, I had my larger robots that couldn't pass through the metro corridor begin moving to the Warrington Station entrance to meet us there.
A short walk through the crumbling metro tunnels later, we arrived back at the train platform. And the moment we did, we ascended up the escalators to the level above and began making our way to the exit to meet up with my larger robots. Not long thereafter, I arrived in front of the locked gate that was blocking access to and from the Warrington Station. Needing it removed so we could proceed, I walked up to it and used my lockpicking ability on it, undoing the lock the next second, before any of my newly recruited ghouls could offer up assistance.
The instant the gate unlocked, I noticed with my perception field that ghouls behind were all wearing surprised expressions. Seeing their curiosity, I went ahead and got my ability story out of the way and explained to them that I was one of those so-called gifted individuals and or a mutant and had a host of abilities which put me in a league of my own.
They seemed satisfied with that explanation for now and didn't ask me to go into any specific detail regarding what I could do, not that I would have told them anyway since they didn't need to know. With the gate unlocked and no longer impeding us, the whole lot of us stepped forward and passed through the opening. We then met up with my robots that were patiently waiting for us, but not before I had one of the ghouls lock the gate behind us with the key they had on hand.
Ready to depart, I had the ghouls pile into Hauler's cabin, and as soon as they were all aboard our increasingly larger convoy, we began our return trip home. Several minutes into our journey, we once more came into the vicinity of Tenpenny Tower, so not wanting to get shot in the head by the old geezer unexpectedly, I looked up at the penthouse balcony.
Looks like the old coot is still up there having his fun at the rest of the wasteland's expense.
Seeing Allistair Tenpenny still up there but looking at something in the distance further south, I kept trudging along till I moved my vision to where he was looking. Once I looked to the south as well, I saw a wandering Super Mutant Behemoth about several thousand meters out from where we were currently heading westward.
Holy fuck, that's one hell of a monster.
As we continued proceeding down the road, I continued observing the Super Mutant Behemoth and studying it from afar. No more than a moment later of studying the behemoth, I estimated that the monstrous mutated human stood at a height of about 14 meters, give or take a foot. Which was a whopping 5 meters larger than what they were supposed to be.
Besides its abnormal height, the mutated creature appeared to be armored up somewhat with large pieces of metal scrap wrapped around various parts of its body. It was also armed with a large spiked club that was even larger than the standard ripped-out-of-the-ground fire hydrants that the normal run-of-the-mill Supermutant Behemoths were seen within the Fallout games.
Thankfully, that big fucker isn't coming our way, otherwise I would've had my group start hauling ass back home as fast as possible so we could avoid getting caught up in having to take it out. I'll for sure be getting to work on making those new weapons I've been thinking about lately as soon as possible. There's no way my 50 cal is going to cut it against a beast of that size and proportions.
With a gargantuan-sized Super Mutant Behemoth roaming to the south, we picked up our pace and continued on our way home. Traveling along the cracked and disintegrating asphalt for a good bit, my group and I eventually reached our destination finally. The moment we entered the parking lot, I had us circle around back to the rear of our fortified base of operations, where I had the massive blast door open and ready for us to head on in.
Following everyone making their way inside, the new members of our small group hopped on out of Hauler's cabin and began taking in the sights and looking around in awe at the many robots busily scurrying about the loading area working on their individual tasks.
Letting them view the going ons of my operation for a little bit, I acquired their attention. "Well, we made it safely, everyone."
"Let me show you to your rooms and when you're all done dropping your stuff in your personal spaces, we'll head to the dining area to get you guys fed and hydrated." I told them upon gaining their attention.
Following that, we headed upstairs to the third floor, where we showed them their living quarters that were currently being renovated by my robotic workforce. When they were finished being shocked at what was provided to them and dropping off their stuff in their rooms, we mosied on downstairs to the dining area and met up with the other two Hill brothers that were currently taking their lunch break.
...
Half an hour later, we finished eating our fill, so I had Amata show them around the place and get them situated.
Whilst my companion was busy taking care of that, I went back downstairs with Don and loaded up several Gatling Laser Turrets to install at the metro, a number of armored plates to block off the Warrington Station entrance until we could get a proper blast door installed, and a large number of metal supports to hold up the collapsed sections of the tunnel when we get to clearing the blockages.
When we had all of the stuff we needed to secure and lock down both the metro station and the trainyard materials to keep the tunnels from caving in on us once we unblock them, I added several more robots to our convoy and headed on back out into the wasteland with Don and the robots right behind me intent on clearing out the rest of the metro.
As we were traveling back to the Warrington Trainyard, I dropped off a number of robots at the Warrington Station to start blocking it off from the inside. With some of my forces handling that job, we continued on to the railyard and the very instant Don and I arrived back at the Warrington Trainyard; I led us into the metro tunnels via the small door we had passed through previously. Swiftly passing through the corridor, I exited it, located the switch for the large tunnel gates, and activated it.
