Fallout 4: Angel's Pip-Boy Diary #15 · 9:35am Dec 28th, 2015
art by Dan232323
Last Angel’s Pip-Boy Diary of the year. I’ve made it an extra-sized one again. I hope you all enjoy!
Next blog post will either be on New Year’s Eve or on the first of the year. I still have to watch a couple episodes from Season 5. Once I do so, I’ll give my thoughts on the Season. I’m also considering a blog post reviewing the new Star Wars movie. I am a little hesitant as such a review would be related to neither My Little Pony nor Fallout. So I’m putting the decision to you. Is that a blog post which you would like to read?
Angel's Pip-Boy Diary
Day 33
Day 33 – Midnight
November 25, 2287Diamond City continues to impress.
Detective Valentine wasn’t at the bar. At this hour, I really didn’t expect him to be. The only patron there was an unpleasant, soused woman named Darcy Pembroke. I entered the Colonial Taphouse just in time to witness her husband, Paul, attempt to beat up the bartender, Henry.
Paul is convinced that Henry is sleeping with his wife, largely n account that she spends an inordinate amount of time at the bar rather than at home with him and their son. I severely doubt there is any truth to it, just as I am sure Darcy has acted to encourage rather than dissuade her husband’s jealous paranoia. I’ve known women like her. I once represented one. Usually, I was representing their husbands.
Henry laid Paul out, then sent him home. Henry is affable and a decent sort. After talking pleasantly with him, I bought a bottle of wine. I can’t believe it has been over a month (not counting two centuries and a decade) since I’ve been able to sit down and relax with a fair bottle of wine. I just wish Nate was here to share it with.
Happy Thanksgiving… although it has already passed.
After the wine, it is time to find a place to stay for the night. I passed the Dugout Inn earlier. Diamond City only seems to have one hotel, so that will be it. I will continue my search for Valentine in the morning.
Day 33 – Early Morning
November 25, 2287I am amused that the dugout has been transformed into a hotel. The Bourov brothers who run the place are real characters too. The crowd is insular, but the beds are comfortable.
I struck up a conversation with Hawthorne, an explorer of the Commonwealth much like I feel that have become. He told me about Vault 81, commenting that the people there are stand-offish but will let some folks in. That… wow. The idea of a settlement in a Vault puts using the baseball stadium to shame. I had considered making Vault 111 a homestead, but rejected it for several personal reasons. I have to wonder what a proper Vault that wasn’t a freakish experiment would have been like. That’s something to check out one of these days.
Hawthorne discouraged me from traveling to Salem. No specifics, just a “bad feeling”. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard the place mentioned recently, and it seems that all rumors about Salem are bad.
Finally, he briefly warned about University Point, saying that it is a place to go if you want to see what the Institute and their synths are capable of. With that kind of reminder within a day’s walk, the local’s synth paranoia may be a lot more understandable.
Before bed, I snatched a posting on the bounty board – something that I am not at all surprised they have. The job is to clear feral ghouls from Mass Pike Tunnel, the same place that Rhys sent me.
I slept very well. Now, it’s time to get some famous (apparently) Diamond City noodles and find Valentine.
What?
…
One of the guards just told me the Bourov brothers are looking for me. I just left there. Did I leave something behind? I paid them up front. I really hope they aren’t trying to shake me down with bogus room damages or something. Maybe I shouldn’t have pocketed the bounty posting?
Day 33 – Morning
November 25, 2287Turns out, none of my guesses were right. At first, I thought it was much worse: that Vadim wanted me to eliminate Travis. But no, he wants me to be Travis’ moral support and wing-woman in a fake fight. He hopes that if Travis wins a fight, the boy will get a confidence boost that will make him less terrible on the radio. This is such a bad idea.
I’m getting 100 caps to play a role in this disaster.
And that’s not the only cringe-worthy work I’ve acquired this morning. There is also Paul. Yes, I’m working for the husband… again. We’re back in the Taphouse, and I’m standing here to be intimidating so Paul can try to get Henry to… I don’t know. I don’t think he has a plan.
I really wish I was back in Sanctuary right now. Or home with Nate and Shaun, enjoying a winter fire while sipping wine. Or maybe hot cocoa. Maybe I’ll buy some wine from Henry after this, if he still allows me in his establishment. If not, I can probably get some from Vadim. I wonder if this new Commonwealth still has hot cocoa. It hurts to imagine we may have lost that.
