Fallout Games (includes Angel's Pip-Boy Diary #24) · 4:17am Feb 24th, 2016
art by oo00SET00oo
It has been a little while since I have posted more of Angel’s Pip-Boy Diary. So today, I offer up an extra-sized installment. I hope it has been worth the wait.
But first, the big news from the Fallout: Equestria community: The Overmare Studios has released their first public demo of their Fallout: Equestria game!
Here is a link to their announcement. Below is the demo video.
New APBD below the break. I didn’t take nearly as many screenshots with this part as normal. To help make up for it, have a super-cute Littlepip.
art by OutlawedTofu
Angel's Pip-Boy Diary
Days 43 - 44
Day 43 – Midnight
December 5, 2287I was wrong again. The cemetery didn’t have a single ghoul. It was a good reminder that ghouls are radiation-transformed living people, not undead risen from their graves. There really is no reason ferals would congregate in a cemetery.
Exploring the cemetery may have been boring, but at least it was useful. This guide on hacking that I found would have been a Godsend two days ago at the training yard.
On the other hand, while it doesn’t have ghouls, Wildwood Cemetery does have this enchantingly weird shrine. We’re leaving now.
Day 43 – Morning
December 5, 2287The Brotherhood of Steel have moved on from the site of the downed airliner. Almost immediately, scavengers moved in to scour the wreckage for anything left behind. I feel a little guilty that there isn’t much left to find… at least, not that is portable. I believe I was pretty thorough in stripping the place, even looting the once-hidden compartment that the wreckage had exposed. Unfortunately, the scavengers were soon accosted by hostile robots which I assume wandered into the area from the General Atomics Galleria. Naturally, Codsworth and I came to their aid.
Shortly thereafter, we arrived at the G.A.G. Codsworth had only good things to say about General Atomics. I can understand the loyalty. Together, we initiated the G.A.G. grand re-opening… a feat that was far easier and trouble-free than I had expected. The robots are all non-hostile now, and the location no longer poses a threat to travelers. I’m actually a little regretful that I destroyed one of them.
One of the robots, Crisp, informed me that it was programmed with the personality routine “existential despair”, once again making me wonder just how “real” Codsworth’s behavior is. Is his loyalty genuine or programmed? Is there really that much of a difference?
As we were leaving, heading towards the bunker up north, Codsworth casually mentioned that Nate and I were never happier than those last months with Shaun. I managed not to cry… mostly.
I’ve been able to make peace. I’ve let them both go. (Even though Shaun is likely still alive, he is lost to me. Even if I should find him, he wouldn’t be my Shaun.) But that hole in my heart where my family should be still aches, hollow and hurting. That isn’t something that can be swiftly healed. Not even with the near-magic of stimpacks or wine. Instead, letting go has allowed me to move on unfettered. I remember them, and I miss them, and it hurts. But I move forward.
The bunker is close. At the moment, we are resting and having brunch at a nice little shack we’ve found. The place seems recently abandoned. It has power, and even a weird scrap-tech computer (with a bubble-shaped screen that is hard to read).
But the time to rest is done. Time to move forward.
New Perk: Armorer Rank 1
Day 43 – Afternoon
December 5, 2287We found the bunker, and within it we found Brandis. Alive!
I had honestly given up any hope that we would find a member of the recon team alive. I spent an hour talking to him. He wanted to remain apart from the Brotherhood of Steel. I strove to convince him that the Brotherhood of Steel does need him, now more than ever. Eventually, he agreed because he wants to honor his fallen team.
I must admit, as much as I felt he needed to return, part of me was very pleased to see that he had to choose to do so. He could have chosen instead to remain separate, ignoring the Brotherhood’s call. Ever since the appearance of the Prydwen, I have been worried that I might not be free to leave if things change in a way that I am not morally or ethically able to support. While fears have not been entirely banished, but after talking with Brandis, I feel on much firmer ground.
All in all, today has been a very good day. Even the string of epic mirelurk battled (“legendary” mirelurk razorclaws!) on the way back couldn’t put a damper on my mood.
