//------------------------------// // Gearing Up // Story: Fallout Equestria: Brass Sentinel // by Chemtest //------------------------------// I shrug my shoulder to move the bag I’m carrying to a more comfortable position. I look over at Hunter, “Why am I carrying this when I have a Pip-Buck?” Hunter looks on back to me as he carries two bags of his own, “That Pip-Buck will assign values, meaning haggling can’t be done. You want to sell for the highest price, meaning you have to carry it on your back and not in that machine.” I sigh as the bag weighs down on me, “And why can I not use the weapons we found in the storeroom?” He smiles back at me, “Those things are two hundred years old, they’re worth a lot, but not very good. If we sell them, we can get one better than all them combined. Simple math.” I shake my head, “Never was one for math. Only math I need to know is counting bullets as they fly at me.” He just looks forward, “Then leave the selling to me. I’d be a prodigy of math compared to you.” I adjust the bag on my shoulder again as we finnaly crest a hill. I look over the landscape to see our destination. A huge near fortress built on a pre-war market, a sign hangs out the front, ‘Death’s Talons’. Interesting name. I remember those legends of Death, the gun he wielded. Out here in the wastes, even Death has died. Even though I prefer up close and personal, I would kill for a chance to use his gun at least once. Ah, sadly I don’t think this store sells legendary weapons from back then. I look over at Hunter, “That where we’re going?” He nods, “Best store in this region. Good deals, no fighting, security, food and drink, they even have a good doctor. Only store I’ve chosen to go to as far as selling raider equipment goes.” I shuffle the bag around again before walking onwards, “Well, let’s see what we can get then. Raider equipment go good on the market?” He shrugs, “One piece by itself is not worth the effort. But raiders carry a surplus, and sold all together, it can be pretty profitable. Raiders are a steady way to make income although I do other, more profitable jobs from time to time.” I look around as we enter into the building, “What types of jobs would that be?” He points towards a wall full of papers, “Odds and ends, somepony always needs something done. Need some parts of beasts, some factory cleared out, somepony else dead, good thing is most of them never specify to not loot. Get a reward from the job, and from whatever you find on the job. There’s my personal favorite, somepony to warm another’s bed.” I look around until I see a group of ponies, “Are those raiders?” Hunter holds a hoof in front of me, “Don’t attack them! This place is no discriminatory when it comes to customers. That, and the fact that those guards will shoot you for starting the fight. Word of advice, nopony survives the guards gunfire. They have pre war military grade rifles and even a few missile launchers, heck, one has a plasma that would cut through you like a knife through a raider’s head.” I look at the shop with a bit more disgust, “How could they sell to raiders?” I hear a rasping voice behind me, “You have any complaints about how I run my business then you say them to my face.” I turn around to see a ghoul griffon standing there. Hunter jumps between us, “Ms Gilda, I’m sure Sentinel here meant no insult, right Sentinel?” The griffon looks past Hunter, “No, I want to hear what he’s gotta say.” And she looks right into my eyes, “Well, you’re the Sentinel I’ve heard about on the radio? C’mon, let’s hear what you have to say, dweeb.” I look right back into her eyes, “Alright then. Why are you selling to raiders?” She sighs, “Look kid, you ever had somepony point a gun at you, only for it to misfire because it’s to rusty?” I nod, “Yes, that has happened.” She points on over at the raiders, “Those guns came from me. Raiders can be convinced something just has a orange coat f paint, they get disfunctional weapons, I get money.” I move past Hunter, and right up to her, “You still sell weapons to raiders. I’ve had one of those ‘dysfunctional’ weapons fire at me before. If you didn’t sell them weapons to begin with, they would not be as dangerous.” She curls around me, leaning on my shoulder, “Dweeb, kid, I’ve been alive for so very long. I saw what happens when they make weapons all their own. Yellow machine guns and pistols thrown together by junk, pipe weapons they call them. And let me tell you, those are a whole lot more deadly than my weapons.” I look over at her leaning on my shoulder, “Couldn’t you cut them off and give the weapons away to better ponies so they can kill the raiders as they struggle for more weapons?” She sighs, and flaps back away from my shoulder, “You think I haven’t tried that? I’m not some dweeb like you, I’ve had time to think of these things. Gave away the weapon to good ponies as the raiders struggled for weapons. Nothing happend. Those that got the weapons ran away with them, and they raiders got crafty until I reopened for them. Either way, I need to get a profit out of this.” I’m about to say something else when Hunter jumps in, “Well, me and Sentinel here will be on our way now. Lots of stuff to sell, caps to make, weapons to buy! Come along Sentinel!” I sigh, and I’m about to follow Hunter, “If you can stand living with selling with them, then I guess your fine.” And as I start to walk away, she stops me, “Sentinel. I’ve seen your type before. Good ponies, those that don’t believe their heroes, even if they are.” I stop and look back at her, “And your point is?” Her beak twists into a grin, “I like your attitude, sarcastic and snarky at the right level. As I’ve said, I’ve seen your kind before. There is one question all of you never like to awnser.” I turn to look at her, “And that is?” She looks me right in the eyes, “Would you rather die a good pony, or live and see yourself become a monster?” And I look right back, “I’ve already died.” She nods slightly, “Then try not to make it twice. Buy some stuff to continue on this good streak of yours.” I nod back, and turn away, “Didn’t plan on death another time.” And so, I walk over to Hunter to buy some goods. ——— Footnote: Level Up. New Perk Added: Once Dead, Twice Alive — You know what it’s like to die. Armor gets +5 DT, and all guns have a chance to fire back in the face of the one shooting at you! Skill Check: Speech (60).