Level 23 (2 Perk points floating)
S-3 Armorer 1,
P-(+)10 Rifleman 1, Locksmith 3
E-2
C-6 Lady Killer 1, Local Leader 2
I-6 Gun Nut 1, Hacker 3, Science 1
A-(+)6 Gunslinger 3, Action Boy 2
L-3
(Astoundingly Awesome 8, Barbarian 4, Covert Operations, Gift of Gab, Junktown Vendor 2, Massachusetts Surgery, Tesla Science, Tumblers Today, Wasteland Survival 7 and 9)
I wake up with a nice xp bonus, as usual. Piper just says “Hey” this morning, though still different scripting I suppose. I head downstairs, pop a fusion core into my power armor, and suit up. I eat a healthy breakfast of grilled radstag and head out the door. First up, finding my way back to the power armor station to complete repairs. On the way, I spot a chemistry station in a garage behind some house (perhaps the house with Ice Cream on the front). I craft some ammo for my newly acquired syringer gun and some more drugs in case I get into a spot of trouble.
Now with my armor just like new, I head out to complete the circuit of the town. I poke around some of the collapsed houses on the edge of the sinkhole first. Only a little bit of loot, but some stunning views. As I come down from one house I see Piper fall from the top floor into the sinkhole. I reload. I’m going to have to ask her to stay put when I investigate stuff like this. One house on the southern edge of the sinkhole has a wall safe that’s fairly hidden. You have to jump across a gap in the collapsed second floor to reach it. It’s got some good ammo and a snub-nosed .44 in it.
On the outskirts of town is Greentop Nursery, which appears to be a peaceful settlement of some sort. I put away my gun and approach. The woman I speak to asks for help with some nearby supermutants that raid the place. They are able to run and hide each time, but if they are ever caught by surprise they would be dead. I agree to help, and fortunately it is nearby at a place called Breakheart Banks.
We creep up and I snipe from a nearby hill, drawing the supermutants out to me. I kill one before they reach us, and Piper holds back some more. Finally, their hounds are on me so I pop some Buffjet and take them out. Then Psychojet to take out the mutants that have come up. Finally, I sneak back to fight the Supermutant Butcher who has a skull icon. I’m sure I’d be dead at close quarters, but at range I’m better than him and I finish him off after a prolonged firefight. All my armor is still above half, and I’m just a bite of food away from being good when the fight is over and approach.
The legendary that came out to fight me has a sniper rifle that could be better than mine with the right mods. It just needs some more accuracy. That is, provided the extra 15 points of incendiary damage aren’t included in the 55 damage listed.
These supermutants had a good setup here. I’m surprised to find crops growing in a well-maintained field, but I soon find out why. I find two settlers inside, likely the original inhabitants. “I hope these people didn’t suffer,” Piper says, “Of course, knowing supermutants…” Well, at least they weren’t eaten. Or maybe they hadn’t gotten around to it yet. This is a good place to come back to for loot, especially food. I’m a bit angry that I can’t turn this into a settlement, as it would make a good one. It’s quite arbitrary how the game decides what can and can’t be a settlement, and I would much prefer to take over fully operational places than build my own. I do understand their choice though, likely cashing in on some of the craze of games such as Minecraft, and the ongoing buzz that creative players can make for their game on social media.
When I get back to tell the folks at Greentop, I spot Lucas Miller, the trader I encountered near Covenant. I step out of my power armor, trade things with Piper, put on my formal wear, and hobble over to him. He doesn’t have much, but I unload my valuables in exchange for some good crafting materials, fiberglass and leather. I speak to the settlers and they agree to join the Minutemen. I build a couple of guard posts for them and assign the lady (who looks younger and more capable) to guard duty. I don’t have enough screws or circuitry to build a power armor station here. That’ll be on the list.
It’s getting into the early evening, so I decide to head out. We’ve got a lot of ground to cover and I want to finish with Malden Center first. I double back to the middle school basketball courts, and try the back door, but it is boarded up too. Finally, I find an entry point through the collapsed side of the school I must have missed before. The only entrance is through the basement.
There’s some odd construction material down here, and up ahead Piper exclaims, “Is that what I think it is?!” It looks like a vault! There are some Gunners down here too, so I wait and snipe them off. A firefight ensues, but it goes our way. Piper takes up a forward flanking position while I snipe with my rifle. She does get in the way of me sniping the final guy, but she makes up for it by taking him down herself as he tries to move to a new position. I am once again impressed with the combat scripting.
This Vault 75 in the basement of Malden Middle School openly markets itself to families, and particularly children under 17. There are special protocols for separating children from adults upon entry which already sound creepy, as well as a list of kids.
I open the elevator and we head down. There are gunners down here too. Easily dispatched. Behind a crate at the entrance to the area I find this poor soul wearing military gear, surrounded by beer bottles, but clutching a lunchbox, a toy, and some burnt books. This is certainly the most trashed of all the vaults I’ve seen. There’s a lab that requires a key card, which I can’t access. Judging by the ammo stockpiles around here this must be what the Gunners were after.
There are some more Gunners exploring the large room up ahead. I snipe but somehow miss even though my crosshairs were dead center. Maybe glass or something up there? There are more than I thought and it is a firefight, but we manage to prevail, though I do have to stimpac Piper halfway through. There are weird signs painted on the barricades in here, which I eventually realize is the sign for the Gunners, and a creepy underground playground nearby. I need to figure out how to get to the second floor.
An inspection of some residential cabin reveals a dog bowl, and I don’t know that I’ve seen a vault with signs of dogs in it before. There are some folding chairs around a dogs picture and a lantern, with flowers nearby. Perhaps a shrine to remember the dog’s passing? Again, Bethesda is excellent at telling a story through little environmental touches like this.
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Another Gunner snipes me from the floor above and once I locate her I take her out easily, leveling up again in the process. I finally find the stairs just past the locker room. Upstairs are what I can only assume to be rooms for the kids probably a girls room and a guys room, cheerfully appointed. More burnt comics on the balcony. I’m disappointed. I thought if any place would have more comics this would.
There’s also a classroom with a terminal. The lesson plans are missing, but a sort of story or fable indicates the children might have been particularly raised to go back up top and take back the wasteland. I jump across to the door marked Overseer, but is it also locked. Now I need to find an admin card and a lab card, but it seems like I’ve already been through the place.
I do another run and notice a door I missed. It takes be to the lab area behind the first locked door I came across. There are more Gunners here, including a legendary one that gives me a bit of trouble. There are treadmills and other equipment that lends credence to my theory of training the kids to be soldiers. Then there’s some sort of shooting gallery set up to look like what you’d find in a ruined wasteland city. “This is just creepy!” Piper exclaims. I agree. A Gunner commander shows himself, and I snipe him, then Piper moves up and draws his fire while I finish him off.
Exploring the place, I find some dead lab techs, but not much else other than a keycard on the Gunner. I decide to see what the combat simulation terminal does. It doesn’t really do much. Moving back into the main area, I find Piper is still crouched in sneak mode. Hopefully this is a glitch that I can undo. I unlock the lab door, and it tells me to explore the lab, which I’ve already done. I follow the quest indicator, redo the simulation, and this time I spot another Gunner with an quest icon over him that wasn’t here before. But I can’t reach him. This quest seems buggy as hell or at least very difficult to get around.
I finally locate a new area and move upstairs to face some more Gunners and finally near the quest marker. I nab the admin access card after killing two more Gunners, plus a sweet Science Bobblehead that will give me an extra guess when hacking terminals.
Downstairs in this area I find what I can assume are researcher barracks, and a research terminal. They do indeed seem to be pushing the children to develop super soldiers. And it seems to have gone on for awhile, with some children growing up to be promoted to the research team while others are sent out into the wasteland. The notes seem to be written by perhaps a brother who has graduated and is still looking out for his sister, even though she doesn’t know it. There’s some talk of potential rebellion amongst the kids, but the researchers are aware. Apparently one mistake might lead to the downfall, as some papers get sucked into a vent, but there’s not a clear end to the story.
I make my way to the Overseer’s section, where I hope to find answers. After all of this I’m surprised to find a Gunner in this area, but he doesn’t give me too much trouble. I suppose they closed the doors behind them? The Chief Scientist’s terminal reveals more. It seems the goal of this experiment was gene enhancement as well as training. The “disposal” of unqualified subjects seems creepy, and I don’t know what “harvesting” means exactly, but it is quite clear it is detrimental and probably life-ending for the kids in question. That must be why I haven’t actually seen evidence of these super-soldiers on the surface.
The reports continue the story, with increased ability, but also aggression, with each generation. The tale of the science staff member I read notes from earlier continues here, with their concerns about him and need to keep him in the dark about what is actually going on for awhile due to his connection to younger subjects not yet graduated. The records clear up that “disposal” is of course death, and incineration. This terminal does not tell the full story, of course, and that is one of the things I really like about Bethesda’s mode of story-telling. They scatter partial stories throughout their world. Occasionally a full story will be revealed, but most are up to the player to imagine and piece together, rightly or wrongly. In some ways, throwing incomplete stories into the game is more compelling than carefully tying off every one. It gives a sense of a larger world beyond the player’s encounter with it, and can create more engagement with the story as the player tries to piece things together (if not due to genuine interest, at least in hope of a reward).
The nearby barracks are mostly empty, only a bit of loot and the remains of one poor soul who died in bed. I occasionally wonder about these skeletons and the process of decomposition in the supposedly sealed off vaults. Upstairs, I find the Gunner commander, who is a bit tougher to deal with, but ultimately goes down after a firefight. The nearby Overseer’s terminal reveals a bit more. As I expected, the adults were all killed once separated from their children. I see the familiar policy of continuing the experiment until the All Clear is received from Vault-Tec. Some day I hope to find Vault-Tec headquarters and find out why they never sent the all clear.
Further reading indicates further discomfort with the new researcher I’ve read about. Some maintenance issues hint at how this scientist might have found out the truth, with a fire in the archives causing a lock failure. Again, the full story is unclear, but the bread crumbs are there.
The Overseer’s quarters are well-appointed, and he has a nice Grognak the Barbarian comic, Demon Slaves, Demon Sands. We’ve been in the vault a full 24 hours now, it being after 6 pm the day after we came in here, so I figure it’s time for a rest. I park my power armor to block the door and stand guard, then we get some sleep in the Overseer’s bed.