Kshnk...Grrnd-
Listening to the sound of the metal gates screech for several seconds, they each came to a halt. After they each settled into position, I had several of my robots begin installing turrets and other defenses while Don, I, and a bunch of my robots proceeded further inside to explore and clear out the remaining areas we hadn't yet explored.
...
A couple of hours quickly passed by as Don, my robots, and I cleared out the entirety of the metro that was accessible to us. And when we had finally concluded our exploration of its many branching tunnels my robots and I had managed to take out an additional 292 Feral Ghouls, 53 Feral Ghoul Roamers, 14 Feral Ghoul Reavers, 3 Glowing Ones, 3 Giant Radroaches, 27 Giant Rats, and 37 Radroaches in our clearing.
While Don, on the other hand, racked up a kill count of 42 various feral ghoul types that I, unfortunately, didn't earn any exp from, sadly. Despite missing out on that bit of exp, I couldn't care less since I had earned more than plenty at the end of the day.
"Now that we've explored and cleared out all of the accessible areas, let's go unblock and explore the tunnel that heads northeast." I said.
"Is there any particular reason we're hitting that tunnel first?"
"It's the tunnel that will most likely pass by my facility, hence why we'll be unblocking that one first."
"Mm, that does make sense." Don commented lastly.
...
The next several hours were spent with us clearing one blockage after another, exploring and killing off swarms of feral ghouls. At the end of all of it, my mechanical forces and I had slaughtered 409 Feral Ghouls, 78 roamers, 16 reavers, and 8 Glowing Ones. In addition to the massive exp my robots and I harvested, we managed to clear all the way up to right under the main intersection, the one located directly to the right of the VAPL-84 Power Station.
"I think that's it for today, Don. Let's head back and get some grub because I'm starving." I told my military ghoul friend, Don.
"Ready when you are, boss man. I can't wait to get some chow."
Done clearing the metro tunnels, I had the robots I brought along for the tunneling begin working on opening a path in the direction of my home. Whilst part of my workers were now busy doing that, I had the robots that were finished blocking off the Warrington Station entrance move out to assist in the tunneling effort.
Having assigned the last of my robots their jobs, Don and I began heading back the way we came through the still dark metro tunnels. On our way back, we passed by numerous metal support beams that had been installed by my forces as we were clearing the collapsed section of the tunnels. No More than ten minutes later we found ourselves back at the trainyard, thus I gathered up the troops that didn't need to stay and traveled back home, leaving behind a couple of Sentry Bots and Assaultrons to keep the place secured.
Speeding along, we cut the trip time down by at least 20% and as soon as we arrived back at home, the two of us went straight to our respective rooms and unequipped our gear. We then met back up with everyone and enjoyed a group dinner with everyone, including our new Ghoul friends.
After eating and chatting for quite a long time, we wrapped it up and proceeded downstairs to relax and unwind with some games. Around the one-hour mark, everyone called it quits for the day and headed to their rooms upstairs to hit the hay.
As I headed up with Amata, latching herself onto my arm, I utilized Mechu-deru and took control over the robots and turrets that were manufactured during the day. When the elevator reached the desired floor and the doors opened up, we walked to our room hand in hand, got cleaned up, and hit the sack for some much-needed sleep.
| New Loot |
Aid: 3 Big Books of Science, 13 Bottles of Buffout, 1 Chinese Army: Special Ops Training Manual, 1 D.C. Journal of Internal Medicine, 5 Dean's Electronics, 1 Grognak the Barbarian, 3 Guns and Bullets, 25 Med-x Syringes, 7 Mentat Boxes, 1 Nikola Tesla and You, 5 Psycho Syringes, 2 Pugilism Illustrated, 39 Bags of RadAway, 1 Scout Handbook, 149 Stimpaks, 1 Tumblers Today
Ammo: 105 .32 Rounds, 169 10mm Rounds, 365 12 Gauge Shotgun Shells, 1,287 5.56 rounds, 1 Mini Nuke, 159 Small Energy Cells
Apparel: 1 Chinese Stealth Suit, 5 Light Combat Armor Sets, 5 Radiation Suits
Miscellaneous: 3 Stealth Boys, 109 Duct Tape, 896 Scrap Electronics, 156,852 Metal, 232 Wonderglue, 318,952 Other Misc Items
Money: 2,187 Bottle Caps
Weapons: 16 .32 Revolvers, 3 AEP7 Laser Pistols, 12 CA12 Combat Shotguns, 1 Chinese Officer Sword, 27 Combat Knives, 27 Frag Grenades, 40 Frag Mines, 5 N99 10mm Pistols, 10 Pulse Grenades, 5 R91 Assault Rifles, 2 Sawed Off Double Barreled Shotgun, 1 Type 93 Chinese Assault Rifle
Weapon Magazines: 27 12 Round CA12 Combat Shotgun Drum Magazines, 12 N99 10mm Pistol 12 Round Magazines, 29 30 Round R91 Assault Rifle Magazines, 3 75 Round Type 93 Chinese Assault Rifle Drum Magazines
______
Sorry about the delay, I got sidetracked.