Day 43 – Afternoon
December 5, 2287It’s official. I’m a pack rat. Or maybe a magpie. I leave stashes all over that I am constantly recovering and dragging back to the nearest settlement that I am overseeing. I am continuously picking up garbage, knowing that our settlements can strip them down for screws or gears. Every piece of reading material that I find gets stuffed in my bags. I can justify most of that: with so much destroyed, every preserved book is precious. Even comic books. And there is so much information that can be learned, or re-learned. Eventually, in one of these settlements, I hope to build a library.
However, I’ve also been grabbing every other little notice or document that catches my eye, half the time without even reading it. Sometimes, they are notes between raiders that give me information about their goals or operations, or fliers advertising pre-war events that might have left valuable remains. Sometimes they are somebody’s twenty-one-decades-old grocery list. I do this with holotapes too. I don’t even remember where I picked half of these up.
It took me ten minutes to find the list that I had scavenged from the secret compartment in Skylines Flight 1981 that revealed the airline was smuggling drugs, ammo and weapons on the plane. It didn’t surprise me in the slightest. It would have surprised me if the airline hadn’t been engaged in illegal activities.
When I reached Lake Quannapowitt, I discovered documents regarding the July 4th Bass Fishing Tournament that went horribly wrong. Even before the bombs fell, the lake had become super-polluted due to illegal dumping by General Atomics, Saugus Ironworks and/or (I would put bottlecaps on “and”) Corvega.
It is astounding how many records of businesses and events from my time use the term “survivors” – we had, as a nation, lost our concern for human life. The apocalypse was an appropriate climax to our swan song.
Day 43 – Evening
December 5, 2287Codsworth and I made our way back to Tenpines Bluff in time for dinner. Along the way, we passed through the airline crash site. We were just in time to catch the ending of yet another fight. That place is as bad as Combat Street. Possibly worse, although at least there is something worth fighting over.
This time, the fight was between Gunners and Minutemen. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, the fight was effectively over. There were no Minutemen survivors.
I killed the remaining two Gunners. Then I buried the Minutemen, praying for their save delivery to heaven. I don’t know if they were Christian, but it was all I could do.
Afterwards, I stripped the dead Gunners of their equipment. And that is when I made a startling discovery: one of the Gunners had actually been a synth! I am not sure what to make of that. I know there are synths fleeing the Institute. It would make sense for one of them to seek the safety of numbers and firepower than the Gunners provide. Likewise, if the Institute really is deploying synth infiltrators across the Commonwealth, it makes sense that an organization as large as the Gunners would be targeted.
And that was not the only robot-related revelation of the day. Nor the most important.
Over dinner, I spoke with Codsworth. We had a long, earnest conversation. And during it, I realized something. Robot or not, I consider Codsworth a person. But he is even more than that to me. He… not “it”… is family.
That hole in my heart isn’t as big as it was this morning.
New Perk: Gun Nut Rank 3
Day 44 – Morning
December 6, 2287It is a super bright morning.
Last night, I got a good, long sleep. I didn’t wake up until 10am.
After breakfast, I spend some time in the workshop, then headed to Hangman’s Alley. Today’s itinerary:
Get Preston,
Clear Out Mass Pike Tunnel (per my mission from Rhys),
Report to County Crossing and Greentop Nursery,
Report to Danse.If all goes well, I will be at the Brotherhood of Steel HQ by this evening. The Prydwen arrived six days ago this evening, so I’ll be reporting in almost a week late. However, I’m bringing with me the holotags of several fallen Brothers, a report on the missing recon squad, and the return of Brandis.
Let’s see if any of that goes according to plan.
Day 44 – Noon
December 6, 2287I now have a shop set up at Starlight. I also met Trashcan Carla at Drumlin’s Diner. With both of traders, I ended up buying half their stock; but I also sold off most of the excess weapons, armor and clothing that I had scavenged over the last two days. I now have plenty of materials for the next round of construction at Starlight. But that will wait for the future. I have a date with Danse tonight.
Travel is taking longer than expected. I’m not going to make Hangman’s Alley, much less the Massachusetts Turnpike Tunnel before evening. So instead, I am headed directly for the Brotherhood of Steel HQ in Cambridge. I will be putting off the job for Rhys and checking in with Danse first after all. The new situation with the Brotherhood of Steel is too pressing to wait yet another day.