Side notes: Polly sells meat. Specifically, the meat of brahmin (those two-headed mutant cow-beasts), although she has a collection of other cuts available…
…Oh for heck’s sake, Paul just pulled a gun!
Day 33 – Afternoon
November 25, 2287Well, this day has gone from bad to worse. I am in a town full of people with the worst plans. First Vadim, then Paul, now Henry. Oh, and everything nice I said about Henry yesterday? Apparently, my ability to judge character suffered a catastrophic misfire.
I talked Paul down. In retrospect, I’m thinking it would have been better to just let him shoot the guy and spend the rest of his life in jail.
Cooke fessed up. I’m honestly not convinced that Cooke actually slept with Paul’s wife; this sounds more like him telling Paul what the man needs to hear. At this point, I don’t think it matters anymore. I’d say I no longer care, but I never did.
Here’s the deal: Henry Cooke offered to make it up to Paul by letting him in on his plan to murder a bunch of people. So it turns out Cooke is horrible. Because humanity rarely passes up an opportunity to disappoint.
Cooke is working with Nelson Latimer, Malcolm’s kid. They are meeting with some “gentlemen” from Goodneighbor (that name again), ostensibly to buy a large amount of chems. The fact that chems are legal here hasn’t stopped chem smuggling from being a thing because they are trying to avoid giving the Mayor his cut.
That alone would be stupid enough to sink these people. But no, Cooke is planning a couple-cross, with the intention of keeping the money and the chems. It is a terrible plan by a terrible person, and now he’s pulled Paul into it.
I needed to make a decision. And I probably made the wrong one.
Right now, only those two know about my involvement, so this whole thing only really becomes an issue for me if they survive and talk. That is not in Cooke’s best interest, considering they are planning to murder Malcolm’s son. He might not fear Malcolm, but based on the security incident last night, Diamond City security doesn’t tolerate citizens murdering citizens. His life depends on everyone staying smart and quiet.
Paul, however, cannot be trusted to act in his own best interest. I’m fully expecting Cooke to try to kill him the second he no longer needs him as an extra gun. And since Paul hired me, I’m not going to let that happen.
So I’m coming along to prevent that, and to mop up the mess. I’m used to working for despicable people, but not as a trigger. Strangely, this is more straightforward than getting them off.
I’m letting Cooke go in first. He’s the murderous scumbag who came up with this murderous plot. It would be only just for him to get murdered for it. Paul, however, is my client, so I’m going to do my best to protect him. And that is all I intend to do. Then, I’m going to wash my hands of these people. And soon, of Diamond City.
I’ve slipped behind a truck trailer, taking position while Henry Cooke is talking to a ghoul from Goodneighbor named Trish. She clearly suspects something is wrong…
…aaaaaand perfect timing for a raider incursion. Well, this was going to be messy anyway.
Day 33 – Early Evening
November 25, 2287It took two shots to take down the raider, and he got one off at me. My weapon has a silencer. His didn’t. Everyone started shooting.
Paul didn’t make it. Damn.
Cooke didn’t make it either. Good riddance.
I ended up having to take down all three of Trish’s bodyguards. But Trish surrendered, so I’m letting her live. This is probably a bad mistake. But this murderous cock-up wasn’t my idea, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to kill some for it when it isn’t self defense.
Trish’s boss is someone named Marowski, and she offered up the goods on his secret chem lab if I’d let her go. I pushed her until I got everything I would need to get in: location, password, and information about the feral ghouls and sequenced tripwires. The whole thing is actually rather impressive-sounding. And I could hear the pride in Trish’s voice when she talked about it. I let her run off after getting all that and a promise not to mention my existence to anyone.
I seriously couldn’t care less about the chem lab. But the more she told me, the more incentive she had to not tell anyone about that conversation. I’m not going to trust a promise to not rat me out when it might save her hide, but she won’t when doing so condemns hers. I’m a great believer in the power of self-interest.
I’m also a believer in not letting things go to waste. Trish ran off and left hundreds of chems sitting on the docks. Since clearly this dock is frequented by raiders, I’m sure someone will find them and take them before Marowski can send anyone to retrieve them. This may be the bad-idea icing on a whole bad-idea cake, but if there is even the slightest chance I could find myself on the hook for all of this, I’m going to at least reap the rewards.