Day 44 – Afternoon
December 6, 2287I passed the ruins of the retirement home, one nearly identical to the place my father had spent the last several years of his life. It had not occurred to me before how lucky I am to have not had many living relatives before the bombs fell. It has been devastating enough to deal with the loss without having also just lost parents or siblings.
My mother died when I was young, and I was raised by my father. He had been a good and honest man, and was a good father to me. More than many children were blessed with. He had been in the military for a decade before he won a purple heart and an honorable discharge.
I was quite the tomboy as a child, which suited him fine. Nothing against him, but I don’t believe he was prepared to raise a girl. While he never disapproved, any time my pursuits aimed towards more girlish things, he would get this radstag-in-the-spotlight look in his eyes.
He encouraged most of my interests, even letting me effectively take over his workshop. I remember how he was particularly proud of me when I got an “A” in my first shop class. We went out for ice cream, followed by a drive-in movie. It was a movie about aliens.
His first real disapproval of my activities came when I was in high school and started experimenting sexually. He had no issues with me dating both boys and girls, but he did take issue with me dating several at once. Polyamory was never something my father understood. Likewise, he didn’t want me to be sexually active before I had graduated.
While I considered his attitudes towards sex draconian at the time, in retrospect I deeply appreciate his reigning me in. Becoming a mother at such an early age would have destroyed my life. Abortion wouldn’t have been an option. And knowing now that the apocalypse was coming, I am thankful that Shaun was the only child I brought into this world.
I didn’t scavenge from the retirement home. With all the memories of my father, I couldn’t bring myself to do so. Fortunately, while sad memories, they are not deeply painful ones. Most of them are good ones, and the pain of his death has long passed. Again I am thankful, because thanks to my father, I know the pain of losing Nate will pass too.
There was a small cemetery behind the retirement home. A skeleton in a wheelchair is sitting there in eternal mourning beside a beloved’s gravestone.
That is easily the most heartwrenching thing that I have seen in the wasteland.
Day 44 – Evening
December 6, 2287
I have made it to Cambridge. I should be going directly to the police station to report. However, my path into town brought me first to Fraternal Post 115. Maybe because of my thoughts this afternoon and the melancholy they have put me in, but I had to pay a visit. This was where Nate was going to have his speech.
On the last morning of his life, Nate stood in front of a mirror and recited his speech, the one he was supposed to deliver at Fraternal Post 115 that night. I still remember the last of it.
“War. War never changes. In the year 1945, my great-great-grandfather, serving in the army, wondered when he’d get to come home to his wife and the son he’d never seen…”
In a strange way, my life is playing out in echo to that story. The sides and the places and the threats have changed. But the families torn apart, the soldiers wading through the blood of their enemies, the fear. They’re all the same.
Fraternal Post 115, however, is not the same. The moment that I stepped in, I recognized the slaughterhouse décor. Supermutants had desecrated the place and were using it for… whatever those ogres use the buildings they have taken over.
Seeing ogres in this place made me feel sick. In truth, there was only one ogre standing guard by an alarm. Taking him down before he could throw it was a race, especially since he shocked me by surviving a shot to the head. Fortunately, he only survived one.
Even worse was seeing the skeletons of long-dead soldiers in the auditorium. Many of them may have been here to hear Nate.
That speech he worked so hard on never got heard. Somehow, it is the little things like that which can sting the most. On one of the terminals, they said that they were “overjoyed to have such a decorated war hero as Nate.” I really wish the apocalypse could have waited just one more day.
New Perk: Rifleman Rank 1
Day 44 – Night
December 6, 2287The sun was setting by the time I got to the Cambridge Police Station. The station has seen the expected increase in Brotherhood presence, but it is clear that this place is more of an outpost than the main base of the army’s military operations. I suspect that is the Prydwen for now. But unless they are just passing through, they will need a ground base, or at least a staging area. And this station is insufficient for that kind of expanded operation.
Danse confirms that we’re going to war. Great time to have joined, Angel. Is luck your dump stat? I get to be a soldier, like Nate, less than two months after losing him.
I turned over the recovered tech to Scribe Hayden. She already has another recovery job lined up. This time, a reflex capacitor that is supposedly in The Shamrock Taphouse. I am fairly knowledgeable about science and machinery, but I have never heard of a reflex capacitor. It sounds like something out of science fiction. I have no idea what such a device would be doing in an Irish pub.
While I waited a few minutes for Danse, I also took a moment to look over a terminal (the password is “friends”) listing places of technological interest.
Now, Danse and I are headed up to the roof. According to Danse, the Institute is technologically superior. It is our hope that air superiority and tactics win. There is a vertibird waiting to fly us to the Prydwen.
art by ruiont
Well that was interesting...
Holy cow, am I the first reviewer?
Anyway, storywise you keep turning out these very well crafted snippets that do great justice to both the game origin and the journal nature of each entry. The pacing holds my attention through each line, and the screencaps really reallly sell the story Angel is telling.
Thanks for another great chapter!
3774175
Heh. Should have refreshed the page before posting. Actually thought I'd be first.
One of my friends posted the link in the Maine Bronies FB group...
Took my roommate a few minutes to figure out why I was twitching on the floor frothing at the mouth.
Like a dream come true getting to play the role of the Lightbringer... though I seem to be more of an instant bullet sponge than anything else I am noticing
Seems like in the pre-alpha you can't pistol whip anyone yet. But they make up for it with FACE LASERS! I'll try it later.
How!? Can you tell, I mean? They are indistinguishable from humans in every way I can find.
I remember Fraternal Post 115, or at least reading one of the terminals inside it. Since I played the male survivor I saw my own name mentioned instead of Nate's. It was surreal.
I wonder if Nora has any hints of her old life hidden out in the wasteland?
3774207 It's okay
I downloaded the game and kept dying every five minutes because there's no health packs
3774266 Dead bodies of synth infiltrators will have synth components.
Fraternal 115 is a veterans hall? Huh. Given it's proximity to the remains of the university I thought it was a frat house.
As soon as I read this sentence, I immediately thought of all the other times that a password has been taken from a forgotten diary or left-behind recording with no knowledge of the fate of the person who originally owned it.
I hope Angel stays safe.
Codsworth looks quite dapper in his bowler cap.
Certainly seems like Angel's allies get the short end of the stick in fights. A vertibird shot down with all hands lost and then a squad of Minutemen lost. But then again, if the Institute is working behind the scenes suggests anything, then it isn't so surprising that the Commonwealth hasn't recovered yet.
I love the various magazine stands you can craft to display them in all their colourful glory. Shaun's former baby room is now my library.
Haha, yeah, the respawning of random encounter zones can get pretty ridiculous sometimes.
One time, I had just cleared the plane wreck and was leaving for my next objective. I had only just cleared the hill between the wreck and the road and hat taken my first few steps down the asphalt, when I heard shots ring out behind me. The random encounter had respawned, with two new factions battling over the downed plane, less than a minute after it was cleared!
I see you're adjusting your idioms to the new world; a world without headlights or deer requires a new saying.
That's "reining", as in "pulling on the reins", rather than "reigning over somebody".
I look at that Littlepip, and I think that the fine ponies of Arbu arranged a musical welcome for newcomers.
The "radstag-in-the-spotlight" comment is very interesting. Angel's adapting in all kinds of ways.
A very heartfelt update this, both wrenching and warming. Nice work as always, Kkat. Thank you for it.
It just might be
I am definitely going to try the public build alpha when I can, it looks very promising with the progress so far.
I will always love fallout equestria just like I love fallout new vegas (I own 2 versions fallout new vegas the PS3 and one for my computer PC version is modded with at least 100 mods) I love fallout...
Side note. How does it feel knowing people were so impressed/inspired that they make fan art for you?
3775628 Not just fanart (that's relatively common in this community), but a whole bloody game! That's a whole separate level of its own.
3774294
Use the regenerative Magic in the weapons section.
3776310 yeah that too. And you can't forget the stories inspired by this either.
I suppose Angel's "My Shaun" comment is foreshadowing. Though as for her polygamy comments, is that an in universe addressing of Bethesda letting players romance as many companions as they want? Perhaps even more foreshadowing?
I love this line.
You didn't play the demo Kkat?
3782028 I haven't had a chance to play it myself yet.
I'm looking forward to giving it a try. 
Question: has Angel investigated the UFO crashsite yet? Because I remember her witnessing the alien saucer's fall a while back and I don't recall her following up on that yet.
Also, still loving these and I can't wait to hear Angel's opinion on ol' King Arthur Maxson and his philosophy.