As a side note: this many chems is really heavy.
Day 33 – Night
November 25, 2287After stashing the chems back at Hangman’s Alley, my first order of business was to go to the security office. I intended to report a drug deal gone bad. But it appears that nobody is in charge there, so I gave up. Instead, I slipped into the Taphouse and swiped the goods from Cooke’s safe. He certainly wasn’t going to need them anymore. Consider it a scumbag tax.
As a palette cleanser, I went and threw a few punches in the fake fight that Travis “won”. Afterwords, Vadim pulled me aside to reveal the next part of his “fool-proof plan”. Oh God. There’s a next part.
And it is to play matchmaker. Because there is no way that setting Travis up with a girlfriend can’t go horribly, horribly wrong. I feel almost fortunate that I couldn’t find the gal. I need to get out of this town, at least for a while. (And not just because I’ve nearly spent all my caps.)
And it looks like I’ll have my chance. I finally found the Valentine Detective Agency. Now I just have to find the detective.
Nick Valentine was investigating the kidnapping of a young woman by a gang run by Skinny Malone. (From Goodneighbor, of course. Where else?) The gang has made a base in a Vault under Park Street Station.
I’ll rest up at Hangman’s Alley, and make my way towards Park Street Station first thing in the morning.
Side note: I overheard someone talking about a running railroad. Supposedly, the passphrase is “Follow the Freedom Trail”. The first thing that occurred to me was the tourist trail, which starts at Boston Common.
I’ve taken that tour half a dozen times, and fully expected to take it at least one more time once Shaun was old enough. I know it by heart, assuming none of it has gotten bombed or buried. However, following the trail might be quite tricky for the folks of this time, so I suppose it could be used to keep something a secret.
Why keep a functioning railroad a secret? To avoid raiders, I assume. Trains are not exactly subtle and easy to keep hidden though…
…unless they have a functioning metro rail. An underground train system could be kept hidden. And if the normal stations are collapsed, it would be easy to restrict access to only those who know the way down to it. That would make a hell of a good way to get people and supplies to-and-from a secure settlement. And it would allow transport of things normally outside the scope of import. Imagine, for example, delivering old subway cars to your settlement for use as prefabricated dwellings?
Park Street Station is right next to Boston Common. I wonder if there is a connection. At this point, it would not surprise me if the railroad went to Goodneighbor.
art by HypoPragmatic
No reason not to, this is your account not the Fallout Equestria Forum. The only topic on this blog is you!
You really get into your character when you write these blogs. I am impressed!
Yep. Diamond city: Come for the numerous traders, don't stay for the everything else.
3647689
Hear hear
Helping Travis' confidence is the only quest line I regret following. Partially because I thought he was just adorable in his attempts to DJ beforehand!
Kkat...I'm not sure if this has occurred to you, yet, but...we'll read anything you wrote. AANYTHING.
You have most of the fandom eating out of the palm of your hand.
It won't matter if it isn't MLP or Fallout related. All that will matter is that Kkat wrote it.
You aren't obligated to stick to just pony stuff in your blogs. go nuts with the review if thats what you want to do :)
Kkat, you do whatever you want, you would hear no objections from here.
Feel free to review Star Wars! I myself am not a fan of the franchise, but I know a lot of people are and would probably love to hear your thoughts on it.
That aside, I finally have the chance to get my hands on a copy of Fallout 4.
The wasteland is calling me.
Seems like Angel's high opinion on people of Diamond city is Going... going... gone!
I wonder how she'll feel once she finds Nick and has to head back there?
I'd love to hear another opinion on Star Wars.
The jewel of the commonwealth!
...Yeah, not so much.
So Angel hasn't heard anything about the Railroad till now? That should be a fun scene.
I love your spin on the Diamond City quests.
That is all.
A Star Wars review would be fine. I'm always interested in hearing what writers I read think about other media I watch.
I'll be honest, I'm a little disappointed. I was hoping for some interaction with Angel and Piper. But eh... Don't mind me. I'm still enjoying this. I haven't played Fallout 4 yet. Is Diamond City really this shitty?
3650878 Diamond City is the best settlement in the Commonwealth wasteland. But it's still in a wasteland. You've got decent folks, but you've got plenty of folks who are just in it for themselves